Independent Stories

1.) Sasha being taken in by the Psi Collective as a girl of 11-12. What happened with her birth family? We know some of them are still alive, because they come to her funeral. We know she had to leave the Ecclesia at some point. I mentioned in a feedback show that Fiona formed a bond with her early, that Sasha was the first close friend she had, and that she developed romantic feelings for Sasha that Sasha initially couldn't return — so, out of love for her friend, Sasha made the choice to have her sexuality "re-streamed" from a Kinsey 0 (completely straight) to roughly a Kinsey 4 (a little more gay than straight). Was this the choice that led to her breaking with the Ecclesia? Both Sasha and Fiona were foundlings, outsiders in the creche world of the Hive; this may have been what led them to bond.

2.) Explore what Artax is up to now that he's on the run from Imperial Intelligence. He's living in disguise, of course, which isn't much of a problem for him — but how are things for Tunstall? And what is Artax doing to continue his work while his shop is closed?

3.) Horror story where the Sommers Cell's children are being targeted by the revenant of Victor hin'Kavos. At least some of this should be from the older children's POV.

4.) Morgan meets for coffee with another vampire, a woman in the lower ranks of the Syndicate and/or the Church of Eternal Brotherhood. The other woman is trying to encourage Morgan to come back into the fold. This would be more of a short vignette or character study.

5.) Character study on Kevin, the gay pyrokinetic from Making the Cut, and his partner Steven. What's the story behind them? What do their lives look like on the edges of the Collective, especially now that the Sommers Cell has been doing its little experiment for a few years? Oooh — what if they petitioned the Hive to adopt a foundling telepath?!

Series: Psi Ops

A series of short novels following Brian, Fiona, Sasha, Del and Trace during their tour of duty with MID. Fast-paced military science fiction with a strong focus on the growing bonds between the characters and their coming of age from raw recruits to mature professionals.

[b]Book 1:[/b] MID takes its new recruits away from Metamor City and puts them through psi-op boot camp. Brian finds that he is being moved into field work instead of the analyst position he was hoping for, and has to deal with the fears and insecurities that come from being a non-athletic kid being thrown into combat exercises and brutal physical training.

[b]Later books:[/b] (Unsure about the order of these)
* Espionage and sabotage against Yakuza-style crime gangs in one of the Southlands corporate states.
* Tracking down the "Angels" of Majestic Industries' Project Tanaatha — where do they come from, who do they work for, and what threat do they pose to the Empire?
* Taking down the warlord at the heart of an international drug trade (Rain?).
* Counter-Intelligence against spies of a rival nation operating in the Empire.
* A telepathic community is located in a remote part of the world that has been targeted for ethnic cleansing. In accordance with MID's agreement with the Psi Collective, the psi ops are sent in to extract their people from the war zone.
* An MID operative has gone rogue, perhaps having been bought off by the Vamps or Majestic Industries. The psi-ops need to track him down and catch him.

Does anyone?

~Worland

Delkari

Government: Minarchist
Capital: Baitam
Borders: South- Rukilia, North- Quenardya, East- unknown, Southwest- unknown, West- unknown, Northwest- unknown (little orange yellow nation on the big map that hits both Quenardya & Rukilia)

Geography

History

Delkari is a nation started by refugees.

Rukilia has gone through several expansionistic phases, growing it's country into its current size over time. About 500 CR, during one such phases, the city of Delkari didn't like the idea of becoming servants to the Naga.

The Delkarians, while respecting the aedra and daedra, followed a different philosphy.

Mostly an Universalist philosophy, they do believe in re-incarnation. While the daedra found a way to trap souls in the Hells, once a soul passes through the Veil they are reborn into the natural world to learn all the aspects of Truth.

The major difference is that the Truth is not the Truth of the Universe… but the Truth of the Self.

The Truth of the Self is represented in the image of the Floating Flame, the balance of Passion with Reason, the Spirit and the Body.

