Announcement

**rwknoll** · 10-23-2020, 05:04 PM

I would love to explore his character more. I really enjoyed coming up with parts of his story and personality, a lot of which is yet unexplored “on screen.”

**Second Chances** · 10-23-2020, 10:02 PM

Okay, really quick and bullet point, but here are the ideas I have so far.

Concept: A neopagan obsessed with ephemeral beings
Sympathetic Name: Peter Hunter
Shadow Name: Eurydice's Heir
Path: Moros
Order: Adamantine Arrow
Legacy: n/a, but will probably pick up a Spirit-related one later.
Virtue: Curious
Vice: Hasty
Background:
- Former high school teacher, mid to late 30s, single. Greek neopagan since teens.
- Looked for a career change, so planned to go back to the University of Chicago to get a Masters in Classics
- Awakened during the first week, causing him to experience a particularly Orphic Mystery Play of Stygia, where he met various Chthonic entities from the Greco-Roman underworld. Scribed his name in Orpheus’ place to give him another chance to escape the Underworld with Eurydice.
- Basically had to drop out of his program because he was MIA for so long, but doesn’t regret it since he gets to experience the Supernatural (and Supernal) directly. Blamed it on a mental break/mid-life crisis to the faculty, who (mostly) bought it. Tutors high school students to keep up appearances. Sometimes tutors freshman it at the University if he needs an excuse to be on campus or stick his nose downtown.
- Sees spirits, ghosts, and goetia as different manifestations of the divine, despite most Mages categorizing them as entirely separate and unrelated phenomena.
- Joined the Arrows by reasoning that Greek Gods and Heroes both grow through conflict, be it with nature, each other, or themselves.
- Lived in La Grange prior to the Deathstorm, but didn’t get super involved with other Mages. Is now concerned that something is going down, and that the ghosts of the deceased may yet linger, becoming restless ancestors for the Pentacle.

Arcana: Death 3, Matter 1, Fate 1, Mind 1
STA: Meet a spirit.
STA: Form a neopagan support group.
LTA: Meet the goetia of a Greek God.
Ob: Convince an Adept or Master of Spirit to take him as an apprentice.

**Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon** · 10-24-2020, 01:49 PM

Okay, here is the new version of the character sheet. I would be grateful if you kept the link to the old one in the summary still, so I don't have to sift through all the forum posts to look up the old stuff. To be honest though, I might eventually transition to some sort of google drive solution with a pdf to update, rather than editing a forum post constantly.

Changelog:

Background: Sympathetic name changed to Oscar Dalberg
Skill: Moved 1 dot from Medicine to Crafts
Arcana: Changed from Fate 1 to Matter 1
Gnosis: Increased Gnosis to 2
Merit: Removed Hardy 1 and increased Iron Stamina to 3
Merit: Replaced Inspiring 3 with Dream 3 (temporarily. Am considering a dot or two in Mysterium Status and/or Egregore)
Rote: Replaced Serendipity with Craftsman's Eye
Aspirations: Changed to accommodate that Lynx is initiated already.
Background: Added notes that basically say "I'm not entirely happy with this, but the gist of it is the same"
Other: Made previous player character connections defunct.

Lynx Character Sheet

Shadow Name: Lynx	Player: Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon	Concept: Animist & Foreign Exchange Student	Path: Thyrsus
Alternate Name: n/a	Chronicle: Supernal Suburbia	Virtue: Passionate	Order: Mysterium
Sympathetic Name: Oscar Dalberg	Cabal: [insert cabal]	Vice: Gluttonous	Legacy:

ATTRIBUTES
Mental		Physical		Social
Intelligence	●●○○○	Strength	●●●○○	Presence	●●●○○
Wits	●●●○○	Dexterity	●●○○○	Manipulation	●○○○○
Resolve	●●○○○	Stamina	●●●○○	Composure	●●●○○
SKILLS
Mental		Physical		Social
Academics	●●○○○	Athletics	●●○○○	Animal Ken	●●○○○
Computer	●○○○○	Brawl	○○○○○	Empathy	●●●○○ (Motives)
Crafts	●●○○○	Drive	○○○○○	Expression	○○○○○
Investigation<*>	●○○○○ (Body Language)	Firearms	○○○○○	Intimidation<*>	○○○○○
Medicine	●○○○○	Larceny	○○○○○	Persuasion	●○○○○
Occult<*>	<●>○○○○	Stealth	○○○○○	Socialize	●○○○○
Politics	●●○○○	Survival<*>	●●○○○	Streetwise	○○○○○
Science	●●○○○	Weaponry	○○○○○	Subterfuge	○○○○○

ARCANA		ADVANTAGES
Death	○○○○○	Health: 8
Fate	○○○○○	Willpower: 5
Forces	○○○○○	Defense: 4 (7)
Life	●●●○○	Initiative: 5
Matter	●○○○○	Speed: 10
Mind	○○○○○	Size: 5
Prime	○○○○○	Gnosis: 2
Spirit	●●○○○	Max Mana/Per Turn: 11/2
Space	○○○○○	Ritual Time: 3 hours
Time	○○○○○	Obsessions: 1

Merits

Dream ●●●
Iron Stamina ●●●
Resources ●●●○○
Striking Looks ●○
High Speech ●
Order Status (Mysterium) ●○○○○

Praxes

Coaxing the Spirits (Spirit ●)
Know Spirit (Spirit ●)

Attainments

Improved Pattern Restoration (Life ●●)
Spirit Eyes (Spirit ●●)

Rotes

Knit (Life ●●●, Empathy)
Body Control (Life ●●, Survival)
Transform Life (Life ●●●, Animal Ken)

Nimbus

Long-Term - Those around Lynx grow more passionate and intense as time passes by, and they devote more time and compassion to newfound interests.

Immediate - Totemic aspects of Lynx's magic manifest on or around him and envelop the area, e.g., his shadow appears a bear, or he looks an appropriate anthropomorphic animal; a person's nature or personality manifests as an appropriate odour, e.g., someone deceitful smells foul, somebody tranquil smells like still water.

Known totems - Bear for healing; Lynx for scrutiny and senses; Otter for water and crafts.

Signature - Remnants of fur and/or his distinct Supernal odour.

