Demonic Cthulhu Character: Haruta

Fallen Name: Haruta

Titles: Demon of the Scouring Wind (Scourge).

Sub-House: Wind (Elil).

Legion: Ebon (War At Any Cost).

Faction: Ravener (Destruction).

Demonic Powers

Haruta History: Always eager for stimulation and adventure, when he was moved from his duties as an Elil to fill the role of a Dagan (guardian angel) for a tribe of unaware mortals he tended to not take his responsibilities so seriously and would provide little tests to entertain himself.  Nothing cruel but quite shocking to some of the Dagan.  When they were made mortal, he vowed to do nothing but war against Heaven until they could be re-gifted their immortality and passed his own tribe over to Nithriel's protection.  He ended up in Riyazagor's squad after the First Murder showed him so many other roads to excitement, and would scour the enemy while his boss, the Black Wind, inflicted the mortals with dread diseases.  Since Haruta became rather disruptive and insubordinate when bored, he was later sent to a squad of rejects under Shaitan within the Ebon Legion.

Host:  Lettice (Letty) Hennington is the daughter of a Lord who has been sent to the same boarding school as Gwen Ashburne, daughter of the Earl of Astley and twin to Theodore Ashburne.  When Theodore accidentally unleashed the demonic PCs from the silver skull, she simply fainted against her dancing partner and then recovered her stance as a demon at the tender age of sixteen.  Letty had been weakened by the glitter of the dance party, knowing the suffocating boredom of her home and the cold disciplinarians that were her parents who had quietly institutionalised her brother for his socialism.  She couldn't stand the idea of going back to them and had actually considered suicide if she couldn't snag an American husband who could keep her in glitz and glamour.  Haruta chose to keep his situation quiet because he knew who else had been packed into that skull and didn't want to be Gipontel's servant again (as he had during the Victorian era, a time they can't remember).

Physical Form and Powers

Elil Power (Speed of Wind): Haruta can move at an incredible speed  (up to 100km/h) for a human beings and can use that momentum to get thirty feet up a wall before having to grab onto anything.  This additional speed also means that Haruta acts as though his relevant skill is double what it actually is in terms of initiative - in other words, he almost always acts whenever he damn well chooses to act.  When coupled with Fist of Air, or using two handguns, he can fire both guns in the same round at a +1 Hit Threshold.  Finally he can cover thrice as much ground when swimming or climbing per turn.

Asharu Form Ability (Wings): A pair of eight-foot-long wings extends from her shoulders that allow her to take off from a standing position and glide up to three times her running speed.  Even without using these wings she is lifted a few inches above the ground by a non-existent breeze which runs through her hair, allowing her to pass through an area without leaving any prints.

Elil Form Ability #1 (Whirlwind): Haruta is harder to hit and gains a +1 bonus to Target Number to hit due to the pressure of the wind enveloping her form.  Enemies must also spend an additional point of Scuffling to grapple her and that point doesn't otherwise count toward their rolls.

Elil Form Ability #2 (Fist of Air): Haruta can blast a person with wind as though he were always carrying a heavy revolver, even when unarmed and uses the Firearms skill to do it.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 9, Firearms 12, Fleeing 8, Health 12, Sanity 9, Scuffling 8, Stability 9

Faith: 3; spells - none known.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +0

Weapon: +1 (blast of wind)

Armor: 1 (in apocalyptic form).

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Ezurial

Fallen Name: Ezurial

Titles: Angel of Wild Diversity (Devourer).

Sub-House: Wilds (Aruru).

Legion: Crimson (Honourable War).

Faction: Faustian (Schemer).

Demonic Powers

Ezurial Personality Traits and History: A wild-eyed and curious fallen angel who tended to be overcome by her passion for the biodiversity of the world, eagerly recounting and reciting the very many different plant and animal species which she had seen across the world.  She sought to preserve the biodiversity of Eden even before the war and actually fell due to a desire to instruct humanity on how to behave in a way that wouldn't adversely affect it.  She continued her obsession during the war and yet found herself strangely drawn to some of the Silver Legion's works in changing plants, going so far as to preserve dozens of samples during the Long March which caused her to be publicly shamed by her liege lord, Grifiel, due to the nature of those plants.  She avoided him forever more and ended up in the Faustian Faction as it was her second best fit.

