Mage: The Ascension

[LadyTevar]

No.

To me, or Nit?

[Cynical Cat]

Both. If you're going to be Euthanotos you have to be Euthanotos. No teacher, no discussion of your place in the Tradition, no involvement with mages at all in a campaign that requires you to be known to other mages.

Nitram has his own laundry list of problems. Stream of consciousness writing for his background, a derangement, a character that should not be on an expedition of any sort, no reason for the character to join it, and an all around impression that he is not going to play well with others in a game of Mage which is already loaded with players.

[Hotfoot]

Searching....

Subject 5■⌐&_■$⌐■@_⌐~■

Error...

File Corrupted. Do you want to (R)etry, (A)bort, or (F)ail?

Your System has (F)ailed. Have you tried rebooting?

You appear to be trying to reboot. Would you like help with that?

Your failure cannot be repaired through normal means. What is the normal failure mean?

System Locked. You didn't say the Magic Word...

The Truth Is Waiting Elsewhere.

[Dark Silver]

-beats the HITMark over the head with Forces-

bad HITMark!

[Hotfoot]

Ghosts forget when they are removed
In Time, they can remember
Shells without souls cannot choose
The Forces move but cannot Connect

5p3ctor

[LadyTevar]

Well, since I'm stuck on how she met her teacher, I guess i need to flesh more out.

My concept had changed from the one you disliked, to an Angel of Mercy. The medic who makes the choice of Life or Death. The nurse who walks the nursing home or hospice, and grants release from pain. Why should the aged suffer? Why leave them in antiseptic wards where no one visits, no one wants to think about how they've lost their wits, lost all that made them "Grandma" or "Grandpa". Why should they lay in their own urine, knowing something is wrong, but unable to make themselves understood? They are the ones who most deserve the Good Death, the release to begin anew in the Cycle.


I can pad out my background to have one of her Professors be an Order of Hermes who hands her off to a Euthanatos mentor, while still expecting her to keep up her classwork. Her mentor drills her in the Euthanatos crede, using poker and blackjack as well as pushing her physically. It was an exhausting time, and she almost let herself be lost during her Agama. But then, who would help those in need? She returned an was introduced to the Order, and made known to the Traditions as a Euthanatos. Then, she went back to her medical studies, volunteering in the hospice and Mother-Baby units. For where there is death, there is also rebirth.

[Cynical Cat]

I can pad out my background to have one of her Professors be an Order of Hermes who hands her off to a Euthanatos mentor, while still expecting her to keep up her classwork

This bit I don't understand. Why would a secret mage teaching medicine be Order of Hermes and not recruit her for her own house? Euthanotos are more likely to mage-doctors than Hermes and a hermetic would recruit for their own order.

[LadyTevar]

I can pad out my background to have one of her Professors be an Order of Hermes who hands her off to a Euthanatos mentor, while still expecting her to keep up her classwork

This bit I don't understand. Why would a secret mage teaching medicine be Order of Hermes and not recruit her for her own house? Euthanotos are more likely to mage-doctors than Hermes and a hermetic would recruit for their own order.

Order of Hermes does not seem like the type to want a gothic-makeup wearing, Victorian memorium mori wearing FEMALE with a weird fascination for death,who may or may not have already killed her own grandma and predicted the deaths of others. They're far too Stuffy for such things. :-P

Look, if it doesn't work foryou, tell me straight out, and I'll stop bothering you with it.

[Cynical Cat]

Well you obviously don't know the Order of Hermes.

[LadyTevar]

Well you obviously don't know the Order of Hermes.

Nope, never played one.

Like I said, this is my last try. I'm feeling PMSing and I'm about to throw the whole thing in the trash.

[Cynical Cat]

The order is ancient and varied. It has a full House of mages that exists specifically to support mages that don't fit in with the rest of Hermes. They've dealt with all sorts of strange, damaged, and noncomformist apprentices before and have Houses with very high female membership and the predominately male Houses have had female leaders. One goth looking apprentice (Hollow Ones) who had a knack for predicting when people are going to die (Euthanotos) isn't going to phase them in the least.


P.S. If you want to deal with the Old Boys Network, you really want the Etherites.

[LadyTevar]

Look. I have Made the Character. I have made chances you have suggested.

Now, if she's not what you want in your game fuckin' come out and say it and quit pussyfooting around.

[SirNitram]

Both. If you're going to be Euthanotos you have to be Euthanotos. No teacher, no discussion of your place in the Tradition, no involvement with mages at all in a campaign that requires you to be known to other mages.

Nitram has his own laundry list of problems. Stream of consciousness writing for his background, a derangement, a character that should not be on an expedition of any sort, no reason for the character to join it, and an all around impression that he is not going to play well with others in a game of Mage which is already loaded with players.

I'm not entirely sure why being loopy in the membrane is an instant bounce, given Mages tend to be broken in the head compared to society, but okay. I'm out.

