Because it's only worth two dots of Enhancement anyway, so you end up with two Paradox Flaws or dots of permanent Paradox. I mean, you could take an additional Flaw in addition to the mandatory bioware/cyberware bonus agg damage Flaw, but there'd be no point mechanically.
Visions of Bronze, Visions of Brass: Setting and Mechanics
- Thread starter linkhyrule5
- Start date
- OOC
Azrael
Sakura Saber
- Location
- Throne of Heroes
...If I'm parsing this right, then my next question is:
Why say "can't choose your paradox flaw" when you mean "You don't need a paradox flaw"?
Exomuscle needs editing for this game anyway, since we're using simplified Attribues.
Exomuscle gives +2 Physique, +2 Stamina, Armor 2, 1d countermagic, +6 (-0) lhl.
Exoskeleton gives +3 Physique, +4 Stamina, Armor 8, 3d countermagic, +6 (-0) lhl.
As they are 12- and 16 dot Devices, respectively, they are both three-dot Enhancements, but carry as a flaw in their design two extra permanent paradox dots - as they are cyberware, this means they end up with 3 permanent Paradox.
... Even with that, as @MJ12 Commando notes, they're really good - exomuscle in particular. Basically the only reason you wouldn't want exomuscle is "it doesn't fit my character concept."
Exomuscle gives +2 Physique, +2 Stamina, Armor 2, 1d countermagic, +6 (-0) lhl.
Exoskeleton gives +3 Physique, +4 Stamina, Armor 8, 3d countermagic, +6 (-0) lhl.
As they are 12- and 16 dot Devices, respectively, they are both three-dot Enhancements, but carry as a flaw in their design two extra permanent paradox dots - as they are cyberware, this means they end up with 3 permanent Paradox.
... Even with that, as @MJ12 Commando notes, they're really good - exomuscle in particular. Basically the only reason you wouldn't want exomuscle is "it doesn't fit my character concept."
Because if you grab the other kind, you can. If you grab the expensive Prime 5/Life 4 version, it's not cyberware, it's a miscellaneous Enhancement that comes with two Flaws or dots without requirement.
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Awesome. TIME 2 EDIT
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Or likes that people equate magic and the supernatural with "Fantasy", something doesn't really exist in the "Real World". Like you don't read Harry Potter and go "wow that is the realest shit there is, WHO IS STOPPING ME FROM DOING Magic?" you go, "That was fun, a nice story"
... :O
I'm on the wrong side of this war.
[/defects to Hermetics]
But no, by default it's a conspiracy history - assume that the NWO/Syndicate control of the media is not complete and effectively opposed by the Shadow Ministry and more recently the Chorus.
Shard
One and Many
- Location
- Malaysia
How prevelent would be other oWoD material be in this setting? Stuff like vampires, wraiths, mummies, changelings, werewolves, hunters?
Werewolf, in particular, made notice this relation:
Dynamic, Questing, Marauder = Wyld
Pattern = Weaver
Entropic, Nephadi = Wyrm
Werewolf, in particular, made notice this relation:
Dynamic, Questing, Marauder = Wyld
Pattern = Weaver
Entropic, Nephadi = Wyrm
Right, then!
The final list of players (from SV) in the main game are, including the guaranteed slots mentioned earlier: @Maugan Ra, @notanautomaton, @NonSequtur and @ChineseDrone.
Should any of these drop out, the following players, in the following order, will have right of first refusal on their slot. Alternatively, if and when a second game begins, they may claim a slot. The nature of the second game has not yet been determined, but it will be probably be more possible to talk me into a Traditions game.
An honorable mention to @Shard, whose character, while misplaced, was interesting enough that I suspect he'll be showing up as an NPC at some point.
In other news, the Verbena are now up, and with it the last of the major setting posts. There will be an entry on '99, and I may delve deeper into the history of the various Chorister factions, but those can wait a little longer.
The final list of players (from SV) in the main game are, including the guaranteed slots mentioned earlier: @Maugan Ra, @notanautomaton, @NonSequtur and @ChineseDrone.
Should any of these drop out, the following players, in the following order, will have right of first refusal on their slot. Alternatively, if and when a second game begins, they may claim a slot. The nature of the second game has not yet been determined, but it will be probably be more possible to talk me into a Traditions game.
An honorable mention to @Shard, whose character, while misplaced, was interesting enough that I suspect he'll be showing up as an NPC at some point.
In other news, the Verbena are now up, and with it the last of the major setting posts. There will be an entry on '99, and I may delve deeper into the history of the various Chorister factions, but those can wait a little longer.
Loved your character, honestly. I was seriously spoiled for choice here. Too many good players and not enough slots on my end. >.>
Go with five players what could go wrong? 
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Just run a nine player campaign.... and cry.
I've done it. Never again. The prep time alone is murder.
That doesn't mean that you can't do it!.
: P
Hell, if someone else were running a Mage game they could pretty much just start here with premade characters. : P.
I'd try. But I don't know oMage well enough (the only systems I feel comfortable GMing are Traveler, D & D 4th (NEVER AGAIN), FATE, and GURPS (NEVER AGAIN))
Last edited:
I'm actually serious about the five person thing though. Five is a pretty good number for mages because it lets people cover all the spheres and have some overlap.
Ah, right, haven't mentioned that outside the convo - we're actually being joined by two IRL friends of mine who wanted to try a Mage game but couldn't find any decent players. So there's not four players, there's six.
(Five was my original goal
@Shards - Yeah, your character's mechanically fine, though as you've noticed I've shredded the original rules and character building for canonical oMage tends to involve a bit more tradeoff thanks to the fp/xp minigame.
NonSequtur
a body
So many frail humans.
Susan Wu
Cognition: 8 (4) Reaction: 1 Persuasion: 3 Poise: 2 Physique: 2 Endurance: 2
Training: Syndicate Associate 2, Progenitor Laboratory Assistant 2, Meritocracy Advocate 2, Anti-RD training 1.
