Mage Backgrounds

A measure of resources both internal (Avatar, Arcane, Dream, etc.) and external (Allies, Mentor, Resources, and so on), the Background Trait tells you plenty about a mage’s position in life. A charismatic wizard, for instance, would have Allies, Contacts, Influence, and the like, whereas a solitary hermit would possess a strong Avatar, lots of Arcane, and maybe a Familiar or Node. As with other Traits, Backgrounds come from essential elements of that character’s history and often play significant roles in the chronicle at hand. When you pick your Backgrounds, then, make sure there are good reasons for the things you choose. Who are your Allies, and why do they aid you? Where’s your Node, what’s it like, and how did you acquire such a potent treasure? A high Avatar rating reflects an entity with a strong personality and goals of its own; what, then, is your relationship with that internal spirit, and how does that affect your life? Each Trait should have origins, conditions, and a story of its own… at least in regards to its place in your life.

## Backgrounds for Unmask Orlando

In Unmask, because we are a Traditions and Disparates/Crafts game. Techonocratic Backgrounds will not be allowed. And some backgrounds are handled different than they are in other places. This page will give write ups on what is allowed, what is limited, and what has changed.

**Restricted Backgrounds:** No background may start play at 5 or more (for backgrounds that can go above 5) without very heavy backstory justification. And even the STs reserve the right to tell you no if it doesn't make sense.

**Banned Backgrounds:** Destiny, Enhancements, Requisitions, Secret Weapons,

## The Backgrounds

Although members of the Traditions share a lot of common terms, mystic mages and technomancers who belong to different groups – or to no group at all – might define their Backgrounds by Technocratic standards (say, a Companion, not a Familiar) rather than by the usual Tradition labels or ideas. As usual, concept guides definition: a Bata’a priestess is more likely to see her Avatar as an aspect of the Loa, whereas a self-Awakened computer geek is liable to see his Enlightened Self as a blazing spark of Genius.

### Allies

In times of need, you’ve got folks who’ve got your back. These allies might be badass friends, helpful animals, people with connections they can work in your favor, errand-runners, or maybe even minor spirits who’ll lend you the occasional favor if and when they feel like doing so. Generally, this Background refers to unAwakened humans or fairly intelligent animals (like a wolf pack or a troupe of apes). They’re probably aware of the weirder side of your life, but they don’t know the details of mage society or your true powers unless you choose to endanger them by sharing those secrets. Whatever their nature, or their relationship to you, these allies are characters in their own right, with needs, fears, motivations, and agendas that might coincide with your mage’s goals but also may occasionally clash with them.

Each dot in this Background gives you one ally with some moderately useful abilities, or two allies who essentially run errands and do busywork. At two dots and above, you can increase the ability of your moderate allies or buy a larger number of lesser and moderate allies. If you get two dots, for example, you could select two moderate allies, get four sidekicks, or make a single major ally who’s more capable than those lesser ones. Magick-using Allies count as major ones. If your allies get killed or wind up quitting your company some other way, this Background loses the dots that represented those characters until you recruit new allies to replace the departed ones.

### Alternate Identity

Sometimes you’ve gotta be ready to disappear. Especially for shapechangers, clones, or people in dangerous professions (spies, informers, assassins, etc.), the ability to adopt alternate identities can mean the difference between a new life and an unmarked grave. With this Background, you can duck behind a fake identity; the higher the rating, the more support you have for that identity’s existence. Each dot in Alternate Identity provides a certain level of official recognition that stands up to increasing degrees of scrutiny. A cheap fake ID could get you past a bouncer, but it won’t fool the Highway Patrol...

By itself, an alternate identity is useful but not extremely so. You can use a new ID for a short time, but that’ll leave you starting fresh unless you’re planning to rebuild your life from scratch. Other Background Traits, however, can be linked to an alternate identity; you won’t be able to get a new Avatar, of course, but you might have Allies, Resources, Spies, and so on that are connected to that new you. For each dot in the Alternate Identity Background, you may add one dot’s worth of other Background Traits to your other self. You’ll still need to pay points for those Backgrounds, of course – they don’t come free with this Trait. Still, if and when you need to ditch your previous identity, you could have new resources waiting for you.

Strong IDs stand up to close observation. To penetrate an alternate identity, a character would need to roll a Mental Trait + Investigation against a difficulty of your Alternate Identity + 3. You can purchase this Trait several times in order to reflect a set of alternate IDs. Even so, you should use some form of magick or disguise to provide distinct appearances for your different identities. Sure, your driver’s license might read “Jane Palmer,” but if you still look, act, and sound like Eva Morrissey, you’ll probably be recognized as the latter.

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### Arcane/Cloaking

You know the fine art of disappearing. Whether this involves a not-so-simple trick, the ability to cloud men’s minds, nanotech sensory disrupters, or some nameless power of obscurity, you possess a talent for getting lost. Especially in the age of cell-phone cameras, global databases, electronic trackers, DNA samples, and Closed Circuit TV monitors on every corner, Arcane – or its Technocratic version, Cloaking – is a useful Trait to have. Records get lost; cameras malfunction or record fuzzy images in your place; folks recall “Some guy… or girl, I guess – I’m really not sure.” Although this talent isn’t invisibility per se, it helps you blend in with crowds, blurs your features on camera, and allows you to slide in between the cracks of an increasingly monitored world.

To mystic mages, Arcane is a bending of reality caused by fluctuations of metaphysical energy, like echoes or Resonance. As far as the Technocracy’s concerned, this is a perfectly explainable phenomenon… and they’ll get back to you with a reasonable explanation as soon as one meets the rigid criteria for disbursed information. The Union prefers to keep track of mysterious individuals, like Secret Agent John Courage, who manifest this Cloaking effect; doing so, however, is easier declared than achieved.

Game-wise, you add your Arcane/ Cloaking dots as extra dice on all Stealth-related rolls. Your opponents reduce their Perception or Investigation dice pools by that same amount whenever someone tries to track you down. This benefit lasts for as long as you remain inconspicuous. In combat, folks can see you normally, although videos or pictures of that fight remain blurred. A Cloaked character who runs around shouting and being obvious will be obvious, although witnesses will probably disagree about his exact description after the event has passed. The Arcane/ Cloaking effect does not conceal really memorable features. A purple-haired dude with facial tattoos is going to get noticed, although folks may disagree about the shade of purple or the patterns of his tattoos.

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### Avatar/Genius

Awakening defines the mage. Whether she refers to it as some mystic inner god or the scientifically explainable Enlightenment of higher consciousness, the Avatar or Genius allows a willworker to do the things she does. Some Avatars, though, are more potent and effective than others. This Trait measures your Awakened self, reflects its ability to shift and hold Quintessence, and determines how real it is in your character’s perceptions.

Every mage character has an Avatar of some kind; unless you purchase at least one dot in this Trait, however, your ability to actually do much with your magick is extremely limited. Although your magick-casting rolls are based on Arete, not the Avatar, your character won’t be able to use Quintessence to aid her spells. A mage’s ability to absorb or employ Quintessence is based on the Avatar Trait. Her higher self, too, is weak – more of an ember than a bonfire. A high Avatar/ Genius rating, though, reflects a higher self whose distinct personality seems very real to the mage in question.

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### Backup

You can call in the cavalry and expect help when needed… in a limited capacity, anyhow. Thanks to your membership in some organization, you’re able to request Backup and have a small team of useful folks swoop in and take care of business. Unlike Allies, these people are largely faceless, have limited skills, and are more or less expendable. Essentially, they come in to handle simple tasks, then disperse back to the organization to which you all belong.

Backup characters come from a large pool of skilled but unAwakened personnel. Their relationship to the player characters is pretty much a matter of convenience, with no special loyalty attached. Though they might risk their lives on the mage’s behalf, the help’s not personal. These folks are just doing their job.

Backup tends to arrive as a pack of gun-wielding grunts who rush in to cover a mage’s escape. Any major tasks (or sacrifices) are the mage’s responsibility – the backup’s not there to handle much heavy lifting. In other situations, the Background can represent other types of support personnel: receptionists, students, roadies, drivers, medics, even prostitutes. A King or Queen of the Jungle might be able to holler for assistance and attract an appropriate group of animals, assuming that character has a story-based reason for such loyalty. The type of aid will depend on the organization, the situation, and the mage’s role within that group. An Ecstatic rock star could call in hookers and roadies, whereas a Black Suit might bring in cops, reporters, or a cleanup crew. And though it’s easy to dismiss the importance of students, receptionists, or bloggers, it’s also worth remembering that society at large depends more upon information than upon violence. One eloquent reporter can do more, in the grand scheme of things, than a dozen dudes with guns.

Typical Backup personnel have Traits in the 1-3 range, with one or two notable Skills. Animals are small (birds, rats, bats, domestic dogs or cats, etc.), and spirits are minor singlepurpose entities (fetch spirits, breeze elementals, and so forth). More elite Backup agents – mercenaries, ninja, cyborgs, minor spirits, or large predatory animals, for example – cost twice as much as typical agents but have Traits in the 3-5 range, unusual abilities, or serious combat potential. Essentially, these elite “temp” agents become Allies for the course of a single mission and then disappear back to wherever it is they came from.

