%%
%%
%%
%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented band Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. %%
%%
%%
%%

[[foldercontrol]]

!Catalysts

[[folder:Geniuses in general]]
----
!!Tropes applying to all Geniuses

* AllTheoriesAreTrue: Geniuses literally have the ability to ''force'' this trope on reality. As long as they have a theory to base their invention on, they can make said invention work, even if the theory doesn't make any sense.
* BlessedWithSuck: Geniuses are capable of bending science to their will in order to create marvelous inventions that would be impossible to create with normal science. However, this ability comes with a growing insanity, they become unable to do real science, and any attempt they would make to explain to normal people how their inventions work will have disastrous consequences. Becoming a Genius is pretty much the worst thing that could happen to an actual scientist.
* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: Deep Inspiration allows a Genius to tap into Mania he doesn't have, meaning he can use his ability even if his Mania pool is empty. However, doing so exposes him to the risk of losing control of his madness and becoming an Unmada.
* {{Foil}}: To [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Mages]]. MagicVersusScience aside, Mages work on the idea all of reality is a Lie and they awakened in a way allowing them to see the truth. Geniuses work on the idea they are insane and bend reality to their own perception, meaning none of what they do is entirely real. Predictably, they usually have a hard time getting along, though the Scholastics have managed to reach an agreement with the [[PostModernMagik Free Council]].
* GadgeteerGenius: The Genius' main ability is to create marvelous inventions known as Wonders.
* JustBetweenYouAndMe: Justified; A Genius can invoke this trope when he has an unwilling person captured or resrained in order to recover Mania.
* LoadBearingBoss: Any Genius that's actually built a Wonder becomes one - when a Genius dies, all their intact Wonders either blow up or become Orphans. Killing a Genius in the middle of their lab is a risky prospect, ''especially'' if the lab ''itself'' is a Wonder.
* MadScientist: The entire concept of Geniuses was to adapt this trope to the New World of Darkness.
* MagicPoweredPseudoscience: There has to be ''some'' science behind a genius's wonder, but said science actually making sense or working according to the laws of physics is optional. A genius makes his wonders work by bending reality to correspond with their insane theories, not experimenting until they find an insane theory that corresponds to reality.
* ThePowerOfCreation: Mania, the {{Mana}}-like energy they use to power their abilities, is more or less described as the raw creativity of their mind made into energy- though even they don't really know for sure what it is.
* PowerBornOfMadness: In the end, Geniuses all get their powers from being deeply, supernaturally mad.
* ScienceCannotComprehendPhlebotinum: A major theme of the story is that the "Mad Science" Geniuses use is fundamentally antithetical to ''real'' science. Attempting to actually derive consistent rules or repeatable principles from the functioning of Wonders at best won't work, and more likely will cause the Wonders to break down in all kinds of disastrous ways.
* SquishyWizard: Much like [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Mages]], Geniuses are physically completely humans unless they chose to alter themselves, so for all the incredible things they are capable of creating and using, they can be killed as easily as any regular mortal if you make sure they don't have access to their Wonders.
* TheSparkOfGenius: Inspiration essentially grant people the ability to ''enforce'' this trope on reality, allowing Geniuses to bend the law of physics with their inventions.
* SuperIntelligence: All Geniuses develop an increase in mental capacity at their Breakthrough, granting them a bonus dot in mental attributes. In addition, they can also spend Mania to temporarily boost further their mental attributes.
* TechnoBabble: The Geniuses' main weakness, Jabir, which is also sometimes actually called this trope. As a Genius' Inspiration grow, not only will he lose the ability to do real science and perform regular experiments, but his attempt to communicate his ideas to others will only result in nonsensical gibberish they can't possibly understand.
* {{Technopath}}: To an extent. Geniuses can use Mania not only to use and activate their Wonders, but also to power, understand, enhance or dismantle regular technology.
* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Actually adressed. The rulebook points out that since Geniuses need more space, supplies, electricity and equipment to experiment and build Wonders, they tend to have more need for the Ressources Merit than any other Template. To reflect this, the lack of this Merit at a high enough level results in penalties when trying to create Wonders. The book also offers complementary rules to the merit with various options to explain ''how'' a Genius gets the money he needs, each with its own advantages and drawbacks.
* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Geniuses are quite literally ''mad'' scientists, and they are at risk of losing their contact with reality if they try channeling too much Mania.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Grimm]]
!!Grimm, the Catalyst of Fury
->''"I am [[LudicrousPrecision nanometers from perfection]] and [[{{Ubermensch}} no longer answer to any mortal authority]]. They weren't there for me and I won't waste time helping them as I rise asymptotically toward the ultimate virtue. Every corpse I leave should be one less investigation to make, instead of one more open case. But I'm not here for human justice any more. When you see [[StuffBlowingUp the Paolenti penthouse burn with white fire]] [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent and the dreams of serpents,]] you'll know that, and so will every other man-mask-wearing machine-demon in this city. They'll never love me for the things I've done, but I never asked for love. Only for perfection."''

->'''Nickname:''': Asuras
->'''Traditional Planet:''' Mars

Defined by anger and a need for vengeance, justice, and/or the need to just plain ''vent''. Naturally, they're the best at building weapons of every kind. They're also prone to being irrational and generally flying off the handle. As one might expect, they tend to take a very... direct approach to problem-solving.
----
* TheBerserker: They are defined by their anger and their fury; some are rampaging madmen while others are righteous vigilantes, but Grimms ''always'' are terrifying in their wrath.
* BloodbathVillainOrigin: Well, they aren't necessarly villains, but Grimms almost always get their Breakthrough in violence. Countries suffering war, revolutions or other similarly violent events are very likely to give birth to Grimms.
* BoisterousBruiser: Their chief derangement lends itself to this.
* DeathRay: Pretty much their signature feature; Katastrofi is about destroying, and no Wonder does this better than a ray gun.
* GeniusBruiser: Because of their inclination for violence and destruction, they tend to have pretty good physical attributes and skills compared to other Geniuses. They are still {{Mad Scientist}}s capable of building destructive inventions.
* HairTriggerTemper: Grimm are mostly known for being driven by their anger and their temper, meaning they are very likely to be impulsive and easily irritable.
* NoSocialSkills: They usually aren't quite as good as other Geniuises when it comes to social skills. It's not exactly easy to socialize when you are perpetually angry. In fact, many actually prefer the company of wild animals and avoid interactions with human beings.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: A lot of them are driven by a desire for vengeance or justice, so you can fully expect to use their newfound abilities to wreak havoc or whoever they believe have wronged them.
* TranquilFury: Some of them, particularly those of military origins, do manage to contain their anger through a life of discipline and service. Even then however, their rage keeps burning beneath the surface.
* VigilanteMan: Some of them try to temper their anger with a sense of justice, and as such deliver their wrath on bad people and the atrocities happening in the world.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Their main Axiom, Katastrofi, serves to create Wonders that are meant to destroy things... and that's pretty much it. While most Catalysts have main Axioms granting them a wide array of abilities, Katastrofi is primarly about building gradually more powerful weapons. That said, said weapons are almost ''ridiculously'' good at it; by the time a Grimm reach 3 dots in Katastrofi, he will be able to build swords and guns capable of inflicting ''aggravated'' damages (which ''stay'' there no matter the supernatural entity involved and are much more troublesome to cure) and disintegrating people.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hoffnung]]
!!Hoffnung, the Catalyst of Vision
->''"You've seen it on the billboards and the trash-strewn alleys, amidst the halls of the powerful and in the tenements of the desperate: the Change. It's coming, and soon everything will be different. Our world will transform itself in fire, if necessary, in blood, certainly, and be reborn, fresh and new, to gaze out on the universe with innocent and wondering eyes. And I am the herald of that Change. So forgive me if I cannot hear your words or your screams. They are too small. [[HumansAreCthulhu Do you hear the mayflies screaming tonight? Neither do I.]]"''

->'''Nickname:''' Principalities
->'''Traditional planet:''' Jupiter

Defined by hope and ambition, Hoffnungs seek to change the world. While this may seem like a good thing on the surface, many of them have a definite consequentialist mentality or unusual ideas of what a better world looks like. Good at change and transformation. They also have a marked tendency to be extremely arrogant. Since they frequently have more contact with Muggles than the other Catalysts, they know better than anyone else what effects mere mortals fiddling with their inventions can have.
----
* BiggerOnTheInside: The final level of Metaptropi can be used to manipulate dimensions, granting the ability to create places like this.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: {{Narcissis|t}}m is their signature derangement. It doesn't matter how nice and humble they are at the beginning- deep down, every Hoffnung is utterly convinced he is right about everything, and this can very easily cause them to turn into egomaniacs.
* TheDeterminator: Nothing stops them from trying to achieve their dreams.
* ElementalShapeshifter: A variant. The final level of Metaptropi can be used to turn themselves into an elemental-like form based not on the four elements, but on the three states of matter (solid, liquid and gas) or a combination of all of them.
* EquivalentExchange: One of the abilities granted by level 2 of Metaptropi is to fiddle with biology, allowing to slightly reconfigurate someone's body. Gameplay-wise, this translates by this principle, allowing to increase one of the target's physical Attributes at the cost of reducing another one.
* IntangibleMan: Starting with level 5 of Metaptropi, a Genius can create a device allowing to "phase", becoming intangible in the process.
* TheLeader: Seeing how they are ambitious and driven by their desire to change the world, they frequently end up getting or trying to get in positions of leadership.
* MasterOfDisguise: Metaptropi grants them both the ability to shapeshift and produce illusions, making them really good at disguising themselves.
* MasterOfIllusion: One of the very first abilities granted by Metaptropi is to produce illusions.
* {{Shapeshifting}}: Their main Axiom, Metaptropi, specializes in everything related to transformations and reshaping the world.
* {{Sizeshifter}}: Starting with level 3 of Metaptropi, they become capable of altering someone's size.
* TheSocialExpert: As much as a Genius can be anyway. Hoffnungs tend to put an emphasis on social attributes, frequently trying to get in positions of powers like politicians so they can get the influence required to change the world. Out of all the Geniuses, they have the least problems with creating regular devices or interacting with normal people.
* TakeUpMySword: Out of all the Catalysts, Hoffnung are the most likely to have received deliberate training from another Genius. Many are heirs of an entire Legacy of Inspired, sometimes pursuing the dreams of their mentors.
* TransformingMecha: Level 3 of Metaptropi can be used to create Wonders capable of switching between two forms, allowing to create this.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Every Hoffnung wants to realize his/her own utopia, and such utopia always justifies the means.
* VisionaryVillain: When they go bad. Hoffnung are ambitious, and not necessarly in a good way.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: In theory, wanting to make the world better is a pretty nice goal. Unfortunately, a Hoffnung's definition of better can very well be horrible by normal people's standards, such as replacing everyone considered as "undesirable" with robotic slaves.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Klagen]]
!!Klagen, the Catalyst of Loss
->''"When I was in high school my teacher told me that there are more people alive today than have ever lived. Don't worry: she lied, then got cancer. (Not my fault.) We live atop a mountain of corpses. The Earth is swimming in humans, above and below the ground, so when I see you trying to raise the dead, I'm torn. On the one hand, I recognize your despair. On the other hand, [[OnlySaneMan do you really want to spend the rest of the week fending off a]] {{zombie apocalypse}} as the Earth vomits up her dead? [[NoodleIncident AGAIN?]] Come on, man, think this through: every time you try this, we end up fighting zombies. I hate zombies. Just put the syringe down."''

->'''Nickname''': Cassandras
->'''Traditional planet:''' Venus

Defined by sorrow, loss and regret at some personal tragedy, Klagens are often called Cassandras for their tendency to see further tragedy in the offing and seek to prevent it. Sadly, having all the credibility of MAD scientists, they often live up to the name. They make excellent doctors and repairmen, but perhaps understandably have a tendency towards depression. They also tend to be the most down to earth and sensible of the Catalysts (at least, insofar as the term "sensible" applies to mad scientists), and often serve as the voice of reason in the collaboratives they join. This makes it all the more unfortunate that they are the least common Catalyst.
----
* TheAtoner: A frequent motivation for them. Many Klagen are trying so hard to prevent new tragedies because they seek to undo the damages they have caused.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: All Klagens went through some form of tragic event during their Breakthrough. Unlike Grimms, this is rarely a violent one, but it's always sad and reveals how cruel the world can be.
* CassandraTruth: There is a reason they are nicknamed after the TropeNamer. Klagen typically do realize when something will go bad, and do everything they can to prevent it, but since like all Geniuses [[YouHaveToBelieveMe they are unable to attempt that without looking mad]], people rarely believe them.
* TheEeyore: They are motivated by personal tragedies, and their efforts to prevent new ones tend to be ignored, so it's no surprise that they often end up depressive, or even fatalistic. Their derangement even ''is'' depression.
* IgnoredExpert: Comes with being the OnlySaneMan around lots of mad scientists who just can't wait to start tampering in god's domain.
* MadDoctor: Their favored Axiom is Exelixi, which allows them to heal and improve living beings... whether they want it or not. In addition, because of the amount of suffering and loss a doctor will see over the course of their career, many Klagen come from the medical profession.
* LongLived: Exelixi automatically prolongates their lifespan, so they tend to live longer than the average human. A Klagen with sufficient mastery of the Axiom can survive over a ''century'' after his Breakthrough.
* TheMedic: They have a very strong tendency to practice medicine, as this is a work where tragedies are very likely to happen (such as failing to save a patient in time). Even those who weren't doctors before their Breakthrough can experience a desire to study the profession. Moreover, their main Axiom, Exelixi, focuses in part on repairing things, including healing living beings.
* MyGreatestFailure: A frequent origin for them. A Klagen can easily be responsible of the very tragedy that caused his Breakthrough, and blame himself for it.
* OnlySaneMan: By Genius standards, anyway. They're often the closest thing to a voice of reason that Geniuses have.
* {{Transhuman}}: Not ''all'' of them are, but Exelixi gives them an affinity for building Wonders meant to enhance a person's physical abilities, making it possible for them to become this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Neid]]
!!Neid, the Catalyst of Banishment
->''"First let me tell you that human beings without mathematical souls are transparent to God and thus mean nothing to Him. So you ask, why does God (who is the Equation) care about window-souls? He doesn't, but the Devil, whom I define as our negative thoughts, does, and directs window-soul humans at us to destroy us. These humans think they think and feel, but they are without the highest Number and their feelings are only our self-doubt. Destroy your self-doubt, be free of their hatred. [[MurderIsTheBestSolution Or destroy them, and be free of your self-doubt]]. Vengeance is time- and space-symmetrical, like any good equation."''