Talent: Science (biology) 2, Science (Chemistry) 2, Finance 2, Socialize 1
Mind 3 (sp) Primal Utility 3 (sp)
Enlightenment 3
6 Willpower
Enhancements: 15 total
Organic ADEI (2)
Hypercram 5 (2)
Multitasking (2)
Common Sense (1)
4 Dots Cognition (8)
Flaws: Increased Metabolism, Abnormal Diet (Chlorine/bleach)
Backgrounds: Resources 6, Enhancement 3, Genius 5, Spies 1, Library 1, Conditioning 7, Master of Red Tape, Requisitions 2
Merits: Dual Tradition (Progenitor (Mind), Syndicate (Primal Utility)) (7 points)
Flaws: Phobia: being found out as a construct (2), Deep Sleeper (1), Soft Hearted (1), Primal Mark (Technocrat) (2) (7 points total)
5 dot Principles:
Love and serve the Union, Survive
4 dot Principles
Meritocracy is good, Fear of failure
3 dot Principles
Dislike (Progenitors), Live freely and well, Meritocracy is the way of the Union
2 dot Principles
Improve my Position, the Syndicate (Like)
1 dot Principles
My Construct (like), Anime and food are fun
Cognition: 8 (4) Reaction: 1 Persuasion: 3 Poise: 2 Physique: 2 Endurance: 2
Training: Syndicate Associate 2, Progenitor Laboratory Assistant 2, Meritocracy Advocate 2, Anti-RD training 1.
Talent: Science (biology) 2, Science (Chemistry) 2, Finance 2, Socialize 1
Mind 3 (sp) Primal Utility 3 (sp)
Enlightenment 3
6 Willpower
Enhancements: 15 total
Organic ADEI (2)
Hypercram 5 (2)
Multitasking (2)
Common Sense (1)
4 Dots Cognition (8)
Flaws: Increased Metabolism, Abnormal Diet (Chlorine/bleach)
Backgrounds: Resources 6, Enhancement 3, Genius 5, Spies 1, Library 1, Conditioning 7, Master of Red Tape, Requisitions 2
Merits: Dual Tradition (Progenitor (Mind), Syndicate (Primal Utility)) (7 points)
Flaws: Phobia: being found out as a construct (2), Deep Sleeper (1), Soft Hearted (1), Primal Mark (Technocrat) (2) (7 points total)
5 dot Principles:
Love and serve the Union, Survive
4 dot Principles
Meritocracy is good, Fear of failure
3 dot Principles
Dislike (Progenitors), Live freely and well, Meritocracy is the way of the Union
2 dot Principles
Improve my Position, the Syndicate (Like)
1 dot Principles
My Construct (like), Anime and food are fun
Name: James Baker
Concept: Exceptionally British Operative
Convention: New World Order
Background: James is tank-born, a construct grown in a tube by Progenitor scientists and raised by a combination of neurological conditioning and carefully programmed machines. He has never known a life outside of the Union, and based on everything he has seen and learned he has no real desire to ever have one.
He initially served as one of the Men in Black, an 'employee' of the New World Order who provided support to field operatives and the projects of other Conventions, often tapped for high risk or more complicated missions due to his proven qualities and exceptional training. It was during one of these operations that he first became Enlightened, pushed to the edges of his programming and beyond by the demands of the mission. Taken out of fieldwork for additional training and education, he swiftly developed an individual personality and an even deeper appreciation for the ideals of the Technocratic Union.
These days, he works as a representative and diplomatic liaison for the New World Order, coordinating with agents from the other Conventions and chosen representatives from among the Masses to achieve their mutual goals. He has even worked alongside and spoken to a number of non-Technocratic mages in the past, though never at the expense of what he believes to be the best interests of the Union.
Personality: During his initial term of service as a Man in Black James had only the most limited of personalities, a kind of cold efficiency patterned after the Technocratic ideal. In the wake of his Enlightenment he began to truly think of himself as an individual, rather than just as one cog in a larger machine, and as part of that he deliberately started to structure his own personality around a series of archetypes. Such behaviour is not uncommon for constructs who have operated beyond the walls of their crèche for some time, so his handlers were not particularly concerned; some were even amused.
In his case, this deliberately chosen personality followed the general template of an upper-class British gentleman. He speaks with a British accent, remains calm and composed at all times, and has an appreciation for both dry wit and a vaguely paternalistic sense of ironic imperialism. While certainly not blind to the flaws in his adopted country, he firmly believes that their virtues heavily outweigh such minor drawbacks, and does his best to behave in a manner best befitting of Her Majesty's loyal subjects. Being British is, after all, more a state of mind than a statement of origin.
Attributes
Physique: ●●● (●)
Endurance: ●●● (●)
Cognition: ●●● (●)
Reaction: ●●
Persuasion: ●●●
Poise: ●●
Trainings
NWO Operative: ●●●
Diplomatic Liaison: ●●
Gentleman Scholar: ●●
Talents
Academics: ●
Firearms: ●●
Law: ●
Martial Arts: ●●
Subterfuge: ●
Enlightened Science
Data: ●
Entropy: ●●
Mind (f): ●●●
Primal Utility: ●
Paradigm: James is a strong believer in The System. Everything has its place, and can be defined by its relationships to other points of reference, allowing the Enlightened observer to extrapolate non-obvious information from existing data. His is a subtle kind of magic, often indistinguishable from the products of intense skill and extensive education, and he prides himself on the elegance of his work.
Enlightenment: ●●●
Willpower: ●●●●●
Principles
(5) Live
(5) Love and Serve the Union
(4) For Queen and Country
(4) Uphold the Precepts of Damian
(3) Live free and well
(3) Never exterminate when you can convert
(3) I am human.
