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Vance Sampson; Divine Corrupted: Human
Topic Started: Nov 29 2014, 07:14 AM (104 Views)
HydroXIV
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Vance Sampson

Alignment: Lawful dubious.
Gender: Male
Age: 31
Occupation: Spy, interrogator.
Residence: The Quarterage


APPEARANCE

Height: 5'9"
Weight: 172lbs
Build: Slightly overweight
Origins: Divine corruption
Race: Human
Eye Colour: Brown
Hair Colour: Brown
Unique Features: Vance has elaborate tattoos on the backs of his hands. While the swirling designs are largely meaningless, and are different for each hand, an open eye at the centre of each is discernible. They illuminate with golden light when he is using his powers.
Attire: Vance is most often seen wearing a woollen tunic and coat with linen trousers and stout leather boots.


PERSONALITY

Likes: Good food, bright weather.
Dislikes: Spitefulness, cats.
Hobbies: Cooking, book-binding.
Aspirations: To live in the Inner City.
Fears: Monsters, rats, being lost. (suffice to say 'everything about the catacombs')


PERSONAL HISTORY


Vance was the son of a clockmaker and a seamstress in Sanctum's Quarterage. During his youth he spent a lot of time with bandages on his hands to cover the strange markings that were the only visible sign of his corruption. It was assumed that he would take over his father's profession when he reached an appropriate age, and so he did for a time, but as his powers became stronger and more reliable he saw the opportunity to use them to make a bit of extra coin.

His first commercial use for his abilities was doing couples counselling for the nobility - a task which caused him to meet a lot of people he had nothing but scorn for but while they were willing to part with money to see him rather than talk to each other he did not show it. Vance took a far more compassionate approach to victims of trauma or other lasting mental issues who his talents also enabled him to help.

Through contacts made in this way he was approached for a different kind of task: attending a social function as part of the entourage of a distinguished nobleman, and to use his arts to read a specific mark. As the nobleman led the conversation towards relatives and family, Vance was to figure out which of the aging mark's heirs were likely to feature most heavily in his will. The employer was a little disappointed that Vance could only give a physical description of the person, rather than a name, but none the less complimented the new spy on a job well done.

With his talents being recommended to all his employer's allies among Sanctum's nobility, Vance was soon able to give up making clocks entirely, as well as buy his own home. It was roughly at this point that he took up book-binding as a hobby, with enough disposable income to account for the wastage while he was learning it has now become self-financing. During this time he only ever used his ability to read people, having some serious qualms with the ethical implications of pushing a person's mind in a certain way.

Four years ago a job went wrong. Vance had been reading images from his mark associated with feelings of loyalty and responsibility. Those images were of city guardsman. The guard picked up their agent along with their own target at the end of the function, and Vance was caught up in the mess as well. Deciding to come clean about everything, including who had hired him and his skills, Vance was presented with an option: if he could help them with a particularly obstructive prisoner Vance's involvement would be forgotten.

Despite these promises, Vance has been approached by the guard several times since for similar kinds of work. He has become extremely effective at it though this usually doesn't happen more than once a year. He is chosen as his methods do not leave any lasting damage, can flawlessly sort truth from lies, and he never wastes time on someone who really doesn't have the information. Vance finds the work unsettling but given the dubious nature of the work he does for the nobility he's figured that it helps to have the guard owe him a few favours.


SPY


Vance's main non-magical ability is his talent for appearing at the same time to be perfectly at ease with wherever he is while also being wholly forgettable. With the marks on his hands as his only distinguishing features he can be difficult to pick out among a crowd. His nature for being unmemorable is extended to his speech, whereupon he is skilled at deflecting controversial questions while not seeming confrontational.

