This message was deleted by the player at 21:22, Wed 11 Dec 2019.

So, I have a general understanding of what everyone is playing and have posted it above for you to reference so we can now begin the next phase of the process. Please post bellow your Characters name or how they want to be referred to as, Mages keep in mind your Shadow Name vs your real name. I will provide an example bellow for you.

For Mages
Shadow Name:
Real Name: This should be made private to the GM only
Concept: provide a few more words on your concept if you wish
Path:
Order:
Legacy:
Virtue:
Vice:

A small description of your character containing what you want your fellow players to know, this need not be in character. You should also include some plot hooks your other players might be able to connect to.

For Werewolves
Name:
Concept: provide a few more words on your concept if you wish
Auspice:
Tribe:
Lodge: your characters will not yet be members of a Lodge
Blood:
Bone:

A small description of your character containing what you want your fellow players to know, this need not be in character. You should also include some plot hooks your other players might be able to connect to.

Once this has been completed by everyone I would like for everyone to start spitballing possible connections that the characters might shear, do not be afraid to post something outrageous we do not need to go with every idea after all I just want to get a conversation going. Keep in mind I want the connection between the Mages to be a bit stronger as we will play out the Werewolves coming together as a Pack as part of the prelude but I would still like to see some ideas.

Shadow Name: Kinsey
Concept: Former Athlete turned Psychologist
Path: Mastigos
Order: Mysterium
Legacy: N/A
Virtue: Loyal
Vice: Hasty

Kinsey is a 6’1” college student at NYU, following a stint at a private school in the city. He studies Psychology and Anatomy, with a minor in Nutrition. He’s well built, intelligent, and attractive. He works at a bookstore in the city.

When he’s not doing work or school work, Kinsey is often around town delving into small antique shops, pawn shops, and local bookstores, checking to see if there’s anything out of the ordinary - something arcane that he can take home and study.

Name: Victoria “Tori” Vanholdt
Concept: Rising Star in the world of Classical Music
Auspice: Ithaeur
Tribe: Bone Shadows
Blood: Destroyer
Bone: Guru

Tori is a 5’8” redhead with two different colored eyes - one brown, one bright white-blue. She attended one of the top music high schools in the city, and earned her place in the All-State competition for Orchestra in her Junior and Senior year of High School as second, then first chair Violin. She was accepted to a full ride scholarship at Juilliard for her talents.

In the world of the Bone Shadows, as a new werewolf, the expectations for her are extraordinarily high. To say that she’s not feeling overwhelmed is an understatement. She has met a few of her Uncle’s friends, but is eagerly seeking a pack to become a part of.

Just want to start by saying my mage is undeveloped, the concept is there and I am working on more development of him, just need some time...

Shadow Name: Thoth, but goes by Thomas Reed
Concept: Pigeon Man, Druid of the Rooftops, maybe a bit crazy maybe a bit wise sage.
Path: Thrysus
Order: The Mysterium
Legacy: Nope
Virtue: Humble
Vice: Untrustworthy

Thomas is a man with a tall thin figure. Usually wearing an old battered trench coat even in weather that wouldn’t call for it. His unkempt hair is dark as night and is rarely ever combed. He is also a bit of an oddball not really fitting in well with regular society, however since he awakened he found that other mages were more like him than the sleepers are.

Thomas spends a lot of his time with his birds on the roof tops. maybe something he could be doing is using the birds as a secret method of communication within the city.

For Werewolves
Name: Nathan Devereaux
Concept: Con Man, Con Artist, Steals from the undeserving.
Auspice: Elodoth
Tribe: The Iron Masters
Blood:Fox
Bone:Community Organizer

Nathan isn't one to particularly stand out with an average build. He has medium length brown slightly curly hair that he sometimes has combed back with gel. He does always seem to be wearing a gray suit that is usually unbuttoned and without a tie most of the time just to give others the feel that he is more important that any other guy just wearing casual wear. He also has a pair of glasses that he wears from time to time despite having perfect vision.

After leaving his last crew behind, Nathan is always looking to find new members that he can relate to more and potentially make a new crew/pack with allies that have a variety of skills that he can put to good use.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:41, Thu 12 Dec 2019.

