The Roaring Age (nWoD)

[The Laurent]

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:

Spoiler: 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--

Spoiler: 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--

Spoiler: 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.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] Aerie, and his philosophical problem.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 97: Above the Air, Below The Sun

"Shamans, I'm sure you've grown to understand, are no less divided than anyone else," Aerie said, guiding her towards one of the libraries. This was one of the smaller ones, more a nook, a hidden home for books and knowledge that could be left halfway in view. This was no Atheneum, but over time the books added up, and she looked at them. "So the question of spirit ethics prevails. Even Sleepers have entered a new realm of scientific discovery and the horrors attending. They have the ability, now more than ever, to destroy the natural world, and the blimp attacks and the bombing runs we have already seen… can you imagine what in a century technology could do? Entire cities flattened by a single giant bomb carried like a turtle in the talons of death's eagle."

Miriam shuddered to think of it, though surely there was a weight limit. A bird could only get so big, and surely the same was true for a plane, and thus for a bomb? But if one acknowledged hyperbole it was easy to imagine a fleet of planes, just as a fleet of ships, and gathering together and destroying an entire city with a rain of death from above. It was at the moment a strange fantasy, something out of a story about a shooting a rocket at Mars. But she considered it for a moment, let her mind travel down that path. "Is there an equivalent worry among Mages?"

"Conquest. Conquest is the worry, sticking our noses too far out, and in doing so rousing spirits we cannot simply push aside. Classifying, categorizing, controlling them. Spirits are not human, they do not have a soul. And yet." Aerie gestured. "And yet, what does this mean? Do you think Spirits are people, even if they are not human? What is the weight and value of a powerful spirit versus a Sleeper."

"Ah," Miriam said, and she knew exactly what he meant. Plenty of Mystagogues considered Sleepers a distraction as much as anything. They had little of mystic value, being of course a danger to be around magic and not just for themselves. So if there was any kind of bigotry that was widely held, it was not against women, truly, or negroes--with one notable exception--or even those who were most strange in other ways. It was against Sleepers. At best they were boring, at worst they were a frustrating hindrance whose existence was of little aid except as a source of the Awakened.

It wasn't universal. Loki seemed a little more generous-minded. But this was his own affectation.

"Yet, it is a generally agreed upon aphorism that you cannot treat them as humans," Aerie said. "Even if you consider them people, and that is certainly... a view which has its allies and detractors, if you view them as human you will get taken for a ride, that's for sure."

Morata knew that she was more likely than some to do so, if only because her own conceptual worldview just barely and just thinly stretched so far as to try to encompass spirits. She had begun working on it, and it was not as if it was impossible to imagine. God made all sorts of beings, and it was not as if the antique Christians, nor even the ones arriving in this New World burdened by centuries of stories but buoyed by their own faith, had not believed in the supernatural.

But if one merely dismissed spirits as demons... but then. "There are spirits of things that no human would be for."

"Are there?" Aerie asked. "Yes and no. What kind of spirit are you thinking of?"

"Disease spirits!" she pointed out. "Murder spirits!"

"There are people who went around hacking on everyone when the influenza came around," Aerie pointed out.

It was interesting to be in front of fellow Mystagogues, because they had the scholarly habit of arguing about just about everything. But at the same time was he wrong? "That's valuing something else more than you value your health, or being sure that it's all... some game. A disease spirit values disease for itself, and wants to spread."

"There are people who kill for no more reason than enjoyment, but you are right," Aerie said. "I assume you've read that statement, then?"

"Which statement?" she asked, having read many things.

"'What a Spirit most is is a single thing writ big, and yet any who delves the depths knows that there are many ways to be the same thing.' It really is a famous statement, one of those classic quotes that everyone... misquotes." Aerie sounded aggrieved as he handed her a few books.

The truth was, however, she could not remember that quite, though she did remember the 'single thing enlarged' being a phrase one author used. Perhaps that was a fragment of the quote, reworked? She wondered at that, teased at it like the one time she had, against her own best judgment, teased at a loose tooth she'd first noticed after a rather desperate and stocking-ruining slide towards home had led to her running straight into a boy. Someone who wasn't around any longer: she should remember, but she'd not been around him often. He'd moved up to Detroit, she thought.

"There are people who are obsessives," Morata pointed out as she began to flip through the books. But it was a weak point, an argument for the sake of arguing as she began to look through them.