Host: Kalpana Bhatia was a student of plant and animal diversity who used to explore the fringes of local jungles, using her parents wealth, in her desire to find something that will mutate freely across generations.  An interesting early success she has had involves a species of dove found in Sri Lanka, which seems to have a lot more information found within its chromosomes than might otherwise by expected.  She was possessed after being paralysed by a rare species of orchid at a distance of six inches, and dying after several days in the wilds glimpsed only by animals moving through the woods.  Her host suffers the effects of racism whenever she attempts to branch out from under Mogens' wing so she typically stays behind.  Nominally the Minister of Eagles as she whispers information into the ears of her doves.

Physical Form and Powers:

Aruru Power (Mutation): Ezurial can mutate plants with a touch and will them to have changed characteristics which can include anything found in the plant kingdom, whether thorns, poisons, sleep-inducting pollen, gas release, or minor movements like Venus flytraps.

Alternate Rabisu Ability (Natural Weaponry): Her fingers are tipped with claws and thin painful hairs lie upon her skin which - unless suppressed - are +1 lethal weapons which he can use to attack people with Scuffling and which do an additional 1 point of damage per Scuffling attack against him (for when they strike him they rip their hands on his thorns).  While in this form she is also immune to poisons encountered while in apocalyptic form and poisons encountered beforehand are suppressed for the duration (including alcohol) though damage caused by the poison remains.  Dangerous gases are likewise ignored so long as the required amount of oxygen is still available.

Aruru Form Ability #1 (Sleeping Breath): Ezurial can emit a poison cloud of sleep-inducing vapours which prevent the use of any General Abilities unless a point is spent, i.e. to use Fleeing you *must* spend a point of Fleeing on the roll to do so and this initial spend doesn't add to the roll.

Aruru Form Ability #2 (Chameleon Skin): Ezurial can blend in by taking on the guise of plant matter that roughly matches human size but does not have a human's shape.  This includes patches of mould if indoors.  This provides Ezurial with an extra 8 stealth points that may only be used in apocalyptic form and which do not refresh until 24 hours have passed.  If this trait belongs to an NPC this becomes a +2 Stealth Modifier.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 9, Health 12, Sanity 6, Scuffling 6, Stability 7, Weapons 2

Faith: 3; spells - none known.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +2

Weapon: +1 (claws)

Armor: 0

NOTE: Feel free to comment on the custom mechanics here involving powers and abilities.  I'm not too worried about balance since there's only two PCs but I am interested to hear about your thoughts on what might be broken or weak-sauce even for NPCs.

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Belphigor

Fallen Name: Fell Knight Belphigor

Titles: The Radiant Champion, The Black Man (cult title).

House: Namaru (Devil)

Sub-House: Radiance (Qingu)

Legion: Iron (Champions of Humanity).

Faction: Faustian (Schemer)

Fallen Appearance: His skin, teeth, gums and the whites of his eyes are jet black while the irises and wings are pure gold.  His body, even armour, feels silky smooth and gently warm to the touch.  He smells of a warm spring day and evokes the sensation of hopes and dreams. 

Demonic Personality Traits:

House Personality Traits: Namaru are used to being obeyed by other angels and see them as the first among many.  This expectation has led them toward arrogance and a need for power and control.  Even at its best they often create a level of distance between themselves and other Fallen so that the others don't see them vulnerable.

Sub House Personality Trait: The Qingu were a development that occurred during the war against the Great Entity where the Namaru had to learn to guide humanity to safety and to war.  All Namaru were initially created to use their power over magic itself (Celestials) to guide the other angels in their work to create according to the Great Entity's plans.  This means that the Qingu are used to special treatment and though many tried to approach humanity with kindness their closeness to perfection would often unsettle and frighten them.

Belphigor Personality Traits: Pride lies in the heart of every Devil.  The virtue that made them the greatest of God's angels is the sin that led them to reject the Creator's wisdom in favour of their own.  Pride gives a Devil the conviction she needs to fight for her goals and to inspire others follow her example.  Taken too far, pride becomes an overwhelming arrogance that puts her desires and personal goals above all things.  This certainly sums up Belphigor.  Devils were also creatures of honour, responsibility and dignity but unfortunately Belphigor has moved beyond honour toward personal empowerment.  Unfortunately he hasn't moved beyond the passion and energy of his House, which is why he gravitate toward a mortal who had felt passionate, destructive urges - Ambrose Mogens - and who had felt terribly wronged by the world and the petty insects within it.  While a cruel and callous Fallen, eager to empower himself, he is still an improvement on the original Host.

