The Hecate Strait Freehold

[Belial666]

Hecate Strait is a wide but shallow strait between the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) and the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It merges with Queen Charlotte Sound to the south and Dixon Entrance to the north. About 87 miles (140 km) wide at its southern end, Hecate Strait narrows in the north to about 30 miles (48 km). It is about 160 miles (260 km) in length. It was named by Captain George Henry Richards in 1861 after his surveying vessel, the HMS Hecate.
Geographically-speaking, it is very shallow, and prone to storms and violent weather. It and its surrounding areas, such as the Queen Charlotte Islands to the west and the British Columbia coastline to the east, are of the most rainy, most cloudy and least sunny places in the world. Combining all three of those factors, they are actually the darkest area in all of America, averaging a bit over 3 hours of sunshine per day and their longest night is about a month in duration.
Metaphysically-speaking, the entire area is lousy in both weather-related and necromancy-related ley lines -not all of them natural- forming a nexus of dark energy on the island of Moresby that goes as far back as the last Ice Age and the creation of the Hecate Strait itself. And the leylines have been growing steadily darker ever since, especially in the last two hundred years. The Queen Charlotte Islands as well as the coastal regions of the mainland are a major hot spot of spiritual activity, with more ghosts, wraiths and other dark spirits than any other place in Canada, rivaled in their thinness of the Veil between reality and the Nevernever in North America only by the city of Chicago and its surrounding areas.



Today, the Hecate Strait is an accorded Freehold and save haven for things that go bump in the night. The Freehold has existed for the better part of two centuries and how it came to be is a rather bloody tale. Populated by the Haida people as far back as anyone can remember, it was surveyed by the HMS Hecate in the 1860s. It had a prosperous native community with a population of over 10.000 and significant resources. Unfortunately, it also was one of the last bastions of Red Court expansionism in North America. The Red Court control of the continent had taken a huge blow over the past three centuries; along with the colonists from Europe had come major powers of the Old World that violently opposed to their practices as they expanded their own power in the New World; the White Council of Wizardry, the Seelie and Unseelie Sidhe and the Black Court of Vampires. The last of those powers had recently suffered a major setback in Europe at the time, seeing their dominance of the Old World destroyed along with the vast majority of their weakest, stupidest and more visible members. That renewed the Black Court expansion and immigration attempts to the New World, though far less than in the heyday of the "Black Death"; after all, the number of immigrating vampires were far fewer.
Unknown to most of the crew of the HMS Hecate and other survey vessels of the time, Black Court nobles were transported overseas and arrived in newly surveyed areas, including the mainland of British Columbia. Threatened by the new arrivals, the Red Court outposts in the area decided to wage war rather than flee. Within a few years, over 90% of the native population had been killed, supposedly due to smallpox and other diseases. What had really happened was that they were used to fuel the Red Court offensives even as the Black Court sought more recruits for their own armies. Within four decades, only 350 Haida people remained - but the Black Court had finally won, despite significant losses.

Amelia Este, a Black Court ancient and seer, foresaw the expansion of the White Council's powerbase in North America, soon to be followed by the Sidhe and the White Court. Realizing no Black Court presence could survive following the same practices that had destroyed the court in the Old World, she went about selling her services to both Winter and the seedier members of the White Council against both the retreating Red Court and any native supernatural opposition even as the war in British Columbia raged. Amassing favors in the supernatural  side of the American Civil War with her uncanny ability to back the winners in any conflict, and being one of the most civilized and progressive Black Court nobles left, she managed to declare herself a Freeholding Lady of the Barony of Hecate in 1866.
Moving in Moresby Island after the final retreat of the Red Court, she used the area's climate, its natural inclinations, and quite a bit of powerful magic to make the area considerably more Black-Court friendly while at the same time helping protect the remains of the native community. Whether they were deceived or Lady Este actually helped them, what remained of the native supernatural community actually viewed her as a liberator and protector. Native prosperity actually fitting with her plans of a large number of quality blood donors, shifting the already dark and cloudy weather more to her liking through magic and slowly but steadily winning over (or magically binding) the native dark spirits made for a safe -if very scary- barony.




