It never
felt real… the voice in your ear telling YOU the darkest secrets of your soul, The
exam YOU winged because you didn’t think it mattered, the boy at school who YOU
could never find the courage to speak to but were haunted by every teenage
night, The job opportunity YOU turned down even though it had been what you
always wanted, The dreams YOU held…but were too scared of failure to follow
through…at first they felt bitter and mocking because all you had known was the
dizzying vibrant bleakness of Arcadia. And then they felt cruel and barbarous
because the voice told you stories of why you were weak when you were at the
depth of your helplessness. And then they felt alluring and dreamy because even
THEY couldn’t take your regrets from you…and then the flash of headlights the
screaming obscenities of the swerving motorist and the sweet refreshing touch
of the breeze…it never felt real…but does that even matter…
You’ve definatly seen them, you probably even know some of
them. The Guy who turns up at the bar at opening time and is somehow still
drinking at last orders, The Girl who’s out clubbing every Friday night and is
always hauled off in the back of a police van for getting into fights. The
middle aged pariah who dresses as if they were still twenty years younger and
is up for ‘anything’…all broken individuals both wearing and masking their
pain, but the school of hard knocks has toughened them and what can be seen as
either ‘reckless abandon’ or ‘dereliction of the self’ is often a true grit
that allows one to survive the mind bending beauty and horrors of Arcadia. The
followers of the Zephyrus Trail claim to be the court of Desire, wild hedonists
and capricious addicts who bring with
them a little of the beauty and madness of Arcadia wherever they go. But the
hardest lies for a trickster to swallow are the ones they tell themselves, for
deep down in their hearts each member of the Air Court knows they walk the path
of regret. For all their grand illusions, when reality starts to bite many
within the court feel the weight of the void in their souls heavier than others
as they come to realise the cheap fixes of desire cannot numb them forever…
NO regrets,
NO fears, NO anxieties:
Regret is a powerful emotion and for the Lost regret can
easily be seen as survivor’s guilt. The members of the Zephyrus Trail are
survivors, the memories that brought them back were rarely positive and even
those that are sting with bittersweetness. But despite this, the Air Court find
their regrets empowering for regrets are born of compromise, appeasement and
ultimately the surrendering of one’s agency. The Air court have made a personal
vow never again to be hold down by their regrets; living in the moment and
making sure that every action and choice they make is first and foremost for
their fulfilment. As such, the Air Courts seemingly headlong drive towards
self-destruction lends them an inner strength and almost unshakable
determination once they have set their hearts on something. Seen as skittish,
self-obsessed and flakey by the other courts, nether the less when the chips
are down and the Freeholds survival rests on a knife edge. You will always find
the members of the Air court front and centre, holding the line.
Court Merit
- Cold Hearted (•••)
Prerequisite: Air Mantle •••
Effect: Your
character has taken her pain, and the pain of others, and crafted them into a
barrier against further suffering. She may spend a Willpower to ignore the
effects of a single Clarity Condition once per scene. She still has the
Condition and doesn’t heal any Clarity damage, but she does not suffer the ill
effects of the Condition. If her actions during the scene would resolve the
Condition, it resolves normally.
Mantle:
Your character gains a Glamour point whenever she defies the taboos of the company she is in.
O- For an
initiate on the Zephyrus trail, the Changeling’s Hair and clothes flutter in a
constant breeze while their movements are light and airy as if dancing on the
wind. The Changeling gains the Takes One
to Know One Merit which applies to the Changeling’s Needle.
OO- The
Changeling gains a bonus dice equal to her mantle rating on all mundane actions
that encourage or bring about overindulgence.
OOO- The adept
of the Zephyrus trail is preceded by wisps of smoke, fallen leaves swirling on
thermals or some other indication to the bitter wind at their back. Those close
enough to converse with the Air courtier feel a refreshing breeze upon their
face but those close enough to be intimate feel a chilling draft emanate from
the Changelings gaze. The Air courtier
gains an additional Needle. The air courtier may fulfil each Needle once per
scene to regain a Willpower and the dice bonuses/penalties of both Needles
stack where applicable for Takes One to
Know One and for breaking points.
OOOO- Once per
scene, the Air courtier may spend a Willpower to reduce the levels of clarity
damage they take from a breaking point by their Composure (to a minimum of 1).
OOOOO- For a
Changeling who has reached the zenith of the Air courts philosophy, their
regrets swirl around them like a cold and bitter wind. Others find themselves
short for breath as the air is partially sucked from their breath and all in
immediate proximity feel a cold, biting gale. Once per Chapter, you may convert
a single Clarity Condition to a different Condition of your choice. When you do, heal
one level of Clarity damage. Your character may use this to convert an allies
Clarity Condition instead.
The Avatar
of Howling Oblivion: Those who, usually briefly, wear the Crown of Air do
so at the nadir of their desires. The Avatar of the Howling Oblivion rules to
the zenith of their own self destruction, lashing out at the world with the
darkest poisons of regret. The Monarch of the Air Court may inflict the Deprived condition on a number of people
equal to the mantle per story.
Bargain: never
again be beholden to regret, never compromise your desires for the sake of
others.
Give and
Take
You’ve heard the tale many times before. Some pastoral
hellraiser gets drunk one night and says they could drink the Devil under the
table. And as surely as they make this vow the Wyrd brings the Devil to the
hellraiser’s drinking hole ready to claim their prize. Everyone knows you
cannot beat the Devil. When the Fae come to drag the Air courtiers soul back to
hell they do not come with threats or demands, but promises and enticement. Why fight? For this wretched world of drab banal
grey? For this petty world of spite and hate when you can once again experience
the vibrancy and splendour of Faerie? Why resist when you heart yearns for
Arcadia?
The Devil sits down with the Air courter and both begin to
drink. In this revelry of self-destructive brinkmanship both Fae and Changeling
are confronted by their regrets and forced to mourn, truly mourn not just what
they have lost but the victims they have left in their wake. The Fae have no
understanding of such mortal concerns and as such have to approximate, a
spidery figure may crouch over the corpse of an enemy folding a sticky origami insect
to lay upon its chest thinking due deference by the alien laws of humanity has been observed. The Devil drinks because before it lies the prospect of a soul
but the Air courtier drinks because they have
a soul. The Air courtier can outlast the pain of the Fae and dish it back
tenfold for she understands and finds true resolve from it. She can navigate
the cognitive dissonance of the wake, the regret and morning for a mortal life
cut short with the desire and mirth of a mortal life lived. Victory for the Air
courtier is rarely better than a pyrrhic victory but in bearing the weight on
their souls and moving forward they leave the Keeper drowning in the quagmire
of regret.
Courtly
approaches:
“The devil
makes work of idle hands…”- what binds the members of the Air Court into any
semblance of coherency is their personal vows to never again suffer under
regret. Although this lust for life can lead to a rich fulfilling existence it
is more likely to expose the court to further tragedy at the hands of the
Gentry’s minions. A Huntsman gains a point of yearning whenever they entice an
Air Courtier with the prospect of indulging their Thread.
“Uneasy
lies the head…”- The Acolytes of the Zepheyrus trail see the notions
of duty and responsibility as a chain around their necks, they have suffered
for too long first as a mortal being ground down by the system and then in Arcadia in servitude to the Fae. But the
Servants of the Gentry know that for all their enlightened selfishness the Air Court are still human, tied down by
bonds of humanity and empathy. A Huntsman gains a point of yearning if it can
tempt one of the Air Coutiers allies to begin their own descent into
self-oblivion. A Huntsman gains a further point of yearning whenever its
machinations force the Air Courtier to face up to their responsibilities and
intervene on behalf of their wayward ally.
“Where
Angel’s fear to tread..”- To walk the Zepheyrus trail means to live on
borrowed time, but to the Air Courtier at least that time is theirs. As such,
the court is known for a habit of wading right into an inconvenience to get it
over and done with, much to the despair of the other courts. A Cunning servant
of the Gentry will therefore attempt to exploit these divisions and catch the
foolhardy unprepared. A Huntsman gains a point of yearning if an Air courtier
hesitates or bides their time over the Huntsman’s scheme.
Perceptions:
The Fire Court: “You’re just one bad day away from becoming
me, except that I know how to handle failure…”
The Earth Court: “Why so stingy…you know you can’t take it
with you…”
The Water Court: “Don’t tell me you don’t get a kick out of
it…”
The Courtless: “A Man who stands for nothing will fall for
anything…”
The ‘Cullens’: “right here on the neck…yeah…that’s the
stuff…”
The ‘Big Bs’: “Whose afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Ba-
Oh! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!”
The ‘Wii-Zards”: “Magic? Wonder?….WHERE DO I SIGN?!”
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