This is the first in what is currently looking like a 4-part… Sub-series, I guess? The idea is GMC adepts who take their magickal practice in an especially weird or unexpected direction. As a teaser, the concepts for the other three are “Daredevil Sociomancer”, “Bibliomancer of Action”, and “Minor Thanatomancer”. Not sure which one will be next but I’ll probably do them all in a row, possibly followed by ways to use them in a campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Mad Leading the Mad, Part 1<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n This unlikely cure to all the world\u2019s ills is known to some as \u201cthe small-fry the Jesus Christ Advisory Board turned away\u201d (see Book 3: Reveal). To his fretful parents, he\u2019s still Edward Moss; they don\u2019t know he had his name legally changed a decade ago. To the local Christian community he\u2019s a sad and unsavory character, to the local Sleepers a moderate priority to put down, and to his disciples, the second coming of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ed\u2019s story began in his childhood, specifically his trigger event, which he underwent at the tender age of sixteen. The youngest child of upper-middle-class suburban Catholics, he was well into his rebellious streak by this time. He more or less didn\u2019t bother to attend high school anymore, lied to his parents about anything and everything that occurred to him, and had recently moved from pot to stronger stuff \u2013 he thought he was buying heroin, but his dealer read him as the rube he was, and what he got was cut with all kinds of nasty stuff. He paid for it by stealing from his parents; they knew he was doing it, but hadn\u2019t yet figured out how to confront their \u201ctroubled\u201d son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With his being primed by an especially noxious hit (containing trace amounts of mercury, of all things), it\u2019s no surprise it was a religious experience when he crossed paths with the then-godwalker of The Masterless Man. Ed never learned his name. His memories of the whole encounter are fuzzy and more than a little colored by his later commitment to his stoned interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is what Ed remembers: A homeless man who shared his opioid habit had pulled a knife on him, and like an idiot, he\u2019d tried to parry the first stab, receiving a hole in his hand in exchange. Just then, an angel rode up on a motorcycle. The addict rounded on him, and the angel\u2019s wings unfurled as if in challenge. He took off his sunglasses to reveal eyes made of blistering light. The addict stabbed him in the chest, but the angel just smiled, then grabbed the addict by the hair, remounted his bike, and peeled away, dragging him, along the pavement as he went, heralded by an angelic choir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He never learned that the addict who\u2019d attacked him was actually a charger who had longstanding beef with that godwalker (thus ruling out any altruistic motive on the part of the \u201cangel\u201d. Nonetheless, the charger\u2019s allies started coming after Ed, trying to find answers. They believed the Masterless Man godwalker had died after they\u2019d seen him pushed off a skyscraper, reinforcing the divine haze through which Ed saw him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was not helped by the fact that, as the godwalker hunted down his remaining enemies in the area one by one, he saved Ed\u2019s life a second time. In this case, Ed had been sober, but suffering a bad concussion and a faceful of blood from a gash in his forehead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The intersection of statospheric glory surrounding these events, Ed\u2019s muddled mind, and his latent Catholic guilt changed him. After his second encounter with the angel, he began the arduous process of getting clean, attending his first NA meeting the next day. The more those around him doubted his story of angelic intervention, the more he clung to that belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His NA sponsor turned out to be a checker whose misapprehension of the Invisible Clergy was framed through a Christian lens. This man noted Ed\u2019s stigmata: he had a hole through one hand and a jagged forehead scar, both with infections that had so far resisted antibiotics. The sponsor, a guy called Craig O\u2019Dell, was Ed\u2019s epideromantic mentor, and his first disciple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Craig, Ed sees epideromancy as a kind of penance for sin. As Ed believes he\u2019s Christ, he focuses on harboring the suffering of others through his stigmata. He stopped taking antibiotics and charges primarily through reopening the wounds (including holes he\u2019s added to his feet and other hand) and letting the infection run its course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite one true believer and the development of actual magickal powers, it\u2019s been slow going for Ed to build his following. He lacks any kind of charisma, and although he\u2019s been sober for over a year now, he\u2019s often delirious from infection (which, incidentally, coincides with all his conversations with God), and he never learned any kind of useful life skills. His parents have covered his rent and living expenses since this all started, but their patience has worn thin as Ed has reached thirty without his delusion waning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ed doesn\u2019t actually charge that often, either, and has not found a lot of uses for the spells Craig has taught him that align with his persona. He\u2019s also obsessed with figuring out how to channel the Martyr, but this hasn\u2019t gone well since he has no cause to speak of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has two disciples besides Craig now, both also recruited through NA, and both also fleshworkers who took to the school much better than him. Their names are Nadia Warrick and Luther Martens. Nadia really only sticks around because Ed\u2019s forsworn Craig from teaching her any significant formula spells until she shows the \u201cproper piety\u201d and atones for sins she doesn\u2019t regret in the slightest. Luther is the kind of godfreak who didn\u2019t take a lot of convincing to believe some weirdo he just met is the second coming. He still uses all the time, not just heroin but psychotropics, despite Ed\u2019s chiding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sooner or later, it\u2019ll all fall apart. Luther will OD and Ed will blame himself, or Nadia will turn Craig and they\u2019ll disappear in the night, or Ed will simply die from his years-old, gangrenous wounds. The saddest part is how likely nothing meaningful is to come of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ed Christ, Epideromantic Savior<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Obsession: Saving humanity by suffering for its sins, just as he did in a previous life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rage passion: Nonbelievers (in him specifically, moreso than Christianity in general).