Character Sheet
Name: Miriam Green
Shadow Name: Morata
Age: Sixteen.
Gender: Female

Path: Mastigos.
Gnosis: 3
Mana: 4/12
Wisdom: 7

Arcana: Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 1, (In Progress) Spirit 1

Aspirations: Unlock the Secrets of the Fire.

Obsessions:

Virtue: Faith
Vice: Curiosity

Health: 8/8
Willpower: 7/7
Defense: 2
Destiny (Merit): 4/4

XP: 0
Arcane XP: 1

Attributes:

Strength 3, Dexterity 2*, Stamina 3
Presence 2*, Manipulation 2*, Composure 3*
Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Aspects:

Promising High School Student (4): She's smart and well liked around school. In fact, she has a pretty good grasp of not merely the basics of high-school learning, but even the things that are up to the senior year. Beyond what a person might learn in a she's a little lost, and so there are limits as to the kinds of things she'd know about, but if it can be found in a textbook she might have read, she's probably read it. As well, she knows how to plan her time, to get along with other people at school and not get into fights, and otherwise do well in this respect. She's best at history.

Preacher's Daughter (3): Growing up with a father who tells the gospel word, you learn how to mimic the way he gives sermons, quote the bible chapter and verse, and know more than a little about how to interact with people and their religions, faiths, and how churches function. Whether it is mingling after church, being a sounding board for her father's sermons, or playing games that involve reciting long passages of the bible from memory, she is good at it.

*A Bit of a Tomboy (2): She's really at the age where you're supposed to outgrow this sort of thing, really. But she still likes climbing things, she still likes running around the school, she still knows a little about getting into a scrap, even if she hasn't actually gotten into a fight since...well, a few years. She's keen, athletic, and very, very interested in baseball (boo, Kansas City Monarchs, boo!) which she read about, not having a radio, and that being fledgling besides. In any wise, it certainly isn't fading with time, and it's given her a set of interests and hobbies that meshes quite interestingly with her obvious piety and (reasonably, mostly) obedient nature.

Breaker of Chains (2): Abraham Lincoln was a swell guy, in her opinion. Her own father's involvement in the NAACP and her engagement in High School history has made it so that she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable on race issues, and quite talkative about them in the right circumstances. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, of course, around older white men or the like, but she has her opinions and she wears them on her sleeve, and that includes knowing a lot of things most girls her age wouldn't know about, academically and otherwise.

A Practicing Mage (2): While Morata has a lot to learn, and has only been practicing magic for a short time, she is now fully settling into magical society. She knows the Orders, and more than that she is starting to understand both the personalities and how magic truly works. It is a long journey, but she has taken another step forward.

Can We Keep Him? (1): She has had dogs and cats before, and currently has one of each, which she of course does all of the work taking care of, because her mom said that if she had to deal with that, she'd throw them out. She has a bit of a way with animals, and after the third or fourth stray, also with people and convincing them to go along with her quite innocent and well-meaning requests.

Problem Solver (1): Kids in her neighborhood and at school tend to trust and like her, or at least she's tried to be liked, and even go to her for help sometimes, whether of an academic nature or just to see what she has to say. She's not exactly a local guru or anything, but she's clever and tends to be able to help people with minor problems, or dispense advice, even if that advice is often enough 'Really, you should tell your parents, they're gonna find out, you know, and if they find out and you didn't tell them, they'll cane your hide raw.'

Sneaking The Cookie Jar (1): She's not a dishonest person, but being someone with a lot of friends means that you sometimes know how to lie for them, and more than that, that you know a little about sneaking an extra quarter here and there. Whenever caught she's full of contrition, and more than that she's not a fundamentally dishonest person, but...well, she knows plenty of people who deserve an extra cookie every now and then.

Mother's Teachings (1): Her mother has tried to at least teach her the basics of cooking, cleaning, and keeping house. The logic that she'll probably need it if she goes to college has been pretty persuasive, and while there are gaps, she's quite self-sufficient when it comes to balancing a budget or all of the other things a modern woman is expected to do, as far as it goes. She's best at cooking meat, and her recipes are all pretty simple, but it's food that'll fill a belly, and that's the most important thing.

To Dream A Dream (1): Morata has become a truly expert in the magic of dreams, and indeed has begun to truly explore what Demons and other denizens of the Astral can and will do. This is merely an extrapolation of what she can already do, hence the discount. Special: Can use Arcane XP for this.

Powers--

Mage Sight (Peripheral, Active, and Focused): She seems to be able to see something that others cannot. Magic itself, and her eyes seem especially attuned to distances and the spaces between things, as well as the minds of other people.

Mage Armor: Mind, Space

Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 2 (In Progress up from 1)

Spirit 1 (Will complete in two weeks)

Rotes--

Dividing the Mind (Mind 1): A rote to divide the mind in two, this means that it has extra reach to add to duration and so on, and that there is a two-dice Yantra that can be done to add to the power of the spell. Involves imagining the split in her mind to enact it.

Scholar's Little Helper (Mind 1): Scholarship is hard work, and it's often difficult to sift through a five-hundred page book on Astral adventures for the single passage on a threatening Goetic demon that's currently ripping the rest of the Cabal apart. Plus, cross-referencing other works can be difficult. Through this tiny little rote, the caster can input a word, phrase, or topic, mentally, and essentially search the book just by holding it up to the light, copying knowledge of what was said in those passages and the passage surround it into their brain without having to search. It does not grant perfect understanding, and sometimes the section requires context to make any sense, but it can save weeks on a big scholarship project. (Rote Mudra, Promising Student, +4) Reach: With each additional Reach, you can search an additional book in the same spell; You can absorb the entirety of the contents of the book, if not always parse its meaning, as if you read the entire book in the instants it took to cast the spell, cover to cover. It may take some hours of thinking and consideration to fully parse the contents, and of course at times understanding and applying it can be more difficult: but an entire book read in less than a second is still something.

Strengthen Mind (Mind 3): It does not, obviously, only effect the intellect, but any aspect of one's mind can be made sharper, as can one's social abilities. The key to doing this, or rather the Mystagogue form of it, involves closing one's eyes and pressing one's fingers against your forehead, as if trying to stimulate thought by motion. When you open your eyes, the spell should be cast. You cannot improve your mind or social abilities to superhuman levels (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4), Reach: You may divide the 'Potency' of the spell, eg: Potency 4, enhance Intelligence by 1, Wits by 2, and Resolve by 1; spend a point of Mana: temporarily, for as long as the spell lasts, Attributes can reach supernatural levels.

Scholar's Protection (Mind 3): Adapted from a famous Silver Ladder rote, this grants protection ot the humble scholar. They make a sign with their hands as if their hands are books, their palms pages, and then so long as they neither attack or order an attack, others struggle to gather up the will to attack them. If they do order an attack, or attack themselves, the spell automatically fails… but only for the target, and not any others. Automatons, or beings without thought are immune, but this potent spell makes it so that anyone with a Resolve less than their Mind +1 cannot bring themselves to attack. Those that can still feel hesitation, and it is as if the Mage has two points of Armor. Supernatural beings have an advantage: if they have a supernatural trait, they get +1 to the comparison of Resolve versus Mind, if it is equal to the Mage's, they get +2, and if it is greater, they get +3… even then, a weak-willed but powerful supernatural being might find themselves frozen in fear and doubt. (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4) Reach: Spend 1 Mana, the spell may now last for an entire day; You may spend Reach to increase the difficulty of overcoming the Protection, once; Attackers lose 10-again on rolls to attack someone, if that person has willpowered through the magic.

The Dedicated Will of the Just (Mind 3): A spell taught to her by her Uncle, it is in some ways an extension of previous spells. By touching the forehead and spreading one's fingers across it, yours or others, when someone grits their teeth and uses their will, they find it stretching out, like hitting a high note and holding it for longer than a single action, based on the power of the spell. (Rote Mudra, Preacher's Daughter +3) Reach: Willpower when spent can add +2 to all resistance traits; Willpower spent both increases one's ability to endure, and one's ability to 'act'; By spending a Mana, the caster can imagine the benediction and thus enact it in a single breath on themselves or any target, as fast as the speed of thought.

