The Actualizer

A foe for The Esoterrorists / Fear Itself

The metamorphic Outer Dark entity known as the Actualizer crosses over into our realm during the first of several life stages. It lodges itself in a human host, who it impels to commit a series of murders. With each slaying it gains psychic energy it will eventually use for its transformation into a monstrous, amorphous demon that crosses back over into the otherworld to live out its adult existence.

In its nymph stage the Actualizer is a blob of energy invisible to the human eye. It enters the world in a spot where the membrane has already been thinned by other ODE or Esoterror activity. After crossing over it uses specialized psychic senses to identify a human with an anxious, controlling personality. The sort of person most prone to Actualizer infection projects a self-possessed, outwardly friendly persona and specializes in passive aggression. Hosts profiled in Ordo Veritatis files include the chairman of a prestigious Canberra non-profit, a volunteer coordinator at a Bayside, WI Episcopal church, and the head of a Birmingham, UK knitting circle.

Having selected a host who fits its profile, the Actualizer nymph enters their skin via osmosis and resides as a smudge in the lymphatic system. It pumps its host full of dopamine and adrenaline, granting the drive and confidence of a dozen coke fiends. An enzyme in this chemical cocktail awakens the host’s suppressed hatred of others who disturb their personal sense of order and hierarchy, upscaling passive aggression into murder.

The first killing is messy, committed with only the host’s human wherewithal. The host transports the body off to a safe location, often an attic or basement, to perform a post mortem craft project. This mummifies the body into a tube-like shape, with the skull protruding at the top and other body parts tightly wrapped in gauze, muslin or another fabric below.

This activates a transformation granting the host superhuman stealth, strength, and regenerative capabilities. These grow in intensity with each additional victim killed and mummified. To infuse its parasite with the desired energies, the host has to target people they truly resent, usually for refusing to bend to their code of proper behavior.

The typical host racks up a number of kills before discovery by law enforcement, Ordo Veritatis agents, or ad hoc investigators. The Actualizer then triggers its final transformation into a multi-legged, razor-clawed beast the size of a minibus. It may take a swipe or three at the meddlers who have spoiled its spree, but doesn’t stick around for long, as its final form does not thrive in earthly conditions. After blipping into the Outer Dark. it spends the rest of its lifetime fighting with other ODEs, until it loses a battle and is torn apart. Its dismemberment looses hundreds of nymphs into the raging swirl of the demon dimension, a few of which find thin patches in the membrane and commence the cycle all over again.

Abilities: Athletics 4 + X, Health 4 + X, Scuffling 4 + x, Shooting 1 + X

Hit Threshold: 3 + Y

Alertness Modifier: Y

Stealth Modifier: Y

Weapon: varies (host); +2 (claws; final form)

Armor: Y (final form)

Special: Y equals the number of murders committed so far. X equals murders time six. Except where noted statistics apply to either the host or the final form.

The Esoterrorists are occult terrorists intent on tearing the fabric of the world – and you play elite investigators out to stop them. This is the game that revolutionized investigative RPGs by ensuring that players are never deprived of the crucial clues they need to move the story forward. Purchase The Esoterrorists in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.

Fear Itself is a game of contemporary horror that plunges ordinary people into a disturbing world of madness and violence. Use it to run one-shot sessions in which few (if any) of the protagonists survive, or an ongoing campaign in which the player characters gradually discover more about the terrifying supernatural reality which hides in the shadows of the ordinary world. Will they learn how to combat the creatures of the Outer Black? Or spiral tragically into insanity and death? Purchase Fear Itself in print and PDF at the Pelgrane Shop.