(2) Good manners are important
Backgrounds
Merits
Confidence ●● (-2 difficulty to social tests, +2 difficulty to people misleading or intimidating me)
Master of Red Tape (Free)
Flaws
Compulsion ● (Never contradict a superior)
Over-Confident ●
Rose colored Mirror-Shades ●●
Backgrounds
Conditioning ●●●●● ●● (Free)
Enhancement ● (MiB upgrade package)
As a construct, James is already the product of Progenitor super-science, and while his role demanded far more subtlety than some of their other work he is still rather more impressive than a baseline human.
- Adds +1 to Physique, Endurance and Cognition
- Bleeding staunches almost-instantly in response to trauma, and spilled blood decomposes rapidly to prevent genetic identification.
- Numerous minor enhancements too small to be reflected mechanically - James never suffers from colds or muscle cramps, that sort of thing.
Genius ●●● (Free)
Hyper-cram ●●●
Requisitions ●●
Resources ●●●● (Free)
Freebie Points
15 starting allowance
-4 to raise Enlightenment to 3
-2 for Confidence
+1 for Over-Confident
+2 for Rose colored mirror shades
+1 for compulsion
-7 for a dot of Mind
-3 for a second dot of 'Gentleman Scholar'
-4 for a third point of Cognition
Concept: Exceptionally British Operative
Convention: New World Order
Background: James is tank-born, a construct grown in a tube by Progenitor scientists and raised by a combination of neurological conditioning and carefully programmed machines. He has never known a life outside of the Union, and based on everything he has seen and learned he has no real desire to ever have one.
He initially served as one of the Men in Black, an 'employee' of the New World Order who provided support to field operatives and the projects of other Conventions, often tapped for high risk or more complicated missions due to his proven qualities and exceptional training. It was during one of these operations that he first became Enlightened, pushed to the edges of his programming and beyond by the demands of the mission. Taken out of fieldwork for additional training and education, he swiftly developed an individual personality and an even deeper appreciation for the ideals of the Technocratic Union.
These days, he works as a representative and diplomatic liaison for the New World Order, coordinating with agents from the other Conventions and chosen representatives from among the Masses to achieve their mutual goals. He has even worked alongside and spoken to a number of non-Technocratic mages in the past, though never at the expense of what he believes to be the best interests of the Union.
Personality: During his initial term of service as a Man in Black James had only the most limited of personalities, a kind of cold efficiency patterned after the Technocratic ideal. In the wake of his Enlightenment he began to truly think of himself as an individual, rather than just as one cog in a larger machine, and as part of that he deliberately started to structure his own personality around a series of archetypes. Such behaviour is not uncommon for constructs who have operated beyond the walls of their crèche for some time, so his handlers were not particularly concerned; some were even amused.
In his case, this deliberately chosen personality followed the general template of an upper-class British gentleman. He speaks with a British accent, remains calm and composed at all times, and has an appreciation for both dry wit and a vaguely paternalistic sense of ironic imperialism. While certainly not blind to the flaws in his adopted country, he firmly believes that their virtues heavily outweigh such minor drawbacks, and does his best to behave in a manner best befitting of Her Majesty's loyal subjects. Being British is, after all, more a state of mind than a statement of origin.
Attributes
Physique: ●●● (●)
Endurance: ●●● (●)
Cognition: ●●● (●)
Reaction: ●●
Persuasion: ●●●
Poise: ●●
Trainings
NWO Operative: ●●●
Diplomatic Liaison: ●●
Gentleman Scholar: ●●
Talents
Academics: ●
Firearms: ●●
Law: ●
Martial Arts: ●●
Subterfuge: ●
Enlightened Science
Data: ●
Entropy: ●●
Mind (f): ●●●
Primal Utility: ●
Paradigm: James is a strong believer in The System. Everything has its place, and can be defined by its relationships to other points of reference, allowing the Enlightened observer to extrapolate non-obvious information from existing data. His is a subtle kind of magic, often indistinguishable from the products of intense skill and extensive education, and he prides himself on the elegance of his work.
Enlightenment: ●●●
Willpower: ●●●●●
Principles
(5) Live
(5) Love and Serve the Union
(4) For Queen and Country
(4) Uphold the Precepts of Damian
(3) Live free and well
(3) Never exterminate when you can convert
(3) I am human.
(2) Good manners are important
Backgrounds
Merits
Confidence ●● (-2 difficulty to social tests, +2 difficulty to people misleading or intimidating me)
Master of Red Tape (Free)
Flaws
Compulsion ● (Never contradict a superior)
Over-Confident ●
Rose colored Mirror-Shades ●●
Backgrounds
Conditioning ●●●●● ●● (Free)
Enhancement ● (MiB upgrade package)
As a construct, James is already the product of Progenitor super-science, and while his role demanded far more subtlety than some of their other work he is still rather more impressive than a baseline human.
- Adds +1 to Physique, Endurance and Cognition
- Bleeding staunches almost-instantly in response to trauma, and spilled blood decomposes rapidly to prevent genetic identification.
- Numerous minor enhancements too small to be reflected mechanically - James never suffers from colds or muscle cramps, that sort of thing.
Genius ●●● (Free)
Hyper-cram ●●●
Requisitions ●●
Resources ●●●● (Free)
Freebie Points
15 starting allowance
-4 to raise Enlightenment to 3
-2 for Confidence
+1 for Over-Confident
+2 for Rose colored mirror shades
+1 for compulsion
-7 for a dot of Mind
-3 for a second dot of 'Gentleman Scholar'
-4 for a third point of Cognition
Name: Allen Armstrong
Convention: Progenitor/Void Engineer
Character Concepts: Unstuck in Space-time, Weird pre-'99 Project, Paradox Backlashes Include Turning into a Shoggoth
History: Remember those weird things from inside the altered space associated with Jupiter? Yeah, the Progenitors decided to make a combat construct using stuff taken from them. Subject 413 - Allen - was the result. The good news: phenomenally effective at manipulating space-time. The bad news: pretty unstable, biologically speaking. Still, they think they've ironed out the kinks that lead to him breaking down last time, and he's still a combat construct, even if he's rusty after almost a decade jumping between suspended animation and rehab. He's been assigned to this amalgam as the heavy but is capable of being subtle - 3d walls can't stop a 4d sneak.
