Primer

Nor is it to be thought, that man is either the oldest or the last of earth’s masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earth’s fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man’s truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They rule again. HP Lovecraft, the Dunwich Horror

a playsheet for

ADDITIONAL RULES NEW TAGS

Mecha: the thing is a humanoid robot with a D-engine that you pilot from the inside. It has a size tag that works pretty much the same way as if it was a unit, except you don’t get any stability bonus and, well, you’re inside. Even without weapon, a mecha can deal 1-harm just by punching things. Small mechs are around 20ft - 6m tall, medium ones around 30ft - 10m tall, large ones around 40ft - 15m tall and behemoth ones are 60ft - 20m or taller. Mech-unit: a three-to-six mech band. The size tag describes the mech, not the unit, thus five medium mech form a medium mech-unit. A mech-unit is considered a size bigger than its individual mech (a medium mech-unit is a step bigger than a medium mech, and thus gets +1harm and recieve -1harm). If mech in the unit are different size, take the biggest one’s size tag. Behemoth: a size tag larger than large. About 100+ men for a unit, 60ft - 20m or taller for a mech. The unit or mech inflicts +1harm to large ones, +2harm to medium ones, +3harm to small ones and +4harm to a couple guys or a power armor. Vehicle: like a mech but with no arm, and thus can’t deal 1-harm by punching things. Can have a size tag.

TAG TRANSLATION FROM APOCALYPSE WORLD TO C-TECH Augury Barter Gang Gigs Followers Fortune Hold

Breach Budget Unit Jobs Contacts Giri Company

High-tech Insight Moonlighting Pack_alpha Surplus Workspace

A-tech Intel Operation Autority Asset Laboratory

LEGAL MENTIONS AND IP

Black sky studios owns all things Cthulhutech, all those pretty pictures included. You can learn more about Cthulhutech at www.cthulhutech.com Vincent Baker wrote and published Apocalypse World. You can learn more about that terrific game at apocalypse-world.com Most layout elements you see in these booklets come from the amazing revised Cthulhutech character sheet that Skyler Alldredge did, available at http://www.scribd.com/doc/38615321/Cthulhutech-Character-Sheet-Revised This is intended as a homage to both C-tech and Apocalypse World, and is in no way an exercice in IP law infrigement. Should the owners of the original works ask me so, I’ll remove them.

a C-tech

¨PRIMER

HOW IT IS TODAY

These are strange aeons. In the 2020’s, Theresa Ashcroft blended sorcery and science. Following her steps, Simon Yi developped D-engine, unlimited power. They both went mad but in ten years time, the Ashcroft fundation was the largest power in the world. In the 2050’s, we took off and established colonies on Mars, Galimedes, Calisto and Titan. Ten years after, the Nazzadi fleet came from nowhere and destroyed them all, then rushed towards Earth. Thus started the Arcanotech war.

LEXICON Arcanotech war: the war against the Nazzadi Invasion Force that ended with the NIF betraying their Migo masters and joining the human race. Arcology: «architecture» + «ecology». A city designed as a whole to shelter and sustain high density of population. In short, a self sufficent, city-sized building. 80% of current NEG population lives in arcologies.

Ghouls: underground humanoids eating the dead’s flesh. Close enough to humans to speak the language. Can be reasoned with and befriended. Global Intelligence Agency (GIA): NEG spies. Espionage, counter-espionage, propaganda control, intelligence gathering and analysis. Great old ones: inhuman entities on a scale so towering they might as well be gods, eg Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Azathoth and Hastur.

Ashcroft fundation: the corporation that saved the world. Provided unlimited power with the D-engines, precursor in the a-tech field and researching cutting -edge medical and psychiatric technologies. Pushes their advisor in every level of the New Earth Government.

Hastur: the unspeakable one who rests on a distant star. Its avatar, the King in Yellow, can be seen meddling with humanity. It brings abandon and violence.

A-pod: short for «antigravity pod». Exactly what is says on the tin.

Mecha: a giant robot with a pilot powered by a D-engine. Plural: Mech.

A-tech: short for «arcanotechnology», the study of sorcery as an explainable and predictable phenomenon. The science behind the D-engine and A-pods (qv).

Metaterrestrials: inhuman beasts from the other side. Migo, gugs, starspawns, nightgaunts, ghouls, ghasts, lloygors, hounds of Tindalos...

It’s the 2080’s. The stars are almost right.

Azathoth: the blind nuclear chaos that dance at the center of the universe.

INFLUENCES It’s a blend of Lovecraftian horror and sci-fi anime. Humanity is fighting back, but in the process is becoming something other. It’s becoming a Mythos race.

Blanks: a human turned by the Migo. While it retains the person’s memories and appearance, a blank is dead inside. The process is irreversible.

Migo: a galactic empire of funghal instectoids. Their mining outpost on Pluto wages the Aeon war against humanity. Created and were betrayed by the nazzadi. Masters of biotech and sorcery. Pilot biomechanic warmachines looking like giant bugs. Turn humans into blanks.

