# [[Venus]] *[[Mechanical]] [[ttrpgs/Days of Obligation/Nano|Nano]] who [[Works Miracles]]* ![[numa-venus.png]] ## Background ### Ports and Plugs > You have a connection with machines for one clear reason: you’re practically a machine yourself. Your nervous system is laced with circuitry, and your body has implanted jacks and ports where you plug in modules and other technological bits that provide your capabilities. > > When you produce effects or manipulate nanites, you do so through your body’s direct mechanical interface. Your force blasts might come from a device implanted in your palm or fingertip. Your ability to tap into the datasphere might come from the receiver plugged into a port you built in the back of your neck. > > Obviously, to become a Nano, you have undergone numerous surgeries and procedures (either willingly or unwillingly). You are forever changed. Some people treat you with disdain or derision, but perhaps most of your modifications can be hidden by a hooded cloak or similar garment. > > *Advancement*: Do you want to gain more abilities? Just find new hardware and plug it in. Although talent and practice are still involved, physical upgrades are your primary means of picking up new tricks. Adding points to your stat Pools might mean undergoing new procedures. Adding a new esotery might require putting an implant in your head, although changing one esotery to another could be as simple as unplugging one module and jacking in a replacement. [^montecook] ### Player intrusions Spend 1XP to do any of these: - *Advantageous Malfunction:* A numenera device that is being used against you malfunctions. It might harm the user or one of their allies for a round, or activate a dramatic and distracting side effect for a few rounds. - *Convenient Glimmer*: A glimmer provides you with a clear answer or suggests a course of action with regard to an urgent question, problem, or obstacle you’re facing. - *Inexplicably Unbroken*: An inactive, ruined, or presumed-destroyed device temporarily activates and performs a useful function relevant to the situation. This is enough to buy you some time for a better solution, alleviate a complication that was interfering with your abilities, or just get you one more use out of a depleted cypher or artifact. ## Stats %%[[venus.excalidraw|🖋 Edit in Excalidraw]]%% ```statblock layout: Numenera PC name: Venus image: [[numa-venus-token.png]] descriptor: Mechanical type: Nano focus: Who Works Miracles armor: 2 tier: 2 effort: 2 xp: 0 might: 5 mightedge: 0 speed: 11 speededge: 0 speedcost: 1 intellect: 16 intellectedge: 1 abilities: - [Sense magic, You can sense whether the numenera is active in situations where its presence is not obvious. You must study an object or location closely for a minute to get a feel for whether the touch of the ancients is at work.] - [Hedge magic, 1 Intellect point. You can perform small tricks: temporarily change the color or basic appearance of a small object, cause small objects to float through the air, clean a small area, mend a broken object, prepare (but not create) food, and so on. Action.] - [Healing Touch, 1 Intellect point. With a touch, you restore 1d6 points to one stat Pool of any creature. This ability is a difficulty 2 Intellect task. Each time you attempt to heal the same creature, the task difficulty increases by one step. The difficulty returns to 2 after that creature rests for ten hours. Action.] - [Ward, You have a shield of energy around you at all times that helps deflect attacks. You gain +1 to Armor. Enabler.] - [Scan, You scan an area equal in size to a 10-foot (3 m) cube, including all objects or creatures within that area. The area must be within short range. Scanning a creature or object always reveals its level (a measure of how powerful, dangerous, or difficult it is). You also learn whatever facts the GM feels are pertinent about the matter and energy in that area. For example, you might learn that the wooden box contains a device of metal and synth. You might learn that the glass cylinder is full] - [Alleviate (3 Intellect points), You attempt to cancel or cure one malady (such as disease or poison) in one creature. Action.] - [Flash (4 Intellect points), You create an explosion of energy at a point within close range, affecting an area up to immediate range from that point. You must be able to see the location where you intend to center the explosion. The blast inflicts 2 points of damage to all creatures or objects within the area. Because this is an area attack, adding Effort to increase your damage works differently than it does for single target attacks. If you apply a level of Effort to increase the damage, add 2 points of damage for each target, and even if you fail your