Belphigor History

His creation was different to most in that he had a twin sister (Belphegor) from another House.  They were created as a duality because it was his role, primarily, to enhance and weaken her powers as the Hurricane's First Kiss Upon The Shore according to the needs of Creation.  As a Devil, he'd presumed he would lead her forever and was shocked when she gleefully ran off into the Silver Legion without a backward glance.  The Iron Legion seemed a more natural fit and so he joined that legion, unaware that his sister had assumed that they were so alike their mutual decision was guaranteed without conversation.  Thus both felt equally hurt and betrayed and they fell out of touch with each other.

After the First Murder, he fought his own fellows to save humanity who were currently under the yoke of the Ebon Legion (though it wasn't lethal at this point) and by the time he returned to check on his sister he saw that she had created Ninatan (Palace of Sighs), a citadel of eugenics experiments upon the very humans that Belphigor had sought to protect.

When the Long March finally happened, Fell Knight Belphigor led an expedition to her door to demand the release of the tortured mortal flock.  Lady Belphegor agreed on one condition - that he surrender himself to her and allow her to experiment upon him for a year and a day.  The rest of his squad of thirty rejected her terms, but Belphigor accepted and walked alone into the gates of the Silver Citadel.  When Belphegor broke her word and refused to release her human prisoners, her forces beat back his squad.

He remained her obedient prisoner for that year and a day, stunned by the horrors and atrocities working their way around them and forced to suffer things he had never thought possible.  After the year and a day, she released him and he returned with troops to raze the Silver Citadel to the ground, yet accepted her surrender with nobility and respect.

In the Abyss, his experiences of powerlessness ate away at his core.  He had never had the power to prevent the actions of his twin nor sculpt his own destiny and so he turned to the Faustian Movement for that promise of power.  On a terribly stormy day, he felt himself pulled through the cracks in reality and found himself in the body of Ambrose Mogens, will-worker and sailor of ill-repute aboard the Half-Moon ship navigating what would be called the Hudson River.  A man who believed in his own great destiny, pressed into service by debt.  He escaped the ship with a few other sailors whom he commanded and set up shop in what would later become New York, pieced together occult knowledge, and summoned a demon into himself.

During his centuries upon this land he has learned quite a few spells which he uses carefully, lest he lost sight of his true desires.  He has also obtained a few nifty relics including bullets which sever a Fallen's connection to their hosts (Storyteller's Companion) and Marchocias' chimes (Houses of the Fallen).  Later, once Nuriel is released she will eventually wish to steal it from him.  He has also consumed the spirits of two fallen -- in one instance it was to remove an enemy so that he couldn't find a new host and in the other instance it was to hide his own secrets and the knowledge of his True Name.  In both instances, he stole their core power.

He drew out Zipacna and Ezurial through special rituals he has painstakingly researched over the past century but for Nithriel he had to find a special Aztec artefact -- a carved silver skull with a key trapped between its teeth.  He thought it housed  Nithriel alone but it turns out Nithriel was bound into the key while Gipontel was bound into the skull itself.  He left the skull in the hands of some rich young lords, wanting access to their wealth and connections, as well as the information required to activate it. 

Physical Form and Powers:

Qingu Power (Exalt): Each round Belphigor may spend points of his own skills to bolster other people's rolls for non-magical checks (i.e. on General Skills).  He may also spend points of his own stability to assist others as well to pass their own stability checks.

Halaku Power (Step Beyond The Veil): Belphigor can move across distances with great speed by stepping across into another sliver of reality (akin to that which can be glimpsed using certain machines in Lovecraftian tales) and then reappearing on this side.  It happens so quickly he never really sees the other side unless he moves across long distances.  Unfortunately, if he were to materialise in the same space with a solid object that isn't easily shunted out of the way (i.e. edge of a table), he would materialise with that piece of table inside of him, causing him damage.  Technically he could linger across the veil but that isn't a wise idea either.  He can't bring more than a cubic foot or two of equipment or creature across with him.

Asharu Power (Find the Faithful): So long as he has their name (celestial name or human name) and has met them before he can trace where they are as though possessing an internal compass that will direct him to them.  He can find anyone within the space of a hundred miles.

Namaru Form Ability (Wings): A pair of eight-foot-long golden wings extends from his shoulders which allow him to take off from a standing position and glide up to three times her running speed.  These wings have long pinions that are sharp as razors and quite flexible (+1 damage), which allows the Devil to attack opponents in the middle of a movement which will likely leave them out of reach of melee opponents.

Qingu Form Ability #1 (Affirm): By making eye contact and spending a point of faith, Belphigor can reaffirm a person's place in the overarching plan and their faith in their Sources of Sanity which allows them to also regain 2 points of Sanity.  He may only do this once a year per person.

