Camelot Le Morte once belonged to a class of recursions called the “Arthurians” because of its association with the King Arthur myth, but that was before its collision with a Weird Science recursion created by comic book fictional leakage, which created the current fused recursion.
The maladie de la machine hit Arthur’s kingdom in the heart of the realm—Camelot. Many of the Knights of the Round Table were absent from the castle, as they were on a quest for the Holy Grail. Without their protection, the fair court fell to the ungodly disease. Where humans once walked, buzzing things of iron afterward shambled with the facade of people but the hearts of devils. Arthur was slain in the fighting and lies dead (but uninfected) in his bedchamber, Lancelot escaped unchanged but infected, while Gwenhwyfar was overcome and transformed. Now Gwenhwyfar rules in Camelot as its queen, but not as a human. As a mécanisme, she is a creature of ironlike metal that does not sleep or feel pity. She has vowed that all the land will become as she, and once that is accomplished, she promises to set her sights on other realms.
In the aftermath, only a few knights, including Sir Bors, continue to pursue the quest for the Holy Grail. If anything, Bors searches with even greater fervor than before, believing that the holy relic is the only way to purify the kingdom. Other knights, including Lancelot, have joined with Mordred in his fortress of Camboglanna. Mordred, a warlock of some repute, can keep the maladie de la machine at bay with his magic. Other forces in the kingdom continue their own fights, some against Camelot, others against Camboglanna, and still others caught up in their own quests in a land already rich in danger and deception.
Residents of the recursion call their land Albion. Only recursors who understand its nature refer to the place as Camelot Le Morte, a name that purposefully conjoins English and French, reflecting the unnatural blended nature of many natives and presuming that the recursion may soon come to a bad end.
People converted into mécanismes are tougher and can sometimes call on machine abilities, but their minds are often lost in the process.
Most of the foci that player characters can choose in Camelot Le Morte are straightforward, with a few exceptions. Only characters who choose to be mécanismes can take the foci marked with † in the Attributes box. On the other hand, mécanismes can choose any foci listed, as well as any other foci that the GM makes available. A character who chooses to translate into the recursion as a mécanisme, as described below, faces additional challenges.
Other modifications are likely necessary to massage a given focus so it fits the context of the recursion. For instance, if a character chooses Works Miracles, the context presumes that the miracles are being granted by the Abrahamic God.
The maladie de la machine is what the natives of Camelot Le Morte call the disease that converts a normal creature into a mécanisme. The disease is a level 4 transformative virus that turns living flesh into a cybernetic equivalent. An infection can take days to completely convert a creature, though the process can be accelerated to less than one minute if another mécanisme is the direct vector. People converted into mécanismes are tougher and can sometimes call on machine abilities, but their minds are often lost in the process. In addition to the obvious downsides, a victim so transformed usually becomes subject to a level 4 rooted directive that switches his loyalty to the command module, currently housed in the body of Queen Gwenhwyfar.
Recursors who translate into Camelot Le Morte choose whether to appear as human or mécanisme. A recursor who chooses the latter option gains +1 to Armor and has access to a bonus Cyber Pool that contains 4 points (this Pool functions like the Luck Pool of the Lucky descriptor). However, the recursor must fight to maintain control of her mind upon first translating into the recursion, each time she moves down one step on the damage track, and whenever another fully converted mécanisme touches her.
Mécanisme soldier: level 2; Armor 2; sword attack inflicts 3 points of damage
Life in the castle has taken a vast turn from how things looked before the cyber-virus struck the recursion. The cooks, gardeners, grooms, and other servants, as well as the nobles, knights, counselors, and other fixtures of the court, now spend most of their time rooted in one place, connected to one another via strands of thin metallic wire that stretch throughout the structure like spiderwebs. Unless the castle is roused in full defense mode, only a few Knights of the Round Table are active at any given time. These include the soldiers walking patrol under the command of Sir Kay, the lesser knights led by Sir Galahad hunting unconverted humans far beyond the castle walls to bring them into the fold, and Sir Percival, who looks variously for the Holy Grail and an artifact called the Source. In addition to the knights, Queen Gwenhwyfar is also active.
