PUNK: Lycanthropunk - What should PCs do?

[Daniel Solis]

A while ago I posted a survey asking what were-animals folks would want to be in a lycanthropunk setting. Since then, I've I've chatted with people in several different circles and here's what has developed with the setting so far:

Luna Ascendant

The moon has been destroyed by an asteroid impact, millions of tiny rocks and dust fall across the world, leaving but a quarter of the moon's mass in a slowly departing orbit. About a billion people die and many smaller cities are destroyed, however major metropoli are mostly spared from irreperable damage.

Shortly after the moonfall, all of humanity begins exhibiting abilities similar to werecreatures of legend. Namely, the ability to shift into various forms of human/animal hybrid. Everyone has effectively become a were-variant of some member of the animal kingdom. Panic ensues as people come to realize true human appearances are a thing of the past, even with the shifting abilities, homo sapien is a species of the past, now there is only homo lunus with its many millions of subspecies. The term "lunar" becomes a popular reference to lycanthropes and lycanthropic concepts.

The connection between the moonfall and the rise of lycanthropy is a contentious issue open to vicious debate. Indeed, though anyone can control their shifting by will alone, any sort of emotional stress, like arguments and debate, triggers primal instincts and uncontrolled shifting, usually resulting in intense physical pain and even worse psychological scarring. Anmesia, blindness, nausea and cannibalism are the most common occurances in unwilled shifting. Science quickly provides a cure, a psychiatric drug that inhibits emotional outbursts. But the drug is expensive and hard to develop, at least that's the claim of the producers, so only a select few have access to it. The rest of the populace must deal with scheduled allotments of the drug in exchange for work.

Lunars closest to old humanity, the were-apes and assorted high order were-mammals, receive the favorable rations of the drug while those a few steps away from humanity (the reptiles, birds, insects and assorted "vermin" mammals) live in constant pain, working daily so that they can get their dose of the drug and thus live yet another day of toil and agony.

Humans aren't the only ones changed in the lunar age. Some normal animals grow to enormous size and uncharacteristic ferocity, sending civilization into enormous, overcrowded megacities called "metroblocs." The metroblocs become new sovereign nations, city-state islands in an ocean of dangerous creatures of land, sea and air. Military actions mostly consist of metrobloc defense and the occasional extermination raid. The site of highly trained lunar paramilitary troops fighting a single dire, as the giant animals have come to be called. Dire variants of all animals roam freely across the world, making old political borders a moot point and yet again reinforcing the common working-class belief, "The 'blocs may be a rough place to live, but at least we live."

After a few years, mixed-breed children are born to interspecies couples. The "chimera" seemingly possess the best traits of both their parents in appearance, personality, and physicality, making them ideal workers even at the age of four or five. Unfortunately, the presence of double the animal nature in the chimera makes them even more prone to uncontrolled emotional shifting. Their animalistic behavior, increased dependence on the stabilizing drug, and their frequent placement in jobs requiring manual labor make them the new bottom rung of the social ladder. Everyone else gets a promotion of sorts, the "old trash" become the middle class, managing the behavior and work of the chimera so the higher-ups don't have to sully their hands with those matters. Things remain the same for many years... until the punks make their presence known.

Raids of metrobloc medical labs and free distribution of the stabilizing drug to the lower class become a staple of rebel behavior. Other activities include the dissemination of subversive literature and the defacing of metrobloc propaganda, like the ubiquitous "TAKE YOUR MEDICINE" posters plastered across the alleys and streets.

Common punishment is imprisonment with minimal dosage. More often, criminals are sent into exile in to die in the new cretaceous wilderness.

Some punks do manage to survive in exile, taming or fighting the dires but always remaining their equal in the ecosystem. These "ferals" as the metrobloc authority call them, are the wild counterparts to the inner-city rebels. The two factions have grown apart in their different environments but they still share a common enemy in the Metrobloc monopoly of the precious medicine. Little do they know one of the deep, dark secrets of the lunar age.

SPOILERS The dires are not animals mutated by the moonfall. They are the products of late-stage unmedicated lycanthropic shifting. Wild, uncontrollable animals representing a danger to all semblance of civilization and common welfare. END SPOILERS

Other stuff

Dev thought of a faction who believe the moonfall had nothing to do with lunar evolution, but that humanity had become so crass and vice-driven that the entire species regressed to an animal state. They believe that if the collective human consciousness altered the species so drastically, then it could happen again for the better. This faction goes unmedicated, preferring to use meditation and intense mental restraint to hold their bestial nature in check.

What I'm still sorely lacking is something for the PCs to do besides beating up dires, raiding labs for medicine and producing counter-propaganda. I'm hoping some other eyes can see possibilities for the setting I'm missing.

[Emote Control]

Well, the actions you describe are certainly plenty for a game.  But for something else . . .

The asteroid that hit the moon was no ordinary asteroid.  It was strange.  How it was strange . . . it takes a couple of doctorates to understand how.  But suffice it to say that the "asteroid" had properties that simply did not correspond to the way the universe was supposed to work.  And the material of the asteroid -- each of the few chunks that has been found has possessed some unique property, and some of those properties have made them the core of strange technological megaprojects.

And you should be able to take it from there.

[Emote Control]

Another concept.

The origin of the moon has long puzzled researchers, since Earth has the largest planet-satellite relationship in the solar system.  And why are the sun and the moon the exact same apparent diameter from earth?

And with the moon destroyed, the world has gone mad.  It's almost as if, well . . . the moon was stabilizing us somehow.  As if the moon was some kind of evolutionary surge protector.  As if it was -- artificial.