And to learn the truth of one's self, you could not be bowing down to another. So one night, called the Night of Freedom's Fire, the Delkari packced up their belongings, set the city on fire behind them, and fled into the mountains of the north. They found a nice spot on a small plateau in the mountains that provided what they need- security against the naga, a place to grow food, a nearby river that went out the Central Sea (not quite into Rukilia, but a little too close for comfort), and a pass up into Quenardya.

Delkari Today

Delkari is rich in natural resources, but the Delkarian people realized early on that they couldn't just squander that richness and open themselves to needing assistance from Rukilia. They do facilitate some trade, but their biggest export is art. One of Delkari's natural (and renewable) resources is a plant called flame weed (akin to the real life stinging nettle, Urtica dioica), which is a component of a number of different alchemical potions and the fiber is used in various fabrics. There is also a puppeterring art that is very intricate and well respected.

The capital city of Baitam is the home of the martial art of Vadkalan, which was developed after the Night of Freedom's Fire.

They have a fairly unique government. Partially by virtue of a small population that can and wants to maintain the system, they have very minimal government institutions.

In most nations, this might not work, but the strong personal ethical focus of Vadkalan and its prevalence in the culture makes it possible for a primarily minarchist state to exist.

Military service is not mandatory, but many Delkarians join the military for at least one tour of service to contribute to the security of the country as a whole.

Relations with Other Nations

Delkari does it best to be neutral and cordial with its neighbors. They remain wary of Rukilia, but realize that it is not always a justified fear. They work well with Quenardya, but realize that they cannot be as friendly as they may want to be as to maintain a neutral stance.

As the other neighboring nations are not defined at this time, unless they are being antagonistic, Delkari will not be the aggressor (partially due to practicality, partially due to their general focus on self-growth and realization and a distaste of imposing will and restrictions on another).

Author's Notes

Delkari is a combination of Indonesian elements and Southern Indian (Kerala specifically).
Geography is like Romania, with the envrioment, flora, and fauna of Indonesia, minus many of the bad enviromental issue.

Sources Rukilia Tide of Mist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayat

When she was a teen she came to Metamor City to stay with an aunt while on a tour to loose herself in the various libraries of the Empire. She decided to stay for a while, and now has a MS in Library Science from Empire University (her specialization is in Ancient History). She currently works at the Reference Desk at the Main Branch of the Metamor City Library (which *should* be a wonder to behold).

She is a solidly built woman, with generous curves from her human ancestry and the Fae blood in her. Her features are fine and delicate, as befitting her Elven forebearers. Her hair is between silver and blonde, fine and soft with a touch of wave to it. Graci often wears her long hair braided and then wrapped into a bun (in fact it's a sign that she trusts someone if she lets her hair down, literally). Her eyes are an electric green that glow slightly (another aspect of the Fae blood that shines through); she wears glasses both to cover the glow and to fit with the "librarian" stereotype that many humans have.

She loves the quiet of the library, and is usually gentle and helpful to the people who ask her questions… but if you catch her with a question that either hits one of her specialties she can be drawn into a very animated discussion. And if you present her with something she knows nothing about, she'll crawl through the Worldnet and whatever tomes, parchments, and scrolls that she can get her hands on to find the answer.

She'd have some minor magical ability… mainly mage sight, some fae style glamor, but nothing powerful. Her main function would be as a information source for other characters.

She'd probably know Artax… or at least know of him. The Old Man may not be playing the Mage Guilds game… but he's got his fingers in just enough pots for an astute mind to notice him.

I've not modified this information much, so while it's in the Wiki…. there is still a lot of outdated information in these basic imports. The stories that have been (and will be) published on the podcast feed further mold the universe (which is just so cool…), but conflicts with the original Bible.

So if you look at a number of the new pages, there are notes all over the place that things need to be confirmed/updated by the powers that be.

Indar is ex-army (a special forces equivalent team)… so I asked how the army is set up and run because that may give me more clues onto how Indar was affected by his training. And there's not much information on it, so we get to build it.