The chamber of the Round Table is thick with the wire communication webbing so ubiquitous in the castle. In the past, a few mécanismes tried to sit in the Siege Perilous, the Round Table seat reserved by Merlin for the person who would one day find the Holy Grail, but they were instantly killed. Since then, the invaders leave the chamber alone.
As is true of many of the converted, remnants of Galahad’s original personality persist within his electronic brain. Thus, the once-cheerful Galahad, son of Sir Lancelot, is now a brooding, threatening presence, even to other mécanismes. The more the part of him that was loyal to King Arthur tries to resist, the more the controlling intelligence clamps down, making him humanity’s most dangerous foe. He detests his father Lancelot most of all. The fact that Lancelot has yet to submit to the infection is the only source of strength that Galahad’s remaining humanity holds to, so the controlling intelligence has made Lancelot’s conversion (or death) its number one priority.
Sir Galahad also constantly feels the conflict created by the presence of the Siege Perilous in the chamber of the Round Table. Given that his name appeared on the seat that has killed everyone else who dared to sit there, he believes that he is the one fated to use it to gain a vision of the Holy Grail. However, the queen has strictly forbidden Galahad from trying the seat or looking for the Grail. She fears that either could strengthen the human part of his mind, allowing him to break free of the mécanisme controlling intelligence.
Sir Galahad: level 6; Armor 4; often rides a level 3 mécanisme steed; lance attack inflicts 8 points of damage; infectious
Not much of Sir Percival’s original personality remains—the maladie de la machine struck him particularly hard. This means that unlike some others among the court in Camelot, Percival has little obvious personality and isn’t given to engaging unconverted humans in dialogue. He splits his time between questing for the Holy Grail, under command from the queen to find and destroy it before any other knight finds it, and secretly searching for the Source, the original shard of infection that came to Camelot. Thanks to a concerted fight put up by Merlin, Arthur, and even Morgan Le Fay, the Source was broken, and the greater part of it lost. What remained was still enough to do serious damage, but rather than converting the recursion in just and remake the recursion in just days, the struggle is ongoing. If Percival can find the Source, he believes he can complete the process recursion completely, perhaps setting himself in Gwenhwyfar’s place.
Sir Percival: level 6; Armor 4; often rides a level 3 mécanisme steed; two sword attacks as a single action; infectious
Where Percival is noncommunicative, the controlling intelligence of Kay allows much of what he was to bubble to the surface, making this knight positively loquacious. However, his courteous manner doesn’t mean he’ll betray the queen. In fact, if he finds anyone of note beyond the castle walls, he escorts his “honored guests” into Camelot’s throne room for a meeting with Her Majesty.
Sir Kay: level 5; Armor 4; long-range crossbow attack inflicts 3 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor); infectious
The queen wears the clothing and crown of royalty with relish, an echo of Gwenhwyfar’s original personality. That echo is perhaps why she keeps the rotting body of Arthur rooted with communication web in the royal bedchamber instead of the dungeon. An underlying spell continually attempts to pull the body away from Camelot. Gwenhwyfar doesn’t know the destination (the spell is trying to pull the body to a linked recursion called Avalon), but the energized web ties the corpse in place. Arthur being dead, the queen wields his sword, Excalibur. As long as she doesn’t lose her hold on it, the sword remains hers. If she should ever lose her grip, both the sword and Arthur’s corpse would fade and come under the control of Morgan Le Fay.
Gwenhwyfar tells her mécanisme subjects that she has knights spending all their time looking for the Source. But that’s a lie. If events had proceeded as they’d been meant to, and the Source had fully converted all the inhabitants, she and those with individual personalities like hers wouldn’t have come into existence at in the leadership role. Because once it is converted, Gwenhwyfar—who is quickened— plans on expanding her dominion into other recursions, and finally to Earth itself.
The queen wields Arthur’s sword, Excalibur. As long as she doesn’t loseher hold on it, the sword remains hers.