Personality: As an unstable experiment, you learn how to deal with boredom. Allen is widely read and has a passion for stargazing. He has applied to transfer to the Void Engineers but their increasing militarization and repeated rejections have soured him on the current state of the convention. He is a fan of Star Trek and the idea of boundless exploration. As a combat construct, his loyalty is unshakable but prefers grand discoveries to grab the imaginations of the Masses to an expensive war. He finds staying in one place intolerable and wanders habitually.
Appearance: What, you thought I was going to put an image here? Screw that. With dark, wavy hair and skin tanned brown, Allen can, if not vanish into the crowd, not seem too out of place most anywhere in the world. Though technically of average height, his perpetual slouch makes him seem shorter, and his musculature tends to be hidden underneath baggy clothing. Unlike many of the more transhumanist conventions, he's not visually stunning, and his round face lends itself better to descriptions like 'adorable' than bedroom fantasies.
Enlightenment •••
Willpower ••••• •
Genius •••• (Primordial: The Pilgrim)
Permanent Paradox: •
Paradox Flaws: Doesn't Bleed, Needs Specialized Drugs for Less-than-Human Biology
Paradigm: Step Outside of 4-d Space-Time, Engineered Killing Machine
Spheres: Time •••, Correspondence ••, DSci ••
Rote: Lean Into The Fourth Dimension (Corr 3 )
Foci: 4-d brain in a 5-d body, Six Million Dollar Man
Attributes:
Physique ••••• Endurance ••••• •••
Cognition •• Reaction •••
Persuasion •• Poise ••
Trainings:
Damage Control Field Agent •••
Well-Read Wanderer ••
Amateur Astrophysicist •
Talents:
Hyperspatial Physics ••
Firearms ••
CQC ••
RD Data: Werewolves •
Backgrounds
Enhancement ••••
- Physical Structure Enhancement x4 (4 -0 HL, +2 Physique +2 Endurance, Soak Agg)
- Nanotech Integration (1 HL/turn, +3 Endurance, Immune to Drugs/Disease)
Resources ••••
Conditioning ••••• ••
Principles (12/18)
5 dot
Survive
Love and Serve the Technocratic Union (Conditioning 7)
4 dot
Journey
3 dot
Live Well
Void Engineers (Disappointed Nostalgia)
Hobby (Storytelling)
Backlashes (Phobia)
Sterile Boredom (Had Enough of It)
Altered Spaces (Obsession)
2 dot
Progenitors (Muted Resentment)
Werewolves (Disgust)
Fancy Gadgets (Would Rather Not)
The Open Sky (Adoration)
Get Back Into Old Form (Frustration)
Convention: Progenitor/Void Engineer
Character Concepts: Unstuck in Space-time, Weird pre-'99 Project, Paradox Backlashes Include Turning into a Shoggoth
History: Remember those weird things from inside the altered space associated with Jupiter? Yeah, the Progenitors decided to make a combat construct using stuff taken from them. Subject 413 - Allen - was the result. The good news: phenomenally effective at manipulating space-time. The bad news: pretty unstable, biologically speaking. Still, they think they've ironed out the kinks that lead to him breaking down last time, and he's still a combat construct, even if he's rusty after almost a decade jumping between suspended animation and rehab. He's been assigned to this amalgam as the heavy but is capable of being subtle - 3d walls can't stop a 4d sneak.
Personality: As an unstable experiment, you learn how to deal with boredom. Allen is widely read and has a passion for stargazing. He has applied to transfer to the Void Engineers but their increasing militarization and repeated rejections have soured him on the current state of the convention. He is a fan of Star Trek and the idea of boundless exploration. As a combat construct, his loyalty is unshakable but prefers grand discoveries to grab the imaginations of the Masses to an expensive war. He finds staying in one place intolerable and wanders habitually.
Appearance: What, you thought I was going to put an image here? Screw that. With dark, wavy hair and skin tanned brown, Allen can, if not vanish into the crowd, not seem too out of place most anywhere in the world. Though technically of average height, his perpetual slouch makes him seem shorter, and his musculature tends to be hidden underneath baggy clothing. Unlike many of the more transhumanist conventions, he's not visually stunning, and his round face lends itself better to descriptions like 'adorable' than bedroom fantasies.
Enlightenment •••
Willpower ••••• •
Genius •••• (Primordial: The Pilgrim)
Permanent Paradox: •
Paradox Flaws: Doesn't Bleed, Needs Specialized Drugs for Less-than-Human Biology
Paradigm: Step Outside of 4-d Space-Time, Engineered Killing Machine
Spheres: Time •••, Correspondence ••, DSci ••
Rote: Lean Into The Fourth Dimension (Corr 3 )
Foci: 4-d brain in a 5-d body, Six Million Dollar Man
Attributes:
Physique ••••• Endurance ••••• •••
Cognition •• Reaction •••
Persuasion •• Poise ••
Trainings:
Damage Control Field Agent •••
Well-Read Wanderer ••
Amateur Astrophysicist •
Talents:
Hyperspatial Physics ••
Firearms ••
CQC ••
RD Data: Werewolves •
Backgrounds
Enhancement ••••
- Physical Structure Enhancement x4 (4 -0 HL, +2 Physique +2 Endurance, Soak Agg)
- Nanotech Integration (1 HL/turn, +3 Endurance, Immune to Drugs/Disease)
Resources ••••
Conditioning ••••• ••
Principles (12/18)
5 dot
Survive
Love and Serve the Technocratic Union (Conditioning 7)
4 dot
Journey
3 dot
Live Well
Void Engineers (Disappointed Nostalgia)
Hobby (Storytelling)
Backlashes (Phobia)
Sterile Boredom (Had Enough of It)
Altered Spaces (Obsession)
2 dot
Progenitors (Muted Resentment)
Werewolves (Disgust)
Fancy Gadgets (Would Rather Not)
The Open Sky (Adoration)
Get Back Into Old Form (Frustration)
Name: Hillary Kung
Convention: New World Order
Paradigm: Lawyer and psychohistorian. A person is complicated and chaotic, difficult to guide in the best of times, but people are simple, and the systems and legal structures they create to control themselves are predictable. Hillary intimately understands how these system--governments, cultures, international alliances, and what not--work. She how to best manipulate them to get what she wants, how to predict how they'll act, and how to use them to guide people towards the Technocracy's light. Much to her frustration, Hillary also still inadvertently turns to Wu Lung religious beliefs when she's extremely stressed.