When the Nazzadi discovered they were the tools and toys created by an even more alien race, the Migo, they rebeled and joined humanity against their former masters. The peace came back, the New Earth Government reunited the few survivors. In the 2070, the Migo came back in person. The great old ones and their cults and creatures decided to fight back, both the Migo and the humans. Thus began the Aeon war.

You’ll find bits of: Evangelion, Macross, the Guyver, RahXephon, sentai shows, Aliens, Ghost in The Shell, Kamen Rider, From Beyond, In the Mouth of Madness, Battlefield: LA, Skyline and a shitload of other sci-fi, horror and anime shows. WHAT’S IT LIKE Most of humanity, or the little 2.5 billions that’s left, live in big autonomous citybuildings called arcologies. Each arco is defended by the military against the very occasional monsters attacks while federal agencies struggle inside against the culists and rogues scholars. The Aeon war is going on. On one front, there’s the Migo, funghal insects from space raiding your planet with their giant instectoid biomech. On the other, the cults try to cut their share: the Rapine strom ravages, burns and rapes central Asia, the deep ones from the Esoteric Order of Dagon raid the coasts, and both the Children of chaos and the Disciples of death shadows undermine the NEG from the inside. Most people live their lifes without ever doubting the valiance and success of the NEG armed forces, thanks to heavy government propaganda. They try hard to forget that the stars are rights and fill up their days with work, high-tech leisures, legal designer drugs, government-approved entertainment and casual sex. About 1 person in 2.5 is a nazzadi. They’re tall and beautiful, their skin is pitchblack and their eyes are of exotic colors. The Migo built them from our DNA as a decoy and a weapon against us during the Arcanotech war, but when the lie was exposed most of them turned against their masters and joined the New Earth Government. Humans and nazzadis can crossbreed, and the fruit of a hybrid union is called a Xenomix. While the populace burry their heads, you know better. You know that we might be losing the war. But you know that you can make a difference. You’re out there, trying your best to insure humanity has a future. You’re trying to make the NEG lie come true. Those are the strange aeons.

Liche: a sorcerer using unholy rituals to become immortal.

Children of Chaos: the secret inner circle of the Chrisalys corporation. Cult gone corporate. They plan to destroy humanity by buying it. Workships Nyarlathotep.

Nazzadi: a species bioengineered by the Migo to crush humanity, they rebelled against their master. Very similar to humans (we can cross-breed), their skin is pitch-black and their eyes color are exotic (like purple or yellow).

Chrisalys corporation: a major contractor with an edge. The runner up against the Ashcroft fundation as an a-tech developer. They deal in questionable business.

New Earth Government (NEG): the global government that united the survivors of the Arcanotech War. Rose from the ashes of the UN.

Cthulhu: a great old one trapped in the sunken city of Rl’yeh, neither alive nor dead. Its dreams meddle with ours. When the stars are right, it will rise again.

Nyarlathotep: the crawling chaos with many faces. It likes to take human form and meddle with humans on their terms. Its avatar the Pharaoh is currently head of Chrysalis corp. It can take maddening forms.

Cults: the other enemies of the Aeon Wars, ie the Esoteric order of Dagon, the Children of chaos, the Disciples of death shadow and the Rapine storm. D-engine: short for «dimensional engine», the first a-tech breakthrough. Essentially a perpetual motion engine powered by non-euclidian physics.

Office of Arcane Security (OAS): NEG law enforcement service policing sorcery, cults and beasts. Can strip a person from their human rights - an unlicenced sorcerer cannot be considered fully «human».

Deep ones: pisciform humanoids living in the depth of oceans. Coexists with humanity since time immemorials. Can crossbreed to procuce hybrids.

Other side: things we can’t see but that are there nonetheless. Non-euclidian spaces, other planes of existence, parallel dimensions and the like. As the stars fall into places, humanity is becoming more and more attuned to the other side.

Dhohanoid: the result of an eldritch ritual called the Dhoh equation turning a human into an unnatural beast with a human mask. They can partially or totally turn into a grotesque alien form. They’re the product of the Children of Chaos.

Rapine storm: a gigantic army of savage mutants, unholy beasts and inhuman soldiers ravaving middle Asia. Workships Hastur.

Disciples of death shadow: a cult infiltrated deep into the NEG, perverting our culture to make us a parody of humanity. Workships Hastur.

Tager: a member of the Eldritch Society who underwent the Ritual of Sacred Union and can turn into a horrible battle monster.

Engel: a bioengineered demon encased in a high-tech armor. You pilot one by hooking your brain to theirs through an engel synthesis interface.

Team 99: Chysalis corp. arcanotech and sorcery R&D department.

Esoteric order of Dagon: the religious power behind the deep ones and their hybrid children. Trying to attract people through several new-agey cults and cross-breed with humans. Workships Dagon, obviously, and Cthulhu. Federal Security Bureau (FSB): the feds. Nuff said.

Xenomix: a hybrid between a nazzadi and a human. Their skin is silver gray. White: a human-nazzadi hybrid who’s snow-white head to toe. It happens approx. 1% of the time. Whites are especially attuned to the other side.