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| An [[Innocent]] [[human]] who is '''Aware''' has interactions with [[magic]], but they are not [[Awakened]] as a [[Practitioner]], and may be partially or wholly ignorant of the supernatural. They may have some magical, [[Other]] traits (just not enough to render them non-human.)
| | Those termed '''Aware''' exist on an arguably broad spectrum between the false binary of '[[Innocent]] [[Human]]' and '[[Awakened]] [[Practitioner]]'; an Aware has had interactions with [[magic]] but is still partially or wholly ignorant of the larger supernatural world.<ref name=bc>Matthew frowned. “Like the [[Brie Callie|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.”<br><br>“What does that mean? What happens?”<br><br>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.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/08/11 Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.9]]</ref> |
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| == Alchemist == | | ==Particulars== |
| <blockquote>''Main article: [[Alchemy]]''</blockquote>Although [[Alchemist|Alchemists]] are generally [[Practitioners]], the Aware can also employ some alchemical techniques. For example, they can stumble on [[Heartless#Viscera|Viscera Halflight]] Alchemical fomulae that allow them to redefine themselves.<ref>“Dreg is a vestige. Was Aware enough to dip into some Jekyll and | | It takes a lot to shatter innocence to make someone Aware, otherwise they explain away what happens.<ref>“Is this okay? Are we in any danger with Awareness? With the arcade?”<br><br>“Everything I’ve read says it takes a lot to shatter Awareness. Like, the Dossiers? With Clem? She got like, I dunno, twelve magic items before she really clicked to it. Even me, at the clearing, surrounded by Guilherme, Alpeana, the Choir, singing from nowhere, goblins? Back when we awoke?”<br><br>“Yeah.”<br><br>“Took me a lot of sustained pressure. So long as there’s a reasonable explanation, innocents cling to it. Or find it. And the universe helps that along. Coincidences happen to help, y’know, clear away the evidence. Karma doing its thing. Keeping the system intact.”<br><br>“Hmm,” Avery sighed. She relaxed a bit. “Feels bad, testing things.”<br><br>“Probably not the super best thing for our karma in the short term, if we’re testing things and forcing karma to pick up the slack. But… so long as we help it along, I think we’re ok. And it really should help, if we have connections. Not just between us and the innocent, or Kennet and the innocent, but… undercity and overcity, Other and human, blah blah.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/02/15 Excerpt] from [[Gone and Done It 17.7]]</ref> Once it does happen, awareness can change over time,<ref>At [Jeannine Preston's] forehead: ‘Value 89′<br>Other text appears on her cracked face, but is restated later.<br>An eye with a three-quarter circle appears at her shoulder.<br>Text:’Bound by THREE vectors. Secure’<br>Text down her body:<br><br> Alone in this world, as she<br> will always be. Her Aware<br> ness is at 25%, and has held s<br> teady there for five decades<br><br>[...]<br><br>Depicted Right: Clementine in Alexander’s spirit sight. Pale, a plate on her forehead that bears the number 4. A collar reads ‘Bound-2 seals-breaking. And she has the eye at her neck, only a silver there. A halo with a seven pointed yellow star in it appears behind her head. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/12/10 7.3 Bonus Material: Borrowed Eyes Comic]</ref> but even a small amount counts toward their protection from the magical world.<ref name=15z2>Ann adopted a soothing tone that had to be as comforting as sandpaper to Thea. “Dealing with Aware means risks, as much as it can give an advantage or a greater prize. One of those risks is karmic. Things go against you if you threaten someone with innocence, and that doesn’t change much if they only have a fraction of the usual amount.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/12/08 Excerpt] from [[Playing a Part 15.z]]</ref> |
| Hyde type alchemy, eroded away a good chunk of his Self. Only a
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| fragment of the person was left, other stuff took up residence.”
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| “I was almost a doctor,” Dreg said. “A sip of this, a drab of that,
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| to bring out the sharpness of my mind and my attention to details and
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| diagnosis. I was an angel to hundreds of people who had nothing. But
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| the same drug made me frail, and some people broke me to pieces so they | |
| could take my stash of herbs and chemicals. Then I had only the
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| frailty, a shattered body, an old self I’d forgotten, and dashed dreams
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| of what might have been.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/leaving-a-mark-4-6/ excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.6]]</ref>
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| == Blackguard ==
| | These greater or "Complicated Aware"<ref>[[Let Slip 20.9]]</ref> may have some magical, [[Other]] traits (just not enough to render them non-human.) As with <!--practitioners{{cite}} and--> Others,<ref name="PL7.6"> My last was a pretty little Fae thing, challenged herself by working her way up in human society. For them, it’s like swimming up a waterfall, because our world isn’t for them. She made it as a patron of the arts, picking musicians and funding them. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/12/19 Excerpt] from [[Gone Ahead 7.6]] </ref> the Aware have trouble truly participating in normal human society and gaining benefits from their talents.<ref>“Their lives were in shambles. Roberto fell in love with Angie and tried to be better for her, and ended up in kid jail. A lot of the time, these weird cases will pop up where Aware will cause a ton of problems, including problems for themselves, and because they face problems when it comes to actually doing stuff… this is a whole complicated concept-”<br><br>“The Aware run into resistance if they try to climb the rungs and become a politician or make a billion dollars with their talents,” Lucy said.<br><br>“Yeahhh,” Yadira said. “So you know that much. But not even top rung stuff. Even like… if Roberto became a car salesman and he used his asshole power to become the top seller at the biggest car dealership in his city, wherever he is, that’d draw too much attention. So he becomes the top seller at a place where there’s enough other crap going on people don’t pay him a lot of attention, and he doesn’t make that much money. So a lot of Aware will find themselves in similar places on the social ladder, and in the same neighborhood in a town or whatever, and then they crash into one another. And they may not survive those crashes.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/03 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.3]]</ref> Thus, operating on the fringes as they do, they'll meet other Aware who are in a similar position,<ref>“Aware are common, then?” Verona asked.<br><br>“Nah. But like I said, they find each other. It’s a small world, when you’re out on the fringes. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/03 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.3]]</ref> as well as Others and practitioners. |