In order to get this Background, a character must be part of a larger organization – a gang, the police, an armed services division, the Technocracy, and so forth. Whatever his connection to that group might be, the mage needs to fulfill occasional duties on behalf of the group that sends assistance. If he doesn’t keep his end of the bargain, if his Backup tends to suffer heavy casualties, or if he otherwise abuses the agents and their group, this Background may be reduced or withdrawn.

Sample Backup teams, and the types of mages they support, include:

* **All:** Students, drivers, receptionists, couriers, lab techs, political activists, merchants, manual laborers, EMTs, cult members, thugs.
* **Agents of Authority:** Cops and detectives, military personnel, reporters, EMTs, cleanup crews.
* **Celebrities:** Fans, roadies, personal assistants, photographers, road-crew, journalists, makeup artists.
* **Clergy:** Acolytes, lesser and lay clergy, healers, devotees of your religion.
* **Feral folk:** Animals, healers, medicine people, tribal elders, natives of the appropriate region.
* **Gangsters and Vigilantes:** Gang members, hookers, allied cops, street people, junkies, journalists, petty crooks.
* **Hackers:** Technicians, bloggers, hacker “temps,” political activists, anarchists, transhumanists, IT specialists.
* **Martial artists:** Healers, philosophers, martial arts students, “temp” fighters, devotees of your spiritual path.
* **Ritual magicians:** Occultists, cultists, acolytes, academics, fearful assistants, aspiring apprentices, minor imps, or spirit “temps.”
* **Scholars:** Research assistants, librarians, bloggers, academics, former students, grad students.
* **Scientists:** Techs, research aides, robots, misshapen or enhanced assistant “temps.”
* **Shamans:** Devotees, minor spirits, animals, activists, or armed defenders of your culture.
* **Spies and Assassins:** Informants, gang members, sleeper agents, cleanup crews.
* **Subculturists:** Artists, neotribalists, musicians, healers, bloggers, psychoactive specialists, badasses from your subculture.
* **Tycoons:** Corporate subordinates, flunkies, toadies, office personnel, journalists, security guards.
* **Witches:** Animals, devotees, New Agers, Pagan activists, healers, minor spirits.

### Blessing

Someone out there has left its mark on you. That mark is usually beneficial, but it comes with uncanny side effects. Maybe you always find a few extra bucks when you need them but get stuck with the check when you grab some drinks with the girls. Perhaps you’re lucky in lust but can’t find a lasting partnership. This Background gives you a minor perk at the cost of a related quirk.

In game terms, Blessings gives you a single, minor, storybased benefit. This benefit seems to come from an element in your character history, one that’s tied into the beliefs that focus your magick. An Akashic, for example, could consider herself blessed by the wind-god Fei Lian because she’s always cooled by a faint breeze; a Sister of Hippolyta never gets lost (a blessing of Athena), whereas a one-eyed Syndicate boss with an unsettling sense of physical and energetic androgyny also seems to know little things no one should know about. (No one actually calls the boss Odin, but that picture of two ravens on the boss’s wall hints at a certain familiarity…)

At the same time, this benefit seems a little… weird. Why’s there a breeze blowing inside this locked apartment? How’d you know your way through this maze? Is that boss “him”… or “her”… or… um, I think I’ll just call them “Boss.” This sense of oddness could be considered a constant bit of Resonance, a wink from your patron god, a quirk of localized reality-streams, or whatever else seems appropriate. The obvious explanation is that it’s a sign of the figure who blessed you, but that sort of thing doesn’t happen in the real world, does it?

Like the Dream, Legend, Past Life, and Totem Backgrounds below, Blessings ties your mage into forces greater than himself. Although those forces, in your mage’s mind, appear to stem from his deeply-held beliefs (and thus might be a latent form of uncontrolled magick), they remain ultimately mysterious. Odin won’t be showing up at that boss’s door saying, “Hey, guess who made you androgynous,” though certain story-based quirks might make the answer obvious to someone familiar with Norse mythology. (The raven picture, the one eye, the way crows always fly past when the boss goes for a walk, that sort of thing.) The character might not admit that he or she believes in the Blessing (“Old Viking gods? Ridiculous!”), but there’s a lingering connection that runs deeper than anyone suspects. (The boss still recalls that Norse mythology book from third grade rather fondly…)

In game terms, choose one non-combat, story-based ability that blesses your character with an unusual talent. The higher the rating, the more useful that talent becomes. Contrary to the original Blessings entry in Guide to the Traditions, this talent is NOT chosen from among Sphere Effects, Merits, or Flaws; instead, it’s a minor twist of fate that influences the character’s life in story terms – see the examples below. (That Blessings Background – an open-ended set of superpowers with conflicting causes, effects and systems – has been revised for this edition.)

Your Blessings talent must follow certain guidelines:

* It’s based in the character’s beliefs about the world – in short, his magickal paradigm.
* It’s tied into your mage’s personal history, probably somewhere in her childhood.
* It’s connected to a potent supernatural/ mythic/ paranormal figure of some kind – a god, a hero, an archetype, a Fae queen – whose favor fits your character concept.
* It does not influence combat, except perhaps in a roundabout way (your knives remain sharp, you always have one bullet left in the chamber, your punches have movie-like sound effects, and so forth).
* It does not influence magick casting rolls either. Although a Blessing may influence the character’s choice of Spheres and should be tied into his focus, it will not alter the difficulty for Arete rolls when casting spells.
* It’s not an obvious display of inhuman or impossible phenomena (no flight, iron skin, fiery hands, and so forth) and might have a rational, scientific explanation.
* It has a corresponding weird quirk, also story-based, with effects that follow or mirror the Blessing (the odd breeze, one eye and an affinity for ravens, a tendency to always scramble directions even though you never get lost, etc.).
* If the character breaks faith with her apparent patron – say, by a grave insult or religious conversion – then the Blessing disappears. (Gods hate ingratitude…)

These Blessings share a clear connection to the figure who apparently favors your character: a dude blessed by Pan always goes home with the best-looking woman (or man) in the club, even though he’s kinda hairy and has a powerful smell; the woman blessed by Allah has a knack for improvised poetry, yet never writes any of it down; that chick blessed by the Lady of the Lake always carries sharp knives… and she really enjoys swimming; that guy nicknamed “Lucifer”? Well, he’s not actually a devil or anything, but he seems to be able to talk folks into anything… and doesn’t his skin seem a little… red…?

Blessings are not infallible. In high-stakes situations, the blessed character may still need to roll for success. If, for instance, the Lucifer guy wants to talk an important character into some truly crazy scheme, his player has to roll for it. In such rolls, the Storyteller deducts one level of difficulty per dot in this Background from the usual difficulty of the task. Our Lucifer guy, for instance, has Blessings 4, and so subtracts -4 from the difficulty of his roll. Again, a Blessing does not affect combat actions or magick-casting rolls, so it does not alter such rolls.

As suggested earlier, this Background fits well with Destiny, Legend, Past Life, and most especially Totem. The Storyteller has the final say about the Blessing’s effects and manifestations and may veto a Blessing that doesn’t fit her chronicle, seems too powerful, or tilts the game too far in that character’s favor.

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### Certification

In an age when you need permits for every damn thing imaginable, the right certifications can save you a world of aggravation. With this Background, your character has official papers that allow her to pursue some regulated activity: hunting, driving, operating heavy machinery, practicing medicine, owning certain weapons, and so on. Generally, such activities involve risk, demand special training, affect society at large, or a combination of the three. Simple certifications, like a fishing permit, are easy to obtain, whereas really hazardous or complex activities demand higher levels of certification.

hout the proper training, you’ll need at least one dot in a related Ability for each dot in this Background; a medical license, for example, would demand at least four dots in Medicine. Assuming that your character has the appropriate skills (or has paid the appropriate bribes), you can get certifications for alternate identities (see Alternate Identity, above) to reflect a character with the right papers under various names.

Official certifications carry a degree of visibility. Certifications can be checked by the authorities, and although a heavy-weapons permit might let you own some serious hardware, it also assures that you’ll be one of the first people the cops look for when someone commits a crime with such weaponry.

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### Chantry/Construct

In the hazardous world of the Awakened, it’s always a good idea to have some like-minded associates and a stronghold with some fair security. Since the Golden Age of Wizardry, such places have been called Covenants: centers where a group of allied mages stake out territory, consolidate resources, and agreed to assist and defend one another when need be. In later years, the Order of Reason adopted that idea and built the Technocratic Union around that principle. By the 20th century, Tradition mages call those places Chantries, the Union calls them Constructs, and other mages call them by whatever sounds like a culturally appropriate name (temple, lodge, mosque, etc.).