Queen Gwenhwyfar: level 6; Amor 4; wields Excalibur; carries two random cyphers; infectious
This ancient Roman fort is commanded by Mordred, who leads much of the organized resistance to the queen and her active propagation of the maladie de la machine. Under Mordred, Camboglanna has become an expansive and robust fortification guarded by brigands, freed slaves, and a small company of animate suits of armor called hollow knights. Sir Lancelot and a handful of less storied knights, previously of Camelot, can also be found in Mordred’s fortress. Though they work with the former traitor, old slights and betrayals are not forgotten.
The illegitimate son of Arthur and Arthur’s half-sister Morgause, Mordred was fated to bring down the king and, in so doing, earn an early death. That was before the recursion’s narrative was knocked askew. Now Mordred is a weathered warrior and accomplished warlock able to code magic into tattoos. He uses his power to create his hollow knights, prevent the spread of infection to those inked with his protective sigils, and cast other useful spells.
To those whose original loyalties didn’t lie with Camelot, Mordred can show human sympathy. Anyone formerly associated with Arthur’s court will tell you that Mordred is cruel and sadistic, leading through fear and intimidation. It’s to those he associates with his father that he is most cruel. This is why instead of curing Lancelot, which he could have done, he merely scribed the knight with a spell to hold the infection at bay. As long as Lancelot serves Mordred and Mordred remains alive, Lancelot remains human.
Brigand: level 2; Armor 1; sword and bow attacks inflict 3 points of damage
Mordred’s hollow knight: level 4; Armor 3; sword attack inflicts 5 points of damage; defeated knight explodes, inflicting 5 points of damage to all creatures within immediate range
Mordred: level 5; Armor 4 from platemail and magic; long-range spell attack inflicts damage and blinds foe for one round; wields dragon pen artifact
One of the most accomplished warriors ever to sit at the Round Table, Lancelot has become an embittered and drunken shell of his former self. He is heartbroken that his sweet Gwenhwyfar has become the face of the enemy. He’s mortified that the infection on his arm, held in check by Mordred’s magic, has put him into the warlock’s service. And he’s disgusted with himself overnot having died at Arthur’s side, fighting for his king. Thanks to a magic wine horn provided by Mordred, Lancelot is always somewhat intoxicated and muddle-minded, but despite that, remains deadly on the field.
Lancelot: level 8 (6 when drunk); Armor 3; sword attack inflicts 8 points of damage; carries everfull wine horn artifact
Supposedly a cup used to collect the blood of Christ upon his removal from the cross, the Grail of Camelot Le Morte is a holy relic believed to have the ability to cure all disease and ailments, including the decrepitude of age. Many lesser knights search for it in hopes of saving the realm. The only Knight of the Round Table who still actively searches for the Grail is Sir Bors, who, along with his companions, has adventured across the length and breadth of the recursion, and into a few alternate recursions as well. Some of the locations in Camelot Le Morte where Sir Bors has searched for the Grail include the following.
Sir Bors: level 6; Armor 3
A name feared throughout the recursion, the Green Chapel is an accursed church where, according to local belief, demons incant all-night prayer services to the Lord of the Damned. The chapel is actually an extensive monastery, where ghosts, demons, and lost souls wander at the behest of the Green Knight. Those who seek a boon from the knight are allowed to enter, but only upon agreeing to try their hand at a series of tests. If a petitioner fails these fiendish tests, he never leaves, becoming one more lost soul wandering the Green Chapel in service to its inscrutable lord.
Green Knight: level 6, tasks related to detecting falsehoods and solving puzzles as level 8; Armor 3; fades to green mist as an action
The great city of Caerleon remains inhabited during the strife, and many rogue mécanismes reside therein, along with normal humans. These mécanismes resist the base programing encoded in their cyber-organic flesh by reliance on torcs of mindfulness, minor artifacts created by Caerleon smiths. Located on the River Usk not far from the Severn Sea, the city remains rich despite the war between Mordred and Camelot. In fact, the city’s smiths are kept busy supplying both sides with weapons and armor. That said, should one side finally win out over the other, no one in Caerleon doubts that the victor won’t next turn an acquisitive eye on their city. Rogue mécanismes, human warlocks, and smiths have combined their skills to create a great henge of protective stones around the city. Each stone is infused with magic and the essence of the machine virus. If Caerleon ever comes under attack, a magic shield of protection (level 7) will stutter into place, generated by the henge.
