(OoC) the Twin Goblets of Arratus - an epistolary Mage campaign set in 2009

[warrior angel]

Finally, my letter is now up. Hope it's alright with everyone. And I agree Techpriest, that seems like the best idea for that situation.

I also see that we may be having a new player joining us on the recruitment forum. I'm quite liking The Morrigan as a possible addition to the investigation

[Techpriest]

So who is meant to post next? I assumed each new letter would be addressed to a new character, but since we've started before recruitment is done I'm not sure what's going on...

[Cire]

I may have started a bit too soon, but if nothing else the next person could write to Blaze. In any event, great letter, Warrior Angel.

[Cod of Justice]

The Morrigan's first letter is up, I tried to leave it open until we have a player count.

Also I'll post my Character Sheet here for reference

Shadow Name: The Morrigan
Real Name: Aoife Taylor
Player: Cod of Justice
Chronicle: Epistolary – The Twin Goblets of Arratus
City: Belfast, Northern Ireland

Path: Mastigos
Order: Adamantine Arrow
Cabal: The Tuatha Dé Dannan

Virtue: Justice
Vice: Pride
Concept: Wanderer with Something to Prove

Advantages:
Health: 7
Willpower: 4
Defense: 4
Initiative: 6
Speed: 11

Gnosis: 2
Wisdom: 6
Mana: 6/11

Attributes
Intelligence: 2
Wits: 4
Resolve: 2

Strength: 2
Dexterity: 4
Stamina: 2

Presence: 2
Manipulation: 2
Composure: 2

Skills
Investigation: 2
Medicine: 1
Occult: 1

Athletics: 3 (Parkour)
Brawl: 1
Drive: 2 (Motorcycles)
Larceny:2
Stealth:3
Weaponry: 3 (Swords)
Empathy: 1
Expression: 1
Intimidation: 2
Streetwise: 1
Subterfuge: 2


Merits
Parkour: 1
Driving Style – High Performance Driving: 1
Artifact: 4 (Fearclaw)*
Fighting Finesse (Katana): 2
Status, Adamantine Arrow: 1
Hallow: 2
Sanctum: 2 (Size 1, Security 1)
Fighting Style – Two Weapons: 1
Quick Draw (Melee)


* Fearclaw is an artifact katana that cast an Emotional Urging (Fear) on anyone it draws blood from in combat.


Arcana:
Mind: 2
Space: 2
Time: 3

Rotes
Failure is Death (Time 2, Core pg 259)
Postcognition (Time 2, Core pg 260)
Incognito Presence (Mind 2, Core 208)

Nimbus
A growing feeling of fear, culminating in the idea that onlookers must either flee The Morrigan or fight her. Places of safety seem further away and The Morrigan seems closer.

Backstory
Aoife Taylor, the daughter of and Irishwoman and an Englishman, grew up moving often between Northern Ireland, England and the Republic of Ireland. Her parents ‘Worked for The Government’, and this necessitated them to move every few months, and rarely to the same place twice in two years, though Belfast, Dublin and London were relatively common. From her birth until 1999 her family was almost always on the move, following the requirements of ‘Working for The Government’. Aoife never attended the same school twice, and never for longer than 4 months, and found it hard to keep up in class, and even harder to keep, or make, friends, especially as she was always a little bit too English for Ireland and too Irish for England. She spent much of her time unhappy about moving, especially as her parents would only ever explain that they had to move because of ‘Working for The Government’.
Things changed in 1999 because ‘Working for The Government’ killed her father. She never found out much more than that about his death only that whatever her mother was told about the circumstances led her to leave her hometown of Belfast and settle down in London, a city she disliked. Despite the circumstances Aoife was glad they were no longer moving and happily settled into life in London. This happiness lasted until Halloween 2000, her 13^th birthday. She doesn’t know the details of what happened that night, only that a number of very serious policemen collected her from the schools Halloween party and brought her to heavily secured building where her even more heavily bandaged mother was waiting. With no explanation beyond “We have to go” and not even enough time for Aoife to change out of her Halloween costume the two were bundled onto a plane, the first of several, ultimately ending up in Australia. It was the start of a pattern of moving around the world that never stopped for more than two months that would take in every country in the Commonwealth, plus several without, and would continue until Aoife turned 16 and was no longer obliged to follow her mother every time she fled.
Aoife knew her mother was fleeing from something and had strong suspicions that her parent’s ‘Work for The Government’ was connected to the whole thing. Her mother refused to explain or answer her questions and the two would argue frequently until the day Aoife turned 16, when she grabbed the suitcases containing her few possessions, stormed out and caught the first plane back to Britain. She ended up in London, where a man from the Civil Service met her at Heathrow expressed sympathy with her situation and offered her a job ‘Doing a few little things for The Government.’ The work involved a lot of travel, but by this point Aoife was used to that, and it offered the opportunity to do interesting things and meet interesting people. Aoife found herself ‘Working for The Government’ until Halloween 2007, when she got word that her mother was dead in London, an apparent suicide that was unofficially thought certain to be murder. A complex investigation concluded that someone had almost certainly caused her mother’s death but who, how or why were unclear. Aoife was left to mourn the mother she had not spoken to in 4 years and rage at the secrets that had apparently shaped the course of her life.
Aoife raged and mourned for days and days, and one day awakened to find herself in a labyrinth of iron and edges. As she woke she knew that the center of this labyrinth contained answers so she forced herself to her feet and set of, heedless of the edges as they cut at her. As she travelled the labyrinth she was beset by taunting demons and cut by cruel edges but she ignored the taunts and the pain, even as it seemed her body was one huge wound, covered only by her own blood. Finally she came to the center of the labyrinth and found a great iron tower, guarded by seven great demons. The closest screamed and she felt terror wash over her but she refused to give up after coming so far so she screamed back and charged it. She was able to kill the demon with one of its own claws, which remained solid in her hand as its body disappeared and the remaining demons charged at her. She fought her way through them to the tower, where she climbed to the top and carved her name with the demons claw.
In Pandemonium Aoife closed her eyes, claw in hand and in Belfast The Morrigan opened them, sword in hand.
Shortly afterwards she met the Mage known as Nuada who explained what had happened and took her to meet his Cabal The Tuatha Dé Dannan, including Manannán mac Lir, the Wave-man who would become her master.
The Tuatha Dé Dannan is an all Mastigos, previously all male Cabal based out of Belfast whose members have a tendency towards globetrotting. The other members are all older Mages of considerable experience and The Morrigan is the first of their apprentices to join the Cabal after completing her training. She is very aware that she is less than half the age of the other members, of her lack of magical ability compared to them and of being the only woman and so she constantly strives to prove herself, especially to Manannán, who has declared he will only train her in his Legacy if she impresses him.

