From: rmhar4@monash.edu.au Subject: Rules for Deep Umbra Characters Part 2 Creatures from the Deep Umbra PART 2 >Other points Virtues: 7 Freebie: 15 Attributes: 15 (Split Three ways) Max Flaws: -7 Backgrounds: 5 Abilities: 12/9/6 The storyteller can and should change any of the above if it is inappropriate for the game. Since Deep Umbra characters are from a different reality, they may have different values. The following virtues can replace their 'human' counterparts. They do not all have to be replaced however. Optionally you can also replace them with Sabbat, or infernalist virtues, but it is suggested that all virtues be replaced in this event as human and sabbat virtues >Calibration: (self-control) How you react to circumstances, what you regard as offensive, etc. * Aggressive ** Unfamiliar *** Collected **** Highly tolerant ***** Indifferent to petty 'human antics' >Sentiment: (Conscience) What emotions you possess, or how each of them are triggered by different circumstances. * Steel-hearted ** Disoriented *** Human **** Sincere ***** Caring >Morale: (Courage) how you react to danger. You tend to follow other's lead in relation to danger. This is exactly the same as the Sabbat virtue. >Backgrounds Any background can be bought providing you have the scores, abilities, etc, to use it (ie: You need a bloodpool to buy generation). The Storyteller may wish to rule some backgrounds out however. >Preludes This can be tricky for Deep Umbra characters, as few of them are the same. The following are a list of questions and possible answers, that may help you. >How did you become an explorer? 1) You were a supernatural creature on another world. 2) It was part of a military experiment. 3) You discovered an artefact that permitted you to step sideways. 4) Totally by accident. You were randomly plucked from your life and deposited in this reality. >How have you adjusted to your new life? 1) You hate it. It is your driving ambition to return to your own world and it consumes all your time and energy. 2) You do not understand what is happening, but the life you left was one you do not care to go back to. 3) You wish this had never happened to you, never the less, you were drastically changed by the rush, and fear to go back because of your 'freakish' nature (At least by your perception). 4) You realise exactly what has happened to you, and labour to find a way back. You are forced, however, to interact with society in order to fund your research. >How did you appear, has anyone taken you in or adopted you? 1) You appeared in the middle of a vampire congregation. After they realised you were not a spy, they gladly sheltered you, in return for your talents. (Or did they?) 2) Your presence filled a gap created by a magical firefight. Already badly wounded from your ordeals in the void, you almost did not survive. A mage from the scene might have helped you, or perhaps a rival... 3) In the void, you saw a shimmering portal open. Hoping for an escape you plunged through it, only to find yourself looking at some rather surprised Lupine summoners. Depending on the tribe they might have explained to you what had happened and what this reality is. Alternatively they might have tried to kill you, believing you to be a Wyrm emanation. Did you come alone? 1) You strayed to far from your group, and were pulled out alone because of that. Your compatriots presumed you dead when you did not return. 2) Your whole group wandered too far, pursuing a trivial matter when you were all pulled out. Your friends may have been scattered over the globe, or appeared all at once. In any case you will have some of your own kind to relate too. 3) A friend of yours started to get pulled out, and you ran to save him. Unfortunately you were both pulled out and deposited together. 4) An hated enemy of yours lured you into a trap, one which would have ended your life if you had not been pulled out. Now you and your rival have come into this reality, and have no intention of letting your grudges slide >On purpose?! As you can see, characters from the Deep Umbra do not have an easy time of it. They are thrown into the most dangerous circumstances with little or no preparation for the psychological and physical changes the rush forces them to endure. But what if the jump between realities was intentional? Where better to hide than another world? The chances of finding a single person in the farthest reaches of the Umbra is infinitesimal. Your character might be one of these people, someone forced to leave their world due to crimes committed there, or forced out by the regime there. You might be a hunter, looking for one of these escapees. It's obvious that this is the perfect excuse for the 'Warlock' style game, where that character is tracking down an evil mage/whatever that has come to this dimension to wreak havoc. People who are employed to traverse realities, will usually be trained up by their sponsoring organisation. They should get a variant of the following list to prepare them: Basic abilities Enigmas: 2 Total: 15 Etiquette: 2 Intuition: 2 Subterfuge: 3 Awareness: 3 