The Gloaming City Vesperia
Hiding the Sanctuary of the Dark Magistrix Evanessa, Demesne to the Powers of Night, Deviance, Alcohol, and Hidden Truths

Chancel Properties
Chancel properties, like any other world's formal properties, can be leveraged as 2-point bonds.

• The Night rules the Day, except where it doesn't.
• Tensions run high, but rarely break.
• Isn't as bad as it seems.

Chancel Traits
Other details about the mechanics (ludic and metaphysical) of the Chancel.

• Location: A pocket dimension ripped free of the prosaic earth, with its own sky and its own ragged borders.
• Entrances and Exits: (May be mundane, bizarre, or ritual; trivially accessible or bloody trials)
  • The Dark Side of the Moon- of any moon, in fact, that has a conceptually distinct dark side. This is the most arcane method of entry, requiring that one not only shed their blood their, but earnestly pray for the darkness to take them.
  • [??]
• Boundary Strength: Auctoritas 3
• The Cost: A single ruined true-love relationship, a pair of truly broken and scarred hearts per year for a century after its creation. Significant renovations to the chancel incur an effective "interest" on top of this original cost, and Lady Evanessa has never quite given the balance a chance to zero out. In particular, Luna's commencement brought a vampiric alignment to the chancel, and she herself was both the collector and one half of the last several heartbreak sacrifices. Locke's death covered the cost in 1975.

Chancel Denizens
A listing of significant (and sometimes just interesting) NPCs and organizations within the Chancel.

• Lady Evanessa herself, who spends most of her time shrouded in her sanctum or lounge singing at the Evanescence Lounge.
• The Five Noctem, groups of vampires that organized themselves from the many Luna invited or forced into the chancel.
  • The Dark Crescent: A cult worshiping Luna as a deity, led by a Coven of Four vampire mystics.
  • The Blue Thorn: A corporate class of vampires built around strict hierarchies and tradition, led by the beautiful and vicious vampire Vanessa.
  • The Crimson Triad: A faction ruled by particularly ancient elders from China, Japan, and South Korea who had fallings-out with the highest vampire authorities of their respective nations. They're heavily involved in the criminal underground of the city, and a grey market exists where they and the Blue Thorn compete directly for import and export with other chancels.
  • The Silver Chain: A closely-watched punitive democracy consisting of Luna's enemies who were offered mercy in exchange for submitting to reform efforts within her place of power.
  • The Covenant of Night: The most community-minded of the city's vampire factions, ruled by a Council of Nine who are elected but hold their positions for life unless forced out by their peers. They're the crux of vampire-human relations in their communities, and the place for vampires hoping to live comparatively "normal," or at least human, lives and identities.
• The Cathedral of Eurytos: The political center of the Cult of Eurytos, and a vast shrine to both Deviance and Curiosity.
• Girl Scouts, Vespera Branch
• Anthony Smith: The lost astronaut, steward of Luna's mansion, and a potential chancel Erus.

Banes
Beings inimical to the Chancel's operation but essential to its existence. Opposing these forces is necessary. Trying to permanently remove or pacify them endangers everything.

Shadow Cats

• Superior Skill: Shadowcat 2
• Skill: Stealth 1
• Skill: Tracking 1
• Passion: I must prey on the unwary. 1
• Skill Penalty: In the light, -1
• Gift: Durant
• Gift: Elusive
• Affliction: Living Shadows 1
• Affliction: Enfeebled by Bright Light 3
• Affliction: Are watching the dark places 2

Spirits of darkness who never bowed to the Estate of Night. They are the scar tissue in the fabric of existence where the Gloaming City was torn from the Ash. They represent a very specific phenomenon across the worlds, too niche to be easily established as an estate but determined to maintain its distinct identity. Specifically, they are spirits of occasions when monsters that prowl the dark manage to lurk in unexpected places, in deep but innocuous shadows that persist in the otherwise well-lit spaces. They are the bogeyman watching you from your closet during the day, the trapdoor spider whose entrance is well-hidden, the smiling man waiting in the backseat of your car.

