Kin is a catch-all term used by the Begotten to describe other monsters with whom they have an affinity.
Overview[]
Beasts believe that nearly every supernatural creature has ties to the Dark Mother in one way or another. By using their connection to the Primordial Dream, a Beast can forge alliances with its "cousins" that are mutually beneficial. This does not ensure peace or goodwill by any means, but it certainly does go a long way toward allaying the natural fear and suspicions that many supernatural beings have when they’re approached by someone they don’t know. Most "first contacts" between Beasts and their "cousins" end not as violently as they could have ended.
Beasts can use their connections to a supernatural to detect their presence among the mortal masses. Supernaturals with clear monstrous origins or who have been fundamentally altered are easier to detect than supernaturals that are still very close to being mortal. They can also camouflage as being part of a given supernatural demographic, allowing them to walk in Elysia and Consilia without being detected (though this does not grant them the corresponding powers of the being they are imitating). Through the Primordial Pathways, Beasts can connect their Lair to other spiritual dimensions, like the Shadow, the Underworld, the Hedge, Astral Space and similar spiritual dimensions if they are allied with a supernatural who has access to that realm.
Beasts and their cousins can also work together. Through the Mother's Kiss, the Beast can grant its "cousin" enhancements for their natural powers (like vampiric Disciplines). The Beast can sate its Hunger by observing a "cousin" hunting and feeding, which they call a Family Dinner. Begotten can also style Nightmares after the effects of their "cousins", if they have observed them in action. A Beast with a close relationship to another supernatural creature can forge "Family Ties," which enhances all of these powers when used with that specific individual. Beasts can form Family Ties with multiple individuals, and the same individual can have Family Ties with more than one Beast.
Types of Kinship[]
Not Human[]
- Vampires, who also have a "Beast" within them and share a Hunger for life, are perhaps the most obvious relatives of the Begotten. However, Vampires are also fiercely territorial and do not take intrusions into their territory very well.
- Werewolves, who embody the Hunger of the Predators perhaps even better than the Predators themselves. If a Begotten can be accepted into one of their Packs, they are also surprisingly loyal.
- The Geryo read as kin to Beasts as well, but cannot be targeted with kinship powers and regard them with unalloyed hostility.
- Changelings, who too are drawn from a realm defined by a cosmic Narrative and whose Seemings are similar enough to their own Families. Tensions arise over the issues of the Gentry, whom the Beast also recognize as related souls who have to sate needs that appear cruel and inhumane.
- Fetches, who are made as replicas of mortals by the True Fae, share Kinship with the Begotten by association
- Prometheans, whose Disquiet is similar to the results of a rampaging Horror, complete with an angry mob of mortals (or, in the Begotten's case, Heroes), who seek to dispose them. Beasts are immune to the effects of Disquiet, which can make them valuable allies to the Created. Most Begotten, however, have a hard time to understand the Pilgrimage and why any child of the Dark Mother would seek to become a normal human.
- Sin-Eaters, whose relationships with their Geists is similar enough to that of a Horror. The Begotten suspect that the Sin-Eaters are a Family born out of the Fear of Death that had lost contact to the Dark Mother.
- Mummies, whose Sybaris is similar to the effects of a Horror and whose drives while without Memory are similar to the instincts of a Mythic Self. Beasts believe that the Arisen were Beasts that were subjugated by mortal sorcery in prehistoric times.
- Spirits, especially when they are of the more inhuman sort, are similar enough to Horrors (with their singular drive to feed) to be accepted as offspring of the Dark Mother. Claimed are especially seen as related souls, given that they, too, are ephemeral entities that have joined with a mortal, similar to the relationship between a Horror and the Beast.
Human-Adjacent[]
- Ghosts, who were former mortals that have been reborn as something else.
- Mages, who, like the Begotten, are driven by a Hunger. The desires of the Awakened are Mysteries and the Begotten are willing to barter with mages in exchange for aid.
- Psychics, who share with the begotten the feeling to have been different for much of their life and whose powers are similarly born out of the invisible world of fears and the mind.
- Slashers, who are possessed by similar urges of violence and death like some Begotten do.
- Thaumaturges, who are seen as some sub-type of mages (if they care to differentiate at all) by the Begotten
Not Kin[]
- Creations of the God-Machine, like Angels and the Unchained, are never Kin. Demons similarly find themselves unable to barter Pacts with the Begotten, as their souls were replaced with their Horror upon their Devouring. Interactions between the two groups tend to be hostile from both ends.
- While mortal hunters are not kin by default, it may be possible for them to forge kinship with the Begotten through shared experiences.
References[]
- BTP: Beast: The Primordial Rulebook
, p.58-59, 87-91, 138, 224