TEXT: ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  BY BRUCE R. CORDELL
  
  2
  © 2015 Monte Cook 
  Games, LLC
  The Strange and its 
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  thereof, are trademarks of 
  Monte Cook Games, LLC.
  The wide-open nature of The Strange gives 
  games something of a free-wheeling sensation. 
  Anything seems possible. When a character 
  translates away from Earth to a Mad Science 
  recursion where people fight with laser swords, 
  odds are good that the character will pick up 
  training using that laser sword, at least until 
  she translates to a Magic recursion and takes 
  on the context of a spellcaster. That’s because 
  the rules of The Strange allow a player to shift 
  her focus every time she changes recursions, if 
  she wishes. Changing foci so frequently is one 
  step away from the basic Cypher System ruleset, 
  where a character maintains her focus, for the 
  most part, throughout her adventuring career.
  Type and descriptor are the other two facets 
  of a Cypher System character. Usually, type is the 
  foundation upon which the character is built, 
  and we’re not here to meddle with that. But what 
  about descriptor? The rules allow for a character 
  to change from descriptors like Lucky to 
  Addicted or from Stealthy to Unforgiving (or vice 
  versa) as the vicissitudes or fortunes of her story 
  play out. But the game isn’t so elastic when it 
  comes to descriptors used as a character’s race.
  Wouldn’t it be fun to begin a character who 
  wasn’t from Earth? For example, what if you 
  began a fantasy campaign in Ardeyn, Ruk, or the 
  Sword Realms, and you gave players the choice 
  of Ardeynic, Rukian, or Elf descriptors? It’s been 
  suggested by a few GMs that a fun way to turn 
  The Strange on its head would be to play in a 
  game where players have no idea that recursions 
  exist. They might think that a spell to open a 
  portal to another plane might take them to 
  Hell. Instead, they end up on Earth. Maybe they 
  eventually discover the truth about their home—
  that it’s only a limited world birthed by fictions 
  scribed on Earth.
  ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  This supplement also provides a bit of 
  guidance for GMs who want to give players one 
  more knob to turn when translating. In addition 
  to changing their foci, some players may wish 
  to take on a stronger racial attribute in a new 
  recursion by changing their normal descriptor to 
  a racial descriptor.
  RECURSION-BASED DESCRIPTORS
  Recursion-based descriptors are provided as an 
  option for characters who are especially attached 
  to a recursion, either after they translate to it or 
  because they are native to it. Sometimes these 
  attachments are to the recursion itself and other 
  times to the political sensibilities of a place, its 
  cultural norms, or a particular native race.
  Whether the relationship between the character 
  and the recursion is positive or negative, the 
  attachment pulls at the PC, defining who she 
  is. Not everyone from a recursion has these 
  characteristics—in fact, having such strong ties 
  to a recursion is unusual—but those who do 
  embody the very essence of a recursion in their 
  skills, mindset, and actions.
  In addition to the skills noted for each 
  recursion-based descriptor, a character is also 
  trained in the lore of the associated recursion.
  Throughout this book, you’ll see page 
  references to various items accompanied by 
  this symbol. These are page references to 
  The Strange corebook, where you can find 
  additional details about that item, place, 
  creature, or concept. It isn’t necessary to look 
  up the referenced items in the corebook; it’s an 
  optional way to learn more about the game and 
  provide additional information to your players.
  Credits
  Writer/Designer
  Bruce R. Cordell
  Developer
  Monte Cook
  Creative Director
  Shanna Germain
  Editor/Proofreader
  Ray Vallese
  Cover Artist
  Matt Stawicki
  Graphic Designer
  Bear Weiter
  Artists
  Baldi Konijn, Giorgio 
  De Michele (Erebus), 
  Grzegorz Pedrycz, 
  Roberto Pitturru, 
  Cyril Terpent
  Monte Cook Games 
  Editorial Board
  Scott C. Bourgeois,
  David Wilson Brown, 
  Eric Coates, Gareth 
  Hodges, Mila Irek, 
  Jeremy Land, Laura 
  Wilkinson, Marina 
  Wold, George Ziets
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  3
  RACIAL OPTION DESCRIPTORS
  When recursors translate, they can choose to 
  (or sometimes are compelled to) change their 
  outward appearance to conform to the context 
  of the creatures in the new recursion. In The 
  Strange corebook, several recursions provide 
  options for adjusting the character subtly 
  in such a way that doesn’t require changing 
  descriptors. For example, characters who choose 
  the kro racial option in Crow Hollow gain a kro 
  appearance, the ability to fall safely from any 
  height, and the power to glide while falling, all 
  without having to choose a kro descriptor. 
