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] He remembers this, and can be helped to remember more, since it could help find out what is happening. Plus, perhaps he needs to learn to cope with the scars he has, rather than healing them outright.
[X] Search the factory. Focus on the location and dig up any possible clues.

This was a really tough vote. I think helping him heal is most in character, especially after Miriam's excellent act of compassion and grace. He has developed other problems in reaction to this trauma, but I think he needs to work through this first.

As for the investigation, Littleboy left six weeks ago and Miriam is sixteen years old and can't travel. The factory has a good chance of finding out what happened and introducing some new characters with Time and Spirit capabilities. A mystery for the Mysterium as it were.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Aug 30, 2017 at 8:39 AM, finished with 14 posts and 9 votes.

  • [X] He remembers this, and can be helped to remember more, since it could help find out what is happening. Plus, perhaps he needs to learn to cope with the scars he has, rather than healing them outright.
    [X] Search the factory. Focus on the location and dig up any possible clues.
    [X] He remembers this, and can be helped to remember more, since it could help find out what is happening. Plus, perhaps he needs to learn to cope with the scars he has, rather than healing them outright.
    [X] Look for Littleboy. He might provide answers, or at least good questions.
    [x] Even without the dogs, and the bad memories, by now he has been drinking for months. There are still underlying issues, and even if they're being masked by the supernatural one, they're the most important issues to deal with.
    [X] Search the factory. Focus on the location and dig up any possible clues.

Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Aug 30, 2017 at 8:41 AM, finished with 14 posts and 9 votes.

  • [X] He remembers this, and can be helped to remember more, since it could help find out what is happening. Plus, perhaps he needs to learn to cope with the scars he has, rather than healing them outright.
    [X] Search the factory. Focus on the location and dig up any possible clues.
    [X] Look for Littleboy. He might provide answers, or at least good questions.
    [x] Even without the dogs, and the bad memories, by now he has been drinking for months. There are still underlying issues, and even if they're being masked by the supernatural one, they're the most important issues to deal with.
 
Page 56: To Become
Page 56: To Become

Wayword took in her ideas, her suggestions, her slightly hesitant considerations gravely, with deep consideration. It reminded her of how parishioners had acted during one of her father's more somber sermons, before more people from down South had come in, before the tenor of each sermon had changed. Now people shouted affirmation and praise, now they reacted, and yet she remembered the look on their faces and was sure that to her father that was as much praise as anything else.

With Wayword, however, she couldn't be sure what his silences and nods meant. She spoke as if to a mirror, clauses and sub-clauses, thoughts and philosophy poured forth as if she were auditioning for some role on the stage.

What did she believe in? Not denial. Never denial. One could abstain from sinful things, but to deny one felt sinful feelings and thought sinful thoughts was to leave yourself vulnerable to those hidden, unseen things that you had thought were gone.

Miriam knew little about sin, but she knew how it was supposed to work. People were inherently sinful, after all.

So he needed to remember, in order to guard himself and build himself back up. Larry could stand on his own two feet, when the time came, and she trusted in that as she trusted in man. Man was God's creation, after all, and however limited… they were not badly made.

He would be tired, he would be hurt from all that had happened, but he could recover. She didn't know what happened when people didn't, because she wasn't around people who didn't recover.

They were too strong, or perhaps too lucky, for that.

*******

The journey back to the waking world was quick and simple. At last it felt as if she were going to be getting used to this, though the fact that she had recommendations didn't mean she was going to be carrying them out. That much Wayword had made clear. She wasn't going to be examining the factory, for all sorts of very good reasons.

"First off," Wayword said, "you lack a reason to be there. You could perhaps disguise yourself with magic as a worker, but it is still a limitation. And you have no investigative experience, and you lack the magic to truly be able to unravel this either."

Miriam agreed, and yet a part of her didn't want to. She was startled by how thoroughly she cast her mind out for some excuse to go along. "But isn't this in part my duty?"

