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.
 
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[X] The house/mansion belonging to her cabal. Well, it's her Uncle's cabal, but she's a part of it, and she can perhaps check in with them and ask about using their Hallow to meditate into the Astral. She could do it anywhere, but it was exhausting to do so repeatedly, and so at least she should ask.
 
[X] The house/mansion belonging to her cabal. Well, it's her Uncle's cabal, but she's a part of it, and she can perhaps check in with them and ask about using their Hallow to meditate into the Astral. She could do it anywhere, but it was exhausting to do so repeatedly, and so at least she should ask.

I want more of the cabal! They were fun on last appearance.
 
[X] The house/mansion belonging to her cabal. Well, it's her Uncle's cabal, but she's a part of it, and she can perhaps check in with them and ask about using their Hallow to meditate into the Astral. She could do it anywhere, but it was exhausting to do so repeatedly, and so at least she should ask.
 
[X] The house/mansion belonging to her cabal. Well, it's her Uncle's cabal, but she's a part of it, and she can perhaps check in with them and ask about using their Hallow to meditate into the Astral. She could do it anywhere, but it was exhausting to do so repeatedly, and so at least she should ask.
 
[X] The house/mansion belonging to her cabal. Well, it's her Uncle's cabal, but she's a part of it, and she can perhaps check in with them and ask about using their Hallow to meditate into the Astral. She could do it anywhere, but it was exhausting to do so repeatedly, and so at least she should ask.
 
Page 3: The Experience Of Being Someone Else
Page 3: The Experience Of Being Someone Else

Chicago was a huge city, but even it eventually ended. City became suburb, and suburb eventually became the towns to the north and south of it. The transition wasn't all that subtle, in some ways. You could only go so far along the tram lines before you ran out of places to go and had to walk on foot.

Miriam Green was under the effect of a spell. She'd taken a look in the mirror, and decided that today she was going to keep on wearing what she did as Morata. But if she did that out in public, it could start a confrontation or three. There were several ways she could have dealt with it, and she didn't know which of them she liked the most. They were all a little unpleasant, but there were easier and harder versions of it. Convincing people that she was wearing an entirely different outfit was possible, but difficult. That was more a matter of Matter, and certain delusions were also simply harder to incite with the use of the Mind Arcanum.

What she was doing was not that much easier, and a part of her warned herself that it was vanity to not want to change clothing. But she liked the mindset when she was Morata… it was hard to define. Morata and Miriam weren't actually any different, any more than her father was a different person when at the podium than when at home. But he didn't dress in the back of the church, he dressed before he left for church. And it would have no doubt been difficult to do his job if he was made to keep on switching clothing.

It would be like trying to speak two completely different languages back to back without any warning. Again and again.

Of course, there were risks with the method she was using, but there was no real way to cast the spell easily: now if there was an Imbued item to do this, she'd use it any moment. As it was, she set the mirror down and then shifted from the hand-mirror to the larger mirror in the bathroom, focusing on the difference there. What she saw was different in each of them, thanks to the size of the mirror. What she wanted--or rather the only thing she could accept--was for people to look at something and see what made 'most sense.'

Put it simply: they would look at her and see a boy and not a girl, and therefore there would be far less commentary on her way of dress. It wouldn't change her voice, or her body, it would not change anyone's memories of her, but it was incredibly powerful. Sara said it was baffling to look at Miriam in a skirt and blouse with the magic up and One: know that this was Miriam Green, Two: Feel as if this was a boy in front of her and Three: Feel baffled at why a man was in a skirt, despite point one.

Even details like her breasts somehow just… slipped people's minds to some degree.

It was not any good at working on people who knew her, but that wasn't what it was for. It was for standing on the tram holding a bar and then getting off the tram.

So she took a breath, focused her mind, and cast the spell.