  As an alternative, this section presents racial 
  descriptors that take the place of a character’s 
  regular descriptor. Normally, these racial descriptors 
  are active only while a character remains in the 
  recursion where the race is native. However, at 
  the GM’s option, these racial descriptors could 
  also be dragged in the same way that a focus is 
  dragged. Some of the more extreme racial options 
  (Vampire and Mutant, for instance) rely on the law 
  of Magic and/or Mad Science to be fully effective. 
  Modifications for abilities used under other laws are 
  suggested in racial descriptors on a case-by-case 
  basis. For example, the Vampire descriptor limits 
  the points a character regains from biting a foe to 
  recursions that operate under the law of Magic.
  ARDEYNIC
  Ardeyn, the Land of the Curse, is where you feel 
  most at home. You are enthralled by the stories 
  from the Age of Myth, you yearn for a return of 
  the Maker and the Seven Incarnations, and you 
  believe your coming to be foretold by prophecy 
  as one who will be pivotal in vanquishing evil 
  (or, perhaps, unleashing it). The more you 
  can focus the attention of other creatures on 
  yourself, the more you’re certain that fate itself 
  will wake up, take note of you, and bend as you 
  desire.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Rhapsodic: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
  Skill: You are quick on the uptake. You are 
  trained in initiative.
  OPTION FOR CHANGING RECURSIONS
  If the GM allows, a character can switch 
  her descriptor permanently or whenever 
  she translates to the associated recursion. 
  In either case, she loses any benefits of the 
  previous descriptor, either permanently 
  or while the recursion-based descriptor 
  is active (in much the same way that a 
  character loses the benefits of an inactive 
  focus while a different focus is active).
  A character with a recursion-based 
  descriptor is also trained in the lore of 
  the associated recursion. This opens up 
  an interesting possibility. If a character 
  wishes to switch her descriptor to one of 
  the recursion-based descriptors, the GM 
  might allow it only after she first gains that 
  training in the recursion’s lore through 
  normal character advancement.
  Ardeyn, page 160
  Age of Myth, page 162
  Maker, page 160
  Seven Incarnations, 
  page 162
  Draggable foci, page 52
  Kro racial option, 
  page 243
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  4
  Skill: You are cognizant of opportunities 
  to draw positive attention to yourself. You 
  are trained in all tasks in which ten or more 
  onlookers are able to watch you, such as during 
  competitions, speeches, and other actions you 
  perform in front of crowds.
  Inability: You sometimes leap before you look. 
  The difficulty of all tasks related to assessing 
  danger is increased by one step.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a pendant of a 
  glowing crystal fragment. You don’t know the 
  significance of the item, but you suspect it to be 
  great.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You found a map of an old qephilim 
  ruin, and when you entered it to explore, you 
  discovered the other PCs already there looking 
  for ancient treasure.
  2. You asked the PCs to help you bring a 
  brigand to justice.
  3. You got on the bad side of a dragon. To get 
  away, you joined the other PCs.
  4. You think that if you go along on the 
  adventure, fate will reward you with a clue 
  toward finding the lost Incarnations.
  CROWAN
  The music of the Crow Hollow market sings 
  in your blood. Merchants hawking their wares, 
  the smell of exotic perfumes and spices from 
  strange recursions, the thrill of finding something 
  unexpected, and the satisfaction of selling 
  something for a comfortable profit—these are 
  your favorite things. And all of it adds up to one 
  of your favorite metaphors: the invisible hand of 
  the market. You’re confident that each merchant, 
  working individually for profit, benefits all the 
  associated recursions, even if some of those 
  merchants aren’t particularly benevolent.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Calculating: +4 to your Intellect Pool.
  Skill: You never let a good deal slip past. 
  You are trained in all tasks involving haggling, 
  appraising value, and accounting.
  Skill: You have become sensitized to those 
  trying to sell shoddy goods. You are trained in 
  detecting falsehoods.
