COLOUR OUT OF SPACE (Alien Intelligence) (Patreon)

Colours are an immaterial species of unknown origin, which may or may not use our dimension as a nesting ground to nurse their offspring. The infection always begins in the same manner, with a meteorite—either falling from space, or being recovered from somewhere, buried in the earth. Once this rock is brought within range of living things, it “hatches”.

The nascent colour begins as an invisible, deleterious effect on plants and animals, including humans. Living creatures within a few yards of the meteorite suffer in an ever-growing malaise. This radius grows over time. Plants grow wild at first, and then black and cancerous before collapsing to grey dust. Animals waste away, become ill-tempered, and finally collapse and die. Humans grow at first anxious, then obsessive, and finally insane. In the end, if the humans remain, they perish—either by violence or biological failure. Those living things removed from the area affected by the color return to a biological-norm after a short period of time.

As this drain occurs, the colour grows in size, power and affect. After a certain amount of time the colour can hunt, exhibiting behavior which indicates it possesses at least a rudimentary intellect. Eventually, once it reaches full power, and all living things in the area are drained, the color manifests as an unearthly halo of bizarre light. It ascends (perhaps into space or another dimension).

POW 1-35
SAN LOSS: 0/1D6
ARMOR: Transcendent (see below)
ATTACKS PER TURN: Power Feast (see below)

SKILLS: None

THE MALAISE (1 POW+): Each day the colour “feeds” on an ever-growing radius of living things; it gains 1 POW point. When it achieves 20 points, the colour becomes ambulant and can attack, when it achieves 30 points it seeks out living prey, feasting on them. People who remain in this range for an entire day must make a SAN roll or suffer 0/1 SAN loss. Living systems in range suffer slow degradation and various wasting illnesses (treat as 1 HP lost per week of residence in range).

POWER FEAST (20 POW+): When ambulant, the colour can move and “attack”, appearing as a glowing mote of unearthly light which slowly approaches the target and strips them of POW. This is treated as a contest between the colour’s POW and the targets POW. If the colour wins, the target is stripped of 1 POW point and 1/1D6 SAN points, and collapses unconscious (this attack can only happen once per target per day). If the colour loses, it retreats into the earth.

TRANSCENDENT: The colour is beyond all physical attacks, (though experimental physics or hypergeometry might conceivably cause it harm).