Determined Will (Mind 2): The Mystagogue must go through many hardships for knowledge. Whatever a materialist thinks, anyone experienced in Mind magic knows that willpower exists, and so by a series of invisible taps against either their own or--imagined--someone else's skull. By doing so the Mage can make sure that when they, or others, gather their will for a great task, as long as it isn't magic they will get a bonus to the will-enhanced roll (9-again.) (Rote Mudra: Preacher's Daughter, +3: Inspire others and inspire yourself), Reach: The bonus can be increased; the bonus might be able to be used even to enhance magic, strengthening the will that brings itself to bear in casting a spell.



The Bonds of Fate (Fate 1): It is one thing to look at someone and see them, it is another to be able to look at them and see the destinities, the curses, the broken oaths and more that mark their soul and their persons. Mystagogues imagine a cobweb of connections and strands of fate itself, and carefully reach out a finger to tap at the edges of the cobweb without breaking it, to see what creeps up. (Mudra: Can We Keep Him? (+1), the spider spins its web.) Reach: The Mage can know when someone is possessed, mind controlled, or otherwise has their destiny majorly influenced; the Mage can tell someone's Destiny and Doom, can know when the curse they're affected by will be lifted, or so on.

The Unusual Path (Fate 1) : Fate itself can sometimes intervene in small ways. Through this spell, a Mystagogue can state a goal and then receive omens, sometimes faint and contradictory, on how to begin working towards it… and can even allow them to match strength with strength: subtly twisting fate so that their talents are just the right ones needed to advance upon the goal. Miriam uses it to occasionally leverage her way through a tricky social situation. The Mudra involves tugging on strands and pulling them in with a flip of a hand, as if examining something. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1) Reach: Can substitute any skill needed while under the spell for another within the same category, e.g. the character's religious passion turns out to be just what it might take to convince the homeless person to tell you where the body is hid, instead of a skill involving the streets or crime; Can, if taken further, substitute any skill for any other skill: your athletic prowess intimidates the homeless man, your knowledge of petty trivia charms the high society lady you need to steal from.



] No Shackles For The Scholar (Space 2): A Mystagogue cannot be stopped merely by a locked door, or being chained up above a pit of sharks while a villain monologues about how the Secret of the Amazon will die with them. So by imagining their own escape, and circling around that thought a few times as fast as possible, they can affect it. Any one barrier: locked door, handcuffs, barred window, or so on is fine… though it cannot get one through a bouncer or through fire. It can also be cast on an object, such as if you want to push a macguffin through a locked door and then face the enemy yourself. (Rote Mudra: Breaker of Chains, +2), Reach: Can pass through even shackles or objects they could not move through, such as being chained up, or trapped in a coffin, or anything else; subject can squeeze through narrow gaps that they should not physically be able to make it through: you can in fact drive a car through an open front door half its width if you cast this spell on it.
Merits--

(**) 'Profession'--Student
1--Gain 9-again on any roll that can be justified as having to do with one's profession.
2--Gain two dots of Contacts related to one's 'profession.'
3--+1 to rolls against any mental, physical or social stress that might get in the way of performing one's profession.[1] This cannot create a positive bonus.

4--8-again on rolls.
5--One special bonus based on the nature of the 'profession.

[1] Okay, in this case, imagine the college student who is good enough at class that he can show up hungover and still get something out of class, or the athlete who can go out not feeling 100% and still actually manage not to fuck everything up forever, even if he's not putting in his best performance.

(***) Parents: It may seem absurd to say it, but having parents in the picture who can help solve moderate problems is a boon. Obviously the drawback is that if they get involved and it's over her head, it could end badly, and that more than that, they obviously are sure they know best, but asking Mom or Dad is totally an option available to her, and one that can enlist their aid and ask their advice.

(***) Contacts:

She has contacts with both People She Knows At Church, a broad group but in some ways self-selecting, and among those kids she knows around the neighborhood, as well as People At School. People are willing to talk to her, ask her advice, and that goes both ways, doesn't it? If she wants to ask around, she could certainly do worse than asking when she's at church, with someone inclined to see her well already.

Egregore--Mysteriorum Arche (•): In a teamwork spellcasting roll in which the character is participating, she does not suffer the –3 penalty to contribute without the necessary Arcanum rating, and adds an automatic success if a full participant. All members of the ritual team must possess this Merit.

(*)Language: Latin

She knows Latin, read and spoken.

(*) Order Status (Mysterium)

She has been initiated in the first mystery of the Mystagogues.

(*) High Speech

She can use High Speech as a Yantra in spellcasting, and knows enough to be (roughly) conversational outside of the very formal language of Spellcasting.

(*) Egregore

1) In a teamwork spell in which she participates, she doesn't take -3 to the roll if she couldn't cast the spell on her own, and if she can she adds an automatic success to her dice roll for the purpose of granting the ritual leader the bonus dice. However, everyone involved in the ritual must have this level of Egregore. This represents her connection to magic, and through it, others of the Order.

(*) Resources:

She has a little bit of spending money saved up. Not much at all, but it's something. And it's more than a lot of people have, and so she knows to be grateful for it.

(****) Destiny

Effect: Miriam does not yet know the specifics, but she is destined for greatness and yet also doomed in some way.

Currently at 4/4.

(***) Astral Adept: Can enter the Astral far easier, by paying just a WP and meditating.

(***) True Friend (Virginia)

Effect: Miriam has a true friend. True Friend represents a trusting relationship that cannot be easily breached. Unless Miriam really does something to deserve it (really, really) Virginia will not betray her, and I, the QM, has to go easy on her in terms of throwing her into danger. Slightly kid gloves with her, as part of an implicit contract, though that does not mean that Miriam's mistakes or actions might not involve her in deeper problems than she should be facing. And any roll, natural or supernatural, that has the purpose of influencing Virginia against Miriam takes a 5-dice penalty. Additionally, once per...let's say week, Miriam can regain a point of Willpower by having a meaningful/heartfelt/important interaction with Virginia.

Consilium Status (*): Consilium--Increasingly she is a known entity, someone whose existence is no secret at all and whose fame is even harder to deny.

Contacts: Vampires (1)--Her work with vampires means she has a greater awareness of where she can go to talk to them, especially once she thinks through what she saw.

Allies (1): Guardians of the Veil--In the aftermath of yet another Interview with a Vampire, she has been contacted by the Guardians of the Veil, who are curious and who are willing to trade curiosity for curiosity.

Trained Memory (1): She has trained her mind to be something like a steel trap, though perhaps rather more effective than that, all things considered: steel traps can rust, because outside of stressful moments she never needs to roll to remember anything… she just remembers, and without Magic at all.

Minor Elements:

--Having studied a Spirit Bestiary, Miriam is now more able to tell some common spirits apart, even without using magic, and can call up basic facts about said common spirits.
--Has the Memories of a vampire in her head, which can be examined/considered later.
 
Last edited:
[x] Treat it like church. Get as dressed up as is reasonable, to make a good impression.

Well, this seems unanimous but I actually prefer formality here, I think?

Also that boy was a vampire, right? Bloody and addicted and he startled a bit at a mirror?
 
Last edited:
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Sep 24, 2017 at 12:38 PM, finished with 15 posts and 9 votes.

  • [X] Treat it like a meeting of Mages. Maybe make sure to have Yantras at the ready, or otherwise try to give an impression a little different from normal, even if it involves asking her Uncle for advice.
    [x] Treat it like church. Get as dressed up as is reasonable, to make a good impression.
 