Qingu Form Ability #2 (Liar's Ear): Belphigor can spend a point of Faith to automatically tell when someone lies to him in the current conversation.

ACTUAL STATS

Abilities: Athletics 6, Fleeing 12, Health 10, Sanity 3, Scuffling 9, Stability 8, Weapons 9

Faith: 6 (12); spells - Cloud Memory, Death Spell, Deflect Harm, Enthrall Victim, Evil Eye, Flesh Ward, Mind Blast, Power Drain, Stop Heart, Summon / Bind Byakhee, Summon / Bind Dimensional Shambler.

Hit Threshold: 4

Alertness Modifier: +0

Stealth Modifier: +0

Weapon:.32 revolver (-1), Sword Cane (-1); Wings (+1)

Armor: 0

Languages: Dutch, English, French, German.

Dark Before Dawn Session Summary: The Last Express

The Maid and Gary Dodd.

It all begins through an online play-by-post scene with Gary Dodd trying to escape the Mirror Realm and being herded by the Angel Faced Killer into the National Railway Museum.  Gary Dodd uses his sigil stone to open a Doorway so that he can escape and it crumbles between his fingers.  As it does so, an onyx train chuffs silently to the platform and a skeletal hand reaches out and beckons him onboard.  He enters...

.....

 

A few days later, the LARP session begins with all of the players waiting outside the front door of my house in the dark.  Gary Dodd's "Train Summoning" has caused several of the vampires to be brought to the train though Dodd doesn't yet know they will be coming.

So Gary Dodd (and his player) arrives before everyone else to my front door.  The Conductor NPC goes forth to speak with him and he does so, striding enthusiastically and making demands in a very loud and officious voice while carrying a clipboard.  He read out the thirteen rules quite loudly and then called for the Maid to provide him with Gary Dodd's tokens (used as currency).

The Maid came rushing down, waving a hand vigorously as she went to catch his attention (as she was mute).  She carried one of those poker chip cases with her and then stood to one side in the corridor, drawing the tokens out one at a time with wonderful flourishes and dropping them into Dodd's outstretched hand before letting him move further in while she awaited the next "guest".

I stayed out-of-character, describing what he saw in terms of sleeping car compartment doors, and he ended the Bar Car first where he ordered a drink from the bartender.  I had divided up the living area into a Lounge Car, Dining Car and Smoking Car using couches and we had a side room set up as a Library Car as it was lined with bookcases.

Our venue thankfully has one of those wide counters (all-in-one living / kitchen / dining area) which worked a treat for this with four chairs pressed up against it.  While he chatted to the bartender, I dropped into character and came rushing down the corridor to berate the Conductor for taking so long in reading out the rules to each new passenger currently waiting at the doors.

The Conductor reading out his list.

Since we all had one Rival that we had to undermine (the Cast, that is), I was waved away by the Maid as I, the Doctor, was her Rival.  My own Rival was the Oracle and I made a point to describe him as a Charlatan here and there to the various PCs.  I did that so often that some people started to think that was his name and started calling him the Charlatan.

 

The Cast were fantastic.  I told them to really go to town with their characterisations and gave them all quite brief summaries of who they were and their motivations so they built on it quite a bit.  The officious Conductor took the first line directly beneath the header and really ran with it:

THE RULES

All may be disobeyed.  You have free will.  Disobedience is ill-advised.

 

So he kept making up new rules to suit himself and the situation.  Only three people in any one of the compartments at once - which was good because the compartments were separate rooms and it made it more interesting to keep them moving and force them to negotiate who could remain in any particular situation.

The Oracle ended up in the Dining Car, running his Secret for a Secret games in a quiet corner.  I'd given him a large Halloween porcelain pumpkin full of optional questions he could ask to obtain secrets as well as a few sheets with PC names listed on top that held up to 7 secrets they could gather by giving him a few of their own.  Funnily enough people generally respected the privacy of that car and it was mostly the Cast who occasionally tried to listen in.

I had a large Doctor's Bag with me that had a few ink blots and some of the Dr. Kaupfmann puzzles (Dead or Sleeping? and Pairings) from Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.  I only really got to use one (Pairings) before the Maid convinced someone to throw the doctor's trunk (and my fetter) out the window into the bleak Underworld as part of our rivalry.  She didn't know my fetter was inside (we weren't playing for that kind of high stakes ICly) but luckily I got chosen at the end so got to survive.

