Editing Lineage:House Lineages (section)

=House of Warwick=

[[Image:Eagle.jpg]]

Positive Reputation:  Brilliant king-maker and master of mind control.

Negative Reputation:  Back-stabbing conspirator and silver-tongued liar.

Symbol:  Green eagle.

Signature Spell:  Great Hallucination.  “The Incantation in Question, Which Shall go Unnamed”

Magical Style:  Medieval English.

Deal-makers, civil-servants, media-moguls, and lawyers, the House of Warwick have made other people’s confidence their power-base.  Following the lead of the Flavii and Julii, they abandoned ambitions of holding power directly centuries ago, preferring to work behind the scenes, advising, supporting and facilitating those in command.  Political strategists and skilled manipulators, they have made their services so invaluable that they are tolerated as allies, even though the House has a long history of changing sides suddenly to suit its advantage.  The Warwicks are little trusted, but everyone respects their expertise.  Warrick is very active in the media industry and in internet-related industries.  They have pushing the US government to take more control over internet use.  Warrick possessions include AOL / Time Warner, AT&T, the Liberty Media Corporation and the Fox Broadcasting Company.

The House of Warwick first became prominent in England in the 11th century, when, after having betrayed a Flavii plot to the ruling House of Anjou, it became an Anjou ally.  Warwick used its position to enrich itself and rose from relatively humble beginnings to great power.  However, their loyalty was not lasting.  In the War of the Roses, they helped the House of Lancaster to overthrow the House of Anjou and then helped the House of York to overthrow the House of Lancaster, constantly increasing the power of their own position.  Warwick avoiding trying to take the crown itself, fearing a unified opposition, but did its best to prevent any other House from gaining too much power in the years to follow, siding at will with Anjou, Lancaster, York, or even Capet.  The strategy of division was successful, but weakened England to the point that the Scottish House of Stuart was capable of seizing power in the 17th century.  The Stuarts have proved eager to make use of Warwick’s political talents, but have also shown a keen appreciation of Warwick’s untrustworthy reputation.

Warwick stayed out of the first waves of immigration to North America, not taking a great deal of interest until cities appeared.  The House was already well established in printing and publishing by the time of the American Revolution and although they sided with the Stuarts in that conflict, they eagerly took advantage of the political opportunities opened up by the new American democracy, seizing whatever offices they could.  They steadily expanded their media empire, becoming newspaper magnates in the 19th century and radio, movie and television moguls in the 20th.

Mortal Politics:  The US needs to set up a Sunni state, a Shi’ite state and a Kurdish state, in the territory presently known as Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait.  Each state should be ruled by a nationalist dictator who is an ally of the United States and benefits from US patronage.  The government needs to regulate corporations more closely, or the corporations, not the government, will be in charge.  High taxes are a good thing because a well run state is going to make better use of money than the ignorant fool in the street.

Cost:  Being a mage of the House of Warwick is a disadvantage worth 5 points.

Disadvantages:  Eyes of Evening.  Mages of the House of Warwick psychologically cannot tolerate bright lights, whether it is the light of a sunny day or a well-lit room.  They prefer gloomy conditions but can tolerate normal levels of lighting.  The Warwick say that they damaged their eyes centuries ago experimenting with light magic.  This is a Dread (Bright Lights) (30 points).  They also have the Reputation as liars among mages.  This is normally worth a -1 reaction penalty, although a bonus is possible if a sneaky bastard happens to be needed.  (4 points)

Skills:  Administration, Current Affairs (World News), Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Law, Occultism, Politics, Public Speaking, Savoir-Faire, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Thaumatology.

Spells:
Communication and Empathy:  Compel Lie, Sense Emotion, Sense Foes.
Illusion and Creation:  Complex Illusion, Perfect Illusion, Phantom, Simple Illusion.
Mind Control:  Emotion Control, Foolishness, Forgetfulness, Great Hallucination, Hallucination, Loyalty, Madness.
Movement:  Apportation, Haste, Hinder.
Sound:  Sound.

Relations

The Houses

House of Anjou:  They are often vulnerable to manipulation, but they are always brutal if they find you out.

House of Cain:  They have proven themselves useful on occasions.  Just don’t double-cross them lightly.

House of Capet:  They must be hatching all kinds of plots or they wouldn’t be so mysterious.

House of Carolus:  They are trying to gain control over the internet.  If they have that, they would have mastery over the world.

House of Flavii:  They practically invented modern administration.  It would seem prudent to purge the American government of them, but how would the government run without them?

House of Hapsburg:  It would be better for us if the Stuarts destroy them, but we can’t afford to get on the Hapsburg’s bad side in case they destroy the Stuarts instead.

House of Julii:  Their instinct for dishonesty is breathtaking and legendary.

House of Lancaster:  Just another part of the great corporate machine that keeps us all rich.

Order of Lilith:  They serve a useful purpose.  They make us look so principled in comparison.

House of Medici:  It pays to be on good terms with them.

House of Romanov:  They have learned to hide their hand.  Now they need to learn how to bluff.

House of Stuart:  They are kings, but Warrick is kingmaker.  We serve them, as long as they serve us.

House of Trastámara:  The perfect boogeymen.  If you want to scare someone, just speak their name.

House of Ummayad:  Their silence makes them a blank slate upon which we can write what we want should it be convenient.

House of York:  They have wanted to string us up by the neck for quite some centuries now, but they remain usefull tools.

The Rebellion

Order of Boudicca:  Once proud patriots, they have been corrupted by socialist propaganda.

Order of Copernicus:  They have had a hand in the development of every new media technology.

Order of Darwin:  They could be wonderfully convincing if only we could get them to say what we want.

Order of Eve:  They get respect and they are naïve.  What is not to love?

Order of Jesus:  Living proof that if you have no sense of PR, you will never hold any power.

Order of Judas:  People love to hate them and will believe any lie about them.

Order of Siddhartha:  Too intellectual to be understood, they are without influence.

Order of Solon:  They started to believe their own propaganda and lost all touch with reality.

Order of Spartacus:  Hysteria always plays into our hands.

Order of Thales:  Nobody can understand them, but that’s ok, since nobody cares what they think.

Order of Utnapishtim:  They are more animal than human being and that’s nothing to be proud of.