I am not very versed in the workings of any military, beyond what military/action sci-fi I've read and some friends who've served in just about every branch of the US military there is. I'm certainly willing to learn/read…

What direction I got from Chris was that the feel would be somewhere between modern US & UK, with naming conventions leaning towards the UK style. If we take what I did in Tide of Mist before knowing this, there would have to be at least some minor changes in the naming from UK convention.

~Mildred

For example, in the real world it is theorized that the genetic predisposition for alcoholism is a secondary trait for the genetic predisposition for extreme creativity.

Is it possible for certain psionic gifts to have as a secondary trait a predisposition towards a particular mental illness that can't be fixed without direct and highly precise genetic manipulation(like if you are a powerful enough telepath there is a very, very high chance that you will become schizophrenic or if you were a powerful empath it is a very good bet that you will develop chemical based depression)?

I think that it makes sense that this wouldn't be dealt with by the collective because of two reasons. First, there aren't enough individuals who would qualify to be able to uncover this as a trend and second, the people that would express these traits would be valuable enough for the secondary traits to be tolerated.

Kinda stubbled upon a cool little feature when working on my wiki the other day that I thought I'd share. I like how it randomly brings the less common tags forward. Lets you see stuff that others added that you might not have noticed otherwise. Basically it makes a 3d sphereical(sp?) cloud of tags on the site when added onto a page or the side panel.

So far I've added what is on the events page from the Metamor City and Metamor Keep wikis that had dates to the overall Metamor time line, and the stories that also have dates listed on Metamor City's. Also there is an individual timeline for Making the Cut, but it hasn't been populated at all yet.

Let me know what you think.

http://mk2k.wikidot.com/timeline

I have revised the Storybuilding page to reflect my most current thinking about where the plot is going. (The details of how the final story ends, however, I'm keeping secret for now.) Seasons 3-5 are likely to involve additional short stories, but I don't have any specifics planned.

Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated…

—Chris/Raven

In the story I'm contemplating the main character is an extremely good hacker/ sometime Runner. She steals something from the Vampire Syndicate as a means to finally get out of the streets, the money she was offered for the contract would do this and then some. Where the "daylight" vamp would fit in would be as an immediate reprisal to something so important that it couldn't wait even 12 hours before it had to be retrieved. The main character stole it in the daylight figuring she could get a head start on any serious Syndicate retaliation.

Thaddius Drethera has been turned for enough years that even he forgets almost all of his living identity. In 1979 his sire died, freeing Thaddius from servitude to his rather overbearing master. He seized the opportunity to finish and spread the book of philosophy he wrote on the nature of what it means to be in between and what the responsibilities are in their unique position on this planet.

"A Sire is your mother and father in this world. They made the effort to create who you are and as a Childe you have a responsibility to your Sire. What many of our kind have forgotten is this is a two way connection. The Sire is as much bound to the Childe as Childe is to Sire. Remember that you are responsible to guide your childe through their rebirth, and like a parent you can be cruel or kind, but you are responsible" -Thaddius Drethera, The Circle of Blood, pg. 76

Thaddius's philosophy has spread to some of his kind, creating a small circle within the vampire community; a brotherhood known as the Dretherans. They come from many walks of life but follow Drethera's teachings of respect for what he calls the "circle of the world". These Dretherans are known to higher up vampires. They are regularly mocked and considered the weak of Vampire culture, but when a PR issue comes up between mundies and vamps, many will point to them as a symbol of the shaky truce the two keep. They are known to try and rehabilitate vampires hurt by blood-bonds and by nature only turn the living when they either volunteer or to save their lives.