In game terms, a Chantry or Construct is a base of operations. A character with this Background belongs to such a base and has certain benefits from, and responsibilities to, the group that maintains that base. Most Technocratic agents belong to a Construct by default – that’s just how the Union operates. Mystic mages have a more of a choice about such things, but many of them belong to Chantries as a matter of practicality. There is strength in numbers, after all.

Because Mage’s character-creation rules assume that beginning characters are new to the Awakened game, a character with this Background begins as a low-ranking member of an established stronghold. She gets the benefit of a belonging to a group of older and more experienced peers (who are probably Storyteller-run characters), but starts off at the bottom of the pecking order too. The elders have her doing errands and chores around the Chantry, and she lacks political clout within the group. Growing beyond that stage is one of the keys to a young mage’s journey.

A group of mystic mages can also create their own Chantry, an option that’s not open to Technocratic operatives. (The Union frowns on such individualism.) By pooling points among the members, the group can assemble the resources necessary to build a place of its own. In game terms, these construction points reflect time, money, favors, labor, and other things spent in the process of establishing the stronghold. (A point-based building system was included in The Book of Chantries, but that system has since been discarded. This Point-Buy System can be found here.) The more points the group assembles, the larger the Chantry can become.

A Chantry or Construct can take whatever form seems appropriate. One might be a rural woodland grove; another could be an abandoned movie theater; a third may be a secluded mad laboratory; and a fourth sets up shop in an office building, Viking longhouse, law firm, or machine shop. Lowlevel Chantries and Constructs have a few mundane resources – some magickal wards, a security system, perhaps a handful of unAwakened aides, communication services, and so forth. At the Mystic Chantry level, the place can get a few paranormal trappings: scrying pools, portals to Horizon Realms, spirit guardians, that sort of thing. Strongholds and Power Centers have extensive mundane and magickal/ hypertech resources; such places should be hashed out in detail with the Storyteller and demand huge investments of time, power, labor, and materials.

The stability of this pool depends on the continued cooperation and survival of the contributors. If a mage quits or gets killed, his points are lost. If the entire group fractures, all points are lost and the Chantry dissolves. Surviving members might pool some experience points and make up the difference for the lost contribution. Otherwise, that Chantry joins the many broken fellowships and strongholds sprinkled throughout mage history.

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### Contacts

You know people who know things. Although such contacts aren’t as helpful or reliable as Allies, they can help you dig up information, spread messages, pull strings, and call in small favors (scoring tickets to a sold-out concert, locating a low-rent apartment, getting a meeting with the police chief, and so on). Naturally, these folks will want occasional help from you as well. So long as one hand washes the other, though, these folks can prove remarkably helpful.

The nature of your Contacts Background depends upon your character’s concept and backstory. The runaway Jinx, for example, would have contacts among the street-folk community, whereas executive Malcolm has contacts in the business world. Within their area of experience, contacts can usually find or pass on appropriate sorts of information; Jinx might learn how to hotwire a car, and Malcolm might secure data about automotive stocks, but Neither Jinx nor Malcolm is likely to know someone who could trace a car’s license plate number. If you’re looking for contacts outside your area of expertise, you could always nurture some new ones, or else you could use your existing contacts to find out what you need. (In game terms, this second option raises the difficulty of your roll by +2 or more.)

When calling on your contacts, roll an appropriate Social Attribute + Contacts. The difficulty depends on the nature of the information you’re trying to circulate or the favor you’re trying to get. Success gets you what you needed, but failure reflects flawed data, a mangled message, or no benefit at all. A botch means you’ve pissed somebody off; either your contact sells you out or else tells you to go to hell and then removes herself from your network for a while.

Each dot in this Trait reflects one major Contact, a fleshedout character like an Ally. You could also establish casual contacts with a successful Social or Mental Trait + Contacts roll, but these sources will be harder to work with (that is, the roll has a higher difficulty) and they’re not reliable with sensitive information.

This Background can go above five dots. For information networks that deal in sensitive or secret information, see the Background: Spies below

### Cult

Any mage with charisma can have friends; this Cult, however, goes beyond mere friendship. These devotees trust and revere you so deeply that, when gathered and directed, they can lend their beliefs to your rituals.

The nature of your cult isn’t important. You might be a religious figure with a congregation, an artist with especially devoted fans, a professor whose students literally revere him, or any other similar arrangement. What matters is the belief: your cult accepts you as someone who works wonders, and they want to be part of that magic… and so they are.

As detailed under Allies, Assistants, and Cults and Acting in Concert (Chapter Ten, p. 532 and pp. 542-543), a group of assistants who share a common belief add to the caster’s dice pool in a ritual cast with their help. Such rituals can involve either mystic Arts or technomagick, so long as everyone participates. In most cases, all characters involved must occupy the same physical space during the ritual; a potential exception could be made for a networked group linked by Mind magick or conference technology (a LAN party, video conference, and so forth). Again, though, the helpers must hold absolute conviction and be free – at least for the moment – from outside distractions.

Cult members are typical Sleepers: not especially skillful or accomplished beyond their utter faith in you. Powerful helpers are Allies, Backup, Retainers, or other major characters. These people, though, have some vital reason to believe in what you do. On your end, then, you must fulfill their trust. If you want their trust, then at least appear to be the person they expect you to be. If their faith wavers, then you lose this Background’s benefits.

It’s possible to have a larger cult, of course – a popular evangelist might have hundreds of devotees. After a certain point, though, they can help you only so much. The five-dot rank in this Background offers the maximum benefit for a cult.

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### Demesne

A mage’s mind is her castle. There, she can get away from it all to a world of her own making. Classical and Renaissance treatises refer to memory palaces, wherein a person builds a structure in her mind as an aid to meditation, study, reflection, and, of course, memory. Shaped from the builder’s consciousness, these constructs have no physical form, yet they offer a type of refuge. With this Background, you have such a place

Cosmologically, a Demesne exists in the Maya as a semipermanent Dream Realm inspired by your dreaming mind. This Realm might be something you created intentionally with the Talent: Lucid Dreaming, or it might exist in a place conjured by your subconscious imagination. Either way, it follows cues from your consciousness and features elements of personal significance for you. Your mind might build a temple that no one can defile, a field of flowers in honor of your beloved, a gallery of pictures that immortalize people or places you wish to remember… if you can dream it, you can create it… though you might not actually control your creation once the Demesne exists.

This Demesne might not be a pleasant place. Nightmares, Quiets, suicidal thoughts, or other dark neuroses can spawn a Demesne too. Maybe you want to craft a nightmare realm, either a testing-ground, a purgatory, or a reflection of your love for horror films. Pleasant or otherwise, the Demesne could be small, impressive, or vast. You yourself might not know just how expansive it can be. Our minds, after all, are full of surprises…

In game terms, the Background rating reflects the degree of control you have over this place once it’s established. At low ratings, you can visit the Realm but not command it, while at higher levels you determine almost every detail of your Realm. Figure out your Demesne’s appearance and nature, probably in collaboration with your Storyteller… who’s bound to add a few elements of her own.

When dreaming or meditating, your character can go visit his Demesne with a successful Perception + Demesne roll. The difficulty depends upon your situation: directing yourself there under normal circumstances would be difficulty 5 or 6, whereas trying to reach it under distressing circumstances (say, while enduring torture or other challenges) would range from difficulty 7 to 9. Once he’s arrived, the character’s consciousness is free to wander around the Demesne. Although physical or mental distress can disrupt the Realm, it’s still a familiar – if not always welcoming – space.

There’s nothing physical about a Demesne. You don’t go there physically, and you cannot take anything physical from that Realm. Instead, a traveler sends his astral form into that Demesne, leaving his body behind. That said, you don’t need Mind 3 or better to enter your personal Demesne – the Background Trait takes care of the travel arrangements. A mage who can travel astrally, though, may wander out of the Demesne and reach other Dream or Astral Realms from there.

In the Demesne, your appearance reflects your state of mind. If you’re calm, you’re lucid dreaming, or have managed to project your ideal astral form, you look however you want to look. Under other circumstances, your visiting form might betray whatever stress, fear, or insecurities you’re facing in the physical world. A successful Wits + Demesne (or Lucid Dreaming) roll lets you adjust your appearance at that point, though… and similar rolls can help you change the dreamscape too. Large changes, of course, demand several successes – see above for potential difficulties.

Because the Demesne itself reflects its creator’s mental state, you can also confront internal issues within the Dream Realm’s boundaries. A successful Perception + Demesne roll allows you to puzzle out subconscious conflicts and figure out what’s going on beneath the surface. On a related note, you can try to access memories that might be hidden throughout the Demesne. In this case, roll Intelligence + Meditation or Demesne (whichever is higher), with the difficulty and numbers of successes based upon the obscurity of that information. The name of your last girlfriend would be easy to find, but the name of the kid who sat next to you in third grade would be significantly harder to recall.

