Editing Lineage:House Lineages (section)

=House of Trastámara=

[[Image:Spanish20Castle.jpg]]

Positive Stereotype:  Amoral strategist.

Negative Stereotype:  Evil bastard.

Symbol:  Golden castle.

Signature Spell:  Agonize.  “The Infliction of Pain by Means of Direct Stimulation of the Nerves”

Magical Style:  Medieval Spanish.

Mages of the House of Trastámara are born with high intelligence but with low empathy for other human beings.  They can be very rational in pursuing their own self-interest but they have few moral boundaries.  Their lack of compassion has enabled them to do whatever needs to be done to get ahead, which has brought them temporal wealth and power.  On the other hand, they are feared and often hated, making few friends and many enemies.  While members of this House are not much trusted, they are often admired for their ruthlessness, dedication and courage.  Trastámara are heavily involved in brutal organized crime and are often employed by other mages looking for a fierce enforcer or single-minded researcher.  In the modern United States, there are more Trastámara in the Southern states than in the north.  Trastámara posessions include ChevronTexaco.

The House of Trastámara ruled Castile in the 14th-16th centuries, Navarre in the 15th century, and Aragon and Naples in the 15th-16th centuries.  They were the most influential House in Spain and Portugul until the coming of the Hapsburgs in the 16th century and continue to struggle with the Hapsburgs for power in the Iberian Peninsula to this day.  Their famous brutality has often made it easy for them to conquer territory, but their legendary cruelty has equally often alienated their powerbase, leading to revolt.

Having lost their supremacy in Spain, the House of Trastámara were among the first European Houses to seek to to exploit the new world.  They backed many Spanish and Portuguese exploratory and commercial ventures and involved themselves heavily in the slave trade and in Spanish and Portuguese colonisation.  For a time, they were the most common European mage to be found in South America and Southern North America and they dominated the continent apart from Mexica and Peru.  Trastámara diplomatic skills were hardly impressive, but the mages were ruthlesslsy effeciant and their cruelty helped them to rule through fear.  Understandably, the Trastámara’s famous lack of empathy led to frequent conflict with native mages, culminating, with Hapsburg aid, in a series of revolutions in the 18th and early 19th centuries that overthrew Trastámara power.  

In North America, the Trastámara struggled to side with winning teams, but didn’t always back the right side.  They did back the American Revolution, never dreaming that American democracy would last and with the intention of establishing feudal fiefdoms once the Americas had been snatched from Stuart hands.  They backed Mexico against the Anglo invaders, thinking that Mexico would win, and backed the Confederacy in the Civil War in an effort to keep their own slaves.  These were political mistakes that earned them increasing hostility in mage society.  The Trastámara remained neutral in World War I, which they felt was none of their business, but sided with the Allies in World War II, seeing the hand of their old enemy the Hapsburgs behind the fascists of Germany and Spain.  They have shown little interest in the mortal wars of the 20th and 21st century, although they frequently serve as mercenaries in magical conflicts.

Mortal Politics:  The US could pacify Iraq and Afghanistan tomorrow if it wanted.  Every time they fuck around, bomb them until they stop.  Taxes need to be drastically lowered because I’m not responsible for other people’s well-being.

Cost:  14 points.

Advantages:  Trastámara Logic.  +1 IQ (20 points)

Disadvantages:  The Trastámara Demon.  The Trastámara are famous for their lack of pity.  The Trastámara themselves are proud of their lack of romanticism and ascribe it to good breeding.  Other Houses whisper that the Trastámara have become what they are because they have a patron Demon.  Mechanically, Trastámara have Low Empathy (-20) and Reputation (House of Trastámara) (8 points).  The brutal reputation of House of Trastámara mages will cause most other mages to react at -2 in most circumstances.  However, mages come with a variety of perspectives and there are plenty of them who have neutral or positive attitudes towards the Trastámara instead.  Furthermore, mages’ reactions may be significantly different if their situation makes them particularly desirous of having a brutal ally.

Skills:  First Aid, Guns (Rifle), Fencing (Any), History (Modern USA), Intimidation, Judo, Karate, Occultism, Savoir-Faire, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Torture.

Spells:
Body Control:  Agonize, Itch, Spasm, Pain, Sensitize, Stun.
Healing:  Lend Energy, Lend Vitality.
Necromancy:  Death Vision, Summon Spirit, Zombie.

Relations

The Houses

House of Anjou:  We must fight with them for control of American agriculture.  If we lost that, we lose the last bastion of our power.

House of Cain:  They understand how to use force, but not its political implications.

House of Capet:  They would do anything to regain their lost power.  People like that can be very useful.

House of Carolus:  They hate the Hapsburgs, which makes them natural allies of ours.

House of Flavii:  They are always ready to do business, but read the fine print.

House of Hapsburg:  They took Spain from us and the Spanish empire that was to be.  This can never be forgiven. 

House of Julii:  They have never been afraid to do what has to be done to take power.

House of Lancaster:  More prudent minds know that when the oil runs out, their ride is over.

Order of Lilith:  I’m not surprised that they have lasted forever.  With so little ambition, there must have been little real danger.

House of Medici:  They never allow sentiment to cloud their business sense.

House of Romanov:  They will do whatever it takes to seize power.  We can work with people like that.

House of Stuart:  They wear such a mask of civility, but they got where they are today by being bigger bastards than everyone else.

House of Ummayad:  We should have destroyed them when we had the chance.  Now they would dearly like to destroy us for taking Spain from them.

House of Warwick:  Cowards, weaklings and liars, always hiding behind others.

House of York:  Strong, but too naturally subserviant to stand on their own.

The Rebellion

Order of Boudicca:  The Stuart’s failure to crush them shows how weak the once great House has become.

Order of Copernicus:  If anyone ever manages to find or place anything useful in space, we will take an interest then.

Order of Darwin:  Their insight into humanity is incredible.

Order of Eve:  They get kicked to the ground again and again but they never learn to fight back.

Order of Jesus:  The more they turn people’s minds from this world to the world beyond, the less we are resisted.

Order of Judas:  The weakness of the Rebellion is demonstrated by its toleration of these mages.

Order of Siddhartha:  They do nothing and so are nothing.

Order of Solon:  They see very clearly.  No wonder they try to destroy the Houses.

Order of Spartacus:  They demonstrate the importance of keeping your most bloodthirsty possessions on a tight leash.

Order of Thales:  Their perspective is absolutely unique, making them worth listening to.

Order of Utnapishtim:  They know much and say little.  Their information must be obtained somehow.