"Have respect for the living. We are the ones given abilities to protect them and in turn they give us their life essence so we may continue. It is a donation, a charity, make sure you always treat it as such." -Thaddius Drethera, The Circle of Blood, pg. 100

The Dretherian philosophy focuses ont he Vampire taking a role in nature as a symbiont to Humanity. They take nourishment and reproduce from the human population and in turn the Vampires are to be guardians and protector's of mankind. Many Vamps interpret this as a justification for the Vampire influence over society. Drethera also has strong opinions on the rights and responsibilities of Childe and Sire and compares them heavily to the relationship of parent and child. There is emphasis on peaceful cohabitation with Humans and to use their abilities to help them in any way in turn for their willing donation of their life essence. Many intelligentsia and scholars who read up on Dretheran philosophy can be led to become donors or even ask to be turned themselves. In Dretheran philosophy, being between is not a bad thing, it is simply one's chosen or destined role in the cosmos.

I thought this would be an interesting point of divergence and addition of diversity to the philosophical outlook of vamps in Metamor city. If you need to correct me or have anything more to add I do want to add more here, but I'd like to go ahead with blessings and maybe some pointers or suggestions beforehand. I'd also be interested if I could get some ideas on thinking of Thaddius' feelings towards the Psi Collective.

A general plotline I was working on and will edit this post as i develop it on my own or with feedback is such:

Part 1:
Late at night in Metamor city's deep dark underground, the lowest of the low levels, a woman can be heard shrieking for help. Her cry falls upon one set of ears, a vampire with less than upstanding morals who essentially hears a dinner bell. He runs to find her and when he does, he sees her change into her mid form. The woman is a Theriomorph and is tied tot he animal form of a queen ant. The scene ends witht he unfortunate vampire becoming dinner for the woman's many many many (did i say many?) children.

Part 2:
The investigation of disappearances in the underground of Metamor city, (perhaps you could recommend which MCPD would be best for the lead role here or I could invent one) and their investigation leads them into a little bit of what is considered Theriomorph culture and eventually ends with them having an early confrontation with these ant theriomorphs and the hunt is on to find them.

Part 3:
Our protagonists from part 2 are on a hunt to find the colony and try to enlist various means to find it in ways only Metamor City could provide. This builds up to a raid on the colony and in the very end a final confrontation witht he queen. How this could be dealt with in the end is up in the air I'm open to suggestion. This could also be the point of revelation on how the curse could go so very wrong and the steps the queen went through as she transformed from Human to abomination

I was curious if the minority status of them would mean they would live in some sort of commune together or be fiercely divided by their species or how strictly they all carry their queen, worker, soldier social structure. I was thinking of pitching a short story on this, but I'd like some collaboration on how they could fit in and of course your blessings before I got into it.

As already discussed there are 'Swoops' and 'Sweeps' which are essentially small hover-cars and -bikes powered by mana engines. The mana is sustained within areas where the ambient magic is strong (i.e. Metamor), but can also be generated by small conventionally-fueled mana generators (these are not terribly efficient, but enough to keep these small vehicles going in mana-weak areas).

Then there are ground-based vehicles, which are far more common and the only way to transport large loads. Sweeps/Swoops are like helicopters… damn versatile but lacking in carrying capacity.

Some ground based vehicles use conventional fuels (gasoline/diesel). These are typically found in areas where magic does not exist and mana-generators do not function well, such as Yesulam and the Holy Land. In Metamor such vehicles are called 'smoggies' and are rendered to the lowest levels of the city, typically for utility work such as waste removal.

Other ground based vehicles use a spin-drive: Essentially removing the 'engine' and spinning the main drive axle with a mana-field. This spinning shaft drives the wheels with passable efficiency. Though they cannot fly in the manner of sweeps, they can be made to levatate for short distances - usually the transition from one transit system to another. Forward motion is limited unless there is rubber on the road. Spin-drives are limited to small to large vehicles such as cars and small cargo transports. As vehicles get much larger the mana-conversion ratio drops off signifigantly requiring a shift to conventional fuels to attain greater torque.

The spin-drive magic can power propeller aircraft rather well. Coupled with a mana-generator such aircraft can fly from magic-strong areas to magic-weak areas efficiently. Jet aircraft are limited to pure mana or pure chemical fuels.