Every spell has an Imago, a sort of blueprint. With Rotes, the blueprint was constructed, it was created just for you, and all you had to do was follow it, set your mind running down familiar paths at incredible speeds. With a spell like this, even after she'd done it a half-dozen times, she was feeling her way through the dark. When she was ready she forced her will at it, and felt something buckle. She'd pushed further than she was sure she could, and she felt the backlash.

It was hubris, to overreach God's domain, to try to do more than you were ready to… but sometimes you had to risk it. But when you did, you had to contain it. It was a feeling like gas trying to escape, like an explosion about to happen, but she grit her teeth and focused. The spell was cast, and she felt twinges of pain all over her body.

It wasn't bad, it'd go away in a matter of minutes, perhaps closer to thirty if it was particularly bad. This didn't seem so bad. It was pain, but it was pain she'd earned by her risk-taking. She needed a dedicated tool, something she could use more consistently and well. But she'd been so busy, and to make such a tool, you had to believe that such a dedicated and powerful tool, connected to your very soul itself, was the exact tool you wanted to use. Perhaps the pen she was using as one of her tools could work? She did use it a lot, after all. But it took a Dedication Ceremony to get one's first tool, if you didn't grasp onto it during Awakening.

So she winced and straightened her hair some, aware that a lot of the little details would blur together thanks to her magic. They'd be noticed, but this spell wasn't about that. She left her purse on the table--it'd wind up back at her house, sooner or later--and emptied her objects into various pockets, and into the pockets of a light jacket she brought just as much to have a storing space as anything else.

Then she headed out into the sun.

******

So, it had happened seven times now, that she'd gone out and traveled at least some distance in this way. What had she learned?

First: most people didn't care. Even the racists had better things to do than start fights. Mostly.

Second, it still hurt to be called 'boy' or glared at, all the same.

Third, people gave her more space. She took up not even an extra inch of space, but they edged away just a bit, as if she was taking up invisible space. They also gave her less space: when it came time to be crowded together, there was no hesitation based on her 'ladylike' status. They just crowded together.

Fourth, people made all sorts of assumptions. Miriam had decided that it was clear that nobody could understand ages, because her somewhat business-like attire meant people assumed she was a twenty-something small business owner, someone on a Negro Business Board or that sort of thing. It was the only thing that'd make sense of the nods that sweat-stained, exhausted Negro men gave to her, as if she was someone they had to respect, despite many of them being twice her age. And men.

In all honesty, it was strange, yes, but she liked the idea of being respected. She just wanted to be respected for things she'd done, as herself, rather than for some illusory assumed status.

Fifth, white people looked at her funny. They had before, but now they were gazes filled with more suspicion. They must have assumed, whenever she went to meet with her cabal, that she was a cleaning lady. But what was a Negro doing going out towards the suburbs?

Still, she made her way decently enough to the outskirts of the area she wanted to go. There were glares and odd looks as she walked along, but she was not all that afraid. Around the mansion had been put a few spells that protected them.

The house was not a mansion, but it seemed close, with a backyard filled with eight trees, and still with plenty of open space, and enough rooms for everything she could imagine. She strode up to the door, and knocked on it: three quick knocks, a pause, and then one harder knock.

Then she waited, hands stuffed into her pockets. Finally, the brown front door opened. It was Civitas, the leader of the Cabal. He was a white man in his fifties, dressed in this case in a sweater and slacks, looking like the professor he sort of was. It was his house, or rather, the house he used, his real home being somewhere else, and no doubt well hidden.

Civitas was an Acanthus, but one with a special interest in both Mind and, especially, Spirits. "Ah, Morata… and the spell seems to still be working." It had another few minutes, or so, until the spell lapsed.

"Yes, I didn't want to have to change," Miriam admitted, softly. "May I come in?" There were defenses which meant that entering uninvited was very difficult. Behind him was the foyer, made to look as mundane as possible.

"Yes you may. What is it you need?"

Miriam stepped in, and the door closed behind her. "Well… I need access to the Demense here, if at all possible. I have some important research in the Astral to do, and that means I'll need to spend a few days or nights here, in relative seclusion."