Within the Chancel, they appear as bobcat-like beasts composed of living, twisting shadows. They are the greatest fear for many of the city's denizens, as they lunge for their prey at the precise moment they think themselves safest. They shun the light that enfeebles them, and harbor a deep hatred for all of the powers and their Ymera, but hold a particular rivalry with Luna, whose estate they are a rebellion against. Left to their own devices, they opportunistically consume monstrous and innocent souls with equal relish. Exterminators besides the powers themselves need special training not only in combat and survival, but in cognitive and emotional exercises to counteract the cats' own behaviors, as they are loathe to reveal themselves when actively sought or expected.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:26, Sat 22 Feb 2020.

THE GLOAMING CITY VESPERA
Img1 Img2

*Sort of Neo-Noir.
*Has an active and thriving nightlife.
*Is generally nighttime or twilight more than daytime. Usually, anyway.
*Isn't as bad a place as it seems. Has its own peacefulness even.
*Does have a scary side though (criminal underground, monsters, etc).
*Has eclectic and varied inhabitants that somehow get along on average, and is filled with beautiful limned architecture.
*Has a certain magical fae-like quality that is hard to fully describe.

Vespera is a large cityscape that has architectural features that are always reflective of what is cutting edge in the real world but with a twist. These days, it looks kinda like Chicago and kinda like Singapore and kinda like Venice. It does have some older style buildings like cabins and even temples and gothic cathedrals thrown into the mix too, but overall the place has a sleek, stark effervescent quality with dark buildings limned in flowing fae-like light. The sky is sometimes filled with millions of stars and sometimes just pitch black, and when the city is more twilight it can be clear or cloudy depending on the day. The place reacts strongly to its powers and Imperator though, and they all try to be (kinda) careful lest the city is covered in extreme rain, heat, etc mirroring their emotions. The cityscape is normally Night 60% of the time, twilight 30% of the time, and day only 10% of the time.

Locations of Note

Stepford: In the suburban neighborhood called Stepford (named after the Stepford Wives by Reyfus who enjoyed the eponymous book and movies), it is always Daytime thanks to the power of Deviance. He set aside a place for people who needed space from darkness, vampires, the nightlife, and the other things of the greater cityscape itself. It is a place with green lawns and white picketed fences and other suburban amenities, and is in and of itself a form of deviance from the greater flow of Vespera itself. Somehow, the sunlight from within doesn't bleed outward into the rest of the cityscape. It's just suddenly night and then after crossing a road day.

The Nightside: In this neighborhood, which coincidentally (or is it?) is geometrically across from town from Stepford, it is always perpetual night regardless of the overall current light level of Vespera itself. And regardless of the current weather or sky the moon can be seen clearly above - a reminder of the architect of this neighborhood: Luna. While all people are welcome into Nightside, Luna created it especially as a place for the vampiric and other light-fearing inhabitants of the city to relax in or live in.  Some say that Luna has a large mansion on the moon. And the rumors are totally true! And in the chancel she can casually use aspect 6 miracles to leap up to her moon Mansion, or back down into the city with ease!

Nighthall: Most shared vampiric politicking takes place in a special convention center down on the ground in the middle of Nightside called Nighthall. It is considered neutral ground for vampiric politics and solely under Luna's jurisdiction. She tends to do most dealings with the mafia-like vampire factions of the cityscape there as well, and when two factions need to meet to broker a deal or discuss something they know they can use Nighthall as well, which Luna keep open 24 hours a day to all vampires. Vampires in trouble with their factions can also take sanctuary here until Luna decides they should be spared to returned to their faction, as vampiric violence is forbidden here.

Mister J's Brewery: At the urging of the other powers, and with amused chuckling from Evanessa, the power of Alcohol was convinced to create a brewery operation and see what happened. And, not surprisingly, the power of Alcohol managed to create and produce the best tasting alcohol in the world. Internationally acclaimed, Mister J's Brewery is the high-class version of Coors and Miller (and does hard liquor too) and is so well-regarded even many other chancels purchase its products. And naturally, Evanessa coerces Jimmy into providing, free of charge of course, all the alcohol for The Evanescence Lounge. She calls it "rent or tax or some such" or some other excuse, but the reality is she just loves the finest drink she can get her hands on.

