Character Creation: Dark Ages: Fae

With nothing in particular on my mind, I shall jump right into chargen.

The Game: Dark Ages: Fae
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: Lots! In addition to developing the book (and basically conceptualizing it from the ground up, though not alone) I played it for a while when John ran it. I played Hound, who shows up in the fiction before Chapter Two, and as the character illustration on p. 75.
Books required: The Dark Ages: Fae book, and either the Dark Ages: Vampire book or the free Dark Ages rules download.

 

OK, so check it out. When I got the gig as Dark Ages developer, I knew right away I wanted to do a DA version of Changeling: The Dreaming someday. But I wasn't sure how the powers-that-be at White Wolf, who apparently had never really liked CtD (this turned out to be not entirely true), would dig it. I didn't put it on the docket for my first year (2003; the 2002 lineup was already in place when I was hired, which was 9/11/01, if you're interested), because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do right off. That was the year I did Dark Ages: Werewolf, and while I think it turned out OK, there's so much I'd have done differently with just a year of experience under my belt.

So anyway, the next year I sent in my lineup for 2004. This would have been in fall of 2003, which was after we knew about the Time of Judgment, but before we knew that Dark Ages was dying with it (remember, the initial plan was Dark Ages would continue). So we wound up doing four Dark Ages books in 2004, and one of the Dark Ages: Fae.

As with almost every book I've worked on, there are things I'd do differently. Yes, the powers are a little over the top. Yes, we should have paid more attention to fae society than we did (in my defense, I thought we'd get a Companion someday). But the fae-creation rules laid some groundwork for Changeling: The Lost, as did the seasonal Courts, and so I'm glad for the way it worked out.

That in mind,

Let's see. I've made several DA characters. My Werewolf character was English (rather, a wolf, but living in the British Isles somewhere), my Mage character was Italian but living in France, my Vampire character was...unspecified, actually, and my Inquisitor character was French. Wow. Didn't realize I'd kept so much to Western Europe. OK.

Making a Fae character, though, isn't like making a character with a more terrestrial background. Changelings, sure, grew up among humans, but firstborn and inanimae did not. I still need my character to be playable, though, so I flick through Dark Ages: Europe and hit Ari's section on Hungary. Reading up on how Buda-Pest was growing like a weed in this period (mid 13th century, remember), I jump over to the Encyclopedia Mythica and find this charming legend, the Liderc. This industrious little beastie asks for work, and eventually drives you crazy asking for stuff to do.

My Fae character, then, is going to play on those legends. I know I want Liderc to be firstborn, so I'll enter that right now. Liderc fought in the War of Seasons, kind of; he was more a sprite at the time. Never on the front lines, but "fought" in a supplemental way (helping with supplies and the like). More an industrious goblin sort of creature. The War pretty much annihilated the fae in his area, and he's been paying more attention to humanity ever since, and has grown to appreciate the way they just consume everything around them, building the land and the trees and the world into their cities. They do it with ideas and gods and spirits, too, and Liderc feels that maybe the humans can give him a place in their lives, so that he won't die the way his fellows did when the Oath-Truce ends. That makes his agenda Humanist, from where I'm standing.

Court is a little trickier. Spring and Autumn both want to work with humans (or use them), and since Ledirc is, in legend, a demonic sort, I'll take Autumn. He was Sained into the Autumn Court by some of the few fae still in the area, and since he was so keen to watch them work, they tasked him with sticking close to working folk, craftsmen, farmers, etc., and seeing if they were useful.

I need a Nature and Demeanor, huh? Well, Ledirc's a Survivor by Nature; he wants to outlast the rest of the Fae, and screw the Oath-Truce anyway. The Demeanor he puts on is Follower, which isn't in the Dark Ages: Vampire book but screw it. He does what he's told, but it's not that he's not capable of acting on his own, it just that he finds it more expedient to play the role of obsequious little sneak.

Right, that complete Step One, so now Step Two: Attributes. 7/5/3 split, and I think Ledirc needs high Mental stats, so we'll do Mental, Physical, Social.

Mental: I'll jack Wits up to 5, put Perception at 3 and leave Intelligence at 2. He's a skilled builder, but not so great at problem-solving. He's used to using magic for that.

Physical: Three dots into Dexterity, one each into Strength and Stamina. Although, I might want a higher Stamina, since he can work tirelessly. Hmm. Yeah, I'll switch out a dot of Dex for a dot of Stamina.