->'''Nickname''': Wyrms
->'''Traditional planet:''' Saturn

Defined by jealousy and bitterness, Neids are driven by the need to "show them all!" When a developing Genius feels rejected by his peers, when he blames his failures on "the man" keeping him down, that's when a Neid is born. They're good at mind control and apparently "psychic" powers—the more "out there" fields of mad science in terms of credibility and morality, in other words—and have a frankly unsurprising tendency to be paranoid and untrusting. Not without good reason, of course; many of them seem like magnets for mockery.
----
* TheAloner: A core part of their Catalyst is that they get their Breakthrough through bitterness from being treated as outcasts.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Neids are unshakably loyal to people who earn their trust. Good luck doing that with the paranoid wrecks they are, though.
* BrainUpload: The final level of Epikrato can be used to transfer your mind into a new body. This can allow the Genius to swap bodies with someone, upload his mind into a robot or computer, and so on.
* {{Brainwashed}}: The final level of Epikrato grants the ability to flat-out rewrite a person's entire [[LaserGuidedAmnesia memories]], skills and personality.
* DrivenByEnvy: They ''are'' defined by jealousy and bitterness. Most Neids are motivated by their jealousy toward those who can have the credibility and reputation forbidden to them.
* GrandTheftMe: The final level of Epikrato gives them the ability to transfert their conciousness into someone else's body.
* GreenEyedMonster: The ''reason'' a Neid is a Neid is because their jealousy overwhelmed them moreso than any of the other four possible catalysts. Most never come down from this, and a Neid who decides to finally settle old scores can be a force of incalculable destruction.
* HollywoodHacking: Epikrato's first level allows them to hack and take control of electronic devices.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: A frequent motivation for their attitude. Many Neids want so hard to demonstrate the truth and worth of their convictions because they are really insecure about it. Those who started out as mediocre scientists, for example, are trying to prove how Inspiration has transformed them.
* MindControlDevice: They specialize in building this using Epikrato. Since people won't listen to Neids, they try to forcefully make them listen, and nothing does that better than the ability to control minds.
* MindOverMatter: The second level of Epikrato allows to control gravity and space in order to reproduce Telekinesis.
* NoSocialSkills: Their arrogance and inclination to paranoia tend to make them rather asocial. Unlike Grimms however, they usually are pretty good at Subterfuge, and tend to have plenty of social merits through old contacts and owed favours.
* PeoplePuppet: Level 2 of Epikrato grants them the ability to control people's body like puppets.
* PerceptionFilter: Epikrato can be used to control a person's ''perception'', granting this ability.
* ProperlyParanoid: They tend to be convinced everyone around them is either trying to mock them or steal their research out of jealousy. While their paranoia plays a big role in giving them this point of view, Geniuses in general ''do'' easily get a lot of hatred and jealousy from mortals, so you see where they are coming from. In fact, their paranoia make them more likely than any other Catalyst to notice spies and enemies, since it gets directed more often at real than imagined threats.
* PsychicPowers: Their main Axiom, Epikrato, specializes in simulating psychic-like abilities.
* TheResenter: Neids are ''very'' likely to resent people who get credit when they don't.
* TheyCalledMeMad: Their typical attitude toward mortals. Like all Geniuses, Jabir makes it difficult for them to expose their research to the public without looking like insane people, and they are by nature paranoid on the topic, so they end convinced everyone see them as crazy and get obsessed with "showing them all".
* WeatherControlMachine: Starting with level four of Epikrato, Neid stop being limited to controlling physical things, and can now control phenomenons, allowing to create devices capable of controlling the weather itself.
* WindsOfDestinyChange: The fourth level of Epikrato can be used to control ''probability itself''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Staunen]]
!!Staunen, the Catalyst of Curiosity
->''"I'm afraid I don't see things like you do. I mean it: I'm afraid. What if the things I find beautiful [[GoMadFromTheRevelation drive you mad?]] What if they hollow you out like clever little squirrels getting nuts for the winter, except [[EyeScream the nuts are your eyes,]] and winter is, [[{{Metaphorgotten}} I don't know, maybe]] [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Rapture]] [[{{Metaphorgotten}} or something?]] And [[DissonantSerenity I'm just smiling while your face gets ripped apart]] because I think it's beautiful? These things worry me sometimes, when I'm not looking at the night sky. [[CloudCuckoolander So I spend a lot of time looking at the night sky, and not looking at your face and thinking about squirrels.]]"''

->'''Nickname:''' Grigori
->'''Traditional planet:''' Mercury

Defined by curiosity, wonder, and awe, Staunens simply love learning about the universe. They want to know more, they NEED to know more... even about those things that no sane person wants to think about, much less meet in person. As one might expect, they are very good at building scanners and communicators, and prone to fixation and obsession. Of all the Catalysts, they're the most interested in occult matters.
----
* BoldExplorer: Many of them are explorers who wish to discover new horizons and new places, exploring the world for his own sake.
* CloudCuckoolander: The weirdest Catalyst. With their interest in clearly non-scientific matters like occult, their tendency to obsess over strange questions for years and their adventurous nature, Staunen are frequently seen as out of touch with reality even compared to other Geniuses.
* CommLinks: Apokalypsi can be used to build communication devices and remote control for other Wonders. Communication ''does'' rely on sensing, after all.
* CuriosityIsACrapshoot: When you mix Mad Science with mad curiosity, anything is possible.
* EverythingSensor: Their main Axiom, Apokalypsi, focuses in part on creating scanners and sensors meant to analyze anything.
* ForgetsToEat: Considering how obsessive they are, this happens a lot. Their peers usually have to drag them out of this.
* ForScience: They only want to learn... and learning justifies the means.
* MundaneUtility: In addition of the ability to sense and scan practically everything, Apokalypsi scannners often have bright video screen or holograms, making them very efficient as flashlights.
* OccultDetective: In addition to frequently being detectives and investigators, Staunen are fascinated with everything alien and extraordinary, making them the most likely to get interested in the occult. Their main Axiom actually includes a scanner to detect supernatural creatures.
* SeekerArchetype: They are, above all, motivated by the desire to learn more, and as such, actively seek new secrets to uncover. Many were investigators, journalists or explorers before their Breakthrough.
* SurveillanceDrone: Apokalypsi covers everything related to sensing and scanning- including cameras and other devices meant to watch over people from a distance.
* {{Telepathy}}: Since reading mind and talking through them is a form of communication, some Wonders of Apokalypsi allows to simulate this ability.
* TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow: Part of what makes them so terrifying is that they won't let that trope get in the way of their curiosity. It doesn't matter if it's something no sane person would want to know, they will still obsess over it.
[[/folder]]

!!Catalysts introduced in 2nd edition

[[folder:Befreit]]
!!Befreit, the Catalyst of Liberation
-> ''"[[Film/TheDarkKnight The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules.]]"''

->'''Nickname:''' Icaruses
->'''Traditional planet:''' Uranus

Every genius has trouble fitting in with normal human society, but the Befreit are defined by it, they reject all forms of limitation and try to overcome them through mad science.
----
* TheAloner: Many Befreit prefer to leave civilization and be alone.
* BombThrowingAnarchists: A distinct possibility for Befreit who want to free society.
* CommanderContrarian: Befreit like disagreeing with others for the sake of disagreeing.
* CoolPeopleRebelAgainstAuthority: How they think of themselves.
* ForTheEvulz: Or rather "For the madz", Befreit desire for freedom means they'll likely commit Transgressions just because they're not allowed to do so.
* IJustWantToBeFree: Their main motivation.
* ItAmusedMe: Some Befreit have poor impulse control and tend to cause trouble just to make things more exciting.
* LaResistance: Icaruses want to break chains and set people free. The best of them focus on freeing people from very real tyranny.
* IdleRich: Some Befreit used to be this before losing their lifestyle caused them to go through their Breakthrough.
* ShoutOut: Some of the examples of things that Befreit do to challenge societies norms bring [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]] and [[Characters/SawJohnKramer Jigsaw]] to mind.
* TheSocialExpert: Paradoxically, the Befreit's antics tend to cause the public to get used to strange things which lowers tensions between them and geniuses.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Furcht]]
!!Furcht, the Catalyst of Fear
-> ''"I'll keep you safe. Forever."''

->'''Nickname:''' Fravashis (Dominations; men only, outdated. Cherubim; women only, outdated)
->'''Traditional Planet''': The Moon

Furchts are Geniuses motivated by their fears, both real and imagined, whether for their own safety or someone they care about.
----
* CrazyPrepared: Whatever they're afraid of, they'll spend their time preparing for it.
* ControlFreak: The ones that are afraid for their loved ones safety tend to be overprotective in the extreme.
* CowardlyLion: Just because they're motivated by fear doesn't mean they won't use mad science to fight back.
* KnightTemplarParent: A common manifestation.
* MarsAndVenusGenderContrast: Averted. Geniuses in universe used to think that male and female Furcht were seperate catalysts. Fravashis worrying about physical threats can behave very different to Furcht worrying about social threats but the split was never linked to gender.
* MotivatedByFear: Their basic premise.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Wollen]]
!! Wollen, the Catalyst of Desire
->''"Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game!"''

->'''Nickname:''' Mides
->'''Traditional Planet:''' Pluto

Mides are Geniuses motivated by their desire for various things
----
* BrickJoke: They're described as the Geniuses who build giant robots to rob banks so they can afford to make more giant robots to rob more banks.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The ones with low Obligation are like this.
* TheFettered: Mides often have extra rules about how they acquire their desires. Sometimes it's for ethical reasons but usually because [[ItAmusedMe the challenge makes it more fun.]]
* {{Greed}}: A very common flaw.
* HonestCorporateExecutive: The high Obligation ones tend to be this.
* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: Commonly Wollen are more interested in the chase than whatever they're chasing.
* MoneyDearBoy: It isn't always strictly money, but all Mides are motivated by a desire for something.
* MotiveDecay: Of all Catalysts they are the most likely to experience this during the breakthrough. Replacing a desire for something with desire for its own sake.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: They don't really care about the objects they get so much as the act of getting them, in other words [[WebVideo/DrHorriblesSingAlongBlog It's not about making money, it's about taking money.]]
[[/folder]]

!Foundations, Baramins and Programms

!!The Peerage
[[folder:The Peerage in general]]

The "good guys" (in theory), they were originally founded to fight evil snake-people ruling from Lemuria. The Peerage is an alliance between five factions known as "Foundations".
----
* AntiHero: The book makes it very clear the Peerage only are the "good guys" in loosest sense of the term, because they actually ''try'' to limit the damage they would do to humanity, in contrast to Lemuria. Objectively, they still have little concern with helping humanity, and plenty of the Foundations such as the Directors and the Progenitors, while not as AxeCrazy as Lemurians, still are pretty shady.
* ChangingOfTheGuard: All the foundations are undergoing or have recently undergone massive cultural shifts, from an old generation that favored conservationism and large structures to a fast moving, dynamic, even radical younger generation. This shift began when the old generation intentionally dismantled the large social structures of the Peerage. They were being corrupted by power and so they destroyed their own power. For all it's faults the Peerage is dedicated to helping Mad Scientists avoid the perils of their own insanity.
* ComesGreatResponsibility: Subverted, the Peerage do believe that the Inspiration comes with responsibility. Responsibility to stay low, keep quiet, and try not to do anything too crazy.
* ImNotAHeroIm a MadScientist: The Peerage encourages its members to distance themselves for humanity; in their view a mad scientist trying to help is just a disaster waiting to happen.
* MadHatter: Their insanity allows them to make Wonders, after all.
* WillNotTellALie: For older (or old-fashioned) Peers being truthful is SeriousBusiness. The Scholastics do this the most [[note]]They were originally a zoroastrian philosophy cult. Truth was to AncientPersia like democracy is to EagleLand[[/note]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The International Union of Artifice]]
!!!The International Union of Artifice

->''"Good, fast, and cheap: you get all three. And if you talk like that to my people again, you're going to wake up as a collection of spare parts."''

Originally quiet reclusive Geniuses who just wanted to be left in peace to build their Wonders. They have since radicalized with younger Artificers emphasize a punk DIY ethos as a way to remain free from, or oppose, "The Man". Artificers give players a chance to play the mad scientist who builds awesome stuff and represent the fear that we will have to adapt for new technology whether or not we want it to.
----
* BunglingInventor:They can slap Wonders together faster than any other Geniuses, but unless they spend an hour testing it out, they won't know what the persistent fault is. [[HilarityEnsues This can cause problems]].
* MacGyvering: Due to the simple problem that building anything takes money or resources (bought with money), many Artificers take the Dumpster Diver trait, which lets them cobble together amazing inventions from trash. Even those that don't are capable of building things like power armour and time machines with stuff you can buy from stores.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: Artificers come from all walks of life, but the younger ones tend to be, shall we say, "unpolished".
* WeirdTradeUnion: Some of them take that "union" bit literally.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fellowship for Manifest Direction]]
!!!Fellowship for Manifest Direction
->''"Like even the strongest iron bar, every man has a weak point, and it can be found."''

