Page 226 - Chronicles of Darkness

THE SCARLET PLAGUE

Everywhere, all over the world, men are dying. Young men, that it’s been uncovered, the God-Machine is ready to move
old men, boy children, they’re simply dropping dead left and on to new species, new plans, and maybe even new planets.
right. Science has no explanation, and the world’s religions have Essentially, what we understand as “junk DNA” is the
a million impossible answers. What no one has is a way to stop it. God-Machine’s back door into the human body. Now that
Infrastructure it’s done, it’s sent its agents out into the world to access the
back door, triggering the species to shut down, more or less.
Centuries of breeding have rendered some men immune to
The papers are saying every single male of the species is the triggered death and some women immune to the infertil-
dying out, but that isn’t exactly true. More like six or seven out ity. Either the God-Machine isn’t worried about it, or it plans
of ten men are getting sick. They come down with a cough, to wipe out the remainder in more overt ways.
followed by a fever, and then unexpectedly and too quickly for
a normal disease, the men just die. The cause of death, near Linchpins
as anyone can tell, is blood in the lungs, though it’s incredible
that so many able-bodied people can die like that. Not only The first sign of something that connects the deaths to
are men dying out, but women are becoming infertile, though the God-Machine is the bizarre behavior of the lung blood
this effect happens more slowly and insidiously. of the dead men. The blood, when removed from the body,
The characters have to search out the reason for the dries into cubic, crystalline structures at a visible rate. Later,
slow death of humanity. As they search, they find the God- further research will find similar blood crystals as polyps
Machine. It’s done with humanity, and has set into motion in the reproductive organs of many of the infertile women.
plans to wipe it from the face of the Earth. Cubic growths, squares, and orderly-growing inorganics
The Truth: The disease is a global, species-specific elimi- should appear as motifs in the Tale, a manifestation of the
nation Infrastructure, and the God-Machine has activated it God-Machine as it takes a more active role in the world.
to destroy humanity so that it can get down to what it really The angel the God-Machine sent to facilitate this extinction
needs the planet for. The characters — indeed, all humans — is Serotonin (see p. 263). Since the Infrastructure is so wide-
are simply products of an occult matrix that began hundreds spread, there really is no Linchpin for the characters to find.
of thousands of years ago. Methods
Interchangeable Parts Academics: The behaviors of several tribal nations have shifted

The characters might be scientifically-minded explorers or dramatically as the Scarlet Plague sweeps the surface of the earth.
philosophers seeking the truth behind the imminent extinction Anthropological studies suggest the behavior is too similar for co-
of their species. Perhaps they are a think tank, hooked up with incidence, and yet it is impossible to suggest cross communication.
an archaeologist and a mercenary given carte blanche to travel Roll Intelligence + Academics to compare behaviors and analyze
the world and hunt down the cause of the death and infertility. what’s made contact with all these isolated cultures.
Consider throwing an empath or psychic in the mix. Computer: There is a pattern, you’re sure of it, a pattern
Maybe have someone play a medium or just a sad sack who too large and maddening to organize and study on the micro
had a brush with the God-Machine in the past. This story level. You’re going to need to study the cubic patterns on a
works well as the last (or next to last) story in a long God- macro level. Roll Intelligence + Computers to build a program
Machine chronicle, so if the characters have seen many of that can assist you in understanding the pattern.
the horrors of the God-Machine, they should have enough Brawl: Riots break out in major cities almost every day.
feeling that they may understand it on some intrinsic level. Roll Wits + Brawl to find the path of least resistance through
In discovering more about it, the character may find the the throngs and get out without actually having to fight.
solution to their species-wide nightmare. Survival: Supposedly, an apocalypse cult up in the
Blueprints Allegheny Mountains has a cure for the disease. It’s well off
the beaten path, though. Roll Intelligence + Survival to dead
reckon your way there.
It’s about uranium, pure and simple. Expression: The poetry of the dying, written by men
The God-Machine had need of uranium. Not even a great on their deathbeds, has some common elements. It talks
amount of uranium. Whether it created humanity to mine about angels, cubes, lines, and pain from deep within. Roll
uranium or manipulated humanity to that point is impossible Intelligence + Expression to analyze the common elements.
to tell. The point is, the God-Machine’s purpose for humanity Socialize: Well, the world isn’t going to end in our lifetime,
was to mine a certain amount of uranium from the earth. Now so why not drink and party until there’s nothing left? The

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The Scarlett Plague