OOC: People
Miriam's Friends and family

Virginia: Her best friend, a fashionable, pretty girl. Also a Demon-Spawn.
Abe: Miriam's friend. Athletic, tall and already on his way to being well-muscled.
Sara: Miriam's friend, who happens to be white. Has a fractured mind and needs a lot of help and attention. Roman Catholic, Italian.
Josiah: Miriam's friend, lazy, sarcastic and strange. But still a good friend.
Franklin: Miriam's friend, who works in the slaughterhouse already. Not dumb, but with little time and energy for school. Tall and strong.
Dickens: Miriam's friend. Very poor, small and very, very, very smart. Enthusiastic. Has a crush on her. Loves Charles Dickens.
Ronald: A Sleepwalker, also quite strong and involved, his father plays the numbers and has minor magical problems.
Eliza Green nee Doolittle - Miriam's mother, lighter skinned than her and keeps her hair in bun, housewife.
Douglass Green - Miriam's father, and a pastor.
Zipporah: Miriam's Daimon, her inner self.
Elijah - Virginia's brother. Works at the stockyard, is 17 years old, and dropped out of High School not seeing the point of getting a diploma.
Petunia - Virginia's Aunt. A short, slight woman, she had fine features and skin rather lighter than either her niece or her nephew, and a sort of harried attitude about her that she wore like the finest dress
Nathan - Virginia's Uncle.

Silver Ladder

Uncle Jack/Shadow: Miriam's Uncle.
Bell: The Former Silver Ladder Hierarch, a supporter of Techne. Killed by the Seers in 1919.
Isaac the Sacrificed: The most powerful Silver Ladder in the city, an old man with one eye. Hostile to the Folk, the Uprising, and the Techne in every form. But he was kind to Miriam, or at least... intensely focused. Jack doesn't like him. Acanthus.

Guardians of the Veil

Valkyrie: Guardians of the Veil who seemingly threatened Miriam's father prior to her Awakening. Clever, powerful, and an unknown factor.


The Folk

Alley:
John:
La Flambeau:



The Uprising

Gabriel Breda: The firebrand leader of the Uprising. African-American, brilliant, Obrimos, with his own Legacy. Intense, very intense. Former Folk.


Adamantine Arrow

Mars: Former Hierarch after Bell, stepped down six months before the start of the Quest. Red-hair, dressed like a soldier. Formal, clipped, and also very intense. Seemingly quite powerful. Mastigos.

In the Astral Realms

Lupe, a Demon-Spawn that seems to be trying to raise an evil army of beings somewhere between wolves and men.

Ostanes, current Heirarch, member of Mysterium, Moros - The picture of him was brief, a short, white man with a bad combover in a suit, eating a dinner, his face scarred by pox. He's interested in research and ancient secrets.

Meadowlark, a Thyrus - Miriam and Jack met her in the Shadow. The woman was white, her hair long and almost silvery, going down her back as she strode forward, wearing what looked to be a robe. Her face was lined with age, her eyes dark and almost clouded, but her lips were tugged up into a soft smile that seemed to stretch on forever, and made up for her rather too large nose. Has familiar called Sunclaw.

Folk Mages

John - One was a very dark skinned Negro wearing all white vestments, his hair graying, perhaps fifty or so, not much older than her father, but with a face more lined with worry and care.

Eve, Thyrus - The other was a woman, probably in her sixties, with skin a shade or two lighter. Plump, and wearing a shapeless white dress, her face heavy. Looked like a woman who had survived a lot of life.

Marco, a root doctor - a thin, almost skeletal man, his skin almost shining in its blackness, his eyes bright. He was wearing long, ratty pants and a shirt that seemed to be hung with charms (including what looked like it might be a...fingerbone?) various kinds, and he wore a cross around his neck.

Aneta - A white woman, in fact. She was an adult, though Miriam wasn't as good at reading ages on some people as with others. She had dark hair, and there were at least no lines on her face. Her eyes were similarly dark, and she was short, perhaps five feet tall. Sees and can talk to both ghosts and spirits. Saw Miriam in a vision 2 weeks before meeting her.

Arthur Baker - almost six feet tall and with arms like a broad tree trunk, skin almost sandy, that's how light it was, but hands rough from years of working in the slaughterhouse. Plays baseball and possesses biokinesis. Knows Miriam.

Spirit

Bemerry - like a shimmering streak of red and green, and yet the closer it got the more it seemed to be instead some form of bubbling liquid, charged with other colors: here white, here black, all of them shifting faster and faster as it got closer. Sort of created by Jack, after a party or four. Jack uses Bemerry to learn more about the Shadow and other spirits.

Sunclaw - is a familiar to Meadowlark.

Hopemore - It is tasked to punish people just as it rewards. It makes hopes run wild, and it has been taught morality. It was orange-red, a tabby, and yet not at all as mangy as it looked at first glance. Its claws certainly looked sharp, though.


******

A/N: I'm trying to make a rudimentary character sheet. I might award some 1/5ths of XP for people who bring me names/descriptions/etc for all of the characters mentioned so far. Or partial lists, etc, etc.
 
Last edited:
Page 63: The Council, Part 1
Page 63: The Council of the Folk, Part 1


Magic, Miriam was told, meant not apologizing for anything. It also meant having big pockets, because her uncle foisted a large goat with plenty of pockets for her, draping it over her and taking a look.

"Huh," he said. "You can put plenty of things in the pockets, so that you have them at the ready. Seeds if you're a Thyrsus, offerings, ingredients… just about anything that can be used. At the moment, there isn't much, though, but it shows that you're willing and prepared. I'll give you Yantra as well, and considering your magic… I think there are a few things I could add in that would help the impression. No need to take a purse when you have the jacket."

Even by her own very minimal standards, it was a very ugly brown jacket, but she could at least wear a nice skirt with it. Offset it a bit, as her Uncle loaded her down with a double-sided bronze coin, an ugly looking tin cup from the Great War, and a rather terrifying looking pocket knife.

All of these she stuffed in her jacket, along with two other objects. One was what looked like a piece of stone, which he told her would be useful if she wanted to cast it to the ground for a Space spell, so long as she never picked it up under any circumstances, nor intentionally retrieved it.

The other was a folded piece of paper that she was to tear to pieces without knowing what it was, except that it was vital information. She should use it when she was trying to hide or obscure something… or on the other hand, retrieve knowledge that was lost in a sort of trade.

Miriam had known that Mages were very odd, and that she was one of them, but she supposed she'd have to get used to it even more. Every bit of help with magic would help, of course. If she could figure out how to use it. What sorts of things resonated with her? Pieces of history of course. Religious artifacts. Though destroying a cross, besides making her heart ache with the wrongness of it, seemed entirely pointless if the spell was any of the ones she knew. What else? Breaking a compass for a spell of Space?

Ideas bubbled up as she looked at herself in the mirror and knew that she couldn't be seen by her Mom dressed like this.

Perhaps she shouldn't be seen by anyone while still in this coat, but at least it meant she now had a 'full set' of Yantra. Mostly, at least.

*******

They meet in one of the storefront churches, but not the same one as before. Miriam walked in in the afternoon, because she'd had church first, and so had plenty of the members. This was supposed to be a council, and she didn't know what to expect.

What she got, stepped into the musty, dusty room, was both different and similar to what she expected. There was a table, piled with food, and then standing or sitting around it were six figures.

The food itself seemed simple. Meat and sandwich bread, bowls of green beans, and then, standing out compared to everything else, fried chicken.

"I made it myself, dear," the closest member of the Council said. She was a thin, reedy woman with skin the color of deepest midnight, nervous looking, in her late fifties, perhaps older, though that was just the impression that came off from her. She was wearing a white apron, over a light blue cotton dress.

The apron had pouches in it, for storing things, and her fingers kept on shifting into different forms, different gestures, each of them brief. Combined with her appearance, it all made Miriam think of a bird, nervously flitting from one place to the next.

Yet the food smelled very good, though looking closer she began to see more and more in the way of southern, down-home fare of a type that Miriam wasn't used to, though she was around people for whom it was everyday, all the time.

"May I take a sandwich, or should it wait until after the meeting? Or am I missing something…"

"No, you aren't, Ruth. I wanted to lay out a spread, no matter what the others thought. So help yourself."

Miriam hadn't had much for breakfast, and nothing for lunch, she she took the bread, and began to slice it with the knife provided, making sure that each of the pieces of bread was nice and thick. Then, carefully, glancing around, she said, "I don't think I've been introduced to all of you, apologies. I'm Ruth, or at least that's what I'm calling myself now."

Add some cheese, add some sliced deli meat, and a sandwich began to take form.