Supernatural points of interest;

The Moresby Nexus: a nexus of dark energy leylines coursing through the island of that name, and one of the two anchor points for the major spell that significantly enhances darkness and cloud cover in the entire Freehold over the past two centuries. While a portion of the nexus' power feeds the spell, most of it is still usable by sufficiently practiced spellcasters, especially necromancers, ectomancers and entropomancers.
Castle Este: something of a misnomer, this is primarily a victorian mansion rather than a castle and the residence of the Baroness. It is private property in both mortal and supernatural laws and was built a few miles west of Sandspit, the only human community of any size in the island of Moresby. Rumors abound about powerful wards, spirit guardians and extensive dungeons beneath the mansion but none have been confirmed so far - not that the Baroness allows many visitors.
Skidegate cemetery: a cemetery only supernaturals can see or remember, this is a place of power in Graham island and where the Red Court made blood sacrifice of the natives to their nobles. An open, windswept plain without any trees or other growth beyond grass and lichen, it is perpetually covered by a soft mist that coalesces into very active wraiths and spirits at night that roam the area and attack hapless bystanders. If one can survive the wraiths, it is a place that contact with the dead and ghosts is much easier than normal and divinations and memory related magic - especially into the past - are more powerful than usual.
The Prince Rupert Nexus: a nexus of elemental energy leylines coursing through and around the city of the same name in the British Columbia coast. It is the second of two anchor points for the major spell that significantly enhances darkness and cloud cover in the entire Freehold over the past two centuries, and the reason the city of the same name has the most cloud cover and least sunlight of any other city in North and South America, perhaps the world. It is a haven for minor talents with elementalism-related abilities.


Supernatural Dangers:

Darkstorms: the spell that enhances the Freehold's cloud cover and diminishes the effects of whatever sunlight there is is not entirely stable; no spell of that magnitude could be even if the Red Court sacrificed over 4000 people to start it and the Black Court tapped two leylines for three decades to complete it. The spell's instability manifest as Darkstorms, waves of dark magic that are accompanied by a fierce rainstorm and total darkness. In a Darkstorm, all natural sources of light are snuffed out by seemingly natural causes; the sun is hidden by total cloud cover if it happens during the day, fires are very easily snuffed out by high winds and rainfall, electric lights suffer power outages and even the wind seeks to blow carried lanterns off their bearers' hands and smash them against hard surfaces. Every exchange, every light source is affected by a "delumination" maneuver at Great difficulty until it is snuffed out. People carrying light sources are affected by a "blown aside by the wind" maneuver followed by a "disarmed" maneuver that takes away such light sources, again at Great difficulty. Seeing anything beyond your zone faces a Great difficulty for perception, which increases by 1 per zone of distance; creatures with "cloak of shadows" or similar ability to see through darkness are unaffected. Apart from this enforced darkness and the storm's natural dangers, all supernatural creatures suffer a necromantic environmental hazard of superb strength every minute. Unliving creatures are unaffected but living supernaturals must roll Endurance and take physical stress if they fail. A Darkstorm typically lasts a couple of hours and comes and goes without warning, manifesting and fading extremely -though nor unnaturally- fast for a weather phenomenon. There is a Darkstorm covering a radius of at least two dozen miles once per day in the Freehold. Luckily, most of them happen over the water, not land.
Wraith Attacks: Nearly ten thousand natives died to "diseases" during the first few decades in the two islands alone. In reality, they were sacrificed to fuel the war efforts between vampires, mostly by the Red Court. The twisted remnants of people whose life-force was ripped from them to fuel dark magic still endures as countless wraiths and tormented ghosts all over the Hecate Strait. Wraits and ghosts rarely manifest fully under normal circumstances, especially in large numbers. But due to the supernatural battles fought with necromancy and blood sorcery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the Veil in the area is very thin, resulting in Wraiths being able to manifest a lot more easily, and the lack of sunlight allows them to remain for considerably longer periods. They rarely attack the locals - the Baroness is rather testy about their breaking her own laws and she has the power to enforce them - but more than one tourist or visiting supernatural has vanished without trace.
Barony Vampires: The lesser vampires of the Freehold are exclusively Black Court; other vampire courts are forbidden from entering. Barony vampires are recruited from mortals that have proven their competence and intelligence and the first thing they are all taught about their supernatural powers after feeding is enough necromancy to manipulate their own bodies to preserve themselves, heal and pass as human. Though very few in number, they have this significant advantage over most Black Court and many seek further training in sorcery. While there are strict laws in place about feeding, the most improtant of them is "don't get caught". Of the disappearances attributed to wraiths and natural dangers, a good 30% is actually due to vampires with a sweet tooth for tourists.

