Cursed

The categories of the Curse
“Power naturally flows to those who deserve it least.”

-Motto of the Oblivionite mercenary group “Gentle Vengeance”

The intrinsic nature of the Curse rests in the bedrock of things best left not understood. Cursed individuals derive their powers from realms beyond human comprehension. Divine intervention gave mankind the rite of lobotomy to use these individuals for the betterment of society instead of falling back to the times in which they ruled by sheer magical force.

Control of these individuals through lobotomy rites gives the Autocratic States of Humanity unparalleled industry in a world mostly bereft of production on a mass scale. Indeed, without the Cursed powering factories or being forced into medical roles, infants would once again face an uncertain future, the elderly would succumb to their mortality much sooner, and farms would not reap the bounty of enhanced fertility. Some believe that if uncontrolled Cursed occupied such a position of power, they would give what the ASH take via lobotomy. Unfortunately, a glimpse into their minds says otherwise. For a pyromancer, flash broiling a live cow requires as much thought as judging distance for a mundane human. It’s a nearly instantaneous understanding no matter the complexities of the written equation. Moral considerations seem as alien to the Cursed as their powers are to normal humans.

Cursed cannot think in the proper fashion. Their powers derive from an understanding of these realms with the mundane world as alien to them as those unseen realities are to a normal citizen. Both free and Lobotomized Cursed are still not fully understood by the ASH, how they fit into the natural order can only be hypothesized.

Rite of Lobotomy
Though Lobotomy removes their agency it does not fix the insane perspective they suffer from. Their minds are at the whim of alien realms of existence. Nations will fall to the whim of the Cursed if not brought to heel by lobotomy.

Lobotomized Cursed take orders while non-lobotomized Cursed are in the position to exert their alien will. A ritualized extraction of brain matter from the Cursed by a sanctioned priest of one of the three religions will render them malleable and able to take instruction, their free will removed.

The lobotomized Cursed are used to power industry and sometimes used as weapons. They are kept concealed in factories so workers disbelief in the Cursed powers do not interfere with their efficacy as much as if they were directly observed.

The nature of Cursed
ASH scholars have developed many theories about the nature of the Cursed and their relationship with mundane humanity. The Misanthropic Principle was first posited during Xan’s Deluge. The Deluge was a near extinction event caused by a communal Cursed consciousness calling itself Xan. Its war swept through the Autocracy, ending only with Xan’s defeat outside of Kreisgrad. The Principle dictated that dualistic reality itself was either not fully suited, or actively hostile to the continuance of human life.

Consciousness native to mundane reality is simply unsuited to such an expansive cycle of nature. Schools of thought sprung up around this discovery. Most learned people believe the appearance of actual self-awareness within the context of the world is simply an outgrowth of nature or a throwback to the still unknown past of mankind. Debate rages on about where that leaves mankind as well as their patron gods in the wider context of existence.

Besides all of the theoretical framework that necessarily follows such oddities, humans are not without defense. There is some sort of anchor that mankind clings upon in the very fabric of the world, a metanormalcy that allows humans the ability to stand stalwart against the unreal powers. Reason is mankind’s only defense.

There are many different kinds of Cursed, their spheres of influence dictate their abilities and shreds of personality. The miserable creatures are trapped between two worlds at all times, meaning their thought processes are alien but their interactions are able to be broadly categorized. However, there is not an ironclad understanding of the Cursed, only broad observations which can be disastrous when taken as an end-all guide. They are governed and represent concepts, the more understood or “human” a concept is, the more human the Cursed is likely to seem.

Followers of the Cursed
Cursed who are not lobotomized also illicit a parasitical attachment to their families and those younger than 25 who are around them for a long period of time and are not hostile. Families who have a Cursed child will be subservient to that child’s whims, even if it is at the expense of themselves. An encampment including a Cursed will eventually center around ensuring the Cursed has their needs met before anyone else.

Whole communes of younger people seeking a different lifestyle are reported in the less vigorously controlled regions. These communes have a worrying tendency to grow in size as “recruiters” find more younger people to bring into the fold by preaching a perverse version of one of the three faiths. With State Security facing a manpower shortage, Imbued teams and the Inquisition often find themselves pressed into service to root out these “movements”.

Fleshcrafters will also gravitate toward Cursed out of some unspoken common ground or attachment. This slow subsuming of others takes time and is instantly broken when the Cursed is killed or lobotomized but the people drawn in by them make an encounter even more dangerous.

Cursed seem to have an instinctive ability to understand the norms of society, despite having personality quirks or seeming insane that can allow them to remain somewhat hidden. Proponents of the Conscious Malevolence Theory believe this hints at an even darker force at work.

Observer effect
Magic can only be negated when it is observed. Factory complexes and farms that use Cursed powers to function require their lobotomized power sources to be concealed behind barriers so a particularly insightful worker never interferes with magic. Many workers don’t even know what powers assembly lines.

Cursed biomes
Cursed will have an effect on the surrounding area depending on their power, temperament, or preference. A pyromancer may inhabit a charred forest filled with smoke and ember. Another pyromancer with a different worldview could make their home in that same forest, making it host to a predatory ecosystem filled with red and orange tinged ferns. A hydromancer hiding in a castle could create a waterlogged miasma of rotting wood. Another may make the same castle host to perpetual rains, connecting the moat to a nearby river.

No two Cursed are exactly alike. Their powers deal with the concepts of the element they control as much as their physical effects. The environment shapes itself around the Cursed each has a unique environment based on their powers and predilections.