[Hotfoot]

If Marcao talked to me the way you're talking to Cyncat, Tev, I would tell him that I certainly wasn't about to let him play if that was the attitude he was taking, and I was Best Man at his wedding.

[LadyTevar]

If Marcao talked to me the way you're talking to Cyncat, Tev, I would tell him that I certainly wasn't about to let him play if that was the attitude he was taking, and I was Best Man at his wedding.

You allow Marcao more freedom in making his characters. I feel like I'm being pushed into playing something I didn't want to play.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Look. I have Made the Character. I have made chances you have suggested.

Now, if she's not what you want in your game fuckin' come out and say it and quit pussyfooting around.

He is just looking for a certain verisimilitude. Julian is trying to help you make a character with a coherent background. He is not trying to drive you off.

Hell, the Euthanatos are present in universities, particularly medical schools, just as the Hermetics are.

[Hotfoot]

You allow Marcao more freedom in making his characters. I feel like I'm being pushed into playing something I didn't want to play.

Well that may be how you feel, but it's certainly not what I'm seeing. One of the aspects of being part of a tradition is, well, being part of a tradition. You can't really say that you graduated from Dartmouth with a specific degree when you took two years at Rider, one at Drew, and three at a community college. You might have all the same skills, but your training will have been wildly different, as might your methods, and you can't really put it on a CV. If your best sphere is Entropy, that doesn't by default make you Euthanatos, it makes you a Hollow One with a preference. If you trained with Euthanatos and were inducted into the order, maybe with a specific house, maybe not, why not make that a part of the backstory?

[rhoenix]

Nit, Tev, I suspect by your character entries that you two are dealing with stressful times in life right now. If that's true, I sympathize with that.

Stress makes me less creative and more defensive, and I suspect the same is true with both of you. Neither of you are being kicked to the periphery, or anything of the sort - after all, you've both been playing here as long as the rest of us have, if not longer.

Just take a step back, clear your mind for a bit, and then come back to the characters. It's what I had to do for mine in this very game after two weeks of percolating.

Tev, the character you made would work fine as a somewhat non-traditional Euthanatos, and you could even work in that she had an interesting teacher. Maybe a mortician who works for the local police department as her "normal" job?

Nitram, the mad inventor archetype isn't a bad one, but the character also has to be able to function well with a group. Honestly, what I did see of the character gave no indication that he plays at all well with people he doesn't know. Introverted is fine, but being that we're all beginner mages here, why not a background with MIT or something? Given your character's concept, having a background in invention with more mundane means would also be a good start, and a good reason for your character to be more socially comfortable if you want, while still being introverted.

[Karrick]

I'm going to post the crunch now while I'm writing up the backstory. Sorry that's taking so long, these days convincing myself to write anything is like like trying to do dental work on an unsedated, starving tiger. me rite gud.

Begin terrible backstory:
Erin Woodell spent most of her formative years being shuttled back and forth between divorced parents who shared a singularly vitriolic relationship. The only place she could reliably find refuge from incessant familial politicking was school. This was fine, as far as Erin was concerned, because she discovered a love of science and learning at an early age. Neither parent could afford to send Erin to college on their own and they certainly weren't about to cooperate on anything, so when Erin found herself in college it was purely through her own determination and hard work. The first thing she did once she got there was to cut herself off from her troubled family life.

Paying ones way though college and maintaining a solid GPA doesn't leave much in the way of free time, but she found rigorous martial arts training through school clubs and local gyms to be a useful release from the accumulated stresses of life. Though by no means a master, Erin still practices regularly.

As an earth sciences major, she quickly found her way into the campus' atheist/skeptic community. There she relished debate, particularly with believers, and was fond of bringing science and logic to bear on so called psychics, mediums, and young earth creationists. It was at one such debate she met one of the university's senior geologists. Professor Maurice Hayse took a shine to the young student and took her under his wing as an unoffical advisor and mentor for the rest of her undergraduate career. Hayse's encouragement led to Erin's application for the geology graduate program. Upon her acceptance, he became her principal advisor in fact as well.

Hayse's impact on Erin's life was to be much greater than she could have imagined. Growing to share Hayse's love of the outdoors was not unusual for his students, and Erin was no different. Hayse emphasized the interconnectedness of everything on this earth, and slowly, oh so slowly, he planted the idea that maybe there was something more than modern science could tell us in the minds of his graduate students. Shortly after successfully defending her thesis, this concept hit home for Erin in a way she never could have imagined. It was sitting around a campfire during a post graduation camping trip with Hayse that Erin Awoke.

Hayse once again took on the role of mentor, introducing Erin to the ways of the Verbena and a deeper understanding of reality. Initially, this proved traumatic for Erin. One does not easily transfer from debunking magic to being a mage over night and with no difficulties, subtle influence from a mage or no. However, Erin did adapt. She resolved that she would do her best to understand the strange and terrifying new world of magic as she had done with the mundane world. Once satisfied that his apprentice was ready to face life as a mage, Hayse released Erin to find continue her search for knowledge... with one final gift. A familiar in the form of a Raven, to watch over, protect, and guide her.

