An Taniwan

Overview

Appearance

An lithe and attractive woman of Indonesian Chinese descent, with light brown eyes and back-length black hair, dyed bright red and cut with straight bangs. In addition to an ever-changing array of piercings, jewelry and tattoos, she typically wears form-fitting clothes with a thin embroidered shawl over her shoulders.

Background

An was born to an Indonesian Chinese couple living in Birmingham in the early eighties, their second daughter of an otherwise rather large family. Her childhood was pleasant, if heavy with expectations of doing as many members of the wider East and Southeast Asian community in England was doing and becoming a 'model minority' professional who would elevate the community into the upper middle class. Her siblings seemed to manage fine, but An was spirited and rebellious, briefly becoming enthralled by the sounds of Seattle and the rise of Indie music during the 90's and dabbling with as many countercultures as she could, reinventing herself as a occultist goth, punk rocker and even briefly as a metalhead as she went along through her late teens. She attended concerts whenever she could, had piercings, tattoos and experimented with drugs, all while deceiving her conservative parents.

When the highs faded and she began to run out of concealable real-estate to get inked, she decided to settle down and go to university as she was expected. Pre-law was tremendously dull as far as she was concerned, but the parties kept her going as she managed to channel her creative energies into well-authored papers and passionate student activism. A few years went by and she succeeded in getting a diploma with relatively good grades and a few awards for her writing in student journals. Unfortunately, her reputation as a relentless party girl followed her and the diploma home, leading to a furious argument with her parents as the years of deception were revealed and the marks she'd made on her own body became evident.

In a fit, she left home and exhausted her few contacts made during school to travel across Asia to find herself. While getting a sleeve done during a three-day stay in Bangkok she met Talohi Andrews, a tall and pillowy tattoo artist from American Samoa who was on a similar trip. His reasons were a little more particular. Talohi wanted to learn the origins of tattooing and the many iconic styles in the region, a concept extraordinary enough to enthrall the girl. The two immediately hit it off and became good friends and travel partners, the man managing to use an impressive network of old friends all throughout the region to get them on boats and traveling anywhere they wanted to be.

From then on An's trip to find herself became a trip to find out more about the tattoos she had taken on over the years, keen to acquire more and learn their meaning. Talohi introduced her to sacred prostitutes in India, brought her to Kyoto where she could briefly study under Japanese oirans preserving the art of concubinage and together the two met a great many vagrants and sex workers- not all that removed from the way they lived during those two years. As their journey went on, dormant passions awoke and the young woman found herself experimenting with art and contemplating making a few tattoos of her own. The experience of running through the underbelly of the continent and meeting its most marginalized people, she found herself wanting to use her previously disparaged education and return to activism and community outreach.

The experiences of living in vagrancy changed her and satisfied her in ways that the drugs and parties couldn't. The tattoos became the containers of intense memories, where ink and craftsmanship transcended cultural barriers and allowed her to take in something of a person who had lived a totally different life from herself. Always at risk of losing weight and getting sick because of the diet on the go, she learned to take care of herself and manage her food and exercise to keep in shape, the rituals and the meditation on her own body became a magic of their own.

When it was time for An and Talohi to finally part ways, she was finally happy with the person she was and comfortable in her own skin. His final gift was a tattoo across her back and thighs in his own native style, performed over eighteen harrowing and euphoric hours while he explained the precise meaning of each press of the needle. There was power in symbols, he reasoned, but greater power in the moments those symbols embody, that thought was empowered by memory. Undergoing many marks that were rites of passage in many cultures, An was in many ways the perfect teacher to him of what it was like to pass from ignorance into enlightened bliss. This final tattoo of his would carry all those moments, he explained, and symbolize the end of An's apprenticeship and the time of her awakening.

He explained all he could and gave her guidance to find mentors and cabals at home as the marks healed, and eventually they parted ways. An returned home and moved to London, taking a job as a tattoo artist as a shop owned by another Ecstatic.

She participated in events where she insinuated herself into the Cult and found the niche that suited her best, making quick friends and continuing to get published to get herself a good name. She was one of the figures that got invested into the East End during the early days of gentrification, buying out an old textiles mill and converting it into one of the hottest nightclubs in the city. While juggling her own mystical explorations, reconciling with her family and the triple careers as an artist, activist and club owner did keep her in a case of chaos and constantly changing schedules, she eventually found a routine.

