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citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




JackNapier posted:

Just because I love the little nut cases, any important Malkavians in history?

Jack the Ripper, I believe.

Al Capone is a Ventrue in Chicago.

Mata Hari is a Ravnos, but I don't think she survived the Week of Nightmares.

Rasputin is... actually, did they ever decide what on earth Rasputin was?

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JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

citybeatnik posted:

Jack the Ripper, I believe.

Al Capone is a Ventrue in Chicago.

Mata Hari is a Ravnos, but I don't think she survived the Week of Nightmares.

Rasputin is... actually, did they ever decide what on earth Rasputin was?

Rasputin was just odd as gently caress, I don't care what White Wolf says, even in real life there was something wrong with that man, and by god I bet he's a Malkavian, you don't get to be as future seeing as Rasputin without being something like a Malk

OAquinas
Jan 27, 2008

Biden has sat immobile on the Iron Throne of America. He is the Master of Malarkey by the will of the gods, and master of a million votes by the might of his inexhaustible calamari.
Hitler himself was categorically, explicitly described as 100% vanilla human. They weren't going to touch that one.
Was the bit on Himmler from the crazy 1st/2nd ed days? I don't see them touching that with the more reserved Revised but it is White Wolf we're talking about.


As for Rasputin, he was a running gag/in-joke, a la Samuel Haight: everyone has claimed him or knows his "real deal." Unlike Haight though, he never got resolved.

Wanderer
Nov 5, 2006

our every move is the new tradition

JackNapier posted:

Alright, I've seen a lot of posts and LP's like that and I didn't want to get probated my like first week here.
And at Stroth, that's true, but from what I've seen and heard of Jack, his particular brand of Flaming rear end in a top hat Pirate fits very well with Calico Jack, that being said, as a history guy, in the world of White Wolf, who all in history has been more then human, the threads covered Dracula already, but any other big names?

Alan Turing was one of the mages that founded the Virtual Adepts.

Stroop There It Is
Mar 11, 2012

:gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar:
:stroop: :gaysper: :stroop:
:gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar:

JackNapier posted:

Another edit because the question just popped into my mind, is there any real explanation on the Hunters from Reckoning and their "Creeds"? Or is it literally just "Hey, you got the poopoo kicked out of you when you were alive by life, here's some magick powers to make you feel better, go kill supernatural things"
GIANT POST INCOMING

The Hunter: the Reckoning video games are terrible (I say, as a person who has masochistically played all of them). They completely fail at getting the tone of the game down... probably because it doesn't translate very well into a video game. Hunters are absolutely hosed from the get-go. They are mundane people--the game explicitly encourages you to play normal people and not an elite ex-Marine with 5 dots in Firearms--whose eyes are opened to the supernatural... and then they're shoved out into a monster-controlled world with almost nothing to help them.

Hunters--who are not the same as the Society of Leopold, by the way--are normal people who are chosen by some sort of higher power called the Messengers (the game is agnostic about what it is--it could be God, angels, demons, aliens, something to do with Exalted, ostensibly some other supernatural...) in a moment of crisis called the Imbuing. Some kind of supernatural, usually doing something lovely to innocent people but not always, is suddenly revealed to them, and the way they react to it determines their Creed. For example, a frat bro who sees a vampire stalking a sorority girl may have the first impulse to beat the gently caress out of it. He is probably an Avenger. But if his instinct is more to get the girl out of the way, he may be a Defender. Bystanders are would-be Hunters who did not act at the moment of their Imbuing, and so aren't really "full" Hunters--they don't get the benefits of being Imbued, but they are still aware of the supernatural.

Overall, Creed is representative of that person's attitude towards supernaturals. There are 3 larger categories of Creeds: Vengeance (Judge, Defender, Avenger), Mercy (Innocent, Martyr, Redeemer), and Vision (Visionaries, Hermits*, and Waywards*). As you may have noticed, there are other attitudes than Vengeance, which should clue you in to the fact that this game is not just supposed to be about killing monsters (which is 100% what the video games were). The two Creeds that I starred are not for player characters; they're both completely batshit in their own way. I can go into more detail about these if you want.

Anyway, the reasons I say Hunters are given "almost nothing" and not nothing: they have a leg up on ordinary humans in a couple of ways. First, they are able to spend Conviction, a stat representing their dedication to being a Hunter, to use Second Sight, which tells them whether people/things in their immediate area are supernatural temporarily (and just that, no hint as to what they are). Using this also makes them immune to mind/body control by supernaturals (but they're completely vulnerable to them at other times). They can also use Conviction to gamble on die rolls and use Edges. Note that Conviction is not supposed to be something that is very easy to replenish, so this not-normal-person stuff is supposed to be relatively rarely used.