And still another.

The research into the mutations, that led to the medicine, has never stopped.  Ever more powerful -- and some say ever more intelligent -- things are coming out of the lunlabs.  And these things are smart enough to realize that the way this culture works, they are going to be the new bottom rung.  Do you really think they *like* that?

[Daniel Solis]

That would be an interesting way to introduce some kind of mecha aspect to fight the dires or perhaps the fuel source of the metroblocs.

Here is the setting as it develops.

[Emote Control]

Yeah, well, I've got a weird brain.

Another concept.  Or rather, a protoconcept.  The ideas of species based classes, noble bloodlines, selective breeding, and ethnic political parties are all perlocating in my brain -- but they have yet to settle into an idea.  But you might be able to do something with even that.

[Daniel Solis]

Who's to say society is the same in every metrobloc? The various microcosms are a great opportunity to explore various social structures. The Northeast Metrobloc, a megacity encompassing NYC and part of New Jersey is the one I'll be primarily focusing on, but there is still potential for some crazy neo-feudalism in the other metroblocs, maybe democratic monarchies or total anarchy. Lots of stuff can happen to people in an overcrowded city cut off from the rest of the world.

The way the setting is developing, I'm not really going to have a canon explanation for the connection between the moonfall and the rise of lycanthropy. I'll be listing several memes "explaining" what really happened, all wildly different and none truly correct. I'm definitely going to do at least a few mystic-religious memes floating around too. Once I've described the memes, I'll be describing various punk movements which incorporate or spin those memes a bunch of ways through their actions.

[Little_Rat]

For the love of Gaia, no mechas. There are enough games out there with the damned 'bots. In a world of increased savegdry, the last thing you're going to trust is to technology, though you might cling to it as your last vesiges of humanity melt away.
Actually, some sort of techno aspect might be neat...but no giant robots. Please.

[Daniel Solis]

LOL, okay okay. No mecha.

I really do like the visuals of a team of were-chimera fighting tooth and claw to save their metrobloc from Gamera. Plus, when you have a were-elephant/lion on your team, do you really need a giant robot? I think the closest I'll get to mecha are mobile "street tanks" used by metrobloc PD.

[Little_Rat]

Great site, lots of info. I enjoyed reading what you had written so far and I look forward to see what other PUNK games manifest. But after reading, I have a few questions.

As you can see by my moniker, I'd obviously migrate to playing a wererat. But therein lies the problem.
What happens to the humans who shift into smaller than human (or at least midly dog sized) critters? One wrong move and SQUISH. End of character.
The answer for insects, taking a page from WWolf's Ananasi, is to become a whole freaking mass of insects, which is pretty creepy. But what about birds (airplane, whoosh, thunk), rats/mice/voles, snakes etc.? Would their animal form be perhaps Jack Russel Terrier sized rats and birds (and quite evident snakes)?
Just thinking as the only drawback to playing one of these animals is the squishability factor...

Also, there might be a range of animals, but are these mostly wild terrestial animals? Being a werehamster might be pretty embarasing. Are there possible shifts to aquatic or semi aqauatic (dolphin)/amphibious(newt) animals?
And what about regular animals? What happened to Fluffy and Bowser? Or even those cute little squirrels?

And is there any factor that determines what type of animal a character might shift into? Would more impulsive people have lions or bears? etc. And when would most games take place? Most PCs having grown up being shifters etc.?

Sorry for all the questions and I'm sure once you post more info, they'll get answers. Thanks.

p.s. If you need writers, I'd love to help, though I'm going back to school in a few weeks.

[Daniel Solis]

The way I'm moving now is having lunar-creation just be a slight extension of normal character creation. The Medrio and Dolsho forms have their own micro-character creation phase where they're given a set of traits they can have by virtue of whatever type(s) of lycanthrope they are. These traits are fixed features of this form, but further traits can be added as the character earns more trait points.

For example:

Ted has run through standard PUNK creation and is now ready to make his character a lunar. He decides that he wants to play a chimera whose parents were a wererat and a werelion. (Don't ask.) The regular PUNK creation has established the traits for his Umano form, now it's time to assign traits to his Medrio and Dolsho forms.

Let's say the rat aspect has the traits small x 3, sharp bite, infectious disease, "eat damn near anything," move quietly x 2, and hide x 4. The lion aspect's traits are big, claws x 2, sharp bite x 3, move quietly, strong, intimidating, and "fights better in home territory." (These are just off the top of my head, I'll come up with something more clearcut later.)

Ted gets maybe 7 trait points that he can distribute to either his Medrio or Dolsho form however he wishes. The catch is that he can only choose traits from his animal aspects. With rat and lion put together, the traits available to him are:

big
strong
small x 3
hide x 4
intimidating
sharp bite x 4
move quietly x 3
infectious disease
"eat damn near anything"
"fights better in home territory"

Ted decides he wants his medrio form to be very combat effective and his dolsho form to be more focused on stealth. He spends 5 trait points on his Medrio form and gets claws x 2, big, intimidating, and strong. He spends the remaining 2 trait points on his dolsho form and gets hide x 2.

The traits Ted got during normal character creation are present in all three forms. However, the traits of his other forms take precedence when he's in those forms. Basically, the only traits not superceded in any form are those referencing to non-physical characteristics.

As Ted's character progresses and earns trait points, he can spend them to add further traits to any of the three forms, but only from the traits made available by his animal aspects.

EDIT:

Whoa, I just found an interesting article on documented cases of human chimera. Somewhat off-topic, but still interesting.