If you would like to die by electrocution please stay on the line
What happens to you after you have accomplished everything you wanted to? 1-800-SUICIDE is an astral parasite that preys upon people who have completed some major goal, and lose a reason to live. The
mission has to be something that took over five years of had work. This can be from winning a Nobel Prize to defeating a great enemy to having a child go off to college. People who channel the Warrior and quit often get this disease.
The parasite attaches itself to host and starts at 1%. If the GM is mean enough to give this to a PC she should keep this number secret. It gains 1% every day the host is reminded of her great accomplishment, and not stressed out. By that I mean encountering anything that would count as a level one madness check or higher.
As the parasite gets stronger its affects on the host get worse and worse. The effects are cumulative.
1%-10% The host becomes a genuine optimist, and it not allowed to look at anything in a negative light. They will also try to bring up their great accomplishment in any conversation they get in.
11%-20% The victim begins to become obsessed with ways to die. She will make a list of her nine favorite ways to die. Each of these has to be something unique or strange. Also, the suicide techniques have to be something the host can quickly accomplish and control.
No slow radiation poisoning or being eaten by a shark. Again the host will try to bring these up in every conversation she gets in.
21%-30% The host and the astral parasite begin to communicate. If the host has access to a phone she will be on it talking to no one. It’s rumored if you listen close you can hear the on the phone, “Thank you for calling 1-800-SUICIDE. If you would like to die by self inflicted gunshop please press one…” If she can’t get a phone she will start intently listening to her reflection or her shadow.
31%+ The host starts to get into situations where they start to experiment in ways to die. This would be equivalent to an Entromancer getting a minor charge. An example is a mother drops off her children at school then drives her minivan at 30 MPH into a stone wall.
Once 1-800-SUICIDE gets its score equal to the hosts soul score the host will kill herself within the next 24 hours. She will make sure this is some public educational demonstration. IE going into a movie theatre during a show with a bull horn, “Everyone listen
this is how you properly shove a small knife into your brain.”
Curing the disease
Completely removing the disease is impossible. Once 1-800-SUICIDE infects someone its permanent. But it is possible reduce its score down to 1%. It is believed that some of the greatest achievers in history had this parasite. That is why some people accomplish so much in their lifetimes.
One way of stopping the growth of the parasite is to make sure the host is not reminded of her great accomplishment. Another is to constantly be putting the host in stressful situations. Again doing
this will not reduce the parasites score. It simply stops it from growing.
The only way to decrease the parasite’s score is to get the host to have a new goal which is greater than the previous one. If someone finishes up their PHD they must go onto trying to win a Nobel Prize.
A protagonist kills the Urbanmancer they had been fighting for years must now try start tying to neutralize The Freak. The host must have a complete day where they are NOT reminded of their past goal, and they actively chase their new objective.
I see this in game as being used on some loved GMC. The local duke who helped the PCs fight the cabal that killed the Duke’s family gets infected. Or something along those lines.