Edges are the "magic powers" you mentioned, that draw power from the Messengers to perform miracles. These also fall under the Creed categories, but a Hunter of any Creed can learn Edges from other Creeds as long as the majority that they have access to are of their own. These can include stuff like warding off a monster (a Defender Edge), doing aggravated damage with a normal melee weapon (an Avenger Edge), remaining unnoticed by monsters that would normally be able to detect them (an Innocent Edge). At higher levels, things get more overtly crazy and powerful. PCs aren't actually supposed to be able to get level 5 Edges. Many Edges require spending Conviction, especially those that are about overtly affecting supernaturals, but even those that don't require successful rolling of particular skills.

Despite all of this, Hunters are still extremely fragile. They can die much, much more easily than any of the other lines' PCs, and even with all of the benefits they get from being Imbued, they are still far weaker than supernaturals. They also are particularly vulnerable to going crazy, since none of the people from the lives they used to lead believe them, the government is controlled by supernaturals, and they quickly realize how outclassed they are in this fight. Much of Hunter: the Reckoning is about struggling to maintain your normal life (Hunters usually have, you know, jobs and families) while getting pulled deeper and deeper into the hopeless fight for humanity. It's also about the monsters, too, of course--but the solution is almost never a simple "charge in with guns blazing", since that will get you killed. The game has different Creeds to encourage different philosophies (and strengths and weaknesses) toward solving these problems, and it's encouraged to have a mix within a party of PCs.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




Wanderer posted:

Alan Turing was one of the mages that founded the Virtual Adepts.

Albert Einstein, Hawkings, and Sagan were all part of the Technocracy as well I believe. At the very least Einstein was.

HaitianDivorce
Jul 29, 2012

Stroop There It Is posted:

Overall, Creed is representative of that person's attitude towards supernaturals. There are 3 larger categories of Creeds: Vengeance (Judge, Defender, Avenger), Mercy (Innocent, Martyr, Redeemer), and Vision (Visionaries, Hermits*, and Waywards*). As you may have noticed, there are other attitudes than Vengeance, which should clue you in to the fact that this game is not just supposed to be about killing monsters (which is 100% what the video games were). The two Creeds that I starred are not for player characters; they're both completely batshit in their own way. I can go into more detail about these if you want.

:allears: Yes please! More White Wolf batshit is always fantastic.

quote:

It's also about the monsters, too, of course--but the solution is almost never a simple "charge in with guns blazing", since that will get you killed. The game has different Creeds to encourage different philosophies (and strengths and weaknesses) toward solving these problems, and it's encouraged to have a mix within a party of PCs.

What kind of "alternate solutions" are we talking about here? If a party is on the trail of a particularly nasty vampire is it more in line with the mechanics of the game to sneak past its servants and stake it for the sunrise or start an intra-city clan war and make sure it's one of the casualties?

Stroop There It Is
Mar 11, 2012

:gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar:
:stroop: :gaysper: :stroop:
:gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar:

HaitianDivorce posted:

:allears: Yes please! More White Wolf batshit is always fantastic.
Alrighty! Basically, the idea is that for the two "lost" Visionary Creeds, their connection to the Messengers is different than for the others. It seems like while every Creed is meant to have a certain role in the fight for humanity, the intended roles for these two Creeds were warped in practice for whatever reason.

Waywards constantly have Second Sight (just the monster-seeing part, not the immunity) on. Although this sounds useful, constantly being aware that there are monsters around you that usually look like perfectly normal people takes a toll on their perspective. Waywards have the attitude that all monsters must be taken down, no matter the human cost. They are all sociopathically devoted to destroying the supernatural, and if other Hunters get in their way, well, that's too bad for them.

Hermits also have constant access to the Messengers, but in a different way. One thing I didn't mention about the Imbuing is that at the moment of the reveal, Hunters often hear a booming voice or see letters rearrange themselves into a variably cryptic message about the monster. This happens very rarely to most others after the first time, but to Hermits, those hallucinations are present all the time. As a result, the sensory bombardment (even if it weren't constant messages about horrible things) means that they're not capable of leading normal lives, and tend to seclude themselves.

