Character Info (WIP)

[linkedtothesea]

Name: Stormy Seas Dreaming
Alias: Sealink, Muirenn MacBride
Species: Bastet (Ceilican)
Breed: Feline
Pryio: Twilight
Concept: Escaped Fae Servant

Rank: 4 - Ilani - "Wonder Favored". Also a title used when flattering another Bastet.

Languages: Speaks English and Gaelic, as well as the feline languages that all Bastet are familiar with.

Age: 450
Hair: White/Blond
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 140 lbs
Race: White
Sex: Female
PB: Meryl Streep
Feline Form: Appears to be a small lioness with white fur and brilliant blue eyes. Can use a gift to become a large, dark tabby Maine Coon cat.

Nature: Sage

Knowledge is your treasure and your joy, and you enjoy both learning as well as teaching others your wisdom. Regain Willpower when you help someone through your vast knowledge or uncover an obscure piece of lore.

Demeanor: Gallant

You are as flamboyant as you are amoral; some see you as a rogue, a Don Juan, a rake or an idol to many — but you see yourself as all of the above. You are a consummate actor who loves to make as big a show of things as possible; nothing attracts your attention more than an appreciative audience. You love people, and you love to impress them even more. Gallants vary widely in temperament and ambition, as little unites them beyond their love of attention. This Nature is found among many Fianna. —Regain Willpower whenever you manage to dazzle or impress another person. The Storyteller is always the judge, even when characters are involved.

 

Personality: 

Jamak: King of Cats

Dashing, quick and clever, the King of Cats embodies both the bright works of Rahjah and the dark charm of Cahlash. Although most Bastet follow one aspect or the other, very few realize that both spirits are one and the same — a rogue who does good deeds even as he violates good conduct. Some see the King of Cats as the first of their kind, the one who saved Seline from the Asura; others believe he’s an avatar of both Father spirits. Whatever his origins, the King of Cats is a dapper fellow with a sharp sword and a razor wit. Although his dress changes to suit the occasion, he seems to prefer swashbuckler trappings. Though he turns feline if need be (sometimes white, often black), the King of Cats prefers to dance around in human guise, daring enemies to harm him. He is the soul of valiant rebellion, and favors those who live and die with style.

• Favors: Allies of the King of Cats receive the Grace Merit and a permanent point of Dexterity if they live by his codes: Play hard, laugh at death, and go out with a flourish. He can teach any Bastet Gift, but seldom does.
• Ban: The King of Cats will not tolerate a sober disposition. If one of his allies falls into depression or morbidity, he abandons her to find another.

The Yava:

• The Ceilican fear the touch of cold iron. It burns them like a brand.
• Reciting a Ceilican's name backwards three times causes them discomfort; recite it six times and they will die.
• The sound of a silver bell or a church hymn strikes a Ceilican deaf for three days after.

The Karoush: There is a code of conduct among the Bastet known as 'the Karoush', and it's basic principles are as follows:

• Honor Yourself
• Honor Your Word
• Honor Your Kin and Kind
• Honor Your Earth
• Honor Your Silence

Merits:

• Graceful: You've got a natural flair. Your movements hypnotize and your words charm, harsh though they may be. It's almost impossible for you to look awkward, even when you screw up royally. Most people respect this talent, and even jealous folks have to at least admit you've got style. Reduce the difficulties of all Social rolls by two whenever there's a chance to make a really good impression. This doesn't apply to threats of brute force, although grace may be intimidating in its own way.
• Bardic Gift: Gifted by the Muses, you sing sweetly, plan an instrument divinely and speak with passion and eloquence. In all cases, your skill is not as impressive as your delivery. Somehow, everything you say or perform rings with power and conviction. In game terms, subtract two from the difficulty of any Social-based roll that involves speaking, poetry, music or song. Naturally, you'll make an impression wherever you go. People are bound to talk about such a distinctive individual, and such talk may not always be in a character's best interests…
• Supernatural Companion: You have a friend and ally who happens to be a vampire, mage, wraith or changeling. Although you may call upon her in time of need, she also has the right to call upon you (after all, you are friends). However, neither your fellows nor hers are likely to appreciate such a relationship, and they'll punish both of you if you are found out (especially if you're slumming with a Leech). Meeting places and methods of communication are always risky.
• Faerie Eternity: After you went through your first change, you had a birthday, and then another, and then another. Something was strange, however — you didn't seem to be growing or getting older. You are touched with a vestige of the immortality that is the birthright of the fae. As long as you retain gnosis and rage, you will age at one-tenth that of a normal human or changeling. Should you be rendered unable to change forms, or should you retreat into Banality, you will begin to age normally.

