Ancient

Ancient or simply Old is a term for beings, Others or Practitioners, that have been around for a while.

Particulars

Being a distinct entity for a long time lends the reinforcement of Pattern which can also be stultifying.<ref>“If I may?” Guilherme rumbled. He was so quiet, sitting on the corner of the roof, in the dark, it was easy to forget him, even though he was large.

“Of course, sir,” Rook said.

“You have fought a hundred of these battles. The pattern is nearly set. I know of this sort of thing quite well. Longevity hardens, and it draws things to a razor point, and the sharpest points are the easiest to break. But your pattern, it includes another option. You’ve told us of two wars you won, where those realms and groups fell to pieces soon after the so-called victory.” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It</ref> Regardless they have fallen into a patern of survival a process of selection that operates on a scale of potentially centuries if not longer.<ref>All of the most foolish and brutish Others have been captured, slain, consumed, driven off, or tricked away. Recognize all Others for what they are, and know that they, by a process of elimination two thousand and six hundred years in the making, are cunning by nature, they are slave to those who are, or they were made to be cunning to better serve in their duties. Wit is the greatest defense and the sharpest weapon, on battlefields such as these. - Essentials Chapter 1, quoted in Bonds 1.4</ref> As they have been around so long they tend to be tied directly into Lore practices.<ref name=":4.1">Strengths: Trussed are repositories of old knowledge, including older forms of practice or older powers of Others, that they may be able to pass on.  More often, however, they are keenly aware of the threats of yesterday, that may still linger today, or be bound in the next room, a cage, or on the other side of a covered painting or mirror, that they work to keep locked up.  When people venture into the realm of these unfortunate souls and Others, it is often to get a clear record of key events, people, treasures, or Others that may have re-emerged or that are necessary to solve a puzzle. - PactDice: Bestiary: Trussed</ref>

Age is due a certain amount of deference.

Some Others will be old by definition, though as with everything there are exceptions; winter fae are meant to be immortal beings that have nothing more to do, played out all their stories, sometimes though a damaged fae is taken into winter.

Known Examples

These beings were called old within the story itself and have the history to prove it.

• Alabaster Doe of Ontario<ref>“The reason I brought that up is that it’s happening here,” Lucy said. “She’s been Alabaster for a ridiculously long time – since before Canada was colonized?”
  
  “Yes,” the child Lucy was arguing with said. “Since before anyone came.”
  [...]
  - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.6</ref>
• Sinful Creature
• Mara Angnakak of Jacob's Bell<ref>Sine Die 14.6</ref>
• Isadora
• Conquest of Toronto<ref>“I wouldn’t imagine Conquest is a great fit for Toronto,” I said.
  
  “It was, once. The English presence in North America is young, and Others can be very old. For some, it wasn’t long ago at all that we wiped out the Aboriginal people and took their land. It wasn’t long ago that there was war over what European country would claim sovereignty over this land. Toronto was a site in the war of eighteen-twelve, and Conquest continued to gain power after it was released, with immigrants coming in to reaffirm the invader’s claim to the land.” - Excerpt from Collateral 4.1</ref>
• The Beorgmann<ref name=blah>Left in the Dust 16.y</ref><ref>Wild Abandon 18.8</ref><ref>In Absentia 21.7</ref> of the Nipigon region
• Crooked Rook
• Talbot<ref name=blah/>
• Tenmercy<ref>She had a sense of who and what he was, because it was adjacent to the standard peddler dealio. If peddlers were caveat emptor shop owners who sold cursed items that would see the buyer suffer, harvest energies or whatever, then ship it back to the seller, then Toymakers were a similar thing without the shop. They just made the cursed items and sent them out into the world or planted them to be found. Simpler. Maybe older. Sometimes they sold to peddlers as a business relationship. [...] Let me hang up my hat as a cursewright for good- I do think you seem to know what I do, so I’ll stop pretending. - Excerpt from Hard Pass 22.1</ref> transient Toymaker
• Ghoul Trio<ref>Another set of contestants. Three female ghouls. Old.
  
  “I challenge you not to combat, Anthem Woodward Tedd,” the oldest of the three ghouls said. “But to questions of history.”
  
  “And I challenge you to combat,” he answered. “You can ask your questions, I’ll hack at you with blades and shoot you with guns. We’ll see who comes out ahead.”
  
  “You weaken your claim.”
  
  “I fight well enough I don’t need to worry about that. Do you accept my challenge of combat?”
  
  All three shook their heads.
  
  “Will you stand down, then?”
  
  “Will you allow us our hunting grounds?”
  
  “If you’ll work my council and the council of any who succeed me.”
  
  All three nodded. - Excerpt from Fall Out 14.z</ref> near Thunder Bay.
• Long toothed dog Lost<ref>In Absentia 21.14</ref>
• Ted Havens of Prince Edward's Island (arguable)

Old by Definition

While specific examples may come up that are less then a hundred years old when one is discussing these such beings they usually are.

• Alabaster Spirits
• Giants
• Primevals
• Tortoise Spirits
• Trussed

Trivia

• Some of the more extreme entities here operate on a scale of deep time, where it would not be wrong to say they know what continental drift looks like.

References

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