[Belial666]

Elementalist (Feet in the Water)

High Concept: Weather Witch
Other Aspects: Academic Education, Spelunking Enthusiast, Minor Talent
Skills:
Great: Lore, Discipline
Good: Scholarship, Conviction
Fair: Endurance, Suvival, Athletics
Average: Investigation, Presence, Empathy
Stunts:
Weatherman:  +2 to any rolls to study or predict the weather.
Occultist: elemental magic +1, weather spells +2
Powers:
Ritual Elementalism OR Leyline Magic
Total Refresh Cost:
-4


Mist Wraith (submerged)

High Concept: Mindless Hungry Spirit
Other Aspects: Insatiable, Sneaky As A Shadow, Quiet Like A Breeze
Skills:
Superb: Stealth
Great: Intimidate, Athletics, Conviction
Good: Endurance, Alertness, Burglary
Fair: Presence, Empathy, Survival
most other skills default to mediocre
Powers:
Spirit Form
Incite Fear
Emotional Vampire
Supernatural Toughness (catch is heavy metals)
Cloak of Shadows
Senses: Lifesense (can see lifeforce as sources of light, even through solid objects)
Total Refresh Cost:
-10


Barony Vampire (snorkeling)

High Concept: Evolved Black Court
Other Aspects: Adaptive Personality, Mask of Nobility, Monster Inside
Skills:
Superb: Conviction, Deceit
Great: Fists, Discipline, Stealth
Good: Endurance, Alertness, Presence
Fair: Contacts, Survival, Rapport
Average: Driving, Guns, Empathy
Powers:
Ritual Necromancy, often upgraded to Stygian Necromancy (similar to Kemmlerian Necromancy, only a full sponsored magic)
Human Guise
Echoes of the Beast
Claws
Living Dead
Supernatural Toughness (The Catch is Bram-Stoker type weaknesses)
Blood Drinker
Feeding Dependency, affecting the following powers;
Cloak of Shadows
Inhuman Strength
Inhuman Speed
Domination
Gaseous Form
Total Refresh Cost:
-16 to -18



Amelia Este, Baroness Hecate (scary deep)

High Concept: Elder Black Court Seer  Trouble: Eccentric Beyond Measure
Other Aspects: Mask of Law And Grace, Daywalker, Monster Inside, Foresight is 20/20, Ruthless Practicality
Stress: Physical OOOO(OOOOOO) extra mild, Mental OOOOOOO 2 extra milds, Social OOOO extra mild, Hunger OOOO extra mild

Skills:
Epic: Conviction, Lore
Fantastic: Fists, Discipline, Presence
Superb: Athletics, Stealth, Alertness
Great: Resources, Deceit, Rapport
Good: Endurance, Contacts, Might
Fair: Craftmanship, Survival, Scholarship
Average: Driving, Guns, Burglary, Weapons
Powers and Stunts;
[-1] A Few Seconds Ahead
[-2] Senses: Domain Mastery  - has a general sense of evens within her domain, may project her full senses to any specific location inside it
[-1] True Insight  - +1 to all Lore rolls in keeping with her nature
[-1] Swing for the Fences
[-3] Evocation  (+1 water control, +2 air power, +3 air control, +4 spirit power, +5 spirit control,  +4 offense foci for spirit power and control)
[-3] Stygian Necromancy (as per Kemmlerian Necromancy)
[-8] Refinement
[-3] Mythic Mental Resilience (see Custom Powers thread)
[-1] Claws
[-1] Living Dead
[-4] Mythic Toughness (catch is sunlight and holy ground)
[-4] Supernatural Recovery
[-4] Physical Immunity (stacked catch of "all damage applies, halved". Essentially half-immunity)
[-2] No Salvation - only her actual catch may ignore her extra stress boxes, not effects that satisfy catches. Armor is still ignored normally.
[–1] Blood Drinker
[+1] Feeding Dependency, affecting the following powers:
  [+0] Human Guise
  [–1] Cloak of Shadows
  [–6] Mythic Strength
  [–2] Inhuman Speed
  [–4] Domination + Master Dominator
  [–3] Gaseous Form
Total Refresh Cost/Refresh: -54/-14