Spheres: Data 1, Entropy 2, Time 2, Mind 1
Foci: Psychohistorical analysis, political influence, encyclopedic knowledge of national and international laws and regulations. Occasionally Wu Lung practices, mostly prayer to Heaven or ancestors.
Character Concepts: Internal reformer, Five Elemental Dragons descendant torn between her heritage and progressive sensibilities, Confucius say "He who get reincarnated into a Legalist... shit, that's me, isn't it?"
Physique: 2 Cognition: 4 (Thoughtful) Persuasion: 3
Endurance: 2 Reaction: 1 Poise: 2
Backgrounds: Destiny 3, Legend 5, Rank 3 (World Advisory Council), Library 2, Requisitions 2, Resources 4, Genius 3, Conditioning 5.
Merits: Inner Knight (Confucius)--5, Master of Red Tape--Free
Flaws: Group Enmity (Five Elemental Dragons)--2, Master's Resentment (Kung Xing)--1, Intolerance (Five Elemental Dragons), Demented Eidolon--3
Enlightenment: 3
Willpower: 7
Spheres: Entropy 2 (Laws and Regulations), Data 2 (Institutions), Time 2 (Psychohistorical modelling), Mind 0 (Specialty but with 0 dots)
Trainings: World Advisory Council Lawyer 2, Psychohistorical Analyst 2, Ivory Tower Scholar 2, Wu Lung Heritage 1
Talents: Bureaucracy 2, International Law 2, Psychohistorical Modelling of Government Action 2, Philosophy 1
Principles:
5-dot:
Live
4-dot:
Live life in accordance with Technocratic virtue
People should succeed by their own merits
Work hard and become the best I can
3-dot:
Live Freely and Well
Screw the Elemental Dragons
Ignore the voices in my head
The Technocratic Union ought to be reformed into a more meritocratic structure
No tradition is sacred--rational law must bind all men
2-dot:
Pro-pogromite
The Ivory Tower is the best part of the Technocracy
I might have gone a bit to far with my family...
Maybe the voices in my head have a point...
History:
Hillary Kung an Ivory Tower member and only child of one Kung Xing, a high-ranking member of the Wu Lung/Five Elemental Dragons society within the Taiwanese Technocratic Union. The Kung clan is an old one, claiming descent from Confucius himself, and its long history as a prominent family in the Wu Lung eventually translated to a traditional position of leadership in the Chinese Technocracy after the merger of 1897. The Kungs were by and large conservatives, advocating strongly for preserving the traditional privileges of the Elemental Dragons and against the encroachment of modern Technocratic standards on traditional Chinese culture. Kung Xing himself was a devoted conservative, and raised all his children within the Elemental Dragons under strict, Confucian values, hoping to prepare them to be his heirs in the organization
Although the overall Technocracy, by the 1980s of Hillary's childhood, tended to frown on social discrimination on the basis of things like gender, the Elemental Dragons were a notably conservative society, and within their own ranks (which always held outsize influence on the direction of the Chinese Technocracy even long after it ceased to encompass all of it), sexism was very much alive and typically much more open than in the rest of the Union. The traditional Confucian value placed on elders made the Elemental Dragons' society strongly gentocratic on top of that, even moreso than the rest of the Technocracy. The Elemental Dragons were also more strongly spiritual, and religion further placed restriction on their members' actions. All of this combined to create a society that, by the 1980s, emphasized a stiflingly rigid sense of conformity to traditional Chinese culture and held little room for independent thought or innovation. Wilful, free-thinking, and naturally curious, Hillary quickly grew to resent all of the limitations placed on her conduct by her age and sex.
She constantly rebelled against these restrictions, giving her a somewhat shameful reputation among the Dragons by her teenage years which reflected poorly on her family and leading her into conflict with her father. Eventually, her final straw came when she was 14 and was denied a place in the Chinese Union's top hothouse, generally attended by the children of Elemental Dragons and meant to bring about Enlightenment in future leaders, thanks to fairly open sexism combined with her clumsiness with the arcane eight-legged essay structure demanded on its entrance exams. Frustrated, Hillary then applied for a spot in Damien Academy... and was accepted.
Hillary proved to be an exceptional student at Damien, and eventually developed her Enlightenment in her late teens. She reveled in the much more open and equitable environment there and their modern, rational way of thinking, which contrasted strongly with the Elemental Dragons' conservatism and crypto-spiritualism when she returned home. Her conflicts with her family only intensified as she chafed even more against the Elemental Dragons' traditional rigidity after exposure to the broader Technocracy's liberalism. In the meantime, her age meant that she began to be expected to participate in Elemental Dragons' internal politics, which was wrapped up in millennia of tradition and dominated by an arcane, complex set of social rituals and connections rather than any sort of consistent law. She quickly began to detest this irrational and personal nature of the Wu Lung's politics, where deference to elders and cultivating some abstract sense of "virtue" was given far more value than ability, which led her into a number of social faux passes that caused her to become almost entirely ostracized in the society. As such, when Hillary was offered a Union post in Singapore as an Ivory Tower legal researcher, she eagerly accepted, cutting ties with her family and openly renouncing the Elemental Dragons.
