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The Old New World

2011-01-23T10:17:01Z

Wolfwood2:

=='''The New Old World'''==

[[Category:PBP]]
[[Category:Dresden Files]]
[[Category:Campaign Setup]]
[[Category:The Old New World]]

'''Welcome to the Dresden Files RPG Old New World campaign wiki.''' This wiki site is a resource for a play-by-post tabletop fantasy role-playing game of the Dresden Files RPG in the city of Santo Domingo. The goal of this wiki site is to form a repository of information about the game that is easily accessible and editable to the entire game group.

==Santo Domingo Themes and Threats==
* [[Oldest City in the New World]]: Theme - Santo Domingo de Guzman has been through a lot.
* [[Stark Contrasts]]: Theme - Santo Domingo has few in between places.
* [[Old Powers]]: Threat - No one knows much of the old gods, the most powerful of the Zemis.

==The Player Characters==
* [[Claire Raith-Roux]]: Disgraced Daughter of the White Court. (player: Wolfwood2)
* [[Zoraida Khatcherian]]: Home-made Archive. (player: crusher bob)
* [[Dyson St. James]]: Human Hurricane. (player: Candelaris)
* [[Julian Tier]]: Reckless Beat Cop. (player: witamous)

===PC Fate Points===
These are how many FATE Points everyone has.
* Claire - ?
* Zoraida - ?
* Dyson - ?
* Tier - ?

===PC Consequences===
* Claire - Mild (none), Moderate (none), Severe (Impossibly Heavy), Extreme (none)
* Zoraida - Mild (none), Moderate (none), Severe (none), Extreme (none)
* Dyson - Mild (none), Moderate (none), Severe (Cracked Skull), Extreme (none)
* Tier - Mild (none), Physical Only Mild (none), Moderate (none), Severe (none), Extreme (none)

==NPCs==
* [[Abuelita Maccaez]]
* [[Rodrigo de Triana]]
* [[Simon]]
* [[Guabancex]]

==Accomplishments==

===Conflicts won or lost===
[[Conflicts from The_Old_New_World| Conflicts]]

===Important Information Gathered===
[[Important Information from The_Old_New_World| Important Information]]

==Threads==

[? Recruitment] 
[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=554185 In-Character] 
[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=554182 Out Of Character]

==Online Resources==

TBD

==Setup==

TBD

==Game Narrative==

*TBD

==House Rules==
#TBD

Julian Tier

2011-01-23T10:09:07Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Back to The_Old_New_World Category:The Old New World Name: Julian Tier '''High Concept: Reckless Beat Cop''' *Sample Invoke: Using his badge to get a gun into a party. …'

Back to [[The_Old_New_World]] [[Category:The Old New World]]

Name: Julian Tier

'''High Concept: Reckless Beat Cop'''
*Sample Invoke: Using his badge to get a gun into a party.
*Sample Compel: Doing something honroable but stupid that would jeopardize his job

'''Trouble: Can't Let Sleeping Dogs Lie'''
*Sample Invoke: Searching through files on a suspect's computer.
*Sample Compel: Offend something nasty out in the Never-never in order to take care of a perp. Take an unnecessary risk to get that computer file.

'''Background: You Never Forget the Gutter'''
*Sample Invoke: Navigate the streets and people to locate the black market
*Sample Compel: Some maffioso from his past decides to look up his old friend Jule to get those drug charges cleared up.

'''Rising Action: A Long Disciplinary Record'''
*Sample Invoke: All those charges were for a reason, he can get a lot out of a suspect.
*Sample Compel: A splash on the local news gets a whole bunch of local police breathing down his neck.

'''The Story: There's Something in the Shadows, Isn't There?'''
*Sample Invoke: Spot some unseen nasty waiting in the alleyway
*Sample Compel: Get jumpy and pull a weapon on the local police chief out for a peaceful nightime stroll.

'''Guest Starring: Dancing on the Edge of a Knife'''
*Sample Invoke: Weave his way out of a tense negotiation.
*Sample Compel: Who knew this floor was under construction, guess ill have to balance this girder to chase this bloodsucker.

'''Guest Starring Redux: No Need for the Cuffs, I'm not on the Clock'''
*Sample Invoke: Specifically breaking the law.
*Sample Compel: Forget some piece of important police gear or missing key information, Tier isn't used to operating without support.