All mana driven vehicles require a back-up system that can take over in the event of mana-disruption or loss. Since mana-generators are not creating mana when shut down these are typically all that is required: In the event of mana loss or disruption the generator takes over to provide enough mana for maneuvering and controlled stopping. Many conventionally fueld vehicles, especially aircraft, often have a mana-generator as safety backups.

Whispers in the Wood

As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story as it develops.

Metamor City Character Sheet

Full Name: Dolphus (Doll-fus) Plackard
Race: Uncursed Human

Allegiance: Himself
Social Status: Lower Middle Urban
Occupation: Independent Alteration Sorcerer
Religion: Agnostic
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Education: Reached the rank of Adept Expemtus at the Kiersted Alteration School. |I didn't see an actual guild so I made one up. Hope you don't mind. |

Age: 52 (As of 1999 CR)
Height: 188 cm (6'2'')
Eyes: Amber (Magically altered)
Hair: Shifts between black and light brown. (Magically altered)
Distinctive Features: An alterationist, he will often change his appearance before a meeting with a client so he won't be recognized.

Physical Notes: He has cast a permanent polymorph self spell on himself that makes him look like a tall, attractive middle aged skyball player. Though, because he never bothers to exercise he doesn't have toned physique that goes with it. He can change his height and body style but has never bother to put out the effort to keep himself rippling with ill-earned muscles. He's given himself a square face with a strong jaw and usually keeps his hair short, though he varies the length and color according to his mood. He usually looks to be in his mid-30s, he hasn't bothered to change his permanent polymorph spell in almost 20 years because he doesn't feel like putting out the effort.

Behavior Notes: He is a rather unmotivated blood mage, having spent most of his ambitious drive to actually make it through alternationist school. He tries to talk like he actually remembers his school vocabulary and as such has a tenancy to slightly misuse 'educated' words and phrases. Having no real moral code he's not above cheating customers he won't be getting anymore business from and isn't above selling sub par or faulty alteration amulets or doppel charms since he sees no real need to make new or better ones.

Supernatural Abilities: Alterationist (Adept Exemptus)

History:

Raised in a poor first level family, he was discovered to have alteration powers at the age of 13 when he temporarily turned his mother into a giant frog in a fit of anger. Eager to be away from his bickering parents and the looming prospect of a dead end life, he joined the Kiersted Alteration School (KAS). Though he showed great promise, alteration usually being beyond most bloods, he was a great disappointment to his teachers. He barely managed to put out enough effort to graduate. When he did so he promptly returned to the first level and began selling cheap charms and one-night alteration spells to bored blue-collar mundies. He never has a single thought of using his gift for anything beyond his own personal profit.

When he started to gain a reputation as a charlatan he took his meager savings and began traveling. He stayed on the road for many years, sometimes simply selling his spells to those who wanted them and sometimes selling 'miracle' cures to people that only lated until he could got out of town. After running afoul of the Imperial Bureau of Magic Regulation and nearly getting kicked out of his guild he settled down and tried a different path. Changing his appearance to escape his old reputation he began to look for work among the various warring factions within Metamor City – groups so far on the wrong side of the law that they couldn't afford to turn him in to the BMR.

While he was in Yamata on one of his 'business' trips he found a rather interesting article in the Magical Informant, a local paper that claimed to report news of the 'even weirder'. One of the headlines read “HUMAN WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO KITTEN” and in the article the mother claimed that the child was conceived in a dream. Realizing the child was probably half-Fae he called her up and offered to buy the child. After being properly horrified at the idea of selling her bizarre offspring, the mother settled on a high price, figuring the man would try to use the kitten in some kind of freak show. Taking the fae-child back to his workshop in Metamor City he used his magic to permanently change her into a more human shape, though he didn't put forth the effort to completely change her and lingering signs of her heritage remain. He had one of his friends in the fringe work up an ID on her in the name of “Eriko Plackard” and the girl (somewhat) legally became his ward. When the girl began displaying signs of illusionist powers, he had her fitted with a restraining band since he had neither the time nor the inclination to let the girl properly develop her powers. Since he has an assistant to do all his leg work for him he rarely leaves his apartment in Serenity Arms.