"What I need are notes on stories about the truly powerful Spirits, the kinds of ones where all a Mage can do is summon avatars. Well, perhaps an Archmage could, but the closest I've ever been to an Archmage who knew something about Spirit was earlier this year."

Morata winced. Of course, of course. It made sense. They were strange beings that did not live in reality, they were... a step above everything, but where that was she did not know. What she did know was that they were dangerous, since of course their power was on a whole other scale.

Besides which, Morata herself even at her best was still a new Willworker in her first year.

"So, stories need to be gathered, because there are debates among other things about the strength of a spirit. Does one become more like a human or less as one gains power? Certainly, none of the stories seem human-like, but neither do stories of many things out there that nonetheless have goals and schemes, plots and moods." Aerie did not gesture broadly, but his words seemed almost to demand it.

Now here was a task. Gathering and collating information, and not just any information but stories and encounters involving the greatest of the Spirits, the ones who controlled entire Courts, who held power like none anyone could imagine.

She worked her way through the references, providing the information he needed but feeling quite unsure about whether she was quite doing it right. There was a little bit of something about all of this that felt as if she were attacking the situation from the wrong angle.

But all of this was interrupted because of a knock on the library door. On the other side was Hone, frowning thunderously. "Valkyrie is here to see Morata, along with another of those Guardians. I can tell them to leave, or at least... I can for now. This is Cabal grounds," he growled.

Morata understood that much: Guardians of the Veil could not just break into a cabal's sanctum, or rather not if they didn't either have the support of others, or alternatively a skill at infiltration and sneakery. But if two Guardians of the Veil wanted to talk to someone here, then they had at least some reason.

"I'll come with you, of course," Aerie insisted. "If we have anyone else, we should also have them there. Just in case this is a trick. There's all sorts going around."

"I'd be happy to have you in my corner," Morata said, earnestly. She really did know how much less protection she would have had outside of a Cabal. It was a way to learn, a way to help, but also protective coloring and even armor.

She now had things that could have actually occasioned a meeting. If they had followed her, and if they had seen that she'd met with a vampire, there could be a wide variety of questions. It could even extend to threats to said vampire's life, or to her independent ability to go as she pleased. It was not as if there were not any reasons to avoid going out at a time like this. So all in all, she was well aware that if she felt an attack of nerves, it was because she had cause not only for nerves but also for genuine worry.

They headed down, and when Wat opened the door again, there they were. The man was standing behind Valkyrie, thin and strange, looking a little starved. She hadn't ever seen him before, thick glasses making his eyes look huge and very, very watchful as he stared at her. He was balding slightly, and his whole appearance was quite like some lawyer there to serve a deposition, or... something.

She was aware, however, that Guardians of the Veil were experienced at all sorts of magic. For all she knew this was a woman, or a tall, strapping man, or indeed alternatively someone who looked like this but might with a little makeup, a wig, and a change of clothes and attitude seem just a little less officious.

Compared to that, Valkyrie was just a little bit expected. She was dressed up quite nicely, in a long dress, a rather elaborate hat, and an intense look.

She realized, peering closer, that they were clearly trying to pass as a couple, some middle-aged sort who was serious, earnest and of course entirely unremarkable. It made sense, she realized, and it would be remarkably solid cover.

"Morata, it is good to see you again," Valkyrie said, with not a hint of sincerity even pretending to grace her voice. Though it was more that she sounded flat, than that she sounded hostile. "I don't suppose we could come in?"

"I would have to ask the others," Morata said, in what she hoped was a smooth manner. "And if you did come in, you would be a guest."

"I suppose, if it was no further than the foyer here, perhaps?" Aerie asked, even as Hone was shaking his head rather violently and glaring at them.

"Ah well then, we have to ask something of... some importance. Where were you last night?"

"Why do you ask?" Morata asked, without hesitation.

"A Guardian has disappeared. The one who was assigned to watch you."

"One person, to watch one Mage, are the Guardians of the Veil lying about thier numbers?" Hone shot back.

"He was in charge of a number of Sleepers and Sleepwalkers, agents who have already been reviewed. They were supposed to cover the whole area, as it includes plenty of the Folk, a few of the Uprising, and a few members of other Orders." After all, Morata had to acknowledge, the Negro part of the city was well-defined and not lacking in the Wise.