Skills:
*Superb: Guns, Intimidation
*Great: Alertness, Contacts
*Good: Athletics, Deceit
*Fair: Conviction, Endurance
*Average: Burglary, Investigation

Stunts:
*Athletics - Beat Cop Parkour: Borders clearable by jumping are reduced by 1, +1 athletics when sprinting.
*Endurance - No Pain, No Gain: One additional mild physical consequence.
*Deceit - Takes One to Know One: Deceit instead of Empathy to Detect a Lie.
*Intimidation - Interrogator: Successful Intimidation attacks, can set aside stress and treat instead as a successful Empathy 'read' attempt.
*Guns - Gun Nut: Able to make Knowledge rolls with Guns instead of Scholarship

Base Refresh: 5

Stress:
Physical 3
Mental 3
Social 2

Consequences:
Mild, Any, -2
Mild, Physical, -2
Moderate, Any, -4
Severe, Any, -6
Extreme, Any, -8

Dyson St. James

2011-01-23T10:05:14Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Back to The_Old_New_World Category:The Old New World Dyson St. James '''High Concept: Human Hurricane.''' *Can be Invoked: When quick action and brute force can solve a…'

Back to [[The_Old_New_World]] [[Category:The Old New World]]

Dyson St. James

'''High Concept: Human Hurricane.'''
*Can be Invoked: When quick action and brute force can solve a problem neatly.
*Can be Compelled: When rash actions can mess things up or a more artful solution exists with a bit of thinking.

'''Trouble: Lost Cause of a Dead People'''
*Can be invoked: When dealing with the old gods of the island or preaching about those same gods.
*Can be compelled: When faiths with greater power and influence can use it to mess up his plans.

'''Background Aspect: White Rhino'''
*Can be invoked: When his size and skin color can serve to make a positive impression on those around him.
*Can be compelled: When his size and skin color make him stand out as weird/freakish/etc.

'''Conflict Aspect: Zemis Everywhere'''
*Can be invoked: When seeking assistance from benevolent or easily bribed Zemi on the island.
*Can be compelled: When the groups of hostile Zemi who dislike Dyson can act against him.

'''Aspect: Take No Prisoners'''

'''Aspect: Storm in a Teacup'''
*Can be Invoked: When his reputation can be used to intimidate or cajole from others what he wants.
*Can be Compelled: When his reputation as a "big" man gets him in over his head with things he can't handle.

Skills:
*Superb: Fists, Might
*Great: Endurance, Survival
*Good: Intimidation, Athletics
*Fair: Discipline, Alertness
*Average: Presence, Conviction

Supernatural Powers:
*Marked By Power -1
*Hulking Size -2
*Inhuman Strength -2
*Inhuman Toughness -2
*Inhuman Recovery -2
The Catch = religious items bypasses toughness

Zoraida Khatcherian

2011-01-23T10:01:58Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Back to The_Old_New_World Category:The Old New World Zoraida Khatcherian A woman who realized that the Archive was a piece of technology and attempted to make a DIY ver…'

Back to [[The_Old_New_World]] [[Category:The Old New World]]

Zoraida Khatcherian

A woman who realized that the Archive was a piece of technology and attempted to make a DIY version of it in her own head. While the DIY version lacks the ability to pull information out of the air, it is perfectly capable of storing anything Zoraida has ever seen or read.

High Concept: '''Home-made Archive'''
*Sample Invokes: to know some esoteric bit of knowledge, to do computer like statistical analysis
*Sample compels: people wanting to break open her head for all the yummy knowledge inside, be distracted by bits of esoterica, like reading the ingredients labels on food

Trouble: '''Just one more story, I can stop any time I want to'''
*Sample Compels: Come on, no harm every came from reading a book, right?
"Why didn't you attack the guards on time?"
"One of them was telling a joke I hadn't heard before, and I wanted to hear the punchline."
Or any other time curiosity would get you in trouble

Aspect: '''Recuerdo la revolucion'''
While not (as) involved in politics anymore plenty of people remember "that charming young woman"
*Sample compels: get along with various political groups (various political radials, human rights groups, leftist reporters, etc)
*Sample invokes: Having these sorts of friends brings ut its own problems.

Aspect: '''Full Speed Ahead!'''
*Sample compels: having trouble waiting for hings to happen, and not provoking them. Having some minor flaw that occurred earlier cause problems because it was never fixed.

Aspect: '''Accidental Consigliere'''
*Sample Invokes: When knowledge of and/or ties to the local underworld would come in handy.
*Sample compels: when they wouldn’t come in handy.

Aspect: '''Words in the heart cannot be taken'''
*Sample Invokes: When firing up others towards a particular belief or course of action. Resisting mental influence.
*Sample compels: Sure you convinced them, now they are going to go out and do stuff and maybe what they do won’t turn out so well.

Aspect: '''I called the Thunder'''
*Sample invokes: When fighting or contributing to anything loud and/or explosive. Reputation rolls.
*Sample compels: being denied access to things that could… easily burn down, like libraries. When being approached by yet another petitioner for aid.

