WCV with a trapped demon

[Taran]

I was looking for a good story for a white court vamp - chest deep.

Looking at the basic template, it gives me no room for stunts or anything cool.  I wanted to take some contacts stunt(s) and maybe swift transition.

Here's the basics:
Vamp who feeds on Rage
A "relic" hunter looking to cure himself of his demon

So the basic premise is he's half-way to a cure.  He's trapped his demon in an item.  Now he's looking to get rid of it completely.

solutions:

- I thought about an item of power.  stick a bunch of vamp powers in there and otherwise use the White court virgin.

-Problems:
How would the item work?
Why doesn't he just toss the item away?
Does he still need to feed?
How can the Demon try to escape?
If he DOES cure himself, where does the character progress...does he become a mortal? (that seems...less fun)


So...yeah...any ideas how this could work?  Is it a viable character concept?

[Sanctaphrax]

Using IoP for it would be a little bit tricky, but it would work fine with some kind of Limitation. Then again, that might not suit your playstyle.

Human Form might work. Maybe your character's skin turns white when they let their demon loose or something.

(Off-topic: have we ever seen a non-white White Court Vampire in the novels?)

And as for the end-game, you can play up the relic hunter stuff. Gather up items of power and enchanted items, use those.

[UmbraLux]

Perhaps it's not (yet) permanent - some level of maintenance is required to keep it from returning.  Or perhaps it's simply addictive (in which case someone else may have trapped the vampiric rage in the item).

How would the item work?  While making it similar to an IoP is probably easiest, I'd modify it if you want something addictive or requiring maintenance.  Addictive is easiest, there are models in the book already.  Maintenance could be done through aspects fairly easily or a reverse hunger track of some sort.

Why doesn't he just toss the item away?  He's an addict, afraid it will return to him, or possibly knows it will infect someone else if he can't find a way to destroy it.  Or perhaps he's tried to throw it away and it simply reappears in his possessions...pulled by some link he hasn't managed to sever yet.

Does he still need to feed?  Addiction or maintenance could take the place of feeding. 

How can the Demon try to escape?  Influence others...what else would a WCV's demon do? 

If he DOES cure himself, where does the character progress...does he become a mortal? (that seems...less fun)  That's cannon but it's your character.  What do you want to occur?  Perhaps the beginning of a new supernatural race?  Or at least aberration.

[Haru]

It all comes down to where you want to go with the character in the long run, I think. I could totally see a character being "done", when his main motivation to go forward has been removed, and he can retire.

For an item like you described, I would probably not do anything mechanical as of yet. An aspect is enough. An item like that would feel like it would act much like a cursed item. You go to the end of the world, drop it into the deepest chasm of  the ocean, and when you return home, the artifact is waiting on your nightstand. There is really nothing you can do to permanently get rid of it, it will just find you and stay with you.

I sort of have an image in my mind that could work in the long rung. It might be a little strange, but it should work. How about it isn't one item, but many. Like a lot. I'm thinking of magical items that the character is seeking out in order to incorporate them into his body and mind, in order to keep the vampire half to take over. An enchanted glass eye he puts into his socket, after removing his real eye, for example. Think tattoos of st. Giles turned to 11.
I've got this image of Thomas soulgaze in my mind. It would be similar for this character, but he would be able to turn his eye inwards to a similar scene, his inner self battling his inner demon, but he has control over it, and he can fight and restrain his demon by the magical items he links to his body, because they show up in this inner vision as well.
Over time, his powers would come from the items, not the vampire, as the hunger is bound inside his soul. The process could be slow, taking away hunger, taking away vampire powers, rephrasing powers as the reason the character has them changes, and so forth. Of course, the character would sort of become a freak of nature/magic over time, but I feel like that would be an interesting way to go. Or maybe even keep the hunger, but turn it into a different kind of hunger. The need to fuel the items with magic, for example.

[Taran]

O.k...I have ideas flowing.

First:

@Sanctaphrax:  what kind of limitation would you suggest?

@Umbralux:  I like the idea of an addiction...I wonder how to implement it.

@Haru:  The self-mutilation for the purposes of growing in power seems neat..and could be used in conjunction with the addiction.  Kind of cyber-punk - but with magic.

Maybe, he's using items to rip the demon into individual parts, which takes away the demons ability to influence him.  Maybe, instead of an IoP (or on top of it) I can just choose a different power.  Maybe use the IoP as the one artifact that pulls all the different "parts" together.

So he doesn't want to cure himself and become human - he still wants power - but he just wants to free himself from the demons influence...

[Haru]

So he doesn't want to cure himself and become human - he still wants power - but he just wants to free himself from the demons influence...

Losing his humanity while trying to hold on to it. Excellent. So the hunger would sort of switch towards a hunger for power itself. Not necessarily mechanically, but as a theme for the character. Basically, what you call addiction.

[Tedronai]

Does he want to cure himself of the demon?  Or does he want to cure himself of the hunger?
The idea of 'ripping the demon to pieces' gave me the idea that he could 'consume' the demon, taking its powers for himself directly, without its influence, but in doing so inheriting some of its weaknesses (the need to feed on that particular emotion, etc).

Mechanically, this would be almost identical to a standard WCV, with only an Aspect or two necessarily being differentiated.  Thematically, however, the difference is significant.

[UmbraLux]

@Umbralux:  I like the idea of an addiction...I wonder how to implement it.

There are two models in the book, the free tags from black court saliva and the hunger track.  Either could be used as a mechanical model with minor modifications. 

If you want something different you could make it a fate point drain.  Without some specific action (i.e. creating a rage related aspect and using the tag) he'd lose a fate point every X time frame.  That's off the top of my head though, needs more thought before implementing.

[Sanctaphrax]

@Sanctaphrax:  what kind of limitation would you suggest?

There are all kinds of ways you could do it, but the ones I had in mind were...

a) the item actually suppresses your Powers, and deactivating it is non-trivial
b) you have to negotiate with the trapped demon to activate your Powers