The Awakened
Shadow Name: Amy Aecor or Mercury
Concept: Self Identified Bookworm/Geek
Path: Acanthus
Order: The Mysterium
Legacy:
Virtue: Loyalty
Vice: Jealously

Amy is in her second year of college with the goal of becoming a physicist. With her rather high IQ, she's unfortunately a bit of a social klutz, but oftentimes rides her blunders with a gracious smile. From a distance, Amy's pale complex reveals nothing of her nerdy side with long chestnut brown hair with the underside being an azure blue to match her eyes, which are always framed by thin black rectangular glasses. Her shirts and blouses tend to be slightly over sized, concealing her small but toned body, and typically wears a variety of jeans. She generally can be found either working on her "superhero" physique (as she describes it) at the gym, at work as a part-timer at local book shop, or at school. One other notable detail is not so much Amy herself but rather a diminutive cockatiel that goes everywhere with her, typically perched on her shoulder.

-- -- -- -- --

The Forsaken
Name: Sierra Von Nacre
Concept: Dark-Soul Pianist Who Never Wanted to Become Famous
Auspice: Rahu
Tribe: Bone Shadows
Blood: The Monster
Bone: Hedonist

Sierra, much to her own dismay, is a musical wonder when sitting before a piano. She grew up in the spotlight from the early age of eight. Her single mother rode the coattails of success until recently, when she passed away from a fatal collective of diseases and conditions. With no other family, Sierra is mostly free to her own whims, but does still perform, mostly for the awe from the younger generations that are brought to her shows. Her agent is only mildly involved with her as that was more of her mother's doing. This young woman is known for her goth appearance and a rather blunt and off-putting phrases. She wears her golden blonde hair in a variety of ways and occasionally is known to streak colors through it, although her current look is with the ends dyed a vibrant purple. Sierra's eyes are honey-colored, often with some form of black eye liner and her left eyebrow is pierced, along with her right lower lip and a line of studs in both ears. Otherwise she wears black clothes, and, shamelessly, opts for shirts that read "Big Bad Wolf", "American Werewolf", "This is My Human Costume", "Moon Hair, Don't Care" and the like, and is not afraid to show off her medium build.

-- -- -- -- --

For the Mages: Kinsey could be a common patron of the book store Amy works in? For Thoth, maybe they live in the same apartment complex, ad became friendly via seeing each other on their small rooftop terraces? Also, since we're all from the Mysterium, there's an easy in. Amy has no issues about being friendly to anyone. She's a happy-go-lucky sorta girl.

For the Werewolves: Sierra and Nathan could've been in touch through some form of a con, like maybe he was trying to pull one on her mother before she passed and Sierra just pushed her into it. Whether it not it worked, maybe they formed some connection through it. As far as Victoria is goes, it seems like their musical talents would've put them in touch somehow.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Sun 05 Jan 2020.

Ok now that everyone has posted their character descriptions we can begin talking about ideas between characters. If you have an idea post it later on we can discuss weather or not it is something that everyone agrees to.

Idea:

Kinsey met Amy when one of his mentors brought him into the Mysterium. If she attends NYU for her Physics degree, then maybe they have/had a general ed course together (he's a sophomore now). He is also goes to the gym, so maybe they talk books and exercise/nutrition.

Kinsey may have met Nathan while looking at a pawn shop for possible relics or unusual items. Possibly watched him con his way into an item for the Mysterium, and maybe had a conversation with him after that.


Tori may have really looked up to Sierra as a musician. Meeting her would have likely happened after she was brought among the Bone Shadows, and she may have fan girled the first time she got to talk to her.

I've changed Sierra's Auspice to Rahu.

-- -- --

Awakened Kinsey: I think the school connection will be best suited for the NYU general ed class(es). Chances are at the gym, she's remiss to talk to others because she's on a mission when she works out. We can definitely talk about it in person though.

Forsaken Tori: Sierra is rough around the edges to put it nicely. She will not take kindly to an adult fangirling over her. Just forewarning. It'll create some mild drama potentially which is fine, but be prepared for Sierra to be a bit of a bitch.

-- -- --

Awakened Thoth: As we had talked a little about, you probably have more of a... "Concern" about the pet Amy keeps with her at all times, but the became friends with her for a few reasons: convenience of the Mysterium, the cockatiel (yet to be officially named), neighbors, Amy comes off nice with little to no street smarts so she's awkward but easy to befriend.