"Ah, I wonder if it is related to the research Dancing Shadow has requested access to the Hallow or Demense for. You will have to share it."

Miriam tried not to startle, thinking about her Uncle. What was he researching?

"Of course," Morata said, with a wan smile.

"He's not in now, so you'll have to wait just a little bit," Civitas said, apologetically.

But what does Miriam do while waiting?

[] Talk to Aerie, a Mystagogue Obrimos. He was someone who might not know about the particular… task force specifically, but if there was anyone to discuss the Mysterious and the Mysterium with, it was him.
[] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.
[] Coniunctiois a fellow Mastigos Arrow, and so perhaps he could be talked about regarding--in a general sense--the challenge facing her.
[] Hone is in the basement, doing his alchemical work, 'honing' the substances of the world. It is the type of magic she knows least about, but perhaps there's something to be said about watching something strange and hard to parse like that.
[] Write-in.

Alternate Imposter:


Mind 3 required, not a Rote, Gnosis 2.

So only one free Reach, so will need to over-reach to do anything much.

Spell: 4 six.


1 Reach for Instant
Spell Factor is Scale, and it's letting you advance it up two to cast it at a 'small house' level of distance.
1 Reach for Time (Overreach)


Paradox: 2 dice=1 sux
Contain Paradox=4 sux, dealt 1 resistant bashing damage.

*****

A/N: So there we go, another update! This one gets into a lot of somewhat difficult topics, so, yeah.

...this got eaten in the Great SV Purge of 2021. So, uh, now it's back.
 
[X] Talk to Aerie, a Mystagogue Obrimos. He was someone who might not know about the particular… task force specifically, but if there was anyone to discuss the Mysterious and the Mysterium with, it was him.
 
[X] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.

I would love to get more spirit interaction.
 
So I take it that's the spell you asked for advice on in the White Wolf thread? Funny, it ended up being used in a lot more low stakes way then I expected. I tend not to fuss too much over mechanical stuff when there's no real opposition, so it didn't even occur to me that you might want this spell for something as lowkey as Miriam walking across town in her Morata clothes without getting hassled.

Anyway, the vote.

[x] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.

I still think Morata could stand to learn some Spirit for a number of reasons, not least of which is her ongoing hunt for the escaped werewolves.
 
So I take it that's the spell you asked for advice on in the White Wolf thread? Funny, it ended up being used in a lot more low stakes way then I expected. I tend not to fuss too much over mechanical stuff when there's no real opposition, so it didn't even occur to me that you might want this spell for something as lowkey as Miriam walking across town in her Morata clothes without getting hassled.

Anyway, the vote.

[x] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.

I still think Morata could stand to learn some Spirit for a number of reasons, not least of which is her ongoing hunt for the escaped werewolves.

To be fair, being caught dressed like that would cause a *lot* of problems...
 
To be fair, being caught dressed like that would cause a *lot* of problems...
Oh, definitely, she absolutely needs magic to be able to do what she just did. It's still sort of a... pedestrian usage of a magic disguise spell, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I like pedestrian uses of magic, mages using magic just to dress however the fuck they want is cool to me. It's just not something I typically worry too much about the mechanics of when I'm running a game.
 
Oh, definitely, she absolutely needs magic to be able to do what she just did. It's still sort of a... pedestrian usage of a magic disguise spell, I guess. Don't get me wrong, I like pedestrian uses of magic, mages using magic just to dress however the fuck they want is cool to me. It's just not something I typically worry too much about the mechanics of when I'm running a game.

Thematically, part of stuff like that is to emphasize the difficulties, therein? It also lets me explore gender stuff, albeit very indirectly, which is always fun.

But the themes of the first bit include the contrast between the world of Mages and the world of... well, everyone else. Miriam is already a moderately respected figure: nothing super special, but above at least a few people in status. She's also a sixteen year old Negro girl in the 1920s, who currently has a 'thing' for dressing in a way people later would call butch.