Created as a Fellowship to organise the Peerage in the invisible war, the Directors grew to become the Peerage's social and organisational experts. Charismatic, skilled and as brilliant as any other Genius they are nevertheless corrupted by naked ambition. Directors let the players be bond villain style masterminds and represent the fear that "the elite" will step on the little guy for their own benefit.
----
* TheBeastMaster: As part of their DiabolicalMastermind theme, many of them prefer to let [[TheIgor Beholden]] or robots do their dirty work while they stay comfortably inside their base.
* BondVillainStupidity: The younger Directors accuse their elders of this.
* DiabolicalMastermind: A not-entirely-inaccurate stereotype of the foundation. Thematically, they are designed to represent the James Bond Villain archetype, being charismatic Geniuses with social affinities and often a lot of minions.
* TheFace: Often in player parties. This is important, since a Genius' ever worsening ScienceRelatedMemeticDisorder causes Jabir, which makes talking to normal humans rather difficult.
* GoneHorriblyRight: The Fellowship was explicitly founded to provide the kind of organized leadership Lemuria had. Almost immediately, the Directors became every bit as corrupt, racist, and fanatical as the leaders of Lemuria. The Foundation was extensively reformed in the early twentieth century, but things were looking bad for a while.
* GuileHero: When they're not outright {{Manipulative Bastard}}s.
* ManipulativeBastard: They are designed to represent the James Bond Villain archetype, being charismatic Geniuses with social affinities.
* TheMinionMaster: As part of their DiabolicalMastermind theme, many of them prefer to let [[TheIgor Beholden]] or robots do their dirty work while they stay comfortably inside their base. Fittingly, one of their favored Axioms is Automata, the Axiom related to building artificial beings.
* OmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: Older Directors love this trope.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Briefly, they were every bit as racist and politically incorrect as Lemuria. They've cleaned up their act.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: The most socially powerful Foundation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Center for Circumferential Navigation]]
!!!Center for Circumferential Navigation
->''"I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Hell, I've seen things '''I''' don't believe."''

The Navigators were formally part of Lemuria, there they faced discrimination for their race and ended doing maintenance, transportation and front line combat for their so called betters. After abandoning Lemuria they eventually joined up with the Peerage, after the invisible war was over. For a while the Navigators were known for being practically a military, but the old generation has given way to rugged independent explorers. The Navigators exist to give players the opportunity to play adventurers and {{Science Hero}}es, to saner individuals they represent the fear of being caught in the crossfire of the powerful.
----
* AppropriatedAppellation: The name Navigator is intentionally humble in defiance of people who used to see them as second class Geniuses. The attitude is gone, but the name remains.
* BadassArmy: Their function is to serve as the Peerage's army and scouts, and given most of them are explorers equipped with {{Powered Armor}}s, it's safe to say they fill this function well.
* BadassBookworm or GeniusBruiser: They can use Mania to enhance their physical abilities.
* DefectorFromDecadence: They didn't leave Lemuria because it was full of evil people who oppress them. They left because it was full of {{Obstructive Bureaucrat}}s and {{Insufferable Genius}}es who couldn't even do Armageddon right.
* TheDrifter: Many of them spend their time travelling from city to city, saving people before moving to a new location.
* LightningBruiser: Their favored Axioms are Katastrofi and Skafoi, meaning they're very good at moving fast and hitting hard.
* FantasticRacism: An interesting aversion; most templates and factions in the New World of Darkness usually have somewhat negative stereotypes toward other types of supernaturals. The Navigators don't; instead, their stereotype has them praise supernaturals for being "[[WorthyOpponent good in a fight]]", and "usually a lot more reasonable than people make them out to be".
* MildlyMilitary: While still possessed of military trappings, formal organization and protocol have been relaxed in recent years.
* PoweredArmor: They make a tradition of building and wearing their Wonders as either armors or equipments intended to make them fly and improve their fighting skills.
* TravelCool: As they specialize in exploration, many feel that getting there should be just as amazing or moreso than what you find when you arrive.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Reformed Society of Progenitors]]
!!!Reformed Society of Progenitors (formerly Children of Demiurge)
->''"It'll work this time, I promise. It won't hurt anyone."''

Mad biologists and transhumanists, who recently had to purge their ranks after most of them went insane (more than usual). Playing a Progenitor lets you be the archetypal mad scientist who creates and reshapes life, while to everyone else they represent the fear of humanity as we know it being replaced by something else.
----
* EvilutionaryBiologist: The "Evil" part is downplayed after the purge, but Progenitors do have an interest in mad biology and creating new, better living beings.
* HollywoodCyborg: The absolute best at making implanted wonders, and they don't shy away from doing it. Worth mentioning that their implants aren't necessarly mechanicals; they do plenty of biological implants as well.
* MadDoctor: The original generation were insane biologists who would perform dangerous experiments on humans and animals, eventually leading to their purge. The new generation are transhumanists who happily experiments on themselves in an effort to improve themselves.
* ProfessorGuineaPig: While the original Progenitors would gladly experiments on animals and human beings to further their research, the new iteration focuses on upgrading ''themselves'' with their Wonders, an attitude that somewhat disturbs other Geniuses.
* TheParagonAlwaysRebels: The original Progenitors used to be considered the most impressive, skilled of the Foundations until they went completely insane, leading to the purge. Nowadays, this has left such a big impact the current generation still has problems shaking off the bad reputation they got because of this.
* {{Transhuman}}: The current incarnation's hat. Since the first generation was infamously wiped out after it was discovered they had no qualm experimenting on unwilling humans, their successors decided to go around that problem by experimenting on ''themselves''. Out of all the Foundations, they probably are the ones to include the most Manes.
* TranshumanTreachery: The new generation Progenitors' increasing interest for transhuman practices has caused a lot of concern among other Foundations, who fear they might turn out like this. While there probably are some cases, not all of them are subjects to it.
%%* UpgradeArtifact: They can do this.%%How?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:College of Scholastic Theory]]
!!!College of Scholastic Theory
->''"If it's true, someone wrote it down, even if just to refute it."''

Respectable, neat academics who believe it is important to manage their own insanity with a dedication to logic and truth. Or at least they used to, older members unraveled mysteries to uncover the truth. Younger members create mysteries and delight in bizarre non-linear thought. Playing a Scholastic is an opportunity to be the mad scientist who knows strange secrets, while to everyone else they represent the fear of [[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow things man was not meant to know]] and the people who publish them.
----
* AdventurerArchaeologist: A little Schliemannian globetrotting is much more exciting than hitting the books.
* BadassBookworm: By far the most intellectual and academics of the Geniuses. They also happen to be the oldest Foundation, and the ones who have been fighting Lemuria the longest.
* MasterOfIllusion: A prerequisite for any would-be conqueror of the human mind.
* NonActionGuy: Older Scholastics are often content to stay inside and theorize.
* OddFriendship: The ancient, methodical College of Scholastic Theory gets along pretty decently with the modern, revolutionary [[TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening Free Council]]. Well, [[TeethClenchedTeamwork better than Mages and Geniuses usually do]], anyway.
* RhymesOnADime: Because puckishness just isn't the same without the odd couplet here and there.
* TheSmartGuy: They are described as the "brains" of their collaboratives.
* TookALevelInBadass: They started out as a small philosophy cult who really liked truth and objected to Lemuria's historical revisionism. Now they're the most influential organization of Mad Scientists in the world, led a RagtagBunchOfMisfits to overthrow the AncientConspiracy that controlled mankind since the beginning of history, and all Inspired culture (even Lemurian) has been heavily influenced by them.
[[/folder]]

!!Foundations introduced in 2nd edition

[[folder:The New American Artisans]]
!!!Artisans
->''"I made it out of mom, baseball, and apple pie."''.

A movement of Geniuses in North America who arose in the guided age to simultaneously claim the benefits of new technology without allowing progress to change cultures or ways of life. Inevitably they failed, but were influential for a hundred years or so. They were a society of ''Mad Artisans''.
----

* AffirmativeActionLegacy: After the Fellowship gave up on its competing visions of America there was a short lived movement to find a replacement, it was much more diverse in class, ethnicity, and politics.
* GossipyHens: The ''Mary Annes'' look like a society of housewives who spend all day gossiping on the telephone, but their gossip amounted to an claundestine information network that puts the NSA to shame.
* KidHero: Some were members, other members were mentors to kid heroes. Naturally of the AllAmericanBoy veriety.
* KnowWhenToFoldThem: Senior Artisans deliberately set the Foundation's death in motion to prevent a civil war or worse, the group becoming Lemurians.
* FaceHeelTurn: Far from the majority, but some ex-Artisans can be found in the Mechanists and Witnesses. Given that the Artisans started to preserve their rural way of life from the effects of mass production this is unsuprising, if they weren't such comitted enemies of Lemuria the defection would be much larger.
* NotSoExtinct: Their space colonies might still be around.
* SettlingTheFrontier: They had space colonies, nobody knows what happened to them.
* Standard50sFather: Artisans like this started to appear in the 40s and 50s.
* StayInTheKitchen: Subverted. One of their subfactions, the ''Mary Annes'' specialised in domestic technology as well as communications technology and cryptography; so they ran national communication networks from their kitchens.
* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: They were well integrated into society and had the attitudes and values you'd expect for middle class white Americans living in 1870s to 1950s.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Cartographic Order of St Christopher the Undecieved]]
!!!Cartographers
->''"Beyond that horizon lies fame, fortune, and the glory of battle! Hoist the sails!"''.

An order of dashing swashbucklers sailing the high seas in search of adventure and fortune. Unfortunately for everyone around them Cartographers seem unable to recognise the risks of starting fights or delving into trap filled tombs, and as dangerous as they are to themselves they're more dangerous to people around them. Cartographers were generalist ''mad explorers'' but late in the foundation's life some focus on ''mad physics'' emerged.
----

* BloodKnight: They love fighting, but its because they think war is just fun and games.
* GentlemanAdventurer: Unlike the Navigators, Cartographers tend to come from the upper crust.
* MagneticHero: They were famous for their charisma and ability to get others to share in their adventures.
* PrivilegeMakesYouEvil: Downplayed. Cartographers are no more evil than any other group of mad scientists, but their particular flaw is how their privilege blinds them to how their actions hurt people.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Downplayed but they are ones to the Navigators. While the groups have quite distinct personalities both served as the Peerage's explorers and fighters. Its mentioned you can find Cartographers who behave like Navigators, and Navigators who behave like Cartographers.
* {{Swashbuckler}}: They're dashing sailors with a winning smile and boisterous personality.
* TheCaptain: Most Cartographers built and captained their own ship.
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: They wanted fame and fortune, but once they got rich they found actually managing their finances to be indescribably boring. The Foundation eventually fell apart because it got too rich and its mad scientists left to avoid the paperwork.
[[/folder]]

!!Lemuria
[[folder:Lemuria in general]]

The "bad guys"... sort of. They believe that humanity needs to be "fixed," to be put back on track, and will do anything to achieve this goal. The original Lemuria actually was a Bardos populated by [[SnakePeople the Third Race, a powerful civilization of snake people Manes]], until they accidentally erased their own home from existence by messing with the timeline through TimeTravel. They eventually created a new Lemuria in the form of a AncientConspiracy manipulating history all over the world, recruiting and using Inspired humans as their servants, with the goal of developping humanity over a century toward a future that would result in the rebirth of their Bardos. However, Geniuses grew in number over time and became harder to control for them; eventually, the independant Inspired formed the Peerage and defeated the surviving members of the Third Race, putting an end to their agenda. Their human servants persisted however, and still operate what remains of the Conspiracy, under the belief history took a wrong path and needs to be fixed.

The factions making up Lemuria are known as Baramins.
----
* AnimalMotif: Snakes, due to their origins as servants of ancient SnakePeople.
* AntiVillain: They want to use their knowledge and inventions to help the world and improve it. Problem is, they completely fail to realize they are insane and would just spread Havoc.
** In other words, they all have wonderous ideas and the means to implement them but, as a rule, have no connection to baseline human social norms due to zero [[KarmaMeter Obligation]].
* ComesGreatResponsibility: Lemurians believe that the Inspired have a moral duty to set humanity back on track. Pity a different [[ComesGreatInsanity trope is in play]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: By definition all Lemurians believe that human development took a wrong turn at some point, such as the replacement of Platonic philosophy with Aristotle.
* EvilCounterpart: To the Peerage. They also act as a rather less sympathetic spiritual successor to the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Traditions]] in many thematic respects.
* [[IRejectYourReality They Reject Our Reality]]: [[RealityWarper And substitute their own]].
* InsaneEqualsViolent: It's pointed out that not all Lemurians do evil, but their insanity makes it so easy.
* RealityWarper: They can warp reality according to their vision of it.
* ReptilianConspiracy: The original Lemuria was founded and led by shapeshifting snake-men Manes who were manipulating humanity from behind the scenes. Nowadays however, most of them have been exterminated, and the current incarnation of Lemuria is controlled by human Geniuses.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Unlike the Peerage, they don't know that they are insane. They believe that everyone else is.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Atomics Supervision Board]]
!!!Atomists
->''"There was so much potential. So much promise. So much that failed us, all those years ago. But not this time."''

Atomists represent the idea that technology can solve human, social or political problems. They tend to be utterly dismissive of (if not outright hostile to) the proposition that the human element is important or in any way greater than just another number on their spreadsheet. Their specialty is ''Mad Science and Technology Studies''.
----
* {{Determinator}}s: They are the best at warding off Havoc, which is reflected by their Grant allowing them to add their Resolve to Havoc rolls. Of course, it happens sooner or later, but maybe ''next'' time...
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: While they all believe that technology can [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans create a paradise,]] some have very disturbing ideas on what that paradise would look like. (For instance, one might think being slaves to immortal machine overlords sounds like the ideal human condition.)
* {{Expy}}: Of the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Technocracy]]. They're also based on some hardcore fans of Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven, and Ayn Rand.
* FlunkyBoss: A very likely fighting style for them; their favorite Axioms are Automata, which allows them to create armies of robots, zombies or other creatures, and Apokalypsi, which they can use to deliver them instruction from distance or control remotely, so it's easy for them to rely on their minions to do the job while they stay safely in their lab.
* IWantMyJetpack: Or Hovercar/Invisible Zeppelin/Robotic Spider/Horde of Gorilla Cyborgs.
* RaygunGothic: They're still bitter the world didn't turn out like this, and seek to "fix" things so that it will.
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: All they ever wanted was to bring us into the future -- not that they ever cared about the people who would have to live in it.
* {{Zeerust}}: Not a defining trope, but certainly not uncommon. As they were formally founded in the 50s at the dawn of the Nuclear age, many of their elders have a pre-apocalypse ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}''-type style to their Mad Science.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Institute for Etheric Sciences]]
!!!Etherites
->''"Now if you look here, you'll see that this is how things really work. Actually, really, positively work. But ignore that, that part is still being corrected."''

