Alright, so today, I've had a bit of a brainwave. I wanted to put up little drabbles on my favorite RPG antagonists, as well as ways I think are interesting to run them, and explanations on why I think they're good antagonists.
So, we'll start with the very creepiest, the very asshole of the magical world of Mage: The Ascension, The Nephandi.
The Nephandi aren't like regular antagonists. Any mage can call upon the dark power of the Abaddon the Many Mouthed and sell sections of their souls like donuts to get minor infernal gifts. Any mage can rip people apart and use their blood and organs to siphon quintessence. It takes a special kind of person to do all that, for the specific purpose of making the world worse.
The Nephandi are mages, Traditional or Technocratic, that have, at least on some level, made the conscious decision to pass through a Caul, in this life or a past life. The Caul, a horrific, womblike structure that functions as a kind of spiritual black hole, shreds the mage's avatar into confetti, and puts it back together inverted and corrupted. From that point on, the Nephandi has become something that almost literally isn't human. Whereas other humans have a heart, a soul, or at least a belief that drives them forward and keep them sane, Nephandi have nothing more than an empty, gnawing blackness that drives them, makes them eager to feed all reality into that void.
Nephandi form some of the most terrifyingly freakish antagonists in any RPG, or hell, even any work of fiction. There's something truly scary about a character that has no morals, no qualms about doing absolutely anything to accomplish their goals, and has absolutely no remorse. Nephandi don't really get any kind mechanical benefit to joining, but of all the magical factions, they definitely have the least restrictive rituals. Nephandi have absolutely no problem with murdering dozens of people and ripping the quintessence straight out of their patterns. The worst, most awful perversion imaginable is a Teusday for a Nephandus. Magic is a reflection of the avatar and soul, and regardless of how the Nephandus practices, be it with mystical or technological foci and paradigms, Nephandic magic or enlightened science should feel wrong. Nephandi are fundamentally broken, and their magic is the sort of thing that would give H.R. Giger or Clive Barker nightmares. Nephandic magic literally has no purpose but to destroy reality, and every act they undertake, at least on some level, corrodes away just a little bit more of the universe.
One of the most worrying things about the Nephandi are their variation. There is no 'standard' Nephandus, and regardless of whether they worship devils, the Wyrm or just Yog-Sothoth himself, Nephandi have no 'paths' or 'conventions' of their own. Rather than limiting them, however, this means that Technocratic Nephandi mad scientists can work alongside Hermetic Nephandi high practitioners, writing computer viruses using infernal sigils and demonic names within the code. Cult of Ecstacy Nephandi can have their dark orgies with Chorister Nephandi, calling upon the names of fallen angels and dark gods. The Nephandi don't give a crap about paradigm or how an individual Nephandus practices, only that they're all working toward the same goal: oblivion.
The Nephandi, overall, represent the urge of humanity to self destruct, in exactly the same way that mages represent the human urge to create and change the universe. They're insidious and creepy because anyone can become one. That nice man down the road who volunteers for the homeless shelter, could, in his spare time be a Nephandus Progenitor, with a lab full of demonic anthrax in his attic. That nice lady gardener at your school could be a corrupted Verbena, growing mutated, formor plants in the garden. The Nephandi are insidious, sometimes from the start, and they're impossible to truly kill, because their avatars reincarnate the same as any other mage, corrupting children from birth. They represent the true face of evil, one that can be hidden behind a mask of kindness or benevolence, but ultimately covering up the true ugliness within.
Here are a couple of neat fictional examples to inspire Nephandi based games.
The Stand: A really, really awesome novel, that manages to make a black-versus-white moral struggle actually be interesting. Randall Flagg is one of the most fantastic examples of a Nephandus ever put to fiction, being both charismatic and cool, and simultaneously unbelievably evil.
Silent Hill (games): Silent Hill games are fantastic inspirations for any kind of dark magic plot, but the cult of Silent Hill, are fantastic examples of what a Nephandic organization would look like. The Nightmarish imagery and hellish environments are exactly the kind of 'paradise' a Nephandus would be seeking.
Carnivale: A superb TV show, that really should be required viewing for any player of Mage: The Ascension anyway, the baddy, Father Justin, is an excellent example of an awakening Widderslainte, and one of the few works of fiction that actually tries to make their villain sympathetic and interesting, while still making them irredeemable.
- Kephn
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