HaitianDivorce posted:

What kind of "alternate solutions" are we talking about here? If a party is on the trail of a particularly nasty vampire is it more in line with the mechanics of the game to sneak past its servants and stake it for the sunrise or start an intra-city clan war and make sure it's one of the casualties?
I'd say the former, because Hunters almost always are dealing with lower-level vampires and have no idea about the mess of politics behind the scenes. Taking down a smart vampire would take a lot of planning (and probably fire), too, not to mention that ghouls will still be hard to get past or kill. Surprise is very important when a monster can kill you in one hit. But, working with one supernatural to remove a worse one (e.g., "hey werewolf, there's a loving vampire in that house") is also definitely useful... as long as you can keep your friends from killing that monster.

And you'd clearly be a Vengeance Creed, since your "alternate solutions" are still about killing the monster! :v: Innocents are much more likely to try talking to the monster to figure out what it is and why it's doing what it's doing. Even Judges are very concerned with deciding whether the monster is actively harming anyone. A lot of the monsters in WoD have some humanity left (though many are also totally inhuman). Equally viable solutions could be convincing the monster not to hurt people or leave, resolving whatever is causing it to hurt people, figuring out a way to trap it permanently, etc.

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Stroop There It Is posted:

Alrighty! Basically, the idea is that for the two "lost" Visionary Creeds, their connection to the Messengers is different than for the others. It seems like while every Creed is meant to have a certain role in the fight for humanity, the intended roles for these two Creeds were warped in practice for whatever reason.

Waywards constantly have Second Sight (just the monster-seeing part, not the immunity) on. Although this sounds useful, constantly being aware that there are monsters around you that usually look like perfectly normal people takes a toll on their perspective. Waywards have the attitude that all monsters must be taken down, no matter the human cost. They are all sociopathically devoted to destroying the supernatural, and if other Hunters get in their way, well, that's too bad for them.

Hermits also have constant access to the Messengers, but in a different way. One thing I didn't mention about the Imbuing is that at the moment of the reveal, Hunters often hear a booming voice or see letters rearrange themselves into a variably cryptic message about the monster. This happens very rarely to most others after the first time, but to Hermits, those hallucinations are present all the time. As a result, the sensory bombardment (even if it weren't constant messages about horrible things) means that they're not capable of leading normal lives, and tend to seclude themselves.

I'd say the former, because Hunters almost always are dealing with lower-level vampires and have no idea about the mess of politics behind the scenes. Taking down a smart vampire would take a lot of planning (and probably fire), too, not to mention that ghouls will still be hard to get past or kill. Surprise is very important when a monster can kill you in one hit. But, working with one supernatural to remove a worse one (e.g., "hey werewolf, there's a loving vampire in that house") is also definitely useful... as long as you can keep your friends from killing that monster.

And you'd clearly be a Vengeance Creed, since your "alternate solutions" are still about killing the monster! :v: Innocents are much more likely to try talking to the monster to figure out what it is and why it's doing what it's doing. Even Judges are very concerned with deciding whether the monster is actively harming anyone. A lot of the monsters in WoD have some humanity left (though many are also totally inhuman). Equally viable solutions could be convincing the monster not to hurt people or leave, resolving whatever is causing it to hurt people, figuring out a way to trap it permanently, etc.

I do remember the group of characters you play in the game I have are pretty much just a group of people going "Hey supernatural stuff, lets just destroy poo poo till stuff happens because of reasons" It doesn't seem in any way like it was well thought out when it was made. What was the actual story there, its been a while, and absolutely none of it made sense when I played the last time, I just thought "Hey! A top down shooter with zombies and poo poo! Awesome!" when I played it so long ago

JackNapier fucked around with this message at 23:44 on Jul 6, 2014

Rigged Death Trap
Feb 13, 2012

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

OAquinas posted:

As for Rasputin, he was a running gag/in-joke, a la Samuel Haight: everyone has claimed him or knows his "real deal." Unlike Haight though, he never got resolved.

Vampires claim he was one of theirs, Some mages recall seeing him in a gatherings some time ago, Demons claim pacts were made with a man who looks like him.

Someone mentioned his name around an ancient Russian Malkavian, who normally babbles utter nonsense. He sobered up quickly and remarked that he could never really read the man, and that he told some pretty dark jokes.

Psykoguy
Oct 10, 2003

I said those words on
the Internet.

I can't just take them back.
Regarding Rasputin: I remember somewhere in a wraith book they listed him as a member of a guild of ghosts who possess people. He's listed as mastering the ability to possess supernatural creatures and be able to use their powers and that he's used it to con nearly every supernatural faction into believing he was one of them.

That or they just wrote that to make fun of how nearly every single splatbook lists Rasputiin as a historical member of one group or another.

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Psykoguy posted:

Regarding Rasputin: I remember somewhere in a wraith book they listed him as a member of a guild of ghosts who possess people. He's listed as mastering the ability to possess supernatural creatures and be able to use their powers and that he's used it to con nearly every supernatural faction into believing he was one of them.