Etherites believe that a single unified theory can explain everything. (Though what that theory is differs from Etherite to Etherite). In general, they care more about "proving" their pet theories than actual science, mixed in with some of the worse cultural attitudes from the Victorian era. Their specialty is ''Mad Physics'' or ''Mad Conspiracy Theory''.
----
* BerserkButton: Question their theories. [[SchmuckBait We dare you.]]
* TheBrute: The Etherites form the backbone of Lemuria's armed forces, using their ray guns and particle cannons to rain death on their enemies.
* ConspiracyTheorist: Etherites believe that their theories are so obviously true only an idiot couldn't see it, so only a grand conspiracy can explain why its not the scientific consensus.
* {{Deconstruction}}: They're [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Mage: the Ascension's Sons of Ether]], if they actually were the kind of people who thought the scientific community was a conspiracy, and if they actually thought like Victorians.
* {{Expy}}: Of the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Sons of Ether]].
* LightningBruiser: Their favourite Axioms are Katastrofi and Skafoi, respectively focusing on destructive weapons and transportation, meaning they can easily build tank-like vehicles and jets with powerful cannons or equip themselves with a combination of Jetpacks and {{Death Ray}}s. This is the primary reason they make up most of Lemuria's army.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Conspiracy theory and prejudice go hand in hand, and that's on top of the fact their culture is somewhat stuck in the Victorian era.
* TheFundamentalist: About their scientific theories.
* WrongGenreSavvy: They believe science (or more accurately their own theories on science) can explain everything in the universe. Unfortunately for them, the setting they live in is the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'', where inexplicable supernatural phenomenons are legion.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Consorted Guilds of Master Mechanists]]
!!!Mechanists
->''"We're all just cogs in the Great Machine. Whatever we think we choose was actually predestined, part of the process. Part of the Plan."''

The Mechanists believe that the universe, and everything within it, follows simple laws and theories, to the degree that they become fatalists who take no responsibility for their actions. WordOfGod says they don't have any overarching theme, they are merely [[RuleOfCool cool]]. Their specialty is ''Mad Craftsmanship''.

In the second edition Mechanist have been given a stronger ideology as anti-industrialists who believe that mass produced technology is fundamentally inferior to hand crafted tools and even harmful to its users and society.
----

Tropes applying to both editions:

* ClockPunk: A favourite aesthetic, given their belief that the universe, and even the people, are just clocks following slightly more complicated routines.
* FaceHeelTurn: Sorta. Geniuses espousing what is now modern Mechanist philosophy have always been around, but the Baramin itself officially formed after a schism in the International Union of Artifice.
* SteamPunk: Another favorite aesthetic of theirs, as it uses a lot of orderly gears and mechanisms, fitting their "everything falls into place" mindset.

Tropes applying to the first edition:

* {{Expy}}: Fatalistic and grim, with a focus on [[YouCantFightFate destiny]], similar to the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Euthanatos]].
* TheFatalist: They reject the idea of free-will and consequentially the idea of responsibility.
* NeverMyFault: Because they don't believe in free will, they never acknowledge that anything might be their fault-- as far as they are concerned, it's always part of some higher mechanism the world works on.
* StoneWall: While they are not necessarly weak in the attack department, Mechanists not only have Prostasia (which focuses on armors and forcefield) as one of their favourite Axioms (the other one being Automata), but their Grant confers a Durability bonus to their Wonders, as well as to their Armors' Core Modifier, meaning they can build more resilient robots and stronger armors.

Tropes applying to the second edition:

* EvilLuddite: They only oppose mass produced technology (which makes them closer to the original luddites) but they don't care about the consequences of destroying technology society relies on.
* LuddWasRight: They certainly think so.
* GoodOldWays: From the Mechanist's point of view they want a world where skilled craftsmen are rewarded for their honest toil and respected for their skills, not exploited by their employers.
* HandmadeIsBetter: They are absolute fundamentalists for this idea.
* PrivilegeMakesYouEvil: The usual way to become a mechanist is to be successful, fail to adapt to new technology, and go mad from the resulting loss of prestige and wealth.
* ThePerfectionist: They believe that hand crafted tools are superior to mass produced tools, and work very hard to make sure their crafts prove the point.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Hallowed Order of Numerologists (called Oracles in 1E)]]
!!!Numerologists
->''"I understand your confusion, my son. When the scales first fell from my own eyes, I could hardly believe the Truth that was laid bare before them. But the signs and portents are all there, just as foretold. All you have to do is find the clues within the lacunae and make the logical connections; that will show you which apocrypha should never have been excluded from the canon. With the complete text at hand, follow the gematria in the context of the Papal ex cathedra decrees, sedevacantist of course, and behold His plan! It's a lot to take in but the truth of the scripture cannot be denied. Now, hand me that brimstone, we have our parts to play in His work."''

The Numerologists believe that within the holy texts of various religions lies encoded the formula for perfect morality. Their specialty is ''Mad Theology''.
----
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: To the Numinologists and the 2e Oracles (Otherwise known as The Oracular Daughters of Ecstatic Revelation), they were better organised than the former and better at long term planning than the latter.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: An inevitable consequence of being [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalist]], religious, and [[IrejectYourReality unmada]].
* BeliefMakesYouStupid: Twisted. On the one hand they believe whatever their holy books say is literally true even when it leads to nonsensical conclusions like geocentricism or a young Earth creationism. On the other hand they're still geniuses and make very intelligent theologians.
* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: An Aesthetic popular among them; seeing how they have a more mystical approach of Mad Science, they tend to dress as mages rather than scientists.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: Much like the Oracles.
* {{Expy}}: In keeping with Lemuria's [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Tradition]] parallels, the Oracles resemble some of the less sympathetic portrayals of the [[SoulsavingCrusader Celestial Chorus]].
* InstantExpert: In the first edition this was their Grant: if it's scientific or academic, they can spend a point of Mania to know it.
* MadMathematician: They use numerology for divination to find hidden messages in holy scripture. This is why they're called Numerologists.
* NumerologicalMotif: Many members use numerological symbolism as keys to find hidden messages in holy books.
* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Their wonders are works of alchemy, sorcery, or theology. But they're the intellectual kind of theologian who approach scripture through study and reason.
* TautologicalTemplar: They believe they're following God's plan (or something else equally unquestionable) and thus whatever immoral things they do must be justified. Of course, they're just insane and the great plan only exists in their heads.
* TheFundamentalist: They believe in absolutes and are incapable of seeing a middle ground. This, combined with their religious tendencies, make them textbook religious fanatics.
* ThePhilosopher: Most Numerologists are theologians, but not all of them. Philosophers can be found in their ranks, even agnostic or aethiest philosophers. They're as fundamentalist as the rest of them.
* PropagandaMachine: For Lemuria.
* ReligionIsMagic: They use the same game mechanics as mad scientists. However they're mad theologians, their wonders resemble Kabbalistic Numerology, Islamic Astronomy or Taoist alchemy more than science.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Munich School of Post-Empirical Phenomenological Theory]]
!!!Phenomenologists
->''"Hmm. That's an interesting point, but is there really any kind of absolute truth out there? Anything that is immutable?"''

The Phenomenologists believe that there is no universal reality. Consiquently they choose to live in whatever reality suits them best and act appropriately, even if it's outright harmful to those around them. They are a reference to post modernists and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_wars Science Wars]] in particular. Their specialty is ''"Mad Critique''.
----
* BelievingTheirOwnLies: They can lie so well because they believe in what they're saying... at that moment, anyway.
* ConsummateLiar: They can spend a point of Mania to gain a exceptional success on a subterfuge roll. This is because they aren't actually lying, they genuinely believe anything they say.
* IRejectYourReality: Even more so than other Unmada. Phenomenologists will reject their ''[[InvertedTrope own]]'' reality when it suits them.
* TheSpymaster: Their area of expertise; not only does their Grant make them {{Consummate Liar}}s thanks to denial of an universal reality, but their favourite Axioms, Apokalipsi and Epikrato, focus respectively on observation and control, meaning they can easily [[BigBrotherIsWatching build cameras and scanners to monitor everyone]], brainwash people to serve as sleeper agents or modify their memories as they wish.
* SurveillanceAsThePlotDemands: They're in charge of Lemuria's intelligence operations.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Eluciated Court of Dharmists]]
!!!Dharmists

The now extinct old rulers of Lemuria, Dharmist were the closest to the Third Race back when they were still the masters, helping them control other Inspired. As such, they were masters of manipulating creating related to Mania. Most of them were exterminated or forced to recant after Lemuria's origin defeat at the hand of the Peerage. Their specialty is ''Mad Philosophy''.
----
* {{Foil}}: To the Scholastics:
** Both were the closest things to leaders of their respective factions.
** Both were specalists in mad philosophy with a tendency to see ideas as more real than material reality. However Scholastics have a habit of retreating into solipsim to live in their own ideas, Dharmists policed other people's ideas.
** Both had a strong interest in the study of history, but Schoalstics were determined to understand history as it really happeend, Dharmists tried to fit events into a grand historical narrative with no basis in reality.
** Scholastics led a revolution to free mankind's from intellectual restraints. The Dharmists mission was to enforce intellectual restraints.
** Finally the Dharmists originate from Hindu theologians while the Scholastics started as a Zoroastrian philosophy cult, echoing the historical rivalry between those two faiths.
* KnightOfCerebus: The suppliment set in Medieval Europe says outright that if a Dharmist turns up any zany mad science hijinks should cease and the tone should turn serious and horrific.
* IndustrializedEvil: Their elegent mystical wonders look like the furthest thing from industry, but their methods fell squarely into this trope.
* LesCollaborateurs: All of Lemuria served the Third Race back then, but the Dharmist were by far their closest servants, and were devoted to them.
* ManipulativeBastard: Unlike the Directors, these guys were only good at manipulating beings touched by Inspiration-- but they were ''very'' good at it.
* PosthumousCharacter: Their Baranim has been utterly destroyed by the time the game takes place. The Peerage made absolutely sure of that.
* TheDreaded: Their specalty was in manipulating or mind controlling other Inspired, consiquentually the peerage were 'terrified' of them. Even now there are whole areas of research that mad scientists consider tainted by association.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Forum for Digital Numerics]]
!!!!Numericals (ascendant)
->''"Ordinary people cannot handle the internet. Without the intellect to participate in real debates they retreat into echo-chambers and pollute society with their cancerous ignorance. On social media highschool never ends. No longer do cheerleaders and football captains corner victims in the locker room, now our children willingly present themselves so society may devour their self esteem. People that asssert wrong information with confidence are upvoted past correct messages. This can go on no longer! The elite must rise up against the ignorant masses and take back the internet. Once we are free from the meatheaded mob we shall put aside such petty concerns as race, religion, and emotions to create a world where intelligence and reason are the true measure of a man!''

->''September shall end!"''

With the arrival of UsefulNotes/EternalSeptember, many Geniuses saw their dreams of an internet where the intelligent ruled a virtual world overrun by housewives posting cat pictures and businessmen buying golf shoes. The Numericals hate how the internet has become as stupid as meatspace, and seek to reform it into what it should have been. Their specialty is ''Mad Computer Science''.

Numerericals are not the only group who think the internet has gone wrong. There is a second Web 2.0 generation that believes the tech industry has allowed demogogery and mob rule to thrive, and the experts must be put back at the heart of online discourse. This group is not yet organised, but their focus on the internet means they regularly clash with (and are sometimes recurited by) Numerericals. They tend to study ''Mad Communication Theory'' which has even fed back into the Numerericals.
----
* CassetteFuturism: Their most common aesthetic, representing the point where the internet existed but before normal people ruined it.
* ComputerEqualsTapedrive: This retro aesthetic is popular with Numerericals.
* DemocracyIsFlawed: A common view among the Web 2.0 generation, who are upset that social media let demagogues win power.
* {{Expy}}: Less overt than some of the other Baramins, but their retro computer shtick pretty well mirrors the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Virtual Adepts]].
* HackerCave: Their laboratories tend to look like this.
* HollywoodHacking: Any Genius can do this, but they're explicitly the best at it. Mechanically they gain two extra dice to all hacking rolls.
* ItsAllAboutMe: To the Numericals, only the "right" people should use the Internet. Their definition of "the right people" ''coincidentally'' is exactly the same as the requirements to join them. Even better: each half of the Baramin divide have structured their definition of "the right people" ''explicitly to exclude the other half''.
* ItsPopularNowItSucks: In-universe, this is how they feel about the Internet.
* InstantExpert: Their grant lets them use intelligence in place of any skill, fitting for a group that think intelligence is the only measure of a man.
* InsufferableGenius: The heart of Numerical beliefs is that smart people should be respected and in charge, and of course that they are the smart people. Their focus on the internet is a consiquence of this, they thought that in online text only chats intelligence would be king and still wish to make it so.
* NewbieBoom: In-universe, they want to bring UsefulNotes/EternalSeptember, which brought a lot of new users to the Internet, to an end. If this sounds good to you, bear in mind that their definition of "newbie" in this scenario includes literally everyone who isn't a computer programmer (or electrical engineer, if they're feeling generous).
* SeriousBusiness: They have very strict beliefs about the Internet, and they are a very real danger to people who troll them on the web.
* TechnoWizard: As mad computer scientists they're naturally very good with computers.
* TooMuchAlike: The old computer science generation and the new communication theory generation both think the internet has been ruined by the wrong people getting online. Both of them think the other group are those wrong people.
* {{Troll}}: They justify their elitist ideology by the presence of online jerks; this may lead to a case of HeWhoFightsMonsters.
[[/folder]]

!!Baramins introduced in 2nd edition

[[folder:The Iconoclastic Revolutionary Army]]
!!!Iconoclasts
->''"The most dangerous moment for any revolution is the cusp of victory. The sight of transformative fires and violence wakes the counter-revolutionary memeplex the elite hammed into the cultural psyche. Pressing through this critical period requires even greater commitment and yes, blood. We must be resolute, if we withstand the last gasp of the power brokers, the klepto-plutocrats, the old men who live on theft and hate, and the so called moderates who would rather bow to tyranny than get their hands dirty, our rebellion shall become Revolution. The capitalist order shall be swept away and the New Utopian Man shall arise to build a world of liberty, comradery, and equality.