Hillary excelled in her role, where she was responsible for helping the Union manipulate international institutions like the United Nations or ASEAN, while also continuing to study with the Ivory Tower's Collegia of Law and eventually gaining a Union J.D, essentially a survey of legal institutions across the world. After graduation, she was offered a post as an actual litigator, but very firmly refused--her experiences dealing with the Elemental Dragons' politics had soured her on the idea of leading by persuasion and gravitas, and she vastly preferred the cold logic of dealing with purely laws and regulations, becoming a political-legal analyst responsible for extending the NWO's influence in local institutions. After distinguishing herself in the exposure and destruction of a conspiracy by a reality deviant Wu Lung splinter faction in the Malaysian government, she was recommended for a spot in the Ivory Tower's fast-track Psychohistory program--the psychohistorians were traditionally the center of Ivory Tower's leadership, responsible for creating the advanced societal models that the New World Order used to influence world project. Their ranks had been gutted by the Dimensional Anomaly and desperately needed replacement, giving Hillary and many others a chance to skyrocket their Union careers by entering their august ranks. In the meantime, she also used her newfound prominence to publish several articles strongly criticizing the Elemental Dragons secret society, condemning them as anti-modern and as dangerously close to superstitionists in nature with their "religious practices", completing her estrangement from her family.
Hillary, much to her disappointment, would perform only passably in the program, specializing in predicting legislation and government action--her studies were disrupted by the fact that she began to experience a persistent series of nightmares that began to disturb her mental health. They initially began as dreams of her ancestors condemning her for her bringing shame on her family through her conflict with the Elemental Dragons, something which she initially considered to be a manifestation of the nagging guilt at abandoning her family that had always dogged her ever since her estrangement combined with the stress of her studies. However, they only continued to intensify, and Hillary started to have surreal glimpses of some sort of past life that began to even bleed over into her waking hours. The condemnation of ancestral spirits seemed to spill over into her actual life with bad luck, and Hillary began to grow paranoid. Afraid to seek a psych eval for fear of being condemned as unstable, and with her studies suffering, Hillary, in desperation, eventually turned to something that she'd sworn off from her past in favor of becoming a consummately modern and rational Technocrat--she quietly started to perform Wu Lung prayer and meditation rituals meant to help her clear and calm her mind.
Hillary's nightmares didn't precisely stop, but they began to calm after she started these practices, allowing her to complete her training and receive her Union PhD in Psychohistory. The dreams started to take different forms--whereas before they were either surreal or nightmares, Hillary now began to very clearly dream of being some sort of sage, a reformer and a guide attempting to restore some sort of broken group. At times, it almost seems like something is trying to communicate with her, although naturally as a Technocrat she writes this off--none the less, something seems to be quietly compelling her to try and reconnect with her Chinese heritage and reconcile with her family, as much as she consciously resists the idea. In the meantime, she has been inspired to write and circulate a work, Virtue Ethics and the Technocratic Pannomion, exploring the concept of reconciling virtue ethics with the Union's traditionally Utilitarian code of law by arguing that utilitarianism and its basis in rational action and the desire to maximize human welfare, in essence, are Technocratic virtues.
After being noticed through the publication of her work, Hillary was offered a position in the World Advisory Council, a Union-controlled organization combining the roles of a think tank, lobbying group, publisher, and nonprofit, which makes use of both her legal and psychohistorical training to help manipulate world governments and legislation at the highest levels. After working at the WAC for several years, she has managed to gain a position as a Research Fellow in the organization, and currently often serves as a liaison between Union amalgams and governments, helping operations gain the cooperation of local authorities, manipulating government responses to serve their goals, and predicting the way governments or reality deviant conspiracies will act in the future.
_
Personality: Hillary a brilliant psychohistorian and devoted scholar. She is iconoclastic and avowedly meritocratic, and resents being restricted by traditions, nepotism, or discrimination. Because of this, she is strongly critical of the conservative Elemental Dragons, and a supporter of internal reform in the Union. Likewise, she is pro-Pogrom and tries to strictly adhere to "Technocratic virtues" of rationalism and atheism. She believes that no belief ought not be questioned, no boundaries ought not be pushed, no traditions ought be held sacred. She is deeply skeptical of the idea of leading through connections and personal gravitas from her experience with the Elemental Dragons, and prefers the rational, equitable rule of law.
However, despite her conscious rejection of the Elemental Dragons, Hillary is still drawn to her heritage, which often makes her divided and confused. Though she is extremely embarrassed by it, she also still dabbles in traditional Wu Lung religious practices used by the Elemental Dragons as reassurance in times of great stress. On a subconscious level, she feels very guilty for abandoning her family. Though she consciously denies it, she also often has vivid dreams of being some sort of sage in ancient times, guiding a broken group back into order.
Convention: New World Order
Paradigm: Lawyer and psychohistorian. A person is complicated and chaotic, difficult to guide in the best of times, but people are simple, and the systems and legal structures they create to control themselves are predictable. Hillary intimately understands how these system--governments, cultures, international alliances, and what not--work. She how to best manipulate them to get what she wants, how to predict how they'll act, and how to use them to guide people towards the Technocracy's light. Much to her frustration, Hillary also still inadvertently turns to Wu Lung religious beliefs when she's extremely stressed.
Spheres: Data 1, Entropy 2, Time 2, Mind 1
Foci: Psychohistorical analysis, political influence, encyclopedic knowledge of national and international laws and regulations. Occasionally Wu Lung practices, mostly prayer to Heaven or ancestors.