Skills:

*Superb: Discipline, Lore
*Great: Presence, Scholarship
*Good: Contacts, Empathy
*Fair: Rapport, Resources
*Average: Conviction, Endurance

Powers:

*-1 The Sight
*-0 Soul Gaze
*-0 Wizard's constitution
*-3 Thaumaturgy (Crafting Strength)
*-1 Archival Memory - You don't need to consult libraries when you are a library. Treat Zoraida as a magical library equal to her Lore and as a Mundane library equal to her Scholarship. She can also do a variety of party tricks like recall thousands of digits of Pi, remember license plate numbers, and so on.

*-1 Saw That Coming
The (statistically) predictive power of the Archive is useful in combat as well. Use Lore in place of athletics for defense and in place of alertness for determining initiative.

*-1 Languages
Zoraida is able to read things in almost any language and can Google-translate many other spoken languages.

Total refresh -7.

Enchanted items: (Base Item: Power 6 Uses 1)
*Lucky dictionary (Block 4 or armor 2, 3 times a session, 1 slot)
*Tazer Ring (Weapon: 4 attack, 3 times a session, 1 slot)
*2 potion slots

Claire Raith-Roux

2011-01-23T09:58:03Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Back to The_Old_New_World Category:The Old New World Name: Claire Raith-Roux Aspects High Concept: Disgraced Daughter of the White Court Trouble Aspect: Stranded Stra…'

Back to [[The_Old_New_World]] [[Category:The Old New World]]

Name: Claire Raith-Roux

Aspects

High Concept: Disgraced Daughter of the White Court

Trouble Aspect: Stranded Stranger in a Strange Land

Background Aspect: Blood always tells.

Conflict Aspect: Unwelcome ember of humanity.

Other Aspects:
Bondage of friendship
Plays both sides
I've killed men for less.

Skills:
*Great (+4) – Deceit, Rapport, Discipline
*Good (+3) – Alertness, Athletics, Weapons
*Fair (+2) – Resources, Presence, Empathy
*Average (+1) – Endurance, Scholarship, Investigation

(Claire speaks English and French)

Vampire Powers:
*Emotional Vampire
*Human Guise
*Incite Emotion (Lust/Desire)
*Feeding Dependency (applies to physical powers below)
*Inhuman Recovery (Catch of True Love)
*Inhuman Speed
*Inhuman Strength

Remaining Refresh: 1

Old Powers

2011-01-23T09:53:33Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Threat: Old Powers While Santo Domingo is the start of our history for the New World, our history only covers the Europeans. In truth it goes back much, much further. The Tainos…'

Threat: Old Powers

While Santo Domingo is the start of our history for the New World, our history only covers the Europeans. In truth it goes back much, much further. The Tainos knew of the spirits and Zemis of the island, but most have been lost and forgotten with the extinction of the Tainos. Outside of one or two exceptional scholars, and a few Taino ghosts, no one knows much of the old gods, the most powerful of the Zemis.
Except, now, they want back. And they're growing impatient.
Hurricanes and Earthquakes are only the start.
The established powers know that something is coming, and are preparing for the worst.

Aspect: Awakening Destruction

Face: Guabancex, the Zemi of storms and hurricanes.

Stark Contrasts

2011-01-23T09:53:07Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Theme: Stark Contrasts Santo Domingo has few in between places. You are either rich or poor, there is almost no middle class to speak of, and what there is consists mainly of Eu…'

Theme: Stark Contrasts

Santo Domingo has few in between places. You are either rich or poor, there is almost no middle class to speak of, and what there is consists mainly of European and American expats who have settled in the country. If you are rich, you are either of old money (a dying breed, as few can claim ancestry on the island going that far back, and fewer still can still claim pure Spanish ancestry) or new money (a growing, but less stable breed). Even though the races have blended together considerably, there is no safety in indistinction there. Even you are not black like the Haitians, or white like the Spaniards, there will be a classification for your particular shade and tone of skin, and you will be judged by it. The Dominican Republic is not simply racist, but shadist, having organized society in a tacit, if unofficial, hierarchy of skin colors.
In the supernatural community the lines are drawn even stricter. People belong to one group or another. No one can expect to claim to belong to no group, and no one can expect to belong to more than one. Alliances are short lived, at best, between groups. Red Court stands apart from White Court, and covens and secret orders refuse to associate with the White Council more than they have to.
The vampire war has made for tenuous, often unwanted, alliances that last longer than usual, but only by redefining the groups. Now, there is a greater division: You are with us, or against us. There is no compromise.

Aspect: No Middle Ground

Face: Simon, the man who can cross any boundaries to sell anyone anything they need. An unrivaled fixer.