->Sent from my iPhone"''.

A bunch of revolutionaries that believe the only way to get history back on track is to create a revolution to tear down the current political order and create a Utopia. Their specialty is ''Mad Political Science''.
----
* AgentProvocateur: One of their jobs for Lemuria was infiltrating both Genius and mortal political movements that posed a threat and create chaos.
* BombThrowingAnarchists: They're not all anarchists, but Iconoclasts of any political persuasion tend to behave like this.
* BloodKnight: Iconoclastics really enjoy hurting people, much of their political theorising is just an elaborate justification for why they should punch someone's face in.
* ManifestoMakingMalcontent: When they're not fighting Iconoclastics spend a lot of time making and debating manifestos. They are still geniuses, creating things is in their nature.
* MissingStepsPlan: Step one: Lots of violence. Step two: ??? Step three: Utopia. Its not that Iconoclasts haven't thought it through, its that they use their genius to justify why they don't need a better plan.
* TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized: They believe that their goals can only be accomplished through violent revolution.
* UriahGambit: One of the means Lemuria used to keep them in line.
* WorkingClassHero: Invoked but also averted. Iconoclasts like to portray themselves as working class, but rarely are.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Society of Learned Leviathans]]
!!!Leviathans

A Baramin that believes that the world should be ruled by a benevolent Autocracy. Like the Iconoclasts their specialty is ''Mad Political Science''.
----
* DirtyCoward: Leviathans want a strong autocrat because they fear anything less will allow chaos and civil war. And they want someone else to be the autocrat because it's dangerous to be on top.
* HobbesWasRight: Their core philosophy. They're even named after [[Literature/LeviathanThomasHobbes Hobbes' book]].
* TheChainsOfCommanding: They are big fans of social contract theory and think rulership comes with obligations to protect society.
* TheManBehindTheMan: Leviathans avoid being rulers themselves but they are happy to advise their superiors, however see PuppetKing below.
* ThePhilosopherKing: Leviathans believe such people should be in charge of society.
* PuppetKing: Played with, while middle management Leviathans do manipulate their superiors into doing what they want they would never resort to mind control or making their superior a Beholden as that goes against their philosophy.
* VillainousLegacy: They're no longer around, but they've influenced a lot of active Inspried groups and some say the Witnesses are an evolution of the society.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Oracular Daughters of Ecstatic Revelation]]
!!!Oracles

A more mystical branch of Lemuria, Oracles tend to believe that what they do is mystical and spiritual instead of mad science and had one of the most unique methods. Instead of researching or experimenting to design their wonders they entered trance states and awoke with new knowledge. Their Specialty is ''Mad Mysticism'' though many say trying to assign them a speciality at all misunderstands what they were.
----

* ChaoticStupid: Their greatest weakness. In their altered states of consciousness the Ecstatics were prone to all sorts of irrational and self destructive behaviour. Even when they were lucid they rarely saw this to be a problem.
** To give you an idea, they were the first owners of Daedalus's Labyrinth and used it to gain inspiration by running through the monster and deathtrap filled maze while out of their mind on drugs with predictably fatal results.
* DontThinkFeel: One of the most extreme examples in fiction. Oracles would discover things like nuclear physics back in ancient Greece by getting so drunk they couldn't think at all.
* LowCultureHighTech: The culture: A half naked guy in the woods licking mushrooms and howling at the moon. The technology: MagicPoweredPseudoscience.
* MadOracle: Intentionally so. Oracles would expose themselves to hallucinogenics, traumatising experiences, and stranger things to open their third eye.
* MotiveDecay: A cyclical issue. Their revelations would give them a clear goal, to accomplish that goal they'll induce another revelation, which would give them a new goal. An optional mechanic allows them to regularly change their [[GoalInLife Magnum Opus]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Gathering of High Numinologists]]
!!!Numinologists

A baramin of Antinihilists who want to give life meaning through mad science. Their specialty is ''Mad Anthropology''.
----
* TheAntiNihilist: Their philosophy is that life is a chaotic mess and that science can't answer the important "meaning of life" type questions, but they think that mad science can yet create a means of answering them.
* ControlFreak: Their motivation stems from the fact that they see the world as uncontrolable and want to impose some form of order on the chaos.
* DeityOfMortalCreation: Much like the Engwithans from VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity they decided the only way to give life meaning is to create deities of their own.
* Foil: Their philosophy is the inverse of the Phenomenologists.
* NotSoExtinct: As far as anyone knows there aren't any of them left [[ExactWords on earth.]] However, there are clues they may have left for other planets or pocket dimensions.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Witness Weekly Periodical]]
!!!Witnesses

Part Baramin, part mad science tabloid, they believe the reason society went off track is due to liberalism inevitably leading to moral decay. Their specialty is ''Mad Sociology''.
----
* EvilReactionary: Witnesses generally act this way.
* FamilyValuesVillain: A common trait.
* Foil: They and the Atomists have opposite philosophies regarding the relationship between human society and technology.
* GoodOldWays: Witnesses believe in these.
* Hypocrite: Some Witnesses claim to support democracy and freedom of the press but it is obvious they would hollow them out given the chance.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Deep down most Witnesses just want a community with shared values and traditions to belong to.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: The special edition of the tabloid that turned them into a large faction of Inspired was filled with rants against Jewish film producers, African American jazz musicians, and similar. While the details change with the time, modern witnesses are no more politically correct than their forebears.
* StepfordSuburbia: Expect them to build places like this.
* TheEvilsOfFreeWill: Their fundamental flaw. Witnesses want to create societies built on values of community and shared values rather than individualism. Given a choice many people would like that, but Witnesses fundamnetally cannot accept the idea of people having a choice.
* OutdatedHeroVsImprovedSociety: The more moral Witnesses are these
* VillainousEthicsDecay: Another Witness belief.

[[/folder]]

!!The Alumni For Harmonious Coexistence
[[folder:The Alumni in general]]

An alliance of East Asian geniuses opposed to Lemuria.
----
* EnemyMine: They're long term allies but they have such radically different visions for Asia's future after Lemura is gone that they might fall into civil war without a common enemy.
* InterchangeableAsianCultures: Deliberately so. The Alumni is not only a pan-Asian organisation, it has an explicit goal of pan-Asian unity. The implausibility of pan-Asian unity has caused them real problems.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The People’s Alternative Healing Movement]]
!!!The People’s Alternative Healing Movement

->''"Forward, young people! Forward, honoured elders! Respect the ancestors and expel the foreign barbarians! Gird yourselves for battle with the armour of Tradition and the sword of Innovation!"''

A young student led movement that draws on traditional practices to appeal to the rural and conservative and as a statement of their belief in purging Asia from foreign influences. Healers represent the fear of uncontrollable social forces shaping society, no matter what the people actually think. Their focus is ''Mad Traditional Medicine''.
----
* AppealToTradition: A core of their political platform.
* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: They believe that every social issue is caused by foreigners or their Asian collaborators.
* EnemyMine: Their xenophobia is the exact opposite of the Systemists' love of western political and social ideas.
* MasterPoisoner: They specalize in traditional medicine and have ample opportunities to use their creations against Lemurians.
* OxymoronicBeing: They're simultaneously a radical political movement of the young and educated, and of the rural, elderly, and traditionalist.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Conference for Systemic Advancement]]
!!!Conference for Systemic Advancement
->''"If you review the legal code closely, you’ll find that an Imperial authorization to gather medicinal herbs does count as a grant of land-usage rights, even if the paperwork dates from the Ming Dynasty. Now hand over the deed, if you please."''

An alliance of academic legal theorists and lawyers who caught Inspiration from Lemurians they battled in court. The Systemists now use ''Mad Jurisprudence'' to continue their fight against Lemuria and to promote their ideal of copying or adapting Western liberal and progressive ideas into Asia. Systemists represent the fear that your leader's and elite do not share the people's values and will force the population to abandon their traditions and beliefs. A charge they accept with pride.
----
* AmoralAttorney: They may be on the right side of Asia's invisible war, but they still specialize in manipulating the law for their own interests.
* AwesomeAnachronisticApparel: Whether its a Roman Senator or a Victorain parliamentarian, they often base their aesthetic on historical democracies.
* EnemyMine: Their love of western political and social ideas is the exact opposite of the Populists' xenophobia.
* ForeignCultureFetish: They see western political theories as the source of progress, they want to learn from them and use them to enrich their homes.
* HiddenDepths: They study how systems of laws and rules affect what they govern, and not just legal laws. They're shockingly good at AI research.
* InsultBackfire: Systemists are accused of being elitist globalists with no loyalty to their culture. They're quite proud of this, seeing Western values as superior ideals that should replace traditions.
* PreventTheWar: Their origin story was weaponising the legal system to suppress warmongering ideas in their universities.
* TheSocialDarwinist: In a unique lawyerly way. Their idea of testing their theories is to sue another member for going against their new idea and see if they can make the charges stick.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Federations of Pragmatic Heritage]]
!!!Federations of Pragmatic Heritage
->''"Well, well, well. The fact that you were able to locate this penthouse proves you aren't amateurs, and getting past my security drones shows you have a knack for getting things others don't want you to have… Would you be interested in a new job?"''

The inheritors are an almost feudal organisation of executives and businessmen whose love of profit is tempered by their love of their cultures and nations. Their modern culture, which perhaps not-coincidentally they see as business friendly. Inheritors used to study ''Mad Management Science'' but have shifted to ''Mad Marketing Science'' along with a more general shift from industrial to the service economy.
----
* CorporateSamurai: An invoked trope. They intentionally play to cyberpunk aesthetics, including using samurai themes for their muscle.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: As cyberpunk corpos this is a given.
* {{Cyberpunk}}: Their general aesthetic.
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: While it hasn't quite happened, they like the idea an emphasise (with a Pan-Asian flavour) it in their cyberpunk aesthetic.
* MegaCorp: Not to the extent of cyberpunk corporations, but they're organised into powerful corporations, play loosely to the law, and generally trying their hardest to live up to this trope.
* MusicIsPolitics: They use their influence in the music (and other entertainment) industries to spread anti-Lemurian propaganda to Asia and Asian culture to the West.
* NobleDemon: They may be cyberpunk corpos, but as a rule they honour their contracts. Particularly mad Inheritors are unable to even conceive of breaking a contract.
* PatrioticFervor: You wouldn't expect it from a society of cyberpunk executives but the Inheritors are genuinely proud of their cultures and like their countries just the way they are. This is mostly because they believe those cultures are business friendly and profitable, but the feelings are genuine.
* RecordProducer: They focus on making cultural products so naturally they have plenty of record producers, and usually fit all the worst stereotypes.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Isekai Generation's Gallery]]
!!!Isekai Generation's Gallery
->''"Hang on, gotta do meatspace stuff for a minute. Pretty sure my mom just accidentally tripped my security system. AGAIN."''

A society of geeks, nerds, and shut-ins most of whom have burned out of regular society. They'd like to use their Inspiration to make and play video games, watch anime, and chat about the former on the internet. However the threat from Lemuria compels them to direct their skills in ''Mad Electrical Engineering'' towards war.
----
* CannotTellFictionFromReality: How their insanity tends to manifest, which is why they often manage their condition with a strict media diet.
* {{Hikikomori}}: Most of their members fit the description.
* FearlessFool: Isekai often start to believe they're the main character of an anime or a light novel and thus they have plot armour. They do not.
* HollywoodHacking: Any genius can do this, but the Isekai are explicitly superior, behind only the Numerericals.
* NotInThisForYourRevolution: All the other conglomerates have ideological motivations to oppose Lemuria and a vision for Asia after the war. The Isekai are only fighting Lemuria out of self defence.
* OddFriendship: The disciplined, feudal, and ambitious Inheritors often employ the chaotic, unambitious Isekai.
* ShamSupernatural: They are legitimately supernatural mad scientists, but many pretend to be wizards, magical girls, or other anime staples.
* TheHedonist: Left to their own devices they'd spend their lives playing video games and watching anime, and that's if they don't drill a wire into the brain's pleasure centres and bliss out.
* TokenGoodTeammate: The other Conglomerates are quite mad and want to remake society in their own image. The Isekai are quite mad and want to stay at home playing video games. This makes them the least dangerous group of mad scientists there is, but even so they're still dangerous.
* {{Transhuman}}: The Gallery has a rich tradition of applying electrical engineering to their own bodies. If members aren't retreating into anime they're usually upgrading themselves until they can go on anime adventures in real life.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Railway Engineering Corps Veterans]]
!!!Railway Engineering Corps Veterans
->''"When I had your job I could drive a rivet through a centimetre of steel in one motion. If you’re late again I’ll do the same to your forehead!"''

A group born in the Japanese occupied Manchuko in response to a Lemurian pogrom against native geniuses. ENGINCOR are mentally stuck in the WWII period, a time of great empires in conflict that demands any nation unite behind its army and its leaders for a war of conqueror or conquered. Their speciality is Mad Civil Engineering.
----
* BoringButPractical: Unusually for mad scientists they favour proven and reliable technology over experimental devices, though the do like to use magnetic technology.
* ClockKing: They are obsessed with logistics, planning, and scheduling, which turns out to be rather useful in an invisible war.
* HitAndRunTactics: A necessity when fighting Lumeria's superior numbers and resources. They use mad civil engineering to build hidden tunnels and bunkers to fight a guerilla war.
* TheParanoiac: Their flavour of madness, and specifically focused on geopolitics. Members see the world as powder-keg of warmongers and revolutionaries, as though it was still the 1930s.
* RailEnthusiast: What with being a rail road company with mad science.
* TokenEvilTeammate: No mad scientist organisation is good, but ENGINCOR can be outright fascist.
* TransformingMecha: They like to disguise their war machines as construction equipment then transform them when its time for battle.
* RepressiveButEfficient: Unlike historical fascists or the Nazis in Genius: the Transgression, ENGINCOR make the trains run on time. Literally, they were originally employees of a rail road company and are ''obsessed'' with timetables and logistics.
* WithUsOrAgainstUs: They believe Asia is in, or about to be in, a war of survival and anyone who isn't working to defend it is a weak link who could doom the nation and must be dealt with appropraitely.
[[/folder]]

!!Programs of Note
Programs is the term used for independant Inspired factions who side neither with the Peerage, nor Lemuria.