Adv. Deception: Vance is a master of mis-representing himself, able to pass himself off as a member of any tier of society with relative ease. Supplementing this with his talent for misdirection he is easily able to mask any missing skills that whatever he is trying to disguise himself as might reasonably be expected to be capable of demonstrating. (as a non-arcane skill, it is trumped by any form of arcane character reading - though with his other abilities Vance will be more likely to be aware that he is being read - as well as non-arcane skills such as being streetwise or being a good judge of character though a much greater proficiency for this is required.)

Charm: While not being a particularly inspiring presence, Vance is charismatic enough to appear outwardly likeable to most people he meets. While not arcane in nature, his ability to adapt to his target's personality means that he will know how to act to put them at ease and they would have to somehow be aware of his intent to purposefully deny the effect. Note that this skill cannot be used at the same time as 'a face in the crowd.' Being liked is contrary to being forgettable.

A face in the crowd: Vance can choose to present himself in a manner that people find wholly uninteresting. While using this affectation he doesn't hold a person's attention and whatever he says to them will seem unimportant. He can appear so boring that unless someone is purposefully setting out to interrogate him they will actively find someone else to talk to. Note that this skill cannot be used at the same time as 'charm.' Being liked is contrary to being forgettable.


EMPATH


Vance's powers that stem from his divine corruption are focused and reading and manipulating the emotional state of others. When forced into battle he is able to create an unnatural fear in enemies or similarly instil them with the confidence to act recklessly, while only the most skilled arcane practitioner would be able to recognise he is even participating. These powers also bolster the considerable learning he has gained dedicated to his profession. All his powers become vastly stronger with physical contact.

Read: At range, Vance is able to read the emotional state of a target with near infallible accuracy as well as any images they have associated with that emotion. With physical contact the images become far more vivid and detailed, and he can read emotion to a greater degree of accuracy. (for example at range he might simply get 'anger' while with contact he could get 'rage motivated by hurt') Note that this is not mind reading, he cannot in any way get tactical information, but he can use his talents to coerce the target into giving that information willingly. The only exception is if the events he is trying to get information from were extremely emotional for the target. For instance, if the target was feeling fear he might see the face of who intimidated them, but could not under any circumstances get that person's name using his talents.

Push: Vance is able to manipulate a single target's emotional state to a limited degree. By using this in conjunction with his power to 'read' he can become an effective interrogator by first pushing the target into a certain frame of mind and then reading the target's associated memories. At range this is easily resisted even by a target without any form of training. In order to get meaningful results under such circumstances the target must be willing or distracted. At touch range this becomes much more powerful, able to overwhelm the will of most people unless supernaturally bolstered given enough time. Note that this is not mind control, he cannot forcibly change a person's convictions or loyalties or compel them to act - his talent has much less finesse, if he were to make someone angry for example, he could not change what makes them angry. He could however force them to feel shame or guilt, while making it perfectly clear that they're feeling that because he wants them to. This has no lasting effects once contact (or Vance's concentration if being used at range) is broken. His interrogation technique is pretty much centred around this. The effect is more pronounced on less intelligent targets, such as beasts, but is weaker against large targets, making giant monsters almost immune.

(between player characters I'll run this on a consent system, anyone can resist it if the writer says they can.)


WEAKNESSES


Physically underwhelming: Vance has lived a fairly sedentary lifestyle. He tires quickly with physical exertion and should be considered below average for physical strength and agility.

No weapon ability: Beyond simply being untrained, Vance has a - while not comically clumsy - pronounced lack of control with any weapon. He cannot be expected to hold his own in a fight.


POSSESSIONS


none


RELATIONSHIPS


none


THREAD TRACKER


none


--------------------------------
I will still be making a few NPCs after this, but I can promise that this will be the last player character I make before the new year.
Edited by HydroXIV, Nov 30 2014, 01:12 PM.
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Faith
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___Would you serve in Heaven,___ or rule in Hell?
Just one question regarding Push and that is: How many people can he affect at a time? Is it limited to one person?