Mindblank: 3 Complimentary abilities Survival: 2 Total: 4 Investigation: 2 Hunter abilities Stealth: 3 Total: 14 Melee: 4 Brawl: 3 Dodge: 4 You may take all the above abilities instead of the 5/9/13 ones, for the cost of 5 freebie points. The character also has one skill at 5 as an area of expertise and 3 points to allocate to remaining abilities. The player should explain how his/her character became a hunter. It need not be for reasons of tracking someone down, it could be that the character was trained for a recon mission or a research expedition. Hunters tend to have powers that will aid them in their journeys, and so tend toward the following: if the hunter is awakened, they prefer Correspondance, and life. If they have disciplines, they value physical disciplines and auspex. It they have Gifts, they tend towards those of the Silent Striders tribe. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A sample character, race and organisation. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kethra A Deep Umbra Race Focus: Neanon Attribute limits: 6/6/6 5/5/5 5/6/5 Total = 49 Physical +5  Life beyond life +6 ³ Longevity: Unaging +4 ³ Don't sleep +4 ³ No vital Functions +2 ³ Dormant Circulation (Iron/steel stake) +5 Á Silicon Physiology Mental -5 ³ The beast within Supernatural +35 Spheres of Magic (6) +7 Combat Regeneration -3 Warped Reality -4 Weakness: Mercury Social -12 ÂNatural Enemies -> Technocracy -3 ³ -> Wyrm/Nephandi -3 ³ -> The Marauders -3 ³ -> Werewolves -3 ³ +4 ÁAdoptive Tradition/Clan -> Akashic Brotherhood (For purposes of magic foci, etc, not linked to the earthen guild.) -> Home Clan: Ventrue/Tremere Total Weaknesses: -24 Total Merits: +64 Total: +40 Description: The Kethra, are a magickally advanced society, where, through a process of evolution and a society free from the restraints of a Technocratical organisation has flourished into a strong, moral race. Similar in mentality to the samurai of Ancient Japan, the Kethra value honour highly and believe that it is up to each individual to master themselves and strengthen their family name. Knowledge of the sphere of Forces is common amongst their society but spirit magick is reserved for military only. A hundred or so years ago, a dominant clan of the Kethra, the Anasail, developed spirit magick believing it to be that of correspondance. When they started hitting civilian targets plague bombs, a rival clan, the Eli-Macharad infiltrated the Anasail's army to discover how they achieved this devastating result. Later they were conquered by the Anasail and forced into subservience, but not before a high ranking master of forces finally discovered that there was a rift in the Anasail's land, in their gateway to the deep umbra. Soon the Anasail found it's exploring party had been lost into the gateway. All spirit research grinded to a halt, and only a few mages study the rift, in the hopes of turning it into a two way portal. In this they have very nearly succeeded, and can already send messages to their lost legion. They now hope that their operatives can subvert the Legion and return to liberate the Eli-Macharad. The (Lost) Legion The original pioneering expedition that was lost into the rift was a party of three hundred Keth, all of whom were not affected very much by the rush. Although largely unaffected, the initial shock of their arrival was enough to spark panic amongst them, and they fired upon what turned out to be a group of students, protesting in Tianamon Square, China. Their leader, Gejio Amachi, though fast on his feet and instructed a withdrawal to the mountains nearby, leaving only minutes before the armed forces showed up to control the riotous mobs on the streets. They trekked up across China and into tibet, seeking as safe haven. They came across a large, but remote Zen Buddhist temple, under 'protection' by Chinese authorities. Gejio, determined to contact these monks who seemed somehow familiar, entered the monastery alone, and at night. He met a lone monk, meditating through the night, and approached him. The monk opened his eyes as if he had been watching through his eyelids, and spoke in the language of his clan, not that of the Anasail, for he was a spy, but in the language of the Eli-Macharad. They conversed to the morning, Gejio intrigued by the monk's zen philosophies, and the monk just glad he had someone to talk to. Second-in-command of the expedition, lieutenant Meya Sabine, decided to move in on the temple once dawn came, fearing Gejio had been taken captive. In truth, he had. A chinese patrol of the monastery found him with the monk and knocked him unconscious. The Chinese had taken the monastery into their not-so-loving hands because it was a martial arts school, one which now only trained Chinese soldiers. Once past the guards at the front of the building, Lt. Sabine found no guards with firearms. A team of Chinese soldiers did in fact find her whilst she was searching, but the unfortunate reality that kung-fu does not prepare you for hand-grenades. After Meya had dragged Gejio back to safety (Something to which he still won't admit to), ten