Oldest City in the New World

2011-01-23T09:52:38Z

Wolfwood2: Created page with 'Santo Domingo de Guzman has been through a lot. Tainos were already living there when Cristobal Colon landed in. It was the first European city in the Western Hemisphere, first s…'

Santo Domingo de Guzman has been through a lot. Tainos were already living there when Cristobal Colon landed in. It was the first European city in the Western Hemisphere, first settled in 1496. It went from Nuevo Isabella to Santo Domingo, it was known as The Gateway to the Caribbean, was destroyed in 1502 by a hurricane, rebuilt on a different site (though by now the old site is part of the Colonial Zone), it was captured by Francis Drake in 1586 and held ransom, attacked by Oliver Cromwell in 1655, ceded to France in 1795, conquered by Haiti in 1801, recovered by France in 1802, and retaken by Spain in 1809, became the capitol of the independent nation of Haití Español in 1821, conquered again by Haiti two months later (a lot of the Spanish population either dies or ditches during all this strife), becomes the capital of an independent Republica Dominicana in 1844, conquered by Spain again in 1861, restored to independence in 1865 (they celebrate two separate independence days), was occupied by the United States from 1916-1924, was destroyed by hurricane San Zenon in 1930, and rebuilt as Ciudad Trujillo (yeah, Trujillo had the nerve to rename Santo Domingo after himself), saw the violence first hand of the second United States occupation in 1965, and lives to this day. A city more than 500 years old.
Given, a lot of these historical events shape the entire country, if not the entire island, but Santo Domingo has born witness to it all. It has been the base of operations for countless conquistadores, merchants, pirates and settlers. It has struggled against its neighbor, the result of the most successful slave revolt in history, and been trampled by just about every powerful country in it's long, long lifespan. There are monuments to Cristobal Colon with street merchants selling replicas of Taino art out front. There are skyscrapers that look over the house where Cristobal Colon's son lived. Invasions, hurricanes, life and death, the city has stood through it all.
And, with all this history, it's only natural that the island has become the focal point for a lot of strange supernatural occurrences over the centuries, and the home of more than a few nasty entities. The constant power shifts are not only of mortal interest, but reflections of the ongoing struggle for dominance in the supernatural community.

Aspect: The Tides of History

Face: Abuelita Maccaez the old woman you can usually find down by the Sea.
Face: Rodrigo de Triana the White Court vampire who claims to have come over with Colon.

Character:Leviathan

2009-10-12T21:31:00Z

Wolfwood2: /* XP */

[[Category:Player_character]]
'''Leviathan'''

Character in [[Mage:_the_Awakening:_A_Civil_War|Mage: The Awakening: A Civil War]], played by Wolfwood2.

==Profile==
*Civilian Name: Marcus Beaumont
*Virtue: Temperance ('Stay calm and let's think this through')
*Vice: Greed ('With such power... I could do anything')
*Path: Moros
*Legacy: Callers of Zamani
*Order: Silver Ladder

==Attributes==
===Mental===
*Intelligence 4 (Analysis)
*Wits 2
*Resolve 3
===Physical===
*Strength 2
*Dexterity 2
*Stamina 3
===Social===
*Presence 3
*Manipulation 2
*Composure 4 (Stay Calm)

==Skills:==
===Mental===
*Academics 5 (s. Law)
*Crafts 3
*Investigation 2
*Occult 3 (s. Ghosts)
*Politics 1

===Physical===
*Athletics 2
*Brawl 2
*Firearms 1

===Social===
*Expression 2 (rote specialty)
*Persuasion 4 (rote specialty)
*Socialise 1
*Subterfuge 2 (rote specialty)

==Arcana==
*Death 3
*Matter 3
*Time 1

==Merits==
===Magical===
*High Speech (From Ladder)
*Gnosis (6)
*Sanctum 3 (Own sanctum)
*Sanctum 1 (toward group)
*Contacts 2 (local vampires, FBI)
*Hallow 1 (own sanctum)
*Mentor 3 (Law Professor at Tulane, Moros Ladder Member and member of the Callers of Zamani legacy)
*Status (Silver Ladder) 2
*Rotes 4 (see below)

===Mundane===
*Eidetic Memory 2
*Striking Looks 2
*Resources 4 (First son of the Gainesville Beaumonts)
*Status 1 (licensed lawyer in Florida and Georgia)

==Rotes==
*Perfect Timing (Time 1, p. xxx); (Int + Comp + Time)
*Momentary Flux (Time 1, p. xxx)(Int + Investigate + Time)
*Jury Rig (Matter 3, p. xxx) (Int + Crafts + Matter)
*Transmute Water (Matter 2, p. xxx) (Int + Occult + Matter)
*Ghost Gate (Death 3, p. xxx) (Resolve + Occult + Death)

===Unique Rote===
*Waters of Death: Death 3/Matter 3 - Seemingly pours a normal drink that is actually ectoplasm enspelled by matter. Once drunk, the ectoplasm spreads through the body and allows the drinker to speak and interacts with ghosts for a scene. (Sort of a grim sight cast on multiple targets at once.) Int + Craft + Death; Cost is one mana