Flaws:

• Nightmares: You experience horrendous nightmares every time you sleep, and memories of them haunt you during your waking hours. Sometimes the nightmares are so bad they cause you to lose one die on all your actions for the next night (Storyteller's discretion). Some of the nightmares may be so intense that you mistake them for reality. A crafty Storyteller will be quick to take advantage of this.
• The Bard's Tongue: You speak the truth, uncannily so. Things you say tend to come true. This is not a facility for blessing or cursing, or an Effect that can be ruled by any conscious control. However, at least once per story, an uncomfortable truth regarding any current situation will appear in your head and through your lips. To avoid speaking prophecy, you must expend a Willpower point and take a Health Level from the strain of resisting (especially if you bite a hole in your tongue).

Gifts: 

• Mother’s Blessing/Curse: Folklore holds that a cat had the ability to either bless or curse a pregnant woman. In the case of the Ceilican, this legend is true. A kind Bastet can offer a boon to the mother, while a spiteful one can harm her in some minor but memorable way.
  
  System: This Gift’s effects are more psychological than physical, and get an extra boost from the way the Ceilican acts toward the mother while offering his wishes. Setting things in motion demands a Gnosis point and a roll of Manipulation + Occult (difficulty 7). While touching the mother’s belly, the cat either wishes her well or ill, usually in some poetic rhyme. After that, some good or bad event befalls the woman or her child. Although the event itself is outside the character’s control, the number of successes he rolls should reflect the power of the Blessing or Curse. Blessings can include an easy delivery, unusual good looks or great health. Curses include breech birth, minor disability or poor constitution. Once one event has occurred, the Gift is discharged.
• Glamour: This minor Gift allows the Ceilican to make minor changes to his appearance. He cannot change his gender or gross physical characteristics (such as height or weight), but he can change things like hair and eye color, hair length, presence or absence of facial hair, clothing, and so on. In Feline form he can change the color, texture, and patterns within his fur, as well as eye color (which allows him to appear to be a mountain lion, leopard, or any other cat of similar size and build).
  
  System: The character rolls Manipulation + Expression and spends a Gnosis point. The effects of the Gift last for one scene.
• Sense Magic: The Ceilican is able to sense rituals and Gifts, the Thaumaturgy of the Tremere, the Spheres of the mages, fetishes and other magical phenomena. This Gift senses the presence of magic and its general strength; it reveals only basic information about the magic itself.
  
  System: The Ceilican rolls Perception + Enigmas. The difficulty is based on the strength and subtlety of the magic. The radius is 10 foot for each success.
• Sorcerer’s Blade: By means of this Gift a Ceilican can enchant a weapon such that it is damaging to supernatural beings. The weapons thus created inflict terrible wounds on the Bastet’s foes, all without the need for a valuable (and spiritually exhausting) fetish weapon.
  
  System: The Ceilican spends a point of Gnosis and rolls Manipulation + Occult. Success indicates that the blade so enchanted inflicts aggravated damage until the next sunrise. Only melee weapons may be enchanted in this manner.
• Scrying: By staring into a mirror or other reflective surface, the Ceilican can witness distant events or spy on rivals. She can follow a comrade's progress into a dangerous ambush or sneak a peak into a Tremere chantry house. Other supernaturals, especially ones with similar abilities, may have defenses against this Gift.
  
  System: After spending one Gnosis point, the player must roll Perception + Occult (difficulty 7). The difficulty increases to 10 if the Bastet does not possess an item owned by the target or something taken from the chosen area. The Ceilican can see everything as if she was the proverbial fly on the wall.
• Phantasm: Twisting the fibers of illusion, the Ceilican create majestic nonsense to baffle and entertain their companions - or horrors to torment their enemies. This secret obviously comes from forbidden faerie lore, and can be quite powerful in the hands of a cat with an active imagination.
  
  System: To cast a Phantasm, the player rolls Manipulation + Subterfuge and spends a Willpower point. The resulting illusion lasts for one scene unless the cat chooses to dismiss it, and can extend through an area roughly 10 feet square. Simple illusions are easy; the more complex the trick, the harder it is to perform. Although the illusions have no solid form, a casual witness might be fooled into believing that a Phantasm was real.
  Ceilican Bastet gain access to this Gift at Rank 3.
  
  

  Illusion Complexity

  Successes	Effects
  1	Minor Lights and Noises
  2	Coherent and recognizable images or sounds
  3	Complex, interweaving images and sounds
  4	Vivid Multisenseory Hallucinations
  5	Indistinguishable from the real thing without examination

  
  

  Illusion Difficulty

  Effect	Difficulty
  Complex pattern of light or sound (object, conversation)	7
  Complex moving pattern (a person speaking)	8
  Complex active pattern (a person walking, speaking, responding)	9
  Complex active multi-pattern (group of people speaking, moving, reacting or all three)	10

• Small Cousin: Some Ceilican over-steeped in human culture call this Gift Blofeld’s Cat after James Bond’s nemesis (who, they insist, was the white cat, not the man). This Gift allows a Bastet to physically become a house cat. While this form can be limiting, it’s very unobtrusive. Best of all, it doesn’t hamper cat magic in any way, and screens out routine mystic senses. Unless the victim subjects his housecat to a rigorous magical appraisal, the Bastet is free to enter and observe whatever he likes.
  