At least Gary Dodd gave me some interesting hints into his psychology from the Pairings angle, so that's something.  Rather than putting them into pairs of two, he spread them out so they were all alone.



The Maid at the Candle Puzzle.

It took awhile but eventually the PCs learned that each one of them could obtain one of us for the price of a stone (Gary Dodd would get first pick as he'd already spent one) and that we could ease resurrect a newly dead human being, simply fettering ourselves to them so we could see the world.  We weren't Geists, but something different.  Something called a Rider (custom creation).

Without my Doctor's Bag I basically just went around trying to convince people to use up their Stones, explaining that there's no real catch to the resurrection of people into mortals, and also trying to get suitable characters to bed her.  At one point, Prince Saeed used my NPC as a foot stool and I happily got on all fours for five minutes before the player felt so bad he insisted I get up and rejoin the others.

The Conductor soon came around to each of the Riders to convince us to lie (again, a Cast Member decision and a good one) but my NPC wasn't too sure of trying her hand at that.  Instead she would deflect certain questions or encourage people to seek out the Conductor for the truth.

The Bartender lit people's marijuana joints on fire, set the table when the Dinner Bell rang and gave a listening ear to those who wished to drink.  He did really well at spending most of his time behind the counter so I applaud him for his patience.

Finally there was the unnamed Skull NPC who was literally a floating skull.  Naturally we had a Cast Member who was responsible for carrying the Skull around and talking for it.  Funnily enough it became very easy indeed to ignore the person in favour of talking to the skull who gestured, and flirted, and tried to prostitute the Maid (who fainted dramatically at the very idea!).

The Skull got the name Skully and people advised him to seek out Mulder for a dynamic duo.
Eventually they solved all of the puzzles, and it was time for them to select which Rider they wanted in exchange for a sigil stone.  Since the vampires only had one sigil stone each, and they could use them for other purposes they weren't too sure about doing it at first.  They could use their stones to open doors into inter-dimensional places, abjure an area from spirits and ghosts or to gain five exceptional successes on the next five vital actions.  But they could only use them once....

As the clock ticked toward the end of the session, the characters started stepping forward to take a Rider.  Gary Dodd took the Maid.  Seamus took the Oracle.  Yzador took the Psychologist.  Talitha took the Bartender.  Jonathon Williams took the Conductor.  Since all five were taken, Gary got to keep Skully as well.  Something he later regretted as Skully could be very annoying when it wanted to be.

Each of them then got to exit the train, clutching a large crystal (to be placed over the heart of a corpse), two onyx stones (to be placed over the eyes of the corpse), and a small fetter (to be placed in the right hand).  And that's where we left it, with them leaving the train.

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Nithriel (PC)

Fallen Name: Nithriel

Titles: Dominion of the Azure Dome.

House: Asaru (Scourge)

Sub-House: Awakening (Dagan)

Legion: Iron (Champions of Humanity).

Faction: Faustian (Schemer)

House Personality Traits: Asharu find it hard to see the world in shades of grey and struggle to avoid black-and-white thinking in their day-to-day lives.  This struggle is especially strong when dealing with humanity for either all of humanity is worthy of saving or they are utterly beyond salvation.  Someone who tries to moderate their views will often also face the passion of their conviction.

Sub House Personality Trait: The Ellil were responsible for breathing life into all living creatures and quickening their hearts within the womb, while the Anshar spied on them from above to seek out and identify any threats before they come.  Thus the Ellil were in many respects the members closest to humanity within a house that forever watched them.

Fallen Relationships:

·         Her liege lord was dear Gadriel who had established the Choir of Dagan, once the Virtue of Sunlight's Kiss and now the Lord of Panacea Unbounded, this Asharu led the fallen to undo the efforts of cruel scourges and whose work even raised doubts in the hearts of loyalist angels.  He worked very closely with his subordinate, Nexalgor, before his disappearance.  When Gadriel was taken by enemy forces, Nexalgor of the Dancing Breeze (now Nazathor) took control of the squad and led it in his absence.

·         Fell Knight Belphigor personally defended her as she sought to salve the plague-ridden mortals controlled by the angelic host in one particular village and word of their deeds spread among humanity as people were brought from the very brink of death.

·         Riyazgor of the Black Cloud was the angel who had successfully demoralised the enemy with illnesses that attacked the human tribes, blasting the lands of the angelic host with corruption.  While he began the war with the same dream of hope and redemption, the actions of Caine sent him whirling into Abaddon's army marching upon Sagun.  He was rapidly promoted up the ranks to become an overlord for his unwavering dedication in leading parties of scorchers in sorties to blight enemy territory and strike down the forces.  It was his plague Nithriel healed.