That or they just wrote that to make fun of how nearly every single splatbook lists Rasputiin as a historical member of one group or another.

This totally seems like something Rasputin would do, he was a crafty motherfucker

JT Jag
Aug 30, 2009

#1 Jaguars Sunk Cost Fallacy-Haver

JackNapier posted:

Wow! Wasn't expecting that, somebody please tell me Hitler was like, a Ventrue, please, that would make me come full circle on this. Because if Himmler was a Tremere, wow, just wow
Actually I think it's White Wolf canon that Hitler was a mundane rear end in a top hat. One manipulated by other powers, but none of the supernatural forces claim he was one of theirs.

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

JT Jag posted:

Actually I think it's White Wolf canon that Hitler was a mundane rear end in a top hat. One manipulated by other powers, but none of the supernatural forces claim he was one of theirs.

So basically Hitler was just the combination of all the supernaturals getting together and saying "Let's make one supreme rear end in a top hat?"

Bobbin Threadbare
Jan 2, 2009

I'm looking for a flock of urbanmechs.

JackNapier posted:

So basically Hitler was just the combination of all the supernaturals getting together and saying "Let's make one supreme rear end in a top hat?"

Hitler was the combination of all the White Wolf staff saying "Let's stay as far the gently caress away from the Holocaust as we can." Not that I blame them. Himmler came up earlier in the thread, and yes, he was only referenced in the first edition back before White Wolf adopted the above basic principle.

Vicissitude
Jan 26, 2004

You ever do the chicken dance at a wake? That really bothers people.

citybeatnik posted:

Al Capone is a Ventrue in Chicago.

If he was in previous editions, he's not now. He was a mortal who died in prison going slowly insane from syphilis. It's in the WoD: Mafia book.

Wanderer
Nov 5, 2006

our every move is the new tradition

JT Jag posted:

Actually I think it's White Wolf canon that Hitler was a mundane rear end in a top hat. One manipulated by other powers, but none of the supernatural forces claim he was one of theirs.

Yeah, there are a shitload of occurrences that surround Hitler and World War II, but the books always make it very clear that Hitler himself wasn't anyone's puppet or anything.

Off the top of my head, there were Get of Fenris werewolf packs who wholly bought into the SS ideology and fought on the Nazis' side, the Nephandi demon mages took advantage of the whole thing to power some massive ritual that was barely stopped by a one-time-only Traditions/Technocracy team-up, and a couple of different books have mentioned the rules for the Umbra surrounding the sites of the concentration camps are "Do not ever loving go there." The war itself, however, is all humans, all the time.

Bobbin Threadbare posted:

Hitler was the combination of all the White Wolf staff saying "Let's stay as far the gently caress away from the Holocaust as we can."

Not exactly. Wraith has Charnel Houses of Europe. The book has a foreword from the late Janet Berliner about the intent of the project, and if you can chase down a copy, it's worth reading. It's definitely a product of that latter-day White Wolf tendency towards pretension, but they were trying to use a tabletop RPG to teach about the Holocaust.

Like everything that has to do with Wraith, it's impressively written but basically unplayable; I can't imagine any gaming group that would voluntarily sit down for an evening of that kind of constant unrelenting depression.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




Vicissitude posted:

If he was in previous editions, he's not now. He was a mortal who died in prison going slowly insane from syphilis. It's in the WoD: Mafia book.
So they retconed Chicago by Night? He was one of Lodin's childer in that.


Wanderer posted:

Off the top of my head, there were Get of Fenris werewolf packs who wholly bought into the SS ideology and fought on the Nazis' side, the Nephandi demon mages took advantage of the whole thing to power some massive ritual that was barely stopped by a one-time-only Traditions/Technocracy team-up, and a couple of different books have mentioned the rules for the Umbra surrounding the sites of the concentration camps are "Do not ever loving go there." The war itself, however, is all humans, all the time.
William Bloodsong in the WtA book The Book of Auspices, who narrates the Ahroun section of the book, is presented as one of the Get who DIDN'T do that and who proceeded to curbstomp most of the Get who did.

He was bitter as gently caress, which worked with how the chapter was presented.

Stroop There It Is
Mar 11, 2012

:gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar:
:stroop: :gaysper: :stroop:
:gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar::gengar:

Vicissitude posted:

If he was in previous editions, he's not now. He was a mortal who died in prison going slowly insane from syphilis. It's in the WoD: Mafia book.
Yep, 2nd edition Chicago by Night:



And haha, I was checking the edition, and this is in the beginning:

Dante Logos
Dec 31, 2010

Stroop There It Is posted:

And haha, I was checking the edition, and this is in the beginning:


Masquerade violation!

