World of Darkness: Master Thread (Always Open)

[Reverend Norv]

Having now read through the wiki and the OP, and soaked up as much information on the setting as possible, I have a few questions.

First, the wiki suggests that there are two versions of hunters in World of Darkness: the imbued of Hunter: the Reckoning, and the various compacts and conspiracies of Hunter: the Vigil - which includes VASCU. Both are referenced in this RP, which leads me to believe that we are mixing and matching elements of the two versions: we have imbued hunters with special "edges," who may also be members of conspiracies with special "endowments."

So, my questions: first, is this correct? And if so, why is there no space on the hunter app to list either edges or endowments? So, for example, I might have an Imbued VASCU agent who follows the Path of Zeal as a defender. This would suggest that he might have both an edge, like Ward or Rejuvenate, and an endowment - Teleinformatics - in addition to the normal effects of conviction. Have I understood correctly, or is there a different system at work? Thanks.

EDIT: also, one other question: does the required point in conviction come out of the four available points for each category, or do we have four points per category plus one for conviction?

[Imperialisium]

Having now read through the wiki and the OP, and soaked up as much information on the setting as possible, I have a few questions.

First, the wiki suggests that there are two versions of hunters in World of Darkness: the imbued of Hunter: the Reckoning, and the various compacts and conspiracies of Hunter: the Vigil - which includes VASCU. Both are referenced in this RP, which leads me to believe that we are mixing and matching elements of the two versions: we have imbued hunters with special "edges," who may also be members of conspiracies with special "endowments."

So, my questions: first, is this correct? And if so, why is there no space on the hunter app to list either edges or endowments? So, for example, I might have an Imbued VASCU agent who follows the Path of Zeal as a defender. This would suggest that he might have both an edge, like Ward or Rejuvenate, and an endowment - Teleinformatics - in addition to the normal effects of conviction. Have I understood correctly, or is there a different system at work? Thanks.

EDIT: also, one other question: does the required point in conviction come out of the four available points for each category, or do we have four points per category plus one for conviction?

So there are two versions of Hunters in WoD and, indeed, both are in the RP which adjusts each to be compatible in the same universe. Now, I have taken the liberty in updating the OP with a dedicated Hunter app. So the Imbued section is now known as Imbued And Hunter with the latter being the second app. Edges have been added to the Imbued App (oversight by me who I thought I had put it in there months ago) along with skills update which was needed.

Now the reason there are two different apps is that you can't have both for the same character. A character cannot be Imbued and have an Endowment from a Cell/Compact/Conspiracy. It is one or the other. However, a Hunter in the mechanics of the Vigil can become Imbued at which point his/her Mechanics would switch over to that of the Imbued application's workings. Your Morality will shift over to Conviction stats, while your skills transfer over and the endowment is replaced by virtue and edge. Yet, there is no going back from such a crossover.

[Reverend Norv]

Having now read through the wiki and the OP, and soaked up as much information on the setting as possible, I have a few questions.

First, the wiki suggests that there are two versions of hunters in World of Darkness: the imbued of Hunter: the Reckoning, and the various compacts and conspiracies of Hunter: the Vigil - which includes VASCU. Both are referenced in this RP, which leads me to believe that we are mixing and matching elements of the two versions: we have imbued hunters with special "edges," who may also be members of conspiracies with special "endowments."

So, my questions: first, is this correct? And if so, why is there no space on the hunter app to list either edges or endowments? So, for example, I might have an Imbued VASCU agent who follows the Path of Zeal as a defender. This would suggest that he might have both an edge, like Ward or Rejuvenate, and an endowment - Teleinformatics - in addition to the normal effects of conviction. Have I understood correctly, or is there a different system at work? Thanks.

EDIT: also, one other question: does the required point in conviction come out of the four available points for each category, or do we have four points per category plus one for conviction?

So there are two versions of Hunters in WoD and, indeed, both are in the RP which adjusts each to be compatible in the same universe. Now, I have taken the liberty in updating the OP with a dedicated Hunter app. So the Imbued section is now known as Imbued And Hunter with the latter being the second app. Edges have been added to the Imbued App (oversight by me who I thought I had put it in there months ago) along with skills update which was needed.

Now the reason there are two different apps is that you can't have both for the same character. A character cannot be Imbued and have an Endowment from a Cell/Compact/Conspiracy. It is one or the other. However, a Hunter in the mechanics of the Vigil can become Imbued at which point his/her Mechanics would switch over to that of the Imbued application's workings. Your Morality will shift over to Conviction stats, while your skills transfer over and the endowment is replaced by virtue and edge. Yet, there is no going back from such a crossover.

Got it. That makes sense. So I will start with an FBI agent operating within the rules of the Vigil. Thank you!

[Imperialisium]

So there are two versions of Hunters in WoD and, indeed, both are in the RP which adjusts each to be compatible in the same universe. Now, I have taken the liberty in updating the OP with a dedicated Hunter app. So the Imbued section is now known as Imbued And Hunter with the latter being the second app. Edges have been added to the Imbued App (oversight by me who I thought I had put it in there months ago) along with skills update which was needed.

Now the reason there are two different apps is that you can't have both for the same character. A character cannot be Imbued and have an Endowment from a Cell/Compact/Conspiracy. It is one or the other. However, a Hunter in the mechanics of the Vigil can become Imbued at which point his/her Mechanics would switch over to that of the Imbued application's workings. Your Morality will shift over to Conviction stats, while your skills transfer over and the endowment is replaced by virtue and edge. Yet, there is no going back from such a crossover.

Got it. That makes sense. So I will start with an FBI agent operating within the rules of the Vigil. Thank you!

Excellent!

[Reverend Norv]

- Hunter -

NationStates Name: Norv
Character Name: Supervisory Special Agent Stephen ("Steve") Radcliffe
Age: 36
Physical Appearance and Description:

Steve doesn't look much like a member of the FBI's most elite unit. He is of average height, and obviously keeps in good physical shape: broad shoulders, trim waist. But he hardly looks like a bodybuilder; more like an athletic suburban dad. His mousy brown hair is going grey early at the temples, and is usually combed absentmindedly into a messy side-part. Steve's face is largely forgettable: clean-shaven and lightly tanned, long and vaguely handsome despite its thin lips and big nose and receding hairline, with faint lines fanning from the corners of the eyes and deeper ones carved into the high forehead. The eyes are more arresting: grey, quite deep-set and large, and watchful - alive with swift intelligence.

Most obviously, Steve doesn't dress like the stereotypical G-man. He wears tortoiseshell browline glasses and tweed jackets, corduroy slacks and tattersall shirts, knit ties and sweater vests. At first glance, he resembles nothing more than a youngish professor of literature at some small college. Despite typically carrying two handguns, a knife, and a sap, he is scrupulous about the concealment of his weapons. The combination of his graying hair, tweedy clothes, glasses, and bland face gives him a deceptively harmless affect that frequently proves invaluable, and that starkly distinguishes him from the men-in-black style of most of his colleagues in VASCU.

Demeanor:

Steve's outward archetype is the Defender. This mostly matches his inner motivations too: he is deeply committed to helping others, and comfortably accepts many kinds of sacrifice in order to do this. He feels the loneliness of a single man approaching forty, but refuses to allow it to define him. More often, it is the fact that his skills have placed him in the position of pursuing monsters, rather than standing between them and their victims, that troubles him; his role often seems to have more to do with avenging carnage than with preventing it. Even by VASCU standards, he is an unusually powerful and empathetic psychic, and he finds the intimacy of teleinformatic interrogation both rewarding and unsettling. Steve was trained as a psychological profiler, and combines great natural gentleness with a total lack of illusions about others. He is very good at finding stability and comfort in small things: making the bed, cooking meals, looking after his cat, performing random acts of kindness for strangers. These daily rituals help to keep him grounded and sane in spite of the horrors of his profession; they also serve as a carefully structured distraction from the ways in which his life is fundamentally empty of family, community, or larger fulfillment beyond the endless nightmarish hunt for the next Slasher.

Profession: Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit

---

Cell/Compact/Conspiracy: Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit
Endowment:

Teleinformatics: the use of Steve's innate psychic talent, unlocked and trained by pharmacological therapy, to assist him in interrogation and investigation. Some of his talents are simply the supernatural extension of a good detective's gut instinct: he is unerringly sensitive to signs of guilt, and it is functionally impossible to lie to him. By studying an object or crime scene, Steve can sense psychic traces present therein, gaining a basic idea of its meaning or of events connected to it. Other abilities are more remarkable, and rarer even within VASCU. Steve can directly psychically interact with a target's mind: he can create a copy of it within his own memory so that he can probe it on his own terms, or attack parts of the target's psyche to force them to reveal a secret. He can even speed up his own thought processes for a short time, enabling him to enter a state of altered consciousness in which he is capable of remarkable mental feats. This can be represented by a +2 bonus to intelligence; Steve's other endowment abilities are active, not passive, and would not change his stats.

Combat Skills
Hand-to-Hand Skill: 3
Knife/Blade Skill: 2
Firearm Skill
-Short Range: 3
-Medium Range: 1
-Long Range: 1

---

Skills:

Physical
Strength: 1
Speed: 1
Stamina: 2

Mental
Intelligence: 1
Wit: 1
Resolve: 2
Morality: 7

---

Biographical Information

Steve Radcliffe was born on October 31, 1983: a fact that took on great significance for him only many years later. His parents were American diplomats, and he grew up mostly outside the United States: Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Kampala. He gained, as most such children do, a facility with languages and an easy empathy with those whose lives differed greatly from his own; he also learned practical and emotional self-reliance, since his wandering childhood denied him a stable environment or friend group. Steve's early encounters with the supernatural were unusually frequent, yet ambiguous: his latent psychic sensitivity made him intensely aware of the sacred and unholy forces at work in Jerusalem, that city steeped in cosmic conflict. He acquired an early and lasting sense that he was privy, in some undefined way, to secrets that could not be spoken.

The Twin Towers fell five days after Steve arrived at Middlebury College to begin his studies in a home country he scarcely knew. Here, he suddenly sensed in some half-inchoate fashion, was his chance to earn a place where he belonged: by defending America, he would become a real American. Already fluent in Arabic, he studied psychology in an attempt to understand how people could become capable of such crimes, and poured his excess energy into the varsity swim team. After writing a thesis comparing al-Qaeda to the Jonestown cult and graduating with honors, Steve went on to earn a law degree from the University of Michigan, with a concentration in criminal procedure. Hoping to be on the frontline of antiterrorism prosecutions, he joined the Army JAG Corps.

Steve got his wish. His first job out of law school was assisting the prosecution of Guantanamo inmates in the prison's military commission process. Steve was a highly effective military prosecutor, and rose quickly to become the Army's lead attorney on a number of significant cases. But he was unenthusiastic, and gradually found himself deeply disillusioned with the process of which he was a part. The experience inspired in him a lasting distrust of those who would suspend the ordinary protections of the law in order to respond to any perceived emergency. When his term of service was up, Steve left the military - and, with it, his long-term girlfriend, who also worked at Guantanamo and did not share Steve's moral qualms.

Upon returning to the United States proper, Steve received a job offer from the FBI, which appreciated his international upbringing, training in law and psychology, and prosecuting experience. Steve accepted, and passed FBI training at Quantico with high marks. He spent the first six years of his career at the Atlanta field office, focused primarily on building cases against organized crime groups and white supremacist terror rings. Steve required a reputation as an outstanding interrogator and investigator, with an inexplicable sensitivity to the tiniest implications of a suspect's facial expressions or to the layout of a crime scene. He was recommended for behavioral-analysis training, and spent two years with the Behavioral Analysis Unit, providing psychological profiling support to investigations all over the country. It was at this stage that VASCU began to suspect that Steve's remarkable capacity for empathy and observation was evidence of a psychic talent that they had missed during his initial training. It was also during this time, after the failure of two serious relationships, that Steve gradually came to accept the cost that his job would inevitably impose. He quietly lowered his expectations, taking sustenance from the little things in life in the absence of a family or community outside the workplace.

Steve's actual recruitment by VASCU came three years ago. He was consulting with the BAU on a particularly violent serial killer in upstate South Carolina. VASCU identified the perpetrator as a garou, and stepped in to take over the case - but they offered Steve the chance to work the case through to its finish, if he would take VASCU's psychic aptitude test. Sure enough, Steve scored very highly on the test, and after he witnessed VASCU's confrontation with the Slasher, he willingly accepted a transfer to the elite unit. The next year was spent in pharmacological therapy to unlock Steve's psychic potential, and in an intensive academic study - largely self-taught - of the supernatural, which has left Steve with a level of encyclopedic knowledge unusual even by the standards of VASCU. He is more committed than the average agent to the principle of deeply understanding before he acts.

In the short time that he has worked with the unit, Steve Radcliffe has acquired an impressive reputation - albeit a somewhat mixed one. He has been highly effective in achieving his objectives: he chased an out-of-control group of Anarchs off the streets of Cleveland, shot dead a demonically possessed serial killer in Seattle, and derailed a Black Spiral werewolf conspiracy to cause a meltdown at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. His level of teleinformatic ability and detailed knowledge of the Masquerade are impressive even within VASCU. But while he has some ardent defenders, Steve remains unpopular with most of his fellow agents: his commitment to seeking understanding before he acts conflicts with their commitment to decisive action, his tweedy style and instinctive gentleness affronts their men-in-black severity, and - most of all - his commitment to the law breaks with VASCU's belief that it operates outside the normal legal system. Steve has read vampires, werewolves and mages their rights just like normal street hoodlums, and he intends to go on doing so. Now, he arrives in the city of Los Angeles to assume responsibility for a mage detained by the local field office, whom the first VASCU agents on the scene report is hiding more than he reveals...

[Imperialisium]

- Hunter -

NationStates Name: Norv
Character Name: Supervisory Special Agent Stephen ("Steve") Radcliffe
Age: 36
Physical Appearance and Description:

Steve doesn't look much like a member of the FBI's most elite unit. He is of average height, and obviously keeps in good physical shape: broad shoulders, trim waist. But he hardly looks like a bodybuilder; more like an athletic suburban dad. His mousy brown hair is going grey early at the temples, and is usually combed absentmindedly into a messy side-part. Steve's face is largely forgettable: clean-shaven and lightly tanned, long and vaguely handsome despite its thin lips and big nose and receding hairline, with faint lines fanning from the corners of the eyes and deeper ones carved into the high forehead. The eyes are more arresting: grey, quite deep-set and large, and watchful - alive with swift intelligence.

Most obviously, Steve doesn't dress like the stereotypical G-man. He wears tortoiseshell browline glasses and tweed jackets, corduroy slacks and tattersall shirts, knit ties and sweater vests. At first glance, he resembles nothing more than a youngish professor of literature at some small college. Despite typically carrying two handguns, a knife, and a sap, he is scrupulous about the concealment of his weapons. The combination of his graying hair, tweedy clothes, glasses, and bland face gives him a deceptively harmless affect that frequently proves invaluable, and that starkly distinguishes him from the men-in-black style of most of his colleagues in VASCU.

Demeanor:

Steve's outward archetype is the Defender. This mostly matches his inner motivations too: he is deeply committed to helping others, and comfortably accepts many kinds of sacrifice in order to do this. He feels the loneliness of a single man approaching forty, but refuses to allow it to define him. More often, it is the fact that his skills have placed him in the position of pursuing monsters, rather than standing between them and their victims, that troubles him; his role often seems to have more to do with avenging carnage than with preventing it. Even by VASCU standards, he is an unusually powerful and empathetic psychic, and he finds the intimacy of teleinformatic interrogation both rewarding and unsettling. Steve was trained as a psychological profiler, and combines great natural gentleness with a total lack of illusions about others. He is very good at finding stability and comfort in small things: making the bed, cooking meals, looking after his cat, performing random acts of kindness for strangers. These daily rituals help to keep him grounded and sane in spite of the horrors of his profession; they also serve as a carefully structured distraction from the ways in which his life is fundamentally empty of family, community, or larger fulfillment beyond the endless nightmarish hunt for the next Slasher.

Profession: Supervisory Special Agent, FBI Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit

---

Cell/Compact/Conspiracy: Vanguard Serial Crimes Unit
Endowment:

Teleinformatics: the use of Steve's innate psychic talent, unlocked and trained by pharmacological therapy, to assist him in interrogation and investigation. Some of his talents are simply the supernatural extension of a good detective's gut instinct: he is unerringly sensitive to signs of guilt, and it is functionally impossible to lie to him. By studying an object or crime scene, Steve can sense psychic traces present therein, gaining a basic idea of its meaning or of events connected to it. Other abilities are more remarkable, and rarer even within VASCU. Steve can directly psychically interact with a target's mind: he can create a copy of it within his own memory so that he can probe it on his own terms, or attack parts of the target's psyche to force them to reveal a secret. He can even speed up his own thought processes for a short time, enabling him to enter a state of altered consciousness in which he is capable of remarkable mental feats. This can be represented by a +2 bonus to intelligence; Steve's other endowment abilities are active, not passive, and would not change his stats.

Combat Skills
Hand-to-Hand Skill: 3
Knife/Blade Skill: 2
Firearm Skill
-Short Range: 3
-Medium Range: 1
-Long Range: 1

---

Skills:

Physical
Strength: 1
Speed: 1
Stamina: 2

Mental
Intelligence: 1
Wit: 1
Resolve: 2
Morality: 7

---

Biographical Information

Steve Radcliffe was born on October 31, 1983: a fact that took on great significance for him only many years later. His parents were American diplomats, and he grew up mostly outside the United States: Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Kampala. He gained, as most such children do, a facility with languages and an easy empathy with those whose lives differed greatly from his own; he also learned practical and emotional self-reliance, since his wandering childhood denied him a stable environment or friend group. Steve's early encounters with the supernatural were unusually frequent, yet ambiguous: his latent psychic sensitivity made him intensely aware of the sacred and unholy forces at work in Jerusalem, that city steeped in cosmic conflict. He acquired an early and lasting sense that he was privy, in some undefined way, to secrets that could not be spoken.

The Twin Towers fell five days after Steve arrived at Middlebury College to begin his studies in a home country he scarcely knew. Here, he suddenly sensed in some half-inchoate fashion, was his chance to earn a place where he belonged: by defending America, he would become a real American. Already fluent in Arabic, he studied psychology in an attempt to understand how people could become capable of such crimes, and poured his excess energy into the varsity swim team. After writing a thesis comparing al-Qaeda to the Jonestown cult and graduating with honors, Steve went on to earn a law degree from the University of Michigan, with a concentration in criminal procedure. Hoping to be on the frontline of antiterrorism prosecutions, he joined the Army JAG Corps.

Steve got his wish. His first job out of law school was assisting the prosecution of Guantanamo inmates in the prison's military commission process. Steve was a highly effective military prosecutor, and rose quickly to become the Army's lead attorney on a number of significant cases. But he was unenthusiastic, and gradually found himself deeply disillusioned with the process of which he was a part. The experience inspired in him a lasting distrust of those who would suspend the ordinary protections of the law in order to respond to any perceived emergency. When his term of service was up, Steve left the military - and, with it, his long-term girlfriend, who also worked at Guantanamo and did not share Steve's moral qualms.

Upon returning to the United States proper, Steve received a job offer from the FBI, which appreciated his international upbringing, training in law and psychology, and prosecuting experience. Steve accepted, and passed FBI training at Quantico with high marks. He spent the first six years of his career at the Atlanta field office, focused primarily on building cases against organized crime groups and white supremacist terror rings. Steve required a reputation as an outstanding interrogator and investigator, with an inexplicable sensitivity to the tiniest implications of a suspect's facial expressions or to the layout of a crime scene. He was recommended for behavioral-analysis training, and spent two years with the Behavioral Analysis Unit, providing psychological profiling support to investigations all over the country. It was at this stage that VASCU began to suspect that Steve's remarkable capacity for empathy and observation was evidence of a psychic talent that they had missed during his initial training. It was also during this time, after the failure of two serious relationships, that Steve gradually came to accept the cost that his job would inevitably impose. He quietly lowered his expectations, taking sustenance from the little things in life in the absence of a family or community outside the workplace.

Steve's actual recruitment by VASCU came three years ago. He was consulting with the BAU on a particularly violent serial killer in upstate South Carolina. VASCU identified the perpetrator as a garou, and stepped in to take over the case - but they offered Steve the chance to work the case through to its finish, if he would take VASCU's psychic aptitude test. Sure enough, Steve scored very highly on the test, and after he witnessed VASCU's confrontation with the Slasher, he willingly accepted a transfer to the elite unit. The next year was spent in pharmacological therapy to unlock Steve's psychic potential, and in an intensive academic study - largely self-taught - of the supernatural, which has left Steve with a level of encyclopedic knowledge unusual even by the standards of VASCU. He is more committed than the average agent to the principle of deeply understanding before he acts.

In the short time that he has worked with the unit, Steve Radcliffe has acquired an impressive reputation - albeit a somewhat mixed one. He has been highly effective in achieving his objectives: he chased an out-of-control group of Anarchs off the streets of Cleveland, shot dead a demonically possessed serial killer in Seattle, and derailed a Black Spiral werewolf conspiracy to cause a meltdown at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. His level of teleinformatic ability and detailed knowledge of the Masquerade are impressive even within VASCU. But while he has some ardent defenders, Steve remains unpopular with most of his fellow agents: his commitment to seeking understanding before he acts conflicts with their commitment to decisive action, his tweedy style and instinctive gentleness affronts their men-in-black severity, and - most of all - his commitment to the law breaks with VASCU's belief that it operates outside the normal legal system. Steve has read vampires, werewolves and mages their rights just like normal street hoodlums, and he intends to go on doing so. Now, he arrives in the city of Los Angeles to assume responsibility for a mage detained by the local field office, whom the first VASCU agents on the scene report is hiding more than he reveals...

accepted

[Finsternia]

Changeling
NationStates Name: Finsternia
Character Name: Aodhagán
Physical Appearance and Description:

Age and Time of Abduction: Late teens, 1824
Current Age: 26
Demeanor: Proud, flighty, and unrestrained fatal beauty are the words that could be described for Aodhagán. He was proud to be one of the Fairest for his otherworldly beauty, for each scale of ever shining color and light on his body were things he suffered for. He was proud that his petite body, starved and molded, broke through the barbs and thorns to reach for true sunlight. Behind the Mask is a fatal sense of knowing, what makes one tick, what one wants, and what to do with such things.
Seeming: The Fairest
Kith: Polychromatic
Affiliation: Spring Court
Entitlement: The Order of the Hallowed Garden
Contracts:

• Reflection
• Vainglory
  
• Mirror
  
• Verdant Spring
• Fleeting Spring

Pledges:

• Pledge to the Spring Court: To elevate the sorrows of Changelings, to show them happiness once more after their plight in Arcadia, and to support their endeavors in finding happiness.
  
• Pledge to the Order of the Hallowed Garden: To cultivate a place where the art of starting artists would bloom and become beacons of hope and happiness for the public and to inspire others' dreams.

Skills and Abilities
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 2
Perception: 2
Glamour Rating: 5
Clarity: 3
Biographical Information
The road to beauty is forever painful and filled with strife. In modern days, artists and celebrities would climb the ladder and kick down competitors with sharp stilettos and tear away at their faces with beautifully made nails from the so called nail artists. Intrigue, deception, humiliation, black mail, the arena for fame, fortune, and glory is just anything goes. Behind every shining prestige and every beautiful faces hide murky black hearts, festering with desire, that the Fairest knows too well.

No matter how hard he would try, Aodhagán no longer remembers his old life. Not even his name he remembers; the name he bears today is what his Keeper has given him. Fire. Flame. Each scale on his body were forged into the frail human self and everytime it reflects light, one would remember the many and myriad colors a sparkle of fire could produce.

He was taken away by one of the True Fae, one that he and his fellow Changelings only knew by the moniker of The Mistress. Her rule over Arcadia was harsh: those who do not stand out, who do not make the halls of her castles, the blooming flowers of her gardens, the scultures that littered her domain, and the sun and moon and the stars of the night sky become dim with their own personal beauty outshining all are to be trampled with graceful dancing shoes and immaculate feet of porcelain. It was reality. Many tore themselves in despair, becoming the Mistress' hounds and lap cats. Some became the candles that lit her chandeliers and became torches by the castle walls. Many thought that becoming one with the many mirror like lakes and puddles of her Estates would catch her attention yet they only became a way for competitors to show off their own beauty through their own reflections. Many indeed were trampled, became one with the filthy earth where dainty little shoes skip through each day.

Aodhagán reached boldly forward towards where no one before tried. He reached towards the mirror lakes and tore the wings of butterflies that flock their edges. He reached towards the light of the sun and held in his hands the essence of life light. He reached towards the light of the moon and pulled forth strands of silver thread, dripping with thick mercurial liquid. Finally, he reached forward to flame and set himself alight. The Changeling made a pact with these powerful things that symbolized natural beauty: he will become one that will dazzle all and they will live within his flesh.

Glass and crystals encased his skin, a pair of wings grew behind his back. Flames burned within each scale and light seem to be captured by his every step. His body captured light's every color. In delight he pranced, danced and skipped through the gardens, beneath his feet the cries of defeated, ugly creatures that deserved no pity. As he arrived within the castle, the Mistress was enraptured. It was like a beautiful doll, a toy, a play thing. The Keeper held his body and refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more.

It didn't make sense anymore, for many years. He was beautiful, in jewel dresses and outfits, as fire tempered his skin like how it would temper steel, as the Mistress would socket gems into his body. He felt content to prance in the gardens, to fly in the sky to shed kaleidoscopic radiance into the Estates, to smell the flowers and wade in the mirror lakes. He had the Mistress' gaze, he thought it would remain forever. He saw the sun again, warm and cozy, as strands of sunlight spilled down, new and fresh yet... familiar and distant. He reached, tugging at golden threads. The threads wrapped around him like how the many gowns and many dresses and many clothes in the Estates do... Until they became thorns.

He was pulled away, into a tunnel, into the dirt, into the grime and sludge. It was filthy, unbecoming of the most beautiful, the most glorified. His dignity became his last hope as thorns made his prized skin bleed. It was countless of hours where his eyes only knew thorns... until the sun came. He was in a middle of a forest clearing, without any of the splendor of the Mistress' gardens. He looked at his hands, bleeding from scratches and scars, and scaled and beautiful. Droplets fell down on his palms, stinging him. Tears. Pain. He was a broken toy now, thrown away by the Mistress.

He would soon be found out by Changelings, where he laid half bloodied and battered on forest soil. He was brought into what his fellow Changelings have called a Freehold, which clearly lacked the opulence of the Mistress' castle. There he was taught, educated of what truly happened. It took almost a year but he survived through the truth and the horror. His beauty was a lie, his beauty wasn't what he wanted. His hands have healed, his scales as vibrant as ever. However, they turned the color of autumn, the color of deep blue, the color of dusk, the color of fading light. The thorns he has dearly remembered. How each scratch and cut drained his life away, how his screams were unsavory, pathetic and unbecoming. A beautiful smile blossomed in his face and his scales turned to the color of spring, to the color of dawn and early morning skies. A wicked smile that wished for the unbecoming of his Mistress' beautiful face. He would become a beautiful way to die for the Mistress.

[Imperialisium]

Changeling
NationStates Name: Finsternia
Character Name: Aodhagán
Physical Appearance and Description:
(Image)
Age and Time of Abduction: Late teens, 1824
Current Age: 26
Demeanor: Proud, flighty, and unrestrained fatal beauty are the words that could be described for Aodhagán. He was proud to be one of the Fairest for his otherworldly beauty, for each scale of ever shining color and light on his body, were things he suffered for. He was proud that his petite body, starved and molded, broke through the barbs and thorns to reach for true sunlight. Behind the Mask is a fatal sense of knowing, what makes one tick, what one wants, and what to do with such things.
Seeming: The Fairest
Kith: Polychromatic
Affiliation: Spring Court
Entitlement: The Order of the Hallowed Garden
Contracts:

• Reflection
• Vainglory
  
• Mirror
  
• Verdant Spring
• Fleeting Spring

Pledges: None as of yet
Skills and Abilities
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 2
Perception: 2
Glamour Rating: 5
Clarity: 3
Biographical Information
The road to beauty is forever painful and filled with strife. In modern days, artists and celebrities would climb the ladder and kick down competitors with sharp stilettos and tear away at their faces with beautifully made nails from the so called nail artists. Intrigue, deception, humiliation, black mail, the arena for fame, fortune, and glory is just anything goes. Behind every shining prestige and every beautiful faces hides murky black hearts, festering with desire, that the Fairest knows too well.

No matter how hard he would try, Aodhagán no longer remembers his old life. Not even his name he remembers; the name he bears today is what his Keeper has given him. Fire. Flame. Each scale on his body were forged into the frail human self and everytime it reflects light, one would remember the many and myriad colors a sparkle of fire could produce.

He was taken away by one of the True Fae, one that he and his fellow Changelings only knew by the moniker of The Mistress. Her rule over Arcadia was harsh: those who do not stand out, who do not make the halls of her castles, the blooming flowers of her gardens, the scultures that littered her domain, and the sun and moon and the stars of the night sky become dim from their own personal beauty are to be trampled with graceful dancing shoes and immaculate feet of porcelain. It was reality. Many tore themselves in despair, becoming the Mistress' hounds and lap cats. Some became the candles that lit her chandeliers and became torches by the castle walls. Many thought that becoming one with the many mirror like lakes and puddles of her Estates would catch her attention yet they only became a way for competitors to show off their own beauty through their own reflections. Many did indeed were trampled, became one with the filthy earth where dainty little shoes skip through each day.

Aodhagán reached forward boldly towards where no one before tried. He reached towards the mirror lakes and tore the wings of butterflies that flock their edges. He reached towards the light of the sun and held in his hands the essence of life light. He reached towards the light of the moon and pulled forth strands of silver thread, dripping with thick mercurial liquid. Finally, he reached forward to flame and set himself alight. The Changeling made a pact with these powerful things that symbolized natural beauty: he will become one that will dazzle all and they will live within his flesh.

Glass and crystals encased his skin, a pair of wings grew behind his back. Flames burned within each scale and light seem to be captured by his every step. His body captured light's every color. In delight he pranced, danced and skipped through the gardens, beneath his feet the cries of defeated, ugly creatures that deserved no pity. As he arrived within the castle, the Mistress was enraptured. It was like a beautiful doll, a toy, a play thing. The Keeper held his body and refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more. Refined him even more.

It didn't make sense anymore, for many years. He was beautiful, in jewel dresses and outfits, as fire tempered his skin like how it would steel, as the Mistress would socket gems into his body. He felt content to prance in the gardens, to fly in the sky to shed kaleidoscopic radiance into the Estates, to smell the flowers and wade in the mirror lakes. He had the Mistress' gaze, he thought it would remain forever. He saw the sun again, warm and cozy, as strands of sunlight, new and fresh yet... familiar and distant. He reached, tugging at golden threads. The threads wrapped around him lile how the many gowns and many dresses and many clothes do... Until they became thorns.

He was pulled away, into a tunnel, into the dirt, into the grime and sludge. It was filthy, unbecoming of the most beautiful, the most glorified. His dignity became his last hope as thorns made his prized skin bleed. It was countless of hours where his eyes only knew thorns... until the sun came. He was in a middle of a forest clearing, without any of the splendor of the Mistress' gardens. He looked at his hands, bleeding from scratches and scars, and scaled and beautiful. Droplets fell down on his palms, stinging him. Pain. He was a broken toy now, thrown away by the Mistress.

He would soon be found out by Changelings, where he laid half bloodied and battered on forest soil. He was brought into what his fellow Changelings have called a Freehold, which clearly lacked the opulence of the Mistress' castle. There he was taught, educated of what truly happened. It toom almost a year but he survived through the truth and the horror. His beauty was a lie, his beauty wasn't what he wanted. His hands have healed, his scales as vibrant as ever. However, they turned the color of autumn, the color of deep blue, the color of dusk, the color of fading light. The thorns he has dearly remembered. How each scratch and cut drained his life away, how his screams were unsavory, pathetic and unbecoming. A beautiful smile blossomed in his face and his scales turned to the color of spring, to the color of dawn and early morning skies. A wicked smile that wished for the unbecoming of his Mistress' beautiful face.

Accepted

[Luminesa]

Name: Feliz-Marie Barros y Azarola
Age: 75 (Looks about late-20’s.)
Species, Clan, Class: Kindred, Ventrue
Appearance:

https://www.deviantart.com/kir-tat/art/Meneldil-upd-25441416

Personality: Most aristocrats hide themselves behind more veils than Salome, and Feliz is no exception. To the average acquaintance, Feliz is polite, generous, quiet, and intelligent. Manners are one of his biggest concerns, and showing a lack of manners is one of the easiest ways to make him angry or annoyed. A well-read man, Feliz enjoys talking about politics, geography, trade, and even high-fashion. Things that aristocrats enjoy. With his vast wealth, he likes to give to those who are less fortunate, sometimes seemingly at random. Because of his good habits and careful maintenance of his public image, he tends to give most people a good impression.

However, most who know him well know that he takes his role as an informant and a budding politician seriously. He keeps an eye on anything and everything entering the city of Venice, and keeps extensive record of whatever goods or people may enter the city. He has no problem using this information to give himself an edge, and he enjoys the games that come with having insider’s knowledge. Even when he is manipulating others, however, he always keeps a calm and cheerful smile on his face.

Yet deep at his core he trusts few people, and confides to even fewer. Whether or not he wants or desires any companionship beyond puppets he can use is a mystery. In the vast halls of his Romanesque villa, he lives among his servants and spends much of his time reading and plotting. In his private quarters he is a father to his servants, but like most fathers, he always keeps a secret or five from his “children”. Even as a Ventrue who interacts with much of high society and enjoys such, he has no problem speaking viciously of his enemies when they are away, and he despises many of the members of the same society, especially members of Clan Giovanni.

Biography: Born on August 29th 75 years ago, in Salamanca, Spain, Feliz was originally the son of a manual laborer and a tailor. From his parents he learned to value hard work, and was eager to please his family. He never despised his poverty, as such was the only life he knew, and he found comfort in his small, modest home.

His family wanted better for him, however, and sent him to a Benedictine monastery in the city, in order to give him the religious and intellectual education they wished for him to have. At first quite shy and uncertain of his surroundings, Feliz soon grew to love the monks, the liturgy of the Church in which he was baptized, and the many books and manuscripts available for him to read. A bright, eager student, he advanced through his studies and was well ahead of some of his classmates. As he became a teenager, he looked forward to taking his vows as a Benedictine monk. He wished to be a keeper for the massive library of the monastery, and spent much of his time outside of studying reading about every subject he could find. His fellow monks were confident that he would be an excellent fit for their order.

However, Feliz’s destiny would soon be stolen from him, as he was dragged away from his quiet and nondescript life on a hot day in June, when he was 17. Pirates invaded the city, ransacking and tearing through the markets and any people they could find. They took many prisoners, and Feliz was one, as the monastery was attacked and many invaluable books, sacramentals, and people were attacked and stolen. Unable to do anything but to languor on a hot, disease-ridden slaver’s ship, for the first time Feliz felt hatred and despair. After spending months on this ship, being transported across the Mediterranean, he decided to escape however he could. After the ship landed in a port, Feliz snuck off the ship, chains still on his ankles and wrists, and found his way, after a night in agony, to the house of a Venetian banker.

Indeed, he was in the Floating City, the gem of the Mediterranean, and the banker into whose house he had intruded was not pleased. Or so he made Feliz believe. He threatened to return the emaciated and terrified boy to his slavers, unless he agreed to be his paid servant. Agreeing wholeheartedly, and now realizing he would never return home to Salamanca, Feliz began the next phase of his life as a servant. He kept books for the banker, cleaned his house, and organized his library, which had even more books for the knowledge-hungry young man. Over time, he learned Italian, as well as the value of manners and “face” among the upper crust of society. He also came to be dazzled by the amazing wealthy-and distraught by the horrid depravity-of his new and glamorous world.

Yet the biggest surprise came when his master, who slowly took a special interest in Feliz, began to reveal secrets that no mortal could ever know. He began to tell him of a world behind the Veil, one that separated “the wealthy from kings”-that of the world of Kindred. The banker was a Ventrue, and asked for Feliz to become his “son”. Shocked and confused, the young man was at first wholly against such a transformation. Yet he knew now that his world, and his old life, were gone, and would never return. Cursing his losses and wishing to find that same peace another way, he eventually agreed to become a member of Ventrue society. He learned the emphasis on manners and good relations that was characteristic of the Ventrue, but also how to manipulate and to make “acquaintances” without too much effort. Still uncertain as to his decision, Feliz was Embraced when he turned 21.

He did find short-term peace in joining the upper echelons of Vampire society, but not enough to shield him from further tragedy. Three years later, the Giovanni attacked and killed his Sire and many of the members of his household. Enraged, Feliz murdered his Sire’s murderers in cold-blood, before taking the remaining servants with him to the home he had bought with his new, hard-earned wealth-Il Velo, his villa far from the inner city. Here he began to plan the rest of his life, including his desire to wipe-out Clan Giovanni for their crimes and their depravity.

NPCs: Eufemia, De la Rocha, and Santiago (his head-servants), and his dozens of servants in his home. Also a blue Turkish van named Clareta.

Vampire Stats:
Demeanor: Enigma
Sire: Francesco Bardi
Generation: 8
Blood Potency: 3
Clan: Ventrue
Bloodline: N/A
Age: 75
Birthday: August 29th, 1423

Physical:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 3

Social:
Charisma: 4
Manipulation: 4

Knowledge:
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 3
Wit: 4

Abilities:
Fortitude: 3
Presence: 4
Dominate: 3
Melee: 2
Ranged Arms: 2

Additional Skills:
1.) Writing/Forgery - As someone who has learned manipulation well, and who is also gifted as a writer, Feliz can use his abilities to make connections...and sometimes to get others into trouble.

2.) Multilingual - Having lived in a trade city for decades now, Feliz knows Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Arabic, and English.

3.) Designer - Feliz has skills in tailoring and enjoys making his own clothes, or at least commissioning them, as he has servants to do the hard work.

[Imperialisium]

Name: Feliz-Marie Barros y Azarola
Age: 75 (Looks about late-20’s.)
Species, Clan, Class: Kindred, Ventrue
Appearance:

https://www.deviantart.com/kir-tat/art/Meneldil-upd-25441416

Personality: Most aristocrats hide themselves behind more veils than Salome, and Feliz is no exception. To the average acquaintance, Feliz is polite, generous, quiet, and intelligent. Manners are one of his biggest concerns, and showing a lack of manners is one of the easiest ways to make him angry or annoyed. A well-read man, Feliz enjoys talking about politics, geography, trade, and even high-fashion. Things that aristocrats enjoy. With his vast wealth, he likes to give to those who are less fortunate, sometimes seemingly at random. Because of his good habits and careful maintenance of his public image, he tends to give most people a good impression.

However, most who know him well know that he takes his role as an informant and a budding politician seriously. He keeps an eye on anything and everything entering the city of Venice, and keeps extensive record of whatever goods or people may enter the city. He has no problem using this information to give himself an edge, and he enjoys the games that come with having insider’s knowledge. Even when he is manipulating others, however, he always keeps a calm and cheerful smile on his face.

Yet deep at his core he trusts few people, and confides to even fewer. Whether or not he wants or desires any companionship beyond puppets he can use is a mystery. In the vast halls of his Romanesque villa, he lives among his servants and spends much of his time reading and plotting. In his private quarters he is a father to his servants, but like most fathers, he always keeps a secret or five from his “children”. Even as a Ventrue who interacts with much of high society and enjoys such, he has no problem speaking viciously of his enemies when they are away, and he despises many of the members of the same society, especially members of Clan Giovanni.

Biography: Born on August 29th 75 years ago, in Salamanca, Spain, Feliz was originally the son of a manual laborer and a tailor. From his parents he learned to value hard work, and was eager to please his family. He never despised his poverty, as such was the only life he knew, and he found comfort in his small, modest home.

His family wanted better for him, however, and sent him to a Benedictine monastery in the city, in order to give him the religious and intellectual education they wished for him to have. At first quite shy and uncertain of his surroundings, Feliz soon grew to love the monks, the liturgy of the Church in which he was baptized, and the many books and manuscripts available for him to read. A bright, eager student, he advanced through his studies and was well ahead of some of his classmates. As he became a teenager, he looked forward to taking his vows as a Benedictine monk. He wished to be a keeper for the massive library of the monastery, and spent much of his time outside of studying reading about every subject he could find. His fellow monks were confident that he would be an excellent fit for their order.

However, Feliz’s destiny would soon be stolen from him, as he was dragged away from his quiet and nondescript life on a hot day in June, when he was 17. Pirates invaded the city, ransacking and tearing through the markets and any people they could find. They took many prisoners, and Feliz was one, as the monastery was attacked and many invaluable books, sacramentals, and people were attacked and stolen. Unable to do anything but to languor on a hot, disease-ridden slaver’s ship, for the first time Feliz felt hatred and despair. After spending months on this ship, being transported across the Mediterranean, he decided to escape however he could. After the ship landed in a port, Feliz snuck off the ship, chains still on his ankles and wrists, and found his way, after a night in agony, to the house of a Venetian banker.

Indeed, he was in the Floating City, the gem of the Mediterranean, and the banker into whose house he had intruded was not pleased. Or so he made Feliz believe. He threatened to return the emaciated and terrified boy to his slavers, unless he agreed to be his paid servant. Agreeing wholeheartedly, and now realizing he would never return home to Salamanca, Feliz began the next phase of his life as a servant. He kept books for the banker, cleaned his house, and organized his library, which had even more books for the knowledge-hungry young man. Over time, he learned Italian, as well as the value of manners and “face” among the upper crust of society. He also came to be dazzled by the amazing wealthy-and distraught by the horrid depravity-of his new and glamorous world.

Yet the biggest surprise came when his master, who slowly took a special interest in Feliz, began to reveal secrets that no mortal could ever know. He began to tell him of a world behind the Veil, one that separated “the wealthy from kings”-that of the world of Kindred. The banker was a Ventrue, and asked for Feliz to become his “son”. Shocked and confused, the young man was at first wholly against such a transformation. Yet he knew now that his world, and his old life, were gone, and would never return. Cursing his losses and wishing to find that same peace another way, he eventually agreed to become a member of Ventrue society. He learned the emphasis on manners and good relations that was characteristic of the Ventrue, but also how to manipulate and to make “acquaintances” without too much effort. Still uncertain as to his decision, Feliz was Embraced when he turned 21.

He did find short-term peace in joining the upper echelons of Vampire society, but not enough to shield him from further tragedy. Three years later, the Giovanni attacked and killed his Sire and many of the members of his household. Enraged, Feliz murdered his Sire’s murderers in cold-blood, before taking the remaining servants with him to the home he had bought with his new, hard-earned wealth-Il Velo, his villa far from the inner city. Here he began to plan the rest of his life, including his desire to wipe-out Clan Giovanni for their crimes and their depravity.

NPCs: Eufemia, De la Rocha, and Santiago (his head-servants), and his dozens of servants in his home. Also a blue Turkish van named Clareta.

Vampire Stats:
Demeanor: Enigma
Sire: Francesco Bardi
Generation: 8
Blood Potency: 3
Clan: Ventrue
Bloodline: N/A
Age: 75
Birthday: August 29th, 1423

Physical:
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 3

Social:
Charisma: 4
Manipulation: 4

Knowledge:
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 3
Wit: 4

Abilities:
Fortitude: 3
Presence: 4
Dominate: 3
Melee: 2
Ranged Arms: 2

Additional Skills:
1.) Writing/Forgery - As someone who has learned manipulation well, and who is also gifted as a writer, Feliz can use his abilities to make connections...and sometimes to get others into trouble.

2.) Multilingual - Having lived in a trade city for decades now, Feliz knows Spanish, Italian, French, Latin, Arabic, and English.

3.) Designer - Feliz has skills in tailoring and enjoys making his own clothes, or at least commissioning them, as he has servants to do the hard work.

Accepted

[Imperialisium]

https://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=466126

Spin-off RP for those wishing to enter the World of Darkness during the early Renaissance.

Midsummer Night is ongoing as well so do not be alarmed if you are already in that RP or wishing to join it.

Cheers.

[Kaziimar]

This looks exciting! One thing though, could human mages be immortal? Like they used magical means?

[Imperialisium]

This looks exciting! One thing though, could human mages be immortal? Like they used magical means?

Hello!

So short answer is that yes Mages can become functionally immortal. However, as to how and why is a bit of a longer answer because how they achieve that immortality or at least prolonging life offers some options.

Straight up immortality from not dying of old age has only ever been achieved by some Archmages and usually it confines them to the Supernal Realms as a result (since Paradox doesn't like that sort of thing alongside the vast majority of Mages probably going to label you a Lich and try to murder you as a result). The magic that is required for this is straight up Imperial Magic (Imperial Rites) from Atlantis. However, since High Speech only survives in fragments and is extremely paradox prone any use of a spell of that magnitude to give yourself biological immortality would have a very high degree of error. For example one miss pronounced syllable or a momentary pause that is a second too long could lead you to being deleted from existence.

Now there are alternatives to achieve roughly the same goal though they would be out of reach from starting PCs since starting Mages Arcana are lower. But they are:

Death 5 and Life 3 Arcana could allow you to weave a spell to put your soul in another person's body and kick out the hosts. Basically allowing you to move from an old frail body to a younger persons. Life 5 Death 4 allows you to dramatically slow down the aging process. In effect prolonging your life by several magnitudes. Life 3 mages have been known to add at least 25 years of life in the lore (getting some Mages easily being over a hundred years old should they survive that long).

Another option is a constructed body but harder and requiring you to methodically dump any xp gain into the fields of Matter, Life, and Death to achieve this. Specifically, Matter 5, Death 5 and Life 3 though if its a machine or dead body Life 5 would be needed to animate it. Robotic bodies would require Forces 3-4 on top of those listed depending on how Iron Man you want to go.

Third option is artifacts though they have finite and specific uses and rules. Additionally, you'd have to find one that confers this ability.

So it's possible but something that a starting Player Character wouldn't be able to have from the start. All of the point numbers I mentioned would be put in your Gnosis section of your application as well.

Hope this helps.

[New Minahasa]

Vampire
NationStates Name: New Minahasa
Character Name: Song Wuzhou, "Richie Rain"
Physical Appearance and Description: But with more pointed teeth.
Demeanor: Sociopath
Sire: Liu Ting-yan
Generation: 10th Gen
Blood Potency: 3
Clan: Nagaraja
Bloodline: (if applicable)
Age: 166
Birthdate: 13 June 1852

Physical
(7 Points to use at start with a maximum of 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 3

Social
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 3

Knowledge
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Perception: 1
Intelligence: 3
Wit: 2

Abilities
(8 Possible to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses; up to 10 points possible as story progresses for Disciplines)
Melee: 3
Ranged/Firearms: 0
Disciplines: Necromancy 5

Additional Skills: A former cult-leader and current mob-boss known for his charismatic and leadership qualities. A silver-tongued character.

Biographical Information

Generations of families of peasant farmers are a common sight in the province of Shandong back in the 19th century, and one of them was Wuzhou's. Before his unlife as a Kindred, the Chinese boy worked the fields with his parents until he reached adulthood, where the once innocent boy began tapping into mysticism. In a bid to avoid eternal poverty and gain enough wealth for his future, Wuzhou turned into mao shan, or more commonly known as Chinese black magic. Indeed, the harsh reality as a simple farmer was more than enough to spark the man's ambitions into much more.

His knowledge in the occult coupled with high beliefs in the superstition from the rural communities brought him brought him the profits to fund his operations into the cities. His major success and natural charisma as a 'mystic' and subsequent skills to 'communicate with the dead' caught the attention of snooping agents of the Tal'mahe'Ra who were looking for new prospects in their future projects. The Black Hand's necromantic overlords, the Nagaraja, were soon given further notice, and they sent their Chinese representative to Embrace the man and mentor him under their cloak within the city of Enoch, deep in the Shadowlands. His prestigious deeds during his time in Enoch led many to believe in his capability, and in 2000 he found himself leading a small cell of the Tal'mahe'Ra in the City of Angels, consisting of a coven of True Black Hand affiliated Kindred of the appropriate bloodlines (Nagaraja, Old Clan Tzimisce, and True Brujah) among the many Ghouls and Risen serving their vampiric masters, under the guise of a charitable tong organization with connections in the criminal underworld to fund their programs.

[Imperialisium]

Vampire
NationStates Name: New Minahasa
Character Name: Song Wuzhou, "Richie Rain"
Physical Appearance and Description: But with more pointed teeth.
Demeanor: Sociopath
Sire: Liu Ting-yan
Generation: 10th Gen
Blood Potency: 3
Clan: Nagaraja
Bloodline: (if applicable)
Age: 166
Birthdate: 13 June 1852

Physical
(7 Points to use at start with a maximum of 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 3

Social
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Charisma: 3
Manipulation: 3

Knowledge
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Perception: 1
Intelligence: 3
Wit: 2

Abilities
(8 Possible to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses; up to 10 points possible as story progresses for Disciplines)
Melee: 3
Ranged/Firearms: 0
Disciplines: Necromancy 5

Additional Skills: A former cult-leader and current mob-boss known for his charismatic and leadership qualities. A silver-tongued character.

Biographical Information

Generations of families of peasant farmers are a common sight in the province of Shandong back in the 19th century, and one of them was Wuzhou's. Before his unlife as a Kindred, the Chinese boy worked the fields with his parents until he reached adulthood, where the once innocent boy began tapping into mysticism. In a bid to avoid eternal poverty and gain enough wealth for his future, Wuzhou turned into mao shan, or more commonly known as Chinese black magic. Indeed, the harsh reality as a simple farmer was more than enough to spark the man's ambitions into much more.

His knowledge in the occult coupled with high beliefs in the superstition from the rural communities brought him brought him the profits to fund his operations into the cities. His major success and natural charisma as a 'mystic' and subsequent skills to 'communicate with the dead' caught the attention of snooping agents of the Tal'mahe'Ra who were looking for new prospects in their future projects. The Black Hand's necromantic overlords, the Nagaraja, were soon given further notice, and they sent their Chinese representative to Embrace the man and mentor him under their cloak within the city of Enoch, deep in the Shadowlands. His prestigious deeds during his time in Enoch led many to believe in his capability, and in 2000 he found himself leading a small cell of the Tal'mahe'Ra in the City of Angels, consisting of a coven of True Black Hand affiliated Kindred of the appropriate bloodlines (Nagaraja, Old Clan Tzimisce, and True Brujah) among the many Ghouls and Risen serving their vampiric masters, under the guise of a charitable tong organization with connections in the criminal underworld to fund their programs.

Accepted

[Laurvier]

Interesting. I tried joining the discord to ask some questions but it doesn't seem to be working for me.

[Imperialisium]

Interesting. I tried joining the discord to ask some questions but it doesn't seem to be working for me.

Sent you a TG

[Laurvier]

Vampire
NationStates Name: Laurvier
Character Name: Gabriel Sweeney
Physical Appearance and Description: Dark brown hair cropped short and combed, 5'11", moderately handsome
Demeanor: Confident
Sire: Alexander Cormick
Generation: 11th
Blood Potency: 4
Clan: Ventrue
Bloodline:
Age: 148
Birthdate: 1871

Physical
(7 Points to use at start with a maximum of 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 2

Social
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Charisma: 4
Manipulation: 2

Knowledge
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Perception: 2
Intelligence: 2
Wit: 2

Abilities
(8 Possible to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses; up to 10 points possible as story progresses for Disciplines)
Melee:
Ranged/Firearms:
Disciplines:

Dominate - 5
Presence - 3
Fortitude - 2


Additional Skills: Business Management,

Biographical Information

Back in the late 19th Century, Gabriel Sweeney was a top manager for the railroad industry that achieving the American dream of Manifest Destiny. From Chicago he oversaw the laying of track as well as the movement goods across the continent to bring the glory of America west. In this regard, Gabriel was an expert manager and navigator of Tammany Hall politics. Westward expansion was not only a human goal, but a Kindred one too as settlements out there were growing into cities. Given Gabriel's unique talents and position, it was natural for the Ventrue to have him Embraced into their ranks. In fact, he played a pivotal role in advancing Kindred society west.

Of course, Gabriel was a bit peeved to have been embraced but his transition into unlife was a smooth one. He received a lot of guidance from his sire and was groomed to one day control facets of mortal institutions for the benefit of the Camarilla and Clan Ventrue. After being Embraced, Gabriel spent most of his unlife in Chicago helping to move goods west, dabbling a bit in the bootlegging industry during prohibition and building his own network of assets. Compound interest proved to be especially useful for an immortal who knew how to use it. Gabriel has amassed a fortune through stock and bond portfolios hidden away in various trusts and holding corporations.


Generally, Gabriel is a reasonable man and reputed to firmly uphold his deals. He does not kill to feed and is a consensualist, drawing on a herd of counterculture individuals who find the idea of being fed on to be enticingly deviant. For the most part, he is not really looking to be destructive or to shake up the natural order of things. His goal is simply to grow the assets and influence of Clan Ventrue in the private and public sectors.

Gabriel has come to Los Angeles to take a piece of the pie for Clan Ventrue and himself. Specifically what he is after is still yet to be determined. At his disposal are Ghouls, private military and other Kindred in his coterie. Currently he is set up in a very luxurious estate in Beverly Hills as well as having bought up several industrial and office properties throughout Los Angeles.

[Imperialisium]

Vampire
NationStates Name: Laurvier
Character Name: Gabriel Sweeney
Physical Appearance and Description: Dark brown hair cropped short and combed, 5'11", moderately handsome
Demeanor: Confident
Sire: Alexander Cormick
Generation: 11th
Blood Potency: 4
Clan: Ventrue
Bloodline:
Age: 148
Birthdate: 1871

Physical
(7 Points to use at start with a maximum of 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 3
Stamina: 2

Social
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Charisma: 4
Manipulation: 2

Knowledge
(6 points to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses)
Perception: 2
Intelligence: 2
Wit: 2

Abilities
(8 Possible to use at start with 8 per field possible as the story progresses; up to 10 points possible as story progresses for Disciplines)
Melee:
Ranged/Firearms:
Disciplines:

Dominate - 5
Presence - 3
Fortitude - 2


Additional Skills: Business Management,

Biographical Information

Back in the late 19th Century, Gabriel Sweeney was a top manager for the railroad industry that achieving the American dream of Manifest Destiny. From Chicago he oversaw the laying of track as well as the movement goods across the continent to bring the glory of America west. In this regard, Gabriel was an expert manager and navigator of Tammany Hall politics. Westward expansion was not only a human goal, but a Kindred one too as settlements out there were growing into cities. Given Gabriel's unique talents and position, it was natural for the Ventrue to have him Embraced into their ranks. In fact, he played a pivotal role in advancing Kindred society west.

Of course, Gabriel was a bit peeved to have been embraced but his transition into unlife was a smooth one. He received a lot of guidance from his sire and was groomed to one day control facets of mortal institutions for the benefit of the Camarilla and Clan Ventrue. After being Embraced, Gabriel spent most of his unlife in Chicago helping to move goods west, dabbling a bit in the bootlegging industry during prohibition and building his own network of assets. Compound interest proved to be especially useful for an immortal who knew how to use it. Gabriel has amassed a fortune through stock and bond portfolios hidden away in various trusts and holding corporations.


Generally, Gabriel is a reasonable man and reputed to firmly uphold his deals. He does not kill to feed and is a consensualist, drawing on a herd of counterculture individuals who find the idea of being fed on to be enticingly deviant. For the most part, he is not really looking to be destructive or to shake up the natural order of things. His goal is simply to grow the assets and influence of Clan Ventrue in the private and public sectors.

Gabriel has come to Los Angeles to take a piece of the pie for Clan Ventrue and himself. Specifically what he is after is still yet to be determined. At his disposal are Ghouls, private military and other Kindred in his coterie. Currently he is set up in a very luxurious estate in Beverly Hills as well as having bought up several industrial and office properties throughout Los Angeles.

Accepted

[Parcia]

Human
NationStates Name: Parcia
Character Name: Samantha "Sam" Kimberly Slaid (formerly Samantha Knox)
Age: 28
Job/Employment: Recently Transferred from FBI HRT team to the Sentinel Crimes unit.
Physical Appearance and Description: The Term "Cardio Bunny" is fitting here, roughly 5'9 with a well built and toned build and easily defined muscle mass. Strangely enough, she retains dirty blond hair and Icy blue eyes, this is strange as both her parents were of different hair and eye color.
Demeanor: Defender/Eye of the storm

Physical
(4 points to use at start, up to 3 possible per category as story progresses and 1 point must always be in Conviction. Exception is Conviction which may have up to 8 points as story progresses)
Strength: 1
Speed: 2
Stamina: 1


Mental
(4 points to use at start, up to 6 per category as story progresses. Exception is your Conviction modifier which must always have 1 point and can have up to 8 points as story progresses)
Intelligence: 1
Wit: 1
Resolve: 2

Corruption: None?

Biographical Information:

Born to a military family in northern Florida, she enjoyed rather well off childhood with largely little in the way of hardship, this comfort naturally bred boredom which bred rebellions. As she would grow she would get in to more and mote trouble and mischief that would eventually land her in to the drunk tank of a Jacksonville Sheriffs department precinct, leading to the now well known Knox Family to force her to get her act straight. She came to a compromise with her family in that she would join the armed forces, in turn they would effectively stay out of her life from that point on. Securing enough money for a name Change, she took up a middle name, as well as the name of her great grandfather.

Enlisting in the Marines at the age of 18, she spent 2 years in a rifle platoon, first as a designated marksmen then taking on the Marine's Vaunted Sniper School. Passing with acceptable grades, she spent another 2 year deployment providing over watch for Marines operating in Afghanistan. Coming out with a Sargent's benefits, she applied to several local law enforcement agencies before being offered a job working for the FBI, upon her entrance physical, she was tagged as a possible psychic and was transferred, much to her jargon, from her HRT training course to a VASCU unit.

Being trained for some months she would learn a lot about this ever darkening world and soon enough found her self always vigilant and watching, never settling down enough to relax. Through the training and drugs she was given, she began to form the investigative teleinformatics that most field agents exhibit, combining them when her knowledge of ballistics and trigonometry. With her scholastic training done, she was dispatched from Qauntico to LA to aid the unit there in their investigations.

[Imperialisium]

Human
NationStates Name: Parcia
Character Name: Samantha "Sam" Kimberly Slaid (formerly Samantha Knox)
Age: 28
Job/Employment: Recently Transferred from FBI HRT team to the Sentinel Crimes unit.
Physical Appearance and Description: The Term "Cardio Bunny" is fitting here, roughly 5'9 with a well built and toned build and easily defined muscle mass. Strangely enough, she retains dirty blond hair and Icy blue eyes, this is strange as both her parents were of different hair and eye color.
Demeanor: Defender/Eye of the storm

Physical
(4 points to use at start, up to 3 possible per category as story progresses and 1 point must always be in Conviction. Exception is Conviction which may have up to 8 points as story progresses)
Strength: 1
Speed: 2
Stamina: 1


Mental
(4 points to use at start, up to 6 per category as story progresses. Exception is your Conviction modifier which must always have 1 point and can have up to 8 points as story progresses)
Intelligence: 1
Wit: 1
Resolve: 2

Corruption: None?

Biographical Information:

Born to a military family in northern Florida, she enjoyed rather well off childhood with largely little in the way of hardship, this comfort naturally bred boredom which bred rebellions. As she would grow she would get in to more and mote trouble and mischief that would eventually land her in to the drunk tank of a Jacksonville Sheriffs department precinct, leading to the now well known Knox Family to force her to get her act straight. She came to a compromise with her family in that she would join the armed forces, in turn they would effectively stay out of her life from that point on. Securing enough money for a name Change, she took up a middle name, as well as the name of her great grandfather.

Enlisting in the Marines at the age of 18, she spent 2 years in a rifle platoon, first as a designated marksmen then taking on the Marine's Vaunted Sniper School. Passing with acceptable grades, she spent another 2 year deployment providing over watch for Marines operating in Afghanistan. Coming out with a Sargent's benefits, she applied to several local law enforcement agencies before being offered a job working for the FBI, upon her entrance physical, she was tagged as a possible psychic and was transferred, much to her jargon, from her HRT training course to a VASCU unit.

Being trained for some months she would learn a lot about this ever darkening world and soon enough found her self always vigilant and watching, never settling down enough to relax. Through the training and drugs she was given, she began to form the investigative teleinformatics that most field agents exhibit, combining them when her knowledge of ballistics and trigonometry. With her scholastic training done, she was dispatched from Qauntico to LA to aid the unit there in their investigations.

Accepted

[Laurvier]

I thought I should list the other vampires in Sweeney's coterie. Just 3.

Fisk McCartan

Clan: Gangrel
Demeanor: Soldier
Embrace: 1910
Apparent Age: 31

Antonio Croce

Clan: Nosferatu
Demeanor: Explorer
Embrace: 1935
Apparent Age: ?

Brady Dalton

Clan: Ventrue
Demeanor: Judge
Embrace: 1957
Apparent Age: 28

[Imperialisium]

awesome!

[Parcia]

Mage
NationStates Name: Pimpmaster General Parcia
Character Name: Sofia Red
Age: 31
Birthdate: December 23rd, 1988
Physical Appearance and Description: She retains a youthful look in her early 30s, often being mistaken for a 20 year old, though a few crows feet are starting to creep in. She has a Shaggy head of chocolate brown hair kept short. She normally wears a white colored Tank top, a pair of jean Shorts, a wide brimmed leather hat, a faded red and white striped poncho and to top it off, a pair of Worn sandals. She wears a satchel around her right side and a Canteen on her left. She stands at a hair shy of 5'6 and 112 lbs.
Demeanor: Mother
Affiliated Watchtower: Thyrsus
Paths: Being a of the Thyrsus, and the Verbena, she specializes in the Paths of Life and Spirit, with her Inferior path being in the mind as higher thoughts barely exists in the primal mind of a thyrsus.
Cabal Alignment: Verbena

Physical
Athleticism: 1
Melee: 0
Ranged/Firearm: 2
Senses/Initiative: 0

Mental & Social 
Intelligence: 3
Wit: 1
Leadership: 0

Abilities 
Gnosis: 2 – Life
Mage Sight: 1
Wisdom: 1
Hubris: 0

Paradox Modifier: 0

Attainments: 2 – Counter Spell and Mage armor (Minor Utility)
Legacies: Orphan of Proteus.

Biographical Information:
Born to a pair of drug cookers in the mid 80s, she was abandoned on the steps of an Old Orphanage in Baja California. She likely would have died from exposure that night had it not been for an old Navajo Women whom she grew only to call “Tia Muerte.” Tia Muerte was an Old mage, nearing 170 years old and already a master in her two chosen Paths of the Life and Death, being Experienced in the former and a near total mastery of that latter. She was known as a Medicine women to the locals and often traveled from and to the various American reservations to aid the people she felt the closest too. She was known for also being a defender of the weak, often wielding her rifle , one she humorously called her Medicine Stick, and dealing justice to those she deemed worthy of it. This was most of the Sofia's early life was, traveling through the world and learning what she could from her mentor and adoptive mother.

While her mother would adopt the dual roles of Life and Death, Sofia chose to focus on the path of life and walk the world as a healer.

Awakening early on in her late teens, she wrote her name on the great Watchtower of Thyrsus and began training for nearly 15 years before setting out on her own. Walking through the various reservations and Garou settlements, she often refused to carry a weapon beyond a knife, sticking to her passive nature for a time before she had a run in with a band of Mormon Warrior priests that would leave her bloody and dieing and likely would have died a second time had it not been for the timely intervention of Tia Muerte. Taking some time on how to properly train her it it's use, Tia Muerte gifted her with an Old revolver, a gun belt, and a stock of bullets, simply saying it was an family heirloom. Setting out to the west coast some time later, she would find her self stepping in to a storm.

[Imperialisium]

Mage
NationStates Name: Pimpmaster General Parcia
Character Name: Sofia Red
Age: 31
Birthdate: December 23rd, 1988
Physical Appearance and Description: She retains a youthful look in her early 30s, often being mistaken for a 20 year old, though a few crows feet are starting to creep in. She has a Shaggy head of chocolate brown hair kept short. She normally wears a white colored Tank top, a pair of jean Shorts, a wide brimmed leather hat, a faded red and white striped poncho and to top it off, a pair of Worn sandals. She wears a satchel around her right side and a Canteen on her left. She stands at a hair shy of 5'6 and 112 lbs.
Demeanor: Mother
Affiliated Watchtower: Thyrsus
Paths: Being a of the Thyrsus, and the Verbena, she specializes in the Paths of Life and Spirit, with her Inferior path being in the mind as higher thoughts barely exists in the primal mind of a thyrsus.
Cabal Alignment: Verbena

Physical
Athleticism: 1
Melee: 0
Ranged/Firearm: 2
Senses/Initiative: 0

Mental & Social 
Intelligence: 3
Wit: 1
Leadership: 0

Abilities 
Gnosis: 2 – Life
Mage Sight: 1
Wisdom: 1
Hubris: 0

Paradox Modifier: 0

Attainments: 2 – Counter Spell and Mage armor (Minor Utility)
Legacies: Orphan of Proteus.

Biographical Information:
Born to a pair of drug cookers in the mid 80s, she was abandoned on the steps of an Old Orphanage in Baja California. She likely would have died from exposure that night had it not been for an old Navajo Women whom she grew only to call “Tia Muerte.” Tia Muerte was an Old mage, nearing 170 years old and already a master in her two chosen Paths of the Life and Death, being Experienced in the former and a near total mastery of that latter. She was known as a Medicine women to the locals and often traveled from and to the various American reservations to aid the people she felt the closest too. She was known for also being a defender of the weak, often wielding her rifle , one she humorously called her Medicine Stick, and dealing justice to those she deemed worthy of it. This was most of the Sofia's early life was, traveling through the world and learning what she could from her mentor and adoptive mother.

While her mother would adopt the dual roles of Life and Death, Sofia chose to focus on the path of life and walk the world as a healer.

Awakening early on in her late teens, she wrote her name on the great Watchtower of Thyrsus and began training for nearly 15 years before setting out on her own. Walking through the various reservations and Garou settlements, she often refused to carry a weapon beyond a knife, sticking to her passive nature for a time before she had a run in with a band of Mormon Warrior priests that would leave her bloody and dieing and likely would have died a second time had it not been for the timely intervention of Tia Muerte. Taking some time on how to properly train her it it's use, Tia Muerte gifted her with an Old revolver, a gun belt, and a stock of bullets, simply saying it was an family heirloom. Setting out to the west coast some time later, she would find her self stepping in to a storm.

accepted