Urban Fantasy: Arcane Blasphemies

Usually, when some mage or similar being tries to enact a ritual that is very likely to fail or have catastrophic results this is what happen: partial or total failure. The components of their alchemical mixture born of a fusion of medieval alchemy and modern chemistry fail to properly bind and explode. Their summoning rituals based off numerology doesn't work or it work but what they summon is free to tear them apart. Maybe they made an electronic Ouija board used to summon trans-dimensional ghosts as a mean to travel between worlds. This is a failure. Sometimes, however, it work when it shouldn't and some tiny part of the fabric of the cosmos is torn apart and it does work.

And when it does, something else is born.

These creatures don't have a truly established name but calling them 'Arcane Blasphemies' is somewhat accurate. They are similar to Demons but aren't quite identical. They are creatures (more accurately, a living phenomena) born of transgressions creating the impossible. Those with a more modern mindset see them as 'glitch spirits' (even if that's quite wrong), akin to a living computational error in reality's code.

Born of the Impossible

Oryx by Ron Boyde

Each of these creatures is unique, born of a mishap of magic and mad science (arguably those are the same). Most aren't readily apparent in their birth: its not like they poof into existence right next to a ritual or spell that worked when it shouldn't have. As spirit-like beings, they first form more as thoughts and ideas and may take days, months or years to manifest into the world.

Their form (such as it is) is unique, although they are some common patterns which can emerge, such as seemingly being made of impossible materials, such as glass and sand ever-shifting between each state as it phase through the fourth dimension, forming a bug-like exoskeleton made of stacked hybercubes. Others appear broken, with a brittle or cracking form. This has absolutely no effect on their actual health, however. Many of these creatures bend light and colors in strange and alien ways, too and they might even have parts of their bodies looking as if someone inverted the color or applied strange filters in Photoshop. There is an innate 'wrongness' to their nature that make even normal spirits look positively normal and mundane by comparison.

Are they intelligent? Sometimes. Their minds are alien and twisted but they're not dumb. In time, this spark of half-formed thoughts can and will develop into a true intellect. These creatures will have want and needs as well as goals. This is where these creatures can become interesting allies but most likely enemies if the players have a group primarily dedicated to monster-slaying and protecting people because these blasphemous and miraculous beings will certainly not care about individual human lives.

Seekers and Masters

The Arcane Blasphemies, being born of seemingly impossible reality-defying goals are by nature extremely ambitious creatures. They were born of reckless experimentation and thus seek to repeat it in some twisted form as a purpose to their existence. Being impossible, heretical beings they will very much be extremely destructive or corrupting in their goals, hoarding magical secrets, artifacts and more which they will more often seek to unmake and untangle. They do this in order to grow in power and gain a greater understanding of nature but toward what exact goal...no one can really say. Perhaps there is no ultimate goal. These might simply be creatures which exist to cause impossible events and twist magic because its what they fundamentally are.

Arcane Blasphemies make for interesting patron to would-be magicians and mad scientists: trading the secrets recorded in their alien minds for new bits of information only to ultimately lead a mad scientist or mage to its destruction. They are best exemplified by the classic stock mad scientist quote of "FOR SCIENCE!!!" after all.

Twisted Abilities

In term of abilities, an Arcane Blasphemy is akin to a Lesser or Common Spirit with Nemesis status and the following baseline trait and abilities:

• Unstable Materialization (Constant): An Arcane Blasphemy has a Materialization Rank of A. In addition it regain 1 HP/turn. However, should it fail any Saving Throw it will begin to flicker uncontrollably and become unable to regenerate any HP by any mean until it rest in a spiritually potent area for 24 hours or consume the life (read: kill) a living user of magic of some sort.
• Mimic Spell (On Turn): The Arcane Blasphemy commit Effort for the day and replicate any spell it has been damaged or affected by in the last 24 hours. The creature can only replicate each spell having affected it once meaning further use of this power mean they need to cast a different spell.