Affinities

All of this is going to be very much GM-only; I see no particular reason to have this sort of behind-the-scenes scorekeeping public. I'm going to coin a new bit of terminology: "Force". The Forces are the great esoteric powers who make up the cosmos of Horizon - the 5 Powers are all Forces, and the Gods comprise the sixth force, the Divine. This isn't an IC term, and probably won't be used on the website; it's just a term for us to use to talk about these things.

WHAT ARE AFFINITIES?

The living creatures of the world of Horizon are all descended from 6 Forces, the 5 Powers and the Divine Force represented by the Gods. Hence, all living creatures have inherited certain traits from the Forces. This esoteric inheritance lies dormant most of the time, but ultimately this is at the cost of losing one's humanity and former personality.

Three things to remember about affinities:

A "diminishing returns" situation applies. It's not too difficult to gain the first few points of Affinity for a particular Force, but after that it becomes increasingly difficult.
They're a slippery slope. It is, in general, a bit harder to decrease an Affinity than increase it, and later in it becomes a lot more difficult. (The exception is when your Affinity is to a particular God - this is explained below.)
If you sit on the fence, you'll never go all the way. In game mechanic terms, you can't have an Affinity of 11 or more towards a particular Force if you have an Affinity or Affinities of 6 or more towards any other Force. This means you will never attain the raw power enjoyed by an avatar or daimon. On the other hand, going all the way tends to evolve shedding your humanity and running howling into the night; it's entirely possible for a careful person to keep their Affinities balanced and enjoy a moderate but significant amount of broadly-based power as a result, rather than intense amount of tightly focused power. (This is what the Emperor did, until events led him to go down the Divine (Self) route - see below.)

GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY

One's Affinity to the various Powers has nothing to do with whether you directly serve any of them - although the stronger your Affinity towards a particular Power, the more useful a tool of that Power you will be, and so the more keen its daimons will be to recruit you.

The Divine affinity is different, in that there is two ways you can go about increasing it:

You can worship a God, and attempt to emulate the God. This is the most obvious way of going about it. In this case, personal loyalty to the God in question very much matters.

You can serve only yourself, and attempt to emulate the Divine qualities - fierce individualism, strong personality, rampant egotism and narcissism, that kind of thing. The practice of sorcery is a good way to get started along this path, since a lot of the time it involves snatching vast metaphysical forces for your own personal benefit.

How this works: On the Big Spreadsheet of PCs I'll set up as we approach game start, the Divine affinity will have a descriptor attached to it. For most people, we'll note down Divine (Self), since I imagine most people won't be foul cultists of dark gods. For cultists, we'll note down Divine ([Name of God]). Should people build up a large Divine affinity and then either become initiated into the worship of a god or quit the worship of their current god, the descriptor will change but the Divine affinity score will not. This can cause very sudden shifts in personality, but I think this is how it should be; devoting yourself to a god (or denying a god your devotion) when you have a certain amount of potency yourself is very different from devoting yourself when you don't have much to give as yet.

THE GENERIC AFFINITY SCALE

The scale runs from 1 (little to no affinity) to 16 (no longer human, no longer playable).

1 to 5:

At this level Affinities are little more than personality quirks.

1 is the lowest score any player character can have in any Affinity, and represents the very slight influence the Forces have over everyone. Everyone lives under the Sky, on the Land or on the Ocean, with the Stars shining down and the Fire burning below and the Gods drifting overhead on their flying barges, and you can never quite escape their influence entirely; however, you can get pretty damn close. If you have a score of 1 in an Affinity the relevant Forces will be by and large unaware of your existance, and will pay no attention to your actions unless you end up doing something which significantly helps or hinders them.

At 5, the traits associated with the relevant Affinity will be dominant factors within the personality of the character. If you have 5 or more in two highly contradictory Affinities (the most obvious example being the Fire and the Stars), this can lead to startling mood swings. At this point, the relevant Force will become interested and will suggest to its worshippers that the character could be a worthwhile recruit if they are not already a cultist or shaman.

Nobody will have an Affinity greater than 5 towards any Force at character generation. Affinities at game start will be as follows:

3 in the Affinity which the player chooses at character generation.
2 in any Affinity which the character also seems especially compatible with.
1 in all other Affinities.

+1 to the Affinity of the Power an alchemist specialises in, due to their frequent exposure to the relevant essences, and to the Affinity of the Power a shaman worships.
+1 to the Divine affinity of cultists and sorcerers.
+1 to the Affinity of shamen for their Powers.

Generic ways to increase your Affinity within this range:

Gulp down a Coarse Essence.
Be initiated into a cult.
Become a shaman.
Behave in a manner particularly appropriate for the relevant Affinity.
Steal with sorcery, or be granted, a Cantrip and use it to gain a point of Affinity to the Force you got the spell from.

Generic ways to decrease your Affinity:

Behave in a manner especially opposed to the relevant Affinity.
Have an apprentice alchemist draw up a diet designed to rebalance your essential humours.
Strike a minor blow against the interests of the relevant Force.