  Inability: You have a weakness for games of 
  chance. Unfortunately, that weakness doesn’t 
  translate into success at the same. The difficulty 
  of all tasks involving gambling and other games 
  of chance is increased by one step.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a chest containing 
  200 crow coin.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You sold a PC a particularly hard-to-find 
  item, and she asked you to join the group.
  2. The potential reward might net you enough 
  profit to expand your operations.
  3. You didn’t pay protection money, and, 
  feeling the heat, you decided that joining the 
  PCs was a good way to make yourself scarce for 
  a while.
  4. There’s no better market research than 
  traveling into unfamiliar recursions. You never 
  know when you’ll stumble onto a new trade 
  opportunity.
  DWARF
  You’re a squat, broad, and bearded native of the 
  Sword Realms. You’re also as stubborn as the 
  stone in which the dwarves carve their homes 
  under the mountains. Tradition, honor, pride in 
  smithcraft and warcraft, and a keen appreciation 
  of the wealth buried under the roots of the world 
  are all part of your heritage. Thieves and others 
  who wish you ill should be wary of your temper. 
  When a dwarf is wronged, he never forgets.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Stalwart: +2 to your Might Pool.
  Skill: You are trained in Might defense rolls.
  Skill: You are trained in tasks related to stone, 
  including sensing stonework traps, knowing the 
  history of a particular piece of stonecraft, and 
  knowing your distance beneath the surface.
  Skill: You are practiced in using one axe variety 
  of your choice.
  Skill: You are trained in using the tools 
  required to shape and mine stone.
  Inability: You’re a little headstrong and 
  overconfident. The difficulty of Intellect defense 
  rolls is one step higher for you.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain an axe of the kind 
  you are practiced with.
  Qephilim, page 163
  Crow Hollow, page 242
  Crow coin, page 243
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  5
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You found the PCs wandering a maze of 
  tunnels and led them to safety.
  2. The PCs hired you to dig out the entrance 
  to a buried ruin.
  3. You tracked down the thieves of your 
  ancestor’s tomb and found they were the PCs. 
  Instead of killing them, you joined 
  them.
  4. Before a dwarf settles 
  down, he needs to see the 
  world.
  ELF
  You haunt the canopy of the Ravenwing Wood 
  in the Sword Realms (or a similar recursion). 
  You are the arrow in the night, the shadow in 
  the glade, and the laughter on the wind. As an 
  elf, you are slender, quick, graceful, and long 
  lived. You manage the sorrows of living well past 
  many mortal lifetimes with song, wine, and an 
  appreciation for the deep beauties of growing 
  things, especially trees, which can live even 
  longer than you do.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Agile: +2 to your Speed Pool.
  Long Lived: Your natural lifespan (unless 
  tragically cut short) is thousands of years in 
  length.
  Skill: You are specialized in tasks related to 
  perception.
  Skill: You are practiced in using one bow 
  variety of your choice.
  Skill: You are trained in stealth tasks. In areas 
  of natural woodland, you are specialized in 
  stealth tasks.
  Inability: You’re quick but not especially tough. 
  The difficulty of all Might defense rolls is one 
  step higher for you.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a bow of the kind 
  you are practiced with and a quiver of arrows 
  or bolts to go with it.
  SWORD REALMS
  The Sword Realms were seeded by 
  innumerable novels, stories, games, 
  movies, and campaigns about swords and 
  sorcery. The Sword Realms are not a single 
  recursion, but rather the name for several 
  connected recursions shaped by wizardry, 
  hidden elvish enclaves, ambitious human 
  kingdoms, rapacious dragons, barbarian 
  outlanders, marauding orc tribes, trolls and 
  mountain giants, half-forgotten deities, and 
  amazing treasures of gold and magic. 
  For more details on 
  the Sword Realms, see 
  Worlds Numberless and 
  Strange, page 143.
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  6
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. Before putting an arrow in the forest 
  intruders, you confronted them and met the 
  PCs, who were on an important quest.
  2. Your heart yearned for farther shores, and 
  the PCs offered to take you along to new places.
  3. Your home was burned by strangers from 
  another place, and you gathered the PCs along 
  the way as you tracked down the villains.
  4. An adventure was in the offing, and you 
  didn’t want to be left behind.