Tilt – His empowered primal charisma splashes onto those nearby, resulting in a +1 bonus on Presence rolls.

Aspirations

Get to know fellow Cabal members. (short)
Explore the Rumors Nightclub. (short)
Get to know a werewolf. (long)

Obsessions

Look for the Great Lynx from his Awakening.

Equipment

First-Aid Kit (Bonus +1, Durability 1, Size 2, Structure 3, Availability 2)
Personal Computer (Bonus +2, Durability 2, Size 3, Structure 2, Availability 2)
Smartphone (Bonus +1, Durability 2, Size 1, Structure 1, Availability 2)

Yantras & Tools

<Leatherbound Book (Order Tool)>:
Copper Cup (Path Tool): Healing spells, sharing spells.
Silver Lynx Pendant (Dedicated): Dedicated tool only. Maybe cleansing.

Details

General
Age/Birthday: 21; 05/05/?? (whichever year makes him 21)
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 9"
Build: Bear
Occupation: Student
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Nationality: Norwegian
Hair Colour: Red, wild
Eye Colour: Blue-grey
Beard: Scruffy
Sexuality: Bisexual

Picture: Basically this.

Picture 1
Picture 2

Background

Gist of the background is the same, but honestly am not really happy about it in its entirety. Will rewrite a bit later.

Childhood & Adolescence - Oscar was born in Norway, Europe. His father was a marine biologist, his mother a lawyer. His upbringing was simple enough. His parents were engrossed in their careers, so he was often left to his own devices; as a child, this involved after-school activities, television shows, books and video games, the earlier years spent with a baby sitter; as an adolescent, it involved staunch rebellion, and the lack of attention had him run away from home at the age of 17.

By ran away, of course, we mean he ran to the nearest forest of considerable size and got lost.

He wandered between trees and up hills, and eventually found himself atop the regional mountain range. At first, he thought nothing of it. Woods and lakes joined with foliage, moss lingered where the shade lay. It was when the mist settled that he felt it – the jolt of fear. The wild had its aural environment, of course, but in the mist, it grew more prominent. He started seeing shadows skulking about, felt eyes on him where there were none. Yet the fear was not unwanted – it was an exhilaration. As the tension rose, he saw the greatest shadow yet before him, its eyes set on him like predator hunting prey. In spite of the thrill, Oscar ran away then – his metaphorical tail between his legs.

He returned home the next morning. His parents chalked his absence to “just teenage things.”

The event had Oscar filled with longing, an ache he couldn't quite put his finger on. It felt like a second world existed, somewhere just out of sight. His parents and peers dismissed his thoughts and ideas whenever he brought this up, and with that, he found only solace in solitude.

Awakening - His Mystery Play had begun in the forest, but it was slow and subtle. The Supernal had trickled into his life, little by little, strengthening his sense to the “second world”, but as the repeated dismissal of his experiences by those he deemed closest to him, the trickle slowed down to a halt. At last, he felt empty.
It was merely the interlude to the events of his 22st year.

By the time Oscar was 21, his daily life was not particularly productive. Sure, he stayed in shape with frequent trips up the mountains in hopes of recapturing that feeling; he practised a little bit of art and drawing to try to remember what he had seen and felt.. He held a couple of part-time jobs, though he half-arsed his way through those without exceptional results. His academic ambitions weren't anything to brag about either. He tried to maintain some spiritualistic aspect in his life – but the emptiness had crawled into the entirety of his being. Nothing he did mattered.

One day, though, he woke up, having had a dream that he couldn't truly explain – a dream so familiar it stirred a sense of wanderlust. During one of the rare moments his family was all gathered for breakfast, he mentioned he'd like to study abroad. Though surprised, both parents were in favour, offering to pay his tuition and rent – on the condition that he later produce results. They stated the experience would serve him well. He applied to a variety of schools all around the states, landing a college close to La Grange.

The dam that kept the Supernal truth at bay burst when he landed on US soil. What would've been a simple bus trip from the airport to his apartment in La Grange became a dangerous trek through the Primal Wild. It was an encore of the fear and longing that had overwhelmed him four years ago, only this time he did not freeze when the mist washed over him, nor did he flee when he came face to face with the large and advancing shadow. When they stood face to face, he saw the shadow for what it was: the great Lynx. Without thinking Oscar embraced it as an old friend that he had known for his entire life. He embraced the Wild. He became the Lynx. The Lynx became him. At last, he was Truth. At last, he truly felt alive.

Awakened - [insert history since Awakening]

Personality and Daily Life
Though Lynx often puts on the smile – and usually he means it – he is ruled by emotion and instinct. He can be calm and (rarely) prudent, but he prefers to let loose whenever possible. He'll exclaim excitement if the situation calls for it, he'll laugh without abandon, and he doesn't care about modesty when it comes to the human body. He doesn't hide himself, and he doesn't like lying either – whatever his mood, he is easy to read.

He isn't confrontational by nature, but he is quick to judge – he measures people by how they treat their tools, their pets, their equals and lessers, and the world around them. Regardless of how he judges others, his opinion is rarely set in stone. Dislike is met with avoidance – why deal with something if you don't like it?

Lynx struggles to express himself. To him, the truth's with his gut feeling – and he can rarely justify it further than that. Then again, he was never great at analysis.

Having a lawyer and marine biologist as parents has left Lynx with an understanding of multiple topics. Many of his hobbies – none of them truly enjoyed during his darker days – are emerging again. He reads – mostly fiction – and doodles; he'll wander around the suburbs and hike through whatever woods can be found. He can find enjoyment laying spread eagle on grass, staring at the sky. The local communities have him fascinated, and he'll mingle every now and again. He visits the zoo at least once a week. He usually studies with his study group, though sometimes he prefers to do it alone, usually at the library.

Other notes

His relationship to his parents is strained. They focused more on furthering their own careers, rather than family life. They weren't really there for him - sure, they had vacations and the occasional family outing, fancy dinner at restaurant, and he does love them, but there's a definite distance between them. In many ways, Oscar fears he was a mistake in their carefully planned life, and sometimes it seems like they would love nothing more than to tell him that. They do care, though, as they had no hesitation to let him study abroad while paying for his tuition and rent. He might have a sibling or two. Currently undecided.

