Catherine West

Name: Catherine West
Player: Norseman
Nature: Conformist
Essence: Questing
Demeanour: Sage (Regain WP when she counsels a needy person, help someone through her vast reserves of knowledge, or uncover some obscure bit of lore)
Tradition: Order of Hermes (House Shaea)House Shaea Rotes
Mentor:


ATTRIBUTES

PHYSICAL (3)
Strength: 2
Dexterity: 2
Stamina: 2

SOCIAL (7)
Charisma: 4 (Good Manners)
Manipulation: 3
Appearance: 3

MENTAL (5)
Perception: 3
Intelligence: 4 (Bookworm)
Wits: 2

ABILITIES

TALENTS (7)
Alertness: 1
Awareness: 1
Athletics: 1
Dodge: 1
Expression: 3
Instruction: 1
Intuition: 1

SKILLS (9)
Drive: 1
Etiquette: 2
Firearms: 2
Meditation: 1
Research: 3
Technology: 1

KNOWLEDGES (13)
Cosmology: 3
Culture: 1
History: 3
Language (Enochian): 3
Linguistics: 4 (Read ancient manuscripts) (Ancient Egyptian, Latin, Ancient Greek, Chinese)
Lore (Umbrood): 1
Lore (Ghosts): 1
Lore (Kuei Jin): 1
Lore (Vampire): 1
Lore (Werewolf): 1
Occult: 3

SPHERES
Correspondence: 2
Mind: 1
Spirit*: 3
Time: 3

ADVANTAGES

BACKGROUNDS
Ally: 2
Avatar: 5
Library: 5

MERITS
Spirit Magnet (6)

FLAWS
Addiction - Tea (1)
Obsession - Victoriana (2)
Strangeness (1)
Throwback (1)

ARETE: 3
WILLPOWER: 6 / 6
QUINTESSENCE: 5 / 5
PARADOX: 1
EXPERIENCE: 13XP left (45 spent)

FOCI
Chanting in Enochian, Inscriptions (Time)
Geometric figures, Showstones, Spiritualism (Spirit)
Chanting in Enochian, Showstones, Spiritualism (Mind)
Enochian and Magical Geometry (Correspondence)

LESSONS LEARNED

• Catherine learns to be very careful when you're around heavy security, especially where scanning equipment can be brought to bear.
  
• If carrying very valuable magical items try to avoid mundane mass transport.
  
• Try to stay calm when dealing with the strange things in the umbra, figuring out what you are facing is much better than panicking.
  
• If you cast a powerful spell taking you through a vision then focus on what you set out to do, don't start one thing only to suddenly go off in another direction unless there's a pressing reason. Corollary to that being, high realm magic shit is treacherous; Mages can use it, but stick to the path.
  
• Catherine learns that she needs to be better prepared to fend for herself in combat.
  
• When you're in danger remember that there may be helpful things in the local environment that you've forgotten.
  
• Evil can corrupt almost everyone, even sainted reincarnated beings.
  
• Before heading into any situation carefully consider if you can do the most good by going in person, or by staying behind to do support by way of Correspondence.
  
• Do your utmost to make sure the team sticks together and does not have to rush into combat with opponents that severely outmatch us.
  

MAGICAL KIT

• Revolver used to shoot at Jack the Ripper (Constable Nerton inside!)
  

3 point fetish (15 / 15 points)

For 1 point of Power you can add 6 die of damage to any attack, and it will hurt spirits and the supernatural. Needs 2 points of power in particularly static areas though, since poor Corporal Nerton has to overcome the Gauntlet. Also, you can spend another point of Power to call upon his skills. Either +2 to investigation, +2 to Intimidate, or +2 to Firearms

Also if you're acting in a way a police officer would not approve of, he may leave. Since he's there voluntarily, and not bound. Prosecuting dastardly oriental villains is right up his alley though.


* 5 Points of Tass taken from Tom One Eagle

DESCRIPTION
Catherine is an attractive woman in her early thirties, with long blonde hair and blue eyes. Most of the time she wears old fashioned, vaguely Victorian style dresses. All of this combined with her big glasses, which she doesn't really need, makes her look like the stereotypical cute Victorian librarian.

ALLY
Alexandra Solaimani, who was a student at house Shaea with you, and is pretty much your opposite, a modern tomboyish action girl artifact hunter She sees you as cute but hopeless, and sometimes tries to watch out for you, when she's not off tearing around lost ruins fighting demons for missing magick.

BACKGROUND
Catherine West Incarnations

Catherine was born in the historical town of Middlemarch, to fairly well to do parents. She was an intelligent child who learned to read at the age of six, and delighted in studying books and history. Even as a child she would sometimes see things that had happened in the past, notice odd shadows walking past the corridors. However she soon learned to keep quiet about such things, and to write them off as childish fancies. At least in public, in private she was not so certain, but her secret friends told her to keep quiet.

Despite being a little bookish her good looks and charm made her fairly popular at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School. She graduated with high marks, and went on to her father's university, that is Durham, where she gained an early admission due to academic excellence. Given that she could always rely on her parent's financial support she decided to study history, with an emphasis on Victorian history. For various reasons she soon found herself deeply involved with the study of the early spiritualists, where she became known as something of a research prodigy due to her uncanny ability to dig up relevant letters and notes.

It was during this period that she became involved in a study of certain documents and photographs found in an old Victorian mansion. At the time it looked like a coincidence, but in retrospect it was probably anything but. The documents were accounts and photographs of spiritualist sessions, with in depth discussions of the tests done to ensure that there was no fraud. Obviously no one believed these accounts to be accurate, but they were interesting historical records.

For some reason the records were so pressing that Catherine decided to head out to the mansion. Surprisingly enough, even to herself, she told no one. In fact she parked some distance away from the mansion and walked there. At the time she rationalised these decisions, telling herself that she needed privacy, and to get an unbiased view of things.

The mansion itself was surprisingly unlocked, though she had a key if that would have mattered. Inside she stumbled around with little light, not sure why she hadn't brought a flashlight. Then it happened, she stumbled down into the basement, which was lit by a pair of oil mantle lamps.

Past that point everything seemed like a dream, she found herself wearing an old fashioned dress, and being shown a secret chamber where she could hide documents and paraphernalia. There were many people around her, and she felt like she knew them all.

They went upstairs, where they sat around a round table in a darkened room, forming a spiritualist séance. There were astounding effects, materialisations, but all of a sudden a sceptic leapt up and grasped one of the spirits, only to have it fade away in his grasp. Then something else happened, the light came on, there were whistles, but these weren't the real police she knew that... What happened afterwards she wasn't sure off, but there was a hint of doom and yet deep satisfaction.

When she came to again she was inside the hidden chamber, studying a vast array of documents and books. Wondering if she had gone completely insane. Then a great premonition of danger filled her, the world seemed to warp, and she remembered... She remembered being Samantha Brigsby, famous medium, occultist, spiritualist mage who had tried to reconcile the Dreamspeakers with the Order of Hermes. The memories flowed over her, while at the same time she felt a magical attack upon the mansion.

Summoning the local friendly spirits she gathered the library she had found and brought it with her into the Umbra. Later on she would never have tried such a feat, but at the time her powers were amazing, it was as if she could do virtually anything she tried.

In the Umbra she saw the mansion as a shining castle under siege by dark, mechanical forces, clockwork machines trying to attack the living structure of the mansion. Fortunately the spirits hid her from sight, and when they reached her car she stepped outside again.

For a while she was too shaky to drive, if not for the books piled up in her car she would have thought it was all a fantasy. Then she noticed a glare in the distance, the mansion was on fire. For several minutes she stood there, watching it burn, before she got back into her car and drove away.

Back home she called in sick and spent most of the week trying to make sense of things, with little success. Her dreams were troubled by fragmented, half remembered parts of her past life. In the end she decided to re-enact one of the rituals described in her book, to summon a helpful spirit. If it worked she was still sane, if not, if not she thought she'd need professional help.

Fortunately for her she found it quite easy to summon a friendly spirit, who, in return for a promise of rewards, carried a message to the Order of Hermes.

Unfortunately that is roughly when she came down with a strong fever, after which her memories of the past life were much hazier. Afterwards she was never sure if it was paradox backlash of some sort, or if it was a result of technocracy action to delete the memories of those staff who worked with the mansion papers.

When she recovered she was once more in the position, that only the big stack of books and documents, which she found in her house, convinced her that her memories were real. Or rather that they could be real. Back at the university she went through their documents, and found that they seemed like fairly standard spiritualist accounts. Indeed she had trouble understanding why, a month earlier, they had seemed so fascinating. At this point however she began to suffer something similar to a nervous breakdown.

Eventually she was contacted by House Shaea of the Hermetics, who helped her recover, and cover up the suspicious changes in her behaviour. Then began the long period of study and education, to help develop her abilities, and to help her overcome the problems of her awakening.

Though she is still a novice mage she has had a few interesting assignments due to her circumstances; as a woman of independent means she's able to travel extensively, visit various universities, and study odd artefacts without drawing undue attention.

XP EXPENDITURE
10 XP Mind 1
1 XP Kuei-Jin Lore 1
15 XP Correspondence 1-2
3 XP Alertness 1
8 XP Perception 3
2 XP Enochian 2-3
4 XP Linguistics 2-4
0 XP Firearms 2
1 XP Vampire Lore 1
1 XP Werewolf Lore 1