A skillful Mind mage (that is, Mind 3 for a sleeping subject, Mind 4 for one who’s awake) can draw other people’s consciousness into his Demesne too. If that person doesn’t want to enter the Demesne, they have a Willpower-versus-Willpower contest, with the winner achieving his objective. A person who’s fighting the dream can roll every few turns to leave the Demesne; until the roll succeeds, however, that character is trapped. Again, this is not a physical trap, though being stuck in someone else’s nightmare can be pretty horrifying…

If your mage falls into a Quiet, you can roll his Willpower (difficulty 9) in order to go into your Demesne; there, he’s still trapped in the mindscape, but at least it’s familiar territory. A few successful Perception + Demesne rolls could lead him back out again.

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### Dream/Hypercram

Knowledge is everything to a mage. Being the conduits to cosmic consciousness that they can be, certain mages are able to access information that they have not personally studied or practiced. After taking a bit of time to meditate (or, in the case of Technocrats and other scientifically-minded willworkers, to Hypercram), such mages can temporarily tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience that’s out there, channeling Ability Traits they don’t normally possess.

In story terms, your character takes a short period of time to concentrate on a particular situation. The more elaborate the situation, the longer it takes to meditate upon it. The form of concentration depends on the mage’s focus, and can range from a BDSM session to a hard night at the library. A scholar could hit the books and lose himself in study for an upcoming exam; a Pagan seer might walk through the woods, reaching out to the spirits of that place. Spider Chase might spin fire while Zafira Angelita prays for the guidance of God.

ights into the question at hand. As long as your character hasn’t been interrupted during his meditative practice, she can draw upon a certain amount of free-floating knowledge that deals with the situation. If the Perception + Dream roll succeeded, you get to substitute your Dream rating for another Ability that’s related to the subject of her concentration. If the character doesn’t normally have that Ability, she can still use it to address that situation for a single uninterrupted task, assuming that she meditated upon a related subject that day; if she does have that Ability, she can use the Dream rating instead of that Ability – one Trait does not add on to the other.

As an example, let’s say that Spider’s facing a major fight against an opponent who really knows what he’s doing. Her slight Brawl Skill isn’t gonna cut it, so she meditates while spinning fire. Spider has four dots in Dream. Her player makes a successful Perception + Dream roll, and so, during that fight – and only for the duration of that fight – Spider finds herself with four dots’ worth of Martial Arts, an Ability she doesn’t normally possess. After the fight ends, Spider’s skill fades away; for the life of her, she can’t recall what she just did.

This Background isn’t reliable. You might get some Ability you didn’t expect, and you can’t hang on to what you know – it’s more of a feeling than a certainty. The Dream-granted Ability lasts for the duration of one necessary task – a fight, an exam, a board meeting, a race, and so forth – and can be used only to fulfill that task. Dream can be used only once per day, and although the player can state what she’d like to learn, the Storyteller makes the final decision about the Ability conferred by that Dream.

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### Fame

For some story-based reason, you’re famous within the Sleeper world. Maybe you’re a hip-hop star, a politician, an athlete, or one of the boom/ bust stardom circle generated by YouTube and reality TV. Among folks in the know, you’re considered a celebrity; the higher your rating, the greater your fame.

A decidedly mixed blessing, this Trait gives you a fairly high profile. The authorities will be less likely to mess with you (unless they want to make an example of you…), fans will give you a certain amount of deference, and folks will believe things of you that they would not accept from a normal person. Sure, that kung-fu superstar can kick a hole through a brick wall – didn’t you see her last movie? And hey, if that guy looked at me that way, I’d pass out too! Fame confers status at the cost of visibility and lets you get away with coincidences few other folks could manage.

This Background also complements Social Traits when you’re trying to get things done. A successful Charisma, Manipulation, or Appearance + Fame roll can open lots of doors. Of course, folks will recognize you, too, so don’t expect to scam those free airline tickets or get past that security detail without someone remembering that you did it. In the age of cell phone cameras, YouTube, and CCTV, a famous person has a hard time getting away with stuff. Cast a spell in public, and there’ll be videos of the event online in no time.

Fame is fleeting, too, especially in this age of disposable celebrities. In story terms, you’ll have to keep doing big things in order to be remembered. And just as there are folks who’ll love you for what you do, there’ll be folks who hate your guts for it as well. Fame brings stalkers, haters, critics, and thieves… and if you don’t wantthem in your life, then why’d you choose to become FAMOUS…?

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### Familiar/Companion

Animal allies remain an integral part of the classical mage’s mystique. Who hasn’t heard of the witch’s cat, the telepathic steed, the wolf-brother, or the lab-assistant made of spare parts and ingenuity? Tradition calls such entities familiars, and most of the Nine Traditions tend to use that name as well. Other groups, as usual, employ their own names: assistants, brothers, soul-beasts, spirit animals, and so forth.

Although the Technocracy does not officially acknowledge such deviation from protocol in its ranks, certain Technocrats – especially among the Progenitors, the New World Order, and Iteration X – have been known to employ Companions: cybernetically enhanced critters, bioengineered experiments, clones, and so on. Lab animals have their intelligence and capabilities boosted with the wonders of hyperscience, and vat-grown humans with perfect skin and dazzling features stock the offices and bordellos of Syndicate bosses. Out on the murky fringes where protocol becomes a stern suggestion, Void Engineers work alongside friendly(?) aliens and technologically modified Earth creatures. These Companions, of course, are nothing like those superstitionist familiars – such comparisons would be tantamount to treason! And yet, it’s funny how much Companions and Familiars have in common. In game terms, of course, they’re pretty much the same thing. Technocrats define their bonding ceremonies and feeding procedures differently, but the Background Trait works the same way for both definitions.

A Familiar/ Companion’s primary role involves companionship. Mages lead strange lives that often remove them from normal human interactions, and just as people crave pets of various species, mages crave the company of entities that understand those strange lives they lead. It might seem weird to staff your lab with hyperintelligent mice (and downright crazy to fill it with hyperintelligent apes!), but when weirdness defines your daily life, those companions seem perfectly appropriate. With very few exceptions, these creatures have at least a human level of intelligence, enigmatic levels of perception and arcane wisdom, and at least one or two physical abilities beyond what you might expect from a normal animal or person.

What type of Familiar or Companion do you have? That depends on your approach to life and magick. Common Familiars/ Companions for various mage types include:

* Charismatic megafauna: Wolves, bears, alligators, eagles, hawks, apes, big cats, oxen, bison, horses, stags, reindeer, etc. (Shamans, nature witches, martial artists, clergy, wizards, and so forth.)
* Small but capable animals: Mice, rats, domestic cats and dogs, rabbits and hares, ravens, owls, foxes, pigeons, parrots, monkeys, snakes, etc. (Urban or rural witches, street folks, suburban mystics, mad scientists, academics, saints, and so on.)
* Attack Beasts: Large dogs, domesticated big cats, raptors, serpents, spiders, etc. (Witches, Black Suits, agents of authority, military personnel, war mages, etc.)
* Machines: Robots, androids, and other mechanical assistants. (Various types of technomancer.)
* Servitors: Clones; weird servants; incredibly strong, attractive, or capable “people” who seem unusually obedient and a bit more, yet less, than human. (Executives, celebrities, criminals, mad scientists, urban witches, seers, cult leaders, decadent tempters, Infernalists, etc.)
* Dead Things: Zombies, animated skeletons, disembodied yet “living” body parts – heads, hands, etc. (Necromancers, wizards, cult leaders, gutter kids, and other dark- side mages.)
* • Constructs: Golems, cyborgs, technologically augmented animals, monsters stitched together from previously dead bodies, etc. (Mad scientists and other technomancers; old-school ritual magicians make them out of clay, stone, and so forth.)
* Hybrid Beings: Mermaids, centaurs, satyrs, unicorns, and so on. (They’re attracted to high-mythic mystics, wizards, nature witches, mad scientists, Marauders, etc.)
* Aliens: Greys, Bug-Eyed Monsters, Horrors From Beyond Space and Time. (Void Engineers, Etherites, mad scientists, crazed cultists, lone geek weirdoes, Black Suits, etc.)
* Imps: Little devils, demonic beasties, scary little critters, etc. (Infernalists, wizards, scary witches, cult leaders, etc.)
* Spirit Servitors: Elementals, invisible servants, minor ghosts, nature spirits, epiphlings, etc. (Shamans of all types, seers, wizards, witches, etc.)
* Data Beasts: Incarnated programs on the Digital Web. (Internet-based technomancers of all kinds.)

Whatever form your associate takes, the Familiar/ Companion has a mind and consciousness of its own, with agendas and desires you might assume but never truly know. There’s always something vaguely alien about them, and not even the greatest Mind-based Arts can completely penetrate the thought process of such entities.

