Tolls

“If our society seems more nihilistic than that of previous eras, perhaps this is simply a sign of our maturity as a sentient species. As our collective consciousness expands beyond a crucial point, we are at last ready to accept life's fundamental truth: that life's only purpose is life itself.”

Chairman Sheng-ji Yang, "Looking God in the Eye"

Colonising and terraforming a planet such as Chiron can be terrifying. Mindworms and other such creatures can inflict horrific psychic wounds. And with longevity treatments and cloning extending lifespans far beyond what may be considered the natural use-by date for the human brain, there is no shortage of ways in which mental trauma may be inflicted upon a character.

When mental trauma goes untreated, it can develop into a Toll, or exacerbate one that already exists.

What is a Toll?

Mechanically, a Toll is a set of penalties or conditions which will be imposed on a character, based on how severe the Toll currently is. These will be tied together by a common theme. For example, a character who is religious might have the Toll ‘Devoted’.

At low levels, this manifests as a desire to mention their religious beliefs whenever the situation allows, while at higher levels the Toll may require them to sacrifice material goods on an altar to their divine power.

Degrees of Severity

The weight of each Toll that a character carries will vary over time. The longer that a human lives and the more atrocities they witness and psychic attacks they endure, the more likely they are to come into contact with events which may cause a Toll to increase in severity, or create a new Toll.

Each Toll will have five degrees of severity:

  • Dormant (Level 0): A Dormant Toll has been eased into background noise and has no impact on the character.

  • Mild (Level 1): A Mild Toll is just beginning to subtly affect a character’s behaviour. This introduces a roleplay condition that should be incorporated when appropriate.

  • Progressing (Level 2): A Progressing Toll has a distinct impact on a character’s ability in one particular area, introducing a penalty to one specific proficiency. This proficiency no longer gives +2 when the ‘Skilled’ card is drawn in a check.

  • Severe (Level 3): A Severe Toll strongly impacts a whole facet of the character’s existence, providing a penalty or complication to an aspect of downtime.

  • Overwhelming (Level 4): An Overwhelming Toll is a truly debilitating condition - all proficiencies in a specific ideology are penalised. These proficiencies no longer give +2 when the ‘Skilled’ card is drawn in a check.

Where a Toll is not Dormant, if the effect is mechanical then the Ref team will take this into account with any checks - but may need a reminder from players if they apply - and for more narrative effects it will be up to the player to RP appropriately in session. A specific example of the different levels has been provided below; this Toll will not be used in-game with the same mechanics.

Devoted: Your character’s devotion to the divine calls for proclamation and sacrifice

  • Mild: Give voice to this devotion when the opportunity presents itself in roleplay.

  • Progressing: Your character’s views on the divine begins to skew their understanding of the world's mysteries. The STUDY proficiency no longer gives +2 when the ‘Skilled’ card is drawn in a check.

  • Severe: Each downtime period, your character must sacrifice at least 1 unit of Energy, Nutrients or Minerals upon the altar of their deity.

  • Overwhelming: Your character's views on the divine skew their entire worldview. Any proficiencies from RESEARCH no longer give +2 when the ‘Skilled’ card is drawn in a check.

Tolls are reduced by receiving psychiatric care from a trained professional - somebody with the COUNSELLING proficiency. While this may be another player character, every faction has at least a handful of non-player characters who can perform this role, though not without cost.

This can be done during uptime for a small benefit. If a character spends an entire downtime action receiving this care, the impact on reducing the severity of any tolls will be much greater. Where this care is being received from a player character during downtime, BOTH characters must spend an action on it.