Character links (still WIP)

LGBT: Oscar is bisexual. He never really thought about his sexuality, but he's a curious fella. He's also a bona fide virgin. Not much for the partying scene, though, maybe bear scene? He isn't reserved, but he probably will wait for the right person for his first go. Might end up promiscuous (though let's not get too detailed about that). Considering the potential cast, it's a natural fit. That, and Thyrsus. Primal. Passionate. Yeah... LGBT is an easy link.
LITERATURE: Oscar likes (or liked, rather) to read in his youth – his passion faded away after the forest incident. After having Awakened, though, he now spends about an hour every evening catching up on fiction and fantasy (after he's half-arsed his way through studies, of course). It wouldn't be out of place for him to spend some time at the library either.
WILDLIFE: Zoos. Parks. Forests. He's a Thyrsus. When he isn't studying or reading, he's exploring. He'll wander neighbourhoods, he'll check out streets and bars, shops and what have you, but most of all, he'll check out places where animals frequent. Bonding with somebody who'll do a morning jog through some forest trails or the park is a possibility.

Individual characters:

This section is WIP for now.

Callie (squidheadjax): Lynx is probably fascinated with Callie in many ways, in particular how ... true? she is with herself (on account of her 3 Dots of Shadow Name). However, he is also slightly reserved, since she's a Guardian, and her nimbus reminds him a lot of his depression a couple of years back.

Eurydice's Heir (Second Chances): Lynx is very engaged in helping the Heir understand the nature of Spirits, and as a Moros, Lynx is likewise looking for guidance in how to understand the Matter arcanum. Lynx also finds him physically appealing (because that beard, woof).

Fatewise (dArchon5): Lynx and Fatewise both being Mystagogues probably have a lot in common when it comes to the acquisition of knowledge. He is also interested in the Fate arcanum. However, Fatewise also makes Lynx feel a little frustrated due to her superior intelligence, academics and occult abilities, which makes her seem like a better fit for the Mysterium as a whole.

Morganna (DrSteve): Lynx is engaged with Morganna when it comes to the Spirit arcanum, though he's dubious about the nature of Goetia - reflecting Mind being his inferior as a Thyrsus. He is also a little uneasy with her as an individual, since she can be difficult to read due to her astounding Subterfuge skill.

RAGNAR (DEFUNCT): I believe we agreed on University as the primary link. LGBT study group, and Ragnar is the TA to Vo's FYS class. Probably the closest bond. Lynx might be studying Comparative Literature, strengthening that bond even further. All subject to Ragnar/Haberdasher's approval, obviously.
MOONSTONE( DEFUNCT): There's no predetermined link. If they met, LGBT scene? I can't think of anything else.
DR. ASPHODEL / Vo (DEFUNCT): Participant in her FYS class. At U of Chicago.
PHOENIX (DEFUNCT): No predetermined link yet. Dojo, library, LGBT scene, Binder's bookstore...
BINDER / Marlin (DEFUNCT): As MagicSwordsman suggested, Lynx probably has visited his bookstore, or they've met at the library.

Status

Experience Log

Changelog

**rwknoll** · 10-24-2020, 02:02 PM

Thanks Lynx! I dig the new background, I know it’s a work in progress and that’s fine.

Don’t forget to add a new praxis since you are Gnosis 2.

Do you think Raven would still be a good fit for him as a mentor, based on what you remember? Is there a different character you like more? Or would you like to create an NPC mage who would serve as his mentor?

**Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon** · 10-24-2020, 02:42 PM

Originally posted by rwknoll View Post

Thanks Lynx! I dig the new background, I know it’s a work in progress and that’s fine.

Don’t forget to add a new praxis since you are Gnosis 2.

Do you think Raven would still be a good fit for him as a mentor, based on what you remember? Is there a different character you like more? Or would you like to create an NPC mage who would serve as his mentor?

Ooh, second praxis, woo.

I honestly don't remember Raven very much at all at the moment. I'll give it some thought.

**squidheadjax** · 10-25-2020, 06:00 AM

Stealing Lynx's kickass sheet formatting.

Caliginosa ('Callie' will do) Character Sheet

Shadow Name: Caliginosa	Player: Squidheadjax	Concept: Magical Thief and Artifact Retriever	Path: Obrimos
Alternate Name: Candace Fergusson	Chronicle: Supernal Suburbia	Virtue: Generous	Order: Guardians
Sympathetic Name: Michelle Bianchi	Cabal: [insert cabal]	Vice: Addictive	Legacy:

ATTRIBUTES
Mental		Physical		Social
Intelligence	●●○○○	Strength	●●○○○	Presence	●●○○○
Wits	●●●○○	Dexterity	●●●●○	Manipulation	●○○○○
Resolve	●●●○○	Stamina	●●○○○	Composure	●●●○○
SKILLS
Mental		Physical		Social
Academics	○○○○○	Athletics	●●●○○	Animal Ken	○○○○○
Computer	●○○○○	Brawl	●●○○○(Krav Maga)	Empathy	●○○○○
Crafts	○○○○○	Drive	○○○○○	Expression	○○○○○
Investigation	●●○○○(Casing)	Firearms	○○○○○	Intimidation	○○○○○
Medicine	○○○○○	Larceny	●●●○○	Persuasion	○○○○○
Occult	●●○○○ (Objects of Power)	Stealth	●●●○○	Socialize	●○○○○
Politics	○○○○○	Survival	○○○○○	Streetwise	●●○○○
Science	○○○○○	Weaponry	○○○○○	Subterfuge	●●●○○

ARCANA		ADVANTAGES
Death	○○○○○	Health: 7
Fate	○○○○○	Willpower: 6
Forces	●●●○○	Defense: 6
Life	○○○○○	Initiative: 7
Matter	●●○○○	Speed: 11
Mind	○○○○○	Size: 5
Prime	●○○○○	Gnosis: 2
Spirit	○○○○○	Max Mana/Per Turn: 11/2
Space	○○○○○	Ritual Time: 3 hours
Time	○○○○○	Obsessions: 1

Merits

Status: Guardians of the Veil ●
High Speech ●●
Shadow Name ●●●
Safe Place ●
Fighting Finesse: Brawl ●●
Professional Training (Burglar) ●●
- Contacts: Fences, Organized Crime
Alternate Identity (Candace Fergusson) ●
Martial Arts (Leg Kick) ●

Praxes

Control Electricity (Forces ●)
Detect Substance (Matter ●, Forces ●●)

Attainments

Permanence (Matter ●●)
Precise Force (Forces ●●)

Rotes

Remote Control (Matter ●, Larceny, Guardians, "The Yielding Lock")
Shaping (Matter ●●, Larceny, Guardians, "Make Your Own Door")
Kinetic Blow (Forces ●●, Stealth, Guardians, "Invisible Cudgel")

Nimbus

Long-Term - The concept of possession is muted around Caliginosa, with intense feelings towards one's own belongings fading and greying, and inhibitions towards taking and using others' belongings receding.