"I'm Blackbird," the nervous looking woman said, gesturing over towards the only white person in the entire room, a rough looking man about six feet tall tall.

He had thick sideburns, and his white shirt was stained with sweat, his pants in somewhat better condition. On his belt was a pocket knife, a lot easier for a man to justify, and he was sitting down in a chair holding a glass of water. "This is Orbzed."

"Hello," he said, in a heavily accented voice.

"I am La Flambeau," a woman said. "The Torch."

She had skin lighter than Miriam's by far, short and slightly plump, dressed in a strange costume. The front was brown, behind it a darker red, and the dress went all the way down to her shoes. Her earrings were large, and seemed to be bits of shell, and she wore a necklace that had a variety of shells, stones, bits of bone and even tied up clumps of hair as part of it.

"The torch?" Miriam asked.

"The title is one of honor," the woman said, with a nod.

"I will treat it so, then," Miriam said.

A dark man in a suit, his features plain but his eyes oddly silver, said, "See, I told you. She's respectful and I've already seen that she could be a good friend and apprentice. Just so."

"We have to do the tests anyways," the fifth member said. It was John, the Moros preacher she'd seen before. He was dressed in a suit too, but whereas the previous man's suit made him think he was a businessman, this one was more like at a funeral. "It's how it always goes, Aaron."

"Yes, yes, of course," Aaron said.

Miriam still hadn't taken a bite of her sandwich. She didn't want to start eating until she knew where she stood. "May I ask a question?"

"If you don't, it'd be a very boring meeting," Aaron said.

"That's yes, dear," Blackbird said.

"Questions are good," Orbzed said.

Miriam was looking at the last person, who looked not nearly as old as the rest of them. She looked in her mid-twenties at most, a beautiful woman who nonetheless wore… pants.

Miriam wasn't going to comment, but it was disconcerting, to say the least. She knew what Virginia would say to something like that. She, on the other hand, waited to see if she could tease out her name.

"First, how does the council work? Is it a democracy?"

"Sometimes," Blackbird said. "We try to function based on the principle of consensus. We all have our own areas of expertise. I, well, I deal with Sleepers most of all. Aaron handles the money and the gathering of resources."

"And Mana," Aaron added. "When the Torch can't do so."

"I represent and communicate with the dead, the spirits, and the vodoun community," La Flambeau said, authoritatively.

"I do the same for our Christian community," John said. "Praise be to God."

Orbzed said, his accent making it hard to understand. "I do this and that. And her? Allie," though it could have been Alley as well, "she does…"

"What I will," Allie said. "It's nice to meet you, Miriam. Why don't you start eating?"

"I just have so many questions first."

Allie laughed at that. Her voice was smooth and rich, and honeyed with a southern accent. "Well, then."

"So, you decide based on consensus? If I join your Order, how does it work?"

"You'll be given a mentor," Aaron said. "They will help you learn and study how you can help others."

"Everyone has a way to contribute to the life and health of sleepers," Blackbird added, a little primly.

"Some more than others," Allie said, drawing a shushing motion from Aaron.

"Our structure is quite simple. It's based on who is needed for what. Advancement, too, is based on what you understand about the world, and your ability to help it. There are no official ranks, just… ad hoc ones."

Orbzed nodded. "Yah. Plenty to learn. Plenty of work to do. Learn by doing, no?"

"I suppose that makes sense," Miriam said. "I can't eat all of this food, perhaps we could…"

"Of course, dear!" Blackbird said, looking around and looking quite a bit like Miriam's own mother marshalling people, and so after a few moments people shuffled forward, obeying her intentions.

Miriam took a bite of the sandwich, smiling a little bit, and just watching them.

"No need to be formal," Ally said. "I call that we don't all sit in judgement of her as if she's gonna run away from us. It don't work like that."

"Very well," John said, agreeing immediately.

La Flambeau frowned, looking annoyed, but then finally waved her hand at the same time that Blackbird nodded, and by then the rest agreed, and the council broke into a group of people. Individuals.

Ask questions! (Choose three questions, for each question, pick one of the people named above.) For instance (fake example) [k] [Allie] Where's the bathroom would be a vote. Those with names in () are suggested people to ask for it.

[] What does the test involve?
[] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[] What's all this about Vodoun? (La Flambeau, John)
[] How does the community work? What are the rules?
[] What duties are involved in being in the Order? What do you do to help Sleepers and others?
[] What about relations to other Orders?
[] Folk and the Seers?
[] Write-in. I hope you are creative.

*******

Socialization: 2 (Presence)+2 (Average of Factors)=1 sux

A/N: And there we go.
 
[X] [Allie] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] [John] What's all this about Vodoun? (La Flambeau, John)
[X] [La Flambeau] What duties are involved in being in the Order? What do you do to help Sleepers and others?
 
[X] (Blackbird) More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] (John) What about relations to other Orders?
[X] (La Flambeau) Folk and the Seers?
 
[X] [Allie] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] [John] What's all this about Vodoun? (La Flambeau, John)
[X] [La Flambeau] What duties are involved in being in the Order? What do you do to help Sleepers and others?
 
I've been meaning to catch up with this quest.
Did you just name a character after Flambeau? As in Ars Magica's Flambeau the Founder, one of the craziest and most dangerous badasses in the game?
 
[X] (Blackbird) More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] (John) What about relations to other Orders?
[X] (La Flambeau) Folk and the Seers?

A/N: I'm trying to make a rudimentary character sheet. I might award some 1/5ths of XP for people who bring me names/descriptions/etc for all of the characters mentioned so far. Or partial lists, etc, etc.
I'll go through the beginning chapters if you want. You may want to add the Folk Council while it's still in your mind and fresh yourself though, as it'll make it much easier when we return to this.
 
OOC: More People
A/N: I'm trying to make a rudimentary character sheet. I might award some 1/5ths of XP for people who bring me names/descriptions/etc for all of the characters mentioned so far. Or partial lists, etc, etc.
Location

Wendell Philips - Miriam's school

Parents

Eliza Green nee Doolittle - Miriam's mother, lighter skinned than her and keeps her hair in bun, curvacious (possibly fat).
Douglass Green - Miriam's father, and a pastor.

Zipporah - Miriam's Daimon.

Other Students

Isaac - a fiery, angry boy who spoke faster than anyone she knew when he got his dander up

Teachers

Mrs Wright - white women, as polite as one can be, and nice to Miriam.
Wendell Phillips - stern, balding man, his skin as pasty as if he were made of dough. Math teacher, and has classes for those behind or for immigrants.

Aquantacies

Elijah/Oliver (you call him both in Page 2 - Brothers Keeper) - Virginia's brother. Works at the stockyard, is 17 years old, and dropped out of High School not seeing the point of getting a diploma.
Petunia - Virginia's Aunt. A short, slight woman, she had fine features and skin rather lighter than either her niece or her nephew, and a sort of harried attitude about her that she wore like the finest dress
Nathan - Virginia's Uncle.

Mages

Valkyrie, member of the Guardians of the Veil - Threathened Miriam's father and consequently she awakened.

Bell, an Obrimos of the Silver Ladder and was once Heirarch - In her head, the picture of a middle-aged white man with dark hair and a lean, gaunt face appeared. He was holding a radio in one hand, and a rosary in the other, and though he was aged and his body weakened, there was something strong about his dark eyes. Supporter of Techne (magic involving modern technology). Killed by the Seers of the Throne during Riots.

Gabriel Breda, formerly of Folk and founder of the Uprising - In her head she saw a man whose skin was as black as coal, dressed plainly, but sitting in front of a table, glancing down at tarot cards.

Ares, succeeded as Hierarch after death of Bell and said it'd be temporary, belongs to Adamantine Arrows, stepped down as Heirarch 6 monthes ago - Red hair, green eyes, dressed like a soldier, but with a red pendant around his neck. Strong and tall, in fact, striding forward as he talked, gesturing with cool precision. Ares, the god of war, she thought.

