Backgrounds

Allies

In their travels mage's often encounter a variety of interesting people (and other beings). While many are hostile, some befriend and aid the mage. These Allies can be acolytes, influential Sleepers or even magickal beings. Allies should be characters in their own right, not simple cannon fodder. Though they may be loyal unto even death, such friends will not throw their lives away for nothing, especially if the mage does nothing to support that loyalty. Friendship is a two-way street, and even Allies have their own Agendas. Each dot in this background gives the mage one Ally or increases the power of that one that already exists, thus, five dots in the Allies background could indicate five Allies of moderate power or one extremely powerful entity. Nearly anyone (or anything) can be a mage's Ally, though it's safe to say that such an Ally will be unusual in one way or another. Some mage's even have extra dimensional creatures, spirit beings, vampires, or magickal animals as Allies.

° One Ally of moderate power
°° Two Allies, or one more powerful Ally
°°° Three allies, or fewer Allies of correspondingly greater power
°°°° Four allies, or fewer Allies of correspondingly greater power
°°°°° Five allies, or fewer Allies of correspondingly greater power

Arcane

Mage's are inherently mysterious people, and few mortals notice them for what they truly are. Because they bend reality slightly simply by existing, some mysticks have the ability to avoid detection. This power manifests itself differently from mage to mage; some cloud minds like the Shadow, while others exist, like the Purloined Letter, in plain, inobvious insight. A mystick with a high Arcane may simply "slide away" from view and memory or may appear too ordinary to notice. This ability is not invisibility per se, and does not conceal a sorcerer during combat. If someone searches for the mage, however, they'll find it a frustrating experience. Some how, things just happen to cover their quarry's tracks: cameras malfunction, sources disagree, and clues the investigator just knew were in that file no longer exist. Naturally, these effects have little to do with conscious magick use; they just occur. What ever form of the Arcane power takes, it subtracts it's dot rating from any Perception or Investigation Dice Pool used to find the mage. It also adds its rating to the character's Stealth attempts. Arcane may be consciously dampened by the mage if she wants, allowing people to find her more easily.

° Easy to overlook
°° Where did he go?
°°° Very difficult to follow
°°°° A needle in a haystack
°°°°° Which grain of sand?

Avatar

Since Quintessence is a difficult thing to use in a chat setting, this background is unneeded.

Chantry

Your cabal's meeting place; it may be a palce you own or a fewllowship you belong to

Destiny

Destiny is an ephemeral thing' each mage has his or her role in destiny. This trait, however, signifies a mystick who has - or is supposed to have - a very special part in future events. In game terms, this Background earns the mage the respect of her peers and extra willpower boost when things get bad. A character with a high destiny rating is a chosen one' perhaps a vision, prophecy or a simple "sense of greatness" follows her. Mysticks who recognize such things will treat the mage with some respect. Her actions, however, will often be watched and sometimes criticized if she appears "unworthy" or what ever Fate has planed for her. Several groups may even fight to share in whatever she has to offer. The exact nature of the mage's Destiny is left up to the player and the Storyteller. It should , however, remain mysterious - an enigma, rather than a testament, I.e., "you will overthrow the technocracy." Mage's with Destiny rarely die ignominious deaths. They may die young, but they perish with style and importance. This certainty can carry the mystick through hard times. Remember, though that the Destiny rating means just that-- a mage is destined to accomplish some great feat, die valiantly facing overwhelming odds or even turn to the forces of evil. One day, the Storyteller will call the destiny due..... and this will be a restricted background do to the fact it's hard to track.

° Mage of merit; roll one die
°° A creditable mage; roll two dice
°°° Mage of promise; roll three dice
°°°° A respected mage; roll four dice
°°°° A revered mage; roll five dice

Dream

Mysticks with this trait can tap into the unieversal unconscious. Through focus and meditation, the mage may learn things he does not yet know and access a general stream of information for short periods of time. In story terms, the mage enters a trance of some kind' the specifics vary, of course - a shaman may touch the ripples of the Dream Realms, while a hacker mage might sprint-scan a freeform database in hopes of learning through subconscious impressions. In any case he soon emerges from his trance with some form of information - hopefully, a kind he can use! This dream-lore is more intuition than hard facts, but it is helpful in a general way. In game play, Dream allows a character to access information he does not normally have. He must first go into some form of trance (Perception + Meditation or Enigmas, if you need a roll) and concentrate on the form of information he wants to gain. If he already has the Ability, this is easier then if he does not. After a time (storyteller's option-- the harder the task the longer the time), he emerges with the lore he sought. Maybe. The universal unconscious is not a library; sometimes the knowledge the mystick seeks is not the kind he comes out with. From time to time, a character with Dream should manifest a different skill then he wanted to find. This Ability should still be useful (perhaps in ways the mage does not expect) and related to the one the mystick sought. Dream is a chancy talent, however, and does not always work according to plan. While the dream-lore lasts, the character may subsitute his Dream rating for one chosen Ability, whether he has the Ability or not. If he needed Medicine to save his friend, say, but didn't have that Knowledge, he would roll INtelligence + Dream instead after returning from his trance. This background cannnot be used to add to his Dice Pool for an Ability he already has- he either uses the dream-lore rating or his own. This mystick insight lasts untill the character next sleeps; when he awakens, it's gone. Only one Ability can be used per day. Dream may come in handy in completely alien situations where no other Ability would be useful, such as Intelligence + dream (for Linguistics) to understand tthe language of a creature from another realm.

