Feir Fireb's Nobilis Game -- OOC

[mmeubiquitous]

A brief background for Casey Robins, Domina of Mythology

Casey Robins was born in New York City. Her parents, a lawyer and a psychiatrist, were well connected politically and socially, and she grew up surrounded by the who’s who of New York power. As an only child, her younger years were spent mainly in the company of adults rather than other children. By four she had a firm handshake, by five she was reading The New Republic and The National Review, and at six she got sent home from school for organizing a strike in her first grade class to demand a longer recess.

After graduating first in her class from high school, Casey went to the University of Chicago, where she majored in political science. In 1995, the summer before her senior year, she interned with Mayor Richard M. Daley’s re-election campaign as a speech writer. Everyone she worked with was quite impressed with her, and when she graduated summa cum laude the next year, she went to work with Daley’s team immediately, rising through the ranks quickly while also taking classes at the University of Chicago for a master’s degree in political science. By 2006, Casey was one of the head speech writers, and well-known and respected in the often vicious political world of Chicago. It was at this point in her career that she caught the eye of her Imperator, who made her the Domina of Mythology.

Casey has always been eagerly focused on her academics and political aspirations. She has many friends and is undyingly loyal, but despite many admirers and suitors, she has never had the time for a serious relationship. This doesn’t seem to bother her much, though. Although she has broken a number of hearts, she has a knack for doing so in a flawlessly gentle way, and has managed to stay close friends with most of her past flings. Relationship is of paramount importance to her.

 

[cariset]

My copy of Nobilis just arrived today!

 

[Feir Fireb]

My copy of Nobilis just arrived today!

Yay! It's such an awesome book.

Let me know if you have any more ideas, and hopefully we can wrap up your character soon (and nudge the other players along a bit). If you're having trouble thinking of Anchors or Bonds, just say so and I can come up with some ideas to run by you.

 

[Feir Fireb]

Rounding out Bridgett Murphy

With a Domain of 1, only Ghost Miracles will come to you without effort. Lesser Divinations (such as finding lost things and learning from vermin) will cost 1 MP, Lesser Preservations 2 MPs, Lesser Creations, Lesser Destructions and Greater Divinations will be 4 MPs. Anything more would be a Word of Command.

Something I forgot here: in the world of Nobilis, everything has a personal spirit, including physical objects, creatures, and many local conceptual properties. These are vaguely anthropomorphic and all Nobles can communicate with them. For the most part, they're of very limited intelligence. So "talking with vermin" doesn't require anything other than being Noble. But due to the spirits' mental simplicity, getting unusually useful or complicated information is likely to require a Lesser Divination. And Mastery is still very useful for command.

Virtues are personal enough where I won't propose or pick one myself. But I have some ideas. If one appeals to you, go for it. Otherwise, it's not necessary to have one. Most Nobilis don't. Possible Virtues for Bridgett: A Survivor. Compassionate. Decisive. Headstrong. If Bridgett is one of these things (or something I haven't covered) deeply to the core, such that the universe itself could not trick her into being otherwise, pick one and we can talk about what that means.

Here are some ideas for Bonds, in case you need some help with this. Use, discard or change them as you like, so long as they add to 20:

5 - Nowhere - Her home and family. Its safety and well-being means a great deal to her.
5 - Empathy for the poor and marginalized - Whether hers personally or that of those around her. She hates to see others deal with what she's had to.
3 - Her children - They're still out there somewhere and she still loves and misses them, even though she hasn't seen them in years. Now maybe, just maybe, she could find them again.
2 - Her Estate - important enough to be a strong bond for most Nobles, Bridgett places this lower in importance than most Nobles would, at least as far as her estate's inhuman members are concerned. Vermin had always been a plague to her and she knows what others think of it.
2 - The memory of "The Breeze" - He's dead and not at all well-known, but he's worth remembering as a great man. Others had better respect that.
2 - Her survivor's instinct. Immortality makes mundane survival easy in general, but she still tries to make the best of very bad situations in general and deeply values her ability to never be truly "down and out".
1 - The cause of the Black Panthers - Adopted by osmosis. The Panthers may be long gone, but The Breeze was such a strong force of personality that the ideas found some root in Nowhere. Bridgett may be caucasian, but she has enough personal experience with racism for it to resonate.​

Ideas for an Anchor: pick one below and flesh it out a little, come up with an idea of your own, or just leave your sole anchor unchosen as-of-yet.