The Hierarch consults with Morata respectfully, even while she could not wear what she did outside without being attacked or worse.

And she has to risk failure or Paradox just to cast it with any sort of reliability.
 
[X] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.
 
[X] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.

Yeah I agree with others that learning some more spirit lore could be very helpful given both of our quests, and it'd be interesting to see the difference between Anany and a modern spirit/life mage.
 
[X] Wat is out back, talking to the Spirits. Perhaps he could be induced to teach her a little more Spirit Lore… or the Lore of Life.
 
[X] Coniunctiois a fellow Mastigos Arrow, and so perhaps he could be talked about regarding--in a general sense--the challenge facing her.
 
Page 4: Out Back
Page 4: Out Back

Behind the building, there was a scene out of a painted postcard. There was a tree, a bush, dozens of flowers all clustered around the tree, drawing attention to the tree as if it were the center of the whole world. Everything was a little bit odd. It was too bright, the brown of the tree rich and powerful, the green bright and eye catching, the flowers all framing the center figure, a hunched, cross-legged man. His dark skin should have contrasted against all the color, against the bright haze of the sunlight on this little grotto, but it didn't. Instead, it made him the center of the painting, the thing to which all else was pointing to. Even one of the gnarled branches of the tree seemed to point down towards him.

He was heavily muscled, as natural looking in the small slice of a land beyond Chicago as could be imagined. It was a small area, and that only made it more a postcard, more a snapshot in dyes and inks, of what the world beyond Chicago could look like.

She was always taken aback by the beauty of it, for all that it was not in one sense anything special. There was not a bouquet to view, and the tree itself was not a large or imposing tree.

It was not even the tree that was the Hallow, from where mana came that fueled Mage's greatest spells. No, it was the bush by its side. Forgotten, rather drab, all things considered.

"Ah Morata," the cross-legged man said, stretching out in the sun. He didn't have a shirt, revealing all sorts of details about his physique that probably would have interested someone other than her. As it was, she just noted that he had another scar, now, this one just above his stomach. "It's good to see you."

One hand was stretched one, touching something she couldn't see. He had his eyes closed. But she was sure he saw her.

"It's good to see you as well. What are you looking at?"

"There's a spirit of pain around here. An animal died. I'm trying to figure out what to do about it," Wat said. "It's not any good to just kill it: all that'd do is cause more pain, somewhere else."

Morata was not sure whether that was theoretically sound, but she also knew very little about the Spirit Arcana, and it was true that all things were sympathetically connected. As she stepped closer to him, she considered that fact: so maybe it was theoretically sound.

"All things rebound on all things, God knows," Wat said. "Ain't nothing to do but keep on trying. You want to know more, don't you, about life?"

"And spirits. They're connected to the Werewolves, after all," Morata said.

"Have you ever considered that they might not want to be found?" Wat asked, standing up and turning to look at something, eyes opening this time. On his back was the wave-whirl of scars and knots, of pain healed wrong, and of pain that he'd repaid on the Seer who tortured him and tried to break him. "What if they just ran and ran until there was nobody that'd ever chase 'em?"

"Then… I want to find them, still," Morata said. She knew that there wasn't anything all that noble in the desire for knowledge even if it did harm. Knowledge wasn't supposed to exist for its own sake, and yet the Mysterium believed in that, and… it was valuable. All knowledge was valuable, but value could be such a strange word. "I'd perhaps hide where they are, if I needed to. But I think they're strong enough to stand on their own, if they're all that the Ghost thought they would be. But they're living beings, and yet beings of spirit."

"The thing to understand is that," Wat said, firmly. "Living things are more complicated than just their minds. You can use magic to destroy a mind with the power over life. Some have said: this must go both ways, but therein lies a realm of trouble and strife."