One which as if on cue, was thrown off by the appearance of a late Talohi's teenage son David, asking for a place to stay. For now she's taken the island boy in as his legal guardian, letting him stay in her flat as he got settled to life in the big city and setting him up in school and even some part-time work.

Although as An's begun to learn, things are never going to be that simple.

Lessons

• 1. You need to pay more attention to the spirit world.
• 2. The weakening of London's spirit world is allowing dangerous incursions by aliens that must be stopped at all costs.
• 3. Sometimes you need to get a little ugly (or drive an ugly car) to escape a sticky situation.
• 4. Some vampires may be useful leverage against other sorts of vampires.
• 5. In auctions surrounded by interesting people, it's useful to obtain bargaining chips in case you get outbid later and get noticed as a person of wealth and taste.
• 6. Chance encounters can lead you to strange and fantastic places. Seize the opportunity when it presents itself.
• 7. Dealing with the supernatural in London requires underworld connections. You always have bodies to clean up.
• 8. Sometimes it's better to let other people take their fill and provide than it is to slake your own desires.
• I. Not everyone can be befriended just because you have a cool nightclub. Actually, maybe that makes you a bit sketchy...
• 9. An's lesson is that opportunities for new friends appear at strange times, but you always have to be ready to seize them.

Vital Statistics

Name// An "Anna(conda)" Taniwan

Tradition// Cult of Ecstasy, Cult of Acceptance

Concept// Activist Body Artist

Image Song// Goldfrapp - Happiness

Nature// Conniver (Clever/Envy)

Demeanor// Celebrant (Passion/Intemperance)

Essence// Primordial, The Serpent of Aesculapius

Chantry//

Things to Track

Willpower// 5

Temporary Willpower// 5

Health Levels// -0 x 1, -1 x 2, -2 x 2, -5 x 1, Incapacitated

Current Damage// 0

Arete// 3

Quintessence// 12/4

Paradox// 0

Attributes

Strength 2//

Dexterity 4// Graceful

Stamina 2 +3//

Perception 4// Detailed

Intelligence 2//

Wits 2//

Charisma 3//

Manipulation 4// Likeable

Appearance 4// Unorthodox

Abilities

TALENTS/

Alertness 2//

Athletics 4// Dancing

Awareness 4// Auras

Dodge 1//

Expression 3//

Streetwise 2//

Subterfuge 3//

SKILLS/

Craft (Body Art) 3//

Etiquette 3//

Meditation 3//

Stealth 1//

KNOWLEDGES/

Investigation 3//

Linguistics 1// English, Mandarin

Lore (Traditions) 2//

Lore (Enigmas) 3//

Vice 3//

Paradigm

An's paradigm can be readily seen in her appearance, a particular branch of the vast array of Ecstatic practices based on modification of the body to experience higher states of being. Pain grants transcendental thought as the psyche reaches beyond itself to escape mind-numbing agony, but it is in the process of healing and internalizing these moments that true enlightenment comes. In the disparity between injury and healing is mirrored knowledge and understanding, both useless without another.

Tattoos are the perfect symbol for this power, as they wound the flesh little yet cause the most exquisite of pains. The process of inking the flesh of a human in the most beautiful ways takes hours, if not days, the marks can be seen and easily remembered. Each image contains within it a moment, a reason, a brief inspiration or a rite of passage that marked some change within a person. Symbols carry meanings for other people, allowing them to implant something the wearer or maker intends into the observer. Marking the flesh ink and needles is the one of the most primordial of ways humans learned to transcend the bodies given to them by the gods.

Physical training is incredibly valuable, as the process of injury and healing is not merely seen but felt. The lessons are holistic experiences, exploring limits and then forcing one to nurse and cajole it to surpass and then recover from the blissful agonies that ensue. Strength, endurance and flexibility can be shaped, adjusted and built up by any person willing to push themselves.

Drugs are useful, but temporary. Stimulants bring someone closer to an energetic bliss, depressants can remove inhibitions and bring an unusual stillness to see hitherto difficult perspectives and hallucinogens allow for the reaching of distant places within the psyche. Mixing them carefully, one can cause madness, or reach deep within the strange and tangled mind and find their own future.

Zen, stillness and tranquility is the tumor of the growing human soul, eternally healing without marks and wounds to overcome, while possessing only knowledge is a path to death. Human beings live, they experience and a secluded life without sin, impurity and impiety is no more nobler than one spent in with hands covering the senses. Self-control lies within purpose and self, not avoidance. Austerities have no power as they deprive the soul of wonder, imagination and bliss, and castigation must have purpose.