strike teams gutted the temple and surrounding mountains of Chinese troops. It was during the attack on the temple that one of the Anasail commandos found that one of the oldest monks was, in fact, a mage. Though he was a member of the Akashic Brotherhood, he was a master of the sphere of correspondance, something which was like the Holy Grail to the Anasail. With no way back, the Legion started to create a new life for themselves. The temple was translocated via magick to a floating island in the Pacific ocean. Unfamiliar with the populous, they were unable to create any social connections. Later it was discovered that the rift which had brought them to earth was still open, and though still a one-way portal, they could receive messages through it. It was a great shock to them to discover that what they received was unwarped by the rush, and totally incomprehensible to them. A few off the Legion's linguists have been able to decipher and relearn their native language, but, since it is so alien to them, they have had great trouble sending messages back. Soon vampires heard of these newcomers, though they did not know from where they came, and sought them out. The legion learnt that they could establish a strong powerbase by hiring themselves out as mercenaries. Now they are the hatchet-men of the Ventrue/Tremere/ Toreador Justicars, though they do subscribe to other causes. Usually members of the legion can be found amongst the anarchs of a justicar monitored city. They do all this in exchange for money, contacts, social ties, allies, and influence. The Anasail plan to seise control of China and force all other supernatural creatures away so that they can bring through an invasion force. The Eli-Macharad spies amongst them plan to subvert the Anasail in the legion and lead a supernatural army to liberate their kin. ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ ³ Vampire: The Masquerade ³ ³ Mage: The Ascension ³ ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄij ³ Name: Gejio Amachi Nature: Visionary Generation: --- ³ ³ Player: NPC Demeanour: Cavalier Haven: Penthouse ³ ³ Chronicle: Legion Tradition: Akashic Concept: Business ³ ³ Brotherhood man ³ ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄij ³ PHYSICAL SOCIAL MENTAL ³ ³ Strength.....***oo Charisma........****o Perception....****o ³ ³ Dexterity....***oo Manipulation....***oo Intelligence..****o ³ ³ Stamina......***** Appearance......***oo Wits..........****o ³ ³ ³ ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄij ³ TALENTS SKILLS KNOWLEDGE ³ ³ Acting........****o Animal Ken......**ooo Bureaucracy....**ooo ³ ³ Alertness.....***oo Drive...........**ooo Computer.......*oooo ³ ³ Athletics.....***oo Etiquette.......***oo Finance........**ooo ³ ³ Brawl.........****o Firearm.........***oo Investigation..***oo ³ ³ Dodge.........****o Melee...........***oo Law............*oooo ³ ³ Empathy.......**ooo Music...........ooooo Linguistics....*oooo ³ ³ Intimidation..**ooo Repair..........ooooo Medicine.......***oo ³ ³ Leadership....****o Security........**ooo Occult.........***oo ³ ³ Streetwise....ooooo Stealth.........***oo Politics.......**ooo ³ ³ Subterfuge....****o Survival........***oo Science........**ooo ³ ³ ³ ³ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÂÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄij ³ Spheres ³ BACKGROUNDS VIRTUES ³ ³ Forces.......****o ³ Destiny.........***** Conscience....***oo ³ ³ Mind.........***oo ³ Influence.......**ooo Self-Control..***oo ³ ³ Life.........**ooo ³ Allies..........**ooo Courage.......****o ³ ³ Crspndnce....***** ³ Recourses.......**ooo ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄij ³ .............ooooo ³ Avatar..........*oooo HEALTH ³ ³ ³ ................ooooo Bruised O ³ ³ Other Traits ³ ................ooooo Hurt -1 O ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ................ooooo Injured -1 O ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ................ooooo Wounded -2 O ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ................ooooo Mauled -2 O ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ................ooooo Crippled -5 O ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ................ooooo Incapacitated O ³ ³ .............ooooo ÃÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄij ³ .............ooooo ³ Quintessence Willpower Humanity ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ OOOOOOOOOOOO 0000000OOO 000000OOOO ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ O (12) ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ExperienceÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ Arete: 5 ³ ³ .............ooooo ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Paradox: 3 ³ ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÁÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ Note: This is not a starting character. BACKGROUND: Gejio was brought up as a simple farmboy, in the Eli-Macharad homeland. At age ten, he met a young soldier, who had recently enlisted. Stationed in Gejio's town, the soldier spent quite