DeusExMachinima
Sep 2, 2012

:siren:This poster loves police brutality, but only when its against minorities!:siren:

Put this loser on ignore immediately!

Wanderer posted:

the Umbra surrounding the sites of the concentration camps are "Do not ever loving go there."

Wait, what will happen if you do go there? Is the Umbra basically just the Warp?

Stroth
Mar 31, 2007

All Problems Solved

JackNapier posted:

So basically Hitler was just the combination of all the supernaturals getting together and saying "Let's make one supreme rear end in a top hat?"

No, Hitler was all Hitler. Some bits and pieces of his policies were from various supernatural members of the Nazi party. But Adolph himself was pure home grown human. He was also one of the big examples of why the masquerade and its equivalents exist. Something that the Elders can point to and say "See? This is why we don't gently caress with the humans! Do you want to deal with that pointed at you?"

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


DeusExMachinima posted:

Wait, what will happen if you do go there? Is the Umbra basically just the Warp?

Well kinda. The Umbra is basically the underworld, shadow world, afterlife, whatever. It's also the place that most strongly shows that God angrily kicked the Universe before loving off and leaving so it's really hosed. It also responds to lots of death happening in one area and if too many humans die violently too fast in the world a colossal fuckoff problem called a Maelstrom happens.

Zeroisanumber
Oct 23, 2010

Nap Ghost

DeusExMachinima posted:

Wait, what will happen if you do go there? Is the Umbra basically just the Warp?

All of the negative emotions and death coming out of the concentration camps sucked in pretty much every vile loving beast of darkness the world over to gorge on the energy. It was a nightmare, both inside and out.

Never liked the addition of the Holocaust to the WoD. There are some things that just aren't meant to be a part of an RPG, even if they're handled respectfully.

Wanderer
Nov 5, 2006

our every move is the new tradition

DeusExMachinima posted:

Wait, what will happen if you do go there? Is the Umbra basically just the Warp?

The Umbra in oWoD is a complicated subject, but it's basically the spirit world. There are several layers to it that encompass the afterlife, several higher and lower realms, the Dreamtime, and even outer space, which is a fun as hell setting.

On Earth, a couple of different supernaturals have a method to "step sideways," which lets them enter the Penumbra, which is a reflection of the real world where all the spirits hang out. The better or worse the area in the real world, the better or worse the area is in the Penumbra. If you step sideways around someplace like a concentration camp, you're playing Russian roulette with a loaded crossbow.

(That said, it turns out I was actually thinking of the revised Silent Striders tribebook, where the narrator mentions that somebody he knew stepped sideways at Ground Zero and came back in a catatonic stupor. It wasn't because it was the Worst Thing To Ever Happen, but because it was the site of three thousand violent deaths and that wreaks havoc on the Umbra.)

There was also this huge metaplot in Mage involving a group of crazy death mages called the Consanguinity of Eternal Joy. They weren't corrupt in the traditional sense, but had gotten way too into necromancy and death magic. Their leader had begun to perceive himself as an avatar of Shiva the Destroyer, sent to eliminate the current world so it could be replaced. One of the signs that they'd gone completely around the twist was that they were using energy drawn from the site of one of the concentration camps to fuel their spells.

Zeroisanumber posted:

Never liked the addition of the Holocaust to the WoD. There are some things that just aren't meant to be a part of an RPG, even if they're handled respectfully.

I like that they took the beast by the horns on that one. You can't really trust tabletop nerds to leave a subject alone.

Tehan
Jan 19, 2011
Has it really been six months since the last time Rasputinchat rolled around? The following is my posts from January, last time it came up:

Rasputin was a bit of a running joke in the early days. The Brujah, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Setites and Ventrue all claimed him as a member, ghoul or ally at one point or another, as did the Mages of the Cult of Ecstasy and the Shadow Lords werewolf tribe. It's also said that he was a Wraith Puppeteer or a Hunter Archon or Justicar.

He was going to be used further, but Revised turned away from using actual historical figures, so his story never got told outside of fan interviews.

The truth (or at least the truth that was intended during 1st edition, so up to you how much that's worth) is he was an Alchemist that worked his way into a position of influence in pre-Revolution Russia, and was ghouled by the Ventrue so he'd use his influence for them. He started experimenting with vampire blood using alchemy and found a way to cure the Tsar's hemophiliac son, and eventually found a way to break blood bonds and 'distill' blood, effectively lowering it's generation. He broke free of the Ventrue and drank an ultimate concoction he called 'the blood of Caine' - blood that had been effectively lowered to 1st generation. It made him an incredibly powerful vampire with control over all Disciplines, but it also meant he started getting tormented by visions of Gehenna. He got killed during the Revolution but it didn't stick, and he ended up a pretty major mover and shaker during the Gehenna scenarios, eventually being killed and delaying Gehenna as the universe tries to figure out if it was actually Caine that died or not.

