Mutation
What is Madness?
Section titled “What is Madness?”Madness is a value from 0% to 100% that represents how close a Beyonder is to losing their mind — and their powers — entirely.
It replaces the old Safe Mode system. There is no longer a way to simply “turn on” protection. Instead, every Beyonder must actively manage their Madness level.
Madness will gradually decrease on its own over time, but the recovery is extremely slow. Certain spells can also reduce it.
Temporary, Permanent, and Godhood Madness
Section titled “Temporary, Permanent, and Godhood Madness”Several components determine how low your Madness can fall:
| Type | Description | Can it be healed? |
|---|---|---|
| Temporary Madness | Standard Madness gained from most sources | Yes — slowly over time, or via certain spells |
| Permanent Madness | Madness gained from dangerous advancement, pathway switching, and certain powers | No — cannot be treated by any means |
| Godhood floor | A minimum caused by your current high Sequence | Only through eligible Church relief |
Your effective minimum is:
Permanent Madness + Godhood floor after Church relief
Church support reduces only the Godhood component. It cannot erase Permanent Madness. Healing, passive recovery, gifts, and abilities stop at this combined floor.
What can cause Madness?
Section titled “What can cause Madness?”There are several ways to accumulate Madness:
- Advancing with incomplete acting progress or an incomplete ritual where the advancement rules allow it
- Skipping Sequences
- Switching pathways before the relevant safe threshold or switching to a non-adjacent Pathway
- Being driven crazy by your own abilities (e.g. Hanged Man pathway)
- Being driven crazy by other players’ abilities (e.g. Visionary pathway)
- Overusing Spirituality recklessly
Advancement risk
Section titled “Advancement risk”Default potion advancement rules:
- At least 95% Acting is required. Advancing below 100% adds temporary Madness, reaching 30% at exactly 95% Acting.
- You may skip at most 3 Sequences at once. Each skipped Sequence adds 15% temporary and 5% permanent Madness.
- Incomplete rituals for target Sequences 8-6 add a proportional share of up to 40% temporary and 10% permanent Madness.
- Ritual completion is mandatory when advancing to Sequence 5 or stronger.
- Failed or cancelled advancement does not charge these penalties.
The confirmation message shown before drinking is authoritative for the attempt. Server administrators may adjust these default values.
Pathway switching
Section titled “Pathway switching”A switch must still advance you by exactly one Sequence: the potion must be for the next Sequence after your current one.
| Switch | When safe | Risk before/without safety |
|---|---|---|
| Adjacent Pathways | Current Pathway is Sequence 4 or stronger | 25% temporary, 10% permanent, 75% survival |
| Lord of Mysteries group | Current Pathway is Sequence 3 or stronger | 55% temporary, 20% permanent, 20% survival |
| Non-adjacent Pathways | Never treated as a safe neighboring switch | 45% temporary, 15% permanent, 35% survival |
A safe neighboring switch still requires complete acting and ritual conditions to avoid their separate penalties. Transfer-token pathway changes are exempt from pathway-switch Madness.
What are the effects of high Madness?
Section titled “What are the effects of high Madness?”High Madness doesn’t just threaten mutation — it actively impairs your abilities:
- Slower Spirituality regeneration — the higher your Madness, the slower your spiritual energy recovers
- Spell lockout — at sufficiently high Madness, random spells may become unavailable to you until your Madness drops
Reducing Madness
Section titled “Reducing Madness”Ordinary recovery and curing abilities can remove only recoverable Madness above your combined floor. Outside magic combat and PvP areas, Placate, Soul Suture, and Requiem use performance-based minigames: difficulty scales with the target’s Madness and recent attempts, and the score controls how effective the cure is. In combat and PvP areas, these abilities retain their normal chance-based behavior.
What is a Mutation?
Section titled “What is a Mutation?”If your Madness reaches 100%, this triggers a Mutation — a catastrophic loss of control:
- You will lose all your abilities permanently
- You will lose your pathway and sequence
- You will lose all your items
- Your stripped power may manifest as a powerful mutant creature that hunts you and nearby players
- If the mutant is killed, it may drop a Beyonder Characteristic of your Sequence
- You will receive a cooldown of three real days before you can become a Beyonder again