Immediate - The feeling of shadowy, damp fog suffuses through the area as she sucks energy out of the air.

Signature - A persistent, partly-obscuring mist with vortices faintly reminiscent of grasping tendrils.

Tilt – The clarity of the Fallen world's pathetic imitation of truth muffles around her, imparting +1 and 8-again to Subterfuge rolls.

Aspirations

Get to know fellow Cabal members. (short)
Casually steal a car to get somewhere. (short)
Prove herself worthy of advancement. (long)

Obsessions

Collect and secure objects of power

Equipment

A few steel knives ( Damage 0 Init -1 Range 8)
2 prepaid smartphones (One for close contacts like the Cabal and the Guardians, the other for burning)
Lockpick set
Clothes, including grey hoodie and grey hooded cloak
Not much else

Yantras & Tools

Steel knives (Path tool): Aggressive spells, reshaping spells
Cosmetic mirror (Path Tool): Self-buffs, especially veils
Her simple lockpick set (Dedicated): Reshaping spells, rune-carving

Details

General
Age/Birthday: 20; October 13th
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 3"
Build: Waif
Occupation: Thief
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Nationality: Italian/Irish
Hair Colour: Red (natural), Silver (usual wig)
Eye Colour: Amber
Sexuality: Lesbian

Pictures:

Background

Before Awakening, Michelle was a 'professional' thief, more or less. She didn't grow up poor or anything like that; it just came naturally to her. (Call her a kleptomaniac and you're asking for a grumpy spark from a nearby wall socket, but she'll grudgingly agree with you too.) Privilege and her parents' money kept her from catching worse than community service when she was caught while still a minor, but they never chose to confront whatever the actual problem was and just assumed their daughter would grow out of it, and at least she hadn't run off god-knows-where* like that Price girl she'd hung out with**. It's not like she was some hardened criminal, they figured, since one of the ways she kept getting caught was passing the goods on to someone she thought needed it more. (The other way was that she really couldn't lie with great skill.)

*Libby Price is one of the recent La Grange children to vanish without a trace, and one of those who (as of yet) haven’t come back.
**Dated, actually, not that she felt she could tell her parents.

Of course she didn't grow out of it, and when she went into Chicago for university she was soon getting into the same habits, and then quickly figured out which pawn shops nearby were truly in the business of fencing. Accordingly, she got the attention of the locals - both those of the criminal persuasion and the police (to the extent that didn’t overlap) - which is why she got kicked out of uni before ever deciding a major. Michelle couldn’t really just go home at that point, not to the disapproval at best that would await her. She managed to keep up enough ‘income’ to pay for a shitty hotel room with cash week-to-week, as long as she only ate what she could get away with shoplifting. Which… wasn’t really tenable. A pawn shop owner knew a guy who knew a guy and they were looking for some people. She was afraid it was going to be the Mafia or something, but she needed work. As it turned out, the Mafia would have been a lot less weird.
Mickey Jim’s* crew lived large, to an extent that positively mystified Michelle, especially with how few actual jobs they pulled. And she was never entirely sure if the worship toward the golden bull statue in the center of their ‘hideout’ was real or just debauchedly ironic. Or if that girl she spent a night with really had darkly prismatic wings, or if that was just the Ecstasy. And they only ever ran jobs right after whatever freaky weather Chicago sometimes had. It all seemed strangely normal and yet surreal at the time. She also didn’t get why most of the crew just seemed to be desperate hangers-on, passing money up from whatever small jobs they did and getting used for crappy, risky roles like lookouts, couriers, and such in exchange for basking in the revelry while she was brought into the core who seemed to actually do things.** And the jobs were… weird. Mickey Jim didn’t even seem to pick the locks he opened some of the time, and seemed to always know what the keycodes and combinations were.. Ivy could just slip her way through any security with perfect timing. Benny talked to security guards, mob enforcers and police who were getting ready to break knees to shoot like they were old friends. Mercy had these nurses… well they gave the impression of being nurses anyway, sort of… to patch people up while she just waited. And despite being ostensibly criminals, they carried themselves like they ruled the world.

*Michelle never figured out how he got that moniker, which is probably for the best.
**In retrospect, she figures her Awakening was already starting, and the Pylon was trying to guide it and groom her.
Maybe if she’d had more time to be drawn in, she would have ended up staying… but the Deathstorm happened. Mickey Jim and Benny disappeared, Mercy’s nurses went berserk, and Ivy apparently knew in advance to make herself scarce. Michelle felt something like a wall coming down or a rubber band snapping, and then the police were raiding the hideout. In a panic, she escaped through a door that she didn’t remember, into… nowhere.

