Life and Death

Horizon can be a rough place, Stranger. Many people would like to live in peace, but few can agree on what that should look like. Going your own way can only carry you so far before you end up on someone else's doorstep, so the threat of conflict is part of daily life. Few would be caught without weapon and armor, at least by choice. Here we detail the grim reality of what it is to live an die on Horizon.

As in many roleplaying and video games, “Health” or “Hit Points” are the measure of how much physical punishment or “damage” a Character can receive before they meet their end. Unlike many other games however, Characters in Horizon have IRIS, the advanced system of nano-machines operating within their bodies at all times. Among its many other functions, IRIS can dramatically improve durability and even bring a character back from beyond conventional death in the right circumstances. Here are the details:

• Every Character has Health, displayed as a number.
• Attacks against that Character cause Damage, which reduces that number.
• When Health reaches zero or less, that Character can no longer be played until they return to positive Health. This state is called “Death Coma”.
• When Health goes fully negative, the Character suffers True Death and dies permanently. For example, a Character with 50 Health suffers * True Death at -50 Health. A Character cannot recover from True Death.
• A Character's maximum Health can be increased by raising their Resolve (RES) Trait. See the Traits page for details.
• Corruption will always trigger upon entering Death Coma as the will of the IRIS asserts itself in a last effort to preserve the host. Be ready.

Death Coma is an artificially induced stasis, during which IRIS attempts to maintain the host's vital functions, to the exclusion of all else. In this state, IRIS can initiate accelerated regeneration using the body's Stamina reserves, speeding recovery from the Death Coma into normal consciousness. Additionally, IRIS has been known to force movement in the host's unconscious body to remove it from imminent environmental danger, such as fire or drowning, though this puts massive strain on the body's Stamina and cannot be sustained long. IRIS also lacks the sensory awareness to tell friend from foe if others are nearby, and will generally ignore other people or animals unless pain is detected, at which point minimum movement to a safe distance will be performed. It should be noted that, at the best of times this will be a painfully slow movement: do not run heedlessly into danger expecting to wake up safe in a nearby town.

• Death Coma is initiated when a Character has zero or less Health.
• In this state, a Character may benefit from Accelerated Healing. This provides their Natural Healing amount once each hour, instead of only once per day. This effect ends immediately, once positive Health is achieved. Natural Healing is increased by the Resolve (RES) Trait. See the Traits page for details.
• Each time a Character activates Accelerated Healing, they lose 5 Stamina.
• A Character may also crawl or slowly swim away from imminent environmental danger, at the Director's discretion. For each meter traveled, the Character loses 2 Stamina.
• At any point during Death Coma, including the moment it begins, IRIS may offer the opportunity to temporarily ignore the Death Coma state by Embracing Corruption. The form this Corruption takes is at the Director's discretion, but the Player chooses whether they Embrace it or not. Should they refuse, they enter or remain in Death Coma as normal. Should they accept however, then they must find a way to obey their corrupted impulse with no resistance possible. This continues until they willfully submit to the Death Coma they have delayed or ignored. For every round of combat, or every 1 minute spent out of combat, the Character's Corruption rating increases by 1, until Death Coma resumes.
• Remember that a Character who exceeds XXX Corruption at any time becomes feral and cannot return to a playable state. (Make a new Character)