Love is usually a wonderful thing.

Nickname: followers

There’s a perfectly happy, normal way that people sometimes become obsessed with each other. There’s a madness in it – pursuing someone, thinking about them constantly, seeking their attention and approval. It’s normal and often healthy.

A Monomancer takes this kind of obsession and cranks the volume knob all the way to the right.

The Monomancer’s attentions are concentrated on a single target, called the Focus. This must be a human being, but can be of any age, gender or status. This relationship is often romantic in nature, but that’s not necessary: a Monomancer can become obsessed with a Focus as a from of hero worship, or protective care, or hatred, or even intense, obsessive friendship. The type of relationship is less important than the magnitude of it.

A Monomancer’s Focus often begins in a benign way, and sometimes can stay that way. It’s totally possible for a Monomancer to settle with someone, love them, and treat them well, obsessively clinging to them in a way that’s abormal but not destructive. The Monomancer’s obsession carries tremendous magical benefits, which can be shared with the Focus. The Monomancer pursues the Focus, lavishes attention upon the Focus, and they live happily ever after.

This is possible, but unlikely.

Eventually, the follower will notice that they get the same rush whether they’re delighting the Focus or frightening them, and will pursue power as much as possible. More often, the Focus begins to notice how unusual and extreme the obsession is, and try to get some space. Suddenly, the ugly side of obsession shows, and the Monomancer becomes a supernatural stalker, obsessed with the Focus and unstoppable in their devotion.

A Monomancer can only have one Focus at a time, of course. It’s not uncommon for a Monomancer to switch Focus, after an old Focus becomes unattainable or unavailable. Typically, the second Monomancy Focus is chosen with more calculation and consideration than the first – with less innocent flush of infatuation, and more cold, intense hunger.

Monomancy is a little bit like Iconomancy, in its obsession and worship of a particular person, and, like Iconomancy, it’s possible to divide the powers of Monomancy between Petro and Rada aspects. The worship of a Monomancer is more personal, though – direct and focused toward one person, who is usually living.

Charging and formulas note: The Monomancer’s charging structure relates entirely to a single Focus. Many of the Monomancer’s formulas also relate to the Focus, and would seem like they’d be good ways to get the Focus’ attention. The usual rules for using mojo to gain mojo apply – you can’t use charges to gain charges. Inexperienced Monomancers tend to use their formulae to get more attention from the Target anyway, while more cynical Monomancers often don’t bother with many of the formulas except where it would benefit them.

Generate a minor charge: Spend six hours in worship or obsession of your Focus. Spending time with them doesn’t count unless it is somehow in a worshipful or obsessive context – normal social interaction isn’t focused enough, and involves too much two-way interaction – but you can privately worship or obsess over the Focus for a charge.

Generate a significant charge: Inspire extreme emotion in your Focus. This could be great joy, fear, confusion, surprise, anger, disgust, or curiosity, as long as it’s a powerful, genuine emotion.

Generate a major charge: Merge identities with your Focus for a year and a day. There’s a few ways to do this. The easiest way is to marry them, move in together, and share a social life. Another way is to kill them and impersonate them. Another way would be to become their legal guardian – for instance, while caring for a sick or injured Focus. The important part is that you partake in your Focus’ life in almost all aspects: financial, social, spiritual, physical, and so forth. Being a Proxy doesn’t apply for this. While you’re striving for a major charge, you can’t gain any minor or significant charges, and once the year and a day are up, you’ll never gain another charge from that Focus.

Taboo: Switching Focuses and following a new person causes all charges to be lost. Furthermore, the Monomancer must come into the contact with the Focus, or imitate the focus, at least once a week.

Symbolic Tension: The Monomancer is simultaneously obsequiously worshipful and cynically possessive of his or her Focus. The Focus becomes simultaneously more and less than human.

Blast: The Monomancy blast is normally only usable when the Monomancer’s Focus is wounded, and it resembles the Plutophagy blast. The target takes damage as appropriate, and the Focus is healed – the injury is the same as the one which is being healed. The Focus doesn’t have to be nearby for this to take effect. Alternately, the Monomancer can use the same blast on the Focus, causing wounds to appear over the Focus’ heart.