Awakening - A maze of alleys, unlike any actual place in Chicago. Doors, all locked doors. A maze… a labyrinth. And all she really had with her were her lockpicks. But… doors. She could do doors. With lockpicks. But sometimes she’d pick a door, and just come out in a mirror of the alleys she was just in. Sometimes she’d end up… somewhere else. Bright and searing, like her mother’s disapproval. Or a swirling haze of heat like she’d felt when she first kissed Libby. Or the cold, clammy fear of knowing she’d been caught again.
Sometimes they opened somewhere she’d been in before. The museum where that statue was waiting. It shouldn’t have been there, but it shouldn’t have been where they took it, either. Michelle knew that now. The doorways curled back on themselves, halls twisting and churning to bring her back to that storage room where the brass thing had screamed as Mercy touched it. But that’s not what happened. Not what she remembered. Mercy hadn’t even been… she hadn’t… she had. The memories overlapped, what her mind insisted happened but she knew wasn’t true, and what her mind insisted was impossible but it was burned into the world, breaking through to her awareness like cracks forming in a pipe about to burst. More impossible memories, more wrongness, more sin against the world that could and should be but was held in barbed chains of iniquity…
She curled up against one of those treacherous doorways, crying and screaming. “I don’t want this! I’m not this! I’m not-”
And she fell back through the open door, into the wide open park, in the middle of the day. Lincoln Park? Or somewhere else? She wasn’t sure. There’d been some big charity thing for… kids with cancer or whatever. She’d palmed a roll of 20s into the collection box. It had felt… good. Oh. Right. This was the day it rained frogs. Lots of screaming children. She’d been told to catch as many frogs as she could. Which… made no sense at all. But it was what it was. All she’d gotten was a pile of squirming, broken bodies. No, this time one of the frogs was fat, far too fat, and the poor thing’s skin split to disgorge a pearl. It’s murky, grey, not like a pearl should be. The world is grey, foggy, twilight, but with more and more light growing blinding. All the park is gone now, except… is that a statue plinth? It’s calling to her. Something… She feels the urge to scratch her name into it, with her lockpicks. It’s a name that’s not her name, something cloudy, hard to see.
And then, she woke up, and there was a man standing over her. Immaculately dressed, especially in comparison to her grubby, torn hoodie. “A pleasure to meet you. My name is Valentine.”
It wasn’t hard to recruit her into the Guardians, particularly in the role of retrieving things from people that shouldn’t have them. Like the crew she’d been running with before. She could set all the wrongness… right.

Awakened - [insert history since Awakening]

Daily Life
Michelle is back in La Grange… or rather, Candice Fergusson is. She’s renting a small basement apartment on Kensington Street, paid in cash, to a little old lady who doesn’t particularly care what sort of callers she has as long as they’re not loud. As a newly minted Guardian, this posting back home is more or less a chance to prove herself worthy of actual mentorship, sweeping up after the issues and Supernal debris left by the Lie Zones. With not much in the way of logistical support for now, she’s having to steal to pay for the apartment (she could try to get a lower-stakes job with her fake ID, but that’d still be a risk). Stealing from Sleepers isn’t particularly hard, though safely laundering stolen items into cash is a little harder and rate-limiting. It helps that she can screw with the serial numbers and other ways to track what she steals, but overdoing it as a one-woman crime wave will cut off options.

Modus Operandi

Magical thief Caliginosa is a persona pretty thoroughly divorced from her old life, as well as her fake Sleeper identity. The main costume elements are a grey hooded garment - either a hoodie, to look more normal, or a cloak, to have better options to conceal big stuff - and a frosted silver wig, a theme of shadowy grey overall. She can draw on it for pretty much anything sneaky or spooky; she’s not going to be standing in the middle of town and tossing fireballs around Harry Dresden style as long as she has a choice, anyway. Her Dedicated Tool is her lockpick set - sometimes waving a pick like a magic wand, or often lightly scratching symbols into something. With those and High Speech at her disposal, she doesn’t dive deeply into other tools much, though she keeps a pocket mirror and knives with her at all times.

As she’s living entirely on stolen cash, disposable income isn’t really a thing right now. She has two prepaid phones (one for the Cabal and the Guardians, one for outside business so she can burn it if need be), her lockpicks, a few knives, and that’s basically it.

While Michelle’s not a warrior, she can defend herself. She first learned some fighting from dealing with her two brothers, but her parents insisted she take self-defense classes. The stripmall dojo they picked out taught Krav Maga. It’s good for close-in situations and fighting dirty to escape, at least. Between her kinetic energy rote and her preference to stay invisible and silent when she expects a fight, she can supercharge that into a disabling blow.

Character links

LGBT: Michelle is gay, and her parents' attitude towards that is one of the several reasons she won't be revealing herself to her family again any time soon.
FAMILY: ...unless something threatens her family, especially her little brother George or her Pop-pop and Nan who also live nearby.
CRIME: She's working on a rep in the Sleeper criminal world... maybe she can even eventually found a mystery cult that's, like, the good version of the Pylon that tried to take her in.

Individual characters (TBD):

Lynx: she probably thinks 'loud and judgy', which is less than fair and will probably change.
Eurydice's Heir: she's not a fan of being confrontational about things... but she's going to want to learn Death magic (great for covering mundane evidence!), so likely to try and be ingratiating.
Fatewise: perceptive enough to make Callie a little instinctively anxious. She might also think Rene is leaning into the 'witch' thing a little too dramatically, but that's very pot-and-kettle.
Morganna: What Callie thinks of her will partly depend on how much of her background she reveals. Respect for her as an ex-con, and also as a thief for actually being successful in a MLM. Callie is probably also an embarassingly easy mark where Morganna is concerned, especially with those Striking Looks (btw, in 2e it's only 1 dot per level, so she'd have level 2).

Status

Experience Log

**squidheadjax** · 10-26-2020, 08:20 PM

So, how is it?

**rwknoll** · 10-26-2020, 08:34 PM

I've been really busy for the past few days with family and work stuff. Initial skim of the character sheet is awesome. I have a few additional thoughts for you and a few other players, just need some time to catch up on a few things. I'll try to post with more hepful feedback later tonight or tomorrow.

**squidheadjax** · 10-27-2020, 01:02 AM

Cool.

(10 character padding)

**rwknoll** · 10-30-2020, 10:39 AM

Hi everyone! Happy Friday. Hope your week has been going well.

A few updates on my schedule. Due to a change in my work schedule on Thursdays, I now have a few hours in the morning during which I have some down time before I go to work. I'll also be working later, and sometimes the evenings are not as busy, so I might have extra time at night to respond. I also will now be teleworking on Friday, and it's easier for me to post on Friday because those days also tend to be faster and I don't have to deal with a firewall. This means that in general, Thursday - Sunday is going to be my prime time for responding. I'll still try to post throughout the week to keep everything moving, though.