Character Concepts: Internal reformer, Five Elemental Dragons descendant torn between her heritage and progressive sensibilities, Confucius say "He who get reincarnated into a Legalist... shit, that's me, isn't it?"
Physique: 2 Cognition: 4 (Thoughtful) Persuasion: 3
Endurance: 2 Reaction: 1 Poise: 2
Backgrounds: Destiny 3, Legend 5, Rank 3 (World Advisory Council), Library 2, Requisitions 2, Resources 4, Genius 3, Conditioning 5.
Merits: Inner Knight (Confucius)--5, Master of Red Tape--Free
Flaws: Group Enmity (Five Elemental Dragons)--2, Master's Resentment (Kung Xing)--1, Intolerance (Five Elemental Dragons), Demented Eidolon--3
Enlightenment: 3
Willpower: 7
Spheres: Entropy 2 (Laws and Regulations), Data 2 (Institutions), Time 2 (Psychohistorical modelling), Mind 0 (Specialty but with 0 dots)
Trainings: World Advisory Council Lawyer 2, Psychohistorical Analyst 2, Ivory Tower Scholar 2, Wu Lung Heritage 1
Talents: Bureaucracy 2, International Law 2, Psychohistorical Modelling of Government Action 2, Philosophy 1
Principles:
5-dot:
Live
4-dot:
Live life in accordance with Technocratic virtue
People should succeed by their own merits
Work hard and become the best I can
3-dot:
Live Freely and Well
Screw the Elemental Dragons
Ignore the voices in my head
The Technocratic Union ought to be reformed into a more meritocratic structure
No tradition is sacred--rational law must bind all men
2-dot:
Pro-pogromite
The Ivory Tower is the best part of the Technocracy
I might have gone a bit to far with my family...
Maybe the voices in my head have a point...
History:
Hillary Kung an Ivory Tower member and only child of one Kung Xing, a high-ranking member of the Wu Lung/Five Elemental Dragons society within the Taiwanese Technocratic Union. The Kung clan is an old one, claiming descent from Confucius himself, and its long history as a prominent family in the Wu Lung eventually translated to a traditional position of leadership in the Chinese Technocracy after the merger of 1897. The Kungs were by and large conservatives, advocating strongly for preserving the traditional privileges of the Elemental Dragons and against the encroachment of modern Technocratic standards on traditional Chinese culture. Kung Xing himself was a devoted conservative, and raised all his children within the Elemental Dragons under strict, Confucian values, hoping to prepare them to be his heirs in the organization
Although the overall Technocracy, by the 1980s of Hillary's childhood, tended to frown on social discrimination on the basis of things like gender, the Elemental Dragons were a notably conservative society, and within their own ranks (which always held outsize influence on the direction of the Chinese Technocracy even long after it ceased to encompass all of it), sexism was very much alive and typically much more open than in the rest of the Union. The traditional Confucian value placed on elders made the Elemental Dragons' society strongly gentocratic on top of that, even moreso than the rest of the Technocracy. The Elemental Dragons were also more strongly spiritual, and religion further placed restriction on their members' actions. All of this combined to create a society that, by the 1980s, emphasized a stiflingly rigid sense of conformity to traditional Chinese culture and held little room for independent thought or innovation. Wilful, free-thinking, and naturally curious, Hillary quickly grew to resent all of the limitations placed on her conduct by her age and sex.
She constantly rebelled against these restrictions, giving her a somewhat shameful reputation among the Dragons by her teenage years which reflected poorly on her family and leading her into conflict with her father. Eventually, her final straw came when she was 14 and was denied a place in the Chinese Union's top hothouse, generally attended by the children of Elemental Dragons and meant to bring about Enlightenment in future leaders, thanks to fairly open sexism combined with her clumsiness with the arcane eight-legged essay structure demanded on its entrance exams. Frustrated, Hillary then applied for a spot in Damien Academy... and was accepted.
Hillary proved to be an exceptional student at Damien, and eventually developed her Enlightenment in her late teens. She reveled in the much more open and equitable environment there and their modern, rational way of thinking, which contrasted strongly with the Elemental Dragons' conservatism and crypto-spiritualism when she returned home. Her conflicts with her family only intensified as she chafed even more against the Elemental Dragons' traditional rigidity after exposure to the broader Technocracy's liberalism. In the meantime, her age meant that she began to be expected to participate in Elemental Dragons' internal politics, which was wrapped up in millennia of tradition and dominated by an arcane, complex set of social rituals and connections rather than any sort of consistent law. She quickly began to detest this irrational and personal nature of the Wu Lung's politics, where deference to elders and cultivating some abstract sense of "virtue" was given far more value than ability, which led her into a number of social faux passes that caused her to become almost entirely ostracized in the society. As such, when Hillary was offered a Union post in Singapore as an Ivory Tower legal researcher, she eagerly accepted, cutting ties with her family and openly renouncing the Elemental Dragons.
Hillary excelled in her role, where she was responsible for helping the Union manipulate international institutions like the United Nations or ASEAN, while also continuing to study with the Ivory Tower's Collegia of Law and eventually gaining a Union J.D, essentially a survey of legal institutions across the world. After graduation, she was offered a post as an actual litigator, but very firmly refused--her experiences dealing with the Elemental Dragons' politics had soured her on the idea of leading by persuasion and gravitas, and she vastly preferred the cold logic of dealing with purely laws and regulations, becoming a political-legal analyst responsible for extending the NWO's influence in local institutions. After distinguishing herself in the exposure and destruction of a conspiracy by a reality deviant Wu Lung splinter faction in the Malaysian government, she was recommended for a spot in the Ivory Tower's fast-track Psychohistory program--the psychohistorians were traditionally the center of Ivory Tower's leadership, responsible for creating the advanced societal models that the New World Order used to influence world project. Their ranks had been gutted by the Dimensional Anomaly and desperately needed replacement, giving Hillary and many others a chance to skyrocket their Union careers by entering their august ranks. In the meantime, she also used her newfound prominence to publish several articles strongly criticizing the Elemental Dragons secret society, condemning them as anti-modern and as dangerously close to superstitionists in nature with their "religious practices", completing her estrangement from her family.