Experience
Unspent: 1
Spent: 4(Two Weapons 1, Quick Draw)

-Additional Details-
Age: 22
D.O.B: 31/10/1987
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Irish
Nationality: British
Hair Color: Dark Red
Eye Color: Green
Sexuality: Bisexual
Spirituality: Atheist

[Cire]

Another great letter! I feel blessed. I will gave my thoughts on experience soon.

[Cire]

I think for each "round" I will have four experience points be possible. The first will be for participation. The second will be for revealing details of the player's character. The third will be for revealing details of the player's city or setting. The fourth shall be advancing the games "meta-plot." Two points of Arcana experience will also be possible. In the other games, Arcana experience can also be spent on Arcana. Barring objections and discussions, I think will have that be the case here too. In any case, these are my ideas, but I am open to suggestion.

[Cod of Justice]

Sounds good to me. Any particular rules on what earns Arcane exp?

Once a week and 3-4 days after the last letter is a skip unless its declared beforehand sounds good to me as well.

[Cire]

I think learning things about the supernatural, novel experiences with it. Any suggestions anyone?

[warrior angel]

Personally I'm happy with the experience system you've mentioned Cire. If it was good enough for the other chronicles it's good enough for us I think. And Arcana exp for learning something about the supernatural sounds alright.

I do have one question about how the time-frame is going to work (blame me on being new to this) - Since Cod's was yesterday/early this morning for me, does that mean the 3-4 days (assuming we're all happy with that) kicks in now or starts on Monday?

[Cire]

I think you are right, Warrior Angel. So that gives Exthalion until like Saturday or so to post his letter. This being so, I will post the next Blaze letter on Sunday and we will go in order as Techpriest predicts. Also I consider myself a special case. If I don't post Sunday, Techpriest should feel totally free to post Monday. Now I want to stress missing a round is not the end of the world. Indeed, silence can create drama.

[Cire]

Oh, good news. Angryicecream might be joining us in the second round. Also I will be putting up Blaze's second letter tomorrow (Sunday).

[Cire]

For experience, Techpriest, Warrior Angel, and Cod of Justice each get four experience points, two arcane experience points.

Also I want to thank Sir Phobos for devising the Dread Mask of Cryxard. More details about it can be found on the second page of the thread reached by the link below:

http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/m...-this-thing-do

[Exthalion]

I think you are right, Warrior Angel. So that gives Exthalion until like Saturday or so to post his letter. This being so, I will post the next Blaze letter on Sunday and we will go in order as Techpriest predicts. Also I consider myself a special case. If I don't post Sunday, Techpriest should feel totally free to post Monday. Now I want to stress missing a round is not the end of the world. Indeed, silence can create drama.

I didn't actually know if I was accepted or not, or if I needed to do more. I will get writing my letter right away.

Sorry for the delay.

[warrior angel]

Ahh, experience points! Now I need to decide what to save up for and that's a pretty good thread, need to check it out properly later on.

I didn't actually know if I was accepted or not, or if I needed to do more. I will get writing my letter right away.

Sorry for the delay.

Ah, don't worry about it Exthalion. As Cire said in an earlier post, Ariadnos' silence could be for a very good reason. Welcome to the game!

I was thinking everybody, as we were talking a few posts ago about turn order, what about this going on the letter order so far? -

1st - Techpriest
2nd - Warrior Angel
3rd - Cod of Justice
4th - Exthalion
5th - Angryicecream?

Of course as Storyteller Cire you are a special case and can write when you want to. As a thought then, if for some reason one of us wants to post a letter at another turn before their regular one to inform everyone on here? For example, if Cobalt writes a letter and it's relevant for The Morrigan to answer straight away then Cod of Justice can let us know he's going to write next so I can hold back until it's posted

[Techpriest]

That post order works for me Warrior Angel. I'll get to work on my post.