Crafted as a prison to hold Merlin, the realm’s greatest wizard, the Invisible Cave is difficult o find, as the mouth moves from location to location with the weather. If finally found (within a bank of fog), the cave leads to a large subterranean keep with many wards and defenses. Created by Morgan Le Fay to hold a creature with both human and demon blood running through his veins, the defenses are also dangerous to those seeking to gain entry.
But entry is exactly what Queen Gwenhwyfar sought, in hopes of freeing, and infecting, the greatest magician of the land to bring him over to her side. Free Merlin she did, though he escaped before she could infect him. He had spent the years of his imprisonment mentally casting his mind into other realms. In time, he learned of the nature of recursions. When the mécanisme queen appeared, he was ready. As much a trickster as a wizard, Merlin vanished into the Strange itself. He hopes to glean from some other Mad Science recursion what he needs to win the day—something he calls the “Red Dragon.” He left behind within his prison an amulet frozen in ice. If someone true to the realm finds it and uses the amulet to call him, Merlin will translate back to Camelot Le Morte and provide aid on one endeavor. However, when he leaves again, he will take the amulet with him.
Built by the wizard Merlin, the circle of stones is a place of magical power. Beneath each stone lies the body of a warlock, demon, or fey being who attempted to best Merlin but failed. He interred each in turn, slowly constructing the henge as it stands today. These spirits protect he henge, repairing damage caused by visitors and the elements over the years. For one who is able to cast magic, meditating in the center of the stones allows communion with one or more of the spirits interred within. Doing so is risky, because a contest of wills occurs as contact is made, in which the spirit attempts to replace the meditator with its own mind. But if the meditator wins the battle of wills, she can learn a new spell.
In fact, Merlin used Stonehenge as a sort of spell repository, since he was immune to the psychic attacks his defeated foes levy on others. According to local legend, the stones sometimes assemble into the shape of a figure and walk the land, striking down anyone they come across. Sir Bors attempted to catalyze the creation of the “Stone Man,” thinking it would lead him to the Holy Grail, but he failed to make the construct rise.
Like Stonehenge, Old Keig is a circle of standing and recumbent stones. It is situated at the northern edge of Camelot Le Morte—beyond it lies only misted moors that turn explorers back the way they came. Sometimes, the central remaining arch of Old Keig flares with energy, and a connection to the Strange itself is made. The only creature around to see it is an entity that calls itself Crónán. Everyone else in the recursion, however, refers to the creature as the Source.
Before the Source was broken in a fight with Merlin, Arthur, and Morgan Le Fay, it was the primary vector of the intelligent cyber-organic infection. It came to the recursion to convert the land rapidly and completely before moving on to other realms. However, severed from its command programming in battle, the greater part of the Source was like a newborn, albeit an incredibly smart and powerful newborn. It took on a basic human shape and name, and now it lives in relative peace at the edge of the recursion with a small band of performers who often travel the land.
As Crónán, the Source could almost pass for a human of indeterminate gender about ten years of age. But when startled or angry, Crónán’s skin is revealed as cyber-organic, and threats to it and any of its friends are swiftly dealt with. If someone like Gwenhwyfar or another powerful mécanisme could subdue Crónán, it’s possible that its original programming could be reactivated, and the Crónán personality would be subsumed or burned away. Thus, Crónán does its best to stay anonymous at the recursion’s edge.
Crónán the Source: level 3, all tasks when cyber-virus heritage manifests as level 8; Armor 4
Level: 7
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Dagger with white hilt
Effect: This dagger functions as a light bladed melee weapon. In addition, Carnwennan’s user can step into shadow, which allows him either to teleport to another shadowy location within long range, or to become invisible for up to one minute or until he attacks another creature.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per use of invisibility or teleportation)
Level: 1d6+2
Form: A quill made from a green feather
Effect: If suitably inked, the dragon pen can render an object or creature that becomes real for one minute. The object or creature’s level is half the artifact’s level, +1 level if the user is trained in drawing, or +2 levels if the user is specialized in drawing. Once released from the page or surface it was drawn upon, the object or creature swells until it reaches the appropriate size, but no bigger than an immediate distance in width, depth, and height. If a creature is made, it does the bidding of its creator.