[Belial666]

Factions and the Arcane Community in the Freehold:

Barony Knights: Black Court nocturnmancers that form the "official" authority and policing force in the freehold, these are all proteges, loyalists and 'children' of the Baroness. Numbers are rather hard to guess for outsiders but the Freehold claims 100 "knights", those of the Black Court that have proven their competence and loyalty in various affairs of the Freehold. Like most Black Court scourges, their numbers are rather high compared to the local population of other supernaturals, they are a violent and bloodthirsty lot, and not very approachable. Unlike most Black Court scourges, this one is highly organized, with a power structure very similar to that of late middle-ages feudal kingdoms. Perceptive individuals will notice said structure, associate it with the Baronesse's family name, and surmise the whole scourge has -or used to have- ties to a certain royal house in a certain island kindgom. Such individuals are strongly suggested to keep their opinons to themselves for the good of their continued existance.
The Barony Knights follow a strict set of laws and enforce the policies of the Freehold, and while they are still violent and bloodthirsty as is their nature, they are also equally fair and protective of the well-being of the supernaturals that actuallylive in the Freehold. The Freehold's power and stability comes from being a safe, if very dark, haven for supernaturals of all kinds, and it could not have grown in power without a true and functioning police force.
Face: Lady Fairhair, Black Court Knight
Theme:  Black Court Country

The Outcasts: Being orderly, fair and intelligent is rather contrary to a young Black Court Vampire's nature. Many new BC vampires in the freehold fail to prove themselves to the established authorities or ideologically oppose the idea of a place openly ruled by the Black Court being nominally safe and less violent. Such vampires are allowed into the Freehold, provided they don't annoy its true power and don't break any laws. They are marked as outcasts, though few would call them so in their face, and fit much more closely the standard BCV M.O. Individual groups, while not stupid enough to annoy a full Elder, tend to use the Freehold as a base of operations to surrounding areas beyond its borders. Since attacking people inside the freehold is forbidden but doing so beyond it and then hiding inside is not, the outcasts are becoming a problem for several communities and several powers in Canada and the West Coast.
Face: Malphas Ventus, Black Court savage
Threat: BC terrorism

Weathergate Consortium: Due to both its leylines and the major spell influencing the climate in the area, over the past two hundred years the Freehold has attracted many weather-related minor talents. Once the area was free of the overwhelming hostile presence of the Red Court, such talents gravitated towards its fierce supernatural weather and the magical power that flowed through it. Especially over the past century, such minor talents have unofficial backing - monetary or otherwise - from the Freehold's authorities; understanding how the area's magic works exactly could be used to further the effects of the spell that limits sunlight or how to prevent enemies from tampering with it in case of war. For that reason and others, the Freehold has quietly sponsored such talents into translocating here and has nominally limited interference from other powers through the creation of the "Weathergate Consortium", a relatively minor, supposedly independent organization out of minor elementalists and weather witches in the area.
Theme: Land of the Weathermen

White Court: Vampires of the White Court are generally forbidden entry. While the restriction is not nearly as strict as with the Reds, the laws of the Freehold limit the time any single White Court vampire can spend within it into no more than six hundred and sixty six hours - for their entire life. Naturally, that does not sit well with the Whites, who call the ruling "totally arbitrary" and "unlawful" as it prevents its members from exercising constant control of their interests in the area, given that the White Court are only created through birth and have limited numbers. That said, the White Court is constantly trying to infiltrate the Freehold with non-vampiric agents, White Court virgins and other affiliates, in an undercover attempt to understand and subvert the Freehold's resources and agents.
Theme: Webs of White