"No. You've done quite enough, at quite enough risk. You are young, and the time will come, no matter what you do, that you'll be able to do things like this." Wayword shrugged, hands wrapped around his sides. He was standing in the church of her mind's annex, and he seemed quite like a priest at that moment. "God will not blame you for forsaking your duties when you instead allow those more able to do it to act. You are not Christ the Redeemer, you need not save the entire world alone."

Miriam shook her head, embarrassed and aware that she had overstepped.

"You should rest. You look tired," Wayword said, kindly.

"Even though I'm meditating?" she asked. But she knew what he meant. She felt stretched out, drawn out to the point where it started to hurt. She'd been pushing herself hard, and now she wanted to stop it.

It wasn't always that easy, though.

*******

The next morning, her Dad was in his room, composing another sermon.

"Are you going to tell me more of your adventures?" her father asked, mildly, as he didn't stop in his writing.

"What is it going to be on?"

"The good samaritan is a common enough sermon, I wonder if I can bring more to it than I have now," her father said, with that troubled look on his face that she understood.

He took his job seriously, and he took his writing seriously. He was far more erudite in the right ways than she was, certainly.

"Well, what about something beyond that? God doesn't just call us to help people we stumble across, but people we've never met."

"What happened?"

Miriam sighed. "I got called in to help someone. I tried to help them, though it's going to take a long time to do so. How did you know?"

"Help how?"

"I went into his mind to see why he'd taken up drinking after so long of being a productive, sober citizen," Miriam said.

"Ah," father said. "Well, I know it can happen to even good men. Did you figure out what caused it?"

"I… don't know. I'm going to be bringing Ronald and Dickens with me to church tomorrow."

Saturday Church, of course.

"Oh, good. It's good to see that your friends are taking an interest." Father looked up, looking her in the eyes, and she wondered what he was going to ask. "What about you?"

"Me?"

"Are you taking an interest in helping people via… dreams?"

"Maybe," Miriam admitted, biting her lip. The room seemed small. On the one hand, it was not an experience she wanted to go through again. On the other hand, she'd done something. She'd prayed for someone. Maybe something was better, and it was a different sort of better than she was used to.

"If you're going to be a… member of the Wise, then using it for good is important."

Do all for the glory of God, she thought, smiling faintly.

"I can use that, of course. Calling people to give more and more broadly is hardly a bad thing, though I wonder what that means for what I do."

"For what you do?"

"Your Uncle is part of the reason that I was able to get established in this house, as I am now." Her father breathed a slow sigh, "He loaned me money, and then made it no longer a loan after I was in no position to object to what he was doing. Shouldn't I pass on the blessing, if that is what it is? I try to do right by God's will every day, but the rich and powerful who spend their lives in the accumulation of money think the same, as they refuse to give more than a pittance for charity."

It was that sort of rhetoric that he rarely deployed, words too charged and hot and angry, the kinds of things Uncle Jack would have said with a smile to soften them. Father said them both seriously and uncertainly, as if he were trying out the words.

"Then give," Miriam said quietly, thinking to the threats. Was there a reason that people associated Shadow and Alexander Green, besides that they were brothers? If Shadow was giving money to Alexander, perhaps that was part of the fear, or the belief. That it was more than just brotherly one-time loans, but something deeper.

But what if it was?

What if Shadow, Uncle Jack, was using his magic to aid the church, or the family. He was already certainly protecting the house, that much Miriam had seen, and she was by now so used to it that she barely paid it any mind.

"We could," her father said, quietly. "We could yet, and we encourage it and so giving more would help."

Because of course, he already gave back much to the community. There were always collections, and always people who needed help, and the church ministry itself was doing charity work.

And while they were doing it, she'd been working with other churches to help people.

It made her wonder about herself, and her distracted loyalty.

But what could she say? What could she do?

*******

They were dressed up well. Ronald large, a Sleepwalker who knew that Miriam was something special. That's the phrase he used, "Something special." It made her flush, just a little, sweating from a sort of nervous uncertainty at that. Thinking like that wasn't how she was used to thinking. Yes, she was smart, and athletic, but that wasn't the same as being special in the way he said it.