==Miscellaneous==
*Dedicated Magical Tool: Small (shot glass) sized cup made of petrified wood and decorated with tiny gems
*Nimbus: Darkness and pressure, building, until something huge moves by in the night
*Gnosis: 3
*Wisdom 6
*Willpower 7

==Legacy: Callers of Zamani==
History
Certain Eastern and Central African cultures divide the dead into two types, the Sasa and the Zamani. Sasa are spirits of the dead who were personally known by someone still alive. Because they exist in the memories of living, they are not wholly dead. They can still have individual concerns and affect on the world and exist in the now. The memory of the living is their anchor. When the last person who knew them as a living person dies, they go from Sasa to Zamani. As Zamani they are generalized ancestor spirits and no longer revered as individuals. They are unanchored from "now" and sort of spread across the vast expanse of the past.

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, African slaves transported to America brought with them these beliefs. Many of them ended up in New Orleans, where they mixed with the beliefs and knowledge of other cultures. In the year 1840, a New Orleans mage by the name of Harold Cheney, known at the time by his Shadow name of Distant Days, created the Legacy. Cheney was a freeman quadroon who was an artist of exceptional skill, using his natural talent in combination with his Moros mastery of Matter to create paintings and sculpture of staggering beauty. When his greatest works and his family were destroyed in a fire, he searched for a way to recover them both.

Distant Days reasoned that if the dead are truly tied to this world by the bonds of memory, then perhaps memory combined with Supernal power of awakened magic could call them back to existance as Ephemera in Twilight. Striking forth to create his own Legacy, he soulcrafted himself with the ability to summon ephemera into existance with nothing but the power of his memory. Eventually he recovered his house, his works, and even his family as ghosts in Twilight. When his time finally came, he joined them as a Ghost Mage who still exists today, supported by the memories of those who have joined his Legacy.

Today
The Callers of Zamani are ackowledged as the masters of ephemera within the Awakened world. By will and memory alone can they call ephemera into existance. At higher attainments they can create not merely ghostly objects, but actual ghosts. Mere poltergeists and unthinking actors at first, but eventually ghosts with desires and thoughts so real they could be mistaken for people. Some Mages join this Legacy out of a desire to restore some personal loss, others desire to uphold philosophical beliefs that Death is transition rather than oblivion, others out of a a desire to plumb the true nature of ephemera, and some out of the promise of immortality... of a sort. It's well known that many (though not all) Callers of Zamani become Ghost Mages upon their deaths, frequently with their living students becoming their anchors.

Joining this Legacy requires traveling to New Orleans and stepping into Twilight to meet the ghost of Distant Days and see the ghostly remains of his art. Taking his memory into yourself to help sustain him is one of the prices paid for the secret of his Legacy. The Legacy also holds yearly convocations to meet each other and make memories, for it is believed that this increases the chances of returning as a Ghost Mage. This does mean that the true names of many of the mages of the Legacy are more vulnerable than most, but perhaps this is counterbalanced by the reluctance of their enemies to outright kill them.... for obvious reasons.

Parent Path: Moros

===Oblations===
Suggested Oblations: Read the diary/biography of a person long dead and look at their pictures, watch a building or area in the process of destruction and preserve it as it was in your memory, visit someone on the edge of death and commit them to your memory, read the words of someone dead to a crowd to awaken their memory.

===Attainment: Call Ephermeral Object===
1st Attainment: Call Ephemeral Object
Requirements: Gnosis 3, Craft 2, Death 3, Intelligence or Composure 3

By drawing upon memory, the Caller can create an ephemeral object in Twilight. Physical remains of the object are not required. Indeed, it may still exist somewhere in the world undestroyed. When drawing upon his own memories, the Caller rolls Intelligence + Composure + Death to craft the object, subject to the modifiers for remembering information found on page 44 of the core rulebook. A size 5 or smaller ephemeral object can be created with a single success. Additional successes are required for larger objects as per the standard spell factors table. Extra successes may also be required for extreme detail, or to enable the functioning of ephemeral machinery for a scene, or similiar 'extras', at the discretion of the ST.

A Caller can draw upon the memories of someone else to create an ephemeral object, but it is more difficult. An additional participant rolls only Intelligence + Composure and at a -2 dice penalty. Equipment such as a photograph or video or written description of the object can modify memory rolls as normal.

An object present within the scene cannot be ephemerally duplicated, as you cannot remember something you're actively observing.

Optional Arcanum: With Matter 2, a Caller can change the shape ephemeral objects he has created (and only those objects) as though using the Death spell Sculpt Ephemera. This can alter the shape and Durability of these objects (Durability can be enhanced by dots equal to the Caller's Matter Arcanum), but not the nature of their pseudo-substance. An ephemeral aluminum baseball bat could be changed to an aluminum dining set, but it will still appear to be aluminum.