The White Council: The White Council is free to come and go in the Freehold, provided they respect its laws and neutrality. In fact, wizards and even wardens are welcome provided they do not attempt to drag the Freehold into their own affairs. Specifically, the Freehold's authority in all matters regarding that of its registered denizens exceeds that of the Council. The wizards are free to pursue a fleeing black magician or dangerous supernatural for example, even fight and arrest him within freehold grounds, provided said individual has not been openly living in the Freehold for at least a year. If he or she or it has, then the Freehold's laws and authority takes precedence. This has led into significant friction over some cases, especially that of the Weathergate Consortium, with the Council insisting on its authority to police them, an authority not recognized. A regional warden with several "apprentices" (actually additional agents of the Council) resides within the Freehold over the past few years and tensions have been rapidly rising.
Theme: Rising Tensions

Fomori:



20 Game Ideas involving the Freehold:
TBP

[Sanctaphrax]

Looks pretty good from a setting perspective.

A few things in Este's writeup that I'd call shenanigans on, but nothing terribly important.

Why is the Mist Wraith vulnerable to heavy metals?

I think that the Mist Wraith and Barony Vampire might be a bit overstatted.

[Belial666]

Wraiths are still ghosts. And ghosts are vulnerable to "extra real" materials (as Harry explains it) such as depleted uranium or iron.

[wraith1986]

I really like your concept. If you're setting this in the timeline after changes and still want to use the Red Court in my campaign I found a way around their complete extermination. Since all of the Red Court wasn't present at the ritual in Chitchinitza I had a single red court vampire that had finished his first feeding in Brazil only seconds after Susan had completed the transformation. He's the last of his kind but was an initiate half-vampire for a while (still younger than Susan however at only around six years). He's the last of his kind since the ritual only killed all those that had turned before Susan. In the same vein as the black court being beaten and in hiding he's creating a small cadre of vampires in secret. It's a good plot device if you like the Red Court, PC's want to play them, and you want to recreate a power structure for them.

[NicholasQuinn]

Nice work; the setting in particular is cool! Is it free for open use by whomever wishes too?

About the creatures inside; personally I agree with Sanct that the Barony Vampires and Wraiths are tad too strong skill wise, although the abilities seem fairly done - and fitting with the concepts. Although I'd probably mix in a few Barony Vamps that don't have necromancy etc, and are more akin to baseline BCVs. Although then I guess they'd just be Vamps, not Barony ones.
The Baroness strikes me as unnecessarily powerful, but then I admittedly operate on a lower power scale. My standard submerged Wizard would be 5-7 shifts standard spells, not the 8-10 you've listed somewhere. Each table to their own.
That said, she needs to be powerful to enforce such rulings upon the supernatural beings, so I'd personally just make her plot device in a similar way to the Denarians etc, and have challenge levels etc as opposed to stats. Seems to offer more freedom that way, then rigid power set ups.

Thank you for sharing Belial, the only 'problems' I have with it are down to personal taste, thus not really problems at all.

If you're setting this in the timeline after changes and still want to use the Red Court in my campaign I found a way around their complete extermination.

(click to show/hide)

I simply had the spell go down with its intended target. Thus solving their extermination, removing certain important characters, and creating several interesting things to think about:
- The Council would have lost the Grey Council, which weakens it; and removes most of the opposition the Black Council would face.
- The Blackstaff is now up for grabs somewhere. I figured it would have been hidden in Ebenezer's last moments.
- The Red Court would be minus a lot of its nobility, Lords of Night etc, slaughtered in the fight and eventual death curses.
- All Three Swords of the Cross are now out of use. I've yet to fully work out how to prevent their destruction. Perhaps Lea took them.
- Winter is again, without a Knight.
- With Maggie's bloodline curse ended, the White King is now once again able to feed. This gives the potential for him to begin resisting his current domination by Lara.
And more, but that's enough to get the ideas rolling for now.