| <blockquote>''Main article: [[Blackguard]]''</blockquote>A completely mundane human who works with [[Practitioners]], exploiting their ability to lie and so on. May deliberately minimize knowledge of the supernatural to remain as [[Innocent]] as possible. | |
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| == Bright Eyed ==
| | Those Aware on the more 'Awake' side of the spectrum would be more easily targeted, relatively free of [[karma|karmic]] backlash, but would also more easily inconvenience or kill their tormentor.<ref name="lesAw">“I’ll build on what I was just saying, I think we run into lesser Aware more than we think we do. If you’re an Other lurking enough around non-practitioners, you’ll find one in ten or one in twenty might trip you up, depending on where you go and how much you should be there. Want to go after a villain of a man or a kid who throws rocks off a bridge? Way’s mostly clear. Mostly, because some are Aware.”<br>[...]<br>“Kids and the sick?”<br><br>“No, no. Those are still innocent. Their eyes are open but there’s no guarantee they’ve seen anything or been given any nudges or powers. No, some of those people who trip you up? There’s something that makes them different. Usually it’s a little something. A kid you can’t ever seem to sneak by because he’ll pop up awake. A lady with fifty cats and a good idea what they’re communicating. And it’s almost always minor. The Aware are weak. They’re easy pickings for any pickers, directionless, and so busy trying to keep afloat they can’t do much of anything, except ruin some days or ruin some lives along the way, usually.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/12/26 Excerpt] from [[Gone Ahead 7.7]]</ref> |
| People who have been raised in the [[Court|Faerie Courts]] or otherwise heavily exposed to [[Faerie]]. Often Faerie in outlook or behaviour (i.e. erratic and risk-seeking), may have exceptional charisma and/or other Faerie-derived skills.<ref name=":1"><em>The Bright Eyed have been exposed to the Faerie, and may even
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| call it their place of origin. They may be taken as babies, lured in as
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| children, or seduced and lost for a time as in the old tale of Rip Van
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| Winkle. Sometimes used as ambassadors, sent back and forth, other times
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| their stays are brief or they are encouraged to remember their old
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| selves. They remain rooted in reality as mortals, but are often Faerie
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| in disposition and outlook. Creative, hungry for excitement and
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| stimulation, they often have a magnetism that draws people in, and a
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| tendency toward wild behavior that mimics the courts they have spent at
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| least a decade in. They do not tend to live long due to their
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| risk-seeking behavior. Despite what one might initially assume, they
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| tend to live a much shorter existence in the mundane than the Glamour
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| Drowned, despite their firmer grip on reality. </em> - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref><ref>Shellie works, sits in a workshop sketching and building tools and
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| weapons, and matches her behavior to whatever Daniel is doing, consoling
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| him, entertaining him, or quietly watching him while looking after her
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| basic human needs. Her work at the gas station keeps a roof over their
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| heads, but her time in her workshop (the second bedroom in their two
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| bedroom apartment) is where her dark passions come out. The tools she
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| makes are largely for body modification, as she is keenly restless in
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| her own skin after years of trading it back and forth as part of her
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| currency in the Bright Fall. Skin is flensed, tattooed, burned,
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| pierced, and grafted with surgical care in an ongoing process, with the
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| most dramatic modifications happening where her clothes can cover her.
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| The other passion is the weapons she makes. She knows how Faerie work
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| and she knows how to make them stop working. Given an opportunity, she
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| tracks them down and hunts them. <em> </em> - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref> Likely to be exceptional with [[Glamour]], and perhaps more dangerously direct in it's use than a Faerie.<ref name=":2">Both are dangerous, in different ways. Daniel is Innocent in ways that
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| can be argued to be more dramatic than normal, not less. Hurting him
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| would incur a cost and there’s a chance he wouldn’t even think to get
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| out of the way of imminent harm. Shellie, by contrast, is aggressive,
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| adept at disguise, well equipped, and fearless. It’s been argued that
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| trying to use glamour or subtle practices on them might be more
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| immediately dangerous than it is when trying to do so with a Faerie; the
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| Faerie has an instinct to play the long game, to better inveigle you or
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| inveigle humanity as a whole. This pair won’t hold back in showing you
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| just how familiar they are with glamour and turning it back on anyone
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| with less than eighteen years experience. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref>
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| Distinct from Glamour-drowned in that they retain more of their humanity, identity, and grip on reality and are generally more functional (although ironically often shorter-lived due to their risky behaviour.)<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3"><em>The Glamour Drowned are humans who have been exposed to extreme
| | There is speculation that 5-10% of the population exists on the more innocent side of the spectrum, having some minor Awareness under the right conditions.<ref name="lesAw"/> Those that get a [[Label]] and as such are [[List of Aware|listed here]] have a 'major' awareness; such that it impacts their life. |
| amounts of glamour or the depths of the environment of the Faerie courts
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| and lost their attachments to their old selves, or even their current
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| selves. Many of the Glamour Drowned were used for a specific function.