Hillary, much to her disappointment, would perform only passably in the program, specializing in predicting legislation and government action--her studies were disrupted by the fact that she began to experience a persistent series of nightmares that began to disturb her mental health. They initially began as dreams of her ancestors condemning her for her bringing shame on her family through her conflict with the Elemental Dragons, something which she initially considered to be a manifestation of the nagging guilt at abandoning her family that had always dogged her ever since her estrangement combined with the stress of her studies. However, they only continued to intensify, and Hillary started to have surreal glimpses of some sort of past life that began to even bleed over into her waking hours. The condemnation of ancestral spirits seemed to spill over into her actual life with bad luck, and Hillary began to grow paranoid. Afraid to seek a psych eval for fear of being condemned as unstable, and with her studies suffering, Hillary, in desperation, eventually turned to something that she'd sworn off from her past in favor of becoming a consummately modern and rational Technocrat--she quietly started to perform Wu Lung prayer and meditation rituals meant to help her clear and calm her mind.
Hillary's nightmares didn't precisely stop, but they began to calm after she started these practices, allowing her to complete her training and receive her Union PhD in Psychohistory. The dreams started to take different forms--whereas before they were either surreal or nightmares, Hillary now began to very clearly dream of being some sort of sage, a reformer and a guide attempting to restore some sort of broken group. At times, it almost seems like something is trying to communicate with her, although naturally as a Technocrat she writes this off--none the less, something seems to be quietly compelling her to try and reconnect with her Chinese heritage and reconcile with her family, as much as she consciously resists the idea. In the meantime, she has been inspired to write and circulate a work, Virtue Ethics and the Technocratic Pannomion, exploring the concept of reconciling virtue ethics with the Union's traditionally Utilitarian code of law by arguing that utilitarianism and its basis in rational action and the desire to maximize human welfare, in essence, are Technocratic virtues.
After being noticed through the publication of her work, Hillary was offered a position in the World Advisory Council, a Union-controlled organization combining the roles of a think tank, lobbying group, publisher, and nonprofit, which makes use of both her legal and psychohistorical training to help manipulate world governments and legislation at the highest levels. After working at the WAC for several years, she has managed to gain a position as a Research Fellow in the organization, and currently often serves as a liaison between Union amalgams and governments, helping operations gain the cooperation of local authorities, manipulating government responses to serve their goals, and predicting the way governments or reality deviant conspiracies will act in the future.
_
Personality: Hillary a brilliant psychohistorian and devoted scholar. She is iconoclastic and avowedly meritocratic, and resents being restricted by traditions, nepotism, or discrimination. Because of this, she is strongly critical of the conservative Elemental Dragons, and a supporter of internal reform in the Union. Likewise, she is pro-Pogrom and tries to strictly adhere to "Technocratic virtues" of rationalism and atheism. She believes that no belief ought not be questioned, no boundaries ought not be pushed, no traditions ought be held sacred. She is deeply skeptical of the idea of leading through connections and personal gravitas from her experience with the Elemental Dragons, and prefers the rational, equitable rule of law.
However, despite her conscious rejection of the Elemental Dragons, Hillary is still drawn to her heritage, which often makes her divided and confused. Though she is extremely embarrassed by it, she also still dabbles in traditional Wu Lung religious practices used by the Elemental Dragons as reassurance in times of great stress. On a subconscious level, she feels very guilty for abandoning her family. Though she consciously denies it, she also often has vivid dreams of being some sort of sage in ancient times, guiding a broken group back into order.
Things We Have
- 1 Beatstick (+Regeneration -Needs Life/Forces) (Time 3, Corr 2, DSci 2)
- 1 James Bond (+Fieldwork -Needs Better Socials) (Mind 3, Entropy 2, Data 1, PU 1)
- 1 Agent of Big Pharma (+Transhuman Cognition -Combat Skills) (Mind 3, PU 3)
- 1 Society Shaper In Training (+Backgrounds -Slow Paradigm) (Entropy 2, Data 2, Time 2)
So a combat build, a generalist build, a research build and a bureaucracy build.
Things we don't have include, amazingly, any Pattern spheres (Forces/Matter/Life). If we wanted to round out the cast, we might have an Artillerist/Hacker (Forces 3/Correspondence 2/Something Else 1) and a combat medic/cyberneticist (Life 3/Matter 3).
A potential game issue with the cast is that there's a sort of game-type split. Allen and James have pretty personal scale paradigms, while Hillary's seems societal in scope. Normally, they'd be NPCs in each other's games - Allen and James as some of Hillary's muscle to implement her plans off-screen as she plays grand strategy, or Hillary as the person handing out the missions for Allen and James to play through. Susan's paradigm I don't actually know, but she doesn't have the Spheres to play support in combat even if her paradigm allowed it and is too squishy to get close, which could lead to half our current cast basically sitting out any fight.
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- Location
- Denmark
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Awww damn...
Oh well, I can at least attempt to convince @linkhyrule5 to make the second game another Technocracy game, so I can still use Amelia.
Oh well, I can at least attempt to convince @linkhyrule5 to make the second game another Technocracy game, so I can still use Amelia.
AKuz
Been Better
- Location
- A Rising Tide of Horrors
- Pronouns
- She/Her
B-TEAM TECHNOCRACY HIGH-FIVEZ
I was telling people to buy themselves some exomuscle but only one person listened
Did people actually completely forget to take any pattern spheres? I am amazed.