Sample Characters

Faction: Bodyguards of Gaia

• Aesthetics: 2
• Linguistics: 1
• Athletics: 1
• Ethics: 1

• Aesthetics: Represent, Embellish
• Linguistics: Convince
• Athletics: Endure
• Ethics: Choose

• Charisma: 3 (Aesthetics, Linguistics, Ethics) - Linguistics Focus
• Arts: 1 (Aesthetics) - Aesthetics Focus
• Survival: 1 (Athletics) - Athletics Focus

• Agreement with a Gaian (+1) - Sparcity takes good care of the woods around her home, and the resident Gaian is a good friend of hers.
• A Room of One's Own (+1) - Sparcity owns a delightful hut in the middle of the woods, where she feels calm and at ease.
• Familiar (+1) - Sparcity has an adorable animal friend, a squirrel who brings her nuts and berries.
• Resources (+1) - Sparcity keeps a sizeable plot by her house. She often sells produce at the local farmers' market.
• A Thing from a Place (-1) - Sparcity went on a diverting trip to the seaside last summer, and picked up a mermaid's purse that she now keeps in a jar as a keepsake. This will surely be a cause of joy for many years to come….
• Skeleton in the Closet (-1) - Sparcity killed a man. Oh, but she had a good reason of course - the bastard was poaching in her woods. Anyway, that's all in the past… right?

A little of this, a little of that… Sparcity Nostrum has picked up her craft in a rather haphazard way. In fact, she bears a certain resemblance to Squeeze, the little squirrel she adopted as her familiar. She lives in a ramshackle hut in the middle of Whittleclump Woods, an area whose resident Gaian is a close friend of hers. Far from leading a solitary existence, Sparcity sells food at her local farmers' market and is heavily involved with her local branch of Boggies.

Sparcity Nostrum had a difficult childhood. One rainy day, she spent her lunch hour rescuing worms stranded on the tarmac of the school playground; from that day on, she was known as Worm Girl. After being ostracised for years, she gradually rebuilt her social skills from the bottom up, but gained a general antipathy towards other people. She now lives in a ramshackle hut in the middle of Whittleclump Woods, an area whose resident Gaian is a close friend of hers. Far from leading a solitary existence, Sparcity sells food at her local farmers' market and is heavily involved with her local branch of Boggies. She cultivates an air of friendly straightforwardness… but she is anything but straightforward. She is a cunning, manipulative witch whose dream is to see cities smothered by woodland and humans put in their place by the Earth Gaians she sees as her true friends.

Faction: Iron Filings

• Aesthetics: 2
• Athletics: 3

• Aesthetics: Fudge, Perceive
• Athletics: Consume, Transform, Mimic

• Charisma: 2 (Athletics, Aesthetics) - Athletics Focus
• Arts: 2 (Athletics, Aesthetics) - Aesthetics Focus
• Survival: 1 (Athletics) - Athletics Focus

• Hit Me Harder (0)
• Arrangement with an Angel (+1) - Hal has an agreement with an angel to provide them with fancy antiques and art pieces in exchange for occasional Athletics tutoring.
• Diehard Innovator (-2)
• Cursed (-1) - For their somewhat gung-ho approach to problem solving, Hal was cursed to 'think twice'. Now they are sporadically paralysed by indecision as the thousands of possible consequences of their actions flood their mind and drive them to distraction.
• Connections (+1) The White Quill (leaving the contact to the GMs)
• Resource (+1) Storage Room. An airconditioned room somewhere anonymous and reasonably secure where they can keep things safe.
• Resource (+1) Guaranteed table at an exclusive restaurant with which they have cultivated a strong relationship.
• Poorly-Located Gaian (-1) The gaian of the restaurant really hates Henry, though.
• Magical Item (+2) A compass enchanted with Ethics magic that can determine if antiques or art are real or fake. The compass is set to 'antiques' (and has the shard of a chippendale armchair in it) but could feasibly be calibrated to work on something else.

Hal Parkreiner is a high-flying antiques dealer and restaurant critic, with something of an eccentric streak. They regard witchcraft as a worthy hobby, and one where there is a more pure, more beautiful artistic approach to be found - in the off-beat and rather weird take of the Iron Filings. Though they certainly don't buy into *all* of it - who could? - they are committed to doing magic on their own terms.