Issac, sometimes called the Sacrifice, Silver Ladder - It was an old man. Aged, withered, and stooped. He was leaning on his staff, she saw in his head, wearing dark red robes. His hair was wild, running down his back, as white as snow, and he had only one eye. There was...something where the other one should have been. And there was a strange...something about his skin. It looked like paper, almost, but also not...quite. One of most powerful mages in Chicago, said to be aiming towards becoming Archmaster. Dislikes Folk, Techne, and hates Uprising.

Ostanes, current Heirarch, member of Mysterium, Moros - The picture of him was brief, a short, white man with a bad combover in a suit, eating a dinner, his face scarred by pox. He's interested in research and ancient secrets.

Meadowlark, a Thyrus - Miriam and Jack met her in the Shadow. The woman was white, her hair long and almost silvery, going down her back as she strode forward, wearing what looked to be a robe. Her face was lined with age, her eyes dark and almost clouded, but her lips were tugged up into a soft smile that seemed to stretch on forever, and made up for her rather too large nose. Has familiar called Sunclaw.

Folk Mages

John - One was a very dark skinned Negro wearing all white vestments, his hair graying, perhaps fifty or so, not much older than her father, but with a face more lined with worry and care.

Eve, Thyrus - The other was a woman, probably in her sixties, with skin a shade or two lighter. Plump, and wearing a shapeless white dress, her face heavy. Looked like a woman who had survived a lot of life.

Marco, a root doctor - a thin, almost skeletal man, his skin almost shining in its blackness, his eyes bright. He was wearing long, ratty pants and a shirt that seemed to be hung with charms (including what looked like it might be a...fingerbone?) various kinds, and he wore a cross around his neck.

Aneta - A white woman, in fact. She was an adult, though Miriam wasn't as good at reading ages on some people as with others. She had dark hair, and there were at least no lines on her face. Her eyes were similarly dark, and she was short, perhaps five feet tall. Sees and can talk to both ghosts and spirits. Saw Miriam in a vision 2 weeks before meeting her.

Arthur Baker - almost six feet tall and with arms like a broad tree trunk, skin almost sandy, that's how light it was, but hands rough from years of working in the slaughterhouse. Plays baseball and possesses biokinesis. Knows Miriam.

Spirit

Bemerry - like a shimmering streak of red and green, and yet the closer it got the more it seemed to be instead some form of bubbling liquid, charged with other colors: here white, here black, all of them shifting faster and faster as it got closer. Sort of created by Jack, after a party or four. Jack uses Bemerry to learn more about the Shadow and other spirits.

Sunclaw - is a familiar to Meadowlark.

Hopemore - It is tasked to punish people just as it rewards. It makes hopes run wild, and it has been taught morality. It was orange-red, a tabby, and yet not at all as mangy as it looked at first glance. Its claws certainly looked sharp, though.

This is what I've got up to the end of chapter 14.
 
Location

Wendell Philips - Miriam's school

Parents

Eliza Green nee Doolittle - Miriam's mother, lighter skinned than her and keeps her hair in bun, curvacious (possibly fat).
Douglass Green - Miriam's father, and a pastor.

Zipporah - Miriam's Daimon.

Other Students

Isaac - a fiery, angry boy who spoke faster than anyone she knew when he got his dander up

Teachers

Mrs Wright - white women, as polite as one can be, and nice to Miriam.
Wendell Phillips - stern, balding man, his skin as pasty as if he were made of dough. Math teacher, and has classes for those behind or for immigrants.

Aquantacies

Elijah/Oliver (you call him both in Page 2 - Brothers Keeper) - Virginia's brother. Works at the stockyard, is 17 years old, and dropped out of High School not seeing the point of getting a diploma.
Petunia - Virginia's Aunt. A short, slight woman, she had fine features and skin rather lighter than either her niece or her nephew, and a sort of harried attitude about her that she wore like the finest dress
Nathan - Virginia's Uncle.

Mages

Valkyrie, member of the Guardians of the Veil - Threathened Miriam's father and consequently she awakened.

Bell, an Obrimos of the Silver Ladder and was once Heirarch - In her head, the picture of a middle-aged white man with dark hair and a lean, gaunt face appeared. He was holding a radio in one hand, and a rosary in the other, and though he was aged and his body weakened, there was something strong about his dark eyes. Supporter of Techne (magic involving modern technology). Killed by the Seers of the Throne during Riots.

Gabriel Breda, formerly of Folk and founder of the Uprising - In her head she saw a man whose skin was as black as coal, dressed plainly, but sitting in front of a table, glancing down at tarot cards.

Ares, succeeded as Hierarch after death of Bell and said it'd be temporary, belongs to Adamantine Arrows, stepped down as Heirarch 6 monthes ago - Red hair, green eyes, dressed like a soldier, but with a red pendant around his neck. Strong and tall, in fact, striding forward as he talked, gesturing with cool precision. Ares, the god of war, she thought.

Issac, sometimes called the Sacrifice, Silver Ladder - It was an old man. Aged, withered, and stooped. He was leaning on his staff, she saw in his head, wearing dark red robes. His hair was wild, running down his back, as white as snow, and he had only one eye. There was...something where the other one should have been. And there was a strange...something about his skin. It looked like paper, almost, but also not...quite. One of most powerful mages in Chicago, said to be aiming towards becoming Archmaster. Dislikes Folk, Techne, and hates Uprising.

Ostanes, current Heirarch, member of Mysterium, Moros - The picture of him was brief, a short, white man with a bad combover in a suit, eating a dinner, his face scarred by pox. He's interested in research and ancient secrets.

Meadowlark, a Thyrus - Miriam and Jack met her in the Shadow. The woman was white, her hair long and almost silvery, going down her back as she strode forward, wearing what looked to be a robe. Her face was lined with age, her eyes dark and almost clouded, but her lips were tugged up into a soft smile that seemed to stretch on forever, and made up for her rather too large nose. Has familiar called Sunclaw.

Folk Mages

John - One was a very dark skinned Negro wearing all white vestments, his hair graying, perhaps fifty or so, not much older than her father, but with a face more lined with worry and care.

Eve, Thyrus - The other was a woman, probably in her sixties, with skin a shade or two lighter. Plump, and wearing a shapeless white dress, her face heavy. Looked like a woman who had survived a lot of life.

Marco, a root doctor - a thin, almost skeletal man, his skin almost shining in its blackness, his eyes bright. He was wearing long, ratty pants and a shirt that seemed to be hung with charms (including what looked like it might be a...fingerbone?) various kinds, and he wore a cross around his neck.

Aneta - A white woman, in fact. She was an adult, though Miriam wasn't as good at reading ages on some people as with others. She had dark hair, and there were at least no lines on her face. Her eyes were similarly dark, and she was short, perhaps five feet tall. Sees and can talk to both ghosts and spirits. Saw Miriam in a vision 2 weeks before meeting her.

Arthur Baker - almost six feet tall and with arms like a broad tree trunk, skin almost sandy, that's how light it was, but hands rough from years of working in the slaughterhouse. Plays baseball and possesses biokinesis. Knows Miriam.

Spirit

Bemerry - like a shimmering streak of red and green, and yet the closer it got the more it seemed to be instead some form of bubbling liquid, charged with other colors: here white, here black, all of them shifting faster and faster as it got closer. Sort of created by Jack, after a party or four. Jack uses Bemerry to learn more about the Shadow and other spirits.

Sunclaw - is a familiar to Meadowlark.

Hopemore - It is tasked to punish people just as it rewards. It makes hopes run wild, and it has been taught morality. It was orange-red, a tabby, and yet not at all as mangy as it looked at first glance. Its claws certainly looked sharp, though.

This is what I've got up to the end of chapter 14.

Thank you, I also wound up retconning Ares to Mars, for reasons. But anyways, you get 1/5th of an XP for this effort thus far.
 
[X] [Allie] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] [John] What's all this about Vodoun? (La Flambeau, John)
[X] [La Flambeau] What duties are involved in being in the Order? What do you do to help Sleepers and others?

Religion is a conversation we're good at, so that first ideally? And then I just want to know more about Flambeau.
 