·         Nithriel and Tamariel of the Sweet Breath, scion of the Iron Legion, once caught him in the act of poisoning a village's water supply.  He escaped with his life, though barely, and held a grudge against her from that point onward.  He called for sanctions against Scourges who focused on loving humanity rather than their obligations to fallen comrades, and it's said he took direct action against those fallen he considered treacherous.  Especially as some would stand between the fallen and enemy tribes in order to protect enemy humans.

·         Haruta handed over his tribe to her when he joined the Ebon Legion so that he could focus on a Total War against God so that humanity's mortality could quickly be reversed.

Physical Form and Powers:

House Power: She can return the recently dead and reasonably intact bodies to life (those who have died within seven hours) through touch and a minute of concentration as she fills them with enough healing energy that they return to life.  Such people awaken at -5 health (Hurt condition) and must mtake a 3-point Stability roll. Certain symbols and rites can prevent such bodies from coming back to sentient life.  All reasonably intact older bodies can be raised as non-sentient automata that will typically obey her commands rather thoughtlessly and last for hours equal to Faith before falling into a coma and dying within a day. 

Asharu Form Ability (Wings): A pair of eight-foot-long wings extends from her shoulders that allow her to take off from a standing position and glide up to three times her running speed.  Even without using these wings she is lifted a few inches above the ground by a non-existent breeze which runs through her hair, allowing her to pass through an area without leaving any prints.

Dagan Form Ability #1 (Kiss of Life): Spend 1 faith to heal 3 health points with a kiss.  This stacks with First Aid.

Dagan Form Ability #2 (Seizures): Nithriel can regenerate health points at double the usual rate so long as you remain in your revelatory form.

Human Host

Human Name: Ingrid Kensington

Nationality: American (New York)

Occupation: Assistant Pathologist

Age: 32

History

She had always wanted to work in medicine, but her parents despaired of her chances since women couldn't gain a medical degree at New York University at the time.  So she studied chemistry at the New York University and finished her honours degree in 1913, just in time for World War 1 to break out.  She worked in a factory during the war making pharmaceuticals and got a solid taste of working life. 

The moment the doors were opened in 1917, however, she resigned her position and took her entrance exam.  She won't have graduated yet by the time the campaign begins in August, 1922, but her chemistry major is acceptable and that cuts down her coursework by three years.  She has accomplished two years of medical school (1917-1919), and has begun her pathology residency (1920-1924).  As the introductory adventure begins in the summer of 1922, she will only be halfway through her residency when the game begins but will have completed it by the time Masks of Nyarlathotep begins.

She was very lucky to get her residency at the New York Hospital as few pathologists were willing to take her under their wing.  Luckily Mr. Rupert Harper wanted to be involved in a state-wide first and so he eagerly accepted her written request before he had even clapped eyes on her.  Currently her position namely involves weighing and measuring organs, and noting down the main pathologist's works, but she does have some freedom and responsibility when conducting tests and making decisions.  Hopefully she'll manage to gain a fellowship in 1925 (though as early 1925 is when Masks of Nyarlathotep begins, she won't get the chance to complete it).

A member of the New York Pathological Society with a couple hundred other individuals which meets at the lecture-hall of the College of Physicians and Surgeons though she is often expected to serve simple refreshments as a condition of entry.  The Society meets every Saturday afternoon at four o'clock, bringing all the specimens with them that they could obtain, and are welcome to invite their friends who are interested in the study of pathology to meet with them.  There is very little organisation involved in this organisation.  Ingrid is the only female pathologist who attends, though she isn't the only female attendee.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Pathological_Society

Known Humans:

Her father, Jonah Kensington, is the owner, accountant and chief financial officer of Prospero Press which is a small publishing company that focuses on printing those books that deserve to be printed due to their interest for mankind.  He is a friendly and charming individual who loves sitting down with writers in the tea room to hear of their experiences first-hand.  There's even a small typewriter room with a bookcase full of appropriate books for their writers to use that was his idea, with a tiny kitchen coming off of it.  He had expected Ingrid would join the family business but supports her in her unusual endeavour.

Her mother, Julia Kensington, is the chief editor of Prospero Press and she is a driven and focused woman who is ever eager to learn new stories.  She used to be an avid reader, but she hasn't the time anymore so she's always after the cliff-notes.  She can never relax and is always trying to get things done.  She's eager for Ingrid to enjoy her time as an assistant pathologist but accepts that one day she will marry and there will always be a job for her at the publishing company.  Of course until she has kids there's no reason why Ingrid needs to mention her wedding to her employers.