"So the possibility is that he saw one of those he was trying to monitor and protect during this period of... suggested curfew, and followed them. At which point... the Banishers or some other threat may have gotten to him," Valkyrie said. The man seemed put out at the honesty, and indeed it was far more than she had expected the Guardians of the Veil to say.

Though on the other hand it did not reveal much. Of course they had Guardians patrolling and watching people. And of course they could not do all of that alone. There were not enough Mages in any Order to be able to do everything, and the Guardians were smaller and, it was rumored, more selective than most.

So just as the Mysterium had Sleepwalker assistants and plenty of Sleepers who indirectly worked to gather knowledge, just as the Silver Ladder had entire cults under their sway, and the Adamantine Arrows plumped out their numbers with what help they could find... so too would Guardians contract out some of the simple work, to leave the magical means to them.

So it was possible, if she had gone off on her own, that he had followed, and then... what?

"We're going to be talking to quite a few people today," the man said, drily. "You're not the first, nor the last."

Now, was this true? She knew enough about the art of conversation to know that downplaying the importance of something like this could be to get her guard down, so that she'd assume that it was of no import.

So it'd be easy to just casually tell the truth assuming it was no real secret.

Except, she did have something big that it might be wisest to hide. Indeed, it could undermine everything she planned if she was too honest, if she could get away with being dishonest, and she was not sure either way.

But what if they noticed that she'd noticed the trap and... well. She knew that she could very easily climb up and down every particular of these affairs, and not come to a conclusion.

Except, she had to figure out what she was going to say soon.

What, if anything, does she tell Valkyrie?

[] [Valk] Write-in!

Spoiler: Rolls

I forgot to record, but you had a failure on something and then single successes on the rest.

A/N: Happy Christmas Eve!

 

[zxzx24]

"Conquest. Conquest is the worry, sticking our noses too far out, and in doing so rousing spirits we cannot simply push aside. Classifying, categorizing, controlling them. Spirits are not human, they do not have a soul. And yet." Aerie gestured. "And yet, what does this mean? Do you think Spirits are people, even if they are not human? What is the weight and value of a powerful spirit versus a Sleeper."

Click to shrink...

Ah, are spirits people, and how are we to treat them? A good question to be asking for sure. Especially given how wildly even weak spirit mages can... influence spirits.

"There are people who went around hacking on everyone when the influenza came around," Aerie pointed out.

Click to shrink...

Yeah people can be... people.

"One person, to watch one Mage, are the Guardians of the Veil lying about thier numbers?" [] shot back.

Click to shrink...

You have a few [] left lying around the update. Not sure what they are. I think this one was supposed to be a name?

A/N: Happy Christmas Eve!

Click to shrink...

Merry Christmas yourself!

If there was no possibility that they were lying I would be much more copacetic about being honest with them.

Screw it they are Guardians. They would respect the Paranoia.

[X] Ask her to repeat everything she told you in high speech.
-[X] If she was being honest go ahead and tell her about the meeting. If not what was discussed there.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] Ask her to repeat everything she told you in high speech.
-[X] If she was being honest go ahead and tell her about the meeting. If not what was discussed there.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 98: Truth, Lies, Between

Morata had been given lessons that made it clear that while the tongue of the Mage was one where nobody could say lies, that was not the same was the Truth. High Speech gave as many ways to deceive and mislead as any other language, and yet it also gave ways one could watch out for it. Vagueness and imprecise language were some of the best ways to lie, and another was to simply not say more than was required. If one swore that they were not plotting someone's death, but their best friend was and had included them as a soldier in the assassination attempt, this was "True" but meaningless.

The fact that this example had been used was, Morata hoped, for the purpose of unsettling her and making her aware of the dark side of the world she lived in.

But she also knew another simple fact.

Words had to be enough, in that there was no real other way to convey things that was nearly so dense and yet legible. It was possible to convey through dream images truths that words could not, sure. She knew the power of the Mind. But even if words had their limits, it was the best way for most communication.

"Can you repeat what you said in High Speech?"

Valkyrie looked vaguely approving and nodded. "I can."

And then she spoke again. "We are going to ask you something important: where were you last night? Why do we ask? Because a Guardian has disappeared. He was assigned to watch you, among others. You were of some priority because of your youth. He was in charge of a number of agents, to cover the whole area, including the Folk, the Uprising, and other Orders. It is possible that he saw one of those he was trying to monitor during the curfew leave, at which point he might have followed him. A Banisher or some other danger may have gotten to him. You are not the first person we've asked, nor are you the last."