attack roll, all targets in the area still take 1 point of damage. Action.] cyphers: - ["Detonation (Plant Transformation)", "Level 8"] - ["Rynrad Skin", "Level 2"] - ["Amplification Parasite", "Levle 7"] skills: - [Trained in understanding numa-numa (Nano), You are trained in understanding numanera.] - [Inability (Mechanical), You have a manner or an aura that others find a bit unnerving. Any task involving charm, persuasion, or deception is hindered.] equipment: - [Clothing] - [Armor, hides and furs] - [Book, book about numa-numa] - [Weapon, razor ring] - [Torches, 2] - [Shins, 0] attacks: - [Onslaught, 2 Intellect points. Attack a foe you see (physical/mental). If the attack is physical, you emit a short-range ray of force that inflicts 4 points of damage. If the attack is mental, you focus your mental energy to blast the thought processes of another creature within short range for 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). Action.] - [Razor leaves, 2 physical damage (razor ring).] ``` *Weapons*: You can use light weapons without penalty. You have an inability with medium weapons and heavy weapons; your attacks with medium and heavy weapons are hindered. ## Abilities - *Onslaught (2 Intellect points)* - You attack a foe using energies that assail either their physical form or their mind. In either case, you must be able to see your target. If the attack is physical, you emit a short-range ray of force that inflicts 4 points of damage. If the attack is mental, you focus your mental energy to blast the thought processes of another creature within short range. This mindslice inflicts 2 points of Intellect damage (and thus ignores Armor). Some creatures without minds (such as automatons) might be immune to your mindslice. Action. - *Ward* - You have a shield of energy around you at all times that helps deflect attacks. You gain +1 to Armor. Enabler. - [Sense “Magic”](zotero://open-pdf/library/items/XBGGC6B8?page=57) - You can sense whether the numenera is active in situations where its presence is not obvious. You must study an object or location closely for a minute to get a feel for whether the touch of the ancients is at work. - *Hedge Magic (1 Intellect point)* - You can perform small tricks: temporarily change the color or basic appearance of a small object, cause small objects to float through the air, clean a small area, mend a broken object, prepare (but not create) food, and so on. You can’t use Hedge Magic to harm another creature or object. Action. - *Healing Touch (1 Intellect point)* - With a touch, you restore 1d6 points to one stat Pool of any creature. This ability is a difficulty 2 Intellect task. Each time you attempt to heal the same creature, the task difficulty increases by one step. The difficulty returns to 2 after that creature rests for ten hours. Action. ## Skills - trained in understanding numanera - *Inability from Mechanical*: You have a manner or an aura that others find a bit unnerving. Any task involving charm, persuasion, or deception is hindered. ## Equipment ### Armor - *Hides and furs*: 1 Armor point, 2 shins ### Weapons - *Razor ring*: 2 points of damage ### Cyphers - *Gravity-nullifying spray* - Level: 1d6+2 - Usable: Spray canister - Effect: A nonliving object up to the size of a human (two humans if the cypher is level 6 or higher) sprayed by this cypher floats 1d20 feet in the air permanently and no longer has weight if carried, though it needs to be strapped down. - *Telepathy implant* - Level: 1d6+2 - Internal: Pill - Wearable: Disk that adheres to forehead, temporary tattoo - Usable: Injector - Effect: The user activates the device and targets one creature within close range. For one hour per cypher level, the device enables two-way long-range mental communication between the user and the target. This lasts for one hour per cypher level. Sometimes multiple cyphers of this type are found together and allow communication between all of them. - *Teleporter (Bounder)* - Level: 1d6+2 - Wearable: Belt, wristband, ring, full bodysuit - Usable: Complex device, handheld device - Effect: User teleports up to 100 × the cypher level in feet (30 × cypher level in m) to a location they can see. They arrive safely with their possessions but cannot take anything else with them. ### Oddities - metallic jar that maintains the temperature of liquid inside indefinitely - chair (like a terracotta pot) that can be stored in an extradimensional space when activated. ## Backstory - *Connection to [[Jackie]]* - This person knows a secret of yours, and you desperately hope that they do not tell anyone. You can choose whether or not you’re aware of their suspicion. - *Connection to starting adventure* - You owe money to a number of people around town and