Forsaken Nathan: Another thought is maybe Sierra had a run in with him herself and while she never really got over being conned by him, she accepts that he's just trying to make the best of whatever his situation is, not that she cares (but secretly she does and she's got money to spare so whatever). Now that they're both Forsaken and within the same confines, she treats him as nicely as someone of her personality she can, but views him as sort as a friendly rival in that someone bested her without her even knowing it was happening.

-- -- --

I don't know... Just trying to build out some ideas.

I’m liking these ideas so far, things are looking good for the next time we meet for us to do character creation. A side note for the Werewolves you will need to have some ideas for extra characters that may knowingly or unknowingly be involved in the Pack. These Characters can be played by myself, you, or someone else at the table we can figure that out.

Everyone must generate at least one of these supporting casts, they need not necessarily be for your character however. If you do make a supporting character for someone else in the Pack you will need that persons permission.

It seems something critical slipped past my mind in getting us prepared for the Mage Characters. I completely forgot about Obsessions, thank you Josh for reminding me.

Depending on where your shooting for your characters Gnosis to be will determine the number of Obsessions you can have, for most of you that will probably mean one. An Obsession is like an aspiration only pertaining to something of supernatural interest to your character, fulfilling your obsession awards an Arcane Beat and restores one mana.

As you resolve obsessions like aspirations you will work through them through the coarse of gameplay but to give them more added weight i was thinking it would be nice for me to know more about what you would want your characters initial aspirations to be.

Now these can be devilish and dark or fairly plain it is up to you. I will give you the choice of shearing your Obsession here or keep it a secret and post it in your private thread.

If everyone can please post some Aspirations for your characters both mage and werewolf so I can start scheming as well as come up with material for us to cover during the upcoming break.

At last the time has come to start talking Totem people. Before I delve into its stats and the like we need to make the character of the Totem.

So the first thing we need to agree on is what ilthum the Spirit that is the Totem descends, for example is it a Spirit based around and emotional state e.g. a spirit of Desire, agony, a spirit of a physical state or elemental thing e.g. a Spirit of Blood. I think you guys get the idea with this.

Next you must decide on the Spirits concept which should be relevant to what it is.

Next decide a name, it should be fairly simple as longer names suggest a Spirit beyond a Werewolf’s ability to bind to a totem.

Every Totem must have an Aspiration, this will usually be whatever the Spirits expectations of you, effectively it is a fourth Aspiration you all shear.

The totem also has a Ban, while the exact nature of the Ban can only be determined when we have stats for the creature we can start with a general idea and refine it if the totem grows stronger.

Next we determine the number of Totem Points the Spirit has, at base the Totem has 3 points, one from each of the Uratha, I will also award an additional point for each wolf blooded character your characters are close to and bring into the pack. With the number of points determined we know how much experience points you guys can spend. You can purchase attributes, skills, specialties, and merits. Every member of the pack benefits from this bonus.

In summery

[*] What is your Totems ilthum ?
[*] What is your Totems Concept?
[*] What is your Totems Name ?
[*] What is your Totems Aspiration ?
[*] What is your Totems Ban ?
[*] Where do you wish to spend your Totems Experience Points ?
[*] What does it look like ?

I think something regarding “nature in balance” might be a cool idea to run with, but I’m open to suggestions.

I've been thinking of balance in a more general sense, after all nature is hard to come by in the city unless we spend a lot of our time near central park.

So if you guys are looking for an animal synonymous with balance that would be the Eagle while earth tends to represent balance in an elemental sense, conversely metal is also looked as an element working towards something which in the Packs case could be balance as well.

In terms of benefits of you are looking for balance I imagine what you guys are looking for is self control in that regard given what has happened to the Pack so getting enough pack points for a point of Composure might be what you are looking for or perhaps the Iron Will merit.

I imagine a spirit tied to balance would want you guys to bring balance in a spirits sense so in all likelihood that might mean extreme actions, an area plagued by gang violence is out of balance in a sense and your spirit might ask you to end the violence there wild a gated off community might be walled off from brutal reality so the spirit might ask you to actually be violent in such a situation to bring about a sense of worldly balance.

I like the more general idea of balance. The city is a balance between human civilization and nature that has adapted to fill in the other half. There are many parks, not just central park, and some of the wildlife has managed to adapt to the environment.