==Background==
His name would be Marcus "Mark" Beaumont, shadow name being Leviathan. He is a lawyer with a license to practice in Georgia and Florida, though he specializes more in boring real estate and financial law than criminal defense. He is also a member of the Silver Ladder and acts on behalf of the Order and associated Pentacle mages for property acquisitions and such with details too sensitive to leave to Sleepers.

Mark is a Moros, though with a heavy water aspect. His shadow name comes because he awakened during a near-drowning where he actually stopped breathing for over a minute and descended to the depths of the watery grave where all souls sink and huge spirits swim. (He also suspects this was not an accident. I'll flesh this out if you give me the go-ahead and if Phatom Stranger is okay with suspicions about the family.)

Mark is a death-focused Moros, with a fascination, almost obsession, with the veil between life and death. This has the possibility of tempting him to go too far for knowledge. He sees himself as "the responsible one" compared Daniel, largely because their training as mages has been separate and he hasn't had a chance to see his brother grow into power. He thinks Daniel is still his 'little brother'.

Personality-wise, Mark is meticulous to the point of obsessiveness. He has melancholy days and was even somewhat depressive before he started taking medication for it. I was thinking he might have contacts with the local vampires, though they haven't really come up in game other than a few references.

==XP==
===Arcane===
*Gained:0
*Spent:0
*Unspent:0

===Mundane===
*Gained:3
*Spent:0
*Unspent:3

2008-02-01T19:27:00Z

Wolfwood2: /* Threads */

=='''M:tAw - Shadows of the Watchtowers'''==

[[Category:PBP]]
[[Category:WoD Mage]]
[[Category:Campaign Setup]]
[[Category:Shadows of the Watchtowers]]

'''Welcome to the World of Darkness Mage SHADOWS OF THE WATCHTOWERS campaign wiki.''' This wiki site is a resource for a play-by-post tabletop fantasy role-playing game to run a mage game set in the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The goal of this wiki site is to form a repository of information about the game that is easily accessible and editable to the entire game group.

==Shadows of the Watchtowers Setting Background==

Location: The Twin Cities, Minneapolis-St. Paul

Themes: Paranoia, Factionalism, Megacorporations vs. local business

Background: the Twin Cities are far from alike, and would much rather not share their uncomfortable geographical proximity. Sleeper institutions engage in petty displays of political power, with the intent of one-upping each other and accomplishing absolutely no practical good. In the real world, this trend started slowing in the 60s, in the World of Darkness it never stopped: government officials of each of the two cities do their best to impede their neighbours, and there is even a certain enmity between the populations of both cities: Saint Paulites tend to look down on Minneapolis' problem with crime and high inmigrant population, while those of that city think their neighbors are insufferable snobs.

This tension is clearly reflected in the Twin Cities' Awakened community, some even theorize that the conflict between the Cities is caused by the conflict among the willworkers. Because Minneapolis has been a Free Council city ever since the foundation of that Order, a powerful libertine cabal entrenching themselves in the budding city during the Nameless War, while St. paul remains firmly in the grip of the Silver Ladder, under the rule of an especially draconic Hierarch. Although open warfare is practical for neither the Assembly of Minneapolis nor St Paul's Consillium, a cold war has been ongoing for a century now, with no hope for reconciliation in sight. The Free Council and the Silver Ladder make great displays of their contempt for one another, while the Adamantine Arrow is split in half after a brutal schism, one side supporting the libertines and the other the Consillium, the Guardians of the Veil infiltrate both sides equally and try to keep the conflict from invoking too many Paradoxes, and the Mysterium simply tries to go on with their thing while avoiding the stringent laws and political maneuvering of both sides.

If the antagonism between the two cities didn't foster enough paranoia, the focus the Orders have on fighting each other in the Twin Cities has left it wide open to the Seers Throne, who have established a power base on both cities large enough to threaten all the Orders... yet not enough for them to ally to fight the common enemy. The Seers control most of the big business in the Twin Cities, using magic to gain contro lof the local branches of the megacorporations, accumulating money and influence while the Orders are relegated to hiding in the dwindling businesses out of the reach of the enemy. "Trust no unaffiliated mage" is the guide for survival here, necessity styming the cries for individuality in the presence of monolothic and, at the same time, mistrusted, Orders.

==The Player Characters==
* [[Redford "Laces" Grant]]: Thyrsus; Adamantine Arrow (player: Wolfwood2)
* [[James "Emet" Day]]: Thyrsus; GotV (player: EarthScorpion)
* [[Stephen "Titivillus" Markowicz]]: Mastigos; GotV (player: Bloodcookie)
* [[Devlin "Horus" Prescott]]: Mastigos; Silver Ladder (player: Chronicler)
* [[Quentin "Tavaris" Todd]] : Acanthus; Mysterium (player LivingDeadGuy)

===Dramatis Personae===
* ?
* ?
* ?