Many Verbena see magic through the lens of religion and tradition, like the Brythonic druids or norse paganism. Others see it through some kind of new-age spiritualism. Despite her time spent debunking the hucksters and shills so common in that latter group, new-age is probably the best description for Erin's view of magic. She sees the world and everything in it as a living organism; everything is connected. It's all part of a vastly complicated system... and systems can be studied, researched, and understood. She still clings to scientific terminology wherever to describe magic wherever possible. Though it seems less likely as time goes on, Erin hopes that someday someone will turn magic into a respectable science, no less rigorous than any other.


Name: Erin Woodell
Nature: Pedagogue
Demeanor: Celebrant
Tradition: Verbena
Avatar: Questing

Attributes (Phys/Men/Soc):
Physical (7):
Strength: 3
Dexterity: 4 (Lithe)
Stamina:3

Social (3):
Charisma: 2
Manipulation: 2
Appearance: 2

Mental (5):
Perception: 2
Intelligence: 3
Wits: 3

Abilities
Talents:
Alertness:1
Awareness: 2
Brawl: 1
Athletics: 3
Dodge: 3


Skills:
Melee: 3
Survival: 2


Knowledges:
Academics: 3
Computer: 2
Cosmology: 2
Medicine: 1
Occult: 2
Science: 3


Spheres:
Life: 2
Matter: 1
Time: 3

Willpower 8
Arete: 3 (costs 5 freebies for 3rd)

Backgrounds:
Arcane: 3 (1st dot free)
Avatar: 3
Familiar: 3
Raven, extra die of countermagic, 1 point paradox nullification
Resources: 1

Freebies:
5 on Arete
3 Willpower
3 on Iron Will
1 on resources
2 on Brawl
1 on Familiar (paradox nullification)

[Cynical Cat]

Let me be absolutely fucking clear. Nit and Tev are both gone. If your response to me trying to solve character issues before the game is to pull drama queen bullshit, then you're not making it into the game.

Mage is a hard game to run. Mage with more than five players is a very hard game to run. You're looking for slots seven and eight in a Mage game. That means you've got to bring a lot of things the GM wants to the table, not more problems.

And instead you bring strikes.

Stream of consciousness bullshit instead of clearly written character backgrounds.

Members of Traditions with no mention of said Tradition and closer connections to other Traditions. For the record Tev your character is 3:1 Hollow One to Euthanotos by background and you have no mention of how you fit into Euthanotos. And you throw in a needless Order of Hermes Mage acting uncharacteristically for no reason.

Derangements. Mages are enlightened Martin, not damaged in the membrane. You know by picking this, or you should know, you're making everything harder for everyone.

These are junior mages being contacted for an expedition. They have to be socially active, ambitious, and stable members of the Traditions or they don't get the email let alone picked. frigid and rhoenix are young Akashics who are on the move. Charon's a would be explorer. And so on. They fit.

I've had Ben correct things and strongly urged fairly minor changes on him, I've had frigid change things, and I've hit both rhoenix and Charon in the nose with rolled up newspapers. That frigid is playing the Shadow and rhoenix is wandering the Earth out of Kung Fu aren't problems because they work. You have freedom to make your characters but they must fit within the lines of what will work with the campaign and story I'm imagining. That means fresh young mages, minimal exposure to Mage weirdness so you can feel awe and terror at what you'll see when you discover the mysteries of the Outer Limits, a character willing to leave his hobbit hole and have an adventure, not being a crazy fucking loner, and a background that feels real and consistent with the imaginary world.


And Marcao? Marcao hasn't even given me his background yet. Neither has Havoc or Karrick. I expect Havoc and Marcao are both working on seven volume opuses covering their character's child hoods, but they had better be able to give me at least a quick and dirty version by Monday night. But they aren't approved and I haven't urged any changes on their backgrounds except for a few purely mechanical details because they've shown me a few bits and pieces. And that's fine because the deadline isn't here yet.

[Cynical Cat]

And speak of the devil. Karrick it looks good mechanically so far, except for the familiar, which I can't tell because I have to go look that up how the point buy for them in Mage revised.

[Karrick]

Alright, there it is. That wasn't nearly as painful as putting it off for two weeks would make it seem, regardless of how poor it is and whether it works or not. Mechanically, I pulled the familiar rules from Guide to the Traditions, page 217.

[Cynical Cat]

So, what are we looking at? Celtic, Nordic, granola chewing neo-pagan Wiccan?

[Charon]

Realized I forgot my Specialties. Added them in (Intelligence (Book-Smart) and Perception (Thorough)).

I love Karrick's character mostly for the amusement in my head of "Rar! Magic isn't real!" past followed by "Well shit... uhhh... hmmm."

[SirNitram]

CynCat, in a simple phrase.. Blow me. You chose I wasn't fit, I said okay, but you decided to escalate it into an insult match. I don't care if I stepped into your precious ego by not being devastated. I'll scrap it off when I can find a fuck to give about you.