Thank you, I also wound up retconning Ares to Mars, for reasons. But anyways, you get 1/5th of an XP for this effort thus far.
Location

Wendell Philips - Miriam's school

Parents

Eliza Green nee Doolittle - Miriam's mother, lighter skinned than her and keeps her hair in bun, curvacious (possibly fat).
Douglass Green - Miriam's father, and a pastor.

Zipporah - Miriam's Daimon.

Other Students

Isaac - a fiery, angry boy who spoke faster than anyone she knew when he got his dander up

Teachers

Mrs Wright - white women, as polite as one can be, and nice to Miriam.
Wendell Phillips - stern, balding man, his skin as pasty as if he were made of dough. Math teacher, and has classes for those behind or for immigrants.

Aquantacies

Elijah/Oliver (you call him both in Page 2 - Brothers Keeper) - Virginia's brother. Works at the stockyard, is 17 years old, and dropped out of High School not seeing the point of getting a diploma.
Petunia - Virginia's Aunt. A short, slight woman, she had fine features and skin rather lighter than either her niece or her nephew, and a sort of harried attitude about her that she wore like the finest dress
Nathan - Virginia's Uncle.

Mages

Valkyrie, member of the Guardians of the Veil - Threathened Miriam's father and consequently she awakened. Tried to deflect whether it was her, or someone looking like her. Said she'd investigate. Questioned and probed what Miriam would do about the paradox she inflicted on Dickens. Drove a magical car.

Bell, an Obrimos of the Silver Ladder and was once Heirarch - In her head, the picture of a middle-aged white man with dark hair and a lean, gaunt face appeared. He was holding a radio in one hand, and a rosary in the other, and though he was aged and his body weakened, there was something strong about his dark eyes. Supporter of Techne (magic involving modern technology). Killed by the Seers of the Throne during Riots.

Gabriel Breda, formerly of Folk and founder of the Uprising - In her head she saw a man whose skin was as black as coal, dressed plainly, but sitting in front of a table, glancing down at tarot cards. / He was short, for one, shorter than average, but there was a dark intensity about him, his smile as white as his face was dark, his eyes dark but seeming to glow, his hair longer than a man's should be. Debated with Miriam the value of a life, and the justice of rebellion.

Ares/Mars, succeeded as Hierarch after death of Bell and said it'd be temporary, belongs to Adamantine Arrows, stepped down as Heirarch 6 monthes ago - Red hair, green eyes, dressed like a soldier, but with a red pendant around his neck. Strong and tall, in fact, striding forward as he talked, gesturing with cool precision. Ares, the god of war, she thought. Voice is gruff. Believes in Jihad.

Issac, sometimes called the Sacrifice, Silver Ladder - It was an old man. Aged, withered, and stooped. He was leaning on his staff, she saw in his head, wearing dark red robes. His hair was wild, running down his back, as white as snow, and he had only one eye. There was...something where the other one should have been. And there was a strange...something about his skin. It looked like paper, almost, but also not...quite. One of most powerful mages in Chicago, said to be aiming towards becoming Archmaster. Dislikes Folk, Techne, and hates Uprising.

Ostanes, current Heirarch, member of Mysterium, Moros - The picture of him was brief, a short, white man with a bad combover in a suit, eating a dinner, his face scarred by pox. He's interested in research and ancient secrets.

Meadowlark, a Thyrus - Miriam and Jack met her in the Shadow. The woman was white, her hair long and almost silvery, going down her back as she strode forward, wearing what looked to be a robe. Her face was lined with age, her eyes dark and almost clouded, but her lips were tugged up into a soft smile that seemed to stretch on forever, and made up for her rather too large nose. Has familiar called Sunclaw.

Cleopatra, mage of Silver Ladder - Has some relationship with Jack.

Storia, member of Mysterium - Newest mage in Chicago before Miriam awakened.

Oxford, member of the Underground Library - White, wearing thick glasses, with curly red hair. He was thin, almost skeletal, but not all that tall, and dressed in a red and green sweater and a pair of slacks, with oxfords peeking beneath the somewhat baggy slacks. His voice was high and reedy. Introduced Miriam to Underground Library.

Josu Paswaegi/Breaker of Tides, an Acanthus - Miriam met her at a Professor's meeting in his Oneiros, discussing dream archeolgy. Is from Daehan Jeguk, Korea. Used language spell on Miriam.

Manacle - Is master to Cypher. The older man was balding, somewhat, his hair starting to go grey, probably early, dressed in the kind of pants a man was willing to do a hard day's labor on. The knife at his belt, though, seemed high quality, and the head of the cane he was swinging around was silver. Is from Chicago.

Cypher, is Mastagos - Is apprenticed to Manacle. The woman was in her twenties, probably, dressed in a long black skirt and white stockings, and a white blouse. She was reminded of a stenographer, almost, or a typist, though the girl's hair was loose and flowing, uncontrolled as it spilled down to her mid-back. She stutters. Been mage for 6 months, and is being taught via the astral. Lives on a farm.

Professor who did Dream Archeology lecture - ?????

Anant -

Folk Mages

John - One was a very dark skinned Negro wearing all white vestments, his hair graying, perhaps fifty or so, not much older than her father, but with a face more lined with worry and care.

Eve, Thyrus - The other was a woman, probably in her sixties, with skin a shade or two lighter. Plump, and wearing a shapeless white dress, her face heavy. Looked like a woman who had survived a lot of life.

Marco, a root doctor - a thin, almost skeletal man, his skin almost shining in its blackness, his eyes bright. He was wearing long, ratty pants and a shirt that seemed to be hung with charms (including what looked like it might be a...fingerbone?) various kinds, and he wore a cross around his neck.

Aneta - A white woman, in fact. She was an adult, though Miriam wasn't as good at reading ages on some people as with others. She had dark hair, and there were at least no lines on her face. Her eyes were similarly dark, and she was short, perhaps five feet tall. Sees and can talk to both ghosts and spirits. Saw Miriam in a vision 2 weeks before meeting her.

Arthur Baker - almost six feet tall and with arms like a broad tree trunk, skin almost sandy, that's how light it was, but hands rough from years of working in the slaughterhouse. Plays baseball and possesses biokinesis. Knows Miriam.

Spirit

Bemerry - like a shimmering streak of red and green, and yet the closer it got the more it seemed to be instead some form of bubbling liquid, charged with other colors: here white, here black, all of them shifting faster and faster as it got closer. Sort of created by Jack, after a party or four. Jack uses Bemerry to learn more about the Shadow and other spirits.

Sunclaw - is a familiar to Meadowlark.

Hopemore - It is tasked to punish people just as it rewards. It makes hopes run wild, and it has been taught morality. It was orange-red, a tabby, and yet not at all as mangy as it looked at first glance. Its claws certainly looked sharp, though.

Jack's Cabal

Civitas, Acanthus in Mysterium, Leader of Cabal - a white man in his fifties stood there, dressed in a rumpled suit, holding a briefcase. He was tall, his hair grey and cropped short, his face clean and his eyes almost so dark she couldn't believe it.

Jack - member of Legacy Bene Ashmedai

Aerie is philosopher, in Myserium, and local specialist in Prime magic - He was short, and had pockmarked skin, but he too was white, and his dark hair was frazzled and greasy. Likes to debate.

Hone, is a Moros, and member of Silver Ladder - He was also a negro, with a broad, flat face and short hair, and was a huge man. Newest member of Jack's cabal. Hasn't drunk in year, admonishes Jack for it.

Conjunctio is a psychologist, is a Mastigos, and is in the Admantine arrow. - has a nickname Connie. Wears armor made of goetia in the Astral

Wat, is Thyrus, member of the Uprsing - A negro, short (contradicted in page 21 by calling him huge and a big man) and wiry. Impressive physique. Long pants and a shirt were the most normal things about him. There were strange bangles on his arms that seemed to draw the eyes, and he had earings on and a necklace. The necklace seemed to be made of bone, teeth, and strange, fossilized chunks of rock. Knot of scars on back forming whirls and eddies, Can shapeshift.

Astral Demons

Up to page 32, and pretty much mostly done. You have Cleopatra, Anant, the Demons that are teaching Miriam, and those introduced in the chapter above that are left. Well, at least I can't think of any other major characters left.
 