The president of the Hospital's collection agency: Never known personally, but hated in abstract for years as the symbol of the group most responsible for Bridgett's life of squalor. Well-placed, but shocked and mystified at his new role in life.

A brother or sister: Always had some rivalry, but never really healed as they got older. Oneupmanship turned into longstanding bitterness after a fight before her wedding, to which they didn't show. A cold, unsympathetic parent would work, too.

A resident of Nowhere: Another denizen of the streets who was close to "The Breeze" and always compassionate. While everybody in Nowhere looks out and cares for the others, most might still have a hard core of instinct to look out for themselves. This individual has been self-sacraficial above and beyond the Nowhere norm, and maybe even reminds Bridgett a little of Herbie in some ways.

A passerby: One of the few strangers who regularly gave her a buck every so often and maybe the only one to actually have a conversation with her every now in then. Such affection from those outside of Nowhere is rare and treasured.

A garbage truck driver: Before she came to Nowhere, she lived in an alley some distance from there (except in Winter, which was always a frantic scrabble for real shelter). Isolated from society, the regular morning din of the garbage trucks became a regular disturbance and sign of her status that grated like fingernails on a chalkboard. The regular neighborhood garbage crew earned her hatred this way.

A murderer: Once, a sick and twisted man with callous disregard for the people of the streets came into Nowhere looking for easy prey. Bridgett hated the man who disappeared after brutalizing and killing one of her beloved comrades, but when she gained roaches and fleas as her spies, tracking him down became trivial. Now this madman has the opportunity to redeem himself.
​

 

[mmeubiquitous]

Stats for Casey Robins

Casey Robins, female, 32

Code: Heaven
Attributes:

• Aspect:2
• Domain: 1
• Realm: 1
• Spirit: 3

Gifts:

• Glorious (Inspires awe)
• Perfect Timing (Never misses a reasonable appointment or opportunity)

Handicaps:

• Light Touch (it is against her nature to force anybody to do anything...she instead has to convince mortals to go along with her plans)

Restrictions

• Cannot enter a home uninvited
• Cigarette bond (she is compelled to befriend anyone who offers her a cigarette)
• Summonable (like Bloody Mary or the Candyman...only typically with less carnage)

Bonds

• Civil relationships: 5
• Anchors: 4
• Good stories (lncl. Estate): 4
• Relationship with Imperator: 4
• Democratic process: 2
• Chicago: 1

Anchors

• Todd McCormick: Former boyfriend, now very close friend
• Terry Matthews: Head speech writer for Mayor Daley and Casey's mentor

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

George McGinty's stats:
Dominus of Good Fortune

Attributes:
Aspect 3
Domain 4
Realm 1
Spirit 0

Miracle Point:
A: 5
D: 5
R: 5
S: 5

Wounds:
2 Deadly/2 Serious/3 Surface

Gifts:
Durant

Restriction:
Destructive of Relationships (tends to destroy his relationships to people)
Revelatory Trait
Subtle

Affiliation: Wild

Anchor: younger son (hated)

Bonds:
4 Older son
3 Daughter
1 Most recent wife
2 His car dealerships-- George's first business when he returned from Korea; he never sold these dealerships even when he sold his second business and shifted most of his wealth to the stock market
5 His ability to succeed at anything he puts his mind to
1 Others’ ability to succeed through hard work
1 Estate
3 The United States

 

[cariset]

Stats for Jeremiah Franklin

Jeremiah "Gerry" Franklin
Door's Regal

Attributes:

* Aspect:1 (Metahuman) 5 MPs
* Domain: 5 (Majestic) 5 MPs
* Realm: 1 (Radiant) 5 MPs
* Spirit: 1 (Hearthfire) 5 MPs

Gifts:

* Wayfinder

Restrictions:

* Cannot Enter a Home Uninvited
* Summonable (Probably has something to do with the summoner creating a gateway.)
* Cannot Cross Running Water (I don't anticipate this ever being a serious problem for my character, but I think it's a nifty bit of flavor.)
* Lack of Focus

