The Journey (My players keep out)

[Wordmaker]

When we were doing setting-creation for our On The Run campaign, one of the Faces put forward was the Hitchhiker, an embodiment of journeys and travel. Originally the idea was that he was a creature of the Never Never, the manifestation of travel, but I've been thinking about ways to flesh this character out and here's what I have so far:

The Journey is "the one story no-one else knows." Similar to the Archive, the Journey was created as a magical construct. Where the Archive knows all that is written, the Journey can travel to anywhere mortals have set foot. Aware that humanity would need a guide to help it re-emerge from the Dark Ages, Merlin created the Journey, a force of energy that is passed on from traveler to traveler. His or her duty is then to walk the Earth, helping those who are lost to find their way. Originally this involved encouraging trade and diplomacy between warring kingdoms, and then evolved to the exploration of new lands to rebuild what had been lost after the fall of Rome. Now, in the age of information and secrets, the Journey helps those who seek to find the truth, whether of the world or of themselves.

The Journey cannot age, and can remember everything seen and done by previous bearers of the power.

However, the role comes with a price. Once a traveler becomes the Journey, he can never again set foot inside his home, and must leave his loved ones behind forever (perhaps they no longer recognize him? Or completely forget he ever existed?), and he cannot return to a place he has once visited (either forever, or only using his powers so he would need mundane travel to return to a place). Once the Journey can no longer fulfill his duties due to this restriction, he must find someone to become the new Journey, after which he dies.

What do you guys thing? Anyone have any suggestions for powers or other weaknesses?

[Haru]

Sounds interesting. I would have him age though, so he has to pass on the power at some point, when he is too old and weak to travel, which might lead to him passing it on to a suboptimal person. And I would remove the "can't go to a place he already journeyed to", it seems weird that the ultimate guide would not be able to guide people anywhere that would be needed.

What happens if the Journey is killed, before the power is passed on? Does it snap to a random person? Does it go to the killer? What if he dies in an accident?

You might want to give him supernatural senses with things like absolute position, earth magnetic field and other things that can be used to navigate. Maybe he is even able to adapt human knowledge into the magical matrix and accumulate more modern things and knows his GPS coordinates and things like that. Though that is simply longitude and latitude, doesn't need to have anything to do with GPS.
Worldwalking, if you want him to know the nevernever, of course.
Something like Guide my Hand, where he can turn up wherever he is needed.
He could have Seven-league boots, so he can move very fast along the country.

Maybe people can't remember him? Or at least anything specific. He would turn up and help them, but soon after that, people only remember some guy being there and helping them, but they can't even remember his name.

Does he have anything to do with the map from the other thread?

[Wordmaker]

I think you're right. The limitation on travel is kinda stupid 

If he's killed, I think maybe his power passes on to the closest traveler. Traveler being defined as any person currently on a long journey away from home.

I love the idea of him having an absolute sense of direction and location. I considered the Nevernever, but I like the idea that he's a guide for the mortal world alone.

Seven-league boots! Absolutely. There's enough folklore about powerful beings offering mortals the chance to literally "walk in their shoes" and all kinds of gifts and curses that go with that. Perhaps the boots are the key to the power? The new Journey must put them on to take over. And if the Journey dies without a replacement, the boots find their way to new owners, the way a Denarian coin does?

I'm liking the idea that the Journey is the source of inspiration for all those books and tv shows about wandering heroes travelling from place to place, helping people.

I hadn't thought of him being connected to the map, but perhaps he could be? I'm not sure how, though.

[Haru]

I would not make it exactly like the coins, but more an act of will by putting on the boots. They could find their way to a new traveler at a yard sale or flee market or maybe just a lost and found in a motel.
But please, please give them the aspect "These Boots are made for Walking"!!! 

I'm not sure how the Journey and the Map could be connected, but it felt like they were similar enough to be. Maybe the Map is made by one or several of the Journeys through the years to help in their task. Or maybe (since I remember we had discussed something like that in the Map thread) the map contains a part of the Journey that has been magically cut off, because... something. I'm sure we can come up with a reason. 
Uh, maybe one of the Journeys wanted to keep part of his knowledge away from someone else, so he stored it inside the map. The map can do for this area of knowledge, what the Journey can, and the Journey is lost in that area.