[X] [Allie] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
 
[X] [Allie] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] [John] What's all this about Vodoun? (La Flambeau, John)
[X] [La Flambeau] What duties are involved in being in the Order? What do you do to help Sleepers and others?
 
[X] [Allie] More about the religious nature of the Order. The Folk and Christianity, specifically.
[X] [John] What's all this about Vodoun? (La Flambeau, John)
[X] [La Flambeau] What duties are involved in being in the Order? What do you do to help Sleepers and others?

I think Miriam would be most curious about religion and helping people.
 
Page 64: The Council, Part 2
Page 64: The Council, Part 2…

"I'm curious," Miriam said to John, as soon as she finished her sandwich and was able to edge off to the side. Everyone was trying not to look as if they were watching her, but it was also very clearly failing.

"About what, my child?" John asked. His voice was grave, but it had the right sort of gravity. He was a pastor, and she'd seen him raise his voice, allow the emotions, especially his love of God, to dominate him. But she also now saw how his quiet, somber, steady faith might encourage others. Or at least, she wanted to see that, and she didn't think she was wrong to assume that anyone who had risen so far was wise, or at least not openly foolish.

"The Voodoo," Miriam said, pronouncing it badly. "How does one reconcile it with God and Christ?"

"Some would say you can't. I'm not sure. But the truth is, that God is more than we imagined Him to be," John said, gesturing around. "More than we knew before, more than we could think He was. Spirits, Ghosts, Astral Beings, there are things out there that cannot be dismissed merely as evil demons that must be destroyed."

"They can't? Or you think it is unwise to do so?" Miriam asked.

"We are the Wise. The two should be one and the same," John said, his dark eyes catching hers. "We have to know that the world is not as the average believer thinks. That does not make God a metaphor, or a symbolic truth, or something that exists inside of all men. At least, if you are Folk, you understand and respect that many reject this."

"I do," Miriam said, swept along by his words.

"And so Vodoun is part of that. I do not approve of everything it says, but I think it can be explained within a framework of Christian belief, at least enough that… one must sometimes tolerate internal disagreements. Those of us who are Catholics have to accept that Protestants exist, and visa versa. Though there are relatively few Catholics."

Miriam didn't know how to react to that. She'd tried to keep from having prejudice against Catholics, of course, because she wanted to be fair, and because it would mean hating on Sara, but their ways had always seemed strange to her. She'd read about how they faced away from their own congregation, turning their back on them to address God directly.

As if God was somehow behind the altar or in the room in a way that could be purely physical. She knew there was symbolic meaning behind that too.

"Relatively few? The Folk have a long history, don't they? How will I be expected to interact with the… vodoun?"

"Nothing other than respecting that this is allowed and permitted," John said. "At least, nothing more than what it'd take to be in a polite society, I would say." John nodded to himself as Allie began to walk over towards Miriam.

She walked strangely, or rather, not so much strangely as startlingly directly, her body taking up way more space than it should, as if she was going to tower over everyone and everything. It was too cocky, too bold, and Miriam wondered how she managed it without even a hint of magic, with nothing more than just her personal magnetism.

"You don't, I suppose, pass a Methodist in the street and get the inclination ot stone him to death, do you?" Allie asked.

Miriam blinked, shocked and a little appalled. "Of course not!"

"Then peace shall be with you. If compassion comes as well, so much the better." She made Miriam want to shy away. It was something intense about the woman. She was light-skinned, and that of course made a part of Miriam nervous. And she talked in a very Chicago way, but other elements didn't quite fit the picture of the person that Miriam had built up in her head.

"Of course," Miriam said, a little uncertainly, feeling as if she was being outmaneuvered.

"God is important, or at least, faith is."

"So some would say. But what is God? We debate and argue that a lot, as all of the Orders do. But what we do know, or think we do is that God exists, and that we have strong evidence, and an understanding that God could not want humans to be miserable. That the Seers and any masters they have have stolen or used false powers…" Allie shrugged. "I'm not sure how much I know, I'm not always the theologian of the group. I'm too young, for one: or that's what I'd say, except I'm not that young anymore."

She gave a wry shake of the head. "I was twelve when I Awakened. Seventeen years ago," she added, looking at Miriam. "No matter what Order you choose, or even if you don't choose an Order, please, talk to me." She smiled, a little sly. "I know what it's like to be young and foolish and Wise."

Miriam smiled a little more, though she tried to imagine what a twelve year old must have gone through, to become a Mage and then deal with all of it. She wondered what one told one's parents. How one justified… everything.

"I'll keep that in mind, Allie."

"It's A L L E Y, by the way," Alley said. "But as far as it goes, what do you believe?"

"You mean, religiously?" Miriam asked.

"Yes," John said. "But you have to know, Alley, that not everyone was raised with Creed and code, with careful words and careful rules to break, one by one, in favor of the rules you've made."

"Moral rules," Alley said, nodding to herself. "The only rules that matter."

"Well… I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy spirit," Miriam admitted. "I believe that there is a universal church of believers, and that the Gospel and faith itself are the only ways to find God."

"And what of those who err? If someone worships the Loa," John said. "Could you stand back, and do no more than argue with him?"

"I… don't like violence in any form," Miriam admitted. "I cannot imagine doing more than that."

She believed in more than that, of course. She believed that Christ had died for the sins of man, and had physically resurrected. She believed that the bible was not a metaphor, or some deceptive lie in which you stripped away the 'supernatural' to get to the truth, and considering what she'd seen in the last weeks, this belief seemed stronger now than ever.

"Sometimes you have to hurt people, but the Folk don't approve of violence for its own sake," Alley said, patting her on the shoulder. "We do sometimes try to come up with Creeds, or statements of faith, but you run into the inevitable fact that we don't want to cage the spirit, do we?"

Miriam frowned, and thought about it that way. Limits, bounds, she could understand why those would make some uncomfortable. She had many beliefs, and she didn't feel as if they were anything but a strength. But… she did believe that each church should make its own way in certain matters.

She believed in many things, and together from them, she was now asking herself how to believe in many other things, and yet believe in them all together. She had the start of the thought, and the process, but not the end.

Make it all a metaphor, make the Bible a code book rather than a book of believers, and what was left?

"I suppose not," Miriam admitted.

"I see you have many questions. But what I fear is that I don't have many answers, and that if I gave one answer…" Alley shrugged, glancing at John, who nodded.

Gravely, he said. "It is so. If you want to know what Vodoun believes, it too is as varied. Imagine if I told someone what Christians believed and began with saints and the Catholic church?"

Miriam understood the difficulty, and nodded, listening, soaking it in.

"They believe in spirits… and we can find them, it is true. Some of them are ghosts, some of them are spirits… and some of them are something in-between, or even Astral beings," Alley chimed in.

"I prefer to talk about the beliefs. They believe that there are spirits in the world, from the spirits of a stream, to great Gods over all things. There are ancestor spirits, guardian spirits, all sorts of things," John said. "But the beliefs of Haiti, that breaker of chains, are that there is a Supreme deity, and there are loa, divided often, in Haitian form, into categories and groups, and associated with Catholic Saints in the minds of many believers, who combine the two religions, to some extent. These loa are to be worshipped, and in exchange they help in the lives of their followers…"

He began explaining, and she listened, carefully and with something like compassion, as he explained one form of the belief, and spoke of many forms, including one in which women priestesses were the main form of religious guidance.

She took it all in, and yet every time she thought she knew something, Alley replaced her understanding with a baffling fact that seemed to either confirm or deny the beliefs. It was as if she didn't want Miriam to either accept or reject it, but merely consider it from every angle.

She at her sandwich and listened, and every so often she asked another question.

Despite it all, she did feel a little uncomfortable. Alley's conception of Christianity was at times slippery, and at other times odd, and she had a feeling that this comfort-and-discomfort, this familiarity that was spoiled by a few details, was going to be a regular part of things. She didn't know if that was entirely a bad thing.

She was going to be challenged, but she thought that she could learn to accommodate and grow from it. Just as she could in the Mysterium, she had felt, and just like…

She felt closer to a decision, but she didn't feel any closer to knowing what decision it would be, which was why she needed to talk to someone else. She needed to look at this from an angle that would allow her to understand what she was choosing.