Metamor City Character Sheet

Full Name: Eriko (Air-ee-koh) Plackard
Race: Half-human Neko (Feline) Kumai (Animal shape shifting fae)

Allegiance: The questionably sane sorcerer Dolphus (Doll-fus) Plackard.
Occupation: Bartender at Station 53
Religion: Meraist (She doesn't fully understand religion but views St.Merai as a sort of patron or distant mother figure, mostly due to the similar physical characteristics.)
Education: Hope Rising Lower City Education Center (High school equivalent education)

|This is something I don't see anywhere but seems like a logical fit. This would be a volunteer run basic education center that is an outgrowth of the Hope Foundation. It would teach the basic needs for street level kids that for whatever reason aren't going to the regular primary and high schools. Attendance would be be voluntary and while attending isn't going to get you into college most of these kids have no hope of attending anyway. Subjects covered would include things like reading, writing, math, history, personal hygiene, sex ed, etc. They would also have spiritual gatherings and teach a small bit of survival skills, like how to break grapple holds, how to recognize a succubus and not to look into a vampire's eyes.|

Age: She considers herself 21 (as of 1999 CR) but her actual birth date is unknown.
Height: 5'6'' (167 cm)
Eyes: Pale blue and vertically slitted
Hair: The majority of her hair is a soft pale ash blond, almost cream colored. However as her hair grows out it darkens. Her hair is currently down to about her mid-back. She wears it in a high ponytail that ends in an almost chocolate brown tip. Her eyebrows are also a dark brown.
Distinctive Features: She has feline ears in place of her humans ones although they are higher up on the curve of her skull. They are chocolate brown in color. Her tail is roughly the same length as her spine, she can barely touch the nape of her neck with the tip of her tail. It is prehensile and can be use to manipulate objects. It is a slightly lighter shade of cream than her hair at the base and darkens into a similar chocolate brown coloring after a few inches. Although the tail appears the be the same size all along it's length it narrows at the end and the fur is longer to keep the regular diameter. The tip is only about was big around as her index finger and the fur on the underside is thinner and coarser, allowing her to grip things more easily. There is a distinct kink in her tail several inches from the tip.

Physical Notes: The scrawny side of slender but still in good shape. Her neck is thin, wrists and ankles markedly slender. She has a wedged shaped, angular face with noticeably oriental eyes and olive skin. For those who prefer willowy and untouchable otherworldly beauty she holds an irresistible allure.

Behavior Notes: Although playful and friendly enough to easily strike up casual conversations and harmless flirtations there is a noticeable aloofness to her nature. Her entire countenance is a beguiling promise that will not be kept. As such she tends to attract artists, poets and dreamers while the more practical types avoid her judiciously. While not above entertaining 'guests' for a night she is not the type to form long lasting romantic relationships. However, when around her circle of inner friends she switches from untouchable beauty to a childlike eagerness to please.

Supernatural Abilities: Agility – She can jump longer distances than most humans, balance more easily on narrow surfaces and can turn herself in mid-fall to land on her feet if given enough room. Dreamcat - While in a state of lucid dreaming she can take on a feline dream form and wander the dreamscapes. Feline Senses - She can see in the dark and has a wider range of hearing than normal humans.

History:

Eriko, Eri to her friends, doesn't remember anything of her life before she and her master came to live in Metamor City. Though her master, the Sorcerer Plackard is fond her regaling her with tales of her finding when in his more lucid and jovial states. According to him, he was on one of his many trips abroad when he stopped by for business in Yamato. While walking the streets he found a skinny little Shanese kitten crying for help in a human child's voice. He took her in and changed her into a human child and raised her as his assistant and familiar.