==Important Groups in Minneapolis==
[[The Minneapolis Free Thought Revolutionary Party]]

==Important Groups in Saint Paul==
*[[The Golden Throne]]
*[[The Phoenix Feather]]
*[[Saint Paul Consillium]]

==Orders in the Twin Cities==
[[Orders in the Twin Cities]]

==Threads==

[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=373614 Recruitment] 
[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=376891 In-Character] 
[http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=376880 Out-of-Character] 

==Resources==

==Setup==
You Would Play: A new cabal attending either the Consillium or the Assembly, or trying to avoid both, acting by their mere existence as a destabilizing element that both factions want for themselves... or for no one. Meanwhile, in the shadows, the Seers of the Throne make pacts with things from beyond the world, hoping to break the Awakened community of the Twin Cities once and for all... and unless the two factions can resolve their differences, the Exarchs will certainly succeed.

James "Emet" Day

2008-01-31T20:54:57Z

Wolfwood2: /* Rotes */

Back to [[Twin_Cities_Mage]]

'''NAME''': James Day 
'''SHADOW NAME''': Emet 
'''SHADOW SLEEPER NAME''': Alexander Elford 
'''CONCEPT''': Spiritualist Journalist 
'''VIRTUE''': Temperance 
'''VICE''': Envy 
'''ORDER''': Thrysus 
'''PATH''': Guardians of the Veil 

===Personal Details===
====APPEARANCE====
look at p128 of the Guardians book

====HISTORY====
He was a reporter for a local paper. He'd found a story hinting on links to organised crime in local government, and wanted an exposé; a national paper had shown interest of he could get concrete evidence. He found some hints, but they found him. He wound up at local hospital within three days, by the bedside of his girlfriend, who'd been kneecapped, then killed by the goons of whoever he'd been investigating, with a note warning him off pinned to his chest. When he left the hospital, to get some sleep, he underwent a Mystery Play Awakening, following the ghost of the girlfriend to the politician's house, which ended with him leaving a bloody hand print on the wall next to the politician, who'd had his throat torn out in the Play.

The Guardians picked him up, as he lay in a foetal position in an alleyway, thinking he'd gone mad. He's passed all three of the Veils, and now works to keep both spirits and ghosts from interfering in the Fallen World, and uses them as spies, using the negotiation training he got as a journalist.

Additional Ramblings:

Well, it's obvious that the other party involved with the politician might quite like to find him. They may have been just human crooks, but they may have been an alliance between the Tremere and the Sangiovanni Vampires; he doesn't know.

His girlfriend still follows him around, as he is one of her anchors, which can be useful, although she is still understandably bitter.

This is kind of a doing what must be done kind of character, then paying the price. He will alienate his spirit contacts to take down a spirit which has eaten Abyss-tainted Resonance, he will put people into poverty by preventing a new jobs programme planned by the Seers by driving the managers insane. He hates what he does, but he does it because someone has to.

Guardians of the Veil: He will conceal information if they ask him to, although he wonders why they sometime get him to hide mundane facts.

Mysterium: He'll work with them on any project studying Twilight or the Shadow, although they sometimes act upon things they shouldn't. He suspects that one member of the Mysterium has a Claimed working for them.

====NOTES====
As for mentors, Alice Demurge/ Sally Nartuae/ Cognisia (all of them Shadow names for the same woman) was the individual who found him in the alleyway. She guided him through the Veils, after he chose to stay with the Guardians. As a neophyte, he also heard the rumours about her; that she had been a crack Guardian Seeker, who'd saved several ruins from Sleeper Disbelief and the bumbling of the other orders, until something had happened to her cabal, and she returned to the Guardians psychologically very different. She definetly taught him the High Toungue properly; not the bastardised version which most others - he could, should he wish, write his newspaper reports in something Sleepers (and most mages) couldn't understand. She is resident in the territory of the Assembly, and is a member of the Prophets faction, just as he is; she often ends up dealing with the Council in the name of the Guardians. They grew more distant, as he grew far more interested in the esteorica of the Sprirt Arcanum, rather than the more earthy foucus on Life that she possesses, but they trust each other about as much as any Guardian can.