The tall boy said it the way you said a King was special.

And that didn't feel right at all, didn't it?

But he was dressed in what was almost a suit, and Dickens at least had a nice shirt and pants. Both of them looked very smart, she thought, approvingly.

People were streaming past, and everyone was dressed up. One's Sunday best wasn't always the best, but dressing up was important. You dressed better than you lived, because the church was where you socialized, where you met God and also your neighbors in a very different way.

She was wearing a skirt and a blouse, both of them soft and delicate looking, despite hating it, because that was what proper women wore in such a case. She could have ever wore a dress, but she was pretty sure there was no piece of clothing--other than of course stockings--that she hated more than a useless dress.

The kinds of dresses that made her feel as if she were straightjacketed, as if she were a lunatic in an asylum.

"Thank you for coming," she told Dickens.

The small boy looked away for a moment. "No problem. I mean, it's the least I can do, for the sake of my soul and also because you asked me. And we're friends."

"You wouldn't see Josiah here," Ronald said, thoughtfully.

"I haven't seen him in a while. Nor Franklin. Summer is busy, though," Miriam said, looking up and seeing, carefully woven, what looked to be dancing light.

Dancing light that bleared and smeared and became, after a moment, colors. It was like a painting, and yet she didn't know the terms for all of the paints, she lacked an understanding of color, and so she could see that it had to do with the mind in part, but at the same time, that was only a little part of it. An element, even?

She stared up, and Dickens looked up with her.

"Thinking?" he asked, uncertainly.

"Yes. I haven't seen as much of Virginia this week either. But I know she's well," Miriam said. That much was true: she'd seen Virginia only briefly, but she'd been busy. Very busy.

"Ah," Dickens said.

Ronald nodded.

The pews were filling, and they made their way to fill theirs. Mother and daughter and friends all together at the front to watch as the choir came.

*******

Was it possible to not compare things? She liked the music here, and yet a part of her longed for the music she'd heard elsewhere, the music that felt earthier and less… abstracted. At the same time, a hymn was a beautiful thing, and these choral hymns really did make her think of air and light, and God up above. It was a difference of degree, as much as anything, since both were truly religious.

But there was something to be said for a different way of doing things. And yet, everyone clapped along.

Here she was, amid a crowd of people, and she was thinking about the music.

She closed her eyes and focused a little more. It was not as large a crowd as it'd be on Sunday, but it was still a crowd of dark faces, faces that were all coming together.

So she listened to the passages, and waited to see what her father would say.

She closed her eyes then, stopped trying to look up and see and understand what was on the church, and decided instead to appreciate it. If it was Uncle Jack, then she would be grateful to him and God as well.

If it wasn't, then her gratitude would have to spread out. It could. Gratitude wasn't something that merely could be stretched so far and no further.

Any more than charity, kindness, or mercy should be.

Faith, Hope, and Love most readings went.

But some said "Charity" for Agape was in a way both at the same time, in different senses.

"And I know! I know that there are struggles, and yet I know that what we give, we give to the Lord. The least of us, you know the verse. Who doesn't? But do you feel it? For even the devil himself quoted scripture, and yet in his heart, what was there but deception and lies."

Any fool can misquote scripture.

"He who lives it, every day, lives it in his heart, is better than a man who has learned it backwards and forwards and yet there is nothing but the damp rot of winter in his soul. I am learned, but I am a child of God, just like you! I am weak, and yet I struggle!"

"Amen," someone yelled. Old Ms. Peters, actually, in a florid red feathered hat.

"So when you see your neighbor by the side of the road, help him. And when you see a stranger, help him! But give even further. Give…"

Give with everything, Miriam thought.

If her power was a gift, then who gave it? If it was something she took, something she found, something she seized, and that was how it felt?

Then what was she supposed to do? Share it out? Use it well?

Even if she 'earned' it, then was it just an acceptance of Grace? Grace freely offered, freely accepted, salvation forever after. Then what happened if someone refused it? Was…

Her second mind whirred, trying to think through it all as she prayed.