[/off topic from me]

[Belial666]

Setting is free to use - that's why I wrote stuff up and then posted it rather than keep it in my notes/memory.

If you want the Red Court vamps to survive, the Freehold might be a place they can go to hide - provided they can cover themselves against the Black Court in the area.

Barony vampires were intended to be on par (or at least within shouting distance) with Black Court masters, not normal Black Court. They have less refresh than said masters but are more skilled, reflecting Black Court that begins to rely on more training than just enhanced supernatural powers. The Outcasts are those vamps that don't bother or can't learn enough skills and some base magic and then go the normal BCV to BCV master route.


The Baroness falls upon the DFRPG general problem with "multiclass" characters in general, and the refresh cost problem of black court in particular. Black Court master is already at -19 refresh. But those powers do not help at all in making a BCV spellcaster; you got to pay totally different refresh for spellcasting and you got a bad case of refresh inflation. I.e. if Harry was turned into a BCV when he was at -18 refresh i.e. just before Changes power-wise, his refresh cost would jump to -37 without his magic being any stronger. That's about the refresh cost Mavra would have BTW. Now if you want an ancient vampire to also be senior-council-level caster, you are not doing it for less than 50 refresh, even if her magic and physical powers individually will be on par with -25 refresh characters.
As for making it plot-level powerful instead of a character with very high stats, there are advantages to either case. In the end, I went with the way that gave a credible opponent for even Harry-level groups and also pandered to my urge to stat all things.

[Sanctaphrax]

Mist Wraith catch makes sense now.

I approve of Este's power level. Black Court Ancients seem to have been intended as Nicodemus/Red King-level Big Bads.

The fluff about Barony Vampires implies that they aren't terribly powerful or difficult to manufacture. I recommend that you change that if you intend for them to be roughly Master BCV level.

[Belial666]

A newly turned Black Court vampire can, if they have the potential, turn into a master within a year. Ditto for Barony vamps. It's not that they are made more powerful to begin with. It's that they train into it and those with the potential for it learn. The only boost given to them is Este's preservation rote. And since I forgot to write down Este's rotes, let me remedy the oversight;


Spiritual Subversion
You ensnare the target's spirit with barbed hooks of dark magic, controlling their actions for a time.
w16 spiritual attack vs discipline, using psychomancy as evocation. Takeout means target is dominated.


Dust to Dust
You reduce objects and people unto dust, as if by death's touch or the wear and tear of several centuries.
w14 zonewide necromantic attack vs endurance. Takeout turns affected creatures and objects to dust.


Telempathic Vision
You tap into the incessant psychic babble of mortal minds and the echoes of dead spirits still walking the earth, searching for all available info on a chosen subject.
20 shifts effective knowledge roll, using psychomancy as evocation. If you don't learn the info you're looking for, it isn't there or a god is keeping it hidden.


Preserve Undeath
You prevent rot, decay and other effects of time on an undead body, keeping it in perfect condition - except for the fact that it's dead.
Legendary block vs rot/decay and environmental hazards, using necromancy as evocation, 10 extra shifts put in duration so it lasts a year.


Mindcloak
All that see you consider you totally insignificant, your image fading from their own memory before they even notice you're there.
16-shift major psychomantic veil. Doesn't work vs mindless creatures and machines but affects all senses of normal creatures;
even if they touched you, they'd forget about it. Broken normally like all veils if you draw exceptional attention to yourself.


Corporeal Reconstitution
You close wounds, set bones, prevent blood loss, banish pain and fatigue and generally heal a body and brain of flesh and bone.
Wounds don't go away but can heal that much faster.
20-shift healing that reduces consequence severity. Consequences don't go away (except for milds) but a moderate and serious consequence
may be rendered mild and moderate respectively or a serious consequence rendered a mild where recovery time is concerned.


Plague of Undeath
You unleash a torrent of dark magic that almost instantly perverts the live of all living creatures in a large area,
warping their bodies and minds until they are no more than a throng of mindless, hungry, walking corpses.
18-shift necromancy as evocation attack vs endurance on 5 zones at once. Takeout transforms living targets
to uncontrolled undead, emphasis on uncontrolled. Use with care, coupled with copious amounts of zombie repellent.