Her sister, Cornelia Kensington, is a magician's assistant who is eager to learn all of their magical tricks so that she may one day take to her stage.  Unfortunately all they want her for is an easy distraction for the general public.  How can a pretty young woman be a good magician if the focus is on her rather than her assistant?  How will she find someone prettier?  The idea is preposterous to them.  Still she tries, and she tries, though she has a very irritating suitor in Jack Roman who is an apprentice magician to her boss (and who is quite a handsome distraction himself).  She met Dell O'Dell once, who does magic and vaudeville tricks as part of her father's circus, and has been enamoured ever since.  She has a crush on Jackson Elias.

Mr. Rupert Harper is her chief supervisor during her residency and though he initially thought she wouldn't be capable of doing much more than making tea and trying not to throw up while she wrote down her notes, it turned out she was quite a resilient individual who didn't go green at all. After the first few days of testing and teasing her, he's grown quite accustomed to having her around and no longer points out her gender in any which way, finding her just as ghoulishly curious about specimens as he is.

Jackson Elias is a traveling writer who publishes through Prospero Press and brings them a substantial amount of income (hence why they'll wire him so much cash in return).  He's already written several books about cults around the world and is looking for his next big ticket.  Thoroughly egalitarian and not a bit racist, he treats everyone as an individual (whose calibre he can judge quite well) and has this knack of making you feel like he's truly listening to you regardless of race, gender or even age.  A rare feature for a man of his era.

Pillars of Stability:

·        Mr. Rupert Harper (Pathologist)

·        Cornelia Kensington (Sister)

·        To Be Decided

Sources of Sanity:

·        Faustian Affiliation

·        Intrinsic Value of Human Life??

·        Purity of the Iron Legion

Demonic Cthulhu Character: Gipontel (PC)

Fallen Name: Fell Knight Gipontel
Titles: Seraph of the Shifting Horizon
House: Annunaki (Malefactor)
Sub-House: Forge (Mummu)
Legion: Silver (Experimenters)
Faction: Cryptic (Information gatherer)
Fallen Appearance:

Demonic Personality Traits:

House Personality Traits: Annunaki find it difficult to comprehend human emotion, including their own, having been built with a supreme focus on the physical matter of the universe -- despite ironically being made of entirely spiritual stuff.  This also set them apart from the other Houses and left them with both a general feeling of isolation mixed with greater loyalty and affinity toward their own House.

Sub House Personality Trait: The Mummu were a development that occurred during the war against the Great Entity where the Annunaki had to both create weapons for use by the fallen and to teach and provide the various sentient races with tools that would improve their lives.  All Mummu were initially created to create Matter (Earth) or to create and control the distance between said Matter (Paths).  Their change in overarching function only occurred among the most ingenious and curious of the Annunaki who had to find new methods of achieving their goals.

Gipontel Personality Traits: An intelligent and resourceful fellow, who is driven by his curiosity to find out more about the world.  Unlike many Cryptics, his desires for information intertwine with his plans as he seeks to put what he has learned to a practical use.

Fallen Relationships:

·         Ahrimal is a lowly Fiend who foresaw that a catastrophe would befall humanity and confided in Gipontel who directed him to inform the Thrones so that they could give their better judgement.  The two remained friends though Ahrimal turned his back on the factions and became an Ashen Seer whose insights were often sought but rarely given.

·         His liege lord after the Fall was initially Telchinen (Devil, Glory In The Word of God) who focused on the effects of language on the human mind and who would spend hours in conversation with him. Later he was tricked into serving Lady Belphegor, before leaving with Belphigor and later serving an unknown liege lord before the end of the war.

·         Oracle Javiel, Hand of Infinity, Fiend and one-time companion of Ahrimal, whose talent for reading the strands of causality was so powerful she became a close confidant to the Morningstar and was the target of an audacious assassination attempt.  Eccentric and unpredictable.  Crimson Legionnaire.

·         A student of Nemere before his destruction, where he learned Lore of the Forge.

·         Zipacna, Fusion of Matter and Flesh, Malefactor, who spent a short while as a vassal to Gipontel before being sent into an independent research division.

Physical Form and Powers:

House Power: Gipontel has the ability to shape objects by running his hands across them though each component must be made separately.  In other words, he could craft a radio by sculpting the individual components but couldn't simply run his hands over a collection of copper and Bakelite and make the radio in an instant.  Naturally this has a lot of versatility.  Unfortunately it takes time and requires materials.