What, then, was her magic?

What was its purpose? Why had she seized it when others had not. Should she be trying to help people reach it? Then she should join the Silver Ladder.

Try to understand the Grace? Then it seemed almost as if the Mysterium was the answer, or so it had been implied.

Try to help others with the wealth gained now? Both the Silver Ladder and the Folk claimed to do that, though their methods differed, or seemed to.

She sat there besides her friends and family, and wrestled with the answers to the questions that troubled her. Her soul, and her future were all seemingly to be questioned and answered. She thought about the answers, knowing that she felt closer to an answer, but not sure what answer she was closer to.

********

Plan Vote

Choose 3 Order Options, 1 of them Mysterium.

[] One of the newest members of the Consilium joined the Mysterium, actually, talk to her about what it's like, perhaps? [My]
[] Ask to see a little of their libraries, or whatever they are called [My]
[] Agree to Initiation. This does not close out the searching portion in one sense, making you merely Status 0 and looking into it, but it is a big step, even if it doesn't immediately close the door on others. . (My)
[] Talk to a Council of Folk, learn more about them. [Folk]
[] Ask on the continued results of the case. [Folk]
[] Ask about Christian philosophy, questioning the Folk you know. [Folk]
[] Ask Jack, "What are the elemental Precepts, can you tell me more about those?" [SL]
[] Discuss with Jack what joining the Silver Ladder would involve. [SL]
[] Meet with the Underground Library again [Library]
[] Talk to Coniunctio of the Adamantine Arrows [Arrow]

Dream Options (Choose 1)

[] Dream-shopping with Virginia.
[] Exploring the Astral with Jack, further.
[] Visit Anant.

Waking Options (Choose 2)

[] Hang out with Dickens, now that they're going to the same church, surely more time could be found.
[] What's Josiah up to? Is Franklin busy? It's been so long.
[] Go to a ball game with friends.
[] Take Sara somewhere.
-[] Where?
[] Read up on a topic.
-[] Write-in.
[] Learn Housewifery from Mother.

Teaching Options (Choose 2)

[] Mind.
[] Atlantis.
[] Space.
[] Write-in.

*******

A/N: Here we go. Willpower is at 2/6, and no new XP is gained.
 
I LIVE

Quick question: do we get to find out what the Sam Hill was going on with that guy we spent the last few updates mentally investigating if we don't pick this option?

[] Ask on the continued results of the case. [Folk]
Because otherwise I'm voting for both non-initiation Mysterium options and a chat with Coniunctio.

Also, are the Arcana of Spirit and/or Prime on the table for teaching options?
 
I LIVE

Quick question: do we get to find out what the Sam Hill was going on with that guy we spent the last few updates mentally investigating if we don't pick this option?


Because otherwise I'm voting for both non-initiation Mysterium options and a chat with Coniunctio.

Also, are the Arcana of Spirit and/or Prime on the table for teaching options?

You'll be updated on it eventually. Spirit... maybe. Prime? From who?

But as far as it goes, they're not going to lock you out of the loop, but if you don't pick that option they won't be walking you through it step by step. It'll be more, "Ask in a few weeks and we'll tell you what we learned, unless it's so pressing and important that we either have to sit on it longer, or need to tell you ASAP."

These things take time.
 
[X] Plan Flerpdejib

Choose 3 Order Options, 1 of them Mysterium.

[X] One of the newest members of the Consilium joined the Mysterium, actually, talk to her about what it's like, perhaps? [My]
[X] Ask on the continued results of the case. [Folk]
[X] Talk to Coniunctio of the Adamantine Arrows [Arrow]

Dream Options (Choose 1)
[X] Dream-shopping with Virginia.
[X] Visit Anant.

Waking Options (Choose 2)
[X] What's Josiah up to? Is Franklin busy? It's been so long.
[X] Go to a ball game with friends.

Teaching Options (Choose 2)
[X] Mind.
[X] Spirit.