In game terms, this Background – like Allies and Mentor – reflects a character affiliated with the player and yet created and run by the Storyteller. Beyond companionship, that character confers several other benefits onto his mage:

* Advice: The Familiar/ Companion has access to certain types of information and can lend insights to his associated mage. Generally, this works as a handful of Knowledges – Cosmology, Enigmas, Occult, and possibly some others – from which the Familiar/ Companion can offer suggestions to his mage. The dice pool for that Trait equals one die for each dot in the Background. Say, for example, that Spider Chase has a Familiar 3 blue tarantula. Spider needs some advice about a riddle, the Storyteller rolls three dice, and the tarantula spins some advice into a web.
* Empathy: The mage and her Companion share an emotional bond and each can sense what the other is feeling. In order to conceal those feelings, a character must make a successful Manipulation + Subterfuge roll, using the other character’s Willpower as the difficulty. Even then, the other partner will realize that the character’s trying to hide something.
* The Feast of Nettles/ Paradox Nullification: When an impending Paradox backlash threatens the Companion’s mage, or when that mage absorbs dangerous amounts of Paradox energies, the Familiar can absorb a certain amount of those energies. So long as the Companion stays close to his mage, usually within 10 yards (30 feet) or so, he can bleed off a few points from a mage’s Paradox trait or consume a pending backlash. The Familiar can hold up to five points of Paradox for each dot in the Background; Spider’s spider, then, could retain up to 15 points of Paradox. The Familiar nullifies those points at a rate of one point per week. If Paradox exceeds the familiar’s capacity – say, 15 Paradox for Spider’s spider – then the whole amount of Paradox explodes in a horrific backlash that affects both the mage and the Familiar equally. By the way, Familiars don’t enjoy this sort of thing at all, and they may get fed up (so to speak) with a mage who makes them “eat nettles” very often. A Familiar gets quite cranky when he’s stuffed with Paradox, and he may break the bond or otherwise act up if his mage keeps using him like a Paradox battery.

Quintessence Feeding: In return for those benefits, the Familiar requires a certain amount of Quintessence or Tass per week. Mystic critters devour magickal energies by suckling on the mage, bathing in her aura, or otherwise sharing physical or metaphysical contact. Technological Companions eat Quintessence-rich snacks (that is, Tass), absorb Quintessence through physical contact (affection, mind-melds, sex, and so on), or get powered up by the mage’s hypertech machines. In game terms, it’s all the same thing: the mage offers Quintessence and the Companion feeds on it. No Quintessence, no Familiar; the disgruntled Companion disappears and the mage loses all of the benefits associated with her Companion.

Familiars also crave gifts, favors, affection, and so on. The nature of those offerings depends on the individual Companion and might be weird, arbitrary, or outright horrifying.

Smart mages are protective of their Familiars… and with good reason. If a Familiar dies, the associated mage automatically loses all benefits of that relationship, plus one point of permanent Willpower plus two points of Quintessence for each level in the Background Trait. If that costs more Quintessence than the mage has to offer, then the additional points of Quintessence become points of Paradox instead. Should someone squash Spider’s tarantula, for example, she’d lose six points of Quintessence; if she has only two points to begin with, then she also gains four points of Paradox. Moral: don’t let anyone squash your Familiar!

A Familiar/ mage bond begins with an appropriate summoning ceremony. Shamans have vision quests, witches call forth a helpmeet, mad scientists make their Companions through unorthodox technologies, and so forth. Regardless of the specifics, the mage and her Companion agree to share a close bond with one another. So long as both parties survive and honor the terms of that agreement – terms that demand certain commitments and sacrifices from the mage – the bond remains intact.

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### Influence

You command attention and respect within the Sleepers’ world. Perhaps you’re a celebrity, gang boss, politician, or cult leader… or maybe you’ve just got lots of powerful friends. Either way, when you speak, folks listen and frequently obey.

Generally, this Background reflects a certain amount of social deference that you receive even without rolling the Trait. When a high-Influence person walks into a room, people notice; folks behave themselves accordingly, small favors are offered, impossible arrangements suddenly get made in your favor… that sort of thing. By combining Social Attributes with this Background (say, Manipulation + Influence), you can work your mojo with the appropriate parties. Mental Attributes (like Perception + Influence) help you spot or secure information through your social network. And although Physical Traits won’t help you accomplish actions through your Influence, a showy athletic feat (say, Stamina + Influence to reflect one of those “Nobody could survive THAT!” sorts of stunts) can impress a large number of people if you do something lots of people can see.

For a full treatment of Influences in the Unmask Venue, please see this page

### Legend

Humanity’s collective imagination focuses on you. Although you might not actually be a reincarnation of King Arthur or Biggie Smalls, you evoke those figures on a primal level. People see you as a legend, and so they expect legendary things from you. As a result, you function as a walking Node, able to recharge your own Quintessence – and possibly the Quintessence of other people too – by living up to your associated legend.

In story terms, pick a legend and then model your character off some familiar elements of that figure. Little Red would wear a crimson hoodie and wander off where she’s not supposed to go; Popeye would talk weird, eat spinach, and get into lots of fights. Our media age manufactures legends, so your model could be a pop-culture character, though the power of such legends doesn’t run very deep. The more you live up to the legend, the more energy it lends to you.

In game terms, you can roll your Legend Background no more than once per story (per month in venue terms). Each success refreshes one point of Quintessence in your pool. (It’s wise to choose a high Avatar rating if you’ve got this Background.) The difficulty of that roll depends on how well-known that legend is in your current location; embodying Sun Tzu might score you major props in a Chinese military academy, but the average U.S. citizen would be like, “Sun WHO?” The roll’s minimum difficulty is 6; if your Legend is obscure, that can go as high as 9.

Once per story, you can also instill items with Quintessence – turning them into Tass – if they’ve had something to do with you living up to your legend. A Colt .45 used by a modern Jesse James, for instance, would acquire a certain energy through association. Such items have a potent feel to them; even Sleepers sense something special about Jimi Hendrix’s guitar. Characters who can use Quintessence may access that Tass for their own purposes. Each dot in this Background allows you to either instill a single object with the entire Background rating’s worth of Quintessence, or you can imbue one item with a single point of Tass for every dot in the Background. Legend 5, then, would either fill a single item with five points of Quintessence or imbue one point of Quintessence into five separate items. Once that Tass is used, it’s gone until the next story.

Other Awakened characters can recharge their Avatars from you as well, if and when they take an active role in your legend. A lover of James Dean, a drinking companion of Janis Joplin, a mage sharing the Round Table of a reincarnated Lancelot – these characters may enjoy the benefits of this walking Node effect as well, so long as they’ve participated in the legend over the course of that particular story

(Technocrats can have this Background too; that reincarnated Lancelot might be a cyborg with a particularly noble personality and a really active dream life.)

Objects or animals can have the Legend Background, with all the same powers of a character’s Legend. In this case, the “living up to the legend” element requires other people to believe in their connection to that legend. Hendrix’s Sunburst Stratocaster might be a Legend in its own right, an object of reverence for music lovers everywhere. A mage who got her hands on that guitar could recharge her Avatar by playing the instrument… which explains why certain objects become hot properties among folks who know them for what they are, and why people keep killing white buffalo and stags whenever they appear. Legendary objects and animals, though, should remain property of the Storyteller. If the Storyteller allows a character to acquire that object or animal, it becomes a Wonder or Ally.

In all cases, that Quintessence holds legendary Resonance too. Smoke from a joint passed by Monsieur Zig Zag will evoke the 1960s even in 2015, and faint echoes of Ahiii-ahiii-ahhhh!!! follow the trail of a Man With No Name. Lizzie Borden’s hatchet makes people feel queasy even though the real Lizzie Borden killed no one with it. That force of belief clings to the essence of a Legend Trait. Folks touched by a legend know they’ve been part of something extraordinary.

This Background works well with these Backgrounds: Destiny, Past Lives, and Totem, and with certain Merits and Flaws as well. Obviously, you need a compelling reason to claim the Legend Background. Simply looking like Jim Morrison is not enough – you must be Jim Morrison in every way that matters. Plenty of people claim to be “the new Beatles” or “the next Jesus Christ,” but the connection has to run deeper than that. This Background draws upon sublime power from the realm of archetypes. Unless that power runs true and manifests in clear and constant form, then you’re just another pretender, not the real McCoy.

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### Library

Wow… do people even need books in the Internet Age? Well, yes, actually. Although the Internet has a near-infinite supply of information, there’s still plenty of information that’s available only in books. Especially when you’re dealing with esoteric, mystic, historical, or academic information, a good library can offer data that no net search can uncover. As much as new-millennium mages learn to appreciate the Internet (or else suffer for the lack of that appreciation), hard-copy archives are still essential to the serious student of the magickal Arts and Enlightened hypersciences.

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, this Background Trait reflects access to a multimedia archive that’s vital to that particular mage. An old-fashioned magus might shake his gray head at all that Internet foolishness, but even he will probably still have photographs, record albums, film reels, and probably even \*gasp!\* DVDs, CDs or MP3s in his archive, if only because so much of the last century has been recorded in such media. An urban witch might have a small but significant collection of classical magick tomes or old ‘60s-era psychedelic magazines to compliment his broadband connection, and even the most sublime transhumanist retains a few dog-eared copies of Mondo 2000 or Piss Clear in her collection. The exact nature of your Library, then, will depend upon your personality and yet give you unrestricted access to an impressive amount of information when you need it.