There is also a discrepancy with his History. I am not going to say it is impossible, but I will say that it is highly unlikely that the Order would have encountered or called upon Vance in the way you have depicted in his history. Unfortunately interrogations and information gathering like that is something which is only done by Wraiths and they would never announce who or what they were associated with. The Order has also never had a mole within its ranks, at least not in the last five centuries (there is still a city full of people who would have wanted to do them harm though). It is very very hard for anyone with bad intentions to get past the telepaths and empaths which is why characters with ulterior motives cannot currently joining the Order.

I am more than happy to work with you if you wanted to create a history that directly linked Vance to the Order. His abilities would make him an ideal Wraith and once the Chancellor or Knight Commander became familiar with Vance, I have no doubt at all they would have offered him a position within their ranks (provided he was loyal). But something like that would be a onetime offer.

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HydroXIV
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Concerning Push, single target only; I thought that was implied by the note that Vance must maintain concentration to keep its effects up but I'll make that an explicit declaration. (I was going to edit that ability to increase it's reliability against beasts and creatures of sub-human intelligence - though that will also require a limiting factor imposed by the targets body mass so he can't just use fear on a colossus or something stupid like that) I may look into some less versatile area-effect techniques for him later but that'll be with milestones.

On the topic of history, the mole was an Order wraith gathering intelligence on the guy who hired Vance, so it was an Order agent working as a mole, not a mole within the Order. Sorry for grammatical ambiguity. The wraith's mark suspected he was being observed, so he hired Vance to keep an eye on him and that's how it all went down. I can change that one case so that no-one explicitly stated the Order was involved, but when Vance finds the emotions of loyalty and dedication to match up in a target's mind with images of people in black cloaks and - of course - the Chancellor herself that doesn't leave much open to interpretation. I can also change it so that the wraith immediately knew he was being read by Vance if that mitigates the implicit slur on the Order's competency?

Lastly: recurring contracts, I can infer from what you've said that Vance's abilities are nothing new and that the Order already has specialists of this kind within their ranks.
Quote:
 
It is very very hard for anyone with bad intentions to get past the telepaths and empaths.
Ok, this is going to require some re-planning on my part. I can't see Vance being a permanent part of the Order, his priorities just aren't in the right place. I'll be blunt, his involvement with the Order wasn't a part of my original concept for the character, I added that so that he'd be a logical choice to include in the next act of the political narrative, and because it gave a bit more content to an otherwise fairly bland back-story.

I should also probably explain why I'm reluctant to just re-write his personality to make him fit with The Order: the kind of blind (or at least selfless) adherence to dogma that The Order requires in its fluff text:
Quote:
 
Every member needs to be free of the political push and pull within the Council and impossible to corruptible ~ or as near to it as they can be. More than that, they need to believe in what the Order stands for and the ideals they hold. It is more often than not, a lifelong commitment and there is very little turnover within the ranks of the Order. It is a burden they must be willing to pick up and carry even on their own if need be.
can be very oppressive to write. With the wrong character it's suffocating. I'd be okay with that for Mordecai because it fits with everything about him, but for Vance it'd just end up being shoehorned. The knock-on effects for changing the character would be dramatic; for one I'd have to change his build because someone with that kind of dedication would have to have more self-discipline than to let himself get overweight. If I made him Order, the other changes I'd have to make to keep him as a cohesive character would make him not my character anymore.

Here's a thought: I change all the stuff in Vance's history to refer to the city guard instead of the Order. The Order is aware of him and has been considering inviting him to join them as a wraith for some time but have their doubts about him. They bring him in for the next act of the political story as a kind of one-off trial after which they decide he's not really right for their organisation somewhere near the end of the events, and that's the end of it. Would that work?
Edited by HydroXIV, Nov 30 2014, 07:57 AM.
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___Would you serve in Heaven,___ or rule in Hell?
I am the first person to advocate making the character the way you want them to be. Trying to associate Vance to the Order is probably a story which is, as you have said, outside his original concept. I would rather that you were able to have and enjoy the character for what he was.