some time with the young Keth who took so much interest in him. Over the course of the summer, the soldier became like a brother to young Gejio, who wanted so desperately to follow in his footsteps. But as autumn came, the Anasail invaded the boarders, and the soldier, Sung Zail was called to war. News came later that year that the soldier had been captured in combat, and his fate was neither known or investigated. Gejio was heart-broken, his life never seemed the same. Though only from a poor rural family, his parents saw he would never be able to work the land as they had, and sent him to a city for education. Gejio buckled down at school and before long had a scholarship to a prestigious university. He spent ten years learning there and became a force technician, working for a small power board company. Once again the Anasail made a new press on the boarders, and reluctantly, the Eli-Macharad government put conscription laws into effect. Gejio was drafted into the intelligence department, and was trained in infiltration. Gejio found his new tasks much more satisfying, and rewarding, as he helped storm biological warfare installations. He had seen the effects of a jumping-jack plague bomb, and had no problem killing its creators. The raids were directed at a ruthless Anasail tyrant, Shen-tsu Norichi, the main exponent of disease warfare. The Eli-Macharad armies repelled all border attacks and forced all but this sole warlord onto the defensive. He had mastered what he called correspondance magic, and could place plague bombs in the midst of attacking armies. The Eli-Macharad were terrified of him, their men went out to repel his incursions and returned as monsters, driven mad by chemical poisoning. Gejio was assigned to strike out at his residence, deep in the iron mountains, a reddish brown set of summits, reputed for avalanches and volcanic activity. Gejio was to trek across land to Shen-Tsu's palace and assassinate him. It took Gejio, now Lt. Amachi, three weeks to reach the town that had grown up around the despot's throne. Mostly peasants, he found most of them sympathetic to his cause, but unwilling to aid him. So he and a five man squad snuck into the palace at night. They were found almost immediately, by correspondance mages, they encountered very heavy resistance, till only he and his sergeant were alive. Gejio knew he had to eliminate the mage at very least, so that the Eli-Macharad armies would have some chance, so he headed to the most logical place: The turret with the greatest view of the surrounds. He and his sergeant broke down the turret door after an exhausting climb, only to find the mage, and beside him, the now not so young Sung Zail he had known in his village, dressed as one of Shen-Tsu's generals. Sung instinctively levelled his gun and shot Gejio's sergeant before realising who had burst through the door. The mage sprang out of his seat, yelling "He's the one! Get him!". Zail put a bullet through the mage's head and screamed at Gejio, asking why he had come. Zail had been planted amongst the Anasail by the government, and not captured in battle as he was told. Footsteps up the tower stairs could already be heard. Zail instructed Gejio take of his clothing and bent over the dead mage. He put Gejio's cloths on the man and warped his face to resemble another. Acting on Sung Zail's commands Gejio hid and shot the first guard to come through the door, one of Shen-Tsu's lieutenants. Within minutes the scene was arranged; Gejio's sergeant had rushed in and shot the mage, and was in turn killed by Zail. Gejio was now the brave lieutenant who saved Sung Zail from the terrorist leader. In fact, he even earnt a promotion, and was posted into the correspondance experiments, as way of reward. He became leader of the Deep umbra explorations, and persuaded all the correspondance mages to join the Eli-Macharad cause against their unscrupulous warlord. Days from his planned escape with Shen-Tsu's technology, Lieutenant Meya Sabine, one of the warlord's dazzling and ruthless relatives was assigned to help Gejio, something which fouled his plans completely. No longer was he able to speak privately with Zail and the mages, but he began to fall for Shen-Tsu's lovely but heartless niece. Plunging into a deep umbra assignment he hoped to lose himself for a couple of days, to relax from the constant strain of his facade. He headed for the deepest, darkest corner of reality he could find, with the Legion at his heels. They became lost, disoriented, and then they felt the Rush, their very meaning being ripped into another world. Gejio took well to his new world, especially to such disciplines as Zen, and correspondance, both of which he learnt whole-heartedly. He remains committed to converting the legion, and has has some success amongst the higher ranks, but has yet to subvert the ultra-extreme soldiers who support Lt.Sabine. Both Gejio and Sung Zail have been working on Meya to undo her mean exterior, but in spite of this, she only seldom shows and form of hesitation or emotion. The Legion has been split in two, Zail's half dealing