   
  FEARLESS
  Whether you hail from Innsmouth, Gloaming, 
  R639, or a recursion like Ardeyn or the Sword 
  Realms where Magic breeds terrible threats, you 
  survived predators of supernatural power and 
  hunger. Predators with the ability to magically or 
  psychically unravel someone’s composure and 
  leave him a trembling victim. But not you. You’re 
  hardened to all such assaults and have become 
  fearless.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Quick: +2 to your Speed Pool.
  Fearless: You do not suffer negative 
  consequences from effects caused by fear. If 
  you are already immune to fear thanks to some 
  other ability, you gain +1 to Armor instead.
  Night Holds No Terrors: You can see a long 
  distance in complete darkness as if it were dim 
  light. If you already have an ability to see in the 
  dark, you are trained in initiative instead.
  Inability: You often take bravery too far and fail 
  to appreciate something truly life threatening. 
  The difficulty of tasks related to assessing 
  danger is increased by one step.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a polished wooden 
  stake whose business end has been fitted with a 
  silver spike.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. Long ago, your parents were killed by a lone 
  creature of the night. Now, the PCs apparently hold 
  a clue that might finally lead you to the perpetrator.
  Innsmouth, page 253
  Gloaming, page 249
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  7
  2. The PCs fell into a trap you laid by accident. 
  When you let them loose, you were intrigued by 
  their purpose and joined them.
  3. You and the PCs formed a group to 
  explore the basement of a particularly ominous 
  structure.
  4. You may be fearless, but you’re not tireless. 
  You joined the PCs because you needed a break 
  from the trials of your home recursion.
  GREY
  You are native to or have “immigrated” to New 
  York Grey (or a similarly themed recursion). 
  You are a grey—a creature from an alien world. 
  At least, an alien world as imagined by human 
  fiction. Regardless, for reasons you may not 
  even grasp, you’re an outsider among other 
  greys. Perhaps you suffered memory loss, 
  were a human who was genetically converted 
  to look like a grey in an experiment, or are a 
  recursor who chose this temporary racial option. 
  Regardless, your heritage is visible for all to see.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Alien Cunning: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
  Skill: You are trained in three noncombat tasks 
  of lore or knowledge of your choice.
  Skill: You often find it advantageous to pass as 
  human. You are trained in disguise tasks to look 
  like a normal (if slightly short) human.
  Skill: Your nervous system runs quick. You are 
  trained in Speed defense tasks.
  Inability: You’re off-putting to others not of 
  your race. The difficulty of all tasks related to 
  pleasant social interaction and persuasion 
  involving humans and similar creatures is one 
  step higher for you.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin 
  play with this descriptor, you gain one of the 
  following items (your choice):
  • a small, handheld ray emitter pistol that 
  inflicts 6 points of damage at long range
  • a wristwatch that can project a personal 
  bubble of force that grants +3 to Armor but 
  prevents you from making attacks against 
  other creatures while it is active
  R639
  In some ways, R639 resembles Seattle 
  in December. Cloud cover is constant, 
  grey, and oppressive. Coats and gloves 
  only partly protect from a seeping damp 
  chill that pervades everything. But R639 
  takes gloominess orders of magnitude 
  further, because the recursion is a 
  version of Seattle without power and, 
  more immediately noticeable, one where 
  everyone has vanished. Streets are empty. 
  Cars are parked as if their owners expected 
  to return. Chalky dust covers everything 
  that’s not exposed to the weather. Nothing 
  moves in the parks but for the sway of 
  empty swings in the wind. Silence lies as 
  heavy as a shroud over the Seattle of R639.
  For more details on 
  R639, see Worlds 
  Numberless and 
  Strange, page 107.
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  8
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You joined the PCs to get away from a 
  situation that was about to reveal your true 
  nature.
  2. You want to improve the reputation of 
  greys, and you saw the PCs’ mission as a way to 
  do so.
  3. You hoped that the PCs’ mission would 
  eventually help to reveal more about your lost 
  memory or history.
  4. You need more data, and the PCs seem like 
  good biological samples to examine while facing 
  various challenges and novel situations.
