Editing The Gift:Characters (section)

==The Old Houses==

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===House Burning Stone===

House Burning Stone is the oldest and most powerful house in the Council, claiming to have been founded in London in 1650.  The house is a religious fraternity, dedicated, at least in theory, to coming closer to God through mysticism.  The house does not insist that members follow any particular religion, although monotheism is required.  Burning Stone was the driving force behind the formation of the Council in the first place and many give it credit for the Council’s dominant position in New Spain today.  Burning Stone mages tend to see themselves as good shepherds for mages and mundane humans alike, tough but fair, living well but providing guidance and protection.  However, they are also very aware that their power only comes by the consent of the other Houses of the Council. Politically, the house tends to be on the side of big business, since they own so much of it.  However, the House includes influential cliques advocating abortion rights, drug legalization, environmentalism, foreign aid, gun control, and welfare, including a public option for healthcare.  The House officially opposes increasing eduational spending, on the grounds that science threatens to make the mundanes too powerful for their own good, but there has been growing support for education on both idealistic and strategic grounds.

Burning Stone techniques put great emphasis on the spiritual transformation and purification of the self and apprentices spend a lot of time studying the transformation of physical substances, looking for mystical insight.  To help achieve this insight, apprentices learn spells dealing with the elements earth and fire.

Cost:  33 points

Advantages:  Language (Arabic, Broken), Language (Latin, Native).

Skills:  Alchemy, Artist (Calligraphy), Chemistry, History (Medieval European), History (Medieval Middle East), Mathematics, Occultism, Poisons, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Theology (Christianity), Theology (Islam).

Spells:

Earth:  Create Earth, Earth to Stone, Essential Earth, Rain of Stones, Seek Earth, Shape Earth, Walk Through Earth.

Fire:  Create Fire, Essential Flame, Extinguish Fire, Ignite Fire, Fireproof, Rain of Fire, Resist Fire.


House Stances

Magic:  The purpose of magic is to grow closer to God through spiritual self-transformation.

Themselves:  Most mages do not understanding the purpose of magic and so are further from the goal than we are.  They should be helped.

The Council:  The purpose of the Council is to keep the Peace.  Nobody else can be trusted with the job.

The Old Houses:  Useful.  We must not underestimate them.  They may not quite grasp the ultimate point yet, but they have proved themselves formidable mages.

The Young Houses:  They get so caught up in the details of their sciences that they forget to look at the big picture.  They are more of a nuisance than a help, but they make up the numbers that keep the Council in control.

The Circle:  The harder they cling to the physical world, the further they get from God.

The Cooperative.  Fools who sell their humanity for power.  A human being is more valuable than a machine.

Independents:  The Bridewell Reading Group is primed to defect from The Cooperative to the Council.  They just don’t realize it yet.  They will get sick of their deranged companions soon enough. The Church of St. Christopher on the Mountain are sound and sane.  I wonder how we can convince them to join the Council.  Exeter are amoral and organized.  That makes them a serious threat.  It would be better if they did not exist.

===House Isis Watching===

The most openly pragmatic of the Old Houses, House Isis Watching is devoted to the power over life and death.  The mages of the house are trained for personal survival and to help others to survive in order to gain political or personal advantage.  While any house might include members who can raise the dead, Isis Watching has been so efficient in keeping Council members on this side of the veil that they are arguably the greatest asset and most effective recruiting tool that the Council has.  Their political influence within the Council is limited only by their reputation of being too quick to side with one another even when in the wrong. The house has its origins in an Anglican religious society and while it has no official religious requirements today, non-Anglicans rarely advance politically.  Traditionalists in the order take seriously the idea that they are doing God's work, while younger mages tend to treat the House as a business club.

The apprentice’s training includes both practical skills intended to help the mage get ahead in life and theoretical studies intended to help the mage hone their magical capacities.  Magical training is focused heavily on the healing arts and no apprentice is considered a magus until they have brought a human being back from the dead.  Apprentices must attend Anglican religious services every Sunday, but are not required to profess faith.

Cost:  23 points

Advantages:  Language (Latin, Broken)

Skills:  Accounting, Administration, Alchemy, First-Aid, Occultism, Physician, Psychology, Ritual Magic (Western Hermeticism), Savoir-Faire, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Theology (Christianity).

Spells:

Healing:  Instant Regeneration, Lend Energy, Lend Vitality, Major Healing, Minor Healing, Regeneration, Restoration, Resurrection.

Necromancy:  Death Vision, Summon Spirit.


House Stances

Magic:  Magic is power and can be used for good or for evil.

Themselves: Let’s not be romantic.  Like the other houses, we are a society of scholars seeking its own survival in a dangerous world.  The Council depends on our support and so gives us protection.

The Council:  We have been there from the beginning and it has served us well, as we have served it well.

The Old Houses:  The backbone of the Council.  As long as the backbone remains solid, the Council will survive.

The Young Houses:  They are our front-line troops.  Do not underestimate them.

The Circle:  I respect their strength and understand the danger they pose because of it.