She could imagine. What if convincing someone they were someone else changed how they looked? That'd be absurd, though perhaps there was Life-Mind magic that could do something like that? But why would one want to. She bit her lip. "So, life… what I don't understand, is how you'd see it, grasp it. It's just there. It's not like your mind, or the bond you have with a person, or distance. Those illusions were hard to truly forget. But your body… it just is, most of the time."

"Yet you exercise," Wat said. "You've forgotten that, haven't you?" He smiled and shook his head. "You had to exercise to get as fit as you are. And you continue to exercise. But because you do, and because of your good health, you don't have to care about your body… not in certain ways. Pain comes, and pain goes, and it doesn't touch the core of you, you cannot know what it is to see it, and know what it is or isn't. That's one way to understand Life, in order to cast it. The first spells are always about understanding."

Morata wasn't sure what she thought about mortification of the flesh, but she knew that Wat knew what he was talking about. Of course, there were many paths to understanding that.

"And spirits?"

"Spirits… you have to be able to see those as well. We should find a time and a place to go exploring, Morata," Wat said. "The first spell you ever learn is to see them, before anything else. You know that: know before you understand, understand before you act. That seems to be the Mystagogue way."

"It is, sometimes. But sometimes you have to take a leap of faith." Morata nodded, and she would have said more, except the door opened behind them. She turned around slowly, and relaxed when she saw it was her Uncle, dressed in a pair of work jeans and a sweat-stained shirt. He looked her over, and glanced over at Wat.

"Good morning. I was told you wanted to talk about the use of the Hallow and the soulstones? You have some research to do?"

"Yes, it's important," Morata said. "It's for the Mysterium." This explained nothing at all, except that it wasn't a personal project, but she couldn't say any more than that.

"Well… oddly enough, my research is for the Ladder," Dancing Shadow, also known as Jack, said. "I wonder…" he narrowed his eyes, looking at her. "I cannot, I truly cannot, say more but… I wonder, how hot is your research?"

Miriam blinked, baffled. "Hot, well it's…"

Great Chicago Fire.

"Pretty hot."

"Well fuc--"

"Language."

"Fudge," Jack corrected, shaking his head. "I don't know how much I can say, but we could alternate usage of the Soulstone and the Hallow, perhaps? Actually, speaking of gossip, if it's within the inter-Cabal agreement, there's something interesting that's come up, if you wanted to talk about that…"

It's not even a subtle dodge. It's her Uncle Jack trying to change the subject.

But does she let him?

[] Yes, it's time to hear the gossip! It might well be politically relevant, after all, even if not immediately relevant to the attempt to find things in the Astral.
[] No, try to push to learn more. Why is the Silver Ladder working on the… Chicago Fire project in a way that apparently can't be shared?

******

A/N: Sorry of it's a bit short, but!
 
This would be a great chance to indulge our curiosity vice. :V

But both options are arguably deciding to stick our nose into others business for information.
 
[x] Yes, it's time to hear the gossip! It might well be politically relevant, after all, even if not immediately relevant to the attempt to find things in the Astral.

I don't see the need to push him. It's pretty easy to understand why the Ladder might be looking for it too, it's probably basically the same deal as the Mysterium. Jack makes sense as someone for them to trust with this task as well, given that he's a veteran Mastigos with plenty of experience in the Astral. I don't think pushing on the topic does anything but strain the relationship between Miriam and Jack, since both are loyal to their respective orders and neither will be willing to abandon the task.
 
[x] Yes, it's time to hear the gossip! It might well be politically relevant, after all, even if not immediately relevant to the attempt to find things in the Astral.

Knowledge is power steal it all.
 
[X] Yes, it's time to hear the gossip! It might well be politically relevant, after all, even if not immediately relevant to the attempt to find things in the Astral.
 
[x] Yes, it's time to hear the gossip! It might well be politically relevant, after all, even if not immediately relevant to the attempt to find things in the Astral.

Yeah we're in the same predicament with our Orders so just move on until things get more serious, instead of pushing things before even starting to investigate.
 
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