Miriam smiled to herself, and said, "Excuse me."

"Oh, of course you are excused, dear," Alley said. "I can see that you're still trying to figure things out." Alley waved her hand, her voice clipped and amused.

Miriam left, walking towards La Flambeau, who perked up as she stepped forward.

"Yes, Ruth?"

"I wanted to know…" Miriam hesitated. She wouldn't have been comfortable talking to her before, and even now she wasn't sure, because Alley had mentioned the practices they sometimes did, in terms of sacrifices. In other ways, too. "What is the duty of a member of the Order? And what do we do to help Sleepers?"

"Ahh…" La Flambeau said, her voice slightly dreamy, slightly more distant than any of the others. "What we do is simple. We are the flames in the darkness by which you are guided home. There are other flames, one might say, that guide you farther into the marshes. Those who are not known to shine out are not of the Folk."

"Shine out?"

"There are no meetings that require… annual attendance. We are not a church. But one must feel in oneself unity with the Order. That means that you must act to help others, and take part in the projects. There is no simple, tiny thing you do to stay within the Order, and just so there is no single way to advance in rank and merit. We do not play games, but judge based on results and wisdom alike."

The woman fingered one of the charms she was wearing. "If you are working towards the good, do not doubt that we see you and know your Wisdom. And if you are doing nothing, or working towards harming people, we know that as well."

Miriam thought about that. So it was a sort of community. If you were contributing, you were a member, and you were judged by those standards. And contribution didn't just involve doing things, but also knowing things. "Learning too is working towards the good?"

"It can be, yes." La Flambeau spread her fingers a little. "If you learn in the right way, for the right reasons. There is no great perfection in being a Master of Mind if you have a heart of stone, hardened by hate."

Miriam nodded. She agreed, of course, but she knew there were those who might not… or would they not agree? Miriam often felt as if she knew too little.

"And what do we do to help Sleepers."

"Just as a priest guides the spiritual life, but does not run a business, or dig each latrine, so too do Mages shelter mortals from the dangers of the world. Spirits, Ghosts, and other beings might prey on the living. But we must understand them, and see not just how they can hurt the living and therefore must be stopped… but also how they help the living and how they are part of the scheme of the Creator."

Miriam took that in. "I've also seen the Folk give out aid. Magical help…"

"Yes, that as well. You wonder at what's happened?" she asked.

"With that poor man," Miriam said, sadly.

"He is being treated. We have searched the factory, and found psychic hints of death and slaughter in places it should not be. But it was all moved shortly before the move. We are now talking to people, because many of us, myself and Alley included, suspect that the murder happened, and then was covered up by a double."

"A double? As in, a Mage?"

"There are too many signs of magical defenses and wards, of scrubbing with magic, for it to be totally without one of the Wise."

"So a Mage did this?"

"And yet there were signs of something inhuman, and of magic that was not entirely the magic of Mages."

"What sort of magic, then?"

"There were spirits, and… other things." La Flambeau looked troubled. "And someone moved them, whatever killed a man and scarred another. It was hidden, it was… wrong. Something defiled and broken and sick happened, and we do not know where it is now, or who is behind it."

"Does everyone agree that there was definitely murder?" Miriam asked.

"As I said," Flambeau pointed out, her voice growing a little less distant. "Two of us think so, and many others do… but others hold out hope that this is less than it is."

Less than it is.

Miriam felt a chill, then, and an understanding that this wouldn't go away easily, or simply.

"I… even if I do not join your Order, I would like to help."

"Hah," Flambeau said, and then her voice took on a nastier turn. "It would be foolish not to join."

Miriam frowned at that. She could make up her own mind. She knew that people were making pitches, but La Flambeau seemed to have taken a leap ahead for a moment, to have wanted to demand that she join. And that itself didn't sit well with Miriam.

She saw three ways ahead of her: Silver Ladder, Mysterium, and the Folk. and more and more she was sure that any of the three paths would be… tolerable. No, that wasn't the word. That on any of the three paths, she could be herself and nurture some part of her soul, that her beliefs wouldn't be disrespected, or her desires disregarded.

But which one? And what was she to do to turn away from the others?

When she left, she felt more certain of the Folk… or at least most of the folks in the Folk, but that only made the choice harder. Much harder, in fact.

But she'd have to choose. The time was coming, she could feel it, deep down in a way she could not explain.

******

XP Vote!
[] Vote to spend or not spend XP. Vote by plan either way.

I'm giving you 1/5th for meeting the council, and 1/5th for @Neptune's further work.

You have 3 and 3/5ths regular XP, and 3 Arcane XP. I'll decide how to divide it out for purchases unless you say otherwise.

Things to buy:

Mother's Teachings 1->2: Miriam has learned a little more about how to take care of a house, and how to manage such things. 1 XP, Arcane XP need not apply
A Bit of a Tomboy 2->3: As noted before, this only works towards combat at a penalty. Just because one is a tomboy doesn't make one a ruffian! 2 XP, no Arcane XP.
Profession--Student: 2->3: All of this studying of magic might also pay off in the non-supernatural world. 1 XP, regular XP only.
Spirit 0->1: She has learned some of the way of the spirits. 4 XP, can be bought with a combination of both kinds of XP
Gnosis 1->2: Miriam has begun to understand magic instinctually, or at least with greater instincts than before, and a greater understanding. 5 XP, Arcane and otherwise.
Mind 2->3: She has learned more about Mind magic, and can study it more fully. 4 XP, combined.
Exorcist's Eye (Rote): Requiring, obviously, a purchase of Spirit, it can be bought with either or a combination of both XPs. It allows one to see spirits, and with Mind 1 can also see Astral beings using magic without having to open up Mage's Sight in any way. Spirit 1 required.
Peer Across Veils (Rote): Wanna see across the Gauntlet? This is how to do it. 1 XP, combined. Requires a purchase of Spirit first, obviously.

See something missing from the list? Please do tell.

*****

A/N: I decided to save the Week voting for after this, so that people would actually talk about her future as a Mage, hopefully, and so that we wouldn't overburden people with too much to vote on.
 
We are now talking to people, because many of us, myself and Alley included, suspect that the murder happened, and then was covered up by a double."

"A double? As in, a Mage?"

"There are too many signs of magical defenses and wards, of scrubbing with magic, for it to be totally without one of the Wise."

She's pretty evasive, here. Why? What's her motive in leading us to a certain conclusion, and to joining up?
 
[X] Mind 2->3: She has learned more about Mind magic, and can study it more fully. 4 XP, combined.
[X] Profession--Student: 2->3: All of this studying of magic might also pay off in the non-supernatural world. 1 XP, regular XP only.

Basic self defense online
 
Basic self defense online
Decent enough reasoning.

[X] Mind 2->3: She has learned more about Mind magic, and can study it more fully. 4 XP, combined.
[X] Profession--Student: 2->3: All of this studying of magic might also pay off in the non-supernatural world. 1 XP, regular XP only.
 
[X] Mind 2->3: She has learned more about Mind magic, and can study it more fully. 4 XP, combined.
[X] Profession--Student: 2->3: All of this studying of magic might also pay off in the non-supernatural world. 1 XP, regular XP only.
 
For those less familiar with Mage, <arcana> 3 is when you get your first Mage Armor spell unlocked. In our case, that's basically reading the intent of a would-be attacker to dodge where they are going to hit.
It also gives us the first actual offensive effect, which in our case would be psychic blasts.

If we're cornered in a dark alley by a thug now we have pretty good odds of leaving them out cold with a headache. Not that we should chance it.
 
For those less familiar with Mage, <arcana> 3 is when you get your first Mage Armor spell unlocked. In our case, that's basically reading the intent of a would-be attacker to dodge where they are going to hit.
It also gives us the first actual offensive effect, which in our case would be psychic blasts.

If we're cornered in a dark alley by a thug now we have pretty good odds of leaving them out cold with a headache. Not that we should chance it.
To avoid being completely and utterly hapless.
 
Back
Top