  HALFLING
  The bumbling people of the Sword Realms 
  think you’re small, but that ain’t how you see 
  it. Humans and others their size are large, 
  clumsy, and loud. This makes it easy for you to 
  disappear quickly and quietly when they come 
  over the hills with all the subtlety of tumbling 
  boulders. It also makes it easy for you to play 
  practical jokes on them, if you’re of that mind. 
  And like most halflings, you appreciate a good 
  meal as much as (or more than) a good laugh. 
  You can put down several helpings a day and 
  still have room for more. You’re good natured 
  as a rule, but when times are tough, you tighten 
  your belt and persist, hoping for better times 
  (and fuller larders) to come.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Quick: +2 to your Speed Pool.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks related 
  to preparing and cooking a good meal, and 
  brewing a proper ale.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to 
  stealth.
  Skill: You are practiced in throwing stones, 
  using a sling, or throwing knives (light 
  weapons).
  Skill: You are specialized in Speed defense 
  tasks.
  Inability: You’re dexterous but not fast. The 
  difficulty of all movement-related tasks is one 
  step higher for you. 
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a traveling cooking 
  kit, complete with dinnerware for two.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You were hired to help sneak into 
  someplace dangerous and steal something the 
  PCs wanted.
  2. One of your friends (a PC) was going on the 
  adventure, and you didn’t want to be left behind.
  3. You were in the wrong place at the wrong 
  time and got swept up against your better 
  judgment.
  4. The safety of your family depended on you 
  helping the PCs deal with a threat.
   
  HOMINID
  As someone from a recursion where early 
  hominids rule the world, you’re human . . . ish. 
  However, a paleoanthropologist would 
  recognize you as having more in common with 
  various extinct species of primitive hominid. 
  Your forehead slopes, you’re covered more 
  in fur than in hair, and you might even have 
  a tail. Depending on the kind of hominid you 
  are, you’re either quick and agile, or strong and 
  hardy. In either case, your primitive instincts are 
  much closer to the surface, and sometimes they 
  get the better of you.
  NEW YORK GREY
  Aliens known as greys surreptitiously 
  studied humans, sometimes abducting 
  them to do advanced research. Eventually, 
  the greys learned everything they needed, 
  and they emerged from the shadows in a 
  historic event (known as the Revelation) in 
  front of the United Nations Headquarters 
  in New York. The greys promised to partner 
  with humanity, help them through their 
  many troubles, and usher in a new golden 
  age where grey and human worked side 
  by side for a better tomorrow. And if you 
  believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. 
  The reality is that the greys have taken 
  on the role of society elites rather than 
  partners, rendering humans into second-
  class citizens. Sinister rumors suggest 
  that the greys may still be experimenting 
  on humans, or even eating them. Paranoia 
  runs high in New York Grey.
  If you keep your grey 
  heritage hidden from the 
  other player characters, 
  you can pretend to have 
  the Intelligent descriptor 
  instead.
  For more details on New 
  York Grey, see Worlds 
  Numberless and 
  Strange, page 95.
  Intelligent descriptor, 
  page 47
  For more details on 
  the Sword Realms, see 
  Worlds Numberless and 
  Strange, page 143.
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  9
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Hominid Physiology: Add +1 to your Might 
  Edge or +1 to your Speed Edge, and add +2 to 
  your Might Pool or +2 to your Speed Pool.
  Skill: You are trained in tasks related to living 
  rough, including making shelter, foraging for 
  food, and assessing danger. You’re also trained 
  in crafting primitive weapons from natural 
  materials.
  Inability: Thinking is harder for you. The 
  difficulty of Intellect defense rolls, as well as 
  tasks related to puzzle solving, reasoning, and 
  memory, is one step higher for you.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a necklace of shells 
  and pearls that serves as an asset whenever you 
  attempt interaction checks with other hominids.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You’ve always been smarter than your kin, 
  and you joined the PCs to make a better life for 
  yourself.
  2. The PCs were about to be eaten by a 
  tyrannosaurus rex, but you showed them a 
  secret redoubt. After that, they asked you to join 
  them.
  3. You want to find the secret of the serpent 
  people, and you asked the PCs to join you on 
  your quest.
  4. With your entire tribe wiped out by 
  deinonychus, you were looking for purpose.
