the Mother and the Stone: an Into the Odd Background

finding tragic art of pregnant women that wasn't terf-y divine feminine bullshit was harder than anticipated thank you for pullin through Alex Alemany

this is a background for Into the Odd, though it is easily adaptable to any system you prefer. it is drawn from the poetry of my lovely lover, poetry that you may one day read, and shaped by the laws that have been governing my brain recently.

you are playing the mother.

you have 5 Strength, 5 Dexterity, and 100 Willpower.

you have 0 HP.

you carry something of hard stone inside your womb. 

it is large. it is heavy. the skin of your belly stretches paper thin over it. 

you cannot move quickly, or climb, or swim. you cannot hide yourself. 

so long as anyone besides yourself can see you, you cannot take action without first describing the stone in your womb. you may not speak to anyone without mentioning the stone, and the stone will always be mentioned first when others speak to you. 

your needs will be ignored, unless they are also understood to be the needs of the stone. the needs of the stone will always be respected and accommodated, even by those who would shun or strike you.

the stone fascinates people. everyone wishes to see you birth it, and will join and travel with you readily.

you may birth the stone at any time.

when the stone is born, you die.  it drops out of you, huge and white, a human form folded into a shape like a snake egg. empty of it, your body collapses, forgotten. 

you die before you can name the stone, and no one else may name it. 

beats the fuck out of me where this came from but it's exactly the image i needed?? so thank you to whoever reached into the future from their time and siphoned my psyche

you now play the stone. you may unfold your stout arms and legs, and survey the world with the white eyes in your huge, white head. 

the stone has 100 Strength, 5 Dexterity, and 5 Willpower. 

it has 0 HP.

the stone may not recover lost stats in any way.

 
the stone may not speak. it may not attempt to communicate via writing, pictogram, or miming. you may not speak out of character.

so long as anyone could hear you, you may not do anything other than describe the actions the stone is taking. 

the stone's hands do not open. 

its mouth does not open. 

its eyes do not shut.