She is obviously of both Fae and Yamatoan linage, possessing the strengths and bound by the weaknesses of both heritages. These include an aversion to iron and the inability to lie. It has also been decided that she is mortal, though this hasn't actively been put to the test. Though she can planeswalk, she is unable to manifest any other magical abilities due to the restraining band she was fitted with as a child. She is fond of telling people that her father is Halejin, a kumai from an old Rajashan legend about a feline kumai who was charged with guarding a sacred goblet. He took his duty so seriously that he would keep his tail curled around it when he slept so it could not be stolen. This lead to a permanent kink forming in his tail which he then passed on to his children as a sign of the kumai's rare loyalty. She finds a kind of wry amusement in getting away with this bit of untruth which is not strictly true but is not a lie either, because she doesn't honestly know it to be untrue.

Her job at Station 53 is her first “real job” though she has been working as Plackard's assistant for as long as she can remember. Though she didn't attend public school, she did go to Hope Rising Education Center. This allowed her to pass the standardized tests that kept her master from getting in trouble with the child education laws. She did manage to get the equivalent of a high school diploma and learned a great many things about life in general that her master had never taught her. Although she briefly thought about becoming a runner, the possessive and worrisome nature of her master prevented her from doing anything so dangerous. She doesn't really resent him for it, he is the closest thing to family she has, however she does dream sometimes of more dangerous and exciting jobs.

She and her master currently live at Serenity Arms. She has a friendly relationship with their landlady, Ms.Fallon, and given their mutual natures it often turns to light hearted and good natured flirting between the two women. The two initially bonded over Yamatoan food and fashion, though Ms.Fallon has become Eri's mentor in matters of the Dreamlands. When she found out about Eri's nightly prowling she began teaching the girl mostly for her own safety since there are things there that could badly harm a careless little feline tourist. Eri has a tendency to show up in the kitchen around dinner time just as Ms.Fallon has a tendency to shoo her out from underfoot.

Eri is also good friends with her neighbor, the detective Kathryn Kitaen. A pair of pranksters they have a long standing prank-war that has been going on for a while now. Though the rest of the building is known to shudder in fear if for some reason someone else attracts their attention and they work together to play a gag on some poor helpless soul. Both Meraists, they try to attend services together when Kate's job allows. |If Meraists attend services?Any info here would be helpful.| Although Eri knew very little about Skyball before meeting Kate, her friend's enthusiasm has converted her and she is now an avid fan. |Skyball is obviously Meta-basketball. Is it the kind of thing you can throw up a skyball hoop outside and play a round in the parking lot? If so, they'd probably play a few rounds whenever Kate has free time. Or maybe hit a local gym, something like that.| The only sore spot in their friendship is that Kate's job and swoop habit keep her busy most of the time. If Eri doesn't see Kate for days or weeks at a time she will become sulky towards the other woman, something which Kate rarely tolerates. Though she rarely confronts Eri about it but will rather joke around with her illusions until she can make the kumai smile again.

A word of warning: this story is written from the POV of an incubus. If that doesn't give you some indicators on what to expect in this story, you need to review what an incubus is. :) As with the love scene in Making the Cut, I have endeavored to keep the writing tasteful, but if reading about sex bothers you, you may want to skim over certain parts of this piece.

The Cuckoo

We started with MageX spelljack and how it would bring about the wrath of Nocturna through a lawsuit and maybe more depending on the gravity of the situation. Not to mention other less than savory competitors for DarkSteele such as MI or the Syndicate might want to get their hands on such a technology. Clara "borrows" one of the prototypes prior to the court case. I'm trying to figure out what she would do with it. Create mischief on the Net is a given with her character, but she's not likely to try bringing to the highest bidder; she's already had her fill of playing sides with technology.

