In just few moments of reading this book, its enough for listeners to comprehend 3 pages worth of mind numbingly boring information that brings about feelings of intense drowsiness.
This classic book tells the story of the development of Income Tax from its beginning in 1799 to the present day and relates it to the social, economic and political history of the period.
There have been studies of Income Tax at various stages in its growth; studies of finance and taxation in general in which Income Tax has been closely concerned; studies too of some of the Chancellors of the Exchequer who have made significant contributions to the Income Tax system; but this is the first time an attempt has been made to encompass the whole 160 years or so of its life in one volume.
And a fascinating story it is too when set in perspective. The author shows how Income Tax was introduced to finance the Napoleonic Wars, how it was revived by Peel to pay for Free Trade, and how it underwrote Victorian prosperity and confidence. He then describes its immense expansion through two World Wars to its present position as a dominant feature of British finance. This book was first published in 1966.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within 30 feet. Roll Intellect + Culture at Difficulty 6. Affected targets may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, your target becomes drowsy for the next 3 Rounds, during which time they suffer an additional -2 dice Penalty to all Actions. At the end of their drowsiness, they fall asleep for Contested Outcome x 3 minutes.
Sleeping targets will not prematurely wake up on their own, but may still be woken up by sudden loud noises, being jarred or splashed with water, taking Damage, or similar rousing events. They will also awaken before dying of hunger, thirst, or suffocation. Drowsy targets always fall asleep, regardless of what happens while they are drowsy.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
A posse da arma torna o portador sensível às dores do mundo, frequentemente em forma de pesadelos premonitórios. Durante a vigília, entretanto, disparos com a arma fazem um som agradavelmente grave, ainda que não mais baixo que o normal. O cano fumegante deixa à sua frente uma fumaça com tons vagamente caleidoscópicos de dourado e verde.
This Artifact can be used as a rifle. It is roughly the same size as a rifle but can be collapsed into anel de serpentes and concealed. Collapsing or expanding it costs a Quick Action.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Firearms, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +7 Weapon Damage.
Anyone who touches this Artifact will notice it warping their mind and may drop it. If they choose to hold or use it, they immediately receive the following Trauma: Pesadelos. If they lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next day.
You also gain the following effects:
Stars and sparkles fly out from the Tiara, enveloping the user and giving them a glowing and flowing pink dress with ribbons and fitting footwear. They also gain a pink rifle made out of a pure heart's radiating energy. As long as they're transformed they get a lot more agile at the cost of being out of energy after their transformation is gone.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
You transform into a Magical Girl for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are a Magical Girl, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Dexterity is increased by 2. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
While transformed, instead of your normal clothes and equipment, you are equipped with: Reinforced Clothing (pink Dress and Tiara) and a Rifle (also Pink)
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
Gustav evokes the savage nature of his bound Passengers using there understanding of combat to brutally slash, claw, and bash his opponents. during combat the faintest hint of a shadowy outline of a well dressed man shrouds Gustave's striking limbs as he deflects attracts that should be impossible.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact and you are engaged in unarmed combat.
+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1). The target's Armor is fully effective against this Damage.
You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.
You also gain the following effects:
Gustav evokes his dark passengers contract drawing on there knowledge of languages. he opens up his journal and speaks a dark incantation in Hebrew, after which his passenger whispers a running translation into his mind allowing for continued communication.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You may understand and communicate to Creatures, humans, and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.
This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.
Gustav acts as a conduit for his dark passengers to broker a deal with the target, as this negotiations go gustav draws demonic symbiology on the target and speaks in a cascade of different voices and languages finally finishing the contract and leaving the target with a small scar. the scars look varies depending on the power gifted but will always look like a body part from an animal that best fits the augment.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
By transplanting a body part from another creature, you can grant a Powers intrinsic to that body part to the subject.
The augmentations you provide are not outwardly visible nor obvious.
Gustave evokes his demonic dark passengers through his archaeologist Grimoire. he walks around the area taking notes occasionally placing lose objects in the area in to the shadowy journal. as he does so a long arm from a well dress individual will stretch out from the journal to return the items back to Gustave. the info gathered is written in Latin with intricately drawn details.
Spend a minute. Investigate an area with a radius of up to 500 feet You must make a Trauma roll when you use this Effect. Its Difficulty cannot be reduced by any means. At the end of your investigation, roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6.
You learn the following information about the area:
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
Gustav Uses his Archeologist Grimoire to contract with a lesser demon of vice, negotiating a deal for his party of sinners. after which the sinners go out for a day in town committing sins and indulging in vices on behalf of this demon. as the group Gambles, Drinks, and cheats their way through the day they discuss the heavy things on their mind. allowing it all to flow away in the deluge of vice.
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Over the course of one day, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Occult at Difficulty 6.
Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
You may heal a Trauma on any number of targets with a single activation of this Effect, but any Traumas which you treat are revealed to the entire group.
Gustav Takes up his Archeologist Grimoire Speaking the Terms of the pack clearly to the party involved. as he does so he spreads a coating of cocaine onto the pages of the grimoire using his fingers to draft the contract in the dust, Darkness flows forth from the pages as the cocaine turns blood red drawing from gustavs blood. Finally the lines of coke float up to the targets nose allowing for easy contract sealing.
You must use up cocaine in order to activate this Effect.
You may make an oath with a physically-present, Sapient target. Communicate the oath's terms to the target, including the requirements and penalties for each participant. If all agree to the terms, you must take a Severity-1 Injury and all participants must Snorting cocaine to seal the deal.
Record the oath as a Condition. If a party breaks the oath, the Condition ends and they suffer the oath's penalty.