Random Magick: Obsession, especially blinding, all-consuming obsession toward the Focus. The Monomancer gains a rush from his or her own obsession, which can change his own nature or the obsessions of others.

Charging Tips: A Monomancer can usually gain about 4-8 minor charges a week. Depending on the relationship with the Focus, the Monomancer can usually gain a significant charge between one and three times a month.

Starting Charges: 2 minor charges

Minor Formulas

Think of Me
1 minor charge
The Focus, wherever the Focus might be, thinks of you briefly, and becomes aware of your current condition. This can be uncomfortable for the Focus if they don’t know why they’re getting these flashes of inspiration. Many amateur Monomancers spend all their charges on this formula.

Burnt Offerings
1 minor charge
Create a small object, worth no more than $100, available at a store, and small enough to carry with one hand, that your Focus wants or likes. You don’t need to give it to your Focus, but it has to be something you know they want or enjoy. The object is a permanent, normal object. Some Monomancers pay their rent and bills by worshipping full-time, producing two hundred dollar bills a day.

Nurturing Violence
2 minor charges
This is the Monomancy minor blast.

Feel the Heat
2 minor charges
The target of this formula becomes briefly fanatic about something. You can decide what, but it must become something that the target already wanted. This lasts ten minutes, and can be used on anybody except your Focus.

I Don’t Exist When You Don’t See Me
3 minor charges
You become totally imperceptible to the Focus. Like Dipsomancy’s Just a Harmless Drunk, except that it only applies to your Focus. Lasts up to six hours.

Significant Formulas

Just Like You
1 significant charge
You take on some of your favorite aspects of your Focus. You can use a single skill which your Focus possesses, rolling against your Monomancy skill and flip-flopping results. This lasts for a single roll, and can only be used for skills that are somehow prominent for the focus – you couldn’t copy someone’s Drive skill unless they were, say, a professional driver. If you use this to copy an appearance-based skill, this costs an extra significant charge, but you actually look exactly like your Focus for the next ten minutes. You can’t use this second effect if your Focus doesn’t have an appearance-based skill.

Every Step You Take
2 significant charge
Use Monomancy as any one skill to track down your Focus, learn about them, or impersonate them. You select which skill each time you use this formula – you could choose “Professional Detective” in one use, then “Notice” (or “Conceal” or “Computer Hacking” or “Breaking and Entering”) for the next. You can use this formula multiple times to get several skills, and you can flip-flop results, as an Obsession skill, but you can’t use this skill in a way that doesn’t somehow relate to your Focus. Lasts an hour.

Killing with Kindness
3 signficiant charges
This is the Monomancy significant blast.

For My Eyes Only
5 significant charges
Your Focus becomes invisible to everyone but you. For the next hour, nobody can see or hear the Focus in any way. Side effects of the Focus’ actions are perceptible, but the Focus isn’t. The Focus can even attack people and they won’t see the Focus, only the blows that are caused. The Focus can’t end this effect. It lasts until the Monomancer ends it, but costs an additional minor charge each hour after the first. You can still perceive the Focus without difficulty.

Psychological Remodeling
4 significant charges
Grant a new Obsession to any target. You can specify the Obsession. The GM picks the new Obsession skill. Both the new and old Obsession apply equally. Acting against the new Obsession is a Rank-8 Self Stress check. If the target is an adept, he or she can only use magick if it pertains to the new Obsession as well as the existing Obsession. This effect lasts 24 hours. This can be used on anyone except your Focus, including yourself.

Major Effects
Permanently change someone’s Obsession. Give yourself the power to find your Focus wherever they are. Force a dead Focus into the body of your current Focus.

What You’ve Heard
One of Dermott Arkane’s blindly devoted cultists is actually a Monomancer, gaining power from his servile devotion, with ill-defined plans for eventual treachery.

And then there’s always your creepy ex….