geistnet | The Second Option.

EVERYONE DESERVES ANOTHER CHANCE.

As stated in our FAQ, Death is regulated with perfect precision in the Fifth World, mostly because of the presence of two Reapers and the vessel of Death Himself. As such, on an OOC level, you are free, as player, to request for making plot provisions for the Second Option. This means that your character will come back to life, alive and well. The only damage you're probably going to suffer is, you know, remembering how it felt to die and pesky personal ties and all. No big deal, right?

Granted, beyond Death and his Reapers and beyond Awakening as a Card or a Sin-Eater in-game (or heck, being turned into a vampire), there are other individuals in the Fifth World who have it within their power to resurrect you. Their methods, however, won't be as "safe" as the Second Option.

A SHOPPING LIST OF STRANGE POSSIBILITIES

We've listed the Second Options that you can take for your character below, for your reference.

Resurrection through a Reaper.
The Fifth World has two Reapers that work in tandem with the Vessel of Death to regulate the Final End for all creatures of the Fifth World. They are Rethe Kyriff and Makoto Kuzunoha, and both of them are Keepers of the Vigil.

Toggling this option is mostly circumstantial. If either of them happen to be "on duty" at the moment, there is a strong chance that they'll bring back a Keeper who gets killed, especially if they have Measured their souls and determined that they are worth giving a second chance to.

There are no real consequences to being brought back by one of the Reapers beyond having to wrestle with the physiological damage of... well. Dying. The Reapers, however, have their own laws: they will never bring the same person back twice.

Resurrection through the Blade King's intervention
By merit of being the Vessel of Death, Hikaru Shinta is kind of really joined to the brain with the abstract concept and embodiment of the force of Death itself. He is usually bound by the laws of his ban (i.e., unless three people within the vicinity decide that the individual in question cannot die, he will Reap them regardless of who or what they are), but if he's particularly attached to your character, he'll go against his own ban to bring you back. Suffice to say, that means that he suffers the karmic ramifications of preserving a life that was meant to end.

With this in mind, the in-game consequences of banking on Hikaru's intervention actually affect him more than your character. Depending on the kind of death that your character should have suffered along with the magnitude of their karmic footprint on the Fifth World, he could be ill from anywhere between a week to a month. It also permanently shortens his life.

Furthermore, any NPC who is aware of these conditions and happens to be close to the Blade King usually won't be very happy with the intervention, given its affects. Some may be inclined to make their displeasure known to your character after he or she comes back.

Resurrection through the Boon of Lazarus
Particularly powerful Godhands of the Brotherhood and of the Order have a Benediction called the Boon of Lazarus. This grants them the power to bring somebody back from the dead, as Christ once called Lazarus out from his tomb.

Due to the nature of the Benediction, this option can only be done minutes after the character has passed, and it can only be done by a Vaizard of incredible skill and holiness. There are some effects on the Vaizard's health and well-being, but it isn't anything permanent. Furthermore, Vaizards will usually use this Benediction without question on a Keeper of good standing.

Resurrection through drawing their Second Breath as a Card
As described in their info file, people occasionally awaken as Cards when their souls break apart in the Borderlines. What they become later is determined by the circumstances of their death.

Taking this option means that your character will effectively "lose" his original class, and will emerge in the game as a Card that's a little different from the rest - that is, they will have to rework their stats using the guidelines outlined for Cards, and all of the experience points they spent on the supernatural abilities, merits, and whatnot of their original class will transfer towards Card abilities. Their affective supernatural advantage will directly convert to Vigor (i.e. from Gnosis to Vigor in the case of a former Mage).

It should be noted, of course, that many cases of resurrection via Second Breath become Temperance Cards, especially if they were near the peak of some sort of personal milestone of their former supernatural condition. This isn't a rule set in stone, though: the circumstances of a death always vary.

Resurrection through a Bloodsinger
Bladians become what they are through making their own kind of Bargain with Amrita known as Bloodsingers. These days, some "benevolent" Bloodsingers make it a practice of approaching mortals in dire need (i.e. on the brink of death) and bringing them back using their powers. They basically become Bladians.

Taking this option means that your character will effectively "lose" his original class, and will emerge in the game as a Bladian that's a little different from the rest - that is, they will have to rework their stats using the guidelines outlined for Bladians, and all of the experience points they spent on the supernatural abilities, merits, and whatnot of their original class will transfer towards Bladian abilities. Their affective supernatural advantage will directly convert to Blood Potency (i.e. from Gnosis to Blood Potency in the case of a former Mage).

Resurrection through a Geist
Sin-Eaters are Bound by making a Bargain with a geist. Geists, as stated in the core rulebook for the class, are attracted to individuals who have died in a similar fashion to themselves, and wish to use Sin-Eaters to help them finish their own unfinished business.

Taking this option means that your character will effectively "lose" his original class, and will emerge in the game as a Sin-Eater that's a little different from the rest - that is, they will have to rework their stats using the guidelines outlined for Sin-Eaters, and all of the experience points they spent on the supernatural abilities, merits, and whatnot of their original class will transfer towards Sin-Eater abilities. Their affective supernatural advantage will directly convert to Psyche (i.e. from Gnosis to Psyche in the case of a former Mage).

Other Second Options
Note that the discovery of a supernatural condition beyond what was outlined above can also stop someone from dying. This isn't quite a "second option" in the sense that the character won't end up dying, but it comes pretty close since it means that they awakened under extreme duress. A man could, for example, go through the First Change of a Werewolf or a Changing Breed. A future Moros Mage could have a brush with certain death in order to reach Stygia and write their name on the Watchtower within its depths.

Technology has also advanced greatly in the Fifth World. There are magience machines that can bring people back - the methods are still complex and slow, and lasting effects have not been outlined in their entirety, but they DO exist.

Furthermore, there are 'shadier' methods of resurrection. A demon could decide to Possess the body of a particularly Vice-ridden individual for their own purposes, or because they actually wish to "help" in their own way. Your character's body could be spirited away by an interest group with an agenda and the resources to perform strange and often dangerous experimentation all geared towards gaining immortality, or bringing people back. You might even lose yourself entirely if a Promethean decides to use your corpse to make a Created of their own.

There is also a slim chance that Aidan Clayce, the Voidseeker himself, might just decide to bring you from the brink of death personally.

If you have an idea that you'd like to bring to the campaign, feel free to contact the mods and hash out the stickier details with them.

MECHANICS

Post to this page using the form we'll provide below. We'll get back to you as soon as possible.

IC ACTIONS = IC CONSEQUENCES. This can't be stressed enough: not all methods of coming back to life in Welcome to the New Age are safe, and all of them have their own ramifications.

Try not to abuse this option. Character death and their subsequent return can be a great plot hook, but if it's overdone or overused, it just gets old. As a general rule of thumb we will only allow a character to be resurrected three times, and that is already going to work on the premise that the reasons for your character dying and coming back that many times were justifiable.

A character's fourth death is PERMANENT in-game, and his or her player will have to make a new character if they are only playing one muse in Welcome to the New Age.

...On that note, though, if you want to use your character's death as a means of dropping from the game, this is good by us. owo

If you have any questions or want to discuss the Second Option further for the sake of your character, feel free to contact any of the mods.

THE FORM.

PLAYER NAME: CHARACTER VYING FOR A SECOND OPTION: DEATH COUNT SO FAR: SECOND OPTION OF CHOICE: REASONS?: IF YOU'RE CONVERTING TO A DIFFERENT CLASS, WHAT'S THE CONVERSION?: Basically state "I'm going to change from Sin-Eater to Card" or something to that effect. If this doesn't apply, just right "N/A" CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH: A summary will do - but we are also okay with TL;DR. Whatever works for you. o3o DATE OF IN-GAME DEATH: DATE OF IN-GAME RESURRECTION: Note that some Second Options are prolonged - that is, their resurrection definitely won't happen on the same date as their death.

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