Another topic I just wanted to clarify that came up with the original group as well. This is a LGBT+ friendly game and you are absolutely welcome to explore gender, sexuality, and more with your character if you want to. Mage is an adult themed game and I trust we can all be mature about this with regards to roleplaying. Any "on camera" scenes involving sex need to be described sensitively and tastefully (no explicit details), and in compliance with the forum's rules on sexually explicit content. Also, please do not by any means feel compelled or obligated to make this part of your character. Being part of the LGBT+ community is not a requirement for your background.

Before I am ready to put up the initial posts and start the game, I still need the following:

Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon (Lynx):
(1) Mentor: Please decide on which existing NPC you'd like to be your Order mentor, or give me a general, brief character concept of a new NPC and I will start to flesh them out myself. If you have questions about an NPC posted on the "List of Supporting Characters" section on the IC thread, let me know. Raven was your previous mentor. She is kind of an enigma and sort of strange at times. She has her sanctum in Bemis Woods. She was the mage who brought you into the Spirit World to teach you basics of how to use Spirit mage to influence those ephemera. If you click on the link on her name on the "List of Supporting Characters" post, it brings you to the IC post when you first met her, and that might refresh your memory.

(2) Residence: I need a general description of what kind of house/apartment/shelter you live in and where it is generally located.

Second Chances (Eurydice’s Heir):
(1) Character sheet: I need you to make a post in the OOC thread with your actual game stats. Please use the same post to include all of the additional information we need to know about your character (aspirations/Obsessions, background, photo, etc.).

(2) Aspirations/Obsession: Your Obsession is probably more appropriate for a short-term aspiration. And honestly, your mentor will probably start as an adept in at least one arcanum, so you could easily pick a mentor who starts with Spirit 4. An Obsession should be like a long-term aspiration that relates specifically to the Supernal realms, a specific known Mystery, or something else related to the Awakened world or magic. Your long-term aspiration might possibly be a better fit as an Obsession, but you might consider something broader like "study goetia of Greek mythological concepts." Please tweak your aspirations/Obsession accordingly.

(3) Background: Please flesh out more details about your background. This doesn't need to be lengthy, but it should provide a little more clarification about who Eurydice's Heir is both pre- and post-Awakening.

(4) Photo: Please post a link to a photo or photos that represent how you view your character.

(5) Mentor: Please decide on which existing NPC you'd like to be your Order mentor, or give me a general, brief character concept of a new NPC and I will start to flesh them out myself. If you have questions about an NPC posted on the "List of Supporting Characters" section on the IC thread, let me know.

(6) Residence: I need a general description of what kind of house/apartment/shelter you live in and where it is generally located.

(7) Character and setting connections: Please come up with at least 3 general links to the setting and/or other characters. Look to Lynx or Caliginosa's character sheet for examples.

DrSteve (Morganna):
(1) Aspirations/Obsession: Can you clarify what you mean by “be less scared”? Or perhaps rephrase this a bit? Your other aspirations/Obsession are great.

(2) Background: You made a few posts after I asked follow-up questions with information about your background and Hannah pre- and post-Awakening. Please consolidate the extra information into one post, as well as the rest of the requested information listed here.

(3) Photo: Please post a link to a photo or photos that represent how you view your character.

(4) Mentor: Please decide on which existing NPC you'd like to be your Order mentor, or give me a general, brief character concept of a new NPC and I will start to flesh them out myself. If you have questions about an NPC posted on the "List of Supporting Characters" section on the IC thread, let me know.

(5) Residence: I need a general description of what kind of house/apartment/shelter you live in and where it is generally located.

(6) Character and setting connections: Please come up with at least 3 general links to the setting and/or other characters. Look to Lynx or Caliginosa's character sheet for examples.

DArchon5 (Fatewise):
(1) Character sheet: I need you to make a post in the OOC thread with your actual game stats. Please use the same post to include all of the additional information we need to know about your character (aspirations/Obsessions, background, photo, etc.).

(2) Aspirations/Obsession: Please come up with 3 aspirations (2 short-term, 1 long-term) and 1 Obsession per the standard character creation rules.

(3) Background: Please continue to finalize details about your character, and consolidate into one larger post with your character sheet and all of the other requested information listed here.

(4) Photo: Please post a link to a photo or photos that represent how you view your character.

(5) Mentor: Please decide on which existing NPC you'd like to be your Order mentor, or give me a general, brief character concept of a new NPC and I will start to flesh them out myself. If you have questions about an NPC posted on the "List of Supporting Characters" section on the IC thread, let me know.

(6) Residence: I need a general description of what kind of house/apartment/shelter you live in and where it is generally located.:

(7) Character and setting connections: Please come up with at least 3 general links to the setting and/or other characters. Look to Lynx or Caliginosa's character sheet for examples.

squidheadjax (Caliginosa):
As far as I can tell, your character is completely ready to go! Thank you!

And just to help motivate us all to keep moving, anyone who has all of the above to-do list complete before I wake up on Monday morning (around 6 am EST, or GMT-4 currently) can start with a free Beat.

**Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon** · 10-30-2020, 11:04 AM

Originally posted by rwknoll View Post

(1) Mentor: Please decide on which existing NPC you'd like to be your Order mentor, or give me a general, brief character concept of a new NPC and I will start to flesh them out myself. If you have questions about an NPC posted on the "List of Supporting Characters" section on the IC thread, let me know. Raven was your previous mentor. She is kind of an enigma and sort of strange at times. She has her sanctum in Bemis Woods. She was the mage who brought you into the Spirit World to teach you basics of how to use Spirit mage to influence those ephemera. If you click on the link on her name on the "List of Supporting Characters" post, it brings you to the IC post when you first met her, and that might refresh your memory.

(2) Residence: I need a general description of what kind of house/apartment/shelter you live in and where it is generally located.

1: I'll stick with Raven, just to keep it simple. Reading up on her demeanour, it seems right for Lynx.

2: With Resources 3, I imagine Lynx has a small but comfortable basement apartment in the suburbs. Private owner, perhaps? That could be a plot point. Or hindrance. Or werewolf. Who knows. Maybe 10-20 minutes away from the university by foot? In the north-west, not too far away from the Bemis Woods, since the place has importance to Lynx, and coincidences are a thing.

Tell me if you need more.

