DFA: Leylines Character 6

Name: Nikki Jones
Age: 30
Gender: Cisgender female
Race: Black
Appearance and Demeanor: Nikki is an attractive African-American woman, who almost always dresses smartly. She holds herself with great self-confidence and is generally exuberant and outgoing. She is one of those people who likes to be constantly busy and doesn’t know what to do with herself when there’s nothing for her to do.



Background:
Nikki grew up in Baton Rouge, raised by a single mother, Persephone Jones. Despite this, she knew her father, George Clinton. He clearly cared about both Nikki and Persephone and would mysteriously appear to help them out sometimes when they needed it. As a consequence, despite growing up poor, Nikki never wanted for necessities. And when she badly wanted music lessons, George paid for them. However, George would also disappear for months at a time and was always rather vague about where he was and what he was up to. As she grew older and thought to ask questions, Nikki found many people knew her father but few knew much about him.

Nikki managed to get a scholarship to college and then went onto to law school. When she graduated, she returned to Baton Rouge and began working for legal aid, helping people from poor backgrounds like hers. She simultaneously pursued her passion for music, becoming a blues musician and began to make the circuits in Baton Rouge. She became well connected with community groups in the city, singing at fundraisers and lending her skills as a lawyer to various advocacy and activist groups.

Her life was upended when her father appeared to her in a dream, telling her had just been murdered. He explained that he was the Guardian Spirit of Baton Rouge—once he was a mortal man, but when his predecessor and father had died, he had taken up the mantle and was in fact centuries old. Now Nikki would have to assume his mantle. He started to apologize for imposing this responsibility on her, but before he could finish or explain her duties or say who had killed him, the dream abruptly ended, as if cut off by an outside force. Nikki awoke covered with cold sweat. At first, she dismissed the whole thing as a weird nightmare. But then she found her senses had expanded and that she was weirdly in tune with the city. And the police came to tell her that her father’s body had been found dead, with no clear suspects.

Since then Nikki has been trying to adjust to her new responsibilities. On the one hand, she loves Baton Rouge and is happy to have the power to protect it from the supernatural forces she is newly aware of. On the other hand, she finds her unasked-for office a burden. Her career as a blues musician had been just about to take off on the national level—and now she can’t even leave the city. When she attempts to, events such as traffic jams conspire to stop her. The one time she succeeded, she got an unmanageable headache until she returned to the city. She is trying to make the best of her situation, fulfill her new duties, and figure out who killed her father and why—but she is sometimes resentful of her situation.

Aspects
• High Concept: New and Reluctant Guardian Spirit of Baton Rouge
o Invoke when protecting Baton Rouge or its inhabitants.
o Compel when her duties as Guardian Spirit draw her into trouble or interfere with her mortal life.
• Trouble: My Predecessor Was Mysteriously Murdered
o Invoke when investigating what happened to her predecessor.
o Compel when the mystery around her predecessor’s death draws her into trouble or when she is attacked by the same mysterious forces that killed her predecessor.
• Legal Aid Lawyer by Day, Blues Musician by Night
o Invoke when using her skills as a lawyer or blues musician.
o Compel when her mortal careers interfere with her duties as Guardian Spirit.
• Baton Rouge Community Connections
o Invoke when engaging in social networking in Baton Rouge or drawing on her connections for help.
o Compel when these connections draw her into helping people, whether in a mundane or supernatural fashion
• Beginning Capoeira Practitioner: Since becoming the Guardian Spirit of Baton rouge, Nikki has begun taking capoeira lessons, so she can handle herself in a fight.
o Invoke when using capoeira
o Compel when her inexperience with the fighting technique gets her in trouble or other supernaturals want to challenge her to a duel.

Approaches
+3: Flair
+2: Focus, Intellect
+1: Force, Guile
0: Haste

Stunts
Well Connected: As I am Well Connected, once per session I can find a helpful ally in just the right place at just the right time.

Conditions
Fate Points: 2/2
Stress: [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ]
In Peril (sticky): [ ] Clears 4 shifts of stress
Doomed (lasting): [ ] Clears 6 shifts of stress
Indebted (sticky): [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] Mark one or more boxes when you have accrued a debt to a powerful group, person, or entity.

Mantle Conditions
Remembrance (fleeting): [ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] The spirit of the city remembers and you can tap that remembrance. Mark one of this condition’s five boxes to use the well of power granted to you by your mantle, as described in your stunts. Recover fully at the end of any scene in which the Spirit of Baton Rouge's Power is unused.

Disfavored (sticky): [ ] Violating the Trust of the City marks this condition. While Disfavored you may no longer use the Remembrance condition. Recover Disfavored when you have made restitution with the city, per the GM.

Core Stunts
Whispers in Stone: The streets and buildings and sidewalks are a constant breeze grazing your consciousness, silently imparting the things they see and feel and experience. Whenever you create an information based CAA, gain a free invoke for each box of Remembrance you mark in addition to any invokes that naturally come with the roll.

An Ancient Rage: The city remembers many of the wrongs done within its borders and can be lashed into an explosive rage. Mark the Doomed condition to inflict an immediate, indefensible 6-shift hit on an opponent. You may use Ancient Rage at any time during a conflict or in conjunction with an attack, adding the six shifts to the value of the attack. Doomed must be fully recovered before repeating this stunt.

Additional Mantle Stunts
[] In Plain Sight: Your powers of disguise and concealment are unparalleled. Once per session, you may declare that an NPC is you in disguise and then reveal yourself at a dramatically appropriate time. If needed, the NPC may be created specifically for this purpose. You therefore gain +2 on any attempt to conceal yourself in the scene.

[X] Keys to the City: Mark one box of Remembrance to step through a door anywhere in the city and come out any other door anywhere in the city.

[] The Crows of Baton Rouge: Once per session summon a swarm of rats, crows or insects that dwell in the unseen eaves and sewers and cracks of the city and garner their aid. Choose one of the following benefits: +4 to any one action, a situation aspect with two free invokes, or automatic success on an overcome roll. If circumstances are not consistent with the capabilities of the animal in question, the GM may require alteration to your declaration.

[] Ghosts of the Past: Those who lived and died in Baton Rouge are yours to call. Once per session mark one box of Remembrance to call forth one of Baton Rouge's dead into the land of the living. For the remainder of the scene this person obeys your instructions and acts on your behalf. Choose one area of expertise exemplified by this person. All actions based on that area of expertise are made at +4. At the end of the scene they lose corporeality and become a ghost once again.

[] Haven: Once per session, designate a zone as protected. Choose an approach and use it to describe the nature of your protection. Anyone wishing to inflict harm within that zone must first overcome an obstacle versus your chosen approach to enter or leave the zone. Ranged attacks from outside the zone are not prevented.