There ya go.

I'm mostly voting for Spirit because I'm interested in seeing how Miriam squares the spiritual ecology of the Hisil with her Christian faith - one of the aspects of The Roaring Age that I like the most is seeing how you handle her religious beliefs.
 
Last edited:
Choose 3 Order Options, 1 of them Mysterium.
[X] One of the newest members of the Consilium joined the Mysterium, actually, talk to her about what it's like, perhaps? [My]
[X] Ask on the continued results of the case. [Folk]
[X] Talk to Coniunctio of the Adamantine Arrows [Arrow]

Dream Options (Choose 1)
[X] Dream-shopping with Virginia.
[X] Visit Anant.

Waking Options (Choose 2)
[X] What's Josiah up to? Is Franklin busy? It's been so long.
[X] Go to a ball game with friends.

Teaching Options (Choose 2)
[X] Mind.
[X] Spirit.


There ya go.

I'm mostly voting for Spirit because I'm interested in seeing how Miriam squares the spiritual ecology of the Hisil with her Christian faith - one of the aspects of The Roaring Age that I like the most is seeing how you handle her religious beliefs.

Plan name, BTW.
 
[X] Plan: Explore our options
Choose 3 Order Options, 1 of them Mysterium.

[X] One of the newest members of the Consilium joined the Mysterium, actually, talk to her about what it's like, perhaps? [My]
[X] Talk to a Council of Folk, learn more about them. [Folk]
[X] Ask Jack, "What are the elemental Precepts, can you tell me more about those?" [SL]

Dream Options (Choose 1)
[X] Dream-shopping with Virginia.

Waking Options (Choose 2)
[X] What's Josiah up to? Is Franklin busy? It's been so long.
[X] Go to a ball game with friends.

Teaching Options (Choose 2)
[X] Mind.
[X] Spirit.
 
[X] Plan Grounded Obligations
-[X] Ask to see a little of their libraries, or whatever they are called [My]
-[X] Talk to a Council of Folk, learn more about them. [Folk]
-[X] Ask on the continued results of the case. [Folk]

Aimed at learning more about them, but the Case is non-negotiable, we really have to follow up.

-[X] Visit Anant.

Likewise, follow up on this.

-[X] Go to a ball game with friends.
-[X] Learn Housewifery from Mother.

And a little normalcy, to anchor ourselves. It might not be quite so exciting...but I realized we hadn't really done anything with our mother for a while.
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground.

-[X] Mind.
-[X] Spirit.

Mind for Mind 3 competencies and Spirit 1 training to open up to the spiritual world
 
He would be tired, he would be hurt from all that had happened, but he could recover. She didn't know what happened when people didn't, because she wasn't around people who didn't recover.

They were too strong, or perhaps too lucky, for that.

This whole segment was great.

[X] Plan Grounded Obligations
 
[X] Plan Grounded Obligations

This would pretty much be my vote with following up on the investigation given how interesting it was portrayed, along with our obligations to Anada. For the teaching options Mind so we can get enough training to be able to purchase Mind 3 given there are dream related benefits for it, and Spirit as like @GardenerBriareus one of the most enjoyable things about the story is your depiction of Miriam's believes.

With regards to the discussion with her father, honestly even a brief look at the Purusartha may give him something further to think about if he hasn't encountered them before (don't know when Indian philosophy entered the American sphere and specifically the access one would have to it, I think Yoga started in the early 1900's though).
 
[X] Dream-shopping with Virginia.

Only item Generalissimo is concerned with currently.
 
[X] Plan: "I will know your secrets, Armorman" and stuff
[X] One of the newest members of the Consilium joined the Mysterium, actually, talk to her about what it's like, perhaps? [My]
[X] Talk to Coniunctio of the Adamantine Arrows [Arrow]
[X] Ask on the continued results of the case. [Folk]

[X] Visit Anant.

[X] What's Josiah up to? Is Franklin busy? It's been so long.
[X] Go to a ball game with friends.
 
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