Because your Library Background is based around a store of useful information for your mage, it includes material that helps you research your chosen Abilities and Spheres. You’ll need to add to your collection from time to time when learning about new topics (no wonder mages tend to be inveterate datahounds), but then you’ll be able to research topics dealing with those Traits by making successful Mental Trait + Library rolls. Such research, of course, demands time and effort… and with bigger archives, both that time and effort can be substantial!

To reflect enormous archives, this Background can go above 5. A tight-knit and trusting group can also pool this Background, creating truly impressive archives. In this case, the group’s Library Background equals the Library Background of the highest-rated member of that group, plus one dot for each additional contributor. (A cabal whose members have, respectively, Library ratings of 3, 2, 2, and 1 would have a total combined Library Background of 6.) After all, a combined archive will have redundant material… and how many copies of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban do you really need?

### Mentor

An “elder” mage has taken an interest in you and provides training, guidance, and occasional assistance. Note that said elder might be your own age or even younger, said training could consist of dropping you off rooftops, said guidance may involve more Yodaisms than a Karate Kid marathon, and said assistance could boil down to whacking you in the head just after you read that passage in the flesh-bound grimoire. This Background’s rating reflects how helpful your mentor is for you, above and beyond her personal power. After all, a Hermetic Grand Master isn’t much good for her students if she refuses to do anything other than let them sleep on her floor.

The mentor/ student bond tends to be one of the most influential experiences of a mage’s life. In many cases, the mentor notices some interesting talent in a currently unAwakened Sleepwalker, initiates the prospective student, and then nurtures and guides that spark as it bursts into full Awakening. This is especially the case with Technocrats, who often get recruited soon before or just after they attain Enlightenment… or else get converted from their previous Reality Deviant careers by an effective Technocratic operative.

Mentors have their own agendas, of course, and those goals aren’t always obvious. Plenty of mages get their first taste of Awakened society from mentors who are distant, abusive, manipulative, uncaring, ineffective, or downright insane. Others, of course, learn from elders who turn out to be loving, caring, insightful, and wise. It really depends on the nature of your mage’s personality, backstory, and affiliation. Technocratic mentors are often (though not always) cold and efficient, whereas mystics can be silly, eccentric, aloof, or any combination of wizardly traits you can imagine.

Game-wise, a Mentor provides some social lubricant, magickal or technological training, occasional resources, and perhaps interventions or assistance if your mage really needs help. In return, she’ll expect a certain amount of respect, obedience, and help around the workshop. A student’s behavior, good or bad, reflects upon his mentor, so it’s not wise to abuse this relationship. Especially for a young and inexperienced mage, an angry mentor can be a terrible thing.

There is a secondary benefit to mentors detailed on the page, Mentor

As with Allies and Familiar, this Background represents Storyteller characters with their own backgrounds, personalities, motivations, and relationships to the world at large. Your Storyteller can (and should) have a blast playing up such characters, running agendas that often remain obscure to the students in their path. Remember the various games being run by elders throughout the Harry Potter saga – games in which the pupils rarely understood what was really going on. Mentors give nothing for nothing; if one has taken a guiding interest in your mage, there’s always something more than simple kindness or duty involved!

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### Node

In a world where magick seems scarce, you’ve got access to a miracle: a Node where you can meditate to restore your inner Quintessence or gather solid-energy Tass in various forms. You may have to fight to keep this place to yourself, though – werewolves, spirits, and rival mages are always looking to add such places to their collections. The Node might not be obvious as a magical site; most of them are not. To folks who understand such things, though, Nodes stand out as beacons of energy desired by mystics and Technocrats alike.

In the grand tradition of religions and empires everywhere, Nodes tend to get converted to suit the purposes of the groups that claim them. The Technocracy sends in teams to sanitize mystic Nodes and then builds strongholds, labs, or power stations on top of the previous installation. Mystic mages consecrate such territories in their own ways, building temples over glens, churches over wells, and shopping malls or computer labs over the holy ground once honored by a rival group. In short, Nodes present one of the nastier fronts of the Ascension War. Even allied mages, like Celestial Choristers and Verbena, are not above repurposing one another’s sacred spaces… all for the greater good, of course!

Nodes have Resonance that comes from the type of energy that formed them. The Tass from a given site carries that Resonance with it too, and the form that Tass takes will follow the nature of the Node. A Node forged by a battle might radiate fury and sadness, incarnated as blood, bones, and ash; a fountain of hope feels refreshing and clean, with pure water Tass; but a Frankensteinesque laboratory feels Gothic and foreboding, with lightning bolt Quintessence arcing between generators and captured in batteries, as Tass, for later use. The Gauntlet tends to thin out around mystic Nodes, but it thickens in Technocratic ones unless you’re using Dimensional Science procedures instead of spirit magick.

As a Background Trait, this Node represents a location that’s held by your character and perhaps a few friends. You can pool Background points to buy a larger Node, though your group will need a reasonable, story-based reason if you want to begin the chronicle with a place of great power. Your Node produces a certain amount of ambient, untapped Quintessence that your Avatar can absorb while you meditate in that spot for a while, plus a bit of Tass that can be collected in solid form and used later elsewhere. The exact amounts of Tass and free Quintessence depend upon the nature of your chronicle: a high-fantasy saga’s Node might produce as much as five or 10 Quintessence points per week for every dot in the Background rating, whereas a “magic is dying” chronicle would have Nodes that produce only one or two Quintessence per week for each dot in that Trait. Ultimately, the Storyteller determines the per-week value of a Node. For industrial-era chronicles, we suggest two points per week, per dot in the Trait – half of that in free Quintessence, the other half in Tass. Regardless of its form, that supply of Quintessence is finite. If you absorb it all into your Avatar or collect it all as Tass, that Node needs to replenish its energy before it can be used again.

Werewolves think of Nodes as caerns: sacred spaces blessed by their primal moon-goddess. Driven by religious fervor, they tend to claim Nodes for themselves when they can. Although such creatures avoid the cold factories of Technocratic power, a mage or cabal with a mystic Node could have some large, furry visitors wishing to discuss a real-estate transaction…

(Note: The caern levels have been adjusted from older versions of the rules in order to reflect the 1-10 scale of this Background.)

### Past Lives

Reincarnation remains a subject of debate, even among mages. Akashics and Chakravanti base their entire approach to reality upon that idea, yet their Chorus allies (to say nothing of those atheistic Technocrats) deny the concept of recycled souls… or sometimes the very idea of a soul! Still, there appears to be something there… a familiar essence that certain people can call upon in times of need.

With this Background, you can meditate on a past life (or, at the Storyteller’s discretion, experience a sudden burst of insight) in order to get help in a current situation. Maybe the glare of an imposing adversary reminds you of that time you faced down Stalin’s chief operative, or that weird book reminds you of the alchemical scroll you studied in Byzantium. If the Past Lives Background kicks in, your memories help you with the present dilemma.

Game-wise, this Background’s dice pool may add to the dice pool of another task. Once per game session, you can check in with that well of memory. Every dot in Past Lives gives you one die to roll against difficulty 8; each success on that roll gives you an extra die to use on an upcoming roll with some other Ability. These dice can either add to the dice pool for an Ability you already possess, or else – like the Background: Dream – give you a temporary dice pool for an Ability you don’t normally have on your sheet. Past Lives does not ensure success, but it can lend a bit of extra expertise.

Botching a Past Lives roll lands you in the middle of some past-life trauma; for a crucial moment, the memories overwhelm your character, blowing any chance of success in the here-andnow. That’s especially disconcerting if your mage doesn’t believe in reincarnation! (“What the hell was THAT all about…?”) For an extra dose of Awesome Sauce, note down details of your past life when you access this Trait successfully. Such memories will probably come in handy again someday…

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### Patron

In the chessboard politics of the Ascension factions, certain players conceal their faces from the pawns. One of those players has dedicated him- or herself to your welfare… at least for the moment. Chances are, you have no idea who this patron is, what they want, or what the final bill for services rendered will be; even if you think you know who’s behind that goodwill, the truth remains uncertain. This person is no Mentor or Ally but a secretive benefactor whose true goals remain hidden… at least for the moment… from your understanding.

Game-wise, Patron reflects a powerful party who’s watching out for your character’s interests. Only the Storyteller knows what this party’s plans are and what their interest in the character might be. At the beginning of the chronicle, at least, this benefactor exerts force in mysterious ways: orders get reversed, contracts issued or terminated, gifts delivered, hints dropped, and strings pulled. Magick will not reveal the reason for these indulgences – the patron’s far too clever to get caught that easily. There’s clearly some alliance or common ground involved, but the nature of that connection remains elusive. Especially in paranoid labyrinths like the Hermetic or Technocratic Orders, this mysterious generosity can be very disconcerting. Someday, you know, the patron will call in his markers…

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### Rank

You hold a title of some distinction among the masses – perhaps a military rank, a religious office, an executive position with a powerful corporation, or some similarly influential post. That position grants you a degree of respect, certain perks related to the job, and probably the immediate deference (and obedience) of lowerranking personnel. Naturally, this rank demands responsibility to that office too; a head of state can’t just run off and have adventures when she pleases! Ranks above the ones shown below certainly exist, but they’re not suitable for player characters because they demand too much time and responsibility

Especially common among Technocrats, this Background commands Influence – as per that Background Trait – equal to the Rank rating. However, this Influence activates only among the people under the Rank’s dominion (say, staffers under an executive, or citizens under nobility) and in situations in which the character is acting within the limits of her office.

