And Why Not?

Yesterday I posted my Heromachine depictions of The Fiend. Then I went home and made some of two other GK1943 characters, so I suppose I ought to share them also. The Themiscyran Amazon named Galatea and the shadow-born quasi-angelic woman named Twilight.
Well, here they are!

Another Look at The Fiend

Some while back I stumbled over Hero Machine, but I didn’t really take the time to do more than glance at it very briefly until last night, when I decided to try and put it through its paces and see if it was up to creating images of a rather challenging character: my own Brigitte Adelinde von Teufel, better known as The Fiend.

For those of you that might be new readers, Fraulein von Teufel is a gestalt being, created by thoroughly merging the mortal woman whose name this creature still bears with a demoness (specifically a Fury, a bringer of punishment and retribution), as a result of a botched summoning where the Nazi Occultist (Sigismund von Asch, the human Brigitte’s mentor) tried to sacrifice her to summon the Fury in question through her mortal shell. Neither the woman nor the demon exists anymore, in their place is a hybrid partaking of the abilities, knowledge and identity of both at once. She hasn’t aged a day since that event in 1938. As a character, one could think of her as being somewhere between Elsa Schneider, Illyana Rasputin and John Constantine. But enough jibber-jabber. Here are the results of my fevered experimentation. As always, click the images if you want to get a look at larger versions of these images.

Here’s Brigitte in the modern days. She doesn’t look half bad for a centenarian!

(This story bit overlaps with Falling Awake and The Morning Breaks but mostly takes place after both)

It was about 2 or 3 in the morning when Ro finally rubbed her tired eyes and stretched. She could easily refresh herself and go for quite a while without sleeping, but sleeping allowed one to dream and process. Besides, Joseph was only marginally awake and she’d done all she could for this leg of Linda’s journey.

“Okay… I’m going to get a few hours of shut-eye. You do the same, huh?” Her blue eyes rested on the garou male a long moment, expression soft and a little wistful. They’d talked on and off since bringing Linda back to the house. Some surprises and ‘aha!’ moments on both sides led both of them to a greater understanding, she hoped. “Hold her tight and I’ll be back when she wakes, or a little after.”

“I’ll do that,” he said softly and flashed her a charming, white-toothed smile. Joseph was undeniably handsome, but he was also a man that knew how to listen and was good at drawing people out to talk about themselves. Also, he remembered the details later and could retell them to sound more exciting and meaningful than they had to the original teller. “Sleep well, Ro. She’ll be safe with me.”

The Morning Breaks

(The below is a direct follow up to Falling Awake)

Amrita had rolled into lotus after her last pose of the morning, body sweating pleasantly from one of her more strenuous routines. Her connection to Gaia was still strong this morning, and she let her awareness expand in the meditative state, flowing into “all that is” with each exhalation. It was a kind of pleasure that was difficult to explain to anyone who’d never felt something similar, that letting go of the ego-self in favor of the ultimate release into everything at once. But those who’d been there knew it too, and sometimes that had to be enough.

She was deeply aware of the shifts of consciousness in the house. One such shift rang like a bell in her own consciousness, just as the sun peaked above the eastern horizon.

Linda had awakened.

Garou Astrology

The Garou Lunar Calendar

This text is a slightly modified version of this page’s information, which does directly follow the text of Rage Across The Heavens and the Player’s Guide to Garou, just adding a little bit more detail on certain items.

Unsurprisingly, the animistic culture of the Garou measures the passage of time differently than humanity at large. This article will give you, the player, a basic idea of how it works and how it can affect your character. This information is taken from Rage Across the Heavens, and is thus ‘canon’ material. While there are no direct game effects, you can use this to flesh out your Garou’s history by giving him or her a more direct connection to the stars. One thing to remember is that unlike Humanity, Garou have concrete evidence of the influence of celestial bodies on their lives and personality: Luna demonstrably governs their connection to their Rage, which burns hottest when the moon is full and wanes with the moon’s descent into darkness. Hence it makes sense that they will lend credence to the idea that other celestial bodies have a measure of influence over their lives as well.

Perfect!

Argh!
I was thinking about Mage: the Ascension rotes, and my brain threw up a little with cross-pollinated ideas. If I ever run a Euthanatos with Forces 3, I’m going to be horribly tempted to have him shout “Yoga Fire!”
At least that’s better than what I’d be tempted to have an Akashic Brother say…

 

Stop looking at me that way. White Wolf DID make the Street Fighter RPG too.

Falling Awake

All was pain and anguish. Howls and the beating of drums pounding in her head, a scratching and clawing beneath her own skin, and a horrid, agonized shrieking that only she could hear.

A powerful, furred set of arms was wrapped firmly yet gently about her and her face was pressed into the chest of their owner, a tender, slim human hand was clasped hard in her ghastly claw, and a cooling, soothing sensation radiated from the little metallic devices that were adhering to her temples. These few comforts she clung to as best she could through unknown hours of suffering.

Again the howling came, and the comforting hand, the supporting arms and the calming devices were gone.

Her eyes closed.

On the Technocracy

I’ve often heard it said that the Technocracy are the real heroes of the old World of Darkness. It is true that the Technocracy is supposedly a protector of humanity against the Things outside… but in true dystopian style, they are a protector from whom humanity badly needs protection.

Yes, the Traditions grow from the mythic threads of ancient archmages that were basically arrogant douchebags and the Order of Reason rose up for entirely justified reasons (IE protecting humanity from those jerks)… but the road to Hell is, as ever, paved with good intentions.

I don’t buy the Technocracy as the hero of the oWoD. I don’t really truly buy there as actually being one group that is in fact the hero of the oWoD. The Garou and some of the other Fera try, but… yeah. The Traditions try, but…yeah. The Imbued? They’re crazy dupes working for renegade angels with a grudge. The Amenti are probably the best candidate, but they’re way too little too late.

Are individuals within all of the above groups undeniably heroes? Absolutely. Usually tragic heroes, but certainly individual members of the Technocracy, even fairly highly placed ones, sometimes do have the best interests of other people in mind and that try to be heroic. The same applies to all of these other groups as well.

Probably my biggest problem with the Technocracy (and note that I like them, I really do) as heroes is that they are an inherently and determinedly dishonest and manipulative entity.

When Pigs Fly

If I ever play an oWoD game where there is a Grondr character, I will have to insist that the character learns the Gift: Spirit of the Bird.

Just sayin’.

Favorites, 40K Edition

In the GrimDarkness of the far future, there is only war, or so we are told. The Warhammer 40,000 universe is populated with a considerable array of different options for players, and probably half of those options consist of different paint jobs for these guys:

At least that's what Games Workshop wants you to think of them.

As nifty as the Marines are, I consider them overhyped, oversaturated and frankly much less interesting than one specific other faction. Let’s think about the various factions that exist in WH40K and see a little bit of why.