With every
step you took towards freedom the voice inside your head whispered: All the
barbs in your soul, all the pain in your joints…You are nothing to them. You
were not the first, and you will not be the last…you were not chosen, nor are
you special. You are dust and to dust you will return…but they found you. How
easily they could find YOUR sibling, YOUR lover, YOUR friends, YOUR
colleagues…one day they will come back…and you will be waiting for them…
Inquisitorial, indomitable, melancholic, meticulous, paranoid,
paternal, temperate, terrifying…many a heart and a tongue stills when a
follower of the Drowned Procession enters the room, for they are held equally
with fear and awe. Lead back not by recollections of their triumph and humanity
but a deep seated unease that everything that has tortured and tormented them
can just as easily be handed down to those they cared about before their
enslavement. It is with grim determination and a poisoned love that drives them
to walk the roads less travelled and face the unimaginable horrors of the world
of darkness, using their mastery of dread and careful planning to ward off
mortals to the dangers hidden in plain sight. It is for this reason, many
amongst the Water Court, intentionally or not, cultivate a mystique from which
many an urban legend springs forth: The Hook, Bloody Mary, Spring Heeled-Jack
and Slenderman were most likely all inspired by members of the Drowned
Procession. But as the enemies of the Lost and the Servants of the Gentry are
forced back night after night, the Water Courtier looks down upon the blood on
their hands and the weight on their soul… little by little they realise that
the most dangerous threat to those they care about is themselves…
The Briny
Abyss:
It is an easy mistake to believe that Water is the court of
fear…but fear creates adrenalin. Fear is primal and engages the fight or flight
reflex…and it is astounding to see how much fight is borne of ignorance. No.
The Drowned Procession are not the court of fear but the court of dread. For
dread does not play to flutters of the heart but operates on the cold superstitious
logic of the mind. The Water court may not be able to choose the nature of
their opponents but they can choose
the terms of engagement. Ruthless strategists bordering on the psychotic, Water
courtiers may spend countless hours brooding on a problem, second guessing both
themselves and their opponents, before deciding on a course of action but when
it comes to the execution it is rarely anything but flawless. When it comes to
engagement the Water Courtier will already have carefully laid the ground work
and tightened their trap to cause maximum destruction, and in many cases merely
the threat of the courts intervention can halt an enemy in their tracks…after
all the anticipation of a monster hiding just out of sight can be more potent
that an actual encounter with the monster.
Court Merit
- Mantle of Purity (• to •••)
Prerequisite: Water Mantle •••
Effect: Your
character has learned to embrace his worries and fears, and use them as a
shield against the supernatural. Anyone using a supernatural ability to cause
damage or inflict physical Tilts upon the character suffers a penalty equal to
his dots in this Merit. Supernatural abilities include Contracts, kith
blessings, vampire Disciplines, mage spells, and any other innate ability used
by a supernatural creature.
Mantle:
Your character gains a Glamour point whenever they influence
a mortal to avoid a supernatural peril.
O- The
initiate of the Dread Procession feels cold to the touch and their foot prints
leave damp stains and dew in their wake. The Changeling gains the Eye for the Strange Merit even if they
do not meet the prerequisites.
OO- The Water
Courter gains bonus dice equal to their dots in mantle to mundane rolls to
intimidate or cow someone.
OOO- Shadows
draw in and lengthen around the Water courtier and their eyes become black and
dead like a sharks. The air takes a distinct smell and taste of brine in the
Water Courtiers presence. Once per chapter, the Water courtier may spend a
Willpower and increase their health boxes by their mantle for a scene.
OOOO- Regain a
Willpower whenever the Water Courtier deliberately makes a difficult choice
that inflicts a Condition upon her.
OOOOO- The
temperature in the room physically drops when those of the Drowned Procession
that have reached the zenith of their courts philosophy enter. The Water
Courtiers body is always covered in an ichorous layer of brine and their skin
becomes blubbery and resistant. Your character ignores wound penalties. For
each health box filled with Lethal or Aggravated damage, the Water courtier
gains a one die bonus to all Physical actions to a maximum of +5
Dreadlord
of the Brine Abyss: It is said that none willingly chose the mantle of
the Dreadlord, and that the crowning of an individual is more a warning to heed
the path they have taken rather than an acknowledgement of their deeds. As
such, the Monarch of the Drowned Procession may inflict the Frightened condition on a number of
people equal to their dots in mantle per story.
Bargain: Tread the
darkest paths, make the choices no other can.
Give and
Take
Deep in the Onieros, down the darkest and longest paths to
worlds beyond the dreams of man or even the dreams of sentience, there lies a
vast and deep ocean. An ocean filled with the sum of all fears: so black and
tainted is this ocean that even the Gentry, who have no souls, fear and tremble
at the prospect of this ocean. No changeling has seen this ocean, or at least
seen it and returned, and few actually believe it exists: as with most legends
the detail is not important – it’s the symbolism that matters. When the Fae try
to pierce the bargain of Water, they find themselves in a disturbingly novel
role: that of both hunter and hunted.
The war between a Water courtier and their Keeper is a
byzantine game of riddles; a war of words told through the rhyme of myth, a
ritual dance of legendary obfuscation as Gentry and Changeling vie for control
of the story they craft. The Water courtier plays the role of the heroic knight
treading into the lair of the beast, its bane in hand. But also plays the
Dragon laying upon its horde of treasure and bones ready to devour the unwary traveller.
What makes this sacred hunt all the more deadly is not its multi-facetted dimensions
as master strategists strike blows at the very concept of each other, but that
such a ‘game’ as it is called by the Drowned Procession is dictated by eldritch
laws and rules both even both parties may not truly be aware of until the
consequences of such a violation are reaped. Dread manifests most weightily in
the existential fear of the unknown after all…
Courtly
Approaches:
“…of Mice
and Men”- Being the Outriders of the freehold, The Drowned Procession
fulfil a vital role in gathering and acting upon intelligence of the Servants
of the Gentry, any mistake can cost the Lost dear. A Huntsman gains a point of
yearning when a Water Courtier acts on misinformation ceded by the Huntsman.
“Curiosity
killed the cat…”- In whatever field they can lend their expertise, the
members of the Water Court use every asset they can muster to protect the
liberty of the Lost, but late nights and strange bedfellows, secretive and
threatening behaviour can all turn the Hunter into the Hunted. A Huntsman gains
a point of yearning if it can arouse the suspicions of a Water Courtiers ally
into the nature or motives behind their activities. A Huntsman gains a further
point of yearning if the ally is compelled to stage an ‘intervention’ or
actively investigates the Water Courtier.
“Nothing to
Fear. Nothing to Hide…”- The Drowned procession are Monsters, willing to push
the boundaries of moral acceptability for the greater causes of friends and
family. Many believe that by armouring themselves with the mantle of the
monster that they can deflect the ire of their foes from their charges…but
reality is often a bitter pill to swallow. A Huntsman gains a point of yearning
if it can lure an individual the Water Courtier wishes to protect into peril.
Perceptions:
The Fire Court: “One day I will come for you too…and the
person you are now will thank me for it…”
The Earth Court: “Use their tricks against them all you
want…but don’t ever become like them…”
The Air Court: “Always be wary of a cornered rat…especially
one that has nothing to lose…”
The Courtless: “*sigh* Loyalists…”
The ‘Revenants’: “Though I am abhorred by your nature…you’re prudence
does make my job easier…”
The ‘Lycanthropes’: “Brutal savages…but even they are bound by rules…”
The ‘Cunning Folk’: “I guard the gate, it seems, where fools
rush in and angels fear to tread…”
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