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| In the High Spring court, for example, they may be endless dancers,
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| trained by Faerie to dance as a competitive act, where one Faerie
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| competes against another to see who can elevate a human more. The Fall
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| courts may turn them into animals to sell to the other courts as pets
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| and accessories, with the ability to turn them human on a whim because
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| it is easier to set aside a place for a human than, for example, a
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| twenty-foot serpent. The winter court may turn a person into an object,
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| such as a goblet that is asked to tell riddles, or a tapestry that
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| changes to keep track of the days in reailty. Whether they escape or
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| are released for the amusement of their prior keepers, they cannot | |
| easily let go of their prior roles and have nothing to return to if they
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| do. Expect them to ramble, dance, and stumble, rarely with any
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| quality, until stars align or a moment comes to pass where they find
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| themselves again for a critical moment of dance or whatever else. Such
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| scenes can leave onlookers breathless.</em> - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref>
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| == Collector ==
| | Aware tend to get stuck into [[pattern]]s based on awareness such that their behavior is arguably 'locked in' and they are trapped in it.<ref name=15z1>“I had to capture the children,” Thea said. “They were Aware or close to it. I would have managed that Awareness, drained some power, and let them go. Bodies are inconvenient.”<br><br>“Geez,” Avery said. “Like, putting everything about capturing kids aside, hmm, how would you manage Awareness? It’s kind of relevant. I know some Aware in Winnipeg.”<br><br>“There are ways. If they’re developed into their patterns, it’s not so possible,” Thea said. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/12/08 Excerpt] from [[Playing a Part 15.z]]</ref> They can end up on the fringes of society where they can meet other Aware in a head-on collision,<ref>“Died?” Avery asked, surprised.<br><br>“Pretty sure. My parents were evasive about what happened to her, but from what I picked up, she wound up struggling to make it on that weird level Aware end up, just barely a part of society, and an Other got her. <br>[...]<br> Seb ran into another Aware and it ended in a four-way shootout.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/31 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.3]]</ref> other possibilities exist. On a related note they'll also collect items that intersect with their particular magical specialty.<ref>“We’re- Yes, okay, listen, if it winds up being more stressful, talk to me about it. I know Daniel can have his moods, but he’s so good at finding things of value and uncovering patterns. [[Clem|You’re]] good at finding things too.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/26 Excerpt] from [[Back Away 5.a]]</ref><!---Wildbow said more about this, like how the Old Forewarned Lady leaving stuff to Clem--> |
| <blockquote>''Main article: [[Collector]]''</blockquote>Although [[Collectors]] of [[Magic Item]]s are often [[Practitioners]] who are able to leverage their collections in magical ways, [[Innocent]] humans are capable of using most magical objects and so innate magical ability is not strictly required.<ref>Collectors either don’t practice or practice less than the traditional practitioner.
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| [...] | | [[Awakening]] allows an Aware to use their talents much more easily but it also removes the defenses and guardrails that their remaining Innocence has afforded to them so that blowback from their practice could well kill them.<ref>“We can revisit the subject of awakening later. Puts things in an awkward spot. You’re protected by innocence. It kind of sands off the sharp edges of a lot of stuff you’re doing. If we gave you an awakening, you’d get a lot more options, things would get more predictable, but less easy, less of the built in protection. It’s a very easy leap to go from being Aware, like you are now, to being Awake, then doing what you’re used to doing, and getting obliterated.”<br><br>“Do special talents like hers or Kevin’s carry over?” Verona asked.<br><br>“Some. Again, more predictable, but less easy. Practice flows naturally that way, you’d understand things in that department more easily, improvise in that area more freely. Like me and handling omens and other negative forces.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/12/1 Excerpt] from [[Left in the Dust 16.1]]</ref> Practitioners have also studied the Aware, much like how they study Others, to gain insight into magic.<ref>“I really want to study your approach. A lot of practices have gained something by studying the Aware and the Others and how they engage with the same ideas,” Nicolette said. “It’s why I’m taking these notes.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/04/12 Excerpt] from [[Wild Abandon 18.a]]</ref> |
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| Matias never awoke as a practitioner, but became a Collector nonetheless. He’s not innocent, and he’s Aware, but he’s not bound to keep from lying. As a kid, he glimpsed a group of creepy, eerily tall men and women, some with wide toothy smiles and all with long fingers, gathering for a wordless meeting in an abandoned building. One woman found him, stooped down to eye level, held a long finger with an even longer painted nail on the end to her mouth to indicate silence, and gave Matias three random, uncursed items, wrapping his hands around them. He’s kept the silence and they’ve kept their end of the deal as pseudo-patrons. Once a season, so long as he’s hunting down items, they’ll either save him from a dire fate, or they’ll give him an item if he ended up not needing the rescue. He’s in the mix now, with a knack for finding items and stealing from Collectors. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Od3iu2TXe5r677wHEMCudG5hDUrlM6-E0kgiuvlkuuw/edit# Pact Dice: Collectors]
| | It is entirely possible for an Aware to become an Other: [[Hag]]s<ref name=":3">Night Hags were Others, sometimes Aware or Innocent, but most often Practitioners, who subsisted off of nightmares, prolonging their own life and well being. Hags of other types subsisted on different things, but they tended to be Heartless to start and became Other. As the Night Hag got stronger, it got better at crafting and magnifying nightmares, and more thoroughly destroying the victim to get a bigger meal. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/10/31 Excerpt] from [[Cutting Class 6.2]]</ref> and [[Horror]]s<ref>The Fervid Horror will crop up here or there in pockets, primarily as an artifact of subculture and niche religion or cults. Individuals, often non-practitioners, may intentionally seek out the rituals that others would consider broken or disrupted, intentionally becoming horrors, folding space and distorting reality, while distorting themselves in mind and body at the same time. Oftentimes this may be an effort to reach out (so to speak) to their god by opening the way to that deity's realm, over a drawn out series of rituals, an effort to produce a desired physical transformation (such as weight loss or artificial beauty on the outside at the cost of becoming twisted inside), or both (drawing out angel wings by way of distorted or combining flesh).<br><br>Fervid Horrors are often very fragile and some may even die if exposed to the innocent who run against their faith or beauty, leading them to stick to shadows or hide the distorted parts of themselves, at least from those who aren't of like mind. Often have a spark of divine power and/or the ability to invoke awe. - Wildbow from Discord</ref> are just some examples. |
| </ref> | |
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| == Couch Potato == | | ==See Also== |
| Someone who has fallen so deep into a pattern of consuming media (TV, video games) that they have partly lost touch with their humanity.<ref>“He collects ’em. The Aware. People who get caught up in urban
| | * [[List of Aware]] |
| legends, who get caught up in routines like channel surfing and playing
| | * [[List of Sargent Hall Tenants]] (Special Aware) |
| video games until they lose their humanity, people who get mixed up in
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| Other stuff more than usual. Owns some apartment buildings and just has
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| like, one building with fifty apartments, each with one weird person.
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| Or whatever.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/08/leaving-a-mark-4-7/ excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.7]]</ref> One example was a TV-watching old man who no longer sleeps or eats, and is glimpsed in the reflection of nearby televisions.<ref>“Many are passive,” Nicolette said. “Some are problems, but there
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| are residents like the old man who has fallen so deep into the pattern
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| of watching television all day every day that he’s stopped sleeping,
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| stopped eating, stopped using the washroom. The most hassle he causes
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| is that another resident might see his reflection in their televisions
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| when they’re turned off.”
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|
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| “He can’t be helped?” Avery asked. “They all can’t be helped?”
| | {{Reflist}} |
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| Alexander shook his head. “In the case of the couch potato… no. Too
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| long gone. Others, maybe. But their landlord, my colleague, he has a
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| claim to them. You’d have to get past him to figure out how much help
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| they need or don’t need. Then you would have to figure out the
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| solution. Most don’t get past him to even begin to address the other
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| points.”
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| - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/leaving-a-mark-4-8/ excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.8]]
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| </ref>
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| == Designated Victim ==
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| Someone who is fated to frequently encounter dangerous [[Others]] and [[Practitioner]]s, much like a Gilded Lily encounters magic items.<ref name=":0">Long and Mayes are a Witch Hunter pair who rove around in motorcycles.
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| Mayes is a Designated Victim. Whatever fate the universe weaves, it
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| keeps putting her in the way of hostile Others and monstrous
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| practitioners. Kind of like a Gilded Lily (someone who, by dint of
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| circumstance or shenanigans on the universe's part chronically stumbles
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| onto magic items). Between the two of them, they've survived enough
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| crap that the pattern's been established, and practices don't really
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| affect them anymore. What's more, their return to sender vibe is
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| really, really strong. They're scrappers, with a few cursed items that
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| don't really affect them, and a strong survivor vibe. Most of the time
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| they crash into a scene, with a whole lot of chaos, start crashing into
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| wards and summons, rebound them, and follow them back to the head of the
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| snake. This does mean L&M sometimes let things loose or screw up
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| balances, but they can often kill their way through those things, or
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| they'll just kill the people who swoop in to deal with them; They're not
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| the strongest, but have a way of turning up in delicate situations and
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| have enough momentum they'll probably get 5-10 years of 'work' done
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| before they get turned into paste or worse. - [https://old.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/iq6g7c/whats_the_deal_with_witch_hunters_why_are_they_a/g4pyrzr/ Wildbow comment on Witch Hunters]</ref>
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| == Elusive ==
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| The Elusive are Aware people who have partially "fallen through the cracks". The exact details vary. One example is only ever glimpes out of the corner of one's eye, harder to see or think about the more you tried, driving people to paranoid investigation only to ambush them when they tracked him down.<ref>“The elusive are Aware and dangerous people who fell partway through
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| the cracks. The one here is only ever glimpsed in passing. Always
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| uncomfortable to come across, with a twisted grin and an intense look in
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| his eyes. The harder you look for him, the harder he is to find. When
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| you stop thinking about him, he can remind you he’s there. As the
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| brownies of the Blue Heron do, he invites people to misstep or breach
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| the rules, unnerving them until they go looking for answers, break into
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| his apartment or try to challenge him, and then he drags them into his
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| apartment or locks the door to the apartment if they’re already inside,
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| and they’re never seen again.”
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| - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/leaving-a-mark-4-8/ excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.8]]
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| </ref>
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| == Evil Eyed ==
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| <blockquote>''Main article: [[Evil Eye]]''</blockquote>Also known as Maji, people with an "evil eye" have a natural ability to [[curse]] targets by looking at them. Not all people with this ability are Aware, some have no idea they have this power.<ref><em>Maji, Evil Eyed </em><em>Those with the evil eye (sometimes called Maji) are capable of
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| bestowing harm with a look. There are many variants, ranging from the
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| tame to the terminal, with many different forms they can take. The most
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| conventional will direct spirits of harm or strife to those under the
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| Eye, but others usher in omens of Death, Exile, Heartbreak, Toil, Fear,
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| or Madness. The eye may be opened by a specific event, it may be open
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| at birth, or it may open and close as circumstances or mood change, or
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| as certain criteria are met. The evil eye can be trained, but it fits
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| into a difficult niche, where practitioners can easily refute it but
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| careless or wanton use on the Innocent can hurt karma and bring
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| consequences down on the owner of the evil eye. There are countless
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| superstitions around the world to ward off the evil eye, some so
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| ubiquitous that we think nothing of them, and the Sickness, Doom,
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| Disaster, or Discord that is brought forth will oft turn on the evil
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| eye’s owner if they aren’t careful. Often accompanied by strange,
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| mismatched, or otherwise deficient eyes. We say a Maji is Aware if they
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| are conscious of what their eye does. </em> - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref>
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| == Gilded Lily ==
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| Also known simply as Gilded. A person who, for whatever reason ([[Heroics|Heroic bloodline]], [[curse]] etc) very frequently finds themself with [[magic item]]s.<ref><em>Gilded Lilies, or Gilded, are those who frequently intersect with
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| magic items, free of any clear design or any intent on their part or the
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| part of others. We categorize them as such by these symptoms, not the
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| source, when the source can be fate, bloodline, divine interference,
| |
| patterns, or curses, among other things. </em> - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref> Some Gilded actually create the items through regular contact or craftsmanship, while others just have a pattern of finding them.<ref>Gilded Lilies (or Gilded) - A loose term for people, non-Other, who are often unawakened, who have a knack for coming into possession of things of value or leading a train wreck of a life where they keep stumbling onto cursed items and trinkets. There are a variety of names and labels for such people and variants. Important or useful ones can include artists or craftsmen who make things of value that fit to patterns or become natural hallows for certain kinds of Other, ‘Gilded’ Heroes or notable people who have a tendency to turn things they regularly handle into an item that could fit a collection (see Legacy items, below), people who’ve become the target of a trickster spirit (or spirit of misfortune, or god, or whatever) who come across magical or cursed items on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Od3iu2TXe5r677wHEMCudG5hDUrlM6-E0kgiuvlkuuw/edit# Pact Dice: Collectors]</ref>
| |
| | |
| == Glamour Drowned ==
| |
| People who have been broken by the [[Faerie]] and/or intense exposire to [[Glamour]]. They can remember impossibly intense Faerie brilliance and it has taken over a portion of their brain.<ref name=":3" /><ref>“That,” Ray said, after a short while, “was the Faerie. Seven
| |
| courts. Rituals and practices you do with that power may be fragile.
| |
| In the moment, they are strong, captivating, but over the long term?
| |
| Can you truly remember what you saw? What you felt?”
| |
| | |
| Lucy tried to recall some of the intricate designs, the things she thought Verona would like, or the music.
| |
| | |
| She struggled to. All she remembered was how upset she felt as her
| |
| emotions had gotten away from her. Like Ray had hit a button and made
| |
| her feel something.
| |
| | |
| “If you can, you may be lost. Glamour-drowned, they say. Once you
| |
| can recall it, you may be able to think of nothing else. It will always
| |
| have a part of your brain, of your self. At best, you can carve out a
| |
| part of yourself. At worst, you belong to the Faerie.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/05/leaving-a-mark-4-6/ excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.6]]
| |
| </ref>
| |
| | |
| Likely to be somewhat detatched from reality and non-functional, with occasional bursts of superhuman brilliance.<ref name=":3" /><ref>Daniel ultimately lost himself to the dirge. Through a confluence of
| |
| events that included two of his peers being subjected to Faerie-worked
| |
| deaths and tortures for indignities such as redundant verses and their
| |
| voices maturing, the training of new people, and that particular
| |
| sub-area of the court growing tired of the seventeen-year dirge, Daniel
| |
| was able to walk away without returning.
| |
| | |
| [...]
| |
| The two of them were homeless for some time before Daniel surfaced
| |
| for a moment and sang well enough to get practitioner attention. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref> Like Bright Eyed, they may struggle without the intense stimulation of the Courts, although they are less actively thrill-seeking.<ref name=":4">Daniel either keeps Shellie company, tunelessly sings to himself, or
| |
| both. He listens to music and experiments with instruments he rarely
| |
| keeps up with. When other residents of Sargent Ave Hall are out in the
| |
| yard or on their balconies, he will sometimes keep them company.
| |
| Shellie quietly ensures there are eyes on him at all times, as he can
| |
| daydream enough to wander into traffic or walk onto a stairwell as if it
| |
| were flat ground. He also has violent crying jags and fits of dark
| |
| depression, sometimes without rhyme or reason, periods of not eating or
| |
| doing anything because nothing on earth has the quality of life in the
| |
| Faerie courts, and he can sometimes be struck with the urge to return
| |
| and throw himself at the mercy of the nearest Fae who might take him
| |
| back, whatever they might ask, especially when it’s quiet or he can’t
| |
| find new things to watch or listen to. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref><ref name=":1" /> Their vulnerability and [[Innocence]] makes fighting them [[karmic]]ally dangerous.<ref name=":4" />
| |
| | |
| Likely to be exceptional with [[Glamour]], and perhaps more dangerously direct in it's use than a Faerie.<ref name=":2" />
| |
| | |
| == Skeptic ==
| |
| Someone whose [[Innocence]] is stronger than normal. For whatever reason (brainwashed or simply fell into that pattern), they are deeply compelled to rationalize anything magical they encounter.<ref><em>The Innocent enjoy protections from Others and practitioners, but
| |
| Skeptics often turn these protections to weapons. There are many ways a
| |
| Skeptic can come about, but these ways can include indoctrination or
| |
| acclimatization. The indoctrinated skeptic may be brainwashed or
| |
| otherwise augmented with doubt as a fundamental facet of who they are.
| |
| Some are raised with daily lessons or a worldview and given no room for
| |
| any other way of thinking, others are given drugs and reshaped, and yet
| |
| others are starved, torn down to nothing, then rebuilt from the ground
| |
| up.<br>
| |
| </em><em>The acclimatized take a gentler road. When Innocents find
| |
| themselves faced with the practice or with Others, they will
| |
| instinctively reach for ways to soften the blow. If there is room for
| |
| doubt, they often capitalize on that room, then build on that capital.
| |
| Excuses are clung to, they question their own memories or accounting of
| |
| events, and may liberally revise these memories and accountings, until
| |
| they return to comfortable reality. With enough repetition, they can
| |
| form a comfortable bubble around themselves, where anything
| |
| extraordinary is dismissed.</em>-[https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]
| |
| </ref> The normal effects off Innocence on the magical are strengthened; it suffers karmic pushback or even, with the stronger skeptics, unravels entirely.<ref><em>Skeptics are ignorant and ignorance is dangerous. Practice
| |
| struggles to find traction on a Skeptic, and Others suffer a heavy cost
| |
| to their karma and Selves simply for stepping into the light when the
| |
| Skeptic is present, even though the Skeptic is often so insulated that
| |
| the appearance of a god in its full bearing could be dismissed one way
| |
| or another. Conversely, when the bubble is popped (again, if it can
| |
| be), the cost is usually dramatically heavier than usual. The biggest
| |
| Skeptics are often dangerous due to their propensity to dampen practice
| |
| in an area around them and their simultaneous draw to practice; they
| |
| have a habit of unwinding or bypassing protective wards that are keeping
| |
| troubling Others locked up, or walking blithely through barriers meant
| |
| to keep civilians out of a sensitive or dangerous area, often bulldozing
| |
| the way for other Innocents to pass through. </em>-[https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]</ref>
| |
| | |
| == Tested ==
| |
| Also known as Wonderings, these are individuals who are caught in a strange event that has twisted the world around them. (Whatever the ultimate origin of this event - [[Practitioner]], [[Magic Item]], powerful [[Other]], something more abstract etc.) Time loops, ironic body-swap curses, falling into alternate timelines, chosen ones, etc. The presence of such a person may indicate you are inside a pocket bubble of reality. <ref name=":5"><em>There are those who go through a transformational test or event,
| |
| through practice, pattern, Other, Practitioner, or item. While these
| |
| events alter the entire world or the fundamental paradigms of the world
| |
| around the target subject or victim, they may be the Tested or
| |
| Wonderings, Aware individuals who are caught in a conflux or strange set
| |
| of events, that may be occuring in a pocket world or snarl in reality.
| |
| These events can be time loops, visits to earths of alternate histories
| |
| (typically projected within a pocket world and kept there), living life
| |
| in another person’s body (or many people’s bodies), returning to
| |
| childhood to relive events, or jumping from childhood to adulthood to
| |
| experience it. These events tend to impart a karmic wholeness, as well
| |
| as (frequently) unusual knowledge or skill, and a deep-seated,
| |
| soul-shattering existential disquietude over an existence where reality
| |
| and experience is so fungible. Or, put in simpler words, the test or
| |
| the experience makes them (or requires the individual to be) very okay
| |
| with themselves and where they stand, and also frequently makes them
| |
| very distant from okay when it comes to a world where such wacky and
| |
| distressing things can happen. Sometimes these events see the
| |
| individual’s history or relationships rewritten in the aftermath.<br>
| |
| </em><em>Once an individual is through the test or situation and settles
| |
| into the world anew, if they retain their old memories and memory of the
| |
| testing event we call them the Worold, world-weary, or world-wise, with
| |
| the latter two being dependent on just how they’ve settled in the
| |
| aftermath. They often sit apart from everything. As an example, a
| |
| reformed misogynist that has the experience of having lived the lives of
| |
| ten thousand random women across history may have picked up a massive
| |
| degree of competence and knowledge in countless areas, but while they
| |
| remain human, they may find it hard to use that knowledge. The world
| |
| will resist them getting into politics or doing more than making
| |
| generous (and ideally anonymous) donations. The world and circumstance
| |
| will fight them if they try to uncover ancient treasures or
| |
| archeological sites or become CEOs with their accumulated skill and
| |
| ability when it comes to reading people. The knowledge gained and the
| |
| transformation in Self are for them and themselves. This in itself
| |
| often proves to be something of a test of character. </em>-[https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/4-8-spoilers-dossiers/ 4.8 Bonus Material: Dossiers]
| |
| </ref>
| |
| | |
| If they pass their "test" they become known as World-Weary (see below.)<ref name=":5" />
| |
| | |
| == Witch Hunter ==
| |
| <blockquote>''Main article: [[Witch Hunter]]''</blockquote>An Aware human who has extensive training in taking down Practitioners and Others, and access to such magic as non-Practitioners can use. They may work for Practitioners in exchange for magic and/or take it by force.
| |
| | |
| May overlap with other types of Awareness.
| |
| | |
| In some cases a Witch Hunter may have a strong pattern around them established by past successes or family history. This might make magic less effective on them (similar to a Skeptic) or draw them into being a Witch Hunter against their will (similar to a Designated Victim.)<ref name=":0" /><ref>“He keeps strange tenants. Some are complicated. A gilded lily, who
| |
| stumbles on magic items by accident on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.
| |
| Many are cursed. Someone who saw something so bent and broken it drove
| |
| him around the bend. A child of a witch hunter who survived the rest of
| |
| her family, who knows something is afoot in the shadows of this world.
| |
| The pattern of that family seeks to wrap her up in its flows. [...] Some of them remain and are power sources. I imagine that swarm
| |
| tenant is both steady income and a trickle of power. Others balance out
| |
| the other tenants. A skeptic that dulls practices around her to help
| |
| take the bite out of the worst cursed items. An elusive man to keep the
| |
| witch hunter scion’s attention without ever bearing fruit.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/09/15/leaving-a-mark-4-8/ excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.8]]</ref>
| |
| | |
| == World-Weary ==
| |
| Also known as Worold or Worldly-Wise. People who have been Tested (see above) and come out whole, bringing insight and skill, a dramatic shift in karma, generally a distrust of a world where such things can spring on you out of nowhere, but a difficulty applying their new gifts to an Innocent world.<ref name=":5" />{{Reflist}}
| |
| [[Category:Humans]] | | [[Category:Humans]] |
| | [[Category:Basic Information]] |
| | [[Category:Aware]] |
Those termed Aware exist on an arguably broad spectrum between the false binary of 'Innocent Human' and 'Awakened Practitioner'; an Aware has had interactions with magic but is still partially or wholly ignorant of the larger supernatural world.<ref name=bc>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>
Particulars[edit]
It takes a lot to shatter innocence to make someone Aware, otherwise they explain away what happens.<ref>“Is this okay? Are we in any danger with Awareness? With the arcade?”
“Everything I’ve read says it takes a lot to shatter Awareness. Like, the Dossiers? With Clem? She got like, I dunno, twelve magic items before she really clicked to it. Even me, at the clearing, surrounded by Guilherme, Alpeana, the Choir, singing from nowhere, goblins? Back when we awoke?”
“Yeah.”
“Took me a lot of sustained pressure. So long as there’s a reasonable explanation, innocents cling to it. Or find it. And the universe helps that along. Coincidences happen to help, y’know, clear away the evidence. Karma doing its thing. Keeping the system intact.”
“Hmm,” Avery sighed. She relaxed a bit. “Feels bad, testing things.”
“Probably not the super best thing for our karma in the short term, if we’re testing things and forcing karma to pick up the slack. But… so long as we help it along, I think we’re ok. And it really should help, if we have connections. Not just between us and the innocent, or Kennet and the innocent, but… undercity and overcity, Other and human, blah blah.” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.7</ref> Once it does happen, awareness can change over time,<ref>At [Jeannine Preston's] forehead: ‘Value 89′
Other text appears on her cracked face, but is restated later.
An eye with a three-quarter circle appears at her shoulder.
Text:’Bound by THREE vectors. Secure’
Text down her body:
Alone in this world, as she
will always be. Her Aware
ness is at 25%, and has held s
teady there for five decades
[...]
Depicted Right: Clementine in Alexander’s spirit sight. Pale, a plate on her forehead that bears the number 4. A collar reads ‘Bound-2 seals-breaking. And she has the eye at her neck, only a silver there. A halo with a seven pointed yellow star in it appears behind her head. - 7.3 Bonus Material: Borrowed Eyes Comic</ref> but even a small amount counts toward their protection from the magical world.<ref name=15z2>Ann adopted a soothing tone that had to be as comforting as sandpaper to Thea. “Dealing with Aware means risks, as much as it can give an advantage or a greater prize. One of those risks is karmic. Things go against you if you threaten someone with innocence, and that doesn’t change much if they only have a fraction of the usual amount.” - Excerpt from Playing a Part 15.z</ref>
These greater or "Complicated Aware"<ref>Let Slip 20.9</ref> may have some magical, Other traits (just not enough to render them non-human.) As with Others,<ref name="PL7.6"> My last was a pretty little Fae thing, challenged herself by working her way up in human society. For them, it’s like swimming up a waterfall, because our world isn’t for them. She made it as a patron of the arts, picking musicians and funding them. - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.6 </ref> the Aware have trouble truly participating in normal human society and gaining benefits from their talents.<ref>“Their lives were in shambles. Roberto fell in love with Angie and tried to be better for her, and ended up in kid jail. A lot of the time, these weird cases will pop up where Aware will cause a ton of problems, including problems for themselves, and because they face problems when it comes to actually doing stuff… this is a whole complicated concept-”
“The Aware run into resistance if they try to climb the rungs and become a politician or make a billion dollars with their talents,” Lucy said.
“Yeahhh,” Yadira said. “So you know that much. But not even top rung stuff. Even like… if Roberto became a car salesman and he used his asshole power to become the top seller at the biggest car dealership in his city, wherever he is, that’d draw too much attention. So he becomes the top seller at a place where there’s enough other crap going on people don’t pay him a lot of attention, and he doesn’t make that much money. So a lot of Aware will find themselves in similar places on the social ladder, and in the same neighborhood in a town or whatever, and then they crash into one another. And they may not survive those crashes.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.3</ref> Thus, operating on the fringes as they do, they'll meet other Aware who are in a similar position,<ref>“Aware are common, then?” Verona asked.
“Nah. But like I said, they find each other. It’s a small world, when you’re out on the fringes. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.3</ref> as well as Others and practitioners.
Those Aware on the more 'Awake' side of the spectrum would be more easily targeted, relatively free of karmic backlash, but would also more easily inconvenience or kill their tormentor.<ref name="lesAw">“I’ll build on what I was just saying, I think we run into lesser Aware more than we think we do. If you’re an Other lurking enough around non-practitioners, you’ll find one in ten or one in twenty might trip you up, depending on where you go and how much you should be there. Want to go after a villain of a man or a kid who throws rocks off a bridge? Way’s mostly clear. Mostly, because some are Aware.”
[...]
“Kids and the sick?”
“No, no. Those are still innocent. Their eyes are open but there’s no guarantee they’ve seen anything or been given any nudges or powers. No, some of those people who trip you up? There’s something that makes them different. Usually it’s a little something. A kid you can’t ever seem to sneak by because he’ll pop up awake. A lady with fifty cats and a good idea what they’re communicating. And it’s almost always minor. The Aware are weak. They’re easy pickings for any pickers, directionless, and so busy trying to keep afloat they can’t do much of anything, except ruin some days or ruin some lives along the way, usually.” - Excerpt from Gone Ahead 7.7</ref>
There is speculation that 5-10% of the population exists on the more innocent side of the spectrum, having some minor Awareness under the right conditions.<ref name="lesAw"/> Those that get a Label and as such are listed here have a 'major' awareness; such that it impacts their life.
Aware tend to get stuck into patterns based on awareness such that their behavior is arguably 'locked in' and they are trapped in it.<ref name=15z1>“I had to capture the children,” Thea said. “They were Aware or close to it. I would have managed that Awareness, drained some power, and let them go. Bodies are inconvenient.”
“Geez,” Avery said. “Like, putting everything about capturing kids aside, hmm, how would you manage Awareness? It’s kind of relevant. I know some Aware in Winnipeg.”
“There are ways. If they’re developed into their patterns, it’s not so possible,” Thea said. - Excerpt from Playing a Part 15.z</ref> They can end up on the fringes of society where they can meet other Aware in a head-on collision,<ref>“Died?” Avery asked, surprised.
“Pretty sure. My parents were evasive about what happened to her, but from what I picked up, she wound up struggling to make it on that weird level Aware end up, just barely a part of society, and an Other got her.
[...]
Seb ran into another Aware and it ended in a four-way shootout.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.3</ref> other possibilities exist. On a related note they'll also collect items that intersect with their particular magical specialty.<ref>“We’re- Yes, okay, listen, if it winds up being more stressful, talk to me about it. I know Daniel can have his moods, but he’s so good at finding things of value and uncovering patterns. You’re good at finding things too.” - Excerpt from Back Away 5.a</ref>
Awakening allows an Aware to use their talents much more easily but it also removes the defenses and guardrails that their remaining Innocence has afforded to them so that blowback from their practice could well kill them.<ref>“We can revisit the subject of awakening later. Puts things in an awkward spot. You’re protected by innocence. It kind of sands off the sharp edges of a lot of stuff you’re doing. If we gave you an awakening, you’d get a lot more options, things would get more predictable, but less easy, less of the built in protection. It’s a very easy leap to go from being Aware, like you are now, to being Awake, then doing what you’re used to doing, and getting obliterated.”
“Do special talents like hers or Kevin’s carry over?” Verona asked.
“Some. Again, more predictable, but less easy. Practice flows naturally that way, you’d understand things in that department more easily, improvise in that area more freely. Like me and handling omens and other negative forces.” - Excerpt from Left in the Dust 16.1</ref> Practitioners have also studied the Aware, much like how they study Others, to gain insight into magic.<ref>“I really want to study your approach. A lot of practices have gained something by studying the Aware and the Others and how they engage with the same ideas,” Nicolette said. “It’s why I’m taking these notes.” - Excerpt from Wild Abandon 18.a</ref>
It is entirely possible for an Aware to become an Other: Hags<ref name=":3">Night Hags were Others, sometimes Aware or Innocent, but most often Practitioners, who subsisted off of nightmares, prolonging their own life and well being. Hags of other types subsisted on different things, but they tended to be Heartless to start and became Other. As the Night Hag got stronger, it got better at crafting and magnifying nightmares, and more thoroughly destroying the victim to get a bigger meal. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.2</ref> and Horrors<ref>The Fervid Horror will crop up here or there in pockets, primarily as an artifact of subculture and niche religion or cults. Individuals, often non-practitioners, may intentionally seek out the rituals that others would consider broken or disrupted, intentionally becoming horrors, folding space and distorting reality, while distorting themselves in mind and body at the same time. Oftentimes this may be an effort to reach out (so to speak) to their god by opening the way to that deity's realm, over a drawn out series of rituals, an effort to produce a desired physical transformation (such as weight loss or artificial beauty on the outside at the cost of becoming twisted inside), or both (drawing out angel wings by way of distorted or combining flesh).
Fervid Horrors are often very fragile and some may even die if exposed to the innocent who run against their faith or beauty, leading them to stick to shadows or hide the distorted parts of themselves, at least from those who aren't of like mind. Often have a spark of divine power and/or the ability to invoke awe. - Wildbow from Discord</ref> are just some examples.
See Also[edit]
References[edit]