**squidheadjax** · 10-30-2020, 11:53 AM

Whoo! I'm so not used to actually being early instead of the straggler ^^

**Second Chances** · 10-30-2020, 02:39 PM

Ha, that's a great way to encourage people XD

**DArchon5** · 10-31-2020, 03:58 AM

Sorry for being quiet for so long. Got buried under a ton of projects. Anyway, here's what I have of Rene's character sheet. Background TBA.

Also stealing Lynx's formatting.

Fatewise Character Sheet

Shadow Name: Fatewise	Player: drearyArchon	Concept: Burdened by Knowledge	Path: Acanthus
Alternate Name: N/A	Chronicle: Supernal Suburbia	Virtue: Responsible	Order: Mysterium
Sympathetic Name: Rene Fraser	Cabal: [insert cabal]	Vice: Curious	Legacy:

ATTRIBUTES
Mental		Physical		Social
Intelligence	●●●○○	Strength	●●○○○	Presence	●●○○○
Wits	●●●○○	Dexterity	●●○○○	Manipulation	●●○○○
Resolve	●●●○○	Stamina	●●○○○	Composure	●●●○○
SKILLS
Mental		Physical		Social
Academics	●●●○○ (Research*)	Athletics	●●○○○ (Aimed Spells)	Animal Ken	○○○○○
Computer	○○○○○	Brawl	○○○○○	Empathy	●●●○○ (Lies)
Crafts	○○○○○	Drive	○○○○○	Expression	●●○○○
Investigation <R>	●●●○○	Firearms	○○○○○	Intimidation	○○○○○
Medicine	●○○○○	Larceny	○○○○○	Persuasion	●○○○○
Occult <R>	●●●●○	Stealth	●○○○○	Socialize	○○○○○
Politics	○○○○○	Survival <R>	●○○○○	Streetwise	○○○○○
Science	●○○○○	Weaponry	○○○○○	Subterfuge	●○○○○

ARCANA		ADVANTAGES
Death	○○○○○	Health: 7
Fate	●●●○○	Willpower: 6
Forces	○○○○○	Defense: 6
Life	○○○○○	Initiative: 7
Matter	○○○○○	Speed: 11
Mind	●○○○○	Size: 5
Prime	●○○○○	Gnosis: 2
Spirit	○○○○○	Max Mana/Per Turn: 11/2
Space	○○○○○	Ritual Time: 3 hours
Time	●○○○○	Obsessions: 1

Merits

Status: Mysterium ●
High Speech ●
Potent Nimbus ●
Area of Expertise (Research) ●
Eidetic Memory ●●
Interdisciplinary Specialty (Research) ●
Mentor ●
Shadow Name (Fatewise) ●
Trained Observer ●●●

Praxes

Shifting the Odds (Fate ●●)
Supernal Vision (Prime ●)

Attainments

Counterspell (Fate, Mind, Prime, Time ●)
Conditional Duration (Fate ●●)
Targeted Summoning (Fate ●●●)

Rotes

<Exceptional Luck (Fate ●●, Occult)>
<Pierce Deception (Prime ●, Occult)>
<Divination (Time ●, Investigation)>

Nimbus

Long-Term - Great bouts of luck, both good and bad, become more common and more intense. Rather than just finding a penny or a dollar on the ground, people find entire wallets without identification in them. Rather than just tripping, people would trip down several flights of stairs. Misfortune rarely results in actual death, but injuries are fair game.

Immediate - Random events appear to fall into place at just the right moment to further or distrupt Rene's actions. Golden strings of light can casionally be seen criscrossing the space around her, guiding things to their fate.

Signature - Golden strings that surround the subject, pulling them and being pulled in turn.

Tilt – Those affected by Rene's Nimbus can somewhat see the golden strings that occasionally surrounds her. This grants +1 to Wits, +1 to Investigation, and 8-Again to Investigation.

Aspirations

Get to know fellow Cabal members. (Short)
Research fellow Cabal members. Just in case. (Short)
Subvert other's expectations of youurself. (Long)

Obsessions

Figure out what's going on with your brother.

Equipment

A smartphone.
A pair of knitting needles.
A crystal ball she bought upon finding out she's some sort of witch.
A silver goblet her father had lying around. Possibly a family heirloom.
A crystalline rodher Mentor gave to her. More than likely a failed experiment of some kind he's putting to use.
A deck of tarot cards.
Clothes. Most notably a short cloak she used to use as a base for her haloween costumes.
Likes to improvise with whatever she could get her hands on.
Trying to get her hands on perfected materials, like Lunargent.

Yantras & Tools

Needles (Path tool): Subtle spells, spells singling out a specific target.
Silver Goblet (Path Tool): Perception and divination magic, 'drinking from the well of knowledge'. Also used for spells that affect the self.
Tarot Deck (-):
Crystal Rod (Dedicated): Spells that command and rule, and spells that directly manipulate the world.

Details

General
Age/Birthday: 19; January 3rd
Gender: Female
Height: 5' 3"
Build: Average
Occupation: Highschool Graduate
Ethnicity: -
Nationality: American
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye Colour: Gold
Sexuality: -

Pictures:

Background

She's a girl who was born in Chicago and moved to La Grange. Her father raised her and she never knew her mother. Dear old dad always changes the subject or goes silent when the topic inevitably rolls around, and his relatives either don't know or are silent as well. She has confirmed he's her biological dad at least.

She has a bit of a thing of being a maelstrom of luck. Her luck Nimbus essentially being something that had followed her all through her life, and getting stronger after she Awakened. She got treated as cursed by her classmates in middle school and eventually some of the parents as well. She and her dad moved to La Grange to get away from it all.

Rene has a bit of an interest in superstitions involving luck and fate, particularly Tarot cards, which I'll probably make as one of her Path Tools somehow. While she does hide the whole 'probably cursed' thing from her friends, she has more or less learned to live with it. After a while of living with strange luck, you learn to minimize the bad sides and exploit the good sides.

Jack lived a similar life, having been born and raised in La Grange. His dad died a while back and his mother has been trying to raise her son alone for years. He's a bit abrasive and blunt, but tends to cut to the heart of issues to lay it bare. Sometimes this solves things, other times it just makes it more obvious to everyone watching. Once Jack makes a promise he'ss go through hell and high water to keep it.