° Hazy bits of information can be gleaned.
°° Respectable lessons can be learned.
°°° Worthwhile lore is available.
°°°° Remarkable knowledge can be accessed.
°°°°° Astounding insights are possible.

Fame

Same as per usual on white wolf.... how well known are you

Familiar

Mages with this Background have a familiar, an intelligent creature of spirit-made-matter which is magically bonded to the mage. But just as the familiar is bonded to the mage, so too is the mage bonded to the familiar. The relationship between a mage and her familiar varies widely, but the relationship itself is an extremely powerful tie.
The familiars of different Traditions tend to vary in form. The familiars of Verbena are often cat-creatures, while the familiars of the Dreamspeakers are more often eagles, hawks, other birds or snakes. The Sons of Ether imbue golems with the spirits of familiars, while some Hollow Ones have been known to take sewer rats or stray dogs as familiars. The Virtual Adepts, it is said, even make familiars out of their computers!
Regardless of their form, familiars provide their mages with information and even abilities beyond those the mage can attain alone. The exact nature of these powers varies with the familiar. In return, familiars feed on the mage's Quintessence. The strength of the familiar determines both the amount of power and information it can confer to the mage and the amount of Prime energy it must be fed weekly. If it does not receive sufficient "food," the familiar may become disgruntled and leave. If a familiar breaks its bond, that mage loses all the benefits the familiar conferred. A mage whose familiar dies, immediately loses an amount of Quintessence equal to twice the power level of their familiar, as well as all the abilities conferred by the familiar.
Mages with this Background are assumed to have already called their familiar or to have used the Life Effect: Imbue Flesh to create one.

Influence

Your status in the Sleeper community.

Influences

See link to influences for the city. Background influences

Library

Some mages have libraries of tomes filled with occult knowledge. Suc books could have been gifts from a Mage's mentor or may have belonged to him before he even Awakened. Libaries are useful for mundane reasearch; picking up new Knowledges is easy when you have vast resources. Real occult lore, however, is even more important. Although True Magick cannot be learned through simple study, the principles behind the Spheres can be. These resources are not always books. Scrolls, databases and even friends who know alot of folklore can be considered libraries if the character can study continuously, accsss the information at will, and find what she is looking for. Obviously, a wise grandmother cannot teach a Virtual Adept Time magick- though her insights could prove helpful. Like Mentors, Libraries are useful when spending experience points. By rolling her Library rating (difficulty 7) while learning a new Knnowledge or Sphere, she can save expereience points she normally would have spent. Each sucess counts as one point saved, though at least one point must always be spent. The mage must spend at least one week (often longer) in research and can roll only once every time she spends the expereience. mages often keeep their tomes at the Chantry Library and share them freely with the others in the cabal. Thus, this Background, like Chantry can be pooled so long as the means allow and the characters stay together.

° A collection of New-Age paperbacks
°° A few notable works and lots of superficial stuff.
°°° A handful of rare and ancient books, and vast mundane resources.
°°°° An impressive collection of occult and mortal lore.
°°°°° A hoard of lost secrets, a sea of common wisdom.

Mentor

same as always... more dots the more powerful or influential the mentor is.

Node

This Background is arguably the most important, because determines how much Quintessence is available to the cabal I month. Nodes are extremely valuable, and are magnificent advantages for new mages. They are the backbone of a cabal, and the genesis of a future Chantry. Nodes can be located nearly anywhere - in church cellars, in the backs of bookstores, or in graveyards.
This Background Trait does not apply directly to the character, but rather to the entire cabal. In fact, the total amount that all the mage characters in the cabal spend on this air is added together to determine the power of the cabal's Node. The Node's Quintessence appears in the form of Tass, which makes it easily transportable, though easily stolen. The characters should decide what physical form the Tass from it Node takes. This free Quintessence produced by the Node is in addition to any Quintessence gained by the recharging of an Avatar (see the Avatar Background, above).

Sanctum

A space you have set for yourself; your place of power

Resources

How much money your character has access too.. same old drill.

Tailsman

A Talisman (or Device, to the Technocracy) is an object of power, an item imbued with magick, which the wielder can use. This Background allows a begining character to start play with Tailsman in her possesion. It's a tricky background, and Story-tellers may limit if they see fit. (which I will). Any item can be a Talisman, if it's enchangted somehow; stones, cybernetics, computers, bones, weapons, even works of art may be used as magickal items. Note that mages do not take these wonderous things for granted= there is so little real magick in the world that Talismans are both rare and treasured . Because of their power, Tailsmans are purchased differently thean other backgrouns. Each dot costs two backgrounds instead of one. Every Tailsman has an "arte" of its own, allowing the mage to roll one die per point of arete. Most Tailsmans have one point of Arte per level. Spirit Talismans, called fetishes, work differnetly in story terms, but are purchased the same way. These items contain spirits who have, by force or friendliness, entered the iten to perform a service. They may or may not cause the mage some difficulty when doing so, depending on how the mage treats the spirit. Tailsmans can be used as foci. This may not make magick coincidental (it usually isn't) , but may help the mystick concentrate.

° A weak item
°° A useful Talisman
°°° A significant item
°°°° A famous and potent Talisman
°°°°° A powerful magickal device