Disparates
In order to make sure all characters have an easy hook into the plot of the game and the themes we want to run, Mage character applications should pick one of the following backstory aspects. If you do not like any of these aspects, you can collaborate with staff to write your own hook into the story. We will need you to have a direct "in" to be approved. Custom perks will not be available for custom hooks, but existing perks can be applied. For instance, you make up a story that ties you to an NPC mentioned below, you could reasonably take them as an ally as if you took a standard hook.
All Out Of Bubble Gum
This is a war. It's either they burn or we get snuffed out. And we will not be snuffed out.
San Francisco's recent past has been quiet, but the invasion of the Syndicate into Sutro Baths has struck a wake-up call among Awakened such as yourself. Breaktime's over. Your contributions might be as a foot soldier, a spy, or even an architect of improvements to the chantry and its node. Either way, you're here to put the Technocracy down.
If you're a Traditionalist, the Golden Gate Chantry in The Mission is your base of operations, the Clarion Alley node your wellspring. If you're a Disparate, the Holy Virgin Cathedral sees so much spiritual awe and contemplation from the city that one can refuel when Clarion Alley has dried up.
When taking All Out Of Bubble Gum, you can pick one of the following perks:
- Ally (Various Options): A member of the cabal Sanguine Services or Guiding Hands, as appropriate to your character, can be taken as your ally. Player characters who create Mentor characters will have their mentor characters added to this list if they're fleshed out enough (unless the creating player does not consent). You can call on whatever NPC you choose for IC back-up. Typically, Ally characters can only be humans - this perk makes an exception. These NPCs can each be additionally purchased (separately) as dots of Mentor.
- Background Boost: Get 1 additional dot of Cult, Alternate Identity, or Destiny.
- Stat Boost: You have 2 extra dots after character generation and may invest them into Athletics, Brawl, Melee, or Firearms.
Salvage Operations
The drive -- the need -- to learn and understand is universal, but your calling to unearth the unknown sears a singular purpose within your quest for Ascension.
The decades have buried untold tomes, wonders, and maybe even portals beneath San Francisco, sometimes even literally: the SF Underground is a mixture of subway and sewer connections, but also collapsed homes and even sunken ships covered in the landfill that builds the foundation for Embarcadero.
You've been able to pick through the wreckage at your leisure until now. The Technocracy is setting up shop again. The race is on. If you don't act, it's only a matter of time before they find our old safehouses, libraries, totems and talismans. Restore the lost to its former glory, or let it slip between your fingers to the worst possible competition.
When taking Salvage Operation, you can pick one of the following perks:
- СУПЕР СУУУС! (Underground Scholar): Take the Scholar Of Others merit for free, applied to area knowledge of the city of San Francisco. It's not an Occult knowledge base that you have, rather, it's a fluent understanding of the city itself. These insights help you plan your outings and missions. Your cabal's trying to figure out how to get into that progenitor lab? You know about the steam tunnels down the road that could make sneaking in a breeze...
- Influence: Take an extra dot of either Government, Academic, or Occult Influence.
- Stat Boost: You get two additional Ability points to spend on Academics, Awareness, or Occult.
San Francisco Libertine
Your Awakening has imbued you with profound power, and that gives you a responsibility to the rest of humanity.
Maybe you want to work towards helping Sleepers Ascend. Maybe you just want to protect the Sleepers from things they can't protect themselves against. Maybe you're here to make San Francisco less like the shit that cakes needle-strewn Market Street and more like the post cards: a vibrant city with a Magickal touch instead of a fentanyl-flavored hellhole of tech bros, homeless people, and homes millionaires can't afford to live in.
But that's just how the status quo likes it. In the Technocracy's mind, humanity won't ever reach the stars without inspiration, and their inspiration of choice is greed. Raising humanity to a higher state of existence will require a great big ladder, and somebody's gonna have to hold the bottom and be the last one up.
And the opposition isn't just magickal. Plenty of regular people think themselves temporarily embarrassed millionaires, and like things just the way they are. The city will have to be dragged into equality, kicking and screaming.
- Influence: Get 1 additional dot of Influence, applied after character generation, in any category.
- Background Boost: Get 1 additional dot of Cult, Destiny, or Blessing.
- Stat Boost: You have 2 extra dots after character generation and may invest them into Politics, Law, Streetwise, or Empathy.
Themes
Uncovering the Unknown – The Mages of San Francisco are constantly exploring the boundaries of this reality and many others, uncovering the full truth of the universe and the dangers that lie within. Only through discovery can the truth of the Tenth Sphere be revealed.
Recovering the Lost – The Apathy that set into San Francisco has caused many things to become Lost knowledge. Wonders, Nodes, Libraries, and other troves that would prove useful to the Awakened of San Francisco must be recovered.
Protecting the Sleepers – The Sleepers are not yet ready to be Awakened en masse, as doing so would cause dire harm to Reality. Oftentimes this requires the truth to be concealed in various creative ways. Other times, Protecting them sometimes requires a few Sleepers to witness the Truth, becoming Consors and Acolytes to assist in this task and others.
Safety From the Enemies of Awakening – The Awakened of San Francisco are beset on all sides by enemies: witch hunters, most Vampires, Marauders, the Nephandi, the Technocratic Union, and others. The Awakened must come together to repel these threats when they reveal themselves.
Claiming What’s Discarded – The Traditions have let the city of San Francisco crumble under their own Apathy. As the Disparate Alliance grows, they begin to look for Cities to claim as their own. Is San Francisco to be one of those new Alliance Free Zones?
Stealing the Spotlight – The Traditions have had centuries to prove that their path to Ascension is the proper way, pushing to the side any Craft that might show evidence to the contrary. Now is the time to steal the spotlight, and show the Awakened of the world that there is a better way.
Building the Foundations – The Alliance is growing, and must build the foundations of their organization quickly before it crumbles. Can the Disparates of San Francisco come together to build a Chantry before they lose their tenuous hold on what little they already have?
Timeline
• 1990s – The N’goma, the Batini, the Bata’a, the Hollow Ones, and the Solificati (now calling themselves the Children of Knowledge) begin to lay the foundations of an alliance of the Disparate Crafts. This Alliance is immediately forced underground, as the Technocracy begins a purge of the Crafts in this decade, as they do not have the organization and resources of the Council of Nine Traditions. Because of this Alliance, the Disparate Crafts survive the purge.
• 2000s – The Purge is ended, as the Technocracy redirected it’s resources into the War In Heaven at the end of the 1990s. The Disparate Alliance begins searching for Cities to claim as safe zones for their Crafts. The Alliance leadership begins to examine the movements of the Council of Nine Traditions and the Technocracy along the West Coast.
• 2012 – The Alliance leadership agrees in a meeting held in Portland, Oregon that they are now strong enough to begin to claim territory for themselves as they have further allied themselves with the other Lost Crafts. Cities across the world are selected for potential Alliance Free Zones.
• 2019 – The Disparate Alliance begins to send members into the San Francisco area to investigate the possibility of claiming the city for the Alliance as a Free Zone.
Staff Info
- Wizard: HARDAC