Hal is something of a hedonist, and the pursues magic not truly from a broad love of the craft that the Filings promote, but from a desire to be First - the First to sample the aesthetic delights of new magic, like the cook who tastes a new combination of flavours for the first time, or the archaeologist who discovers a cache of ancient gold after thousands of years. Hal desperately craves new, sensual pleasures in their life, and magic is the latest in a long line of these. This obsession means that they are both incredibly motivated and prepared to do almost anything for a new thrill.

Faction: None

• Aesthetics: 1
• Athletics: 1
• Ethics: 1
• Linguistics: 1
• Mathematics: 1

• Aesthetics: Colour
• Athletics: Dodge
• Ethics: Trust
• Linguistics: Translate
• Mathematics: Divide

• Stealth: 3 (Athletics, Ethics, Mathematics) - Ethics Focus
• Combat: 1 (Aesthetics) - Aesthetics Focus
• Survival: 1 (Linguistics) - Linguistics Focus

• Resources (+1) - A set of second-hand, more like fifth-hand, books on case law regarding magic
• Ready for the End Times (+1) - Rudy is very well prepared for the worst to come
• Steel Trap (+1) - No one's sure why, but Rudy's mind is very well defended against outside influences
• Vice: Personal Embarrassment (-1) - On the surface level he hates it, but there's always such a rush after Rudy makes an absolute fool of himself in public

So called No. 1 Magical Solicitor for Hire, Rudy Baker is often seen working out of London's east end. Supposedly he helps people who are involved with legal disputes that revolve around magic, for a very reasonable fee, but the reputation that proceeds him is that he's about as much use as an umbrella on the moon.

Rudy, born Rudolphus, Baker grew up a comfortable life in the 'leafy' suburbs of Norwich. Safe to say, he loathed it. After finishing a legal education - with the minimal possible effort applied - he up and moved to London with dreams of becoming a magical lawyer for the people and getting rich and famous. Well… actually he dreamed of getting rich and famous, the lawyer part was just a helpful route. Well… fame isn't really that important, is it?

Faction: None

• Mathematics: 4
• Aesthetics: 1

• Mathematics: Add, analyse, integrate, summon
• Aesthetics: Charm

• Administration (mathematics)
• Arts (mathematics)
• Charisma (mathematics)
• Technology (mathematics, aesthetics) Aesthetics specialisation

• Hit me harder (0)
• Deal with a Demon (+1) Fitz managed to meet a demon by chance and struck up a conversation with him. They somehow stayed in contact - the demon's interest doesn't seem to be harmful, but Fitz really can't figure out what he wants…
• Arrangement with an Angel (-1) Oh, it wasn't just a demon. It was a demon having an argument with an angel. They seem to know each other, and not in a friendly way; being friends with the demon appears to have attracted the angel's wrath.
• Agreement with a Gaian (+1) The Gaian of a local park took pity on Fitz when they found him crying in the bushes and offered him a cup of tea and a biscuit. In gratitude, Fitz joined the Friends of Crossley Park to help keep it nice, and so the positive relationship continues.
• Argh, that's not what I meant to say! (-2)
• Resources (+1) Fitz has access to a workshop that's primarily for making watches, but could potentially be used for other small mechanical creations. Or just making watches.

Fitzellis, or Fitz, appears to be a fairly ordinary if somewhat shy young man with a fondness for waistcoats and a tendency to carry more watches than any human could realistically need.

Fitzellis Waterstone discovered his interest in magic while staying with his grandmother for a week at age 15. Having grown bored of GCSE revision he went in search of reading material and found a copy of Kitchen Witching, a rather old-fashioned book about the use of magic in the culinary arts. He devoured it and was desperate to find out more - especially once he realised just how linked magic could be with maths.

He took a night class on magic in the London branch of the Slough Institute and did notably well. Well enough that it was suggested that he become a junior researcher. Unfortunately, after a couple of weeks working with the Slough Institute the pressure of academia became too much and he left.

Currently, he runs a small online business selling pocketwatches to people who think steampunk is cool.