Blackguard

A Blackguard is a non-practitioner who serves to help a practitioner in their duties. They are aware of the supernatural, but are not awakened so they retain the ability to lie and break oaths, something that practitioners can't do without incurring a loss of power.<ref>Matthew frowned.  “Like the girl you freed from confinement yesterday evening, she’s not quite innocent, but she’s not awakened either.  The term is aware.  It’s a fragile state, and being the person or people that shatter that fragility and drive her into this world means that she’ll be vulnerable to Others, without the benefit of Innocence, and you’ll be karmically responsible for much of what happens to her as a result.”

“What does that mean?  What happens?”

Matthew answered, “The aware tend to run into Others and get entangled in Other things as they go through their daily lives.  If there’s a stray spirit in their neighborhood, or a goblin in the part of town they pass through, they’ll cross paths.  Because they’re more open, paths of least resistance, or because the dangerous Others can sense vulnerability.  There are ways to deal with it, but it requires a lot of attention.  Some families have Blackguards, the aware who are kept unawakened because it’s useful to have a liar.  Witch Hunters also count.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.9</ref> While not as skilled as a witch hunter in martial pursuits,<ref>“I’m the Knight’s blackguard.  Priss.  A lot of groups have a member like me in them.”

“A blackguard?”

“The designated liar,” she said.  “Sometimes you need someone with the protections ordinary people have, or you need a person who can bend the truth or lie, when questions start getting asked.”

Ah.  I’d read about witch hunters and the like.  Priss would be the same thing, minus the witch hunting part. - Excerpt from Subordination 6.1</ref> they do take similar steps to preserve their innocence.<ref>“Hmm,” Lucy said.  “Interact, protect, eye, access.  Maybe family.  Fits for a throwaway item.  I don’t get the feeling there’s a lifeline… again, throwaway item, recently made or prepared.  It’s a ward of sorts.  Can Witch Hunters, uh, do what we do?”

“They can utilize some techniques,” John said.  “Many lean on superstition and find their way to certain patterns, or they have one trick or one servant they steal from someone they’ve gone after and they use that.  Combine that with what your friend Melissa can do, and keep their eyes closed or minds turned away when it comes to certain things, so they remain… innocent.” - Excerpt from One After Another 10.2</ref>

Named Blackguards

• Priss from the Knights of the Basement
• Joel Monte for the Thorburn Coven (temporary)
• Peter Thorburn for the Lords of Jacob's Bell<ref> - Excerpt from Possession 15.7</ref>
• Melissa Oakham for Kennet

References

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