There were differences, especially of emphasis, that made it clear that Valkyrie had made it all sound a little more casual than it was. But the facts seemed clear enough.

"I had a meeting with a vampire, one who I had met with before on matters relating to Mystagogue business." She was willing and able to stonewall, to have them go to the Hierarch, who would quite bluntly tell them something incredibly rude, such as to take a walk off the pier into Lake Michigan. "I do not think it likely that she killed any Mages," she said, in HIgh Speech.

"You trust her that much?" Valkyrie asked.

"No. But she would not get anything by killing a Mage." She meant so practically, but she also meant so in terms of feeding. She could not get blood from a stone, or from a non-vampire, anymore. She could have killed the Mage for the joy of killing, or some other absurd reason, but hunger was no longer a cause. "Unless… would he have attacked a vampire leaving a meeting with a Mage? I would not think so, Guardians of the Veil are more cautious, I would have expected someone to back off and have… pointed questions."

"Pointed questions that you would then avoid by referring to the Hierarch?" the man asked her.

"He… if he did follow me." She hesitated, because she felt guilt then. Even if she had no direct stake, if all she'd done is lure him off track, it could have distracted the Guardian from paying attention to some other threat that was around. Sheu knew there were all sorts of dark things, even beyond Banishers and vampires, that lurked in this world. She could not take credit for all the bad in the world. But. "Then could some other danger have harmed him?"

But she felt a little sick to think about it.

"It is possible, but we cannot be sure," Valkyrie admitted. "I do not want to trouble you much longer, and so we may have to trouble the Hierarch, soon."

Oh. She tried not to react, but she was pretty sure Valkyrie could tell that she did not like that idea. Because, of course, she'd have to explain herself to him. She'd gotten what she needed from the vampires, so why was she engaging with them?

Of course, she would have to explain her purpose at some point, or at least consider it. If she was going to gain what she planned on gaining, if she was to learn the nature of vampiric powers, the names of the members of the Lancea et Sanctum in the city, and the story of Belladonna's life…

She was aware the Guardians, actually, might do much with the name of the Lancea et Sanctum members.

It was a thought that had her almost tensing. She didn't know it yet, but she might soon learn things that would help her understand vampires better. But others could, and probably would, use this to their advantage. She knew it. Valkyrie did not know all of her thoughts, probably, but it was clear she knew more of the direction her thoughts were going because she nodded with faint respect, "I will not trouble you any further, Morata, if there is nothing more to say."

She turned, and then stopped. "Oh, though I would ask you, can you demonstrate in any way that the vampire has not done anything to your mind? Would you submit to spells designed to test for such links?"

"I… would not unless it is necessary," Morata said. "I do not think it will help you get closer to the answer you're seeking." If he had been following her, then whatever killed him, and she almost hoped he was dead because the alternatives were worse, was following either her or him.

If it was him, this was a disaster. If it was her, it meant that only a dark sort of grace saved her life. It was not a grace she could be thankful for.

No, no not at all.

Valkyrie seemed to see, if not all the details, than the outline.

But Morata was not going to waver in public, however much doubt was starting to assail her in the privacy of her own head.

"Very well then, we'll take our leave…"

When the door closed, Aerie was looking at her oddly, frowning. "What did happen, anyways?" Aerie asked, curiosity clearly winning out over anything like discretion. And to be fair, he was a Cabalmate, and a Mystagogue, and so perhaps it would be safer to talk to him about what happened.

She considered it, and answered…

Answers part 2! What do you say to him? (It can be the same story, in which case say so, or more or different details.

[]

***

A/N: Not too bad!

 

[GardenerBriareus]

Gah! Don't know how this slipped out of my alerts for so long, and I return on a write-in, that thorniest of votes.

Could I ask for a summary - who Aerie is, what he's done in the past, what he might take interest in, what agendas he likely has, etc?

 

[The Laurent]

Gah! Don't know how this slipped out of my alerts for so long, and I return on a write-in, that thorniest of votes.

Could I ask for a summary - who Aerie is, what he's done in the past, what he might take interest in, what agendas he likely has, etc?

Click to shrink...