The Crawl: Short for "bar crawl," the Crawl is a neighborhood that very literally has a bar on every corner and block. And while there's these sorts of establishments all over Vespera, none are so densely populated by bars, taverns, inns, and speakeasies as The Crawl. This is because Jimmy, the power of Alcohol, did an experiment to see how the cityscape and its economy and the flow and lives of its inhabitants would change (or not change) by adding more bars! While there are other sorts of establishments here too like brothels, strip clubs, sports bars, arcades, and such no other place in the city is so thoroughly inundated by the presence of alcohol, which seems to line every shelf in this place. For good or ill, there's a lot of buzzed and drunk folk wandering around, lots of groups pub-crawling, and so on.

The Evanescence Lounge: This is the most well-known building in the entire cityscape, and is also located near the center of the chancel. The Imperator Evanessa (which is where the word Evanescence comes from) tends to appear most here, when she isn't in her sanctuary comatose from fighting in the Valde Bellum. The best way to describe it is as an extremely high-end 1940's or 1950's cabaret lounge with a large grand piano and plush overstuffed furniture and attractive wait staff. The imperator, when present, often acts as the main lounge singer and can be found lounging around like a cat atop the piano (sometimes with her son next to her too or playing the piano in a duet) or across some large plush ottoman sofa.

The Labyrinth of Truths:
Img

While Vespera has multiple libraries, places of knowledge, and also hidden nooks and crannies none is as prominent and salient as the Labyrinth of Truths. It has answers to offer, sure, but it is not like some library where you can just freely pluck lore from a book or tidbits from a google search. No...the truths of this place or written down in tomes, carved in stone, shared as visions and oracles, encrypted as computer data, and other such things. It really depends on the truth in question that's being sought, as well as the nature of the seeker. But know that this is a sprawling, space-defying edifice under the influence of Kassandra power of Hidden Truths. And the deeper into the labyrinth you go - assuming you don't get lost or fall prey to some trap that is - the more important and impactful the truths become. But equally, the more difficult and hidden those truths get. And in the deepest center of the entire place is the chamber of secrets, where Kassandra places only the most momentous of hidden truths. And if a seeker makes it to the chamber somehow in one piece, the price they have to pay is the revelation of their true self and the donation of a copy of that knowledge to the chamber's archives. And few beings, no matter what they say, are actually able to truly reveal themselves and come to terms with themselves. It's a price to date no one has yet been able to pay except Kassandra and her Imperator.

The Fane of Dusk:
Img

This outdoor circular shrine-temple is bordered with tall well-pruned trees and perfectly landscaped. It looks out across a pool of ever-clean water onto a grand plaza area that can narratively fit as many or as few people that need to be there. This place is Shared by the ruling powers of Vespera, and they use the space for shared events or when more then 1 of them or even all of them need to hold court for something all together. The place is always in some state of dusk - never day never night. If vampires or other petitioners come - and are legitimately on business there - the place narratively always has shadows or gloom to accommodate them so they don't get harmed while seeking an audience. The Imperator rarely comes here, and when she does she stays quiet in the background usually and lets the powers take the stage. This is their staging ground and the chancel knows it.

The Hollyhock Chateau: Of all the nightclubs and lounges within Vespera, none is more renowned (except for the Evanescence Lounge) than the Hollyhock Chateau. A combination of social lounge and  high-end nightclub, this location is the creation of Reyfus Da'Variad power of Deviance. It is essentially a more energetic and modern version of his mother's more mellow Evanescence Lounge (think like the Lux from the Lucifer series). While Reyfus tends to wander about the chancel like a cat and doesn't always sleep in the building's top-floor penthouse apartment, he does spend a lot of his time and attention here in the way the others do Nighthall, the Librarium, and Mister J's. The place has a more lounge like and gentleman club like atmosphere in its main area but there are side rooms and wings that are for more energetic customers. Like sex rooms, BDSM chambers, drug dens, and so on. Vampires are strictly forbidden from feeding on the premises except in one designated wing of the building and only with consent. Those few who deviate from this rule are punished terribly. The last guy who did that got sent flying across the city from a Reyfus roundhouse kick.