Tyrone Biggums posted:

What exactly is his involvement with Gehenna, if anybody feels like dumping more lore?

There was intended to be a cycle of oneshot scenarios. The first was a a group of caitiffs trying to hunt down and kill Rasputin (which doesn't stick if they succeed). The second is a group of Sabbat protecting Rasputin from the Camarilla. The third is a group of Elders, each from a different clan, each meeting Rasputin one-on-one and having him 'prove' to them that he's a member of their clan, and then convincing the group as a whole that he's Caine. The fourth is the characters from the first three oneshots banding together, with the players picking their favorite to play, and hunting down 'Caine' to ritually sacrifice him to end Gehenna before it begins.

Since Rasputin isn't actually Caine, but is pretty much mystically identical, his death delays Gehenna for a time as the universe tries to figure out what the actual gently caress just happened.

The reason that ragtag group has a chance against Rasputin is the one dissimilarity between him and Caine is that if a vampire drinks even a drop of Rasputin's blood, he becomes immune to Rasputin's powers - and all the characters did so at one point in their respective tales. The rules for fighting the genuine Caine are 'you lose'.

None of this made it into canon, mind you - this is all from interviews and Q&A sessions. But it didn't not happen because it doesn't fit with the Gehenna we know and love, but just because Revised moved away from using historical figures. So feel free to imagine Rasputin running around the end times doing a Caine impression, if it so pleases you.

Ghostwoods
May 9, 2013

Say "Cheese!"

JackNapier posted:

Another edit because the question just popped into my mind, is there any real explanation on the Hunters from Reckoning and their "Creeds"? Or is it literally just "Hey, you got the poopoo kicked out of you when you were alive by life, here's some magick powers to make you feel better, go kill supernatural things"

:eng101: Finally, a question I feel actually qualified to answer! (Disclaimer: it's been a long time since I wrote Hunter: Apocrypha, so I might get some minor details wrong)

WW meta-canon was that Chinese myth was actually the most correct version of creation.

In the natural course of things, the Great Cycle of the world's ages turned. The Old World of Darkness approached the Sixth Age -- the destruction of the old world and the reign of Hell, also known as The Final Nights, The Apocalypse, &c &c. The Jade Emperor's lieutenants, the Ebon Dragon (Yin) and the Scarlet Queen (Yang), started panicking. They decided they had to intervene, despite the Jade Emperor's absence (or, indeed, permission).

Last time the cycle was in that position, The Jade Emperor and his lieutenants created the Wan Xian, divinely-imbued mortal heroes. They totally trounced the demons and their masters, the Yama Kings, as intended. Then they became power-hungry and fell into evil. The Jade Emperor got pissed off, turned the Wan Xian into the Kuei-Jin, the "Kindred of the East", and then left in a snit. Not even his lieutenants get to see him nowadays.

So, the Ebon Dragon and the Scarlet Queen decide that since the plan worked last time, more or less, they've got to try the same thing again. Even though they know need the Emperor's help to reach perfection. Working together, they create the messengers, to imbue Hunters with their gifts (It wouldn't be seemly to do it themselves). However, they can't quite find the necessary balance. When the Scarlet Queen's hand is too heavy, Zeal arises, seeking to cleanse the Earth of corruption -- Defenders, Judges and Avengers, as the Mercy of Zeal, the Vision of Zeal, and the Zeal of Zeal. When the Ebon Dragon pushes too hard, seeking to save the pure, they create Mercy, with Martyrs, Redeemers and Innocents, as Zeal, Vision and Mercy of Mercy. When they get it right, they create Visionaries, intended to find ways to help minimize the damage caused by the coming Sixth Age -- but they got that very wrong a couple of times first, too. Waywards, the Zeal of Vision, are always on, and go mad from always seeing the horror; Hermits, the Mercy of Vision, are overwhelmed with information from the universe, and go mad from all the noise.

The purpose of Hunters is not to avert the apocalypse, however. The Sixth Age has to happen. The imbued are not told this, lest they rebel, but they're there to bring it on as quickly as possible, thereby minimizing the damage it causes, so that the Age passes as painlessly as possible.

