The Dark One’s Touch is evident everywhere in the world these days. Shadowspawn roam the land, Aes Sedai wield the One Power for their own personal gain, and the world has been shattered, seemingly beyond repair. The obvious Player Character comment is thus, “How does that affect me? Why should I give a flying fuck?” Very eloquently stated.

The answer is in the location of the Player Character along the axis of Light and Dark. This location is represented in Humanity. The higher the number (up to ten) the closer they are towards being the epitome of what the Light stands for. The lower the number (all the way down to zero), the closer they are to falling prey to the basest and most vile inclinations of Mankind, to serve the Shadow, whether willingly or not, whether knowingly or not. Most of the population weighs in around six.

Each number rating of Humanity corresponds to a different level of moral integrity. The Character Creation section outlines how to calculate your beginning Humanity. It is suggested you try and begin with a Humanity rating that fits with the Character you wish to play so as to avoid Humanity loss and the possible side effects that accompany it.

Humanity Rating	Least Act for Conscience Check
Ten	Accidental Violations of the Law
Nine	Purposeful Violations of the Law
Eight	Accidental Injury to a Person
Seven	Theft or Burglary
Six	Murder in the Heat of Passion
Five	Wanton and Malicious Destruction
Four	Needless Injury to a Person
Three	Sadism and Torture
Two	Murder in Cold-Blood
One	The Most Heinous and Vile Acts Possible

Every time a PC commits an action that matches or is equivalent to the Least Acts for all Humanity Ratings less than or equal to their Humanity Rating a Conscience Check is made. Certain actions demand Conscience Checks be made regardless of Humanity. It is also true that not every character sees the world in the same way. What is needless injury to one PC may be needful in the eyes of another. The GM should do his best to mitigate this with that in mind. The Player is usually not informed of the Conscience Check until the results are known, and the GM is under no obligation to alert the Player to the problem. In the beginning the GM may let Players know until they become acquainted with what will constitute Conscience Checks. Regardless, the GM always makes the check himself. If while pondering an action, a Player inquires as to whether or not it will incur a Conscience Check, the GM should give an answer appropriate to the character and their past actions. A Player who has been subjected to several past Conscience Checks for cold-blooded murder, who decides to start asking should probably not be told unless they are making sufficient efforts to reform themselves.

A successful check results in the Player being informed of the check. If the Player roleplays appropriate remorse, their Humanity is unchanged. If they do not, their Humanity is still unchanged, but they should be less likely to be informed of future Conscience Checks made for them. A failed roll results in the loss of a point of Humanity. A botched roll indicates the loss of a point of Humanity and the Player gains either a derangement, or possibly a gift or bribe from the Shadow, as incentive to slide lower and lower. Any Player whose character reaches zero Humanity is no longer playable and becomes an NPC, though for party cohesion and campaign protection a PC who willfully allows their character to slide deeper and deeper may be removed from play before reaching zero Humanity. Even Darkfriends have measures of Humanity. Some darkfriends do, however, seek to debase themselves to gain gifts from the Shadow; the exact nature of these gifts is unknown…

Another visible effect of the Dark One is the taint on saidin, the Male half of the True Source. Male channelers are doomed to go insane and die from this taint. That doesn’t stop Men from being born with the Spark Inborn, and thus channeling whether they wish it or not. Whenever a Male Aes Sedai channels, he runs the risk of embracing the taint with the One Power. Anytime he channels and fails to weave the desired effect, the number of ones appearing on the roll are counted. Anytime he botches a weave, the number of ones appearing on the roll are counted, and then multiplied by two. These counts should be added together and kept track of carefully. Every time the total count reaches a value equaling or exceeding the channeler’s Temporary Willpower + 10, the channeler takes on a derangement. The count does not “roll over.” For example, a channeler has a current Temporary Willpower of 7 and his total count is 15; he botches a weave with two “ones” rolled. Therefore a count of 4 is added to his 15, this puts him at a total count of 19, 2 over his Temporary Willpower + 10. He should gain a derangement about equal to a 2 point Flaw. His total count then drops back to zero. At any time between his count resetting to zero and reaching Temporary Willpower + 10, a Male channeler may pay 1 experience point to drop his total count back to zero. Once the channeler’s count has hit Temporary Willpower + 10, it is too late to pay the experience cost. Thus a Male channeler could theoretically stay sane for a long, long time, baring any horrible botches…