When Evanessa is awake in the chancel though, Reyfus - ever the mama's boy - usually holes up at the Evanescence Lounge instead although the Hollyhock is still generally open for business.

The Cathedral of Eurytos:
Img1 Img2

This building resembles a large, dark gothic cathedral. Its main-facing stained glass window seems like it changes at least once per week, although there are usually Acacia and Hollyhock flowers represented somewhere, the two key flowers of Reyfus. This is not an evil place, although it's not a public space either. It is a branch of the Cult of Eurytos that managed to access the chancel somehow and they took root there while Locke Da'Variad was dating Evanessa. Now, after Reyfus the Blossoming Prince took up his father's sword and divine mantle, the place is essentially the equivalent to the Vatican for the entire worldwide cult network. The cultists' own sorceries seem to be strongest here, in the heart of their patron's estates, and the Cathedral is seen by many as a sacred mecca to Deviance and Curiosity, and all the good and bad that come from both. They do try to convert more and more of the chancel population to the cult but aren't mean or overly pushy about it and their presence here has been more good than bad for the cityscape thus far. Especially since they are generous with donating to the Vespera branch of the Girl scouts and a few other non-profit entities.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:25, Sat 22 Feb 2020.

Did a quick-and-dirty copypaste job in the second post for now, to save the first post for a more basic list and layout. The second post we can still continue to rewrite and expand both as you describe the chancel here and as more of it is explored and established (and potentially altered) in play.

Regarding formal Chancel properties, I recommend leaning more toward "rules" about how things work in the realm than toward actual descriptions of what that world looks like and how it functions. Things you can easily imagine leveraging as bonds is probably the best rule of thumb.

My brain latched onto the Shadow Cat concept and expanded it to something more specific and also something that has a presence on the Mythic Earth beyond its population within the Chancel, and I tossed that proposal up in the first post. (On the mechanical side, I think the affliction specifically calling out Durant is probably redundant with the stronger affliction establishing that they're frail in bright light, at least so long as that's been established as a way to reflect that.)

That said, I'm technically supposed to step back much more during Chancel creation (as opposed to Imperator creation, where the HG is basically told to cherry-pick and embellish), so don't hesitate to revert or redo the version of the properties and bane in the first post.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:21, Tue 18 Feb 2020.

I don't think create a library of secrets is a good Idea to keep secrets.
I would rather go to a Chamber of the Secret, in which is kept the most important secret of all. But it's hidden in the Labyrinth of Truths, where the trespassers have to reveal their true self to step forward. A price that is not to treat lightly…

@HG I like the expansion to Shadowcats, and I like that Luna can wrangle with them pretty well, by the numbers.

@Kassandra on the Labyrinth of Truths idea - I like that idea, especially as it kind of plays into my own Estate Properties of 'Night reveals your true nature'. Just a neat place where ideas are touching and it could be a good thing.

---

So, for this Lunar mansion,  I like the idea that it's something connected to the chancel on the chancel's expression of the moon, but I like that there's a difficult method of access to the mansion directly from the moon itself. I like the notion of it involving the actual use of blood to open a gateway in a cave concealed inside an ever-dark crater's wall. (So, at minimum, someone would need to be supernatural enough to get blood onto whatever altar or X is involved there in transitioning.

I'm onboard for 2 or 3 points of boundary.  slightly higher than average makes some sense at least, due to hidden truths homing here.

One idea for the moon mansion, I like the idea that I can use a miracle in the chancel to allow passage for people from the fane to the moon manor or back using the pool in the fane, IE people can descend into the water like stairs and walk to the moon's reflection on the water to be transported there or back, but it's an active thing Luna has to evoke? (or maybe it only works for someone bearing her sigil properly)  (probably with a matching pool on the manor-side for the same effect)

-----

Nightside: I like. I want to get some more detail together on it. I see Covenant of Night members generally trying to offer protection from Shadowcats (Competent vampires probably have Superior 2 in some relevant strength/agility to contend with Shadowcat superiority). Luna's sigil is probably displayed in major locations as a matter of course.