Remembering their last collective failure, the Scarlet Queen and the Ebon Dragon put strict caps on Hunters' power levels. Instead of quality, they go for quantity, hoping the flood of weak heroes will succeed where a small number of uber-powerful heroes did, without finding corruption afterwards. Of course, the Yama Kings, who rule Hell, quickly realize that they can tempt the Hunters into becoming demons by offering strong (Level 5) edges. There's nothing to fear, as the Jade Emperor hasn't even authorized this program. Other forces also get in on the action, and Hunters start getting snapped up to become the agents of various powers.

In the end, it's impossible to tell (i.e. down to the individual storyteller) whether the Hunter program helped the world, or hindered it.

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




Wanderer posted:

(That said, it turns out I was actually thinking of the revised Silent Striders tribebook, where the narrator mentions that somebody he knew stepped sideways at Ground Zero and came back in a catatonic stupor. It wasn't because it was the Worst Thing To Ever Happen, but because it was the site of three thousand violent deaths and that wreaks havoc on the Umbra.)

Weren't the Twin Towers also a Glass Walker caern?

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014
Alright, along with my theme of history and Hunters, anything on the Knights Templar? The battle monks from the crusades, not the supreme evil overlords from Assassins Creed
Edit: I know in real life they were supposed to be in charge of inquisitions into traitors, godly knowledge, and keeping holy relics, how did that translate into the darker world of WW?

Zeroisanumber
Oct 23, 2010

Nap Ghost

JackNapier posted:

Alright, along with my theme of history and Hunters, anything on the Knights Templar? The battle monks from the crusades, not the supreme evil overlords from Assassins Creed
Edit: I know in real life they were supposed to be in charge of inquisitions into traitors, godly knowledge, and keeping holy relics, how did that translate into the darker world of WW?

The Templars, along with other knightly orders, kind of fluctuated in power and theme depending on who was writing, but they were mostly a background organization in the Mage setting. Originally they were set-up by the Cabal of Pure Thought, who were the forebearers of the modern Technocracy. As the Cabal of Pure Thought gave way to the Order of Reason and eventually the Technocracy, the mages who led the organization minimized the role of the Templars and announced that religion would have no place in the Technocracy's Grand Plan. Feeling abused and betrayed, many Templar Knights attempted to either leave the order or defect to the Technocracy's enemies. Enraged by the Knights' faithlessness, the Technocrats assaulted their fortress with their newly created HIT Marks, which were essentially magically-empowered Terminators.

Vampire: The Dark Ages spent most of their time with lesser-known, but locally powerful orders like the Teutonic Knights who were infiltrated by a group of vampires who called themselves the Knights of the Black Cross. They used the order as a weapon against the Tzimisce overlords of Eastern Europe and remained a fairly potent force in the region until the Anarch Revolt.

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Zeroisanumber posted:

The Templars, along with other knightly orders, kind of fluctuated in power and theme depending on who was writing, but they were mostly a background organization in the Mage setting. Originally they were set-up by the Cabal of Pure Thought, who were the forebearers of the modern Technocracy. As the Cabal of Pure Thought gave way to the Order of Reason and eventually the Technocracy, the mages who led the organization minimized the role of the Templars and announced that religion would have no place in the Technocracy's Grand Plan. Feeling abused and betrayed, many Templar Knights attempted to either leave the order or defect to the Technocracy's enemies. Enraged by the Knights' faithlessness, the Technocrats assaulted their fortress with their newly created HIT Marks, which were essentially magically-empowered Terminators.

Vampire: The Dark Ages spent most of their time with lesser-known, but locally powerful orders like the Teutonic Knights who were infiltrated by a group of vampires who called themselves the Knights of the Black Cross. They used the order as a weapon against the Tzimisce overlords of Eastern Europe and remained a fairly potent force in the region until the Anarch Revolt.

So basically White Wolf Templar Knights got just as hosed over by Politics as Real Life Templar Knights?
Edit: The majority of what I've got is that every race is full of Glorious Bastards who backstab each other for eternity, until their worlds come crashing down around them at the end of days?

JackNapier fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Jul 7, 2014

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


JackNapier posted:

So basically White Wolf Templar Knights got just as hosed over by Politics as Real Life Templar Knights?
Edit: The majority of what I've got is that every race is full of Glorious Bastards who backstab each other for eternity, until their worlds come crashing down around them at the end of days?

Welcome to the World of Darkness!

I think the only exception to that is the Technocracy who are working to manipulate the subconscious belief of humanity into enforcing some order on the crumbling Universe in hopes that it prevents or at least delays the end.

e: Also I guess Tscimizce itself is an exception since it's so absorbed in its own attempt to figure out how life works that it no longer considers other living or unliving creatures as anything other than materials. It technically doesn't backstab anyone because it never deals with anyone :v:

Shugojin fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Jul 7, 2014

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Shugojin posted:

Welcome to the World of Darkness!

I think the only exception to that is the Technocracy who are working to manipulate the subconscious belief of humanity into enforcing some order on the crumbling Universe in hopes that it prevents or at least delays the end.

e: Also I guess Tscimizce itself is an exception since it's so absorbed in its own attempt to figure out how life works that it no longer considers other living or unliving creatures as anything other than materials. It technically doesn't backstab anyone because it never deals with anyone :v:

Alright, So, Tscimizce I've seen stuff about them throughout the whole thread, what's their deal? Are we talking like Lovecraftian figuring out how life works, cause that's the impression I get of them

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


Actually that's basically just the Antediluvian for the clan. By the time any of the games run it's so far removed from its former humanity that the only qualities in common are intelligence, curiosity, and determination. Younger ones will figure things out too - they purposely (secretly) sired as far along the chain as they could to figure out what the limits of the Blood are, resulting in some things that are similar to ghouls.

Younger ones tend to have other goals relating to other vampires or whatever though. Most of them are Sabbat and want the Antediluvians to not wake up/take notice of the world around them ever for example.

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Shugojin posted:

Most of them are Sabbat and want the Antediluvians to not wake up/take notice of the world around them ever for example.

I can understand that completely, the Antediluvians seem like they would wake up and go "What the gently caress happened while we were asleep?" And the bitch slap everybody into line through a giant blood line bitch slap"

citybeatnik
Mar 1, 2013

You Are All
WEIRDOS




JackNapier posted:

I can understand that completely, the Antediluvians seem like they would wake up and go "What the gently caress happened while we were asleep?" And the bitch slap everybody into line through a giant blood line bitch slap"

Antediluvians tended to be turbodicks even before their dirt naps.

Cappadocius got distracted from its studies for a few weeks because its childer weren't living up to its high standards, so it ended up sealing the majority of them away in a tomb. Saulot may or may not have sired an entire bloodline of demon worshipers, and certainly pissed off all of Asia during his visit there. [Brujah] would randomly go around killing people because it felt like it.

I think about the only one that wasn't a turbodick was [Ventrue], and that's because Set chopped its head off when it tried to leave Nod so it didn't really get a chance to. Even then it now randomly body surf its descendants.

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


I think Malkav may have been not too much of a turbodick too but that may be because he's the one there's the least information about.

Regardless of past dickishness, he seems to be manipulating all of the Malkavians through the Madness Network and is pretty much the most active of all the Antediluvians.

JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Shugojin posted:

I think Malkav may have been not too much of a turbodick too but that may be because he's the one there's the least information about.

Regardless of past dickishness, he seems to be manipulating all of the Malkavians through the Madness Network and is pretty much the most active of all the Antediluvians.

I think Malkav could be the one with the potential to be the biggest turbodick, because, from what I get of the Malkavians, he's in all of their head, so in theory, couldn't he just frenzy every single one of them at once?

Shugojin
Sep 6, 2007

THE TAIL THAT BURNS TWICE AS BRIGHT...


He could, yes. Although that specific instance, with the general power of the blood any of the Antediluvians could make their assorted childer frenzy if their emotions are strong enough. This level of control is why the Antediluvians are so feared to the point that the Camarilla would prefer to think they don't exist.

Malkav is unique in that he has a much more subtle and direct control so that if you look at the whole of the Malkavians' movements you will see that they are as a whole up to something but each individual is still a crazy.

Caine himself is on another level entirely, being that his control of the blood is so perfect that he can do basically anything he wants with it, including inventing new disciplines on the fly and slamming curses on bloodlines. There are official rules for fighting him. They are, and I quote, "you lose".

Shugojin fucked around with this message at 19:29 on Jul 7, 2014

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JackNapier
Jun 20, 2014

Shugojin posted:

He could, yes. Although that specific instance, with the general power of the blood any of the Antediluvians could make their assorted childer frenzy if their emotions are strong enough.

Malkav is unique in that he has a much more subtle and direct control so that if you look at the whole of the Malkavians' movements you will see that they are as a whole up to something but each individual is still a crazy.

Like the Great Prank, which I think was solely his doing from what I've seen influencing his clan to do is something he would probably chuckle his rear end off at in the minds of the Malks.
I like the idea that fighting Caine would basically be that kind of scenario, because seriously, he could make you think you were fish and that you had always been a fish from what I've heard of him.

JackNapier fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Jul 7, 2014

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