[Wordmaker]

Interesting. Given that the map highlights danger, and the group has spotted it in the home of an evil sorcerer who (unknown to them) is summoning the demon Abaddon from his prison in the Abyss, perhaps the map was created by someone who wanted to oppose the Journey? Maybe the map wasn't intended to warn people of evil, but to lead do-gooder travelers into situations that might get them killed?

And yes, once you become the Journey, the aspect for the Item of Power is "These Boots Are Made For Walking" 

[cold_breaker]

Suggestion: The traveller - as a construct - is broken. Perhaps its memory is missing parts? Make it so that if it were fully functioning, the heroes wouldn't be needed at all? Maybe one of its central responsibilities would be to refresh the lay lines, but somehow the BBEG has wiped out certain important parts of its memmory...

[Wordmaker]

Hmm, that could play in nicely to what we have planned.

I decided I was setting the campaign in late 1999, well before Storm Front, and during Setting Creation, one player mentioned that the turn of the millenium would be a major event in the supernatural world, as it's a major re-set on magic. There could be groups all over the world whose job is to maintain all the ancient wards and magical cycles that are at risk of being undone once the sun rises on January 1st, 2000.

[cold_breaker]

That actually gives me a good idea. Perhaps the whole thing has been sabotaged and the campaign can revolve around picking up a series of broken relics that are supposed to do this job naturally - the map, the traveller - perhaps a compass? a dowsing rod? sextant?

Any ways, the interesting part: although most are sabotaged - memory wiped in the case of the traveller and the map, perhaps the sextant has been broken into pieces, the compass has been drained of magical energy and must be repaired, etc... Not all of them are necessarily helpful to the players from what they can see. Perhaps the compass draws a dangerous but necessary guardian spirit, the traveller has a particularly nasty method of guiding them, etc. - In other words, perhaps the good guys don't look like the good guys to the players.

[Wordmaker]

Well when you think about it, if there's a powerful force leading you to battle horrible monsters, how can you be sure it's doing it because it wants to help you, or wants to kill you? 

But yes, the White Council would certainly be aware of the danger of a millenium eve undoing long-term wards and bindings the world over. As would most of the major factions. There would absolutely be wizards whose job is to ensure that the wards remain in place, and a set of tools that cover that for the entire world is a lot more practical that relying on separate groups to do it.

Perhaps it requires the emotional energy of new year's celebrations to maintain the seals?

I'm picturing a big showdown with the Big Bad in New York city in the middle of the celebrations...

[cold_breaker]

Well when you think about it, if there's a powerful force leading you to battle horrible monsters, how can you be sure it's doing it because it wants to help you, or wants to kill you? 

But yes, the White Council would certainly be aware of the danger of a millenium eve undoing long-term wards and bindings the world over. As would most of the major factions. There would absolutely be wizards whose job is to ensure that the wards remain in place, and a set of tools that cover that for the entire world is a lot more practical that relying on separate groups to do it.

Perhaps it requires the emotional energy of new year's celebrations to maintain the seals?

I'm picturing a big showdown with the Big Bad in New York city in the middle of the celebrations...

I was thinking more along the lines of 'the wards themselves are friggin dangerous - and malicious.' Perhaps the white council doesn't know there's anything wrong with the systems in place and doesn't consider the party to be a threat to them or capable of fixing them even if it knows they are broken because frankly? The wards are bad ass. The party doesn't realize they're working in what would normally be a very dangerous environment (but isn't, because it's broken) but as it gets fixed, it suddenly becomes very hostile for them. hehe

[Wordmaker]

Well the group is on the run from the Wardens, so if the White Council get word of them screwing around with ancient wards, they're going to assume they're trying to sabotage them, not maintain them! 

[Haru]

I like the idea of the map leading people into traps. Bad map.

I don't feel there is anything mystical about the turn of the century, though. It's a cool idea and all, but the numbers are so arbitrary, it wouldn't make sense to me. Chinese new year is even a few weeks later.
Though I like the idea of channeling the positive energy from all the festivities. Could it be powerful enough, that a wizard could channel it into a temporary ley line? The players could magically "dig out" the trenches that the river is supposed to flow through in advance. That way, you could have all those tiny wells of joy trickle into the big river of happiness that leads into the seal and restores its energy. You won't have that kind of power for a long time, so the deadline would be the same. And magic overflow from the seal being restored could add to the fireworks. I can see the scenes unfolding before my eyes right now. I approve.

[Wordmaker]

Not to mention, playing up the fear of the Y2K bug. Jeez, so many people literally thought the world would end.

Imagine a ritual tapping into that energy...