The Cooperative:  They too seek long-term survival in this world and their methods are powerful ones.  They must not be allowed to replace us.

The Independents:  The Church of Saint Christopher on the Mountain should not be helped.  They wish to join the Council and take our place.

===House Osiris Risen===

House Osiris Risen was founded at the same time as the Council itself, charged with the task of protecting the Council from mortal society.  Most of its efforts are directed simply towards keeping the public ignorant.  It keeps careful tabs on politicians and the media to make sure that nobody does anything that is against the Council’s best interests.  Although Osiris Risin has no qualms about interfering with the democratic process to help the Council, it otherwise tries to let mortals rule themselves.  Mages of the house are forbidden to hold office of any kind, in mortal or mage society, in an effort to deter ambitious power-seekers.  Most members of this house take their duties seriously, feathering their own nests comfortably along the way.  However, the house has also produced a few spectacular traitors.  While the house holds that it is vital to study theology for both moral and magical purposes, it does not require its members to adhere to any particular religious beliefs.

Apprentices are trained in “practical” skills dealing with money and public relations and “mystical” skills, intended to provide moral and magical insight.  Magical training emphasizes reading and controlling the minds of mortals.

Cost:  32 points

Advantages:  Language (Ancient Egyptian, Broken), Language (Latin, Broken).

Skills:  Accounting, Administration, Economics, History (Ancient Middle East), Occultism, Public Speaking, Psychology, Ritual Magic (Western Hermeticism), Savoir-Faire, Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic), Theology (Christianity), Theology (Any).

Spells:

Communication and Empathy:  Sense Emotion, Sense Foes, Mind-Sending, Mind-Reading, Telepathy, Truthsayer.

Mind Control:  Bravery, Charm, Enslave, False Memory, Fear, Foolishness, Forgetfulness, Loyalty, Mindlessness, Permanent Forgetfulness.


House Stances

Magic:  The purpose of magic is to grow closer to God through spiritual self-transformation.

Themselves:  We are the guardians of Hermeticism, ensuring that our way never fades from the Earth.  

The Council:  The Council is the bastion of Hermeticism and so must be protected at all costs.

The Old Houses:  The rock upon which the future is founded.

The Young Houses:  It is wonderful to see Hermeticism spreading.  Welcome, younger brothers and sisters.

The Circle:  These disorganized nature-worshippers are dreamers, not scholars.  However, there are enough of them that they are dangerous and the worst thing that could happen would be for us to break the Peace with them.

The Cooperative:  We have a better future to offer humanity than that.

===House Thoth Standing===

House Thoth Standing is devoted to gaining magical understanding through breaking down the barriers between worlds.  This is an inherently dangerous practice and the house is regarded with some wariness due to occasional loss of control of things from beyond.  However, they are also respected for their insight and the Council has long relied on them to help defend it against arcane dangers.  The political influence of Thoth Standing in the Council is second only to Burning Stone.  The order officially requires members to be either Christians, Jews, Muslims or pagans in the Roman or Egyptian traditions.  However, while formal statements of faith are required, many mages treat them as highly metaphorical claims, perfectly compatible with other religions or even atheism.  There is significant tension within the house between mages who wish to see religious requirements loosened and traditionalists who do not wish to upset political power structures.

An apprentice of Thoth Standing receives a rigorous education in scholastic skills intended to aid them in understanding magic and uncovering magical secrets.  An apprentice’s magic training focuses on a general understanding of magic.  The apprentice must successfully summon a being from another plane of existence before they may be considered a mage.

Cost:  31 points

Advantages:  Language (Latin, Accented).

Skills:  Folklore (Modern USA), History (Ancient European), History (Medieval European), History (Modern European), Mathematics, Occultism, Research, Ritual Magic (Western Hermetic), Symbol Drawing (Western Hermetic),  Thaumatology, Theology (Christianity), Theology (Pagan Roman).

Spells:

Air:  Purify Air.

Animal:  Beast-Soothing.

Communication and Empathy:  Sense Emotion, Sense Foes.

Gate:  Planar Summons (Any One).

Illusion and Creation:  Simple Illusion.

Knowledge:  Detect Magic.

Meta:  Counterspell.

Mind Control:  Fear.

Movement:  Apportation.

Necromancy:  Death Vision, Sense Spirit, Summon Spirit, Turn Spirit.

Protection and Warning:  Sense Danger.


House Stances

Magic:  Magic is a union with the supernatural to obtain understanding, enlightenment and power.  Magic is the connection between this world and the worlds beyond.

Themselves:  Thoth Standing exists so that the members may help one another, and our allies, towards understanding and enlightenment.

The Council:  Cooperation breeds power.

The Old Houses:  They have proved themselves to be our must trustworthy allies.

The Young Houses:  The more friends we have the better.

The Circle:  Mad and dangerous.  However, as long as the Peace holds, they won’t organize themselves, and as long as they remain disorganized, they can’t do too much harm.  Their account of human history is bizarre, though.

The Cooperative:  They are too in love with this plane to see beyond it into the universe.