Something of Something Wicked
I commented early on that one of the things I really wanted to do was treat cosmic horror without Lovecraft being at the center of it. Not in all ways - I'd be an idiot not to quote from the opening of "The Call of Cthulhu", for instance, and I'm not an idiot, so I did. But in some other ways, yes. Here's a keyword intended to do a thing that I've love in Ligotti, Kiernan, and other writers.
Secondary Creation
You’re not real.
Of course, one of the themes of cosmic horror is that nothing in human experience is all that real, but you’re one layer more unreal than most people are. You might be someone’s dream escaped into the waking world, or a personality split off like Hyde from Jekyll, or a synthetic creation (scientific, alchemical, or otherwise) fed the memories of your rich creator’s niece. Whatever your origin, as an incomplete person, you are likely better than ordinary real (or real-ish) people at matters related to your creation, and weak or incapable in others. If you began as the fevered wishes of a drug addict for a normal life, for instance, you might be very healthy and remarkably un-remarkable in appearance, but perhaps incapable of being near your creator’s vices without panicked flight, violent rage, or catatonic collapse, and you may never be able to master esoteric geometry or ancient foreign languages even if you decide you’d really like to.
It’s possible that you have no inkling of your actual condition, only an occasional sense that the world is out of whack in ways it doesn’t seem to be for others around you. You may have a much more developed sense of not being like other people but lack insight into your actual origins, and therefore probably have latched onto one or more paranoia-filled conspiracy theories. Or you may know just what’s up and be searching for something to give your strange existence a purpose all its own.
Abilities: Abnormal Excellence in matters related to your creation, Astute Observer
Flaws: Fear of (or Hatred for) Your Creator, Insecurity, Susceptibility to Conspiracy Theories
Secondary Creation
You’re not real.
Of course, one of the themes of cosmic horror is that nothing in human experience is all that real, but you’re one layer more unreal than most people are. You might be someone’s dream escaped into the waking world, or a personality split off like Hyde from Jekyll, or a synthetic creation (scientific, alchemical, or otherwise) fed the memories of your rich creator’s niece. Whatever your origin, as an incomplete person, you are likely better than ordinary real (or real-ish) people at matters related to your creation, and weak or incapable in others. If you began as the fevered wishes of a drug addict for a normal life, for instance, you might be very healthy and remarkably un-remarkable in appearance, but perhaps incapable of being near your creator’s vices without panicked flight, violent rage, or catatonic collapse, and you may never be able to master esoteric geometry or ancient foreign languages even if you decide you’d really like to.
It’s possible that you have no inkling of your actual condition, only an occasional sense that the world is out of whack in ways it doesn’t seem to be for others around you. You may have a much more developed sense of not being like other people but lack insight into your actual origins, and therefore probably have latched onto one or more paranoia-filled conspiracy theories. Or you may know just what’s up and be searching for something to give your strange existence a purpose all its own.
Abilities: Abnormal Excellence in matters related to your creation, Astute Observer
Flaws: Fear of (or Hatred for) Your Creator, Insecurity, Susceptibility to Conspiracy Theories