Other people might not be so easily impressed, in which case the Influence counts as half the Rank or a level of the Storyteller’s choosing. (A mullah still holds some clout with non-Muslims, but not as much as he holds among the faithful.) Also keep in mind that the VP of Finance of a Fortune 500 company might command Influence among people who live and breathe capitalism, but a group of Occupy Wall Street protestors might react very negatively to the character’s Rank…

When acting in an official capacity, your character may also access Resources (again, as the Background) equal to half her Rank, or a level of the Storyteller’s choosing as a perk of her office… though she’ll probably need to answer to her superiors for how those Resources are spent! She might also have Fame at half her Rank among the people she commands. If she wants Influence, Resources, or Fame independent of that Rank, however, then she’ll need to buy them separately; a drill sergeant can be wealthy from family money, but that cash flow doesn’t come through military channels. Rank might confer other benefits as well, depending on the office. A priest could not commandeer a company’s best limousine, but the VP of that company damn well can!

Note that Rank reflects status among Sleeper institutions. Mage status has nothing to do with this Background, although a VP, priest, or drill sergeant might still impress certain Awakened folks due to that person’s position in the mortal world.

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### Resources

All splats use the Resources background write up found here

### Retainers

“What will it be tonight, sir?” When the battle’s over (or shortly before it begins), a faithful retainer can bind your wounds, sharpen your weapons, clean up the bodies, and make sure you make it to your 8 o’clock meeting in the morning.

Unlike Allies or Familiars, such Retainers aren’t skilled in the mystic Arts or combat; unlike Backup or Spies, they’re not faceless guns or founts of information. Each retainer is a devoted servant, employee, mind-controlled servitor, lab-built construct, or even a very minor spirit who does your bidding with a decent sense of loyalty. He’ll tend your house, your gear, and your overall busywork. Perhaps he’s a pathetic lab-assistant, a mundane apprentice, a lover, or a devoted friend. He’s your Igor; she’s your Moneypenny. So long as you treat such characters with respect (and maybe even if you don’t), this Background gives you extra sets of hands.

As with the aforementioned Backgrounds, each Retainer is a Storyteller character in his or her own right. That character’s loyalty depends a lot on circumstances, but she can generally be counted on unless things get really bad. With few exceptions, a Retainer’s skills are strictly mundane. He might know some yoga or have office experience, but he won’t be hefting a machine gun anytime soon! If and when you train up a Retainer character, that character becomes an Ally instead.

Lab-built constructs and spirit retainers are essentially normal human beings with a certain special effect and origin but no unusual powers beyond, perhaps, unusual strength or the ability to float around the mansion. Other than that, they’re just plain folks. Rich people have several retainers on staff, but you don’t need to be wealthy to have this Background. A homeless mage might still enjoy the loyalty of the kid she saved from an abusive dad.

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### Sanctum/Laboratory

You have a place where you can get away from it all – said “all” being the consensual reality that hinders your Arts and Enlightened Sciences. Oh, this place still exists on the Earthly plane, and it’s subject to the Paradox Effect. Still, your Lab or Sanctum is a place of power and privacy, set to fulfill your needs and allow you to hone your skills in relative safety.

A Sanctum can range from a small herb-garden with wards set against intruders and trees planted to screen the place off from casual viewing to small laboratories filled with gleaming scientific gear. Martial-arts studios, yoga lofts, sacred groves, basement dens, band practice spaces, penthouse suites, photography studios, tiny shrines on remote mountaintops – the Sanctum or Lab is whatever you want it to be. Essentially, a mage or group secures the place, dedicates it to reflect their needs and wishes, and sets the reality of that space to suit the owners’ purposes. A Progenitor lab might gleam under sterile lights, polished surfaces of steel and glass ready to advance the call of Science. A ritual clearing might nestle in amongst thick forests, old runes cut into trees and stones artfully arranged to emphasize the mystic nature of the place. You might have a blood-spattered basement with chairs of human bones; a ‘70s-style seduction pad; a bookstore that’s open only at night; a hobbit-hole straight out of a Peter Jackson Tolkien flick – whatever suits your fancy (and your available resources) is within the grasp of this Background Trait.

In game terms, this Trait provides several benefits:

* A relatively private space to conduct experiments, meditate, practice your arts, and so on. Again, this privacy is relative; Technocratic operatives rarely have such places to themselves. Unless a group or individual is extremely wealthy and connected, a Technocratic Laboratory is actually owned and managed by the Union, not by the operatives themselves. Thus, your superiors have their eyes on you even within your sanctuary, and its privacy is more of a courtesy than an absolute.
* • A stock of materials you can use – herbs, cauldrons, diagrams, elaborate glyphs carved into the floors, martial arts practice weapons, chemistry arrays, telescopes, microscopes, whatever. This stock depends upon the Background rating and allows you constant access to whatever it is (within reason) that you need.
* A Sanctum’s specially prepared ritual space (or a Lab’s experimental space) reduces the difficulty of rituals or experiments performed in that area. That reduction depends on the Background trait’s rating, as shown below.
* A cloaking effect safeguards the place’s location. Essentially, the Sanctum/ Laboratory has an Arcane/ Cloaking rating based on the place’s Background rating. You could consider this effect a result of protection wards, concealment fields, an aura of ordinariness… that sort of thing. As long as they stay within the protected area, characters enjoy the protection of this Arcane effect too. (A character who already has the Arcane/ Cloaking Background gets whichever Arcane rating is highest – the rating of the Sanctum or the rating of her Arcane rating – not a combination of both.)
* All Effects cast within the Sanctum are considered coincidental magick, so long as those Effects follow the definition of reality within that sanctuary. Cloning would be coincidental within an Iteration X or Progenitor lab; spirit-summoning would be coincidental on a shaman’s sacred ground; a witch could conjure imps or heal gaping wounds within his Sanctum; but the Black Suit busting down the door would find himself at a distinct disadvantage there because…
* The Effects of rival mages are considered vulgar in your space. That Man in Black’s procedures go against the prevailing reality within that witch’s sanctuary, whereas the witch’s spells run counter to the established reality of a NWO Construct. Rivals who use the same style of magick would be considered equally at home in a Sanctum – two Verbenae, for example, who hate each other’s guts but who employ the same paradigms and tools would both be considered coincidental within the same sanctum; an Etherite, however, would find that her weird science is vulgar within that witch’s sacred ground, even if she was allied with one of the rival Verbenae.
* Mystic Sanctums have an additional benefit over technological Laboratories: the Gauntlet rating is one level lower in a place that’s been dedicated to magick than it is in a similar place than has not been so dedicated. The Gauntlet in a technomagickal Laboratory, on the other hand – like those used by the Society of Ether or Virtual Adepts – is one level higher than it would be otherwise. And a Technocracy Laboratory has a Gauntlet rating of 9 except with regards to Dimensional Science procedures, whose Effects are considered coincidental in an appropriate Technocratic Lab.

Because of these many benefits, a Sanctum costs TWO Background dots for each dot in the Sanctum. If you’re allowed to purchase Backgrounds with experience points, Sanctum costs double the usual Background price. For rules for creating a Sanctum after CC, please see Sanctum

Regardless of its nature, this space must be specially prepared by the group or mage who uses it, with constant maintenance (no less than once per month) to keep the space attuned to the people who use it. A Sanctum can be no larger than 500 square feet, and most of them are much smaller than that… typically a room or two. Because this is personal space, it’s often wise to limit the people coming and going throughout your Sanctum. Too much traffic can render a Sanctuary mundane, as far as reality’s Consensus is concerned.

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### Spies

A collection of little birds in various nests keeps you wellinformed. These informants aren’t necessarily your friends – they may, in fact, hate you with the burning intensity of a thousand fiery suns. For the moment, though, you have something they want: money, sex, drugs, magick, whatever. In return for that indulgence, they’ll tell you what they know.

Spies come in many different forms: disgruntled associates, dismayed staff, jaded groupies, desperate addicts, loyal acolytes of your cause, folks who owe you favors, people who’d be in very deep trouble without you, opportunists who like the color of your money, lovers who want to stay on your good side… Certain mad scientists and Technocrats even have special critters or tiny robots who report back to them. Whatever your relationship to these spies might be, however, they could turn against you if you’re not careful. Money, magick, better drugs, the threat of torture – all these things and more might flip your spies into someone else’s service. And even if they do remain loyal to you, your spies can be misled with false data or mistaken impressions of what’s really going on. They know only what they’re able to see.

