Editing The Gift:Characters (section)

===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.