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fear passion: (Helplessness) Maybe his parents, siblings, childhood friends, childhood pastor, and parole officer are right: maybe he is<\/em> just crazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Noble passion: Say what you will about Ed, but he does want to make the world a better place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Helplessness: Hardened: 6 \/ Failed: 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n Isolation: Hardened: 7 \/ Failed: 2<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self: Hardened: 6 \/ Failed: 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unnatural: Hardened: 5 \/ Failed: 3<\/p>\n\n\n\n Violence: Hardened: 4 \/ Failed: 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n Epideromancer 40%:* Casts Rituals, Casts Gutter Magick<\/p>\n\n\n\n Self-Styled Savior 25%: Substitutes for Status, Coerces Self. Protects Self<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wash-Up 25%: Substitutes for Dodge, Substitutes for Lie, Substitutes for Secrecy<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Recovery 45%: Substitutes for Connect, Evaluates Self, Evaluates Helplessness<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is the first in what is currently looking like a 4-part… Sub-series, I guess? The idea is GMC adepts who take their magickal practice in an especially weird or unexpected direction. As a teaser, the concepts for the other three are “Daredevil Sociomancer”, “Bibliomancer of Action”, and “Minor Thanatomancer”. Not sure which one will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":277085423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[156081],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rpgs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phmf02-2b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":141,"url":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?p=141","url_meta":{"origin":135,"position":0},"title":"Statospheric Saturdays: The Mad Leading the Mad, Part 4 – Steven Smith, Soulless Thanatomancer","author":"Moonglummer","date":"December 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the penultimate entry in this little subseries. Getting a bit spooky with this one; UA is a horror game, after all.\u00a0 The Mad Leading the Mad, Part 4 Many serial killers have been called soulless, sociopathic, heartless. Often there\u2019s an element of metaphor, or at least exaggeration to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPGs"","block_context":{"text":"RPGs","link":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?cat=156081"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?p=137","url_meta":{"origin":135,"position":1},"title":"Statospheric Saturdays: The Mad Leading the Mad, Part 2 – Bucket List Bill, Daredevil Sociomancer","author":"Moonglummer","date":"November 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I started this subseries on especially weird adepts. The specialest of special snowflakes. The following GMC is very,\u00a0very\u00a0loosely based on an uncle of mine, as perhaps all the best UA characters are.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Stay tuned for a bookworm and a death mage in the coming weeks. The Mad\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPGs"","block_context":{"text":"RPGs","link":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?cat=156081"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":139,"url":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?p=139","url_meta":{"origin":135,"position":2},"title":"Statospheric Saturdays: The Mad Leading the Mad, Part 3 – Gwen Paylik, Bibliomancer of Action","author":"Moonglummer","date":"December 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I still have the thanatomancer planned for this subseries, and I will be adding an anagram gematriast as well. After that, I think I might take a break from StatSat for a while so I have time to develop my non-UA posts a bit more. But that's a couple weeks\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPGs"","block_context":{"text":"RPGs","link":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?cat=156081"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":143,"url":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?p=143","url_meta":{"origin":135,"position":3},"title":"Statospheric Saturdays: The Mad Leading the Mad, Part 5 – “Evil, Vile” Levi Oster, Anagram Gematriast Heretic","author":"Moonglummer","date":"December 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the last entry in this subseries.\u00a0Levi was originally going to be my PC in an All-Mart campaign that never got past the dreaded scheduling phase. As mentioned a couple weeks ago, I will be shelving weekly StatSat entries for the time being. I have a 4e D&D campaign\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "RPGs"","block_context":{"text":"RPGs","link":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?cat=156081"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":368,"url":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?p=368","url_meta":{"origin":135,"position":4},"title":"Poetry readings up on youtube!","author":"Moonglummer","date":"October 11, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I have been told several times that my poetry is better when I perform it myself\/I perform it well\/that kind of thing. So I have finally done as I've meant to for ages and started putting them on a youtube channel. I apologize for the crap quality. The first batch\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Site updates"","block_context":{"text":"Site updates","link":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?cat=1171"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":160,"url":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?p=160","url_meta":{"origin":135,"position":5},"title":"Firebrand","author":"Moonglummer","date":"February 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Tucking my dress inside my pants for anonymity, and bringing it out,\u00a0unfurled like a flag. I grab the cord connected to the megaphone.\u00a0Channeling the movement, I am a mouthpiece and a medium, spouting the message.\u00a0A girl, a symbol. I stand for rightful indignation, leftist fury, raising my voice, stepping forwardat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Poetry"","block_context":{"text":"Poetry","link":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/?cat=422"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/277085423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonglummedia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}