Annunaki Form Ability (Iron Skin): Gipontel gains 2 points of armour and 1 point of resistance to fire.

Mummu Form Ability #1 (Creator's Mark): Gipontel can use his Awareness to know who created a touched object, when it was constructed and the manner of its construction.

Mummu Form Ability #2 (Relentless): Gipontel can physically work without need of rest, and is able to cover superhuman distances without pause.  As long as he stays in motion, he is unaffected by fatigue or hunger.  He can work relentlessly in a workshop so long as he is in his revelatory form.

Human Name: Theodore Ashburne of Blessington

Nationality: British

Occupation: Dilettante (second son of a lord).

Age: 16

Human Appearance: A brunette lad wearing glasses.

Human Relations:

His mother, Lady Joan Ashburne, is a strong and clever woman who is skilful at manipulating political situations to her husband's advantage through the right application of social pressure brought about through skilful invitations to the right soirees and manipulating husbands through their wives.  She  feigns 'feminine' confusion whenever she is brought up on doing something her husband doesn't want her to do.  She's against women's suffrage as she believes that it will only achieve two votes for every man as no woman would go against her husband's will in such an overt manner.  Women should be subtle schemers.  Due to this, she often bands together with her daughters for private conversations and leaves her sons to do their manly activities.  Often her sons feel left out but she is a firm believer in the idea of women's business.

His father, Lord George Ashburne, Earl of Astley, married his mother due to her keen political skills and the two love each other quite a bit though they are often at odds with their plans for their children.  He is a firm traditionalist and definite conservative who is often at a loss with the irritating changes that have occurred during the past decade.  He finds his daughters quite perplexing, and is perpetually disappointed in both of his sons.

Born in 1892, Elizabeth is the eldest daughter who used the Great War as a fantastic excuse to become a nurse at the age of 22.  When her fiancé died in 1914, she decided to focus her efforts entirely on the hospital and has quickly risen in the ranks.  She refused to marry another man following the Great War and is close friends with another spinster nurse.  She is a stoic and focused young woman who quietly supports women's suffrage.

Henrietta is the middle child, born in 1898, who married a soldier at the tender age of 19.  Her husband, Duncan Wells, is now a reasonable and unremarkable political advisor who is a staunch supporter of Neville Chamberlain (much to her father's unremitting disgust).  She's always been fond of racing cars and has been looking into investing in a car and driver of her own.  Her husband is supportive and when Gipontel returns from New York to finish his boarding school studies in Britain, he will encourage her to learn more about the mechanics of racing cars so that she can improve her investment.  She has a five-year-old girl, Dora, and a 2-year-old boy, Paul, whom she loves dearly.

Reginald is the eldest son, born in 1904, who struggles to be the very picture of the perfect lord as he knows he will inherit both land and title.  He is, by turns, both smug and stoic and though he tries to affect reasonableness he really doesn't know what it is and ends up quite sanctimonious.  He was never very close to the other children or his mother as his father claimed him quite early on with tutors to set him apart from his sisters.  Really he is very insecure and needy, but lacks the language to express it.  He's just finished boarding school and is starting to study the intricacies of being a lord under his father.

Gwen is his twin sister, born in 1906, who is a very energetic and enthusiastic young lady who is eager to explore the world, meet new people and try new things.  She's very much a Bright Young Thing, but fiendishly clever as well.  She's an excellent horse rider, skilled fox hunter and has a trained hawk she calls 'Bubbly'.  Her best friend is Letty (Lettice), who is a very similar character, and who once had a serious discussion with Theodore when they were fourteen years old regarding their potential marriage prospects since they know each other so well.  Gwen is a bit of a brat, and loves judging people on their clothes and etiquette, but are deep down lovely people who will help people out and won't be snide or judgemental to someone's face as they won't want to hurt their feelings.

His manservant, Edmund Rittington, is an elderly fellow who used to serve as valet to Lord George Ashburne.  Once Theodore is of age he intends to ask to have him as a valet as a form of retirement for the fellow, rather than someone able to keep up and get overly involved.  Once possessed, Gipontel will seek to pact with him so that while he appears aged he will not act it.

 

 

 

Pillars of Stability:

·         Gwen (sister)

·         To Be Decided

·         To Be Decided

·         To Be Decided

 

Sources of Sanity:

·         Cryptic Affiliation

·         House of Annunaki

·         The March of Progress

·         Intrinsic Value of Animal / Human / Fallen Life