Inspiration and Despair

 DESPAIR
 
Just as Hope uplifts, Despair gnaws at the soul of men as well. Despair is more insidious, creeping into the heart and settling there like a cancer. Characters gain Despair when they undergo personal tragedies or challenges to their core principles, such as the following circumstances:
 
A close friend or companion dies.
The character suffers a Personal Failure
The character violates a Belief
 

Despair damages the character’s ability to believe in themselves and others, and reduces all of their Skills by 1 Rank.  Characters cannot gain Hope while they have any Despair, any they had is lost.  Despair can stack up to 5 times, and is difficult to shake once acquired.   When characters with high Faith Attribute violate their own principles and gain Despair from violating a Belief or a Personal Failure, they gain an extra Despair for each level of their Faith Attribute above Ordinary.

Shaking Despair

Some recover from Despair by dulling the pain with wine, sex, or violence, escaping into Depravity to soothe their hurts by inflicting their pain on the world.  Some people cope by letting the Despair change their personality for good, accepting the darkness by giving it cracks to bury itself in and trouble them no more.  Some find the strength to move on through their faith, both their personal devotion or their religious zeal.

For every point of new Depravity earned, the character loses 1 Despair.  
If the character accepts a related Insanity, either starting a new Mild Insanity or increasing an existing one by one grade, they may remove a point of Despair.
The character earns a Personal Victory in their Devotion.

If Despair is gained that would bring a character over the 5 Despair maximum, one Despair is immediately spent toward gaining an Insanity to make room for the new one.  These Insanities tend to bring the character closer to actions that may lead them to suicide, or some other ignoble end.
 
If Devotion and Despair are giving simultaneous penalties to Skill levels, those levels combine.  If Devotion is giving a bonus while Despair gives a penalty, the total levels after all bonuses and penalties are considered is the functional Skill level.