6 to 10:

At this point the personality tendencies inherent in the Affinities are beginning to rule your life, and are primary motivations. This is also when you begin to gain certain abilities from your Affinities, and when advancement becomes significantly difficult.

At 6 points the powers gained are very subtle, aren't likely to be noticed by other people, and are more-or-less on the level of the advantages I listed in the first draft of the character gen system.

At 10 points the powers gained are minor but are likely to be noticed by other people, and could even be linked to the Force in question if people make a lucky guess.

At this level the relevant Force (and quite probably the other Forces unless you've been very discreet) is definitely aware of you. If you've been serving it, it will groom you for greater things. If you haven't, it will become concerned - at this point their cults or shamen are liable to start threatening you to swear loyalty or else.

Occasionally, at this stage, you will get vague dreams about meeting your god on his/her barge, or being with the Power in the wild places it rules. This is a much more pleasant if you're a cultist or shamen.

Generic ways to increase your Affinity at this point:

Quaff a Fine Essence.
Lead a coup and take over your cult.
Steal with sorcery, or be granted, an Enchantment and use it to gain a point of Affinity to the Force you got the spell from.
Strike a minor blow supporting the interests of the relevant Force.

Generic ways to decrease your Affinity:

Complete a difficult and life-threatening mission to strike a major blow againt the interests of the relevant Force.
Have a journeyman alchemist remove from you the gland associated with the Power in question. (This needn't be fatal if the alchemist knows what he's doing. But it's a pain.)

11 to 15:

Here is where the physical changes begin. At this stage people are liable to be accused of being avatars and daimons if they aren't careful, and it's kind of hard to tell where the dividing line between "human" and "not human" is here.

At 11 points the physical changes should be low-key and not immediately obvious. By 15 points, they should be very hard to disguise (someone with the Master of Disguise quirk could just about pull it off).

At this level, the character has gained the attention of all the Forces. If they are loyal to the Force they have the Affinity with, they will be one of the Force's primary agents in the world; cultists will directly hear the thoughts of their gods, shamen will be in communion with the highest order of daimons. Other Forces will almost certainly be on their case, but on the flip side the character will be able to rely on their Force's full support.

If they are not serving the Force they have this Affinity with, they'll start getting avatars/daimons threatening them to swear loyalty or else, whilst the other Forces will be encouraging them to continue on their independent path.

The character will dream daily now of the Force they have the Affinity with, and the dreams will be much more intense. This can be ecstatically pleasurable or deeply terrifying.

Generic ways to increase your Affinity at this point:

Drink a Pure Essence.
Kill and eat a daimon.
Drink the blood of an avatar.
Have sex with a daimon or avatar.
Steal with sorcery, or be granted, a Grand Ritual and use it to gain a point of Affinity to the Force you got the spell from.
Complete a difficult and life-threatening mission to strike a major blow supporting the interests of the relevant Force.

Generic ways to decrease your Affinity at this point:

Have a master alchemist set up a complicated set of equipment to extract your blood, filter out the relevant Essence, and put the blood back inside you. (This is life-threatening.)
Undertake a long and complex quest to strike a crippling blow against the interests of the relevant Force.

16:

Once you reach 15 points, you are at the point of ultimate ascendance. You are not long for the world: very soon you will reach a moment of decision: whether to undertake the cosmic ordeal required to reach 16 points, or to spurn the opportunity and be destroyed.

Followers of the Divine (self) path will either become minor gods or fall into senility, cultists and shamen will join with their masters to become fully-fledged avatars or daimons or be destroyed in the attempt. Those who have reached 15 points in their Affinity with a Power but have resisted the service of that Power will still have an opportunity to merge to become a full daimon, but in doing so they will end up changing the Power rather than being changed by it; only subtly, but enough that they will have made a permanent impression upon its psyche.

Once you reach 16 points you are no longer human at all, and nobody will fail to notice this. PCs who reach this stage are no longer playable, though we may let them turn up to one session if we're feeling charitable before they are driven into the night, only to return occasionally as avatar/daimon NPCs.

Generic ways to increase your Affinity to 16:

Visit a Power in its home and drink Pure Essence directly from its body.
Drink the blood of a God.
Cosmically marry the relevant Power or God and consummate the marriage directly.
Undertake a long and complex quest to strike a staggering blow in support of the interests of the relevant Force.

Generic ways to decrease your Affinity from 16:

You can't. The 15 point/16 point barrier is the steep cliff at the end of the slippery slope, and there's no climbing back up.

ADVANCEMENT

People should advance no more than 3 advancement points per turn, and then only if their current Affinity is between 1 and 5 and they do something which would advance your Affinity within the 11-15 range. Affinities should not be reduced by more than 2 points per turn.

AN EXAMPLE SCALE: DIVINE (SELF)

Here's how the scale might apply to someone following the path of Divine (Self). In general, no two people should receive entirely the same powers, personality alterations, or physical metamorphoses as they progress along a particular Affinity; we must always tailor these things to the player character. Similarly, we shouldn't be overly strict about the criteria for advancement or reduction: if someone does something of an appropriate nature and of sufficient magnitude, we shouldn't begrudge them the points.