Aerie is a spirit-focused Mystagogue who is a member of Morata's Cabal. He seems relatively intellectual and thoughtful, he's the one who introduced Morata to talking about the Mystagogue in general, but she hasn't had many interactions with him lately outside of the concept of "Cabalmate."

 

[GardenerBriareus]

* cough *

Given the time that's elapsed, I decided to bite the bullet and actually come up with a write-in vote.


[] Bring up the more 'animate' manifestations encountered within the vampire's mental world, and the particularities of the entity which seemed to lay at the heart of her bloodline. Any insights on the second part will be welcome, but the real meat of things is likely to lie in examining the realms of Mind and Spirit with the aid of someone more experienced with the other half of that set.


This struck me as something which Miriam's interests would naturally gravitate toward, but I'm holding off for the moment because I can't remember at the moment whether we made any promises regarding what we'd tell to who about the aforementioned events and entity.

 

[The Laurent]

At this point I'm just going to demand an up and down vote.

Here are y'all's options.

[] @GardenerBriareus 's Plan.
[] Tell him the same story you just told the Guardian of the Veil.

So please, pick.

 

[ArcanaVitae]

[X] @GardenerBriareus 's Plan.

 

[No7sHere]

[X] @GardenerBriareus 's Plan.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] @GardenerBriareus 's Plan.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] @GardenerBriareus 's Plan.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 99: Shades of Truth

"I do not entirely know," Morata admitted. She was not going to admit everything, but she thought she'd admit to soem of it. "When I was looking over the vampire, in her mental world, I encountered a very animate manifestation." She thought of the deeply technical words for it, and nodded, "Yes, in this case it was an animate manifestation that seemed to coincide with what are called… 'real' things by Von Traskellion."

The definition was rough, but essentially it divided itself between two examples. Imagine two people with constant haunting nightmares of their ever-critical mother. One of them, the manifestation turns out simply to be their memories, it is a basic trauma, it is not 'real' as such. The second, it turns out their mother is a ghost or some strange magical entity and has partially possessed them or is reaching out to them beyond the veil. Such an entity in the mind is therefore 'real' because it has a reality outside of memory or the psychological traumas of a person.

"Hmm," Aerie said. "And this entity…?"

"I think it might be dead, or not, but I don't know how it transferred, except it seems to have done so, passed along a bloodline." She was not lying here, but the truth is that it did seem as if the passing down did have to involve soul eating, because that was what was demanded of her.

"I'd have to talk to someone who knows Spirit better, or Death, in order to tell. I could learn a lot by examining…the subject again, along with someone experienced in Mind, Spirit, or Death, or some combination of them. However."

However, she looked away.

The 'however' that Aerie says is, "However, if you've built a rapport with her, adding in someone else is likely a good way to get a shaky test-subject fleeing for the hills. I understand the spirit of what you want, even if I'm sure the Guardians would not like it: but you are a Mystagogue."

Morata has not admitted to the truth, a truth that Wat does not seem to see either as he added, "In my experience, the bloodsuckers do tend to be jumpy. Course, I'd be jumpy too, if a bunch of Mages wanted to study me." He shook his head. "It's rough business, no doubt, whatever project yer workin' on, but the Cabal isn't here to control you that much. Just be careful."

"I will be," Morata insisted.

"Good, good," Aerie declared.

*​

So that was over, for now, even if the answer to how she was going to help her was still up in the air. Belladonna needed to sleep, slumber for years, decades, maybe the better part of a century. It was strange to think of. If she did this right, she'd never see the vampire again because she'd die of old age long before the time came.

Strange, though perhaps not unwelcome, to imagine the years passing and the world changing. Perhaps it would change enough to make something new of it. God willing.

Things would work out, she hoped. She kept that hope alive as she looked across at Coniunctio. The man had a good suit on, and was frowning as she outlined what she needed. "It's… outside my usual sort of magic. You're a good Mage, and this is far from the worst set of… ideas, but… I can inscribe this Rote, but designing it? That will take work."

Coniunctio licked his lips, shifting in his seat and seeming to consider what was in front of him. "I don't want to demand something from a Cabalmate, but if it's going to be several days of work, and going to require me to go through the work of being let into the Athenaeum, that'll…"

"Of course, we can work something out," Morata insisted. In theory she could charge it on the Hierarch, and what was going to be demanded wasn't going to be much, she suspected. She knew that he was a straightforward person, a warrior of the mind. More than that, she knew that this was probably going to be as much a gift as an obligation. Nobody treated her as a child, but they did know it.