Someone versed in magic, such as someone who has the Inks Spells on Skin focus, can use the dragon pen to cast spells. When doing so, the difficulty of one task associated with the spell (such as an attack roll) is decreased by one step.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6
Form: Ornate drinking horn
Effect: When held to the lips, the horn magically fills with red wine.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100
Level: 7
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Sword inset with jewels and engraved with
Latin phrases (“Take me up” and “Cast me away”) on opposite sides of the blade
Effect: This sword functions as a normal weapon of its type. The first time each day that Excalibur is drawn from its sheath by its wielder, all enemies within long range are blinded for one round (depletion roll required). Constructed of magically enhanced meteoric iron, Excalibur can cut through wood, stone, and normal metal (of the artifact level or less) without losing its edge; the blade inflicts 1 additional point of damage (no depletion roll required). Finally, Excalibur has the ability that Earth myth often confers to the blade’s scabbard and can keep the wielder healthy even if wounded. When this ability is used, 1d6 points are restored to any stat Pool the wielder wishes. Though using Excalibur in this fashion requires a depletion roll, it does not require an action.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100 (if depleted, the sword becomes embedded in the nearest boulder and will not come free except in the hand of its maker or the rightful ruler of the recursion)
Level: 1d6
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Emerald-hued plate mail
Effect: This plate mail functions as heavy armor. In addition, the user gains +3 to Armor against effects that would directly affect her Speed (such as poison) or Intellect (such as a curse or psychic attack). The user can also make an extra one-action recovery roll each day.
Depletion: —
Level: 1d6+3
Origin: Albion (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Dried humanoid hand with candle-tip fingers
Effect: A hand of glory has several potential uses, including the following. In all cases, the candles making up the hand must be lit and burning to produce an effect.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20
Level: 1d6+4
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Modest bronze cup
Effect: Anyone who drinks from the Holy Grail is immediately healed of all wounds, diseases, toxins, and malign mental influences. A drinker who suffers from one or more curses is released from them all, and unwelcome transformative effects are completely reversed. Furthermore, the ill effects of age are wiped away, rendering someone older than twenty-five years back to that approximate physiological age. The drinker is not made immortal, however, or immune to normal aging thereafter.
Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (Upon depletion, the Holy Grail disappears. A new quest to find it, if successful, restores the artifact for another span of time.)
Many versions of the Holy Grail exist throughout the Shoals of Earth. One version, from a recursion where Nazis have attempted to pervert the power of the Grail to their own uses, has twisted the magic so that it creates “eternal life” by converting the drinker into a mindless zombie.
Level: 1d6
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: A river-smooth stone with a hole in the center
Effect: When the stone is activated, the next task the wearer attempts within one minute is decreased in difficulty by one step.
Depletion: 1 in 1d10
Level: 1d6+2
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Splendidly tailored, long black suitcoat with red velvet lining, pants or skirt, and boots
Effect: This clothing looks fabulous in any setting and fits whoever puts it on as if tailored especially for him. The wearer has an asset on all tasks related to persuasion, deception, and pleasant social interaction. The set of clothes repels dirt and odor, and it self-repairs tears, punctures, burns, and so on.
Depletion: —
Level: 1d6+4
Origin: Camelot (mythological)
Law: Magic
Form: Black gem, usually set in a chair or table
Effect: When someone sits in a chair set with the artifact or at the place on a larger table where the artifact has been installed, she gains a true vision about one topic of her choice. Certain individuals (Sir Galahad being one) can safely use the Siege Perilous. But those not so chosen must succeed on a level 7 Intellect defense roll or fall dead as the vision comes over them. Death usually comes so quickly that they cannot communicate their vision to anyone else.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (Upon depletion, the gem disappears, possibly to reappear in another time or recursion, potentially in a different form with different, though no less impressive, abilities.)
Level: 1d6
Form: A bronze necklace or circlet
Effect: For the wearer, the difficulty of resisting unwelcome mental influence or commands is reduced by a number of steps equal to the artifact’s level.
Depletion: 1 in 1d100