[[folder:Formalists]]
!!!Formalists (Ten Thousand Fans)

The independent Geniuses of Asia. Rebelling against Lemurian hegemony, they have risen to prominence as Lemuria grew weak. Today, the Fans are a united organization as powerful as any one of the Five Foundations.
----
* AllAsiansKnowMartialArts: If they didn't know it already, their Exelixi can make it so.
* AppropriatedAppellation: "Ten Thousand Fans" was originally a Lemurian catch-all term for any non-Lemurian Program in Asia, as the dissenters fanned the flames of heterodoxy. The independent Geniuses of Asia apparently decided not to let such an unintentionally awesome epithet go to waste.
* AsianAndNerdy: They are Asian [[MadScientist Mad Scientists]] after all.
* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: For about a minute per point of Mania expended. Mania is ''kind of'' like air, right?
* BollywoodNerd: Fewer, because of the Lemurian presence in India, but they do study ancient Indian mathematics.
* FarEast: They are the Peerage equivalent of this zone.
* ImplacableMan: Their Grant and specialization in Exelixi makes this a definite possibility.
* LaResistance: Asia is principally Lemurian territory. These guys are a minority, but they're still fighting.
* SixthRanger: Members of the Peerage who know of the Ten Thousand Fans look at them with interest as a potential sixth Foundation.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Thule Society]]
!!!Thule Society (Revanchists)

A faction of Nazi Geniuses, Sorcerers and Manes created following the fall of the Third Reich. Most of them hide in the Hollow Earth, trying to prepare for a new invasion on the surface when they are ready.
----
* AllGermansAreNazis: Neatly averted, since Manes in this universe are created when the theory they were based on is discredited; if the majority of Germans ''really'' had faith in Nazi ideology, then these Manes wouldn't exist.
* CloneArmy: Their armies primarily consist of cloned Beholden genetically engineered by their Geniuses through Automata and Exelixi.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Their science runs on it; their main way to recover Mania is by capturing and torturing people, to the point they have "Atrocity Halls" dedicated to it. It's such a major part of their work that the "Atrocity Halls" are actually their ''Grant''.
* FascistButInefficient: Being mad scientists makes the Revanchists even more divided and inefficent than the historical Nazis.
* {{Ghostapo}}: While primarily consisting in Mad Scientists, they do include occultists in their ranks.
* GoodPowersBadPeople: One of their two favourite Axioms is Exelixi, meant to heal and fix things. They primarily use it to [[PlayingWithSyringes experiment on living subjects]] and [[TortureTechnician torture people]].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: They're ''nazi'', so this is a given.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: As noted above, they regain Mania by ''torturing people''.
* TheSocialDarwinist: Obviously comes with being Nazis; Ubermenshen practice selective breeding to make sure all their specimen will be beautiful and in perfect health, killing all the ones who don't fit these criteria at birth.
* StupidJetpackHitler: To be specific, they are [[NinjaPirateRobotZombie a supernaturally created Nazi "species" born from brute Mania who practice Mad Science and Sorcery]]. Not only that, but they also happens to hide under the surface of the Earth in an ecosystem populated with dinosaurs.
* ThoseWackyNazis: Pretty much the definition of this group, as they are designed to follow most of the cliche associated with Nazis.
* {{Ubermensch}}en: They don't fit the trope, but like the mundane Nazis, they inaccurately cite Nietzsche's work and call themselves Ubermenschen.
[[/folder]]

!!Programs introduced in 2nd edition

[[folder:Quelli dell'artistico Domiziano]]
!!!Domitians
->''"Mayor, your grants have put a crimp in the quality of art. Unfortunately, it would be imprudent of us to allow that situation to continue unresolved."''.

A Program in two halves. The inner circle is an alliance of seven crime families dedicated to making money from art themed crimes, and more importantly, ensuring that mortal society understands what is and what isn't fine art. The outer circle is a loose network of artists with a passion for the good life. Both are ''mad artists''.
----

* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: They truly believe they are artists, not scientists, therefore they can only do mad art. This is an enormous weakness compared to any other group of Inspired.
* ClockPunk: If they have wonders that aren't built on mad art they'll probably look like something Leonardo Da Vinici might build.
* DysfunctionJunction: Slightly more than other mad scientists, their grant pushes them towards a SoapOpera like life of melodrama.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The inner circle are a ruthless criminal organisation, but they hold themselves to strict standards of decorum. [[BlueAndOrangeMorality They will also never create what they consider to be bad art]].
* MadArtist: What they are.
* NormalFishInATinyPond: In the mundane world of art or organised crime they're big players. But when compared to the Peerage or Lemuria they're strictly small fry, they're not even the best at making Inspired art.
* PunchClockVillain: The outer circle work for the inner circle. The inner circle get the mania they need to keep the program running and lots of good art they can 'encourage' art schools to teach. The outer circle get money, all that fine wine is expensive.
* SeriousBusiness: Art. The inner circle will stop at nothing to ensure humanity is taught to tell good art from bad art.
* TheDon: The seven patriarchs leading the program have reluctantly accepted they will for evermore be known as godfathers.
* TheHedonist: The outer circle spend most of their time enjoying good food, fine wine, and art.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Red Menace]]
!!!Bolsheviks

After the Iron Curtain fell soviet propaganda and [=McCarthyite=] fears were, disproved the Red Menace appeared to continue the long against capitalism.

----

* DirtyCommunists: What they are.
* IntellectuallySupportedTyranny: Being [=McCarthyite=] fears brought to life, they naturally make good use of communist sympathisers in western academia.
* MakeTheBearAngryAgain: A common goal among the members.
* MirroringFactions: To Lemuria. Both groups believe that history has taken a wrong turn and must be put back on track. This doesn't mean they get along.
* SanityHasAdvantages: Uniquely among Genius groups they have unInspired manes in positions of authority.
* SovietSuperscience: Naturally their wonders resemble this.
* TheSpymaster: The Bolsheviks tend to be spies and infiltrators more than an army.
* TrainingFromHell: If their wonders aren't SovietSuperscience they'll be this.

[[/folder]]

!Manes and Bardos
[[folder:Manes as a whole]]
Mania, the energy used by Geniuses to fuel their powers, is raw creative energy; whenever a new idea or theory is born, this usually creates a large amount of it. Similarly, whenever it dies, either because it's discredited or because people who believe in it died, all the Mania has to go somewhere, and it ends up giving birth to creatures, objects of even entire areas matching the intended theory -- meaning, paradoxically, that an idea becomes "true" the very moment it is proven false by the Community. Such creatures are called "Manes", while the places created this way are referred as "Bardos". In either case, they are entirely kept together by Mania, essentially making them natural-born Wonders, and as such they ''need'' to feed on Mania on regular basis in order to survive, either by sticking inside Bardos or finding it from other sources (a Genius, an Unmada field...). Like Wonders, they cause Havoc when interacting with mortals.

Artificially-born Manes also exist, usually as sentient Wonders created by Geniuses or Geniuses who used their abilities to enhance themselves.
----
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Manes are incarnations of all the ideas, beliefs or theories that were proven false or otherwise discredited.
* CantHaveSexEver: Downplayed; Manes can have sex just fine inside their native Bardos, between themselves and with Geniuses or other supernatural creatures; having sex with ''regular mortals'' outside their Bardos, on the other hand, triggers Havoc, meaning they can turn insane as a result.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: ''Inverted''; Manes and Bardos are born when people ''stop'' believing in something, causing all the discarded Mania contained to escape and take form.
* EldritchLocation: Bardos are essentially this-- areas created from discarded theories, in which said theories are actually real despite how this contradicts the actual facts.
* ManaDrain: All Manes naturally possess the "Calculus Vampire" ability, allowing them to drain Mania from someone in order to maintain themselves alive outside a Bardos. This is their primary means to survive, as they cannot produce Mania of their own.
* OurElvesAreDifferent: Fractal Elves are diminutive Manes born from failed equations, and are often found in laboratories and other research facilities. They're not too bright, but most aren't truly malicious.
* OurGoblinsAreDifferent: Paper Goblins are Manes created by the desire for a truly [[NoPaperFuture paperless society]]. There are several different subspecies formed from various printed media, such as newspaper goblins, handwritten goblins, and fiction goblins. They're quite intelligent, and are willing to work with Geniuses for the right price. For whatever reason, they're mostly culturally Hispanic.
* OurMonstersAreWeird: Since the are based on every single theory or belief that was proven false, Manes can end up being pretty much ''everything'', from completely human-looking to dinosaurs and [[TheGreys classic scifi aliens]], along with some StarfishAliens and weirder for good measure. Their purpose story-wise pretty much is to allow you to include whatever weird creature you wish to have in your Chronicle.
* TotallyNotAWerewolf: Manes are prone for causing this trope in the Inspired community; the reason Geniuses have a hard time dealing with other supernatural beings is because they never know for sure which ones are Manes and which ones are from a different source. It doesn't help that there are Manes based on different depictions of already-existing creatures in the New World of Darkness (such as angel and demon Manes who have nothing to do with [[TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent the Unchained and the God-Machine's minions]]).
* WeaksauceWeakness: The main reason hostile Manes like the Ubermenschen or the Martian Empire have been unable to invade the mortal world yet, aside from the Geniuses keeping them in check; Manes need regular rations of Mania in order to survive outside their Bardos, and just being assaulted by regular mortals can trigger Havoc, either weakening them or driving them insane unless they spend Willpower to contain the effect. The Martian Empire lost the wide majority of their invading forces to Havoc the first time they tried to invade Earth, forcing them to sign a truce with the Inspired.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Martian Empire]]
A powerful alien civilization from a Bardos on Mars, created when it was proved their planet had no life on it. They almost immediately tried to take over Earth, but were defeated by both the Inspired community and their limitations as Manes. Since then, they have established an uneasy truce with Geniuses, hoping to better study Earth and its technology in order to one day invade Earth once again. The Empire actually covers three different castes: the Overlord, their highly intelligent rulers; the Technikers, the formers' SlaveRace; and the Throgs, barbarians from outside cities.
----
* AlienInvasion: They tried that when their Bardos first was created, but were defeated by Geniuses; they still hope to succeed one day, though at the moment they have resigned to a truce.
* BenevolentAlienInvasion: One of the possible futures you can visit using TimeTravel has the Martian Empire actually succeeding in invading Earth, their Bardos having absorbed enough Mania to become fully real. Surprisingly, they actually end up doing a lot of good, colonizing the entire system along with Earth and starting a Golden Age of commerce and philosophy.
* {{Expy}}: Each Martian caste is based on a classic style of aliens:
** The Throgs are based on the aliens from ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'';
** The Technikers are based on TheGreys;
** The Overlords are based on the martians from ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', down to [[TripodTerror their obsession with three-legged structures]].
* FriendlyEnemy: Make no mistake, the Overlords ''still'' intend to conquer Earth -- but right now, they want to learn about the planet and its technology, in particular Mad Science, so they tend to be rather polite and welcoming to any Genius who comes to visit them.
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: The Throgs are described as barbarian tribes living in Mars' deserts and warring against each other.
* SlaveRace: Technikers are believed to have been created by the Overlords to be their servants, primarily as infiltrators and spies.
* SteamPunk: They're escribed as frequently having this aesthetic to their technology, when they don't go for CrystalSpiresAndTogas.
* TripodTerror: The Overlord, being based on the Martians from ''The War of the World'', tend to walk around in Tripod-inspired three-legged Skafoi vehicles.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Third Race]]
The natives of the original Lemuria and founders of the second one. Also known as Ophidians, the Third Race was an advanced civilization of snake-like Manes who once tried to control and shape history in a way to restore their native Bardos, which was destroyed after they messed with TimeTravel. They are currently extinct, although a few survivors still hide among humans in some places.
----
* AntiVillain: Debatably; the current survivors are described as cruel, cold and incapable of passion, but in the end, all they wanted was to recover their destroyed home.
* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: Towards the end of their reign, the few members of the Third Race that had survived the long ages chose to shed their physical bodies to become godlike beings of pure information.
* BlackEyesOfEvil: They are described as having distinctly "inhuman black eyes".
* DyingRace: Currently, their home Bardos and civilization no longer exist, their Inspired human servants have either rebelled against them or started a group of their own, and the few ones of them who remain are scattered everywhere with no leaders. Even in their glory days, their natures as Manes stranded outside of their lost Bardos meant that they could not reproduce, and slowly dwindled away in numbers. Some of them still hope to overthrow human Geniuses and reclaim their domination over the world, but their chance of success are slim, to say the least.
* EmotionlessReptile: They are described as having been cold, passionless, calculating and cruel. When they shed their physical bodies to become beings of pure information, they lost what little emotion and compassion they had had to begin with.
* FantasticRacism: They ''despise'' human Geniuses of all factions, resenting the Peerage for overthrowing them while seeing Lemurians as traitors and cowards. They do not ''quite'' hate normal humans as much, but still see them as pawn to use, and eagerly use Beholden, cultists or madmen to their own ends.
* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: Ophidians once ruled a powerful AncientConspiracy working to manipulate the world from behind the scene and essentially had most, if not all, Inspired humans as their servants. Now, the few remaining ones hide deep in flooded tunnels beneath their ruined homeland's remains or in wastelands of the human world, surviving on scraps of Mania and reduced to stealing tech from the Peerage and Lemuria in order to fix whatever broken Wonders they recover from their own people.
* {{Humanshifting}}: As usual with {{Reptilian Conspirac|y}}ies, although, unlike most incarnations, this isn't a natural ability; they use Metaptropi hologram technology to accomplish it.
* PredecessorVillain: To the current incarnation of Lemuria; they were the ones who founded it in the first place, and the ones the Peerage was created to defeat during the Invisible War.
* ReptilianConspiracy: They were a race of snake people who used shapeshifting to manipulate mankind from behind the scene.
* SnakePeople: Elder members of the species are described as having serpentine bodies with no legs, but nowadays the younger generation has fully humanoid bodies.
* TotallyNotAWerewolf: Being Manes, they have no relation to [[TabletopGame/DemonTheDescent Cryptid Reptilians]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Santa Claus]]
The single most powerful mane on record, Santa wreaks [[LiteralMetaphor literal]] Havok each Cristmas forcing geniuses to stop his jolly rampages.
----
* ObliviouslyEvil: He thinks and acts like you would expect Santa to act, but his efforts to reform Geniuses on the naughty list make them Illuminated and his toys cause Havok. That said, as long as you aren't on the naughty list you can ask for a present and you will usually get it.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Even if the Ebenezer Scrooge Chair of Christmasology does kill him, he just comes back the following Christmas.
* {{Santabomination}}: He looks like a typical Santa, but he's a super powerful Mane.
[[/folder]]