  System: The Ceilican’s player spends a Gnosis point and rolls her Gnosis against difficulty 8; for each success, the Ceilican can retain her feline form for one hour. During this time, her Physical Attributes become those of a domestic cat, although her Social and Mental Attributes remain the same. She cannot speak, but can use any Gift that her feline form will allow. Although a person who makes a successful Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8) might realize that "there’s something weird about the cat," her true nature remains hidden unless someone penetrates her disguise magically (with Disciplines or True Magick, for instance). Attempts to do so add 3 to their difficulty. It should be noted that few vampires or wizards bother to check every passing cat with magical sight unless they have some compelling reason to be so paranoid (over and above their usual paranoia).
• Silent Stalking: This common trick allows a Bastet to move without making any sound. Even squeaky or shifting surfaces, like wooden floors or piled twigs, can be passed over without noise.
  
  System - The player rolls Dexterity + Stealth, difficulty 5. Failure renders the Gift unusable for the rest of the scene. Note that this Gift doesn’t make the werecat himself invisible or silent in any way, nor will it prevent any damage (broken twigs, for instance) in his wake — it stifles the sound of his footsteps, nothing more.
• Spirits’ Sight: Although werecats cannot normally travel through the Gauntlet, this Gift allows them to see through it for a short time. Plenty of good secrets can be discovered this way, but the Gift’s effects tend to frustrate the hell out of the Bastet who can’t get through, like a cat watching a bird on the other side of a window.
  
  System - The player rolls Perception + Awareness (difficulty of the local Gauntlet) and spends one Gnosis point to look into the Penumbra. The Gift lasts one scene and ends if the Bastet is knocked unconscious.
• Caper: By dancing around, a Bastet can charm bystanders into a semi-trance. This works in any form, so long as the werecat invokes the Gift and dances for at least a turn. Violence breaks the spell, but subtle actions like sneaking away remain unnoticed until the trance ends.
  
  System - A roll of Manipulation + Expression (or Dancing) and a spent Gnosis point set the charm in motion. Anyone watching the werecat dance must roll his Willpower against difficulty 9 or be lulled into a genial daze. Storytellers may simply make a single roll against difficulty 7 to reflect a large group of normal humans. The trance lasts one turn per success, unless someone starts a fight or obviously steals something, in which case it ends immediately.
• Cheshire Prank: Why should Lewis Carroll have all the fun? It took a while, but enterprising Bastet finally discovered the secret to disappearing from plain sight. Today, it remains a valuable but popular trick.
  
  System - By putting on a wide grin, spending a Gnosis point, and rolling Charisma + Subterfuge (difficulty 7), a Bastet may fade from view. The Prank takes three turns to complete. This invisibility lasts for the scene’s duration and foils even magical perceptions. The Gift won’t dampen sounds, but any werecat who can’t move silently by this rank is in big trouble, anyway. This Gift only works in Feline and Chatro forms, and changing forms ends the invisibility. (For the Qualmi, the Nighttime Web works in all forms and does not require a grin.)
• Walking Between Worlds: Some tales claim that Coyote taught Bastet to step sideways; others insist the trick was stolen from Garou. In any case, this Gift allows a werecat to walk into the Umbra as Garou do. The Swara Bastet learn this gift much more quickly and gain access to it at Rank 2. That this talent is so common among the Swara is a closely-guarded secret.
  
  System - The talent becomes natural once a werecat learns this Gift. Once learned, this Gift is permanent.

History:

Born to two Feline servants of the Fae of Arcadia, Stormy Seas Dreaming never saw the sea until she finally had a chance to flee Arcadia. She hid, disguising herself as a large Maine Coon cat, and she began to explore her new freedom. Educated enough by the Fae that she could appreciate the English and Gaelic languages, Stormy Seas Dreaming has been a theater cat, a musician's companion, a thief's prized possession, an astronomer's friend, and a library mascot. But her newest life is as a ship's cat. A ship owned by a vampire named Alessandro Romero.

Seeking the vampires' company had been a last resort for her. Always, she was pursued by the Fae and so she had to keep moving. But, she's tired of running, and the vampire who "adopted" a large stray Maine Coon is as territorial as he is ruthless. Alessandro's childe, Daniel, is fond of his cat, even if he doesn't know what she truly is, and he would never let anything happen to her. Which is just fine, in her eyes.

Sealink, as she is called by Daniel, prefers to maintain her Maine Coon disguise as much as possible. How long she can maintain the deception around three territorial and highly paranoid vampires is anyone's guess. So far, she's made it three years and counting.