don’t have the funds to pay your debts. - *Background* - I need money to fund my studies. > [!NOTE]- What I suggested to the DM > Venus was born in a lab in the 5th world, artificially engineered to save the dominant species, a race of sentient plants called the Dawnborn. The 5th world was dying, with an impending shift in the orbit of the planet meaning a centuries-long ice age that no plants could survive. In desperation, the Dawnborn created half plant, half machines they called Bluewalkers, programmed to find the best way to save the Dawnborn. > > The Dawnborn expected the Bluewalkers to use their considerable artificial intelligence to deploy a missile, build a shelter, or find a way to sustain the Dawnborn. Instead, the Bluewalkers ran the calculations and determined that the best way for the Dawnborn to survive was to let them die, and put all the effort into creating five harbingers designed to adapt to extreme environments and protect 1,000 seeds of the Dawnborn that each one held contained within them. These harbingers would wake up at predetermined times, each one centuries from the last, to see if the world had yet evolved into one suitable for planting. > > Venus is the last of the five harbingers. She awakened in the Ninth World at the end of her countdown. She knows that the previous four failed, because any one that succeeded would have woken her, but she doesn't know why they failed. As the last harbinger, she knows that the future of the Dawnborn is in her hands. If she fails, they're gone forever. Her task is: > - to determine whether the Dawnborn would survive a Planting on this world > - to find a suitable place for the Dawnborn to live > - to release the seeds within herself the only way she knows how: to burn herself, giving her life in one final, violent act of both destruction and creation. > > Possible knives > - What happened to the previous four harbingers? > - Is Venus the only one of her kind? > - What would happen to the world if the Bluewalkers survived a Planting? Were they a benevolent race? > - To what degree can Venus go against her programming? > - Can she keep the seeds of the Dawnborn safe? > - Is killing herself the only way to bring the Dawnborn back to life? > - If Venus died during the Planting, who would protect the Dawnborn while they grew? > - Can Venus reproduce? > [!info]- DM's response > Venus is not “from” the 5th world. She has been told from oral tradition that her line is ancient and very important. This importance was stressed to the point of knowing that their line was meant to complete something critical. No context was given, or even know. > [!tip] What I know now > Harbinger Venus was created in a lab during the 5th world, artificially engineered to save the dominant species, a race of sentient plants called the Dawnborn. The 5th world was dying, with an impending shift in the orbit of the planet meaning a centuries-long ice age where no plants could survive. In desperation, the Dawnborn created half plant, half machines they called Bluewalkers, programmed to find the best way to save the Dawnborn. > > The Dawnborn expected these Bluewalkers to use their considerable artificial intelligence to deploy a missile, build a shelter, or find a way to sustain the Dawnborn. Instead, the Bluewalkers ran the calculations and determined that the best way for the Dawnborn to survive was to let them die and put all the effort into creating five harbingers designed to adapt to extreme environments and protect 1,000s of Dawnborn seeds. These harbingers would wake up at predetermined times, each one millions of years from the last, to see if the world had yet evolved into one suitable for planting. > > Venus is the fifth model of five harbingers. She awakened in the Ninth World at the end of her countdown. Her matrix demands that she awaken any other harbingers. The future of the Dawnborn is in Venus’ hands. If she fails, the Dawnborn are gone forever. Her task is: —-Transmission becomes out of phase —- “importance of the dawn elixir”… `<end transmission>` ## Personality ## Potential effects - *Minor Effect* - Target is healed for 1 additional point. - *Major Effect* - Target is healed for 2 additional points. ## Wishes Here are some potential quests/wishes I can think of: - Not be alone. Venus is from a different world, and is completely alone right now as a species (as far as she knows). So maybe she could find more plant/cyborg creatures, learn how to activate inert ones, or... reproduce, whatever that means for a plant machine. - Find out what killed the full biological plants of her world. Why did she need to be created? What if she WAS what killed the plants? - Grow more adaptations. [^montecook]: Cook, M. (). *Numenera Discovery*.