  METAPHYSICAL
  In Atom Nocturne, people shine with amazing 
  psionic abilities. As a native (or as someone who 
  has found a place there), your abilities never fully 
  leave you, even when you travel into recursions 
  where the law of Psionics isn’t operant. You’re 
  able to call up at least a glimmer of mindful 
  energy anywhere and everywhere, and in that way, 
  you are never far from Atom Nocturne.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Metaphysical: Add +2 to your Intellect Pool or 
  +2 to your Speed Pool.
  Telepathic: You can telepathically communicate 
  with creatures within short range that you 
  are aware of. If you already have the ability to 
  telepathically communicate through an active 
  focus or type ability, the range at which you can 
  communicate increases to 5 miles (8 km).
  Psychic Warrior: Choose one type of psionic, 
  mental, or similar mind-directed attack in which 
  you are not already trained, such as Exception, 
  Shatter, Telepathic Brain Axe, Telekinetic Mind 
  Grip, or a similar ability provided by your type 
  or active focus. You are trained in attacks using 
  that ability.
  Inability: You’re so open to psychic ability that 
  you’re vulnerable when such forces are used 
  against you. The difficulty of Intellect defense 
  rolls to resist psionic, mental, or similar mind-
  directed attacks is increased by one step.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a piece of jewelry: 
  a silver circlet that rests on your head or, at your 
  mental command, becomes a halo of electric 
  blue light around your head.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You got a psychic premonition that your 
  abilities would be useful on the adventure, so 
  you approached the PCs.
  2. The cosmos aligned in a once-in-a-lifetime 
  conformation, and you couldn’t do anything 
  else.
  3. The PCs mistook you for a villain and 
  kidnapped you. When they discovered their 
  mistake, you joined them.
  4. Atom Nocturne faced a threat, and you 
  joined the PCs to help quell it.
  MUTANT
  The recursion of Cataclyst has a beauty that 
  many visitors (and natives) fail to appreciate. 
  For you, it’s a magnificent ruin, a spectacular 
  warning, and a wonderland of twisted forests, 
  blasted cityscapes, gelatinous seas, and 
  mutants. And, of course, residual radioactivity. 
  In fact, you’ve become a bit radioactive yourself, 
  though not enough to endanger your friends 
  (usually).
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Thick-Skinned: +2 to your Might Pool.
  Mutation: You gain a random mutation from 
  the Powerful Mutations table. If you drag this 
  descriptor to a recursion that doesn’t operate 
  under the laws of Magic or Mad Science (or to 
  Earth), the difficulty of attacks and defenses 
  provided by your mutation is increased by one 
  step. 
  Exception, page 32
  Shatter, page 32
  Telepathic Brain Axe, 
  page 236
  Telekinetic Mind Grip, 
  page 236
  Atom Nocturne,
  page 234
  Cataclyst, page 238
  Powerful Mutations, 
  page 241
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  10
  Secondary Mutation: You are afflicted with a 
  random mutation from the Harmful Mutations 
  table.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a piece of fused 
  glasslike substance set into a ring. Sometimes 
  the ring flashes when you are within short range 
  of intelligent machines, but not always.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. The PCs asked for your help in locating 
  something in the blasted city of Newk in Cataclyst.
  2. You had a twin who is lost somewhere in 
  another recursion. By joining the adventure, you 
  hope to eventually learn enough to find out what 
  happened to your sibling.
  3. The PCs came looking for your ring after 
  being told of its amazing abilities, before 
  realizing it wasn’t the one they wanted. Out of 
  curiosity, you joined them.
  4. Someone said “adventure” and you said 
  “when?”
  REBEL
  In the recursion of Rebel Galaxy, a fight rages, 
  and you’ve been part of it. Those in power are 
  corrupt beyond words, and even if there is no 
  hope, you’ve pledged to bring them down. You 
  might have become a rebel because you lost 
  everything else and were forced by circumstance 
  to take up arms against the authorities. On 
  the other hand, maybe it’s just in your nature 
  to rebel, and you’ve always liked the role of 
  the underdog. Either way, you’ve declared your 
  opposition to the status quo, and you won’t rest 
  until it’s overthrown.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Vigilant: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
  Skill: You are trained in Speed defense tasks.
  Skill: You are trained in one of the following 
  tasks: piloting spacecraft, statecraft (which 
  includes persuasion and detecting falsehoods), 
  or infiltrating computer networks.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain your choice of a 
  medium or heavy blaster.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You lost your family in an attack by an 
  oppressive force, and joining the PCs was your 
  only option.