[NicholasQuinn]

Setting is free to use - that's why I wrote stuff up and then posted it rather than keep it in my notes/memory.

Thank you, I thought it polite to ask.

Barony vampires ...(snip)

I see. That would make sense. I think my main problem proved to be a lack of perspective on my part. 100 (possible) Knights isn't really a large number in the grand scheme of things, and you even mentioned them being few in number. My bad, with that in mind, and you're additional comments, the stats definitely seem more reasonable.

The Baroness ...(snip)

That does highlight a few things about the system, and does put into light why you had to make her so refresh high; I hadn't really thought of it like that. Your stats certainly seem to match what you wanted to, and hopefully quelled your urges (for now, until you decide to make a few more awesome characters) to stat things.

I still think I'd personally prefer her as a plot device set-up. As your creation, would you mind giving myself (and anyone else interested) an idea of what sort of plot device challenge levels she'd represent, as you see her, in each of her key areas (physical, mental, social, magical, anything else you can think of)?

Cheers for the feedback, it's been very helpful.

Black Court Ancients seem to have been intended as Nicodemus/Red King-level Big Bads.

Perhaps*. They're described as the most intelligent of the Black Court, having survived so long; which makes them dangerous - but that doesn't necessitate power. I'd probably place them nearly as powerful as the Red King, if in a somewhat different manner (

(click to show/hide)

as to me, much of his power came from the Faith of his worshippers

). Maybe more akin to the Lords of Outer Night. I get the feeling Nicodemus never fully utilised his power, or at least the Fallen inside him's power; as far as he was concerned nothing could kill him. But of course, that is pure speculation.

*I guess it depends on what you'd classify as Ancient. To me Mavra doesn't seem in that league yet, but was still a respectable being in her own right.

[Belial666]

I still think I'd personally prefer her as a plot device set-up. As your creation, would you mind giving myself (and anyone else interested) an idea of what sort of plot device challenge levels she'd represent, as you see her, in each of her key areas (physical, mental, social, magical, anything else you can think of)?

Social:
Great offense; mostly experienced with vampire matters rather than other species and lacks the supernatural good looks and magnetism of other vampires.
Legendary defense: can literally predict your actions before you do them. Pinning her down diplomatically or with fast-talking requires either a trap of sorts or significant advantage.

Mental:
Fantastic offense and defense in the purely mental department.
In matters of the mortal world, her knowledge is only fair as the vast majority of her experience is from older times.
In matters of the supernatural world, she's a powerful seer with nearly a millenium of experience. Legendary challenge; people that know more than she does are rare and all of them are major powers.

Espionage:
Superb challenge during the day in stealth and perception, only Good contacts and Great diplomatic ability outside her domain. Epic challenge during the night in stealth and perception. Only average thieving skill but she can turn to mist and move through the keyhole or physically rip apart any door or barrier so she hardly needs it. Inside her domain, forget stealth; she knows what you're doing.

Physical:
You (almost certainly) lose. At least fantastic unarmed skill  coupled with weapon 8 attacks and the ability to predict any move you make before you do it. Unless fought in holy ground or broad daylight, you need battlefield weaponry to hurt her. OTOH, she is slow for a major supernatural (only inhuman speed), and is limited to physically walking most of the time; if you got a handy ride or are supernaturally fast, you can run for it.

Magical:
Unless you are senior-council-level skill, you lose. She has typically access to magic as strong as the average deathcurse in her rotes.

[Sanctaphrax]

I always saw Master BCVs as abberations. I'd have much the same response to creating them through training as I do to the Barony Vampires as-is.

Snorkeling power level is pretty special. I don't want to hand it out willy-nilly.

I don't understand "plot device set-ups". But I guess I don't really need to.

Mavra is nowhere near an Ancient in my view. Though I could be wrong.

About the rotes:

Plague Of Undeath seems to apply undeath as a takeout condition, like normal death. Not sure that that's kosher. Also, grr attacks against Endurance.

