Themes

Mood

Dreams

Characters

The Story

Themes

The main themes of the story is the question of identity in a world shaped by the hands of our parents. What place is there in that world for us? What place in that world do we want to have? Are we responsible for our ancestors mistakes? Do we have to live through their decisions, are ours any better?

Mood

The mood is one of mystery, as the characters explore and become entangled in a ancient world, or is that a world full of ancients? Who are the movers, who pulls the strings? Why is everything the way it is? And most importantly — where do the characters fit it?

A second, and initially more pressing mystery, is the question of who are the characters? And what is this mess they have suddenly found themselves in.

The Dreams/Memories

Each of the characters recall a single common event. This is an unusually clear memory, not like something just described, but rather a very vivid dream or a real memory. Mentioning events will normally provoke a strong dense of deja vu in each of the characters.

The characters recall this in the third person, not as the people in the memory. Where they the fly on the wall? Or were they the ones in the event.

The room is fairly large, with a large fire roaring in the fire place. Three large chairs sit in a semi-circle around the fire. Around the room is a range of books and statues from many periods of time. Most notable is collection of cat statues which occupy a complete display case.

The first chair contains a man dressed in a pale grey robe, slowly drinking a glass of scotch. In the firelight the runes sewn in the robe glitter and seem to move of their own violation. He sits, seemingly in silent contemplation, slightly smiling, at peace with his place in the world.

Beside him sits a dark haired woman, dressed in a tight fitting clothing. Around her neck a golden pendant gleams in the firelight, a Shen surrounding a raised claw clearly indicated. Her right hand repeatedly grasps and releases her sword hilt, while her fingers on her left hand taps on the arm rest. Her eyes move round the room, never resting for more then a second on anything.

The final chair closest to the door stands empty, waiting for someone still to come.

Finally a short, pale woman stands by the window, watching the lightning dance amongst the clouds. She dresses in a loose flowing dress, which moves as in a breeze. Her eyes glow with an unnatural radiance, as she stares at the approaching storm.

The door opens, and a fourth person enters. A black haired man dressed in in black silk shirt and pants enters. He nods to the others, and takes the empty seat.

The Lighter is safe? asks the robed man.

Of course, replies the dark haired man. Although there was someone trying to follow me for a while. I lost them near the peak, but I didn't see enough of it to see who it was..

No matter, even if they suspected what was going here, they dare not act without evidence. Let us reiterate our status once more, then we will begin the ritual. Who wishes to begin?

I shall, says the blue woman. I recovered the VOX, and have placed it in the tomb. The other three items were safely stowed last week. The only witness, a most unlucky rook seems to have met with a small accident. The Nimrod triad who overheard seem to have lost their gossamar. With that she pulls out a small statue of Bast, before throwing it into the fireplace.

Messy, your aggression is a danger to us all!

The woman in blue raises and faces the woman at the window, From what I hear — it is you who endangers our plans.

Save your arguments, since you are so willing to review the activities of others, maybe you should explain your part in this?. The grey man then gestures that everyone return to their previous position.

Thank you, as you know my job was to find out what the Nimrod know and if necessary let slip some information that would lead them astray. In any case they were nearly totally oblivious to our presence. One member had noticed our Lighter, apparently she noticed it in the park. Aside from that the only incident was a former, um, acquaintance of mine from the Anopheles spotted me in the Nimrod Mantle. She didn't manage to stop me, but I had make a rather quick exit.

Well that explains my friend. Never met a Nimrod who knew their way around the clouds. In any case after I dropped our friendly assassin here at the gallery, I headed for the coast. A small lighter was following me, but once I reached the mountains they seemed to fear to follow me. I placed the navigation key in the gallery as we discussed.

Well then, we should be ready to begin. The Arachne Scourges should be here shortly. From here there is no going back, do any of you wish to back out now?

Silence descends on the room, before the grey man, stands, and steps in front of the fire, before turning and facing the room.

Let our revenge begin.

Character Creation

Background

Characters are created as fairly normal humans. However as part of their unknown immortal heritage there are few things to take note of.

Firstly they are good at most knowledge based skills, (and buy them at the immortal cost). Generally this translates into a natural grasp of the concepts. Of course since the characters find these disciplines unchallenging they may have focused their attentions elsewhere. Additionally the (unconscious) use of soul/FI has provided an advantage over most twilights most of the characters lives, probably without even realising it.

The result of this is that the characters are noticeably above average in their chosen fields of endeavour, additionally they are likely to have a number of (possibly unrelated) fields of endeavour. Additionally physical endeavours are not likely to have been neglected, so martial activities are also more then likely.

The characters are also likely to have some sort fascination with a particular animal, form, or element. This is a result of the characters subconscious relating to the characters himsati form. Hence a character with a lion as a Himsati form is likely to have a number of cat, and specifically lion statues throughout their homes and work environment. This need not be overt, however there is likely to be some physical manifestation of this idea. Additionally think about the personally traits such a himsati will leave on your character, and their course in life. It is important to note that himsati is a core part of ones being.

Finally the characters do know each other, and have been good friends throughout most of their lives. Contact may not be frequent, but regular meetings would not be unexpected. Additionally similar occupations, or even working for the same company would not be unusual. The characters did enter Lethe together, so they will subconsciously keep together in some way.

System

Once you have some idea about who you character is it is time to play with motes (dots if you prefer). You start with 150 memory for use in creating your character [Note the book lists 100, another update].