Nighthall: I like. I think her Sigil is prominent in the main forums, but it's covertly (as a Hidden Truth) actually worked into every doorframe in the structure, so not everyone knows, but she can actually watch anyone and everyone there if she has cause to.

I think she spends plenty of time in the Evanescence Lounge, too.

-----
The Cost: Luna, as part of forging the Chancel, had to offer the pain of a hundred heartbreaks. She had to reach out and inspire love and passion, only to shatter it as it blossomed. Luna only needed to court fifty lovers to meet her goal - her own heart breaking paid the rest of the price. She sacrificed the memories of those lost loves, knowing in doing so that she could never find and comfort them or check up on them.

Tentative idea of the cost, but kinda cool :D

HG: I also really like the Shadowcat expansion and am glad you were smitten by their concept.

Kassandra: This is great feedback, and exactly what I was hoping for. I really like your idea of a Labyrinth of Truths and think we can easily swap out the librarium for that instead.

Reyfus can get pretty deep into the labyrinth, but he always stops halfway. Because he knows the price of being able to access the deepest chamber. And right now, he's not able to fully face his true self yet if otherwise reveal it. Is he a god or a monster (or both)? Can he accept his father's death? Growing pains hurt. The fact is he has more shadows than heart on his hollyhock key and more heart than shadow on his Acacia key which - up until now - has prevented him from being able to move forward into the deeper parts of the labyrinth. He's good at revealing secrets, but Kassandra is flat out great at hidden truths and smirks at this game of theirs.

I propose the following entry be copied and pasted onto the librarium one if you approve Kass...

The Labyrinth of Truths: While Vespera has multiple libraries, places of knowledge, and also hidden nooks and crannies none is as prominent and salient as the Labyrinth of Truths. It has answers to offer, sure, but it is not like some library where you can just freely pluck lore from a book or tidbits from a google search. No...the truths of this place or written down in tomes, carved in stone, shared as visions and oracles, encrypted as computer data, and other such things. It really depends on the truth in question that's being sought, as well as the nature of the seeker. But know that this is a sprawling, space-defying edifice under the influence of Kassandra power of Hidden Truths. And the deeper into the labyrinth you go - assuming you don't get lost or fall prey to some trap that is - the more important and impactful the truths become. But equally, the more difficult and hidden those truths get. And in the deepest center of the entire place is the chamber of secrets, where Kassandra places only the most momentous of hidden truths. And if a seeker makes it to the chamber somehow in one piece, the price they have to pay is the revelation of their true self and the donation of a copy of that knowledge to the chamber's archives. And few beings, no matter what they say, are actually able to truly reveal themselves and come to terms with themselves. It's a price to date no one has yet been able to pay except Kassandra and her Imperator.

------------------------------------------

Luna: I agree that Vespera definitely needs a 3 point auctoritas for sure. Its estates make it not entirely inaccessible, but do require one to work for it for sure.

So I actually have some thoughts on the Lunar Mansion being part of the chancel link thing, and I'd like to propose something to you. And yes, it definitely involves blood. You and I are on the same wavelength on that for sure.

Chancel Entry Link: The Dark Side of the Moon

The chancel of Vespera has several mystical entryways, and one of them is actually the dark side of the moon. Of any moon, for that matter. However, the method of doing it requires that one not only physically be in/on the dark side of the moon, but also shed some of their blood while truly praying for the darkness to take them. If all of these conditions are met, the person is transported to the entrance to the Moon Mansion of Luna on the chancel-side's moon.

This is for obvious reasons one of the toughest entry methods to utilize for most beings. However, there is a story that supposedly when Neil Armstrong went to walk on the moon that there were not three, like the history books say, astronauts but actually a fourth - Anthony Smith. And that during the first moonwalk there was an accident where the man had accidentally punctured his suit with a scalpel he had with him to try and gather moon rock samples on the dark side of the moon. And of course, the man had gotten a bit turned around and couldn't find his way back to the spaceship from oxygen deprivation. And as he began to slow down, droplets of blood floating into space from where he cut his suit (and his hand), he went through the stages of grief until finally he hit acceptance and prayed to die quickly and painlessly in the darkness. And that was enough...the chancel spirited him away as his drops of blood faded, fed to the chancel's magic. And he appeared near a mysterious mansion. And Luna was made aware, as her mansion "spoke to her" through a treasure bond. And she appeared and saved him, whisking him back to the chancel. He's in his 90's these days and still alive in Vespera. The history books only tell of three astronauts though - Anthony's true story became an addition to Kassandra's Labyrinth to protect the chancel's privacy.

------------------

As for the chancel price...I am totally fine with Evanessa killing off 100 people to create it. A small price to pay in her mind. But she wouldn't just kill them outright though. No, she drew the last breaths of life from those who over-drank themselves or died of liver failure from alcoholism, those who search for the truth and were killed by what they found, or people who committed suicide or who died doing deviant activities like breath play and blood sports that went too far, and so on. Basically magister of the dark stuff mixed with her estates. Those people chose to die, so she simply harvested the results of their bad choices.

Thoughts?
This message was last edited by the player at 04:39, Tue 18 Feb 2020.

While I like that dark side of the moon story, maybe that was some variant of the previous Power of Night, since Luna is only 33 years old (and has been a power for about 5-6) :D

In reply to Luna Duscae (msg # 7):

LOL well then yes then we can tweak it, especially if you like the story and the concept.

Chancel Entry Link: The Dark Side of the Moon

The chancel of Vespera has several mystical entryways, and one of them is actually the dark side of the moon. Of any moon, for that matter. However, the method of doing it requires that one not only physically be in/on the dark side of the moon, but also shed some of their blood while truly praying for the darkness to take them. If all of these conditions are met, the person is transported to the entrance to the Moon Mansion of Luna on the chancel-side's moon.

This is for obvious reasons one of the toughest entry methods to utilize for most beings. However, there is a story that supposedly when Neil Armstrong went to walk on the moon that there were not three, like the history books say, astronauts but actually a fourth - Anthony Smith. And that during the first moonwalk there was an accident where the man had accidentally punctured his suit with a scalpel he had with him to try and gather moon rock samples on the dark side of the moon. And of course, the man had gotten a bit turned around and couldn't find his way back to the spaceship from oxygen deprivation. And as he began to slow down, droplets of blood floating into space from where he cut his suit (and his hand), he went through the stages of grief until finally he hit acceptance and prayed to die quickly and painlessly in the darkness. And that was enough...the chancel spirited him away as his drops of blood faded, fed to the chancel's magic. And he appeared on a different moon, this time that was on the "light" side of the moon. And he'd have died, if not for one of the chancel's powers being notified mystically and deciding to go and draw him down to the ground level of the cityscape proper to save him. He's in his 90's these days and still alive in Vespera. The history books only tell of three astronauts though - Anthony's true story became an addition to the estate of Hidden Truths to protect the privacy of the chancel.

I'm very much on board with the Chancel's existence being paid for in broken hearts instead of ended lives. I'd lean toward the idea that instead of just a hundred individual heartbreaks, it might need to be hundred relationships with genuine potential to become true, lifelong loves (for whatever value of "true love" Evanessa and Luna could leverage to rip a chunk out of the World Ash).

Though of course that would still leave the timey-wimey questions up if you want Luna to have been part of the Chancel creation despite being a relatively young power.

I'm also very on-board with the lost astronaut story and a Chancel entrance tied to the moon, whichever specific ritual you aim for.

To clarify, the mansion itself doesn't exist on the Prosaic/Mythic sides at all, but only on a version of the moon that exists within the chancel, even if it's accessible from the prosaic moon?

I do like it and think this would be a fun NPC maybe.