  2. You witnessed the PCs take up arms against 
  an oppressive force you detest, so you joined in 
  the conflict.
  3. One of your parents was an important 
  political figure in the government who was 
  assassinated by opposing factions. You asked 
  the PCs to help you gain revenge.
  4. You won your fight, and afterward you 
  joined the PCs to look for more corrupt power 
  structures to overthrow.
  RUKIAN
  Analysis, thoughtful deduction, and the ability 
  to easily handle the rapidly advancing pace of 
  technological innovation are your gifts. As an 
  inhabitant of Ruk, you feel the truth, at a cellular 
  level, that technology is the answer to almost 
  any ill or inconvenience. To that end, you delight 
  with others of similar mind in technology’s use, 
  its continuing promise, and its many amazing 
  results. You have a hard time understanding 
  the mindset of those who shy away from 
  the wonders of bioenhancement, but you’re 
  (mostly) respectful of their poor decisions.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Technical: +2 to your Intellect Pool.
  Contact: You are close friends with a high-
  ranking member of the Zal faction, and this 
  sometimes nets you early access to prototype 
  technologies and promising leads.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks involving 
  connecting to the All Song.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks involving the 
  use of grafts, machines, and similar technology.
  Inability: You’re an expert at reading data 
  streams, but you tend to overlook the possibility 
  of purposeful distortion. The difficulty of 
  all tasks related to detecting falsehoods is 
  increased by one step.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a tattoo graft.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You agreed to help a PC track down an 
  enemy through your expert use of the All Song.
  2. The All Song told you to join the PCs 
  (though not in so many words).
  Harmful Mutations, 
  page 240
  Zal, page 194
  All Song, page 192
  Newk, page 239
  Ruk, page 190
  For more details on 
  Rebel Galaxy, see Worlds 
  Numberless and 
  Strange, page 114.
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  ALTERNATE ORIGINS
  11
  3. A PC, impressed with your mastery of 
  Rukian science, asked you along for your 
  expertise.
  4. The PCs are clearly not up to accomplishing 
  their goal, so you joined them to assure their 
  success.
  VAMPIRE
  You were infected with something red and vital, 
  and it made you into something new, something 
  dangerous, and something most people would 
  fear if they knew the truth. Your canines are 
  more like fangs than normal teeth, your skin 
  has a strange pallor, and you have a hard time 
  seeing yourself in a mirror (though other people 
  can see you just fine). Most vexing of all, you’ve 
  developed a hunger for something that all the 
  delicacies of normal cuisine fail to extinguish: 
  you want blood. It’s up to you how well you 
  control that urge.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Supernatural Strength: +4 to your Might Pool.
  Bite Attack: You are practiced in making bite 
  attacks that deal damage as a medium weapon. 
  In a recursion that operates under the law of 
  Magic, you regain Might points equal to half 
  the amount of damage you inflict on a foe (after 
  Armor is accounted for; round down for the 
  total).
  Supernatural Charm: You are strangely 
  persuasive. You have an asset on tasks related to 
  persuading and deceiving. 
  Light Sensitive: You have an issue with bright 
  light, especially sunlight. When exposed to 
  sunlight or strong UV light, the difficulty of all 
  tasks is increased by one step. In a recursion 
  that operates under the law of Magic, you also 
  descend one step on the damage track and take 
  5 points of damage per round (this damage 
  ignores Armor, unless that Armor completely 
  covers you).
  Blood Driven: You’re always hungry for 
  blood, especially when you force yourself 
  not to act on that yearning. Whenever you 
  descend one step on the damage track, you 
  must succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect defense 
  roll or you are compelled to try to bite the 
  closest living creature and drink its blood. You 
  continue attacking until you move one step 
  up the damage track or until you succeed on a 
  subsequent difficulty 3 Intellect defense roll.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a small chest filled 
  with a handful of moist soil. If you scatter this 
  soil where you rest for a ten-hour recovery roll, 
  you regain 1 additional point.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You’re not like others of your kind, and you 
  joined the PCs to see what else was out there.
  2. You became a vampire by accident, and the 
  PCs helped you out of a bad situation.
  3. You need a distraction from your blood 
  hunger.