HydroXIV
Nov 30 2014, 07:52 AM
The Order is aware of him and has been considering inviting him to join them as a wraith for some time but have their doubts about him. They bring him in for the next act of the political story as a kind of one-off trial after which they decide he's not really right for their organisation somewhere near the end of the events, and that's the end of it. Would that work?

The part I am not comfortable with is that you already have a preordained outcome for the character and it feels more like trying to fit a round block in a square hole. I generally try and avoid scripted or set outcome roleplay, but that is a personal preference on my behalf. The next Chapter in the Political Plot is designed to be specifically for Order characters. It is combining Cloak and Dagger aspects of the City Politics which are not going to be made public at any stage. More than that ~ they will actively avoid involving anyone else. The disclaimer on the bottom of the Invitation list might, without giving everything away, cover one possibility of how other characters are being involved in the next chapter.

I do not expect everyone to be able to be involved in the next Political Chapter, but I am happy to try and work with people. There are always other ways to be involved and there are plans for at least two other Milestone Events running during the course of the Political Plot.

I am the first to admit the Order is only going to suit a very small scope of characters, which is why it is spelled out in black and white for people interested in becoming involved. The limitation is deliberate to maintain the integrity of what the faction is intended to be. Simply put, characters need to suit the Order. Not the other way around. As for Order characters who already have similar abilities to Vance, they are by no means exact, but both Declan and Cicely are close to name two.

I will be getting a second opinion on Vance's abilities. In case there were any aspects you wanted to change, I will wait until you give us the go ahead before fully processing him.

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I've edited his abilities very slightly, I won't be making any more changes to those

The pre-planned nature of the character arc: that was to be read with several provisos, assuming he survives the story arc and so on, but if it's better to phrase it as 'the Order can make a decision at the end of the thread' then we can do that. I am not going to turn Vance into a self-sacrificing paragon of virtue in the course of a thread, that's within my control, and I'm reading from what you've said that the Order will not recruit him as he is, therefore the outcome would, in that respect, be fixed.

I acknowledge that characters will be changed by what they experience, and that a lot of that will be out of any individual writer's control. The skill of the roleplayer is how well they take that on board and account for the unexpected, but I feel that I as a writer at least need some idea of where a character is going so that they're not left in stagnation should the unexpected not happen. A plan doesn't have to be immutable.

It's up to you whether Vance will play any part in the upcoming story arc - I realised half way through typing an entirely different reply that I was taking this way too personally; I will redraft his backstory later today to remove all mention of the Order, it'll just be the guard he's worked with. If I can get a smuggler and a fisherman into a a battle for the city I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to involve Vance in a thread somewhere sooner rather than later.
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I sincerely apologise if you have taken any personal offense, absolutely none was intended. None of the faction leaders enjoy saying no to people or crippling creativity, whatever we do decide is in the interest of our groups. I would love nothing more than to have you, as a writer, involved with the Order on the right character! Vance being associated to the City Guard is great. The City Guard from four years ago is very different to the City Guard which has just been restructured within Sanctum under the control of the Order.

I can involve Vance in the upcoming Political Plot ~ it is actually easier with the alterations in his history. I can easily bring him in as an individual, provided that you are happy to consent to the same disclaimer the others did. I was primarily concerned with his proposed connection to the Order and having a fixed outcome I needed to work towards, even if it was a 90% probability. I base all of my decisions about what does or does not happen as direct response to what makes it in the story ~ and what characters are actual aware of. Even knowing the setting characters are going to be walking into, I have no idea how it will all turn out and if everyone will survive.

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HydroXIV
Nov 29 2014, 07:14 AM

SPY


Vance's main non-magical ability is his talent for appearing at the same time to be perfectly at ease with wherever he is while also being wholly forgettable. With the marks on his hands as his only distinguishing features he can be difficult to pick out among a crowd. His nature for being unmemorable is extended to his speech, whereupon he is skilled at deflecting controversial questions while not seeming confrontational.