Systems-wise, this Trait lets you ferret out information (Intelligence + Spies); circulate misinformation, diversions, and lies (Manipulation + Spies); impress people from a distance (Charisma + Spies); or note potential threats before they solidify (Perception + Spies). A true spymaster can command well above five dots in this Trait, which explains the frightening influence of certain Hermetics, Technocrats, vigilantes, and criminal minds.

### Status

Respect is important. Fortunately, you enjoy a certain degree of respect within your chosen group. This Background reflects your overall reputation among your Awakened peers – Virtual Adepts, Templars, Progenitors, etc. At the highest levels of Status (4 and 5), that rep extends to affiliated groups (all the Traditions, Disparate Crafts, Technocracy Conventions) and might extend outside your faction as well. (“I’ve heard a lot about you, Mister Leonard – even here, we’ve heard of you…”)

Story-wise, Status gives you a certain amount of respect from associated mages. This, in turn, grants you some deference: folks open doors for you, address you by your desired name and title, send you invitations for special events, and so forth. If you need a small favor, or get involved in a dispute, Status lends your cause a bit of weight.

In game terms, you may add this Background to your dice pool during Social rolls when dealing with your peers; an admired Virtual Adept, for instance, would add four dice to her Social rolls among the Adepts. That bonus is halved (round up) among mages from a different but allied sect; the same Adept would get a two-dice bonus among other Traditions. You don’t get that bonus among enemies or strangers, though they might acknowledge you in story terms. (“Our files on you, Ms. Vasquez – or perhaps I should call you ‘Voodoo’ – are most… impressive…”)

Obviously, Status must be based on something you do or have done. A brand-new mage isn’t going to have Status 5 – she’ll have to earn it. This Background reflects a reputation among mages, not among Sleepers or other entities, though certain beings in the know (like vampires or spirit-lords) might recognize a Status 4 or 5 mage. Ideally, this Background is granted by the Storyteller as a reward for your actions throughout the chronicle. You can also lose Status by failing to live up to it; an agent known for cowardice won’t command respect for long…

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### Totem

Long before technology gave us little gods, shamans swore pacts with spirit helpers. Each side of such pacts received something in return: the shaman got aid when necessary, and the spirit got a human ally for Earthly matters. These days, a handful of people remember these pacts. The Totem Background reflects such a bargain on your part. ONLY shamans or medicine workers of some sort can choose this Background Trait.

Totems, however, are far more than just convenient helpers. Each totem is a powerful spirit archetype – an entity with many forms and faces. Coyote isn’t simply an animal; he’s a mythic trickster, libidinous and clever, though not especially wise. To be one of Coyote’s chosen is to embark on a path of mischief and misbehavior that undermines authority and fractures limitations. A shaman embraced by Coyote becomes an agent of misrule, whose tricks receive aid from Coyote himself.

Totem spirits aren’t in the business of helping human beings; in fact, these days they’re not often fond of people at all. To obtain a totem’s favor, a person needs to either seek that spirit out in a grueling vision quest or attract that spirit’s attention by embodying the totem’s essence in her daily life. That Coyote-shaman might have been a bit coyote-like in the first place: tricky and shifty with an anti-authoritarian streak a mile wide… If so, she may have had Coyote’s attention all along! Either way, a shaman who wants to bond with her spirit totem will have to journey off into the spirit world (probably while enduring a real-life ordeal) in order to impress that totem with her potential devotion.

Unlike those wizards who compel obedience from spirits, a totem-bound shaman doesn’t demand a pact. Nor does she worship the spirit as if it were a god. Instead, the shaman becomes kin to the spirit – essentially a cousin, sibling, or child. That said, a shaman/ totem bond can be fractious, argumentative, even insulting. Totems tend to be pretty rough around the edges… and so, for that matter, do most shamans. Both parties understand each other in the cryptic, sometimes blunt manner that families often use… and, like relatives, can speak volumes to each other while hardly saying a word.

In story terms, the totem spirit becomes like a combination of Ally and Patron, helping your shaman when it suits that totem’s wishes to do so. As with other allied characters, this spirit has certain things it wants in return. Typically, those desires combine service (“Go hunt down the people who killed my wolf-children”) with a ban (“Do not kill wolves or allow other people to kill them, unless those wolves attack you first”). Both elements depend on the nature of the totem – Cockroach, for instance, won’t have you hunting rabbits or ban you from drinking alcohol. In exchange, the totem instills a bit of its essence – its touch or mark – on its chosen people. A person with a Wolf totem has a fierce yet noble aspect, but one sworn to Cockroach is a tough, if dirty, survivor.

Systems-wise, each dot in Totem gives you a closer connection to a spirit entity: the higher the rating, the deeper the bond. The Background costs TWO points per dot (like Enhancements and Sanctum) and confers an escalating series of benefits:

* Communication: A totem can always communicate with its chosen people. Generally, though, this involves omens, dreams, and whispers in your ear. Totems rarely hold conversations with their human kin unless the bond is especially intense (in game terms, Totem 4 or 5). Your totem might get chatty in a dream, but don’t expect that to become a habit. Spirits often expect humans to be stupid… and cryptic communications weed out the dummies. If you can’t figure out what the totem’s saying, after all, why should it bother talking to you at all?
* Appearance: Your totem shows up, either in a form that only you can see or – at the higher levels – in a spiritanimal manifestation. These manifestations have the approximate traits of the appropriate animals, although a five-dot Totem could be considerably more powerful if the situation demands a powerful appearance.
* Ability: Each totem spirit has certain famous traits: Fox’s cleverness, Cat’s stealth, Lion’s ferocity, and so forth. As a result, the Totem Background gives you additional dice to add to an Ability that’s related to that spirit’s nature. If you don’t have that Ability to begin with, then you’re clearly not worthy of the totem’s attention! To bond with a totem spirit, you must share something of its nature.
* Wisdom: Totems teach their special kin how to deal with the spirit worlds. In game terms, this comes through as dots in either Cosmology, Lore (with a specialty in Spirits), or both.
* • Totem Mark: As mentioned above, a totem shares a bit of its nature with the shaman… and the shaman probably displayed a bit of that nature even before the bond. Once the bond becomes official, her behavior and appearance favor the totem’s nature even more. People who work with spirits will be able to spot the totem’s connection to your shaman (“You’ve got the look of Raven about you…”) with a successful Perception + Awareness roll. At the upper levels of this Background, though, even Sleepers notice it; they might not know what it is that they’re seeing, but the shaman feels odd to them. (“Lady, what’s with that coyote-skin head on your backpack… and don’t you EVER comb your hair?”)

Because of the differences between human shamans and shamanic werewolves, this Background differs from the Werewolf: The Apocalypse Background of the same name. (It’s also a revision of the Background presented in The Spirit Ways, which resembled the Werewolf one.) As with Backgrounds like Fame, Resources, Status, and so forth, you must maintain your totem bond and keep your spirit-kin happy. Otherwise, you could lose dots in this Trait… possibly losing Totem completely. This Background works well with Allies, Blessing, Familiar, and Legend; it might be tied to certain Merits or Flaws as well. Those Traits, of course, must still be purchased separately.

As mentioned above, only shamanic or medicine-working characters may have the Totem Background. Technocrats – being dead to the spirits – cannot ever bond with a totem spirit other than two specific exceptions: The Man and The Machine. Certain spirit-oriented technomancers, however, might bond with tech-oriented totems. Hermetics, Choristers, and other monotheistic, high-ritual types are generally considered too bossy or antagonistic to win a totem spirit’s affection.

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### Wonder (Device/ Fetish/ Talisman, etc.)

A wonder by any name is still as sweet… and you have one. What’s a Wonder? Perhaps it’s a mystic Talisman imbued with magickal power; a Fetish whose strange properties come from a spirit bound within its form; or a Technocratic or weird-science Device, shaped by Enlightened Science into something that transcends mortal technology. In game terms, a Wonder is simply an item with Sphere Effects of its own. Although such items, with a few exceptions, usually work only for mages, the Wonder’s form and function depend on the people who created it and the methods involved in its creation.

So long as your Storyteller agrees, a Wonder can be anything: an oak branch carved with Nordic runes, a plasma cannon, a robotic SUV, a bank card that skims money from every account held by that bank, an enchanted guitar, an owl -feather pen that writes in any human language… the Wonder’s form and function can, within limits, be whatever you want them to be. Certain terms (Fetish, Device, etc.) define particular types of items.

Wonders can be temperamental… especially Fetishes, whose guiding spirits have personalities of their own. Even Devices, however, can seem uncannily stubborn, as anyone with a finicky car or computer can attest. They tend to have odd effects on the people who use them, especially mages who rely upon Wonders the way Elric of Melniboné relies upon his sword Stormbringer. In many cases, Wonders have elaborate backstories about their creation, history, and deeds. If your character begins play with a Wonder, work out an intriguing history and description of that item, then pass it off to your Storyteller for approval and further elaboration. Chances are, your Wonder will have secrets you won’t know about. Ideally, a Wonder is more than a simple “magic item”; instead, it’s a miracle in material form – solid proof of magick’s reality

The Background costs TWO points per dot (like Totem and Sanctum).

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