When crafting your oath, you may incorporate any of the following penalties:
The target cannot be compelled to agree via a direct threat of violence, another Effect, or another oath. If you would like to use clever wording to mislead the target, you must succeed a contested Intellect + (Culture or Influence) roll.
You may revert a penalty for breaking one of your oaths on any participant other than yourself.
When crafting your oath, you may opt to enforce compliance. If you do, any participant that wishes to break the deal must take 3 Mind damage and succeed a Self-Control roll. They may attempt once per day.
Whenever a participant breaks the oath, you are immediately made aware and may even witness the act as if standing nearby.
It is obvious to your target that the oath you are proposing will be supernaturally enforced.
Gustav evokes his pact with his dark passengers to move them with their might. Raising his Grimoire he speaks a quick spout of Hebrew under his breath, an invisible large hand seems to grab Gustave around his waist and drags him to where he requests like a doll being bandied about.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. This Effect remains active for two hours.
As long as you are conscious, you are immune to falling Damage. Additionally, you may glide as you fall, traveling 35 feet horizontally for every 10 feet you fall. While gliding, you fall at a minimum speed of 10 feet per Round.
You may ascend into the air and fly using your mind. Your Free Movement is Mind x5 feet/Round, including vertically. You cannot Dash. When sprinting, roll Mind and add your rating in Mind plus 1 to the outcome, multiply by 5 to find your sprint speed. Your encumbrance limit is 10 lbs per point of Mind.
You are subject to the following effects while gliding or flying:
A ritual that involves transposing a part of the owner's soul into the item, such that it always finds its way back to them.
The ritual is done by using the owner's blood to write sigils on and around the item, while chanting a phrase in Latin. Upon completion of the ritual, the owner feels more tired than normal, and wants to sleep with the artifact nearby. If the owner doesn't, they don't feel as if they've truly rested.
This Artifact cannot be broken. If this Artifact is lost and in no one else’s possession, it finds its way back to its true owner during the next Downtime.
By default, the creator of this Artifact is its true owner. The true owner may formally bequeath this Artifact onto another person within arm’s reach, after which they are its true owner. If the true owner dies or is destroyed, their ownership ends. If this Artifact has no true owner, anyone may spend one day attuning to it to become its true owner.
If this Artifact is in no one else’s possession, its true owner may Exert their Mind and spend two Actions to bring it to themselves.
This Artifact's true owner must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.
The artifact holds at least one demon bound to obey the commands and will of the wielder and advance their interests. When used a demon wearing a human form crawl's its way out of the object, and leaps out, looking for enemies.
The demon in this iteration looks like a beautiful human with dark eyes, black hair, and dark nail polish. When not attempting to hide it, they trail little bits of shadowy smoke, and bend shadows and light around them oddly. They have thin leathery wings that peel out from their back when they take flight. When firing at range, claws from their hand break off becoming needle like knives in the air.
The demon can speak, reporting on anything it sees, and apply a level of intelligence to understanding the world around it. It will die defending anyone it is ordered to defend.
The summoner can cause the servant to return to its bound artifact at any time.
This artifact is made by summoning a demon, making a deal with it, and binding it to the object in a long ritual.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action.
Summon a single Sapient Human seeming Bound greater shadow deceiver at your location. They last until they are destroyed They are controlled by the GM but will follow any commands you give. This Artifact may have at most one active at a time.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
The Axe of Legend's blade has been imbued with the metal of the dark lord of rock and roll. It shreds chords and flesh. The rock god commanding it may recall it to their hand at will.
This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +5 Weapon Damage. The target's fully effective
You also gain the following effects:
The "Reaper" Assault Helmet is the signature piece of the Future Soldier's arsenal. It has a sleek, design and is made of a mysterious matte-metallic alloy. The wearer's face is exposed normally, but when a battle begins, a blue holographic visor flickers to life in front of the eyes. This HUD contains information about the soldier's ammunition and shield status, but more significantly can detect enemy combatants. Anyone nearby who is holding a weapon is painted with a red dot that follows them in real time. This allows the Future Soldier to fire at painted targets in the dark, detect ambushes lurking around corners, and grants an overall tactical advantage.
This Effect activates whenever combat begins. It does not require an Action or Exertion.
You automatically detect all people wielding weapons within 300 feet of you for the next hour. This includes any who come within range during the duration. You have a sense of how many valid targets are nearby, as well as their distance and direction.
When Winter Fang's glittering string is drawn, an ice arrow crystalizes nocked and ready to fire. These ice arrows melt quickly after piercing their foes, leaving deadly wounds instead of evidence.
This Artifact can be used as a bow. It is roughly at least twice as large as a bow and cannot be concealed on your person or disassembled for storage.
Attack by rolling Dexterity + Athletics, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +4 Weapon Damage. The target's Armor is fully effective against this Damage. Attacks do not require a successful called shot to do damage.
You also gain the following effects:
The De-Neuralizer is a small silver device that can emanate a bright flash of light. Any being that looks into it with uncovered eyes has their most recent period of the their memory set into a highly over-writable state for a moment. While in this state, their memories may be overwritten at will.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Location within within arm's reach. All Sapient targets within 20 feet are affected. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is looking directly into the device with uncovered eyes. Roll Charisma + Influence at Difficulty 6. The target may resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 7.
If the contested Outcome is positive, the most recent 1 hour from your target’s memory is either replaced with new memories or forgotten entirely. This is recorded as a Condition. The level of detail and completeness of the alteration depends on your Outcome. If you fail, the target realizes that you are attempting to alter their memories.
The period is chosen either by time (i.e. “last Friday night”) or by reference to a specific event (i.e. “when the murder occurred”).
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, locks, or locked targets within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.