Template:Mortal Hooks

In order to make sure all characters have an easy hook into the plot of the game and the themes we want to run, Mortal+ 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 your allegiance is to the Traditionalists, the Golden Gate Chantry in The Mission is your base of operations; otherwise, you know of the Disparates' habit to hit up the Holy Virgin Cathedral in the Richmond, as its contemplative space cultivates an awe that inspires regardless of religion.

When taking All Out Of Bubble Gum, you can pick one of the following perks:

• Ally (Various Options): Either Virtual Adept Alex Foster, the Verbena Royce Morris, the Chakravanti Vikram Patel, or the Wu Lung Vince Choi, 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 Alternate Identity, Mana, or Lore.
• Stat Boost: You have 2 extra dots after character generation and may invest them into Stamina, 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 towards eventual 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

You belong to a society imbued with profound power and knowledge, 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 Mana, Guide, or Contacts.
• Stat Boost: You have 2 extra dots after character generation and may invest them into Politics, Law, Streetwise, or Empathy.

In order to make sure all characters have an easy hook into the plot of the game and the themes we want to run, vanilla mortal 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.

San Francisco Libertine (Vanilla Human Version)

San Francisco is such an idyllic place, but only for certain people, and the the ravine between the rich and poor is just not something you can leave alone.

Maybe your vision is improving daily life for the down and out, or using your own wealth to cast a ladder down to those without. Maybe you're here to help your fellow working man eat the rich. Either way, you're out there to somehow 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. Whether or not you know the true nature of your faceless enemy, the Camarilla needs its servant class, and the Technoracy thinks that raising humanity requires a great big ladder that somebody has to hold at the bottom. And the opposition isn't just supernatural. 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.

When taking San Francisco Libertine, you can pick one of the following perks:

• Influence: Get 1 additional dot of Influence, applied after character generation, in any category.
• Background Boost: Get 1 additional dot of Fame, Contacts, or Allies.
• Stat Boost: You have 2 extra dots after character generation and may invest them into Politics, Law, Streetwise, or Empathy.

Unwitting Pawn

Cop, corpo or criminal: either way, now and again, you wonder if you're not part of something bigger. A cog in a machine designed to do ... what?

• Cop: You work for SFPD as a patrol officer, detective, or administrative role.
• Criminal: You're a fixer, merc, or all-out member, affiliated with a gang that, behind the scenes, has been infiltrated by a vampiric sect.
  • Anarch Choices: Hells Angels MC, Mexican Mafia
  • Sabbat Choices: Sinaloa Cartel, Sun Yee On
  • Camarilla Choices: 14K, Wah Ching, Inagawa kai (Yakuza)
• Corpo: You work for one of the vampire sects' many fronts, which you might or might not suspect is a front, but vampires isn't exactly where your conclusions jump.
  • Anarch Choices: Lopez Imports, associated with Transportation Influence.
  • Camarilla Choices: SLC Consulting Engineers, associated with Industrial (Construction) Influence.
  • Sabbat Choices: XPO Biomedical, associated with Industrial (Manufacturing) Influence or Academic (Chemistry + Biomedical) influence.

Some details of your life don't add up, like entire nights you just don't ... Remember. Faces you know you've seen before but you just don't know why. Whether you know it or not, you're on puppet strings with the Camarilla (or the more shrewd members of its sister sects) yoinking the other end. If you're a ghoul, those strings are obviously tied by the Blood. If not, well -- keep on puzzling it together, partner.

You've done things that don't sit well with your gut that stink of cover-up. You've been paired to work with private investigators and night-time contractors that just radiate weird vibes. They say ignorance is bliss, and after the shit you've seen glimpses of? You fucking stalk your bliss.

(Note: this isn't a "learn the sphere as you go" hook, this is "mere mortal in a world of monsters" trope hook, intended to give you a basis to RP with supernatural characters on a non-supernatural bit. Players expecting to take this hook to 'learn IC' may not use this hook to 'learn IC' because we do not want to burden other players with the responsibility of your tutelage. RTFM).

Players taking Unwitting Pawn can pick one of the following perks:

• Influence (Multiple Options): Take an Influence track that is compatible with your choice of profession. Picking 'Cop' will narrow your Influence choices to Police and Law influence. Picking 'Criminal' will require you to affiliate your influence with one of the listed gangs. Picking 'Corpo' will require you to pick from the specified influence that correspond to the companies above. (Picking Nomad will pair you up with Pan Am. Shut up, they're good hooks, Bront).
• Stat Boost: You get 2 additional Ability dots after Chargen. These can be allocated to Investigation, Technology or Professional Skill.
• Patron (Multiple Options): Receive 2 points of Patron out of the following NPC choices:
  • Sabbat Choice: Edgar "Zelle" Phillips, Sinaloa fixer.
  • Camarilla Choice: Katy Cox, SLC bangtern who definitely knows too much.
  • Anarchs Choice: Tiny Toe Tracy, Hells Angels mercenary.

Underground Initiate

You've were captivated by the concept of the underground, a silent world hidden under our feet made of all-too-real labyrinths. Whether or not you still explore them, your modern-day catacombs were the city's steam and service tunnels, from BART to the sewers, and you've found some weird shit.

We're not talking albino raccoons (although, check), dead bodies (check) or acres of curated graffiti galleries (also, check). We're talking shit that, when you found it, you knew you weren't meant to know. And so did They.

Your options might not have necessarily been "join or die," but either way, 'join' was the friendliest option. You're either now a ghoul or an acolyte, and you've been one for some time now. You know the rules, you know your place, the lingo. You're not learning the ropes. You've learned 'em. It's just that you're krill in a deep, dark ocean.

If you're an acolyte, what you don't know yet is your paradigm, it's just not clicking. The fruits of your grueling labor are still too green. If you're a ghoul, well. You know. Your aspirations and dreams to be a lawyer/doctor/astronaut are very charming but you live for your Master now.

Good luck, Renfield.

(Note: this isn't a "learn the sphere as you go" hook, this is "mere mortal in a world of monsters" trope hook, intended to give you a basis to RP with supernatural characters on a non-supernatural bit. Players expecting to take this hook to 'learn IC' may not use this hook to 'learn IC' because we do not want to burden other players with the responsibility of your tutelage. RTFM).

When taking Underground Initiate, you can pick one of the following perks:

• 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 master's trying to figure out how to bust into the secret lair under Yaddah Plaza? 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.