It hurts your brain to think of things that don’t belong in your concept of the world.
Contemplating infinity for too long, seeing proof that sometimes 2 + 2 = 5, and realizing
that magick actually works are all unnatural stresses. It’s more subtle and unnerving
than Violence. Everyone recognizes that violence exists, even those who are insulated
from it. Unnatural stresses don’t just attack your idea of safety. They attack your idea of
how the universe works.
Sample Unnatural Checks
| 1 |
Experience a preternaturally strong deja vu.
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| 2 |
See a creature or machine that cannot logically exist.
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| 3 |
Realize that a vision you had of the future has come true.
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| 4 |
See convincing proof that 2+2 does not equal 4.
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| 5 |
Be successfully attacked with magick.
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| 6 |
See someone you know killed by magick, without any visible or “rational” cause.
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| 7 |
Have a conversation with a loved one who you know is dead.
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| 8 |
See an animal with human features.
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| 9 |
See the dead rise.
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| 10 |
Realize that the reason you and your husband of ten years have never had children is that he’s not really a human being.
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Failed Unnatural Notches
| 1 |
At this level it’s pretty hard to tell. Perhaps you become a little superstitious—reading your horoscope daily, watching for “lucky” numbers, avoiding cracks in the sidewalk, etc.
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| 2 |
You have a few nightmares, and you are suspicious of and/or fascinated by occult and religious books, places, paraphernalia, and people.
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| 3 |
You frequently feel like you’re being watched, even when there’s no one around. Sometimes it seems like you hear voices in “white noise”—sounds like the wind in the trees, the sloshing of a washing machine, or the noises of traffic.
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| 4 |
The nightmares are frequent, and often you don’t know you’re dreaming until you jerk awake. Sometimes you feel like there’s someone—or something—watching you and you can almost see it out of the corner of your eye. When you whip your head around, there’s nothing there.
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Hardened Unnatural Notches
| 1-3 |
There’s little to distinguish you from the average person, except perhaps a tendency to snort derisively when someone mentions their “intuitions.”
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| 4-5 |
You tend to listen very closely and intently when someone discusses the paranormal or supernatural, trying to figure out if they know something or if they’re just talking trash.
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| 6-7 |
You now know and accept that there are vast, incomprehensible forces governing the universe. It strikes you as odd when people act as if they’re in control of their lives: you know better.
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| 8-9 |
Things that average people consider “meaningless coincidences” strike you as deeply, intensely funny because you see the connections that they do not. You may develop a reputation for laughing inappropriately.
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| 10 |
You are no longer surprised by violations of ordinary logic. Everything is “normal” to you—talking foliage, spontaneous combustion, and stigmata are as ordinary and reasonable as cars, dogs, and rain.
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