Cataclysmic Bliss

Premise

In the year 0 of the Final Calendar, an alien race known as the Despair attacked humanity and destroyed the homeland through the power of massive humanoid psychic weapons that caused mass suicides simply by their presences and overwhelmed any with the mental fortitude to resist with incredible power. Society collapsed overnight, and those who somehow avoided the worst of the disaster were forced beneath the land where the psychic powers of the aliens could not reach them. There, for decades humanity struggled painfully and eeked a pitiful existence beneath the crumbling ruins of the old world until the aliens' weakness was discovered.

Harnessing the very same psychic technology as the Despair used, humanity mounted a counter-offensive using the power of joy. Those first generation pilots, often called bliss drivers in reference to where their power is obtained from, were a particular sort, with twisted emotions that allowed them to revel in battle and grow stronger by fighting. Their growth was unparalleled, overwhelming even the alien menace and coming to dominate them with powers hitherto unseen. The war-ecstatics (and later Deviants), as they became to be known were eventually rejected by humanity as their passions led them to become too twisted and exiled into space by the massed armies of newer (but inevitably weaker) bliss drivers.

Humanity has rebuilt a new society on the ruins of the old, a saccharine, nonviolent society of mandated happiness where the power of human joy has granted humanity power over the cosmos, the elements of nature and even their own evolution. Spread out across the stars, stronger than ever- and yet the knowledge that something greater still is out there looms.

That fear has eaten away at the joy of humanity. You, bliss driver have enjoyed a privileged lifestyle where your ever whim and need was catered to, your life structured to provide challenge and hardship to make your experiences more real and intense than those of an ordinary person. In many cases, your neurochemistry itself has been adjusted to experience greater peaks- at the cost of deeper lows. You have heard of the Deviants and the victory they brought to humanity at cost to themselves, and have spent your life training for a war you hoped to never fight.

Now it is the year 1000 of the Final Calendar, the Deviants have returned.

Character Generation

Chargen is done in two seperate steps, one for the pilot and a second for the unit themselves. The nature of bliss drivers and their psychic machines means that the "character" is ostensibly both, which will be represented in the language.

Pilot

Traits

Each character can choose two traits at chargen, to help round out their characters. Some of these do not add strict mechanical benefits, but affect how others perceive them and might have long-term game impacts.

• Atavist: Atavists are rare humans that feel their strongest joy on the battlefield, making them both supremely dangerous but also valuable with the return of the Deviants. This has other gameplay effects. Incompatible with Luxuries.
• Cryogenic: Cryogenics are people who elect to remain in cold sleep rather than live in the current era for any number of reasons. Many Cryogenics are survivors from the Despair invasion who felt they had no place in the New World. In addition to ignoring a single success from any hostile psychic attack targeting them, they might have secret and valuable knowledge, and get the benefit of having pre-New World common sense. Incompatible with Luxuries.
• Extremopath: Extremopaths are people prone to higher levels of joy but also have lower emotional zero-points, due to medications, rare neurological disorders or intentional tinkering. Extremopaths have a doubled Joy rating but can be driven to negative values through attacks, at which point they cannot act. Worse still, a depleted extremopath cannot naturally regenerate in combat if driven to negatives, requiring that a teammate take an action to help them recover. Incompatible with Flatliner.
• Flatliner: Some people have lower emotional highs and 'emotional intelligence', and are labelled flatliners by the officials of the New World. Flatliners are emotionally resilient, and so considered to always be at half their maximum Joy, but cannot rise or fall above it. Incompatible with Extremopath.
• Luxuries: A member of the privileged class, with access to the best resources and entertainment. A member of the Luxuries (and any friends they bring along) double their recovered Joy in downtime as long as it involves conspicuous (and possibly innapropriate given the wartime) consumption. Incompatible with Atavist or Cryogenic.
• New (Wo)man: A modified or artificial human with substantial artificial features. This allows for parlor tricks, an unusual upbringing and cat ears.
• Prodigy: Prodigies are exceptional products of the educational system which tries to raise as many bliss drivers without ruining them with stress. Being labelled a prodigy can involve any number of things, although those that take this trait can either have their attribute maximums raised by one or have a minimum Joy rating one higher than their normal (which is 0).
• Twin Joys: People with two genuine passions are rare, but not impossible. Those capable of splitting their passion can regain Joy from either of these activities at the usual rate, giving them great flexibility in their recuperative abilities.
• Sex Appeal: Beautifying the world was the first step in improving general happiness to resist another Despair invasion- the next step naturally being doing the same to the populace. The act of seeing a person with Sex Appeal for the first time in a scene restores 1 Joy, and people generally treat such attractive people better.

Attributes

Pilots have nine points to spend in three attributes which loosely define their capabilities, with a cap of 5 and minimum of 1. Each attribute point also gives a single quality to their attribute, with a different one taken each rank. A character's Joy gauge is equal to their highest attribute, regardless of which one it is.

• Guts: Represents raw charisma, physical power and endurance. Vulnerable to heart, overpowers depth. Valid qualities: strong, huge, parties hard, yelling, etc.
• Depth: Represents intelligence, creativity and knowledge. Vulnerable to guts, penetrates heart. Valid qualities: cool, obscure, hard to read, secret skill, etc.
• Heart: Represents innocence, emotional endurance but also wisdom and maturity. Vulnerable to depth and placates guts. Valid qualities: sensitive, poetic, ingenue, kindhearted.

Mecha

Attributes

Mecha have three attributes, representing the manifestation pattern of the bliss driver's psychic power.

• Overwhelming Force:
• Broken Power:
• Hard Work: