Changeling: the Lost

[Marie Reynolds]

Sorry getting settled into a new job  ill try and get a concept out soon at the very least.

[Muse]

  Are you still looking for applicants, Ladia? 

[Zeth]

Which is more useful? A brew master or mirror skin?

[nailcrosser]

Interested. Cooking up a Manikin.

[Dakkon]

I may also have an idea brewing, let me double check some stuff.

[nailcrosser]

Name:  Harvey Creed
Concept:  Inquisitor hungry for Fae power.
Seeming: Elemental
Kith:  Manikin | abstracted body made of porcelain in varying states
Court: Autumn

Virtue:  Faith
Vice: Gluttony

Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 1
Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Composure 2

Skills: Crafts 2, Investigation 3, Occult 2 (Oneiromancy)
Firearms 1, Athletics 1, Stealth 1, Survival 1 (Navigation)
Empathy (Detect Lies) 3, Persuasion 3, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3

Merits: Mantle (Autumn) 1, Danger Sense 2, Fast Reflexes 1, Resources 1, Meditative Mind 1

Contracts:  Fleeting Autumn 2, Spellbound Autumn 2,  Dream 1

Wyrd: 1


Background:
Harvey always wanted freedom. Freedom from expectations, authority, and responsibilities. The kind of freedom that he believed only came with power and wealth, two things that were lacking in the rural town he grew up in. In himself, he lacked the drive to do the legwork and dirt digging it took to achieve that power though superficially appropriate means. He had no interest in politics, finance, or business. His interests were in secrets. Secrets of men, the mind, nature, and realms beyond.

As a boy, he spent much of his time hunting ghosts and monsters in the forests and abandoned buildings around his home. He would bring along his BB gun and shoot the beer cans and whiskey bottles left by drifters and teenagers. He’d climb and swing from trees. He would sprint home just before dark, tempting real danger but never quite finding it. It was all training deemed necessary by an imaginative boy, but something he eventually grew out of. By age 19, it was time to exercise the mind.

He flew the nest and wound up in San Francisco for art school. The golden era of hippies had faded by the time he reached the city in 1975, but new age ideas and ancient mysticism lingered. Paths of enlightenment were open for exploration. He worked a part time sales job at a clothing store, discovering his knack for manipulation and persuasion. At school, he cultivated inspiration through folklore, dream theory, and ancient artwork. His far-out ideas on the meaning of life and death attracted all manner of lost souls: street kids, burnouts, college students, and wanderers. With a little more charisma and insanity, he could have started a cult. 

After graduation, his sculptures and paintings weren’t selling and he had few practical skills for the workforce. He became a carpenter, and eked out a living while struggling to afford food, rent, books, and art supplies. While at a construction site in the hills of Marin County, he discovered a small cave in the bedrock. Something inside was glowing green; no one else noticed. Finally, a worthy mystery had found him. He threw his shovel aside and crawled through with a grin.

What felt like eons later, he returned. His flesh had turned to porcelain. When he moved, his joints ground together like a mortar to a pestle. The ephemeral memories were few but horrific. Dragged through thorns, the agony of the transformation, the inability to move from the giant shelf where he was put out on display, and the grinning being that held him prisoner were all faint but searing flashes in his mind.

He remembered the escape. Left outside, the rain softened him up. He crawled, then walked, then ran as far as he could. The forest around him started out totally alien, until he found the Hedge. The memory of the thorns inspired him to maneuver through. He emerged, bloody and torn, on the other side. He recognized this forest; his childhood home was only a mile away.

Harvey checked his reflection in the irrigation water. He looked like some post-modern nightmare. Deeper in the water, he saw his mask: still him, still human, but middle aged. Had he been gone that long? Mom and Dad would be able to recognize him, right?

After debating whether to find out or not, Harvey skulked up to the house. He rapped at the door and his mother answered. “It’s me, Ma…Harvey. I made it back!” he cried out, a cold tear welling in his eye. Of course, the Harvey she knew was 29 years old and lived in San Diego with his expectant wife. The man in front of her looked like a hobo and if he didn’t leave, her husband would shoot him. The Changeling previously known as Harvey complied, left with a sunken feeling in his gut. He fell to his knees and slammed his fist on the driveway pavement. Little black cracks webbed through the smooth glazeware that now composed his hand and wrist. It was 1985. He had only been gone five years, and someone had claimed his life without skipping a beat.

In the time since his escape, Harvey works as a con-artist and small-time drug dealer. It pays better than the type of menial jobs an older gentleman can get without any significant experience or proof of existence. He still knows what makes people tic, but polite conversation has been difficult. He often feels more kinship with vases and toilets than he does with humans. There is little place for him in the mundane world. The affairs of Changelings and the Fae are his new interest, his new salvation, and possibly his destruction. He joined the Autumn Court a few months ago to learn all he could. His talents, hunger for knowledge, and disregard for personal safety shined. He was given a task to prove his worth: investigate the murders in Europe.

[ladia2287]

@GunmetalDreamer and nailcrosser

Both of you have too many dots in Contracts. The maximum at creation is 5.

GunmetalDreamer, you have too many specialties. The maximum number of specialities at creation is 3

Nailcrosser, I'd like to clarify your specialties in investigation and empathy. By (Dreams), are you referring to onieromancy? If so this would be an occult specialty. Also, what do you mean by (lies)? Ability to lie comes under subterfuge, whereas lie detection is more an empathy thing.

[Zeth]

I'm going to back out. I don't have the free time I thought I did. Good luck though!

[TheGlyphstone]

I think I'll have to step aside too. I just can't settle on a concept I'm happy with.

[Muse]

oh, so you've lost Zeth and Glyph.  Does that mean you' have openings?  :)

[nailcrosser]

Updated my post with appropriate fixes.

[Rajah]

GunmetalDreamer, you have too many specialties. The maximum number of specialities at creation is 3

Nailcrosser, I'd like to clarify your specialties in investigation and empathy. By (Dreams), are you referring to onieromancy? If so this would be an occult specialty. Also, what do you mean by (lies)? Ability to lie comes under subterfuge, whereas lie detection is more an empathy thing.

Changelings all get a free Specialty in Athletics, Brawl, Stealth, or Subterfuge. Also, most of the oneiromancy actions you take use Empathy rather than Occult, which is more of a general knowledge skill (and checking for prophecies).

[ladia2287]

Changelings all get a free Specialty in Athletics, Brawl, Stealth, or Subterfuge. Also, most of the oneiromancy actions you take use Empathy rather than Occult, which is more of a general knowledge skill (and checking for prophecies).

1) No, at creation you can have up to 3 specialties. At ST discretion you can take an extra specialty in Athletics, Brawl or Stealth only. In this case, ST says no.

2) If taking rolls inside a dreamscape, then yes, you're more likely to use Empathy rather than occult. However, Empathy is a social skill. It's uses for investigation are limited to "This is what I think you are actually thinking or feeling". Knowledge of Dreams from an investigative standpoint is a mental skill. The method of research/investigation involved in dreams is most appropriate to the Occult skill.

[ladia2287]

oh, so you've lost Zeth and Glyph.  Does that mean you' have openings?  :)

We're still recruiting Muse, so if you have a concept, feel free to post a sheet :)

[TheGlyphstone]

1) No, at creation you can have up to 3 specialties. At ST discretion you can take an extra specialty in Athletics, Brawl or Stealth only. In this case, ST says no.

2) If taking rolls inside a dreamscape, then yes, you're more likely to use Empathy rather than occult. However, Empathy is a social skill. It's uses for investigation are limited to "This is what I think you are actually thinking or feeling". Knowledge of Dreams from an investigative standpoint is a mental skill. The method of research/investigation involved in dreams is most appropriate to the Occult skill.

74 Chapter Two: Character Creation

In addition, each changeling gets one free Specialty to Athletics,
Brawl or Stealth to reflect the physical changes of the
seeming. This may represent a Beast’s animal athletic ability,
claw-like nails that make the character’s strikes more damaging,
or a preternatural grace or affinity for darkness.

Storyteller can, and in this case is, always say NO to something. But he's right in his confusion, because without ST override the bonus specialty is part of the Changeling template, added after the three specialties inherent to the mortal form. Just want to point that out.

[GunmetalDreamer]

The Animal Ken (Dogs) Specialty is actually part of my Blessing for a Beast Seeming.

You are right about the Contracts though ... not entirely sure where I brain scrambled on that.  Fixing it now.

[nailcrosser]

Does this game still have a pulse?

[ladia2287]

Sorry to be MIA guys. Had a heck of a lot on my plate recently.

GunmetalDreamer, apologies for my mistake; for some reason I thought the Beast blessing was something else.

I would like to get some more characters, but we have enough to start off with I think. I'll put the threads up a bit later today if I have time and if anyone else joins, they will simply arrive at the location later than the others.

[nailcrosser]

Excellent, no worries. Looking forward to this.

[ladia2287]

Should point out that I'll be putting this in the Extreme section. Not that I'm expecting anything extreme to happen, but this is the World of Darkness we're talking about.

If anyone has any RL triggers, please let me know via PM. I don't want to go traumatising anyone...

Threads are up people. See below :)

IC: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=224583.0

OOC: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=224584.0

[Muse]

oh, hey!  You're game lives? 

If you still want more, can you give me a brief rundown on what you have?  :) 

[ladia2287]

Hey Muse. Here's a brief tally of what we have so far;

Ogre Dual Kith Troll/Artist, Spring mantle 1

Beast Clear-Eyes, Summer mantle 2

Elemental Manikin, Autumn mantle 1

Might be good to get a Winter courtier, or even a Directional or Auroral :)

Btw, I noticed the link you posted in the OOC thread; it's actually denying me access. Any chance you can copy/paste the contents here?

[Muse]

  Ack!  Sorry, let me make it publicly viewable.

  It that still doesn't work, I'll sacrifice the formatting to paste it. 

[Marie Reynolds]

So  i just have a few questions Would a Dawn Courtier or Court-less be accepted. If not i might go Spring. Also would everyone  have to be outside the freehold cause then i might have to abandon the entitlement i was looking at. Cause if i went Barony of the lesser ones if permitted. I would  like to have my hand in  the local goblin market and be its representative in the local freehold. Cause the story i would build is a Changeling who might have been a staple here before the freehold came about.

[ladia2287]

Sorry, the premise of the game is that all of the PCs come from other Freeholds, as stated in the OP. I am more than happy to accept a Dawn Courtier though; it might shake things up a little. Also, I'm saying a blanket no to ties to the local goblin markets, due to the nature of the plot.

As for Entitlements, remember that you are starting with Base Creation only and the mechanical prerequisites still need to be met. Bear this in mind