!Fellowships

[[folder:Elders of the Third Law]]
!!Elders of the Third Law

Followers of Creator/LeonardoDaVinci.
----
* ClockPunk: Their favored aesthetic, based off the works of da Vinci himself. They range from clockwork brains and spring-loaded swords to ornithopters and dirigibles.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: They may look primitive, but they're also passionate hunters of the Illuminated.
* NewTechnologyIsEvil: Inspired by Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, and leery of the trappings of modern technology. They consider steam power to be newfangled devil technology. They like gunpowder, though.
* TeamSwitzerland: They're one of the only Fellowships that accepts both Lemurians and Peers as members, preferring to focus on threats like the Illuminated rather than ideological struggles.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hermetic Order of the 28 Spheres]]
!!Hermetic Order of the 28 Spheres

Post-modern Geniuses who style their Wonders as magic, challenging people to prove them wrong.
----
* ClarkesThirdLaw: They have fun with this idea.
* ElementalPowers: Those who join this Foundation choose from one of six elements to specialize in. These grant bonuses to creating Wonders of certain Axioms.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Phantom Foundation]]
!!Phantom Foundation

Ghost-hunting Geniuses. The Foundation was once part of a bigger independent Program, but is now just a Fellowship. Nonetheless, their resources and cultural resonance have allowed them to survive and even prosper.
----
* ISeeDeadPeople: The Foundation grants benefits to seeing, detecting, or interacting with the dead: not just ghosts but also zombies, [[TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem vampires]], and [[TabletopGame/WerewolfTheForsaken the denizens of the Spirit Realm]].
* WhoYouGonnaCall: They make money by banishing ghosts.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Perfected Vision Institute]]
!!Perfected Vision Institute
----
* PsychicPowers: The Institute started out researching telepathy but have expanded into other areas of this trope.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Iridium Sentinels]]
!!Iridium Sentinels

A Fellowship of do-gooders seeking to safeguard the innocent and fight crime, the Iridium Sentinels' trademark is their formidable suits of PoweredArmor.
----
* KnightTemplar: The fringe of the Iridium Sentinels is occupied by Geniuses devoted to ideas of "purification" and more unhinged inventors who [[DisproportionateRetribution create military-grade hardware to use against street-level crime]].
* PoweredArmor: Every member of the Sentinels owns a suit of armor, ranging from simple jobs to elaborate battle-suits.
* {{Superhero}}: The Sentinels are ComicBook/IronMan-style heroes who use technology fight crime.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Malcolm T. Washington Fellowship]]
!!Malcolm T. Washington Fellowship

A Fellowship made up of African-American and African-Canadian Geniuses who specialize in the creation of giant insects.
----
* BigCreepyCrawlies: The main theme of their Wonders.
* BlackAndNerdy: To be accepted into this Fellowship, one must be an American or Canadian mad scientist of African descent who specializes in creating giant insects. Despite the [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative narrowness of the requirements]], there are quite a lot of members-- turns out there are a lot of black mad scientists who like working with giant bugs. Or [[MoneyDearBoy grant money]].
* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: [[WordOfGod Moochava]] stated that this Fellowship is based off of college scholarships with ridiculously specific qualifications--in this case, being an African-American entomologist.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nine Vertex Devils Club]]
!!Nine Vertex Devils Club

A Fellowship dedicated to creating and racing vehicles.
----
* DefeatMeansFriendship: To join the Devils, you must first win a race against them.
* TravelCool: Becoming a scholar or member of the Devils requires one to have a vehicle that can be piloted by a single person. The following are possible candidates:
** CoolCar
** CoolPlane
** CoolShip
* WackyRacing: Their hobby.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Resurrection Consortium]]
!!Resurrection Consortium

[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin A consortium dealing with resurrection]].
----
* ImmortalityImmorality: To join the foundation, you need an Obligation of 6 or below.
[[/folder]]

!Fellowships introduced in 2nd edition

[[folder:The Brotherhood of All Locks]]
!!The Brotherhood of All Locks

A Fellowship dedicated to containing or imprisoning entities to indestructible, risky or scientifically interesting to kill
----
* BeastInTheMaze: They say the Minotaur is still in Deadalus' maze.
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: They claim that their founder was the mythological Genius Daedalus.
* {{Expy}}: Their quote explaining how to survive Daedalus' Maze is the same speech Zola gave about surviving [[Webcomic/GirlGenius Castle Heterodyne]] and the word minatour is written in red like in Literature/HouseOfLeaves.
* TheJailer: Their Job
* TheMaze: They control Daedalus's original maze and study it. Even centuries later it is peerless.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Ebenezer Chair of Christmasology]]
!!The Ebenezer Chair of Christmasology
->''My research is conclusive, the only thing special about Christmas is the annual mania storm. That is why I devised this new recipe for mince pies. If we want Christmas magic we have to make our own. Come on, I invented enough for everyone!''

A fellowship dedicated to stopping Santa's yearly christmas rampage.
----
* TheAntiGrinch: Sort of, they want to make the holidays better but to do that they have to stop Santa Claus from causing a global catastrophe each year, usually by killing him, [[ResurrectiveImmortality he gets better.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: The aesthetic of the ones responsible for fighting Santa can be summed up as "What if Ebenezer Scrooge wanted to destroy Christmas and had victorian steampunk tech?", they're still the good guys, due to the ShootTheDog thing below some of them use it ironically while others end up BecomingTheMask.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Hard to get good publicity when your enemies with Santa.
* SavingChristmas: Double subverted, they're saving christmas from Santa.
* ShootTheDog: They have to kill Santa Claus each year and it is made painfully clear how much that sucks.
* SubbingForSanta: The ones that aren't responsible for killing Santa try to steal his gift bag and hand out the safe, non Havok causing presents.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Et Horologium Animae]]
!!Et Horologium Animae
-> ''Don't blame yourself''

A Lemurian Fellowship (or Tablinum as they call it) that believes in that free will doesn't actually exist.
----
* {{Expy}}: to the first edition Mechanistis
* TheFatalist: They reject the idea of free-will and consequentially the idea of responsibility.
* NeverMyFault: Because they don't believe in free will, they never acknowledge that anything might be their fault-- as far as they are concerned, it's always part of some higher mechanism the world works on.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kidz Club]]
!!Kidz Club

A fellowship for [[TeenGenius Wesley's]]
----
* {{Expy}}: Of WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor
* RightForTheWrongReasons: They believe grown ups are part of a conspiracy to destroy all curiosity and sense of wonder in children, considering what kind of CrapsackWorld the World of Darkness is [[VillainHasAPoint this is more to prevent them from doing something that will get the kids killed than out of malice.]]
* TreehouseOfFun: their aesthetic is called ''Treehouse Technology''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Caucus Of The Colossus]]
!!The Caucus Of The Colossus
->''Some things you can't fight. Acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you're in a mech, suddenly, you can fight the hurricane. You can win.''

A fellowship dedicated to building giant robots.
----
* CompensatingForSomething: Explicitly. A genius' is smart enough to know how small one man is. So they make themselves feel big by building a giant robot. This works well enough to make members more mentally stable.
* GladiatorGames: They host regular gladiator battles to test their robots or settle arguments.
* SeriousBusiness: They use very expensive war machines to settle debates over anime and aesthetics.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Wat of the Waifu]]
!!The Wat of the Waifu
->''Mecha-meido-chan is the perfect woman: Intelligent enough to be a psychiatric nurse. Kind enough to be a true friend. Strong willed enough to handle a Genius. And packing enough firepower to stand against a meteorblitzkrieg.''

A fellowship that builds robots to provide geniuses with psychological support or handle domestic chores.
----
* {{Animesque}}: The fellowship tends towards animesque designs. Most favour realistic anime (think the live action portrayal of [[Film/AlitaBattleAngel Alita]] but some make living two dimensional cartoons.
* RobotBuddy: Their speciality.
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: They are the only people who can build Automatons capable of serving as touchstones, and they get the extra touchstone merit for free.
* SuperPoweredRobotMeterMaids: Their robots are designed to provide psychiatric support, cooking, cleaning, earn money, or other mundane tasks. That doesn't stop the Wat building in plasma cannons.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:The Masters of Spite]]
!!The Masters of Spite
->''Revenge is not an art. It's a science.''

A fellowship dedicated to getting revenge on those that mocked them
----
* BestServedCold: The Masters of Spite dedicate their lives to coming up with the most horrible revenge plans they can think of
* TheyCalledMeMad: The typical motive to join.
* RevengeIsSweet: They sure think so.

[[/folder]]
!Historical Geniuses of Note

[[folder:Leonardo di ser Piero]]
!![[Creator/LeonardoDaVinci Leonardo di ser Piero]]

Leonardo [=DaVinci=] himself, one of the most well-known Geniuses.
----
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: [=DaVinci=] was a MadScientist.
* EvilTwin: He had one, who called himself Orfeo and sought to conquer the world. Don't worry, he had it covered.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: A rogue Genius who opposed Lemuria and his own EvilTwin.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Nikola Tesla]]
!!UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla

The archetypical MadScientist.
----
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: He is [[TropeCodifier Nikola Tesla]] in a game about Mad Science, so this was to be expected.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: He was a member of Lemuria. Back then, it was a choice between joining them or having no resources at all. And it must have been nice to have found a group that actually appreciated his ideas.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Robert Hooke]]
!!Robert Hooke
----
* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: The third PublicDomainCharacter identified as a Genius.
[[/folder]]

!!Seattle of Tomorrow

[[folder:Dr. Vienna]]
!!Dr. Vienna[=/=]Yancy Wolfgang Borcowitz

The leader of Seattle's Peerage, Dr. Vienna catalyzed at the age of eighteen and headed for Seattle, where an encounter with Megiddo's electronic minions pushed him into forming "Those Fools at the Institute" with Gracie Calabash, Screaming Sam Paluxy, and several other Geniuses to fight against the mad supercomputer's forces. Today, he is synonymous with the New Peers of Seattle, and a respected figure.
----
* BigGood: Dr. Vienna is respected by the Peers of Seattle as an artist, theorist, and implacable foe of Atomic Lemuria and Megiddo's machine empire.
* CreepyCrows: He owns a [[JerkassGenie maliciously literal-minded]] corvid automaton.
* NonActionGuy: Much to Sam's disgust, Dr. Vienna prefers to keep his hands clean and stay out of direct confrontation. While it keeps his Obligation high, his approach appears to be costing the New Peers ground.
* RealityWarper: Unknown to most, the good doctor has recently gone Unmada. He tries to combat this by using logic... which, since he's a Genius, doesn't work.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: In the process of mental decay, sadly.
* RedOniBlueOni: The calm, logical, non-combative Blue to Screaming Sam Paluxy's Red.
* SteamPunk: Dr. Vienna favors this aesthetic, and dresses like a Victorian gentleman to match.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Gracie Calabash]]
!!Gracie Calabash

One of the three founders of Those Fools at the Institute, Calabash now manages the New Peers as Dr. Vienna slips even further into his fantasy world.
----
* BeleagueredBureaucrat: Calabash has the unenviable job of sorting out disputes between the various clashing factions of Seattle's Inspired community.
* BigGood: In some ways she might be closer to this trope than the now increasingly-addled Dr. Vienna.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: The most stable of the senior New Peers, Calabash takes the Peerage's duty to help others out seriously. She is most likely the first powerful Genius a new mad scientist meets in Seattle.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sam Paluxy]]
!!Screaming Sam Paluxy

A rocker Genius and one of the three founders of Those Fools at the Institute, Screaming Sam has a love-hate relationship with Dr. Vienna.
----
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: His unceasingly unstable love/hate feelings with Dr. Vienna might not be romantic, but if they are Sam is in for a long wait. Dr. Vienna is mentioned to have previously been in a fifteen year heterosexual relationship, and there are no hints that he could be bisexual.
* InstrumentOfMurder: One of his Wonders is an electric guitar that lets him fire off blasts of destructive sound.
* LovePotion: One of his Wonders, appropriately called the "Fuck Switch", does this to the user. Its actual purpose, though, is [[PeoplePuppets people puppetry]].
* RedOniBlueOni: The passionate, aggressive Red to Dr. Vienna's Blue.
* ReallyGetsAround: He goes through college-age boyfriends every few weeks or so.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Captain Calazzi]]
!!Captain Joe Calazzi

A racist Genius who appeared in the wake of the World Trade Center attacks and quickly established a following, he is now leader of a vigilante army opposing the Pacific Gauntlet.
----
* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon: Captain Joe is a clean, fit, well-dressed fellow with the face of a young Julius Caesar, but he holds incredibly hateful views.
* GeneralRipper: On a smaller scale than most, but he's real serious with the hate crimes, and has a posse.
* MoralEventHorizon: He's teetering on the edge of Illumination via Obligation bottoming, which is essentially this trope.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Captain Joe hates Asians, women, homosexuals, and anything else that annoys him; and he doesn't hesitate in making his views known.
* RealityWarper: Joe is an Unmada [[FridgeHorror with a horrible racist philosophy, who is also incredibly close to going Illuminated]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Devon Ogura]]
!!Devon Ogura