1-5:

The personality traits involved are much like those described under Divine in the character generation system. Once you get to 5 points, the character is either deeply paranoid, wildly narcissistic, unassailably egotistical or unnaturally charismatic.
Ways to increase your Affinity:
Steal a Cantrip with sorcery. This is in addition to the relevant Affinity boost if you actually use the thing.

Behave in a deeply selfish manner.

Make speeches or write pamphlets exhorting people to follow your lead on a particular issue, and be noticed.

Do something which is clearly and obviously your responsibility, and have it mentioned in the turnsheets of at least 4 other players the next turn (they must clearly know it's you wot done it).
Ways to decrease it:
Join a cult. (This will technically convert it to Divine (God name).

Become a shaman. (This will decrease it.)

Surrender an Enchantment that you have stolen, or surrender a Cantrip and accept a punishment from the Power or God you stole it from.

Swear loyalty to someone else.

6-10:

6: The character gains slight bonuses when he is attempting to lead or inspire others, and slight penalties when is attempting to loyally follow somebody else.

10: The character is now a "cult" figure. They now have Lots of Mooks - or if they already have Lots of Mooks, it's now a Private Army. Meanwhile, the character is now revolted - or afraid - by the idea of collaborating with others as equals, or giving their loyalty to another person. If they gave speech in public about how tiny blueberries hidden inside the heads of kittens were trying to KILL US ALL, the weak-willed will listen in awe and agree. By now, the authorities - cosmic, governmental, and criminal - are almost certainly deeply worried about this.

At some point within this region the character will occasionally have vague dreams of an empty, featureless barge drifting aimlessly through the black depths of space.

Ways to increase:

Steal an Enchantment with sorcery. This is in addition to the relevant Affinity boost if you actually use the thing.
Take over a mob or similar city-wide organisation.
Do something which is clearly and obviously your responsibility, and have it mentioned in the turnsheets of at least 10 other players the next turn (they must know it's you wot done it).

Ways to decrease:

Surrender a Grand Ritual that you have stolen, *or* surrender an Enchantment and accept a punishment from the Power or God you stole it from.
As above, join a cult or become a shaman or swear loyalty to someone.

11-15:

11: The character will not die, so long as he or she still has any followers, but will age. There are few outward physical changes associated with the path of Divine (self), but there are some: at this point the character will appear noticably healthier than usual, and will recover from wounds much more quickly.

15: The character will not die or age so long as anybody remembers their name (FAME!). The character also is without blemish or scar, and lost limbs will regrow swiftly - swift enough to be really disconcerting to someone watching.

Within this region the character will frequently dream of the empty barge, which slowly will become populated with objects and items that reflect the character's personality.

Ways to advance your Affinity:

Have an alchemist purify your blood, removing all traces of Essences of Powers, make a Pure sample of what is left, and then drink it.
Steal a Grand Ritual with sorcery. This is *in addition* to the relevant Affinity boost if you actually use the thing.
Take over a major country, or carve out a kingdom for yourself in the Treacherous Lands.
Do something which is clearly and obviously your responsibility, and have at least 10 other players devote a turnsheet action to it the next turn (or at least 4 other players devote most of their turnsheets to it).

Ways to decrease your Affinity:

Sacrifice yourself for someone else. This should be a situation where you do not expect to survive the sacrifice.
Join a cult/become a shaman/swear loyalty, as before. (This is a more and more major thing as your Divine (self) Affinity grows, since you are less and less comfortable with the idea of doing these things.)

16:

The fate of the Gods is the fate of the one who takes the path of the self to its end: to slowly drift into senility, alone, and ultimately dying when everyone has forgotten your name.

When you reach 15 points, you are presented with a simple choice: go forth and claim your place amongst the gods, or renounce it and remain in the world. Characters who choose to remain in the world stay at 15 points and begin to go senile. They become forgetful. Sorcerers slowly lose their spells. It's possible to prolong the end by spending a lot of time asleep (this is what the Emperor did - during the Third Age, he would often sleep for decades), but only to an extent: eventually, you'll lose it all.

Ways to get here from 15 points:

Use sorcery to steal a major piece of the power of a God or Power. This will severely hamper the entity in question, and characters who do this are liable to become fairly important Gods as opposed to bottom-level minor godlings.
Kill a God and remake his barge.
Build a barge on earth and fly it up to where the Gods are.
Fly through the Sky unprotected and build a barge in the place between Stars and Sky.
Declare yourself a god before an adoring crowd of minions, be shot dead by the authorities, and then return to life and ASCEND.
Reconquer the Empire and install yourself as Emperor. Ascend, leaving the leader of your personality-cult as Regent or Steward or Grand Vizier.
Do something which is very obviously your fault, and have the entire player base devote a turnsheet action to it (or have 10 or more players devote most of their turnsheets to it).