Good morning, brave Operatives!

I hope you have all had a stern breakfast, because today we are going to delve into a chapter of the Dark Conspiracy Core Rulebook - the Field Analysis of Dark Minions.

Now, it is important to note... in this era of the Dark Conspiracy timeline, no one really knows anything. Not your Operatives, not the poor deluded cultists, not the power-hungry billionaires... and, at the end of the day, not even The Company.

Part of every mission will require your Operatives to actually learn things (gather intelligence) about the Dark forces they face. However, Referees have tools to work with in this chapter.

Your 'basic' (?) Dark Minion has a stat block that Traveller players will be quite familiar with as it is based on that of animals. However, there are some additions...

EMP: All Dark Minions have access to Empathic powers, even if only at an instinctual level. This provides their EMP characteristic.

Instability: Dark Minions are not of this world, and the link they maintain to their own dimensions can wither, tremble or just plain snap. Wait long enough and Operatives may find they simply fade from existence (or pretend to...). However, there are 'dimensional anchors' that can greatly extend a Dark Minion's stay in our world, and sometimes the link to their own dimension can strengthen in terrifying ways...

Esoterica: It is possible for humans to use Empathic powers, but they are as children compared to the Dark Minions. Operatives may come to learn that there is far more possible with Dark Empathy than they may have ever guessed. For Dark Minions, Empathic powers are organised into groups, or Esoterica, that define the powers they can manipulate. Why is Dark Empathy arranged this way? Do certain minions from certain dimensions share an Esoterica? Is it because they serve a single Minion Lord? Is some hierarchy at work here? Nobody knows...

Traits: Dark Minions have traits just as some animals do - in fact, they may share those traits, but they also have some unique to beings of other dimensions. A Dark Minion may be able to corrupt everything nearby, radiate waves of terror, unleash an Empathic Virus, possess a human, turn incorporeal, or 'flicker' between dimensions.

But what of the Dark Minions themselves?

Ensconced within advanced home assistant devices, the Parallax lies in wait for its victim. Unfurling from the device when the user is asleep, at work or otherwise occupied, the Parallax endeavours to replace its owner. First taking on their physical appearance and then striving to take over a person’s life completely, the Parallax eventually leaves them an emotional mess, unable to leave their home for fear of perceived ineptitude and disgust. 

 

This minion is vaguely humanoid in appearance, its ‘skin’ a layer of shimmery metal pockmarked by carved holes that drip a dark, viscous liquid. When the Racleur finds a victim, it shuffles close until it violently contacts the victim’s skin, shredding and tearing its way inwards. Once the Racleur has hold of its victim, it forces its way inside their body until it is unclear where host ends and minion begins. Perhaps these minions are too weak to sustain themselves within our world and must take refuge within the flesh of a mortal.

This one will be familiar to veterans of previous Dark Conspiracy games...

Bloodkin are a group of vaguely related Dark Minions distinguishable by their sallow skin, long legs and arms, clawed hands and feet, and lidless yellow eyes. They have plated exoskeletons and muscular trunks, surviving on a diet of blood and, often, flesh. These minions are more cunning than many of their kin, seeking to invade Earth on the backs of lesser species. Whilst the chattel in front of them kill and maim in a glorious slaughter, the Bloodkin slip between worlds, sequestering themselves deep within the darkness to hunt, drawing upon the life essence of victims to become ever more powerful.

Tiny minions that instinctively gather together, when breaching into our world the Slaugh appear as large flocks of dark birds, perhaps starlings, crows or ravens. Examined closer, they appear as twisted parodies of avian creatures, with skeletal heads, two pairs of wings, and slimy boils bursting through feathers. They are hypnotic creatures that use flowing movements and serene calls to hypnotise victims.

Many more previews on the way - and as we said before, get creating your first Operatives as we have a poll coming to see what you are doing with them!