===Game Stats===

====ATTRIBUTES====
MENTAL: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2 
PHYSICAL: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2 
SOCIAL: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Composure 4 

====SKILLS====
Mental Skills: Academics 1, Computer 1, Investigation 3, Medicine 1, Occult 1, Politics 3, Science 1 
Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Larceny 1, Stealth 2 
Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 1, Persuasion 1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 2 

-*Rote Specialties = Investigation, Stealth, Subterfuge

====DERIVED STATS====
Health: 7 
Willpower: 6 
Wisdom: 6 

Size: 5 
Speed: 9 
Initiative: 6 
Defense: 2 
Armor: 4 (Ephemeral Shield, Spirit 2) 
Numinous Shield: 4 (Spirit 3) 

XP: 1 remaining

====MAGIC STATS====
Gnosis: 2 
Mana: 7 (max: 11, 2/turn) 
Innate: Pattern Restoration (1/day), Pattern Scouring (1/day), Unseen Sense 
Nimbus: Animalistic Watchfulness (The area darkens around him, and eyes can be seen staring from every corner, as his eyes flash to something not quite human) 

=====Arcana=====
Spirit 4, Death 2, Life 2, Time 1

=====Rotes=====
Eye for Ethereal Weakness ( Read Spirit, Spirit 2, Adamatine Arrow p 188) *
Guardians of the Veil Rote: Wits + Investigation + Spirit

Knowledge of the Ban of a Spirit which violates the Veil is a prime tool, whether for negotiation, sale to other Spirits or direct action. By focussing upon the modern stereotype of the all-knowing government agent, the Guardian can spot the nature of a spirit with just a glance.

Rote factors:
The Mage wears a pair of darkened sunglasses, preventing the spirit from seeing his eyes: +1 Potency

Questioning the Ferryman (Final Sight, Death 2, GotV p186) *
Guardians of the Veil Rote: Manipulation + Investigation + Death

The last thing the victim of a murder saw can often be vital when trying to find out who the killer was. By calling upon imagery developed in the Greek Labyrinth, the mage may release from Charon the final things the eyes of the victim saw.

Rote Factors:
The Mage leaves two copper coins beside the body: + 1 Factor
The Mage addresses the corpse in ancient Greek, and pleads for Charon to show what the victim saw: + 2 Potency

Intangible Guard (Ephemeral Shield, Spirit 2, M:tA p246)*
Guardians of the Veil Rote: Wits + Stealth + Spirit

By calling upon ancient deals made with the Realms Invisible, a mage can be shielded from both the invisible and the seen. The conditions of these deals need only be honoured, and the reality will comply

Rote Factors:
The Mage washes his hands and face in purified water before casting: +2 Duration
A spirit is present to witness the casting: +1 Potency

Purge the Daemon (Harm Spirit, Spirit 3, M:tA p249)
Banisher Rote: Presence + Occult + Spirit

A rote taken from a Banisher captured in the 14th century, in what is now Germany, it has been adopted by the Guardians, as it has proven exceedingly effective at dealing with spiritual entities who refuse to listen to the Guardians.

The Mage wears a ring with the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire on it: + 1 Potency
Instead of chanting in High Speech, the Mage uses an instant action reading from a Catholic Church approved Liturgy against daemons or the daemonic in Latin: + 2 Potency

Carpe Temporum (Momentary Flux, Time 1, p257 M:tA)
Guardians of the Veil Rote: Wits + Investigation + Time

The basic knowledge of how things will turn out has saved many a Guardian’s life. The moment must be seized and used by the Guardians, or another will.

The mage carries at least two watches on him: +1 Spell Factor

Touch the Unseen (Gossamer Touch with conjunctal Death 2, Spirit 2 + Death 2, p247)*
Guardians of the Veil Rote: Presence + Politics + Spirit

Communication, for it to truly occur, requires the ability to touch the other party; or at least this is a widely held belief by Thryus among many orders. This rote has the ability to add Death 2 to the casting, to enable the caster to touch and interact with ghosts and non-living Twilight objects, as with Touch of the Grave (p138, M:tA). This is an expression of the Guardian philosophy that the amount of Vulgar magic should be kept to a minimum, and only having to cast one spell is an advantage.

The mage wears a pair of white gloves while this spell is active; the right with the Chinese symbol for Life on it, the left with the symbol for Death - +1 Duration Factor

=====Dedicated Magical Tools=====
Order Tool - Pair of darkened sunglasses with the High Speech word for "Vision" carved into the frame, Arcana Tools - Death: one of his girlfriend's rings

====MERITS====
Resources 1 
Status (Guardians of the Veil) 1 
(High Speech ) 
Status (Newspaper) 1 
Contacts (Police) 1 
Ghost Ally (as Familiar, but ghost instead of spirit) 3 
Trained Memory 1 (bought with 2XP, p 46 of the Guardians Book) 
Mask (Binder of Night, p 73 of the Guardians book) 1 (bought with 2 XP) 
Language (Atlantean) 1 (Secrets of the Ruined Temple; allows fluency in Atlantean, rather than just the jargon for casting of High Speech) 
Library (The Shadow) 1 
Guardian Spirit 3 (Influence: Knowledge, fettered to the library) (Sigil and Sanctum p 86)