One of the key purposes of story is to be aspirational. We tell stories of the future, in which we tell the world what we will be one day soon. The Fiction Suit is part of this process. As previously mentioned, walking naked through the Shadowlands is dangerous to psychonauts. Whether one speaks of the shallow end of the Shadowlands where the Ghostfolk dream their way to their empty graves or the depths of the Shadowlands, the human mind clothes itself in illusions to survive the cold harsh winds of the Bonelands.

So, you are already wearing a Fiction Suit, but one crafted by accident from the cast-offs life as thrown at you. But as a Psychonaut venturing deeper into darker parts of the Shadowlands, you will need something more power and better crafted. Right now your brain is boiling in the cast off juices of Bronze Age kings and Restoration Era Protestant guilt and Robber Baron Capitalist greed. You are not even remotely free. Your mind is held captive by the self-serving ideologies of Warlord and Popes, King and Capitalists, Demagogues and Deacons. The thoughts you are capable of thinking has been hobbled by every tyrant and dictator, every CEO and first citizen who managed to have an impact on the public discourse and popular culture. Hell, you are a slave to William Shakespeare!

If you have read the Unexpected Package at the beginning of this book, you will already have a War Name. If not, you need a War Name. Traditional Cultures around the world typically give children new names as they reach adulthood. These names signal their transformation into something new, something other than then children they were. This is the same thing. The War Name you chose symbolizes your transition into a psychonaut and your journey into the depths of the Shadowlands. War Names can be changed at any time with no penalty.

It bears repeating that your physical appearance in the Shadowlands matches your physical appearance when you start the Incursion. This is called your Avatar, and it is how you step into the depths of the Shadowlands. Keep in mind, that this is you. In a very real sense. Because you are your story and we will discuss that below.

Your Fiction Suit also includes the story about who you wish to become. One of the goals of Blood Red Dreaming is Self Improvement. It is for this reason that the game uses your real life capabilities to measure what you can do in game, and for this reason that the game uses real world activity to generate special abilities in game. So give yourself a mission. How will you be epic? What will you do to write yourself into the legends of culture and leave your mark for eternity? This is not optional. What is your epic goal? What cause greater than yourself are you fighting to achieve? Humans need a cause to give them meaning. And so you must choose yours. You will find yourself confronting a great many dark esoteric ideas in the depths of the Shadowlands, a mission is armor. So clothe yourself in the strongest armor which you can find. You can change your mission at any time with no penalty.

You Fiction Suit will acquire a great many additional features and powers as you progress on your journey, but you can learn about those as they become relevant. For the moment, choose  a War Name, Choose a Mission, and be aware that you are your own Avatar.

Manifesting in the Shadowlands

When the Incursion starts, you will have only what you have brought with you into the Shadowlands, and the things permanently attuned to your Avatar. As this will be your first, you will have nothing attuned. And this makes you vulnerable on that first incursion. This means that you will carry only a mental construct of your body- your Avatar, and the clothes and items which you have on your person when the Incursion starts.

Avatars

Your Avatar is the mental image of yourself which you project into the depths of the Shadowlands to seek out pieces of the story and to weave your name into those stories in a quest to make yourself immortal, to make yourself a legend.

Your Avatar looks like you on your best day. Not a younger you, or a you when you were in peak fitness. Your Avatar looks like you now, but you on your best day. You are able to do in the Shadowlands what you are able to do in the real world (in the Bonelands).

There is some room for adjustment here. Incursion groups are encouraged to discuss how they wish to approach the capabilities of Avatars with mobility issues or other physical challenges such as paraplegia, blindness, etcetera. This decision should be put first to the individuals with such challenges. They may prefer to play with their condition accurate represented, for a variety of personal reasons. Or they may prefer to play with an Avatar that is more free and capable than they are here in the Shallows. The rest of the Incursion Group should decide whether any of this seems unreasonable; keeping in mind that the goals of the game are to tell a good story, to inspire the people playing, and to have fun.

Your clothing and small items on your person will also form a part of your Avatar. The things in your pocket and so forth. Larger items, such as a camping backpack full of gear, can be brought into the Shadowland during Incursions, but require special procedures not explained here. The Storyteller is free to veto any items which seem to large to fall into the above description.

Aura

When the players begin an Incursion, they begin by investing their Avatars with Vajra (see that Section) that they have accumulated through work done between sessions. The Aura is the Avatar’s ability to remain corporeal within the Shadowlands. For this first adventure, the Vajra required has been provided by an unknown outside source. This is a one time benefit. After the first Incursion, players will need to use the Crescent Sun forms at the back of this book. Later books will include more complicated forms to allow increased vajra accumulation. But for the moment just use the form included in this book.