How does Corporeal Reconstitution interact with Living Dead?

[vultur]

At the risk of turning this into a cross-thread argument about the powers and nature of Black Court Elders:

I like most of Amelia Este's writeup -- the "half damage" physical immunity bit is interesting, and her Necromancy is also intriguing -- I had had the impression that the Mavra/Word of Kemmler bit was something genuinely new, but come to think of it she was using weird creepy magic in GP, and Harry does say that vampire magic comes from the same "well" as necromancy. So it actually fits perfectly that super-advanced BCV magic would be mechanically like super-advanced (Kemmlerian) necromancy.

However, a few quibbles:

[-3] Evocation  (+1 water control, +2 air power, +3 air control, +4 spirit power, +4 spirit control,  +4 offense foci for spirit power and control)

Technically, this doesn't work: she has two +4 specializations but only one each of +1, +2, and +3.
normally.

No Salvation

This isn't mechanical -- it's just a thematic disagreement and not an error -- but IMO nobody should get this power. True Dragons are *way* above BCVs, and they still go down to Swords of the Cross.


As for other BC stuff:

A newly turned Black Court vampire can, if they have the potential, turn into a master within a year.

Well... a vamp a year old can be a master (Drulinda was). But we don't know the process. Maybe she was turned by a (surviving) Elder, and any vamp created by an Elder is automatically a master. Maybe Mavra turned her and then hit her with a super Kemmlerian Necromancy master-ification ritual. We just don't know.

Mavra is nowhere near an Ancient in my view. Though I could be wrong.

I agree.

[Belial666]

@Sanctaphrax;
1) Anyone turned by a RCV takes +8 refresh worth of powers over their existing stuff, becoming RCI. If they drink blood, this rises to +11. Anyone turned by a BCV master gets +14 refresh worth of powers. So essentially, if you turn someone that's already pretty skilled, you are going to make them effectively Snorkelling power-wise.
2) Plague of Undeath is like cursing someone into a Loup-Garou or similar transformative curse. If they're taken out, they're turned. Because it's necromancy, I had them turned to undead instead, and because the base shifts are 18, I had them change to 6-refresh zombie things, following a rule of thumb that 1 refresh requires 3 base shifts of transformation. To change someone into a Loup-Garou for example, 63 shifts would be needed under this rule of thumb (which is probably overstating the power needed)
3) Corporeal Reconstitution is supernatural healing. It interacts with Living Dead just fine - and it was the reason for this rote to begin with.


@Vultur;
1) The evocation bonus was a mistake. It should be +4 power, +5 control (for a total of +16 power, +16 control for her necromancy)
2) Maybe we don't know the process for making a quick master vamp - but Este is an elder BCV necromancer with effectively Legendary Lore. The "training" is for them to get the skills and discipline; base change is handled by her and she probably knows what needs to be done.
3) For the thematical disagreement, consider this:

Defensive Mindsight: You read your opponents' every intention, knowing precisely how to avoid him. Essentially this is a 16-shift block.
Extend Evocation: 16 shifts of power channeled into extending an existing spell with the "enhancing spell duration" rules.

Este is powerful enough to cast Defensive Mindsight at the beginning of every scene and have it last for the duration for her minimum spell power. She can literally walk up to all three Knights of the Cross, grab a mortal they're guarding, drink him up and walk away, with them not landing a single blow. She could sit around for two hours berating them for their incompetence and still dodge their blows if she keeps extending the Defensive Mindsight. Therefore, a power that resists catch-replicators doesn't really change anything. Consider it a big block she got through a ritual she permanently extended rather than actual toughness.

_{(Este can extend an evocation by 133 exchanges by pumping more power to it -call it a bit over an hour- with her stress alone. She can extend and rest at half-hour intervals for the day and have the evocation last during her active hours as well. By using a mild consequence here and there or drinking the life out of thralls, she could extend the spell during her "rest" period by over 24 hours. Each day the spell's stacked up duration and power would actually get longer, until the spell, despite starting as an evocation, would be permanent and too powerful to dispel. Hence giving her the power to begin with.)}