They knew it, which meant that anything she was given would be a learning experience, one way or another.

They were settled at the table, and she looked at him.

"Ah well then, one thing I do need is backup. It shouldn't be dangerous, but there's someone who has come to us for help. I could use some backup for that. Beyond that… ah. There's a few runs that someone needs to make, and specifically… I wonder whether you could help us in talking with the Uprising. The usual choice would be… well."

Her Uncle.

"It can't be a member of the group," or else it would be Wat, "But it certainly can't be… well." He looked away.

"Beyond that, of course, you could simply… owe a favor," though it did not need to be said that this would be one of those choices unlikely to lead to more in the immediate term. "Or, there's one other thing."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It is… not quite yet, but we will need to act to deal with a few problems involving the…" Coniunctio sighed. "The Fae population. Specifically, we're starting to make some major moves along with the Guardians against the Seers, and yet it is going to get into gangland affairs, inevitably. And those inevitably get into the fact that some of the chief suppliers of liquor, including some with magical or strange effects, are Changelings. Such beings, then, are someone we'd have to talk to."

"That… sounds like a very major issue to be involved in. I assume you think my Scholar's Protection would be of some help? Is the Silver Ladder too distracted?"

"At the moment, the Silver Ladder insists on other priorities, and also on the danger of picking a fight with the Changelings at a moment like this." Coniunctio sighed. "I don't think it will be a simple matter, and it may be weeks, it may even be months, but your involvement would be appreciated and would more than just pay for any aid I can grant you."

This, she realized, was a way to build Guanxi, and quite a lot of it at that, but it was also an investment, a commitment that even if it could be pushed off for now would get her involved once again in magical affairs of a most dangerous kind.

In theory, at least.

What does Morata go with?

[] [Favor] Morata will help with a patient, getting more experience in exploring the Onerios of others, though at some risk of incident should things go wrong.
[] [Favor] Morata will run a few errands for the Adamantine Arrows, which was to say that there would be some danger, and some chance to get a feeling for the streets themselves.
[] [Favor] Morata would simply owe him a favor in general, something he can collect later. This would, if barely, pay for his aid, but would likely end there for the moment, thus freeing her from having to worry about anything for a while.
[] [Favor] Morata would agree to be involved in future operations of the Arrows involving… discussions with the Changelings about their smuggling trade. This would more than pay for his aid, and probably have an 'account' to draw on in the future, but would commit her to significant danger and involvement, even if it MIGHT wait until after the matters concerning both the Hierarch and the "Sacrifced" is settled.

Spoiler: Rolls

Memory: 4 (Int)+2 (practicing Mage)=6 dice, 1 sx

Roll for ???: 1 success

??? rolls, social things, mixed results.

A/N: Have it a day early, just because I've left y'all hanging.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] [Favor] Morata will run a few errands for the Adamantine Arrows, which was to say that there would be some danger, and some chance to get a feeling for the streets themselves.

 

[Shard]

[X] [Favor] Morata will help with a patient, getting more experience in exploring the Onerios of others, though at some risk of incident should things go wrong.
[X] [Favor] Morata will run a few errands for the Adamantine Arrows, which was to say that there would be some danger, and some chance to get a feeling for the streets themselves.

 

[.Slaking.LV.Max.]

[X] [Favor] Morata will help with a patient, getting more experience in exploring the Onerios of others, though at some risk of incident should things go wrong.
[X] [Favor] Morata will run a few errands for the Adamantine Arrows, which was to say that there would be some danger, and some chance to get a feeling for the streets themselves.

 

[GardenerBriareus]

[X] [Favor] Morata will help with a patient, getting more experience in exploring the Onerios of others, though at some risk of incident should things go wrong.

[X] [Favor] Morata would agree to be involved in future operations of the Arrows involving… discussions with the Changelings about their smuggling trade. This would more than pay for his aid, and probably have an 'account' to draw on in the future, but would commit her to significant danger and involvement, even if it MIGHT wait until after the matters concerning both the Hierarch and the "Sacrifced" is settled.


