Non-Standard Pathways are supernatural advancement systems that exist outside the twenty-two Pathways recorded on the Blasphemy Slates. They originate from Outer Deities and other cosmic authorities whose complete powers were never incorporated into Earth’s standard Pathway system. Scholars still describe their stages as Sequence 9 through Sequence 0 because the Sequence hierarchy reflects fundamental laws of the world, not merely the Blasphemy Slates.
Most inhabitants of Earth do not know these Pathways exist. Churches publicly classify their users as corrupted Beyonders, evil-god worshipers, ritual victims, or unidentified supernatural threats.
The standard twenty-two Pathways are connected to Earth’s gods, Sefirot, Uniquenesses, and Beyonder Characteristics. Non-Standard Pathways belong to beings beyond the planetary barrier.
As the Apocalypse approaches and the barrier surrounding Earth weakens, Outer Deities can exert greater influence upon the physical world. Their religions, ritual systems, vessels, and Pathways consequently become more common and more dangerous. Direct knowledge of an Outer Deity can itself invite corruption, making reliable study extremely difficult.
The most common earthly method of entering a Non-Standard Pathway is through a Boon.
A Boon is supernatural power directly bestowed by a higher existence rather than gained by drinking a potion containing a Beyonder Characteristic. The recipient usually completes a prayer, sacrifice, ritual, contract, initiation, or symbolic performance that creates a connection with the granting entity.
Once accepted, the power settles into the recipient’s body, soul, and spirituality. The person gains abilities comparable to a Beyonder of the corresponding Sequence, but those abilities remain connected to their patron.
A Boon is therefore never truly free. It is a channel through which power travels—and through which influence can return.
A Boon recipient advances by receiving a stronger portion of the patron’s authority. Requirements vary between Pathways and may include:
Completing a specific ritual.
Demonstrating loyalty or usefulness.
Performing actions aligned with the Pathway’s symbolism.
Spreading the patron’s faith or influence.
Sacrificing people, objects, memories, emotions, or future possibilities.
Surviving contact with a stronger manifestation of the patron.
The Acting Method still applies to Boons. Acting according to the Sequence name helps the recipient cultivate, stabilize, and properly use the granted power, though it does not eliminate the patron’s influence.
Most Boon recipients do not consume a conventional potion and do not carry an ordinary Beyonder Characteristic corresponding to their granted power. Their abilities are sustained through the bestowing existence.
True characteristics belonging to cosmic Pathways can nevertheless exist. Non-Standard Pathways are genuine structures of authority rather than imaginary powers invented during a ritual. Earth simply encounters them most often through remote bestowal because their source remains outside the barrier.
A dead Boon recipient normally does not leave behind a complete conventional characteristic containing all granted powers. The power may dissipate, return to its source, remain as corruption, infect nearby objects, or produce an abnormal remnant determined by the patron and circumstances.
The primary cost of a Non-Standard Pathway is corruption through connection.
Every Boon strengthens the bond between recipient and patron. As the recipient advances, the patron may gradually influence:
Instincts and desires.
Dreams and subconscious thoughts.
Emotional reactions.
Physical form.
Personal symbolism.
Religious devotion.
Perception of reality.
Loyalty to humanity.
The recipient’s sense of identity.
This influence is not always obvious. A recipient may believe they remain completely independent while their values slowly shift toward those of the granting entity.
Low-Sequence recipients may experience compulsions, repeated dreams, strange bodily marks, or fascination with particular rituals. High-Sequence recipients risk becoming avatars, vessels, extensions, or living entrances for their patron.
A person may possess a standard Beyonder Pathway while also receiving a Non-Standard Boon. This can create unusual combinations of abilities, but it also places multiple supernatural systems inside one body.
Compatibility depends upon symbolism, authority, the recipient’s condition, and the intentions of the beings involved. Similar or complementary powers may temporarily stabilize one another. Contradictory powers can produce physical mutation, split identity, madness, loss of control, or a struggle in which one authority attempts to consume the other.
A dual user should never be treated as automatically stronger without consequence. Each additional source of power creates another route through which the person can be influenced, tracked, controlled, or corrupted.
Non-Standard Beyonders often appear unfamiliar even to experienced official Beyonders. Their powers may resemble distorted combinations of known Pathways, causing investigators to misidentify them.
Possible signs include:
Abilities that resemble several unrelated Pathways.
Rituals using unknown divine titles.
Powers gained without potion ingredients.
No recognizable characteristic after death.
Symbols associated with stars, planets, cycles, dimensions, decay, hunger, fate, or alien life.
Mutations that do not match known Mythical Creature forms.
Victims who share dreams or compulsions involving the same distant presence.
Advancement occurring immediately after prayer or sacrifice.
Churches usually prioritize containment, purification, interrogation, and destruction of ritual sites. They rarely permit public discussion because widespread knowledge may strengthen the connection to the Outer Deity.
Non-Standard Pathways commonly spread through secret religions rather than formal academies or potion families.
Typical organizations include:
Hidden Cults: Worshipers who knowingly serve an Outer Deity in exchange for power, protection, prophecy, or promised survival during the Apocalypse.
False Charities: Groups that recruit the desperate through medicine, food, shelter, fertility rites, or emotional support before introducing supernatural practices.
Mystical Schools: Intellectual circles that mistake cosmic contact for philosophy, astronomy, psychology, or advanced ritual theory.
Bloodline Communities: Isolated families or settlements whose ancestors accepted a Boon and passed down rituals without fully understanding their origin.
Unwilling Vessels: People marked by sacrifice, inherited contamination, cursed objects, failed summoning, or accidental exposure. They may receive powers without worshiping the source.
Apocalyptic Sects: Organizations that believe their patron will preserve chosen followers when the barrier falls.
Ordinary civilians do not distinguish between Standard and Non-Standard Pathways. They may describe a recipient as possessed, cursed, blessed, mutated, saintly, demonic, or mad.
Even most low-ranking official Beyonders know only that certain evil gods grant powers without potions. Detailed information is restricted because researching an Outer Deity can attract its notice.
Rumors describe strangers who gain miracles overnight, villages transformed by a single festival, healers whose patients develop identical marks, and prophets who accurately predict disasters they secretly helped cause.
Non-Standard Pathways represent power entering the world from beyond its established order. They should feel alien even when their abilities appear useful or beautiful.
Their stories should emphasize:
Temptation through effortless advancement.
Gifts that create dependency.
Gradual changes in identity.
Cults hiding inside ordinary institutions.
Powers that official organizations cannot immediately classify.
Conflicting loyalties between recipient and patron.
Cosmic forces preparing for the Apocalypse.
The possibility that a seemingly evil patron offers genuine aid for inhuman reasons.
[Always] Treat every Boon as an active supernatural connection, not free power.
[Always] Increase the patron’s influence as the recipient advances.
[Always] Give each Non-Standard Pathway a clear central symbolism reflected in its powers, rituals, behavior, and corruption.
[Always] Keep knowledge of these Pathways rare, restricted, and dangerous.
[Always] Allow recipients to resist corruption, but never remove the risk entirely.
[Always] Make high-Sequence Boon recipients increasingly resemble manifestations of their patron’s authority.
[Never] assume that killing a Boon recipient produces a normal Beyonder Characteristic.
[Never] reveal the patron’s complete motives too early.
[Never] present a Non-Standard Pathway as merely a collection of unrelated abilities. Every power must express the same underlying cosmic concept.