with clients, Meya's half completing the contracts. Whilst Gejio oversees both sides of operations, he senses that Meya is concealing some of her actions. Roleplaying Tips Everything is a deadly serious game to you. It does not matter whether you win or lose, but how you do it. Of course you don't lose, you never lose. You appear calm and detached to those around you, but you are actually quite high strung, especially when Meya is close by. Quote: "I'm not infamous, i'm notorious." --------------------------------------------------------------------- >Powergamers, shallow characters, loop-hole seekers and the order of >the monumental coincidence "Mellow out or you will pay!" -- DK, California Uberalis Reality check time! What backgrounding do the PCs have? Have they come to find person X? Have they come to battle 'evil'? Hey, they might even have come as tourists and got emotionally involved with earth and it's people. What would DC comics do without caring aliens? The point is, that without a good storyline, Deep Umbra characters are very shallow. My suggestion is that you come up with a raw sketching of powers/strengths and compile a list. From that, create an image, the appearance of your character. Then create an attitude, the way your character does things, how she makes her mark. Take this case example; you could either say that your character walks into a police office and asks if a certain person has been apprehended, and leaves when told 'no', or, the character stalks in dressed in black, asks, and when told 'no', looks them levelly in the eye, and says 'I'll be back.' (Recognise this?). Nothing too definite, just look for a style, a look, and a way. Don't be too precise, you'll want to leave that for when you create the character. A note on attitude: you get a hell of a lot more respect if you have one. A friend of mine was asked why he was wearing black (He's a goth to the core) and he said he was mourning the death of society. Word spread. He's infamous now. Even the wording is important, for example, Hitler didn't sit in a seat, he occupied it. You need to develop their past life, their journey into this world, their establishment and new life here. Without this, and a good deal of thought, they become two dimensional and uninteresting. All Storytellers beware of power-gamers who want to create their ultimate character, of course one that in their minds is perfectly viable, given only a few amazing coincidences. Possibly the first thing a power-gamers will do is look at the cost of getting gifts, magic and disciplines all in the one package. Then they'll look at possibilities of vampires with rage and gnosis. Most probably the Storyteller will have to hold a heavy brick poised above their heads and make growling sounds before they'll make a simple character. The best idea is not to let them have a Deep Umbra character, no matter how sensible or simple, because with each new character type comes a whole set of new holes in the rules. For example; using elemental thaumaturgy to turn yourself to titanium, and because of this, immune to damage. Or using telepathy to hold someone in place. If you have bardo, you can slaughter, slay, hack, maim and morris dance without fear of ever losing long-term humanity, because with an hour's mediation, you can get it all back. --------------------------------------------------------------------- All in all I think the rules presented here are a little shaky, and it would be advisable to do this all under storyteller guidance, or work out your character's concept during the prelude. In future versions of this, i'll add rules for Wraith, Faerie, and hopefully a full psychological construction as well. Please contact me on the Realm of Kings, +(613)-739 6112, as Harlequin, or on the internet as rmhar4@cfs03.cc.monash.edu.au or Harlquin@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au and give me your comments and possible advantages, rules additions, etc. Don't be shy! --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Capax imperii nisi imperasset" (Trans. "Suited for office if only he had not had to hold it") ... Tacitus "The Histories" "Where law ends, there tyrany begins" ... William Pitt "Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and believing both of them." ... George Orwell "Will you confess yourself befouled with hell, or do you keep that black allegiance yet?" ... Arthur Miller, "The Crucible" "If I'm d'signed yon lordling's slave, By nature's law d'signed, Why was an independant wish, E'er planted in my mind" ... Robert Burns "Custom, that unwritten law By which people keep even Kings in awe." ... Charles Davenant "Necessity hath no law" ... Oliver Cromwell "The reign of chaos and old night." ... John Milton "All will end in a sea of fire and blood" ... Book of Mark "It's better to be dead an cool, than alive and uncool." - Harley Davidson and the Marlbrough Man "You will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengence upon thee." - Ezekiel "When I'm dead and buried I want no excuses for what I've done." - Harley Davidson and the Marlbrough Man -==-