Chapter Text
[Section 2]
[Mechanics of Corruption]
Now that you’re aware of what corruption is and what it looks like, it’s worth explaining what it does. This means that it’s necessary to look at game terms and relate a corrupting phenomenon to mundane stats and trends.
[Corruption Process and Modifiers]
A good starting point would be to look at the mechanics of the corruption process. Originally, it seems like there was supposed to be a stat, named “Ante Matter”, that was supposed to help certain Classes resist corruption more than others. It’s not used, but it wasn’t properly removed from the game. It’s known to be a Class stat because half the Classes have it, half are missing it, and the Rogue has it twice. Why would the developers wish to have certain Classes more prone to corruption than others? This only strengthens the theory that Angels and Others may have been deliberately placed into the game to ensure that Players wouldn’t stagnate in a session, in which case Angelic Corruption would leak from the Underworlds, or escape a session through the Furthest Ring, where the Others could get them. But why? What’s out there that they don’t want players to find?
Whoops. The author digresses.
Regardless, Class resistances aren’t of any use. However, there are some other factors that contribute to a player’s resistance to corruption. First, and perhaps most important, every person who plays SBURB has a personal measure of resistance due to their mental fortitude. This isn’t related to any in-game stats or parameters: it’s your own ability to keep from being swayed by outside forces. It’s part of the reason why some people can go through a dozen sessions and never have a problem with corruption when others have to struggle with it every day. Some people are just better at shrugging off corruption than others.
In addition, there are some psy-buffs that help protect a person from corruption along with their other effects. Hope’s psybuffs naturally have this due to how they reject status ailments. Might Players will accidentally bolster a player’s innate resistance with their psybuffs. Most of the time, these effects aren’t seen or even noticed; only a chronic corruption sufferer is likely to tell a difference. Every little bit helps, so it’s at least worth mentioning.
Critical note: Do not include a player with corruption problems into a [Heartlines] network. This is one of the few cases where corruption becomes contagious. Otherwise Heart’s abilities are good at preventing corruption.
Finally, certain Aspects are better than others at resisting corruption. Time Players have a fantastically high resistance to Others Corruption for reasons speculated to be tied to the way multiple instances of the Time Player can be in the same place at once. The coding for Time Players exempts them from certain common mental problems, part of which is the future/past self dysphoria that Rain Players often suffer when using [Tangled Waltz]. If you ever thought that Rain Players seemed crazier when their dupliclones were around, that’s because they are. Time Players, being more resistant to this kind of madness, are also mostly immune to the throes of the broodfester tongues and insanity wielded by the Others. For Angelic Corruption, Breath Players are actually the best off. [Eye of the Storm] nullifies the psychological aspects of Angelic Corruption, which is how Angelic Corruption takes root in a player. Without the ability to warp the Breath Player’s personality and outlook, Angelic Corruption can’t gain any ground.
Of course, if there are some Aspects that are resistant to corruption, there are those that are susceptible. The Others have an easier time corrupting Doom, Heart, Life, Void*, and some Light Players. The Angels, on the other hand, have sway over Law, Stars, Mind, and Hope Players. Rain Players, due to their dupliclones, can gather corruption quicker than almost any other type of player. However, their madness grants them a higher threshold of corruption than any other Aspect.
Note: Void has an ability called [Squidissension] that some of its players have, especially those who are supposed to directly manipulate it such as Thieves, Heirs, Wards, and Rogues. This ability essentially negates all Others Corruption and is why some Void Players can get away with flying around in the Furthest Ring unmolested.
[Effects of Corruption]
The effects of corruption on players, abilities, and abstractions in a session can be catastrophic and as far-reaching as any cataclysm.
As noted in the first section of this guide, both kinds of corruption grant a dramatic increase to a player’s stats. This is not worth it. Trading away your self, sanity, and identity for stats is not a good idea. Corrupted players get a significant boost to Mangrit, Flummoxie, Lass- or Ladpluck, and Semperstand. Along with this, a corrupted player can, at high enough levels, create an environment around themselves similar to the Furthest Ring or the Underworld which boosts their stats and drains the stats of those around them. Yes, this means a highly corrupted player could stand toe-to-toe with the Black King and win handily. No, it’s not worth it. At that point, you’re as likely to have a corrupted player attack other players as the Black King.
Corruption has dramatic effects on Player abilities as well. Worth mentioning is the Heart Player’s ability to manipulate the shiny stuff. Doing so to any corrupted object or person carries the additional risk of transferring some of that corruption to themselves. Doom Players who are capable of perceiving how doomed a person or object is may mistake the auras of Doom and corruption: they look very similar.
If the corrupted player is considered to be either “the Speaker of the Furthest Ring” or “Singer of the Infinite Choir” and other players try to target abilities on him or her by name or some other specific, the abilities will fizzle. They can’t lock on to a player that corrupted thanks to the interference in the code. This means not only do most psybuffs automatically fail, but also that scrying and some attack abilities will as well. Scrying a player’s stats, while possible, is a very good way to get corrupted yourself.
When scrying corrupted objects, the threat of corruption is much less and they can be targeted by abilities. However, unlike players, corrupted objects can be targeted with abilities and they emit corrupting influences. Corruption can either taint an object or break it: a crystalanth so affected might either crack and become nonfunctional or, more worryingly, cause a player to gain corruption when they try to heal from it. Corruption can disrupt a Land’s Verdancy or destroy it entirely. If a player is allowed to run amuck while corrupted long enough, their Land will eventually warp to match. No game abstractions are safe from the influence of corruption.