If a player’s Aura shatters then their Avatar is expelled from the Shadowlands, and they are limited to passive assistance for the remainder of the session. A player who achieves a mythic goal in a session regains all invested Vajra. A player who survives the session, but does not achieve a mythic goal gains no Vajra back. Although any Artifacts, Spells or other permanent upgrades earned are retained. A player whose Aura shatters loses all invested Vajra. Although any Artifacts, Spells or other permanent upgrades earned are retained.

Investing your Aura

When Players begin any incursion into the Shadowlands they must spend Vajra. They must spend one vajra of any type to enter the Shadowlands in the Ring or at any location in another Realm for which they have visited the Bonelands counterpart in the last lunar month. To enter any where else, at least one player must have the key to that Realm, and they must spend two vajra of any type. This vajra is not retained, being expended in the using.

After that players determine how much vajra of each type they wish to take with them into the Shadowlands. The vajra types are kept separate, but players may invest as much of their vajra as they like. Any Vajra not invested may not be used in the game.

Maintaining your Aura

An Aura has three states: Stable, Weakened, and Cracked. An Aura begins each session Stable. When a player takes Aura damage, they can burn Aether Vajra to prevent the Aura from dropping states. If a player cannot absorb Aura damage, then each point of unabsorbed Aura Damage reduces the Avatar’s Aura by a Single State.

Any failed actions can potentially cause damage to the aura. Failure to save a dying inhabitant of Arcadia? Lose a debate in the Tax Collector’s Guild hall? Get lost in the Painted Labyrinth? All of these could shatter your Aura. It all depends upon the consequence level set by the storyteller. And not every success of failure that matters depends upon violence or use of force.

Death in the Shadowlands

Psychonauts have a saying, “You live in the Shadowlands. You die in the Bonelands.”

This points to a truism, death is a slap on the wrist in the depths of the Shadowlands. When a psychonaut ‘dies’ in the Shadowlands, what they really mean is that their Aura shattered and they were unable to maintain their Avatar and that it was expelled from the deep Shadowlands.

A psychonaut might ‘die’ several Incursions in a row. They will lose a little bit, the energy expended to enter the Incursion, and those things accumulated in that Incursion. A psychonaut whose Aura shatters is not even entirely out of the action for that Incursion and may still assist the Incursion Team in several ways discussed later. [REDACTED]

Your Guide to Dying in the Field

An incursion into the Shadowlands is not unlike a lucid dream. The psychonaut’s avatar is held together by his aura. As the Shadowlands is the world of stories, one can die in a great many ways beyond the typical. Any conflict, from verbal to physical can run the risk of breaking a psychonaut’s aura.

When a Psychonaut fails an action attempt, and when the consequences would shatter the aura, the Psychonaut can burn Vajra to prevent the consequences. Lacking Vajra to burn, the psychonaut’s party may also burn Vajra to prevent the shattering. One vajra point must be spent for each level of damage to the Aura which the psychonaut wishes to prevent. This expenditure of Vajra does not turn the loss into a success, it simply prevents some or all of the consequences. If none of the psychonauts wish to spend or are able to spend Vajra to prevent the breaking of the Aura, the psychonaut in danger may still use the deck of void to prevent the aura from shattering as well. The psychonaut and his team may spend cards to bring the total of the failed attempt up to a less severe failure or to a success. This does not transform the attempt into a success but will reduce the level of the consequences appropriately.

When Auras Break

Your Avatar is the space suit and life support system keeping your alive and sane in the depths of the Shadowlands. In the Bonelands and the Shadowlands, your Aura is your shields keeping your Aura safe. Think of your Aura like the shields in Star Trek. If a psychonaut fails an action check, their Aura may risk taking damage, and may fail. Aura failure types divide into three types: Weakened, Cracked, and Shattered.

Weakened

A weakened Aura is still able to protect the Psychonaut, but the Avatar is not perfectly synced to the Psychonaut and the Psychonaut no longer has perfect control of the Avatar. When an Aura shimmers and becomes WEAKENED, the Psychonaut suffers -1 to Action Resolution Attempts.

Cracked

A cracked Aura is leaking a psychonaut’s Avatar all across the Shadowlands. The Psychonaut will have substantial difficulty controlling their avatar as the aura shudders under the strain. When an Aura becomes CRACKED, the psychonaut suffers -2 to Action Resolution Attempts. Additionally, the shock of feeling their Aura crack, forces the psychonaut to lose their next action, which must be spent to reconstitute Aura.

Shattered

A Shattered Aura means that the Psychonaut’s Avatar is expelled from the Incursion. When an Aura Shatters, the shattering is either reversible or irreversible. If an Aura has not been shattered irreversibly, then the Psychonaut and their allies can spend vajra to attempt to reconstitute the Aura. Otherwise, the damage is too sudden and too great and the Avatar is expelled back to the Shallows, and the Psychonaut is limited to passive assistance for the remainder of the Incursion.