Adv. Deception: Vance is a master of mis-representing himself, able to pass himself off as a member of any tier of society with relative ease. Supplementing this with his talent for misdirection he is easily able to mask any missing skills that whatever he is trying to disguise himself as might reasonably be expected to be capable of demonstrating. (as a non-arcane skill, it is trumped by any form of arcane character reading - though with his other abilities Vance will be more likely to be aware that he is being read - as well as non-arcane skills such as being streetwise or being a good judge of character though a much greater proficiency for this is required.)

Charm: While not being a particularly inspiring presence, Vance is charismatic enough to appear outwardly likeable to most people he meets. While not arcane in nature, his ability to adapt to his target's personality means that he will know how to act to put them at ease and they would have to somehow be aware of his intent to purposefully deny the effect. Note that this skill cannot be used at the same time as 'a face in the crowd.' Being liked is contrary to being forgettable.

A face in the crowd: Vance can choose to present himself in a manner that people find wholly uninteresting. While using this affectation he doesn't hold a person's attention and whatever he says to them will seem unimportant. He can appear so boring that unless someone is purposefully setting out to interrogate him they will actively find someone else to talk to. Note that this skill cannot be used at the same time as 'charm.' Being liked is contrary to being forgettable.


EMPATH


Vance's powers that stem from his divine corruption are focused and reading and manipulating the emotional state of others. When forced into battle he is able to create an unnatural fear in enemies or similarly instil them with the confidence to act recklessly, while only the most skilled arcane practitioner would be able to recognise he is even participating. These powers also bolster the considerable learning he has gained dedicated to his profession. All his powers become vastly stronger with physical contact.

Read: At range, Vance is able to read the emotional state of a target with near infallible accuracy as well as any images they have associated with that emotion. With physical contact the images become far more vivid and detailed, and he can read emotion to a greater degree of accuracy. (for example at range he might simply get 'anger' while with contact he could get 'rage motivated by hurt') Note that this is not mind reading, he cannot in any way get tactical information, but he can use his talents to coerce the target into giving that information willingly. The only exception is if the events he is trying to get information from were extremely emotional for the target. For instance, if the target was feeling fear he might see the face of who intimidated them, but could not under any circumstances get that person's name using his talents.

Push: Vance is able to manipulate a single target's emotional state to a limited degree. By using this in conjunction with his power to 'read' he can become an effective interrogator by first pushing the target into a certain frame of mind and then reading the target's associated memories. At range this is easily resisted even by a target without any form of training. In order to get meaningful results under such circumstances the target must be willing or distracted. At touch range this becomes much more powerful, able to overwhelm the will of most people unless supernaturally bolstered given enough time. Note that this is not mind control, he cannot forcibly change a person's convictions or loyalties or compel them to act - his talent has much less finesse, if he were to make someone angry for example, he could not change what makes them angry. He could however force them to feel shame or guilt, while making it perfectly clear that they're feeling that because he wants them to. This has no lasting effects once contact (or Vance's concentration if being used at range) is broken. His interrogation technique is pretty much centred around this. The effect is more pronounced on less intelligent targets, such as beasts, but is weaker against large targets, making giant monsters almost immune.

(between player characters I'll run this on a consent system, anyone can resist it if the writer says they can.)


WEAKNESSES


Physically underwhelming: Vance has lived a fairly sedentary lifestyle. He tires quickly with physical exertion and should be considered below average for physical strength and agility.

No weapon ability: Beyond simply being untrained, Vance has a - while not comically clumsy - pronounced lack of control with any weapon. He cannot be expected to hold his own in a fight.


POSSESSIONS


none


Provisional Approval
Due to elements within the characters powers, the approval is provisional pending a review of how the powers are roleplayed.
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