What about the idea of a falcon or some bird of prey that can be found hunting in the cities?

it sounds like we have a grasp on the concept and the ilthum seems to be going well along however now we need to get to the meat of things. so let us get some Aspirations and Ban out there.

I sorta like the idea of a metal eagle (a la Mario 64, metal Mario kinda style), or maybe like the bronze statues found here and there throughout the city, but appearance can be discussed after we decide the extra important bits.

So we’re decided on Balance as the main thing I believe and that it’s going to be represented by a bird or similar visual identity. I was browsing names in relevance to “balance” and shortened one to Ordia (harmony in Latin: concordia) as an idea. I liked how it sounded out loud anyway, but it might be too complicated for a name? Three syllables.

As for the ban, because I’m looking at this as a rank one spirit, it’ll maybe have a ban of swinging the scales of chaos versus order in a given area, with the potential of us looking like either a mischievous gang of misfits or a night patrol aiding the police once a month or something like that.

For an aspiration, it seems like we could be a little vague or a bit more specific. So it could be growing the pack (which cannot include adding our Mages because Billy is giving us the points toward the totem as though we already have our Mages inducted) or maybe to begin with, seeking out balance in ourselves as a group or individuals. I don’t know I’m just throwing ideas out there.

The Names sounds nice, its simple and easy to remember and relates to balance so I think that would work well. And the appearance makes me think of something I saw in I think it was the movie the sorcerers apprentice. The bird was massive in the movie, but I figured ours would be smaller.

I think the aspiration could work as seeking that balance within our pack (We need it). Because the aspiration would change I think its fair that the first one that the totem would want is for us to be more balanced as a pack.

The ban I am a little unsure about though, Its hard to say what would be good mechanically. maybe something to do with harmony dice pools, not sure.

Depending on the location we pick for our territory, maybe our aspirations can derive from bringing order to a particularly chaotic or damaged area of the city. I like the idea of looking bad/good. But maybe we can roll it up into saying the ban shows us as vigilantes? Some people like us but law enforcement and other people think we're bad. The two sides to every story kind of thing.

As for the name, I like it. If you want it to be less syllables, we can say its name is Ordo?

So, I had already spoken with Billy about this a couple of times, but wanted to give you guys a heads up that I’m still working on Amy. I don’t really like her overly peppy sorta dumb vibe, but I don’t exactly want your characters to disregard that aspect of her. I’m going to treat the change in her as something she’s actively doing even she’s going about it drastically. Just felt like I should give you a heads up.

Thats good, play the character how you feel she should be played. I'm pretty sure this early on is the best time to do it.

Obviously we also need a name for the Pack, as well as Aspirations, a Short Term Aspiration is something the Pack wishes to achieve within 6 Months to a year, a Medium Term Aspiration can be done within 1 to 2 years, and a Long Term Aspiration which would take several years of effort.

The Pack also needs a Physical Touchstone and a Spiritual Touchstone, these are things of importance to the Pack things that represent something significant to the Pack. my advice would be for you guys to use as a Physical Touchstone could well be your territory and a Spiritual Touchstones could be tied to dealing with Spirits tainted by Wounds.

I am giving the Pack its first Complication in establishing its territory so you dont need to worry about this.

likewise with Hunting Nature i am going to determine this.

Lastly the Pack starts with 5 points of Merits, these can be Allies, Contacts, Fame, Resources, Status, and any of the Merits listed on Page 29 of the Pack book, and any other Merits you may feel appropriate.

Lastly the time has come to Populate the Pack, each player character get 10 points of Pack Cost that allows them to add members to the Pack. I am taking 5 for now with the inevitability of the Mages getting involved. that leaves you with 5 Points. Consult the chart on page 22 of the Pack for the cost of adding various types of characters.

Once we get a hunt or two down we can worry about Pack Tactics developing.

I also require from each of you at least 1 personal breaking point towards Spirit and one towards Flesh, please post these in your personal forum.

Pack Name: The Red Shadows

Aspirations
Short Term: Pack cohesiveness
Medium Term:
Long Term:

Physical Touchstones: Pack’s Territory
Spiritual Touchstones: Spirits Tainted by Wounds

Merits:
Contacts -1 (Tori’s Aunt & Uncle)
Den - 1 (Red Shadow Security) -> Safe Place -1
Locus - 1
Resources - 1