Affiliation: Wild

Wound Levels:

* 1 Deadly
* 2 Serious
* 2 Surface

Bonds:

* 4 points: keeping his options open
* 3 points: the sanctity of his Estate
* 3 points: his mother
* 2 points: his sister
* 2 points: his reading time
* 2 points: the garage he worked at
* 2 points: widespread availability of education to people
* 2 points: automobiles as an expression of personal freedom

Anchors:

* Al Johanson (loved): his best buddy at the auto shop
* Drew Cunningham (hated): that rat bastard lawyer with the fancy car who always looked down on him

 

[Feir Fireb]

Hi all,

We're far enough along with character generation where I'd like to get going with Chancel generation. cariset, mmeubiquitous, Yellow Kid and Cerebral Paladin are all basically done, leaving one last person who has a core concept and some basic stats.

So: Chancel generation. For those of you without rulebooks, we're generating a little pocket dimension ruled by your Imperator (and largely through your characters). It can have its own "laws of nature", its own peculiar inhabitants, just about anything you can imagine can be specific to it. It can be a location straight out of a genre, conceptually unique, or somewhere in between. Given all of your Realm scores, we have 1+1+1+2+3=8 total points with which to buy advantageous Chancel properties. You can get more than that by taking disadvantages.

I thought I'd included a list of potential Chancel properties with my original emails, but I'd have to check my computer (which is currently in for repairs). Until I get my computer back sometime this week, we can at least start conceptual brainstorming. At that point, I'll also have more computer time to email a list of Chancel properties if need be. At very least, some ideas can be translated into numbers later, and many ideas can cost nothing pointwise if they have no lasting efficacy outside the Chancel.

I'd like you folks to have as much impact on that as possible, so I'm going to wait at least one week from today before suggesting unsolicited ideas that are purely my own. Once we have a sense of the direction we'd like to go, if we don't have an obvious consensus set of Chancel properties, everybody can float their 'pet ideas' for Chancel properties, and we'll vote on them (by emailing me privately). The ideas with the strongest positive support and the least opposition will pass, with extra weight for higher Realm scores. I'll try to guide things along so the math works out, and round out any rough ideas. The Chancel doesn't have to be conceptually uniform, but there should be at least something to glue disparate ideas together.

Remember, even very short posts can be very helpful for this process. And, of course, ask questions if you need to!

 

[cariset]

Hm, so we have Good Fortune, Vermin, Doors, and Mythology, plus someone unknown with Realm 3. I'm not sure whether our Domains will affect the nature of the chancel, but the "Mana Mine" one sounded somewhat appropriate, especially given Mythology (and choices and their consequences). From the book:

Mana Mine
-2 to 5 Chancel points

Chancels are magical places, and most magical places suffer one of two fates. The first awaits strong Chancels: they become more real than the Earth that surrounds them, more beautiful, more strange, and always more glorious. No mortal heart leaves such a Chancel without being haunted forever after by the memories of that place. Mana, the raw stuff of magic or of miracles, oozes from the rawer, unformed places of such a realm - although finding and then harvesting it can be difficult even for Powers.

The fate of a weak Chancel is sadder. Compared to the Earth it borders, it comes to seem mythical, imaginary, chimerical, and unreal. Unless it is fed constantly by Noble magics, it will separate itself from the real world entirely and float off to the lands outside Creation. The mera [Imperator] of the Chancel may intervene before that point and drain one of its Powers (to the breaking point) to find raw energy for its Ward. Whether it does this or not, such an Imperator will not be pleased.

Either way sounds nifty to me, although I think I lean more toward the first way, provided that the lows are as sharp and horrifying as the highs are glorious... Maybe some sort of Eloi/Morlock setup?

I'm sort of leaning toward a magical fairy-tale setup here, I think, but I'm not attached to it.

 

[Feir Fireb]

The mystery Estate is Time, on whom we'll hopefully get an introductory post fairly soon.

As far as the Chancel reflecting the various Estates, it certainly can (and frequently does), but it doesn't have to. It can also reflect the personalities and aspirations of the Familia Caelestis, those of the Imperator (yet-to-be designed, of course, but the influence can work both ways), or the blatant whims and tastes of the players. Often it's some combination of all of these.