A man in his early [=60s=], Ogura is the leader of the Pacific Gauntlet, an Inspired criminal syndicate from Asia. He is also a Machinist who views everyone, including himself, as tools for a goal.
----
* CoolSub: The "Sea Monkey", his personal ride. It's shaped like a giant metal monkey.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Devon Ogura views the entire Gauntlet, including himself, as a tool to be used for maximum financial gain.
* CyberPunk: In sharp contrast to the Gauntlet's ClockPunk look, Ogura's favored aesthetic is "Digital Chrome", which involves a lot of cool neon hues, white plastic, and titanium.
* TheDon: He's a respected (and dreaded) leader of the Pacific Gauntlet.
* FreudianExcuse: Ogura grew up as TheUnfavorite, knowing his destiny was to become a faceless mook. Not hard to see why he snapped.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: He was originally slated to become Beholden.
* RedBaron: They call him [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Ogre]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Melantha C. Dranias]]
!!Melantha C. Dranias

Ogura's right hand, and a dangerous Genius in her own right. Is also so creepy she was rejected by the Children of the Demiurge, and gave the Oracles misgivings, which is quite a feat.
----
* BodyHorror: Combined with ClockPunk. It's every bit as bad as it sounds: for starters, she surgically replaced her uterus with a clockwork contraption.
* TheDragon: She serves Ogura by cranking out equipment for the Pacific Gauntlet's army of Beholden.
* EliteMooks: Thirty-two of them, with a nautical theme, no less.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: She actually managed to {{Squick}} out the [[MadDoctor Demiurges]], and the Oracles had misgivings about recruiting her.
* FatBastard: Dranias is morbidly obese and a villainous Genius who listens to the whispers of the Illuminated.
* HiddenAgendaVillain: Unknown to Ogura, Dranias is not fully loyal to his vision, but dreams of giving birth to a race of monsters that would devour all things.
* MotherOfAThousandYoung: Not yet, but she has ''plans...''
* SpiderTank: The [[GiantEnemyCrab Clattering Crab]]. Also a CoolSub.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Erin Out-Of-Time]]
!!Erin Out-Of-Time

The last survivor of an alternate timeline, Erin now resides in Seattle and keeps her head low, fearing the rogue TimePolice that killed off the rest of her kind.
----
* AlternateUniverse: What if mankind had no metal, but [[WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones managed to invent modern technology anyways?]]
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Even more so than most examples--she's not just in the wrong time, but in the wrong time''line''
* LastOfHerKind: She's the only remaining native of her timeline, a "Solitaire". All the others have been hunted down by rogue TimePolice, and Erin fears she's next.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Her attempts at reaching out to Argentine St. Croix for help have alienated the Peerage, particularly Dr. Vienna.
* TimePolice: Erin is an officer of the Guardians of Forever, and one of the few who remained loyal to their mission when their bosses, the Terminals, disappeared.
* LikeADuckTakesToWater: Justified; being a Genius makes any technology easy to understand. She has a blog.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Detective Alice Gotti]]
!!Detective Alice Gotti

A Beholden working for Dr. Vienna.
----
* HollywoodAtheist: Subverted; she didn't lose her faith because of her many hardships, she just can't sustain religious convictions as a Beholden.
%%* TheIgor: To Dr. Vienna.
* TraumaCongaLine: Let's see... through bad luck, she lost her shot at the Ivy League, and her parents want nothing to do with her. She recovered from that and became a police officer. Then she got pregnant and her husband abandoned her. Then she discovered that her superiors were on the Pacific Gauntlet's payroll. ''Then'' she was made into a Beholden by Dr. Vienna. Life has not been kind to Detective Gotti, but she's taken everything it's thrown at her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Hook-Man]]
!!!Hook-Man[=/=]David Islington Whittlesworth

A superhero who likes using hooks as weapons.
----
* HooksAndCrooks: Unsurprisingly, his equipment is mostly hook-themed, including a few actual hooks.
* GrapplingHookPistol: His suit has one mounted on the shoulder.
* SophisticatedAsHell: "Hook-Man is here for to put your ass on a hook!"
* {{Superhero}}: Hook-Man defends Seattle from villainous geniuses and mundane crime and has a themed set of equipment, including a {{Tropemobile}}.
* {{Thememobile}}: His "Hook-Craft", a hovercar.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Megiddo]]
!!Megiddo

A super powerful computer dedicated to amassing even more power.
----
* MasterComputer: Rules over his own private [[EldritchLocation Bardo]], and desires more power every day.
* MilkmanConspiracy: The mail-order denture business funds an evil computer mastermind.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast[=/=]WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Who names a sentient being "Megiddo" and [[WhatDidYouExpectWhenYouNamedIt expects it to be nice?]] Mad scientists, that's who.
* ThePatriarch: Megiddo is very fond of this archetype, and sometimes holographically manifests as various father figures.
* RoboticPsychopath: Not only is Megiddo sadistic and power-hungry, it also has an Obligation of 0, making it essentially Illuminated.
* VillainousBreakdown: It started decades ago, and may be ongoing. That doesn't make it any less dangerous.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Argentine St. Croix]]
!!Argentine St. Croix

A powerful and dangerous Genius who is nonetheless on her way out.
----
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The leader of Atomic Lemuria loves her sons.
* HumiliationConga: First she's caught having an affair, has to see her lover killed in front of her, and is driven out of her home. Then one of her sons falls into a coma, and she not only has no idea how to bring him out of it, she has the terrifying suspicion he's ''transforming'' into something she can't predict. Then her ''other'' son defects to join the Peerage, leaving a video behind that tears into her so harshly even the ''other Peerage Geniuses'' think he went too far.
* JerkassWoobie: As her bio says:
--> St. Croix is a bitter, tired woman, touched by sadness at the disappointments in her life. While insane and, when the mood takes her, tremendously cruel, hers is the small, weak kind of human cruelty [[InvokedTrope that encourages as much pity as loathing.]]
* TragicDream: She wants to create a utopia. Normally this would be hard enough. The fact she genuinely believe a "fascist police state governed by all-seeing technology" would be utopia makes her dream fundamentally unachievable.
* RaygunGothic: Her favored aesthetic. A statue of her in Atomic Lemuria's HQ shows her with the skin-tight suit and fishbowl helmet of [[=50s=]] sci-fi.
* WhiteDwarfStarlet: In-universe, St. Croix is a Genius of somewhat low importance, despite her family name.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Belinda Czdenk]]
!!Belinda Czdenk

A disrespected Neid Genius.
----
* ButtMonkey: Even as a Genius, she gets no respect.
* CharacterFilibuster: Like many Neids, Belinda is prone to bitter ranting.
* DisproportionateRetribution: She once killed a man for revealing her love of machinery.
%%* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* WrenchWench: Would've loved to be one, but was ([[ProperlyParanoid rightly]]) afraid of her snobbish friends' reaction.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Erwin Tycho]]
!!Erwin Tycho

A relatively sane member of the Klondike Geniuses, Tycho is one of the most prominent critics of the New Peers, whom he views as intruders.
----
* AdventurerArchaeologist: Tycho is a member of the Klondikes, a faction of Geniuses who scavenge for orphaned Wonders, Larvae, and other wondrous things in the Seattle of Tomorrow.
* HellishHorse: Given his "Western Gothic" aesthetic, it's probably safe to infer that his Skafoi Wonder "Bony Tess" looks like a skeletal horse.
* OnlySaneMan: Compared to the rest of the Klondikes, he's much less paranoid and territorial.
* UnfazedEveryman: Mikey and Randolph, the two Beholden that accompany him on his expeditions. They think their adventures are way cooler than playing video games or fixing up cars.
[[/folder]]

!Individual NPCS

[[folder:Rapata]]
!!Rapata[=/=]"Mr. Shark"

A Genius dedicated to preserving the timeline.
----
* CarryABigStick: His "Taiaha of Temporal Distortion", which causes objects he hits to disintegrate.
* CigarChomper: If his current temporal position allows it, he ''will'' be chewing on a cigar.
* DaChief: One of the last people in a position of authority in the Guardians of Forever, who will do whatever is necessary to hold things together.
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Averted most of the time: he actually prefers to dress as befits the time period he's in. If he's in a hurry, though, he'll just appear, brandishing his big club and bellowing the names of whoever's pissed him off.
* GoodIsNotNice: He's abrasive and demanding, and not above intimidating Geniuses into working for him, but it's all for the sake of preserving the timeline.
* PowerTattoo: He has a couple of them: the "Transformation Ta Moko" lets him shapeshift, and the "Titan Ta Moko" allows him to grow to a giant size.
* TimePolice: Like Erin Out-of-Time, he's one of the Guardians of Forever who remained loyal when the Terminals disappeared.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Prof. Partridge Crown]]
!!Prof. Partridge Crown

A Genius who believes he is essentially Satan. He's not, but he ''is'' one of the few Illuminated to be able to hold a MaskOfSanity.
----
* AGodAmI: More like A Godlike Devil Am I.
* AssimilationPlot: As the Self-Eating Fire, he believes it's his duty to destroy things and integrate them with himself.
* CrystalDragonJesus: Believes he's the "Self-Eating Fire", opposing the CrystalDragonJesus figure called the "Metal Peacock God".
%%* IRejectYourReality
* KillAndReplace: He's steadily removing members of the campus faculty and replacing them with homunculi of his own design. This is the weakness of his plan, however - his creations have NoSenseOfHumor, and this along with other flaws is making the university board realize something's wrong.
* MaskOfSanity: Most people don't realize that he's Illuminated because unlike most of them, who are raving madmen, he can hold one of these.
* RealityWarper: Like any unmada, the world seems slightly off around him. He's an example of a Genius who fell to Illumination through losing control of his unmada state.
* RobotMe: Built so he could ignore his job, and [[LonersAreFreaks human interaction in general]].
* TheUnfettered: Like all the Illuminated, he doesn't believe in fetters.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Arturo Banger]]
!!Arturo Banger

A Genius descended from a long line of cranks, Arturo seemed perfectly fine until he began switched majors and began writing about how modern medicine and the germ theory of disease was false. At some point, either before, after, or during his mind cracking, he signed on with the Etherites, where he's a weirdo even by ''their'' standards.

* ConspiracyTheorist: Arturo believes the germ theory of disease to be incorrect and a scam, and that he knows the truth about medicine.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: His theories mingle racist conspiracy theories with paranoid fantasies of ancient "germ scholars" and persecutory beliefs. Per his sample quote:
--> ''"The germ theory of disease is a lie propagated by International Jewry and Afrocentrists at UCLA. Of course, everyone knows this. What people don't know is how the Freemasons and College Football are in league to hide the truth of the metabio fields."''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dr. Keiko Takamori]]
!!Dr. Keiko Takamori

A tattooed Genius with serious depression issues. She empathizes with the Cold Ones who live after the heat death of the universe, and works for them.
----
* DarkAndTroubledPast: Her introduction to the world of Geniuses was when she became Beholden to a real asshole of a Genius, and that was one of the ''high'' points in her existence.
* PowerTattoo: It makes her skin bulletproof. She was forced to get them during her time as a Beholden, and after she catalyzed she "upgraded" them by incorporating an Orphan.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Has had a miserable life. Wants to timeshift the [[EldritchAbomination Cold Ones]] to this reality, uncaring of what kind of weird shit this would cause.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Dr. Ilsa Hauser]]
!!Dr. Ilsa Hauser
One of the current primary leaders of the Thule Society.
----
* TheBaroness: Hauser is a tall, striking woman with an iron will, a sadistic streak, and an absolute dedication to the principles of the Thule Society.
* FightLikeANormal: While she is technically both a Mane and Genius, her description mentions her Inspired abilities aren't particularly impressive, so she usually prefers to rely on her human skills and her connections.
* ItRunsInTheFamily: Her ''entire family'' has been leading the Ubermenschen, and in fact her grandparents led the ones who went into hiding in the Hollow Earth.
* TheMole: She has been infiltrating the Directors for a while in an attempt to prepare the Thule Society's plan.
* XanatosGambit: She currently is planning to infiltrate higher education so she can use it to restore the Ubermensch philosophy. If she succeeds, the Thule Society will insidiously gain influence over the surface; if she fails, the resulting Maniac Storm is likely to make the entire Society grow stronger, effectively giving them more of an army to take the surface by force.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Walking-Man, Peripatetic Dreamkiller]]
!!Walking-Man, Peripatetic Dreamkiller

One of the few forces that all Geniuses fear, known for brainwashed cults and all-around invulnerability.
----
* CarryABigStick: His walking stick.
* TheDreaded: Just the rumor of his arrival is enough to cause most Geniuses to flee the area, as Walking-Man destroys any community he sets foot in.
* EvilLuddite: He doesn't believe in ''any'' technology, and doesn't care about the human costs of destroying it.
* HumanoidAbomination: Possibly. He's described as "less a person now than an elementary force."
* {{Hypocrite}}: Walking-Man hates all technology, yet carries a rifle and has contacts with Lemuria.
* LeanAndMean: Lean and frighteningly mean.
* MadeOfIron: Even putting aside his immunity to technological weapons, he is ridiculously resilient, with a Health of 10, a Stamina of 5, and the Quick Healer Merit on top of it, which allows him to heal faster than the average human. Even a vampire or a werewolf could potentially have a hard time taking him down.
* MassHypnosis: If you want to fight him, you'll have to get past [[BusFullOfInnocents his entire cult]] first.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: As noted above, he is very lean and skinny. Yet not only is he MadeOfIron, he has a Strength of 4, which is twice as strong as the average human.
* {{Narcissist}}: One of Walking-Man's derangements is narcissism.
* NighInvulnerable: He's immune to all non-natural weapons, including clubs, rocks, and fire.
* ScienceIsBad: He really, ''really'' believes it.
* SinisterMinister: Has disguised himself as a Protestant preacher, a Catholic priest, and even a New Age cult leader.
* TorchesAndPitchforks: He usually induces this among local townsfolk.
* VillainTeamUp: He may or may not work with the Phenomenologists.
* WalkingTechbane: Walking-Man is this for wonders, manes and any technology produced since about 1850.
[[/folder]]
----