1879: A Burning Sensation

The forthcoming 1879 GM’s Companion will, among other things, expand on the Treatise Regarding the Astral Plane chapter of the 1879 GM’s Guide, introducing new spirit powers, and more importantly new named spirits. Let’s have a look at one of these, a newborn fire elemental.

Cinder

Born in a tenement fire just two weeks ago, summoned into existence by one of the flat-dwellers burning to death when the building collapsed, Cinder has a long way to go before it can be counted among the ranks of the Blazing Ones. Already, though, it has learned that when it burns a person, it gains mana from the attack, from scorching the life force away from its victim and subsuming it into itself. Not cruel, just hungry, Cinder has no understanding of what it is doing – it’s too new, too raw, too beholden to basic drives and has not yet developed the intelligence to pick and choose how it feeds. Rats won’t do, nor pigeons. They can be tricked into picking up the glowing spark, the shiny thing, the warmth that lays out false promises as bait, but the reward from scorching them is nothing compared to the gush of energy from something intelligent, something Boojum, something human, something with consciousness of its own mortality. The cruelty of the very young carries no malice, only the focus on the needs of the self, the gratification of the desires of the moment, and at the moment, Cinder is ravenous.

Force 1 Fire Elemental, “Cinder”

DEX: 5 STR: 4 TOU: 4
PER: 3 WIL: 5 CHA: 3
Initiative: 7 Physical Defense: 8
Actions: 1 Mystic Defense: 8
Attack: 6 Social Defense: 5
Damage: Physical Armor: 5
Burn: 9 Mystic Armor: 1
Death: 28 Recovery Tests: 2
Unconsciousness: NA Knockdown: NA
Wound Threshold: 8 Movement: 6
Adventure Award: Novice Tier
Karma Points: 2 Karma Step: 4
Powers: Astral Sight (4); Elemental Aura (1); Detect True Element (1); Manifest (1); Manipulate Element (6); Spellcasting (4)

Rules

Cinder manifests as a bright spark, a pinpoint of heat and light, a cast-off from a larger fire that simply won’t go out. It floats about the city, feeding occasionally on anything flammable as it feels the need, and looks for opportunities for greater input. A creature of base drives, Cinder will land right under the thumb of someone about to grasp firmly, searing a tiny burn into their flesh and rejoicing in the surge of astral energy, the spike of pain and mana released by the wound. How many like it are loose in London right now, sparks that flew out from a great conflagration, seeking more fuel?

Tally Ho!