Rene's dad and Jack's mom met in La Grange and got engaged. They actually still have two homes since one of them hasn't gotten sold yet, but the two families have started moving in with one another.

Rene and Jack were cold to each other at first, but eventually Jack reached out since he realizes his problem is more with his mom getting married than with Rene. They promise to try getting closer. That night, Jack gets replaced by the Fetch.

Jack got cold again and Rene sort of accepts that Jack doesn't actually want anything to do with her, but some part of her knows this isn't the case. During the Deathstorm, things got to ahead in her Mystery Play.

She's confronted with the fact that she's trying to protect herself with flimsy lies even when she knows something's wrong with Jack. She Awakens and she resolves to find out whats going

She finds out about the Pentacle Orders and joins the Mystagogues since they have the most information. Her mentor is [Insert Someone Here]

Jack is captured by the True Fae and has been forced into the role of the 'Hero' of the Fae's story. Each time, he would be clad in armor of resolve and armed with a sword called hope. He would scale up the thousand levels of the Fae's tower, avoiding traps and fighting its minions.

At the top, he would confront the Fae in the form of a great beast, a nightmarish Manticore invincible to normal arms. They would fight and at the end, Jack would trust the sword through the beast's chest.

Only to see the blade shatter.

The monster would then hurl Jack off of the Tower, falling a thousand levels down to the jagged rocks beneath. He would survive, but his armor would break during the fall.

The servants of the Fae at the bottom would reforge his resolve and hope into a set of armor and weapons and force him up the Tower once more.

And so the cycle continues.

Daily Life
Investigating Jack and Researching the Supernal

Modus Operandi

Less of an MO and more of a fact of her existence. A storm of coincidences and lucky breaks, far too numerous to be natural.

Character links

DESTINY: Rene is a locus of fate, often getting tangled up in others problems and stories. Chances are, she's previously met the important people she will encounter and walked away from it with some insight as to their character. Destiny's idea of foreshadowing things to her. This also sometimes manifests as literal foreshadowing, ominous events appearing around her as a portent of things to come.
FAMILY: Rene's brother, Jack, is currently living out his Durance in Arcadia, battling the shapeshifting True Fae that keeps him hostage. The Tragic Hero to the Fae's Villain. Jack's Fetch has only recently appeared, though both Rene and Jack's mother has begun suspecting something is wrong. They've yet to figure out what however. Moving on, Rene's father, Harold Fraser, has recently married Dr. Sylvia Flores, Jack's Mother, and they all currently live in the Fraser's home. Dr. Flores has opted to not change her name so as to not confuse her patients, and Mr. Fraser agreed to it on the grounds of less paperwork they have to waste their time on. Harold and Slyvia do care deeply about their children, biological or otherwise, but they do have a problem in properly understanding them. A product of their busy schedules. It's honestly a miracle they found time to date and get married as it is.
LITERATURE: Rene quite loves books and so does her luck. She loves reading and learning about new things, and is often found seeking out new books in shops and libraries, having quickly read through her last batch. Her luck often helps her with this, as she often quickly finds just the book with the information she needs, even if she didn't know she would need it yet.

Individual characters (TBD):

Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon - LYNX: He brings to mind an older version of her brother, which firmly places him in the category of annoying. She does make an effort to be friendly to him, however. Something of a mix between extending her promise to try to get along with her brother and solidarity for being in the same Order.
Second Chances - EURYDICE'S HEIR: Spirits and ghosts are simply another part of Fatewise's occult interests, and she would be glad to take notes from her cabalmate's experiments. Considering her lack of Spirit or Death Sight, she might have trouble interpreting his ramblings at first, but Fatewise is nothing if not meticulous and observant.
DrSteve - MORGANNA: Considering her Shadow Name, Rene may find her of interest once she learns more of Fetches and the Fae.
squidheadjax - CALIGNIGOSA: Fatewise doesn't like how sneaky Callie is, even with her being able to spot the Mastigos better than most. It makes her concerned about what else Callie does, unseen by the others.

Status

Experience Log

**rwknoll** · 10-31-2020, 09:16 AM

Originally posted by Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon View Post

1: I'll stick with Raven, just to keep it simple. Reading up on her demeanour, it seems right for Lynx.

2: With Resources 3, I imagine Lynx has a small but comfortable basement apartment in the suburbs. Private owner, perhaps? That could be a plot point. Or hindrance. Or werewolf. Who knows. Maybe 10-20 minutes away from the university by foot? In the north-west, not too far away from the Bemis Woods, since the place has importance to Lynx, and coincidences are a thing.

Tell me if you need more.

Ok, Raven it is! I think it will be cool to flesh out her character more.

So with 3 Resources and your background, I feel like Lynx’s parents are helping to pay for his rent for a nice 1-2 bedroom apartment that probably costs in the $900-1,100 range. It could be in a small apartment complex and I could introduce NPCs from there, either the landlord or another tenant.

In the old background, several of the characters were students or instructors at the University of Chicago and attended classes downtown. Since no one else in this group is a college student (at least from what I’ve seen), we could pick a college closer to the suburbs.

There actually aren’t any community colleges or full 4-year colleges or universities in La Grange. I actually might suggest Elmhurst College (renamed to Elmhurst University in 2020). It is only a 10-15 minute drive or train ride away from La Grange, just northwest of La Grange and only a few minutes away from the northwest corner of the woods and forest. The college is a private liberal arts college with a Christian affiliation. Coincidentally, the particular affiliation is with a liberal denomination that is pro-LGBT+ and openly affirms same-sex marriage and gay pastors. I think with Lynx’s background and his yearning for a deeper spiritual connection around the time of his Awakening, this might make the college a good fit for him. Thoughts?

DArchon5 - The character sheet is looking great. Only two corrections I see. First, the updated/errata for MtAw 2E says you start with only 3 rotes, not 6 dots of rotes. Please review your rote selection. Also, you get a number of bonuses to the Nimbus tilt equal to half of your Gnosis rounded up, so only one bonus at Gnosis 2. So you could take Wits +1, or Investigation +1 and 8-again, but not both.

Announcement

[OOC] [Mage: the Awakening 2E] The Supernal Suburbia

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment