This came from a conversation during New Years Eve, where several of my friends were discussing what types of characters they would be if they were actually made into Vampires as seen in Vampire the Requiem. This of course got me to thinking...
For those of you just tuning in, that's never really a good way for me to start one of these posts.
In Psychology, the moment we were taught diagnoses, we were told one simple thing: don't diagnose yourself. By the end of studying, you will have classified yourself with every major diagnoses in the book. That being said, keep in mind that most of the games I play in are from The World of Darkness, a line of games that prides itself on the trope "Blessed With Suck" and "Cursed with Awesome". So when I mention these Splats ('splats' is a catchall term for either Races, Jobs, Organization Choices that help define a player character, for those who didn't already know) it helps to understand that I'm also looking at their baggage as well. The games I'll be going through are Vampire the Requiem, Changeling the Lost, Mage the Awakening, Accord, and Dystopia Rising.
Warning: I may be getting personal in this article, so if you don't have the time or energy to deal with that, please click the little 'x'. I appreciate your patronage.
Vampire the Requiem:
It was universally decided by my friends that I would definitely be a Mekhet. Mekhet are a species (lack of a better term, they prefer the word 'Clan') of Vampires who favor high Intelligence and Wits (depending on the day, I qualify for either). They specialize in Auspex, a mental power that specializes in altering senses, from advancing sight, sound, touch, taste and smell; to seeing the aura's of others, to seeing the emotional aura of others, to telepathy and finally projecting their minds into the twilight realms. They also specialize in Obfuscate and Celerity, mentally tricking the mind something isn't there and superspeed, respectively. This makes Mekhet the information gatherers/spies/assassins/overall passively dangerous figures.
However, it also comes with the fact that Mekhet tend to be a little bit out of touch with reality...which is accurate for me in most cases. It's not that I am completely out of touch with reality, I'm fully aware of what's going on around me and much prefer the shit going on in my own head (most of the times).
This kinda jives as my longest running PC was a Mekhet. Vincenzo Taglia DaVenezia. He was a therapist, an eidetic with a penchant for scanning the minds of others and remembering it. He remembered 100 years of being stuck in the vampire equivalent of a coma with nothing but his Beast (the supernatural entity that technically makes a Vampire a Vampire) as his company. He was a bit unhinged, and he drank heavily to cope. In the new line of stories, I play Owen Asteria, a morally ambiguous occultist in a family of morally ambiguous figures. He's also a Khaibit, servants in the samurai kind of sense who can control and even become one with the shadows.
Out of all the clans of Vampires, I *get* the Mekhet the most. There is however a strong running for the Nosferatu, who evoke a sense of weirdness, which is something that I also tend to do (for good and ill).
The question for me is 'what covenant would I as a Vampire be a part of?". Covenants are socio-political groups that hold sway through Vampiric Society. Due to my history of being a Mental Health Counselor and my working idea of the science of the mind, I'd probably say Ordo Dracul, who wish to study,examine, and transcend the Vampiric Condition. But they have something that I'm not a fan of: a highly structured Hierarchy. If not them, I'd probably be part of the Circle of the Crone, a religious group based around pagan beliefs of multiple faiths and deal heavily with the concept of embodying Archetypes. The groups have a lot in common, except where the ordo wishes to transcend, the Circle wishes to embrace. So go figure
Changeling the Lost
Changeling the Lost is all about what you came back as after years of systematic torture and abuse. So these choices aren't for a "how cool would this be" factor but a "that's fucking horrible and tragic" factor.
So in terms of what I'd be if I escaped my Faerie Keeper and came back to the mortal world, I'd have to say it'd be one of two choices. The first would be an Elemental, a Changeling that had been turned into something like a fireplace, a silver mine, an actual toy or a gust of breeze. Note, being a Changeling is NOT a good thing. There are reasons for this, mostly because I have a strong affinity for the elements (I wrote an essay on the elements as archetypes, I know I'm weird, shut up). Most likely I'd have been a water elemental, something that constantly moves either externally or internally, who can be completely still one minute and running everywhere the next.
The other option would be a Wizened, a changeling who is altered and stunted in some way and tasked with some sort of trade. Smiths, Soldiers, Surgeons. My luck? I'd be an Author, someone meant to write and notate for their Keeper. That'd be my hell, to be some scriv for a god thing who would most likely drain my blood at the slightest embellishment.
As for Court...Courts are probably the easiest to figure out because it's a matter of describing what core emotion goes with me. For me, it'd probably be either the Autumn or Winter Courts, Fear or Sorrow. I have boughts of depression, sometimes cripplingly so, and my usual reaction is to stop and sleep. However, these emotions also come with a sense of anxiety, of Fear, of the great What Ifs. Both emotions, and therefore Courts, are both viable to me.
Alot of people will tell you about how they're the Court of whatever-makes-them-come-off-like-a-boss. Even the Sovereigns of these Courts are bound and chained to the emotion they are. It's a part of them, they embody it. And none of those emotions are easy ones to live with. Either way, in reality, let's face it. I'm really Unseelie.
Changeling's fucking depressing, okay?
Mage The Awakening and Accord
Mage is more difficult to describe, as their splats are more about how one views the universe and therefore their magic. I would have to say Acanthus, a form of Mage who receives their powers from the Fae Realm of Arcadia. I say Acanthus for it's specialty in Fate Magic, the exploration of Themes, the power of Oaths, and the blessing and cursing of others. It's not direct in it's actions, it's subtle. Depending on temperament, mood and situation, Acanthus can either sweat the details or rube-goldfarb someone to death.
Orders are what Mages do in the Awakened community. Honestly, I'd probably steer clear of those, dealing on my own as an Apostate. What would most interest me would be the Mage Legacies, subsets of magic that denote specialty and mindset. One of them is my absolute favorite: The House of Ariadne. The House of Ariadne are Mages who have attuned their souls to the fates and history of a given city. They can access it's history, speak to it's condition, find things that only someone who intimately understood it. Furthermore, their personalities come to match the cities they are closest to.
I gravitate towards this because my main pasttime is walking through New York. I love walking through it, through the streets and seeing neighborhoods bleed into one another. Of learning of the little hidden things and seeing the designs and artwork/grafitti. On New Years, when I left the party I was at and in the few minutes I was out in the open, I could taste the winter wind on me that blew through the canyon-like streets of manhattan. I could hear the traffic of foot and car. I felt more relaxed out there than I did in the warmth of the rooms.
This love has cascaded over to Accord, as I'm unable to play in my own game. I play Mage and love Mage because they are the ones who speak to the universe and to the soul. While others are dealing with Blood, Madness, and Bestial Drives. Mages are what speak to the universe within and without. And there is a part of me that enjoys that.
Dystopia Rising
Switching tracks to the Dystopia Rising line, where the characters are split into different Strains of Humanity that evolved after the world ended in Atomic and Zombie Apocalypses (possibly multiple, history is a bit screwed). One of these races is Yorker, and they are exactly what you think of them. I'm not saying that because of where I'm from...I AM, but it's not the sole reason.
Yorkers are classified as people who are preternaturally pissed off survivors. They have lived through hell and have kept going and have taken on personalities larger than life. Their tongues are acid etched and their weapons are big and threatening. Sarcastic to the final fault and with emotional walls that would make a Titan blink (look it up folks) Yorkers are ones whom you do not cross lightly.
Faiths are a major thing, but to be honest, I probably wouldn't pick any of them, if anything because they are Faiths born out of a response to chaotic/insane times and none of them call to me. I've an affinity for *playing* some of them, but I'd be faithless in game. I'd most likely be a Teacher or Printer, possibly even a Jones, who explores the wastes for artifacts of the past. It's what *I* would do, both as a player and as a person. I would explore the world and try, very hard, not to die.
I should point out that most of the characters I've played in DR have been confused for Yorkers. So what, I'm from the Bronx and the Accent happens when I get nervous/excited/drunk
So I don't know what this blog post succeeds in doing. Perhaps in showing I'm neurotic and think to much? Probably. It's my belief, and I've stated it before, that playing in LARPs is a great way to explore your internal workings, and possibly coming to an understanding/confrontation of the things inside you that you may not even be aware of. It may enhance you as a player, it may enhance you as a person.
Later.
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