Social: Average across the board. No, wait. I'll leave him Appearance 1 and put Manipulation up to 3.

Step Three: Abilities. 13/9/5, nothing over 3 right now. Skills are definitely primary, followed by Talents. That leaves Knowledges last.

Skills: 3 in Crafts, and my Area of Expertise is Carpentry. Three into Stealth, two into Survival. Two into Animal Ken (he likes chickens and other domesticated animals), two into Commerce, one into Etiquette.

Talents: Two points into Alertness, three into Athletics (I see him hanging from trees, clinging to bridges, that kind of thing), two into Brawl, and two into Kenning. I fucking hate Dodge as a separate Ability, have I mentioned that? Shit. OK, I'll swap a point from Brawl into Dodge, just so it's not empty.

Knowledges: One each into Enigmas, Hearth Wisdom, Gramarye, Linguistics and Seneschal. For my languages, Ledirc speaks the Fostering tongue and Autumn Tongue for free, and I'll take Hungarian (whatever version the peasants of 13 century Hungary would've spoken) for my extra one.

Step Four: Advantages. I get 5 dots in Backgrounds, so let's check those out. I think Ledirc's going to want some dots in Oaths. I'll put 3 dots into Oaths for now. I'll split my other two into Resources (Ledirc has amassed a little treasure trove of stuff he's stolen from people) and Contacts (a gossipy woman that Ledirc listens to as she chatters with her friends).

As a firstborn, I get Mists 4 and Weaving 2 to start with.

Now for the fun bit: Dominions! As a member of the Autumn Court, my favored is Dusk, so I get a -1 to the difficulty of using Dusk. But let's see what we've got. OK, I want Ledirc to have some nasty magic behind him, I want him to be able to speak to animals and I want him to be able to call on his Court's magic, so I'll take one each of Dusk, Night and Dawn. That gives me six cantrips, since with Weaving 2 I get two cantrips in every Dominion I know. They all have to be level 1, of course, unless I start raising Dominions with freebies, so I think I'll hold off on cantrips until I've spent those points.

I start with Willpower 4. I get one Echo, and I have to build my faerie mien yet. Let's do the Echo first.

Echoes are things that can, potentially, turn a Fae to stone, but it's more likely to just make them itchy. Actually, as a firstborn, Ledirc suffers more severe Echo effects than other Fae. I think I'll take "being scolded like a child" as my Echo; it plays on the "given an impossible task" thing from the legend.

Right, now Features. I get four, because my Mists rating is 4. I picture Ledirc as being small, black-skimmed, ugly (pointy, goblin-like ears, warts, snaggled-toothed). That gives me Faerie Size (Lesser), Skin Hue (black), Repulsive Countenance, and I think I'll take Scent, too. Ledirc smells like sawn wood and body odor.

OK, freebies. I buy up Dodge to 3, first off. Brawl goes to 2. That's 6 points spent. I'll spent 4 more and buy Intimidation 1 and Gramarye 2. That leaves me 5. I'll spend 1 point and take the Cherished Merit. While I'm at it, though, I'll take the Demonic Flaw (he looks pretty demon-like), so that gives me 3 back. I'm at 7 points left. I'll spent all 7 to buy a second dot in, let's say, Night.

I've got Oaths to consider. I could do several Iron Oaths (that is, forged between me and particular humans), or one Stone Oath (forged between me and a community). I like that better. We'll say that part of Ledirc's Saining involved an oathmaster forging that oath between Ledirc and a local master craftsman. The Oath's wording goes like this:

I will perform one task for you, working wood or stone or slaughter of beast if you provide fair payment for my services, and agree never to let me hear a harsh word. I will fail my oath if the two full moons see the task unfinished. You will fail the oath and suffer the wrath of the bond if you do not pay for my services. If the other breaks, my punishment in shame is service to you, no matter what the task, for six full moons. Your punishment in shame is to be the slave of anyone who speaks your name for one full day.

And, finally, cantrips. I get two each in Dusk, Dawn and Night.

Night: I want to be able to hurt people without killing them, so I'll take Black and Blue. I'll take Winter's Glamour, too, to make myself invisible.

Dawn: Well, Beast Tongue, obviously. And then Sleep, since putting people to sleep without killing them is handy.

Dusk: Speed of the Wind, definitely. He's a quick little fucker. And then Twilight Shadow's Reach, allowing Ledirc to grab objects that are out of reach. Seems a very gobliny thing to do.

And by gum, I think that's it!