I'm quite up for a second encounter with the Changelings of Chicago.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] [Favor] Morata would agree to be involved in future operations of the Arrows involving… discussions with the Changelings about their smuggling trade. This would more than pay for his aid, and probably have an 'account' to draw on in the future, but would commit her to significant danger and involvement, even if it MIGHT wait until after the matters concerning both the Hierarch and the "Sacrifced" is settled.

 

[The Laurent]

It's really close and I also have a tie, so, uh!

 

[zxzx24]

[X] [Favor] Morata will run a few errands for the Adamantine Arrows, which was to say that there would be some danger, and some chance to get a feeling for the streets themselves.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 100: The Arrow And The Archer

"What are the errands?" Morata asked. She knew that the lowest level stuff was done by Sleepers and Sleepwalkers, some of whom did not even know what they were doing, not really. A security guard over a facility that held important information on an enemy might have no idea that there is anything supernatural afoot, since his purpose was presumably to ward off mortal eyes and casual attempts. Meanwhile the youngest of all of the Orders sometimes ran errands.

"It's quite simply, though we'll have to establish it. There's some defenses that we would love to see renewed, and beyond that… there's a few publicly known gatehouses. You should probably know where they are." Coniunctio considered this for a moment and said, "Usually we simply trust that the Order tells you these things. But I suspect there were other concerns."

Miriam Green did not react, but she knew that she had a lot to learn and that they'd spent far more time teaching her about how to be a scholar than anything. They seemed to just assume that she'd keep herself safe as long as they watched her for the kind of mistakes a new member made. She knew that she made them, all the same, because who was able to fight the urge to bite off more than you can chew. No matter how wise you were, there was so much to the world and so much to explore.

Perhaps it was a weakness, but it was one she could, and did, use. "Probably," Miriam said. "I think I can do that."

"Of course you can," Coniunctio said. "The question is never whether you can do it, the Arrows won't hand out challenges that others cannot rise to." A pause, for a moment. "Usually. The question is more whether you will… and I believe you will."

She smiled, grateful for the confidence from her Cabal-mate. It was another duty, but one she was sure she could shoulder.

*​

The Gold Coast was a truly unnerving area to be in. Of course Loki resided in one of the richest parts of the city. Just being here, surrounded by mansions and high-end shopping, from people who did not include price tags often enough… it was the feeling of being pressed in on all sides, despite the fact that it was far less cramped than anywhere she lived. The mansion stood out even then, a huge and ugly assemblage.

Loki lived in the vastest and most undeniable luxury, and even had several houses, here and elsewhere, a fortune such that it was only a matter of manipulation and cunning that kept his name from being so well known as to make his work gathering artifacts for the Mysterium impossible. She could not say she was moved by columns, white marble or otherwise, or the gilded finery of an age that left little enough room for her. She was entering into what might be a tiger's den, except she knew the tiger and he was kindly and more likely to laze around--with her at least--than claw or bite at all. Still, even if the archer is kind, the arrow has points, and when she arrived she fwill find that, while there was no formal party, he was not alone and indeed she had been trust into a social situation of some delicateness.

What situation is that?

[] [Problem] He was meeting with a wealthy banker on the matter of his investments. The presence of a teenage Negro girl is certainly awkward, and while a Sleeper it was at least an… odd thing to say the least.
[] [Problem] A group of bohemian artist types have decamped into his rooms, eating his food, and making themselves quite at home. Miriam Green, a Godly girl, must endure the drunken antics of these fools.
[] [Problem] Everywhere she goes, it seems there are the Guardians. Another Guardian has shown up to meet with him, no doubt to question him on one matter or another, and this puts her in the path of them once more.
[] [Problem] An out of town collector, a Sleepwalker who has something to sell and knows enough to guess her magical nature, has alighted upon the mansion.

***

A/N: Apologies for both the short length and the delay.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] [Problem] He was meeting with a wealthy banker on the matter of his investments. The presence of a teenage Negro girl is certainly awkward, and while a Sleeper it was at least an… odd thing to say the least.

Awkward can be funny.

[X] [Problem] An out of town collector, a Sleepwalker who has something to sell and knows enough to guess her magical nature, has alighted upon the mansion.

And this piques my curiosity.

 

[GardenerBriareus]

[X] [Problem] An out of town collector, a Sleepwalker who has something to sell and knows enough to guess her magical nature, has alighted upon the mansion.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] [Problem] An out of town collector, a Sleepwalker who has something to sell and knows enough to guess her magical nature, has alighted upon the mansion.