My notes on the Cost are tentative. Thoughts? Do I even need to contribute/ If the Chancel's older than a few years, Luna may not have personally been involved, even  :D     she's probably been a power for no more than 7 years.

Luna would be okay with it, especially with that method of harvest. She still wouldn't watch, probably... That said, the broken heart thing is a thing I kinda like. Painful for luna, but again, you mention the timing - see above. it's possible Luna wasn't part of making it initially. (and in that case, maybe needed to do a version of the broken heart thing to attune herself to it after the fact and create her moon mansion and the vampire-themed chancel functions as part of becoming part of the familia?)

And yeah, that sounds right.

I definitely was thinking the moon in the chancel only, HG. It is in the sky of the chancel, but still part of the chancel's dimension. Any prosaic moon though, if it has a dark side and isn't some luminescent moon all around or something rare, could work as a link if the conditions are met. We should have some other entry points too but this was the first one I wanted to hash out. The mansion could have mythic connections with luna's treasure miracles though...

...Since also, I'd like to propose Luna tie the moon mansion into her anchors and be allowed to declare it an anchor through either her unspent bond point or her vampire princess anchor.

-----------------------


As for the chancel creation...I am definitely opposed to what you're suggesting. More due to the fact luna hasn't been a power for that long. And I definitely would like this chancel to have been around for a while. Probably before Reyfus was born even. Maybe it should be like a hundred years old or maybe even technically centuries old as the remnants of some old chancel improvement.

Now...maybe we could come to a middle ground, between luna's timeline and the chancel's narrative and timeline. I'd like to make a proposal:

What if the price didn't have to be paid up front, but HAD to be paid and couldn't be avoided. For example...Maybe the imperator had another chancel before but had to give it up due to thew war, or was active in the prosaic more and once she decided to go more fully to war had to alter and improve her old chancel which was chintzy before. So the universe demanded a different price...

1 ruined true-love relationship per year for the next century. These could be paid in full or over time but at least once per year. And Locke's Death ironically counted as payment for 1975, although Evanessa wasn't intending that to happen like she did her normal toy relationships or "escrucian snares." And eventually she was so worn out over it that by the time she recruited Luna, she said: look, it's YOUR JOB now to get me my last 5 ruined broken hearts. Now chop-chop."

I could see making an anchor of it, but it is kind of odd.  And yeah, i do like the idea that it's in the chancel, and can be accessed via the dark side of moons (I like that angle of how to actually access it, that has my approval, as long as the others are cool with it.)

I'm using that open bond point for her connection to the ymera's teasing... but I can definitely split off a point elsewhere at least for her manor, though I could see linking it to her 'empowered by night' or her 'vampire princess' one.

----
As for the opposition, no worries. I'm onboard with the standard method, and even with Luna not having been deeply involved in the creation. I am onboard with the suggestion here of having Luna gather the last few, though I do also like the idea of it being a thing to 'attune' her to the existing chancel, which would also have let her weave the vampiric stuff that is all probably newer into the chancel? :D

will see what HG thinks :D

Alternately, could move a point from enhanced senses affliction and or her motorcycle bond to facilitate the new one.

I thirst for new bond points. It's sad you can't raise treasure above 5 :D

Maybe some sort of gift or ability to invest in more bond dots once you're maxed out :D

I think that this upper limit is intentional on Jenna's part. I think it's meant to not only put a reasonable limit on the amount of anchors and other things like that that a person can have as well as afflictions and other things, but also to really Force players to decide what it is they really care about both in an anchor sense but also about the flavor and capability of a character itself. Having really too many more of these types of points cheapens the ones that we have. That's just my opinion.

I'll have to check, but if I remember correctly, wasn't it suggested that raising attributes past five might be feasible as an (extra expensive) project?

I honestly don't know. I know that imperators and excrucians generally cannot go above 7. I don't know if this is the limit for powers too. Although a rating of 7 in an attribute is BEYOND huge and should be rare even for a full imperator or excrucian. A 5 is a HUGE deal. So don't ever let it go past 7 even with mega-projects because then treasure mp loses a lot of its value.

