Shannon Travers
Shannon Travers was born with a foot in two worlds. Her father was a British minerals company employee who often spent his months in northwestern Quebec sourcing sites and working with the Native population, while her mother was a local environmentalist and member of the local Mohawk tribe. The relationship didn't last, but Shannon remained a legacy of their time together. Her father's promotion to an executive position and the educational opportunities offered to her as a consequence meant that she spent her youth traveling a lot between her father's hometown of Birmingham and her mother's new workplace in Montreal, where she'd taken a teaching position.
Growing up wasn't too hard, and she lived conformable with either of her parents. Her native relatives were kind, but distant- all too aware that she wouldn't be allowed to stay on the reservation due to failing the blood quotients, but still welcoming. In particular, she had many fond memories of her grandparents, especially her grandmother who many referred to as a wise woman and shaman, and a grandfather who didn't mind her poking around and helping out while he repaired car engines at his mechanic shop. Her father's family spoiled her, though she managed to avoid becoming a problem child- somehow.
She awakened spontaneously, after a boating accident sent her tumbling into a canal. Her impassioned pleas for rescue were met by the city spirit of Montreal, which buoyed her to the bank and drew the ambulances to her with little tricks. After that incident, they spoke many times both in dreams- often about the corruption in the world and the malaise that many of the new cities suffered as a consequence of the frailties of their youth and the mass produced buildings that filled them. The discussions shaped Shannon more than anything else, and motivated her to pull on her father's connections to enter a university in London after she graduated.
Her goals were twofold: first to meet the legendary city spirit of once the greatest city in the world, and second to learn architecture, city planning and civil engineering, what she considered to be the new arts of geomancy. Meeting Electra Stephens while studying, she fell in with the Idol House almost without noticing it, and became their defacto mechanic, carpenter, interior decorator, architect and easily a dozen other things.
Vital Statistics
- Name// Shannon Travers
- Concept// Spirit Smith who wants to heal the urban world.
- Image Song// Thousand Bells, Yonderboi
- Nature// Architect - Soulful Modernity
- Demeanor// Bon Vivant - "We can make the world beautiful."
- Essence// Questing - The Alleycat
- Chantry// Idol House
Things to Track
Willpower// 7
Temporary Willpower// 7
Health Levels// -0 x 1, -1 x 2, -2 x 2, -5 x 1, Incapacitated
- Current Damage// -
Quintessence// 2/2
Paradox// 0
Attributes
- Strength// 2
- Dexterity// 2
- Stamina// 2
- Perception// 3
- Intelligence// 3
- Wits// 2
- Charisma 4 (Enthralling)
- Manipulation 2
- Appearance 4 (Radiant)
Abilities
SKILLS/ 13 +1
- Craft// 4
- Drive// 3
- Etiquette// 2
- Performance (Singing)// 2
- Technology// 3
TALENTS/ 9
- Alertness// 1
- Awareness// 3
- Expression// 2
- Intuition// 3
KNOWLEDGES/ 5
- Computer// 1
- Cosmology// 2
- Occult// 3
Paradigm
Shannon's paradigm is as herself- a foot in two worlds. She looks to the past as a classical Dreamspeaker who desires to restore a certain balance to the world, but she realizes that the modern world cannot be unmade and does not oppose it. Like many modern technoshamans, she studies the new spirits of machines, concrete structures and mass production goods that the Technocracy has made so common in the world. Magick is a jazz- there is no one right way of doing any single thing, but sense that things work best if the willworker works with, rather than against the rhythm of the moment.
Despite using many common Dreamspeaker foci like sacred bodypaints, oils and engraved baubles, Shannon is a thorough dabbler. Modern spirits have largely vindicated her beliefs by being responsive to her overtures anyway, so she has no reason to settle too strongly into a single style of shamanry. The soul of a car can be placated directly by giving it a fresh coat of paint and natural oil rather than using those same materials in a protracted one-day ritual (although that works too). She enjoys cross-applying competencies as well, negotiating with a car to get it to work or stepping into the Umbra to fix (or build) metaphysical machinery and improve living conditions for spirits. Sometimes she even sings, figuring there isn't an older language that is genuinely universal (since you don't see New Yorkers speaking in Enochian, Lemurian or Hyborean) and capable of touching the soul the same.
Shannon trusts in the power of spirits and does her best to parlay well with them. Sometimes you don't need words of power to do something, just good care in your daily life and the help of your friends on the other side.
Foci and Spheres
- All of the Above and Bellow// Spirit 3 - Paint/engraving, tools, singing, negotiation.
- The Spirit of Each Thing// Matter 3 - Paint/engraving, tools, custom parts.
- The Great Spirits// Prime 2 - Paint/engraving, tools, singing, custom parts.
Rotes
Backgrounds
Miscellaneous
Equipment
FLAWS
- Crack Driver (1) - In the past, some Dreamspeaker horseback riders were preternaturally skilled at communicating and controlling their mounts. Shannon is part of- or destroying- a proud tradition. -2 Dif on all rolls relating to the operation of a motor vehicle.
- Mechanical Aptitude (1) - Being able to communicate with even dormant spirits of technology has certain benefits. -2 Dif on all rolls relating to technology.
- Spirit Magnet (7) - Shannon seems to draw a lot of attention from helpful spirits, notably on the very occasion when the City Spirit of Montreal rescued her and she awakened.
FLAWS/
- Echoes - Catus Carnaval (2) - Shannon tends to cause some weird happenings by being in a certain place. Cats often crowd her and tend to be affectionate while dogs exhibit stranger interests (as dogs tend to vis a vis cats). She is also bothered by water if put into it against her will, taking a -1 penalty to all actions if doused by surprise.
- Phobia - Drowning (3) - Shannon has yet to cope with her traumatic near-drowning incident, and has been deathly afraid of large bodies of water ever since. She can still bathe or traipse in relatively shallow waters, but going over rivers and lakes- let alone swimming is a mortifying enough experience that she takes a -2 difficulty penalty on all actions while this is happening, with the above penalty from being wet stacking if she didn't go in of her own will.
- Primal Marks - The Alleycat (2) - Shannon has a number of catlike mannerisms that her friends write off as quirks, such as saying the words 'mew' ironically, rubbing her face with the back of her hand or stretching like a cat. Some people have occasionally seen her with cat ears, only to blink and not see them anymore. The Umbra has temporarily made these traits more apparent.
- Spirit-Trained - Concordia Salus (1) - Shannon was awakened and trained by the city spirit of Montreal, and only has her background in Mohawk traditions and myth to complement this. This has given her a far more technomagical conception of spirit bargaining that might set her at odds with other Dreamspeakers and make her seem weird to technomages.
XP and Background
Freebie Points
Freebie Points 22/22
- Primal Marks (-2)
- Phobia: (-2)
- Echoes (-2)
- Spirit-Trained (-1)
- Willpower (2)
- Prime 2 (10)
- Mechanical Aptitude (1)
- Crack Driver (1)
- Spirit Magnet (7)
- Craft 4 (2)
- Fetish 4 (1)