Take something apart, and you have a responsibility to put it back together again. That’s particularly true of the Thesean’s own body — risking life and limb is part of the deal, and no one expects to get out without a scratch, but the rest of the faction relies on each individual to look after herself. The strength of the whole wanes if one part breaks irreparably.
The Ship’s philosophy isn’t just abstract; Theseans learn how to rebuild themselves as well as the world around them. Such a reconstruction can be literal for those Theseans whose minds crackle with data and whose limbs are wrought from steel; for agents of a fleshier bent, arts of mending and rejuvenation can speed recovery and protect from harm. Learn the right mantras and incantations, be ready to scour away the tainted flesh and let it regrow anew, and even the Contagion’s touch might be excised — for a while.
A vampire stabs a blood pump into their dead flesh, invigorating the Vitae that flows through it. A Promethean threads metallic fibers through her skin that tingle with electrical current. A Sin-Eater pours ectoplasm over his gaping wounds, filling the injuries with phantasmal matter.
System: At the start of each story, a Thesean gains a number of Renewal points equal to their Stamina dots. A Renewal point can be spent reflexively at any time to heal two points of Health damage of any kind, even aggravated, or to heal a temporary physical Tilt or Condition such as Arm Wrack or Poisoned. Removing a Condition does not grant a Beat.
The Thesean can also spend a Renewal point to attempt to fight back the influence of a physical Contagion. Spending the point allows the character to make a Stamina + Resolve roll, with success removing the Contagion-Touched or Infected Conditions, although the roll suffers a penalty equal to the Stage of Infected. If the roll fails, Renewal cannot be used to try to remove the Condition again, and it will have to be cured via other means.
Cost: None
Requirement: When using Renewal, the Thesean must display an alteration or modification they have made to their body to stimulate its restoration
Dice Pool: None; or Stamina to remove a Contagious Condition
Action: Reflexive
Duration: Permanent
Edges
Changelings, Hunters, Mages: A character with this edge can spend a Renewal point to ignore all wound penalties and automatically remain conscious for the duration of the scene regardless of the amount of damage they have taken short of death itself. After the scene ends, all effects of the injuries the character has suffered will rapidly catch up with them.
Mummies, Prometheans, Werewolves, Vampires: Some denizens of the night are beset by supernatural curses and vulnerabilities. The Ship of Theseus treat these weaknesses as a problem that should be confronted and, ideally, overcome. A Thesean with this edge can spend a Renewal point and a Willpower point to suppress their banes for a scene, treating such sources of harm much as a human would rather than with supernaturally aggravated suffering.
Beasts, Sin-Eaters: The concept of mind over matter has a lot more impact when your very soul is bound to an ephemeral presence. There are ways of drawing deep on that bond to reinforce the failings of the flesh. A character with this edge can spent a point of Willpower when using a Renewal point to trigger two effects at the same time rather than one — healing twice as much damage, or damage and a physical Condition, etc.
Demons, Deviants: Don’t just accept a beating that’s incoming. These Theseans were built to adapt and evolve to meet a beating head on in the first place. A character with this edge gains one point of Armor against all attacks for the remainder of any scene in which they spend a Renewal point.
Specializations
Eshmaki: These Begotten are used to isolation and hav- ing to make do with less. They know what it is to hunger and go without. When using this vector, an Eshmaki may increase their Satiety by up to two levels to represent hidden stores of resilience.
Ordo Dracul: Dragons have been at the heart of some of the Ship’s most significant discoveries when it comes to the re-engineering of the self. Access to the shared resources and knowledge of the Theseans has wildly expanded their capabilities for experimentation and discovery. An Ordo Dracul Thesean that that suffers enough damage to cause Final Death can spend any remaining Renewal points to reform, awake, at the end of the scene, with the expended Renewal points healing aggravated damage on a one-for- one basis. The vampire is actually dead in the interim for all practical purposes, but their body, mind, and soul will reform regardless of what is done to the body, even in the face of complete bodily destruction.