  4. One of the PCs said she would put you out 
  of your misery if you ever “totally vamped out,” 
  and you appreciate that failsafe.
  Damage track,
  page 108
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
  12
  WANDERING
  You’re never really comfortable unless you’re 
  wandering the wide prairies of Ohunkakan, 
  whose nights are lit by brilliant starscapes 
  unparalleled by the skies of any other recursion 
  you’ve ever visited. There, you keep a keen 
  eye out for the beauty inherent in untouched 
  landscapes, but also for dangerous wild 
  creatures, inimical spirits, and rival wanderers 
  eager for a chance to prove themselves.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Hearty: +4 to your Might Pool.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to 
  tracking.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks related to 
  perception.
  Skill: You are trained in all tasks related 
  to creating rough clothing and other crude 
  equipment from natural materials, such as using 
  cured animal hides for garments and tents.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin 
  play with this descriptor, you gain a bone 
  flutelike instrument. When you play it at night, 
  sometimes fireflies come to the sound.
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. After much meditation, you were directed to 
  join the PCs on their adventure by what seemed 
  like the land itself.
  2. You left Ohunkakan specifically looking for 
  adventure.
  3. You almost died from a wound but were 
  saved by passing PCs. You decided to join them.
  4. Recursion miners from someplace else 
  stole an object precious to you. You’re not sure 
  where to start tracking them down, but joining 
  the PCs seems like a good first step.
  WEREWOLF
  The night is your lover. You howl with 
  extravagant abandon when engulfed in her cool 
  embrace. Running free and wild defines you, 
  and if you can’t do so while in your lupine form 
  at least once a month, you grow frustrated and 
  angry. People don’t like you when you’re angry 
  and you don’t like it much either, because you 
  tend to lose control, black out, and wake up 
  the next morning with lots of questions and no 
  memory of what happened.
  You gain the following characteristics:
  Supernatural Speed: +4 to your Speed Pool.
  Wereform: If you are in a recursion that 
  operates under the law of Magic, each night you 
  can transform into a werewolf for a number of 
  minutes equal to your tier. While in wereform, you 
  have a bite attack with which you are practiced 
  that deals damage as a heavy weapon, and when 
  damaged, you regain 1 point each round, except 
  for damage inflicted by a silver weapon.
  Skill: Your senses are acute. You are 
  specialized in tasks related to perception. In a 
  recursion that operates under the law of Magic, 
  this benefit also grants you the ability to see in 
  the dark as if it were bright light.
  Susceptible to Silver: Each time you are 
  damaged by silver—a silvered blade, liquefied or 
  gasified silver, silver fulminate explosives, and 
  so on—you take 2 additional points of damage 
  and lose your ability to remain in wereform (and 
  to regain points when damaged), assuming you 
  were in a recursion that allows you to transform.
  Moon Mad: On and around nights with a full 
  moon, you risk losing control of your ability to 
  transform (whether you can see the moon or 
  not). When such conditions apply in a recursion 
  that operates under the law of Magic, you 
  transform into a werewolf and take actions that 
  you do not remember until you wake up the next 
  day. The GM determines those actions, and you 
  might never learn what they were, save by the 
  evidence around you.
  Additional Equipment: When you begin play 
  with this descriptor, you gain a tooth pendant. 
  You believe the tooth comes from your werewolf 
  progenitor.  
  Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: If this 
  is your starting descriptor, choose how you 
  became involved in the first adventure from the 
  following list of options.
  1. You were out running wild one night 
  and came upon the PCs doing something 
  interesting.
  2. The PCs found you in a recursion other 
  than your own one morning after one of your 
  transformative blackouts.
  3. A werewolf hunter in your home recursion 
  was hot on your heels, so you joined the PCs 
  hoping to find protection in numbers.
  4. You helped the PCs out of a nasty situation 
  they’d gotten themselves into in Gloaming or 
  Halloween. After that, they asked you to join them.
  Ohunkakan, page 246
  Recursion miner,
  page 150
  Gloaming, page 249
  For more details on 
  Halloween, see Worlds 
  Numberless and 
  Strange, page 64.
  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
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  Jon Hygom Gislason - gislason19@hotmail.com - 189350
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Cypher System/Campaign Settings/The Strange/Supplements/Alternate Origins.pdf