Foci and Spheres

Time 3// Hallucinogens and depressants to scry or slow down, ideally someplace comfortable; adrenaline and stimulants to perk up and move faster. Tattoos give access to relevant memories, allowing for callbacks to such states to cast while sober.

Life 3// Adrenaline and athletics to hone and repair to body; alcohol (it's called the water of life sometimes for a reason!) to numb pain and ease nerves. Tattoos inflict pain and adrenaline that can be accessed for transcendent states through memory.

Mind 2// Any mind-altering substances. Alcohol bestows courage and sadness, hallucinogens and amphetamines cause fear and aggression. Tattoos are reminders of the past and grant strength of will, while their images can sear ideas into the minds of others or bring about terrible dread.

Rotes

A Moment Isn't Very Long// Time 3

Sometimes the world moves too quickly for some people. This rote weaponizes this, subjecting the target to a sensation of time passing too quickly as they are helpless to fight it. This often requires a dose of PCP or another powerful stimulant, although expresso or something tamer like an adrenaline-stirring kiss (or a kick to the sensitive unmentionables) can have the same effect. The target loses their standard actions for a number of rounds equal to the net successes on their Willpower defense.

Bloody Mary Morning// Life 2/3

An calls upon the hair of the dog that bit her and concocts a hangover cure cocktail like a Bloody Mary, Prairie Oyster or Amber Moon and imbibes, easing herself of the headache. If she has company the rote is slightly harder, but executed in roughly the same way with more glasses. So versatile is this spell that it can be used to cure withdrawal symptoms of other substances and abate even illness. A version with chicken broth and whiskey does wonders against the common cold.

Phases, Stages, Circles, Cycles// Life 3, Time 2

Sharing a drink with an older person (or sickly younger person), An takes in their vitality and comes to understand the person they are now, were once or could become. Mixing a specific nostalgic cocktail (or one that will later have meaning to them), she coaxes their best self out. This heals the infirmities of age for as long as the spell allows (although does not alter their appearance), allowing them to act as if they were at their peak with no consequences afterwards (other than perhaps a mild hangover).

Yesterday's Wine// Time 2, Life 1

People who have been affected by intoxicating substances sometimes forget the details of their own lives, especially after returning to sobriety. This rote requires first identifying and then administering the correct substance in a dose small enough to retain sobriety and then coaxing memories out as they tread the line between two states, one of which retains the memories they need.

Backgrounds

Avatar 4// One of the mythic serpents.

Blessing 3// Kaleidoscope Eye

• A Life 1/Time 1/Mind 1 sensing ability with (Arete/2) successes, that is activated reflexively while scanning. If opposed by supernatural concealment or countermagic, the roll is Perception + Blessing.

Familiar 4// Naga, a blue Malaysian coral snake

A gift from her mentor when they were traveling together, and ostensibly her best friend in the world. Cute enough that most people forget that she's capable of killing most people within minutes of a bite.

• Eats 2 points of Paradox per week and counts as a 2-dot Mentor for study purposes. Needs 4 quint per week.

Influence 1/// Influential in the London nightlife.

Legend 2// The Serpent of Aesculapius

Resources 3// Runs a fairly successful nightclub and tattooing business, although her liquid assets are less than they should be because she's still paying off the original loan on the club.

Sanctum 2// Boas VIP Lounge

A velvet VIP room with neon fixtures in ever-changing colors, where the members of An's inner social circle and favored clients gather. It also contains her tattoo atelier and a soundproof space for rituals and meditation.

• Provides decent stock of materials, coincidental -1 casting dif, 2 points of Arcane.
• People cannot overdose in the lounge, becoming briefly sick and then recovering instead. Tattoos performed in the space are fully healed and absorbed by the time they exit the space, and people spending time in the lounge with non-aggravated wounds heal one step faster (week-> day ->hour ->minute).

Talisman 4// The Ouroboros Record - (Arete 1 primer, all Spheres 1/Arete 3, Quintessence 5/5)

A mystical tattoo of a snake devouring itself set over An's Vishuddhi chakra, around which turn vast tattooed arrays of script in many languages, some only allegorical images and ideas. It acts as a library that stores her many tattoos, as well as many of those given to her by her mentor Talohi during their journeys together. As a primer, the item is a source of great interest from other mages in the region- not all of whom are friendly.

• As a primer and grimoire the Ouroboros record teaches Arete 1 and all spheres to 1. As the tattoos of the primer itself are spread throughout the body, they cannot be studied while wearing substantially covering clothing. A potential student needs three of the four of:

• Perception 3+
• Craft (Body Art/Drawing) 3+
• Lore (Enigmas) at 3+
• Academics (Art) 3+

• Additionally, the user gets +3 to stamina, soaks lethal damage as bashing and once per day can heal all their non-aggravated wounds by spending 15 minutes to shed their entire skin.
• The user also gains a Mind 2 Branding effect with 2 successes by demonstrating iconography of the subculture the user is interacting with, as well as the equivalent of the Parlor Tricks merit that allow them to shift and conceal or create blank spaces to get more tattoos. These successes don't apply against people who dislike body modification, although the effect at least hides the tattoos to avoid social penalties.

Merits and Flaws

Merits

Acute Sense (Vision)// -2 dif to Awareness and Alertness rolls involving vision, and 1 sux to vision-based sensing spells.

Black Market Ties 1// Can easily obtain party drugs and workable fake IDs with the right pictures on them.

Nightclub// Owns the extremely successful nightclub Boas in the gentrified East End of London, that adds ~600 GPB (1000 USD) per week to her income. Also a place to meet contacts and has a studio space for tattoo work.

Flaws

Addiction 1// A casual tobacco smoker that can't quite kick the habit, but has compromised by rolling her own cigarettes instead of buying from huge evil corporations.

Apprentice 3// David_Andrews, a teenage CoX magus, of whom she has legal guardianship. He's taken the the London nightlife with dangerous gusto and now fights his own personal crusade on the wretched in the city.

Enemy 1// Once ran afoul a young Tzimisce who was able to steal quite a bit of blood from her and might have become obsessed by the taste of her blood in the aftermath.

Primal Marks// Sinewy, graceful and speaks with a darting tongue and hypnotic gaze. Oddly enough, people tend to assume she knows medicine.

Chargen

Attributes

Attribute Points 56/32/24

Charisma 3 (12)

Appearance 3 (12)

Manipulation 4 (24)

Perception 4 (24)

Intelligence 2 (4)

Wits 2 (4)

Strength 2 (4)

Dexterity 4 (24)

Stamina 2 (4)

Abilities

Ability Points 86/80 +6

Alertness 2 (5)

Athletics 3 (9)

Awareness 4 (15)

Dodge 1 (3)

Expression 3 (9)

Craft (Body Art) 3 (5)

Etiquette 3 (9)

Meditation 3 (9)

Lore (Enigmas) 3 (5)

Investigation 3 (9)

Linguistics 1 (3)

Subterfuge 2 (5)

Backgrounds

Background Points 21/21

Resources 3 (9)

Talisman 4 (12)

Spheres

Sphere Points 65/65

Time 3 (31)

Life 3 (34)

Freebie Points

Freebie Points 80/81

Apprentice 3 (+9)

Primal Marks (+6)

Addiction 1 (+3)

Enemy 1 (+3)

Subterfuge 3 (4)

Athletics 4 (6)

Streetwise 2 (4)

Acute Sense (3)

Nightclub (6)

Black Market Ties 1 (3)

Avatar 4 (12)

Familiar 4 (12)

Legend 2 (6)

Blessing 2 (6)

Sanctum 2 (6)

Manipulation 4 (12)

XP

Experience Gains

Experience Total/Spent/Unspent (60/60/24)

• Session 1 + Lesson + Journal (9)
• Session 2 + Lesson + Journal (8)
• Session 3 + Lesson + Journal (9)
• Session 4 + Lesson + Journal (4)
• Session 5 + Lesson + Journal (5)
• Session 6 + Lesson + Journal (3)
• Session 7 + Lesson + Journal (8)
• Session 8 + Lesson + Journal (7)
• Interlude 1 + Lesson + Journal (5)
• Session 9 + Lesson + Journal (7)

Experience Spending

Experience Total/Spent/Unspent (60/60/0)

• Stealth 1 (3)
• Vice 3 (9)
• Mind 1 (10)
• Mind 2 (8)
• Influence 1 (3)
• Blessing 3 (3)
• Arete 4 (24)