Honestly though, I don't think we really need to worry too much about going past 5. 5 is already a really big deal.

If you find a rule or forum post saying otherwise though please let us know as I'm interested to know for the sake of knowing even if we don't ever want to spend mega projects on going past 5.

I don't think there was anything like that. It wasn't on my cheat sheet.

I agree that going above 5 should be expensive if you allow it. Possibly make point 6 and 7 cost 6 cp each, comparable to the price of Immortality. I'd stick to the 'hard limit' jenna reccomends of 75 destiny, maybe 100 if you want it to go above the cap she suggested. My sheet does have cost suggestions in terms of how much destiny per 'cp cost' to use, but it's very much a guideline and not a hard rule.
So, tldr; your discretion on that. I'm not heading that way yet, even if it is an option.
 on the subject of projects/destiny, if I planned to grab immortality soon, and already have durant and eternal, can I use a projevt to 'merge' the 4cp on those with destiny to get to the effective 6 for immortality? [kind of upgrading it into]

In reply to Luna Duscae (msg # 17):

Yeah, Immortality effectively replaces Durant and Eternal, so you'd only need to build up to the difference.

HG I'm liking some of the things I've been noticing you ninja-ing into the description threads like the first post of this thread, or Mari in dramatis persona, etc.

As for the chancel I wanted to come up with a few more methods of entry and see what people think.

1.) City Connections: The Gloaming City Vespera is the archtypical city of the Night, albeit with some twists. And so naturally, it has an affinity with a few of the real world's cities of the night with twists as well. The one that most people who are somebody know about is the portal in Chicago. The Windy City has long been a metropolis embodying both the night and twists on the night. There is another connection point that leads to Singapore of all places. The place has long been a transitional space historically into ancient times, and only in the mid 1900's has it really stabilized. Either way, it continues to hold a strong affinity with Vespera. And then the last main city connection point is in Venice. As an old-world European city that gleams with elegance during the day yet becomes murky and cramped and a bit mysterious at night the place has long embodied the estates of Vespera. Except for like 5 years or so in the mid 1800's when the chancel started favoring Prague over Venice for some reason before switching back. No one really knows why it did that and Evanessa merely shrugs her shoulders when asked and the powers don't seem to really care either. But ever since that time the chancel portals that usually always went to Venice still link to Prague instead but now only on the first day of every month.

The portals are generally pretty hard to find and use, and some may have special keys or restrictions or mythic access methods, but these are the main way most people come and go from the chancel. Some nights the portals are easier to use than others as the chancel itself is sometimes temperamental about this and they don't always stay in the same place over time although are stable enough that they can be reliably tracked by the chancel's denizens on at least a monthly schedule of stability.

2.) The Eclipse and the Ring: Besides the moon trick, there's another way of getting into the chancel that's a lot more involved than going to one of the cities the chancel favors a connection with. A true Solar eclipse - where the moon blots out the sum fully not like a partial eclipse or a lunar eclipse or anything like that - can potentially allow access. But only in the area of the world where the sun's shadow fully falls (and thus becomes a deviant night by definition) can this happen. And then then, a person must be inside this shadow and be drinking an alcoholic beverage from a glass. While the shadow is upon them, they must take a note with what they genuinely feel is their most important secret (that no other non-miraculous being can know) written on it and burn it, and pour the remaining ashes into the glass of alcoholic beverage. The must then drink the entire glass down before the eclipse's shadow moves past them to another part of the Earth. If they do this, and if they actively and knowingly consent to letting their secret be wiped from their minds completely, they will disappear and reappear within the chancel. The lost secret, in the meantime, will find a new home within the Labyrinth of Hidden Truths as the toll for entry.

Just a reminder that Jimmy didn't create the crawl as an experiment but because he wanted to spread alcohol among the populace for both strategic reasons and for more places to drink at.

Yes - HG please make sure to update the blurb for "The Crawl" to make it reflect less of a social experiment and more of an outright attempt of Jimmy's to help spread more liquor among the people and share it with them.