What she does with it might have something to do with Erik Darkwing. Creating the MageX spelljack in the first place is out of character for him, he built his business on the backs of honest work. However, it would fall into the realm of his alter ego that still calls himself Tavon. This completely separate personality came into existence from the torture, mind manipulation and painful physical transfiguration from Nasoj coupled with the feral bloodlust of the Saruan curse over a milenia ago. This Tavon persona was sealed away by the best mages of Metamor. In recent years Erik has employed the services of the Collective to try to bring some unity or control with this personality. Needless to say the end results of each of these attempts was just more barriers being put up. Perhaps she's trying to figure out a way to save her adoptive father.

I was exploring the idea of a power source for the central Forge of DarkSteele enterprises that powers both the extreme heat needed to create daemon steele as well as keeps teh material of the artificial volcano constructed into the building molten. It can't be magical in nature since mana energy introduced into the forging process will cause the steele to become brittle like a clay pot.

Erik Darkwing as he calls himself today is the head of DarkSteele Enterprises, a company that earned its reputation during the Industrial Revolution with specialization in materials specifically alchemical metalurgy. More recently it has opened up a spelltech division specializing spelltech for the net and for individuals at disadvantages. Unlike many of the other ancients Eric is very much a public figure, ironic since he is trapped as a full sized ancient dragon spending most of his time at his headquarters linked into the Net.

Erik got his start as Aroch Fyredance the inheritor of both the powerful artifact Kun'epp as well as the curse tied to it. The curse, known as the Curse of Sarua, subjects the Master of Kun'epp and his heirs to the form and malice of the creature used to forge the artifact. It was this curse along with the mental and physical torture and shaping of the villain, Nasoj, that eventually trapped him as a complete dragon, his humanoid form only a memory. An ancient order known as the Erati chose to raise and guide him to eventually pick up the reigns as one of their own. It was here he leaned most of his beginning magic and alchemical metalurgy and critical thinking skills. (His headquarters is a visual homage to the place where he learned the art of alchemical blacksmithing) His training was interupted in an early conflict with Nasoj prior to the Battle of the Three gates in defense of his birthplace, Fortress Fyr. He was captured in a plot that destroyed Fyr and opened up the path to attack Metamor with no hinderances. During the prep time to attack Metamor Nasoj tortured and experimented with Erik, twisting his mind and transforming him into a mimicry of an ancient kamikaze type called a tavon with the aid of a proto version of the same animal curse used on Metamor. Tavon as this incarnation of Erik was called aided in the attack of Metamor at the Battle of the Three Gates, but the dispell spell had no affect on his body since it was manipulated into being virtually magical resistant. However, his mind was not shielded due to massive amounts of magical program to truly get Erik to defy his nature. The mind shattered and he crashed into a draconic slumber to heal many miles away. Years later an amnesiatic Erik returned to Metamor where its best mages along with the help of one of his Erati instructors, and the love of his life sealed the twisted personality, quelled the burning rage in his heart and built his mind back up.

He has remained in the City ever since, expanding his arts of alchemical blacksmithing and magery specifically thermodynamic magicks. During the Industrial Revolution he founded and DarkSteele Enterprises that manufatured predominantly Daemon Steel, an incredibly strong lightweight alchemical metal formed from iron, carbon and certain other alchemical ingrediants. This metal is still the predominant substance used in the skeletons of Metamor's mighty superstructures and one of DarkSteele's main products.

As the world's magic increased, the Curse of Sarua took stronger and stronger hold of his physical body until he could no longer hold his humanoid draconic form any longer. It has also caused the Saruan curse to stop going into recession in the heirs of Kun'epp's Masters. With the aide of Magistrix Kyia, Erik was able to find a "cure" for the Saruan Curse. Unlike the Metamor curse, they have found no enchantments that will stop the Saruan curse. By studying how Nasoj had used the proto-Metamorian curse to shape Erik's dormant Saruan curse , they were able to to use Metamor's curse to minimize if not nullify the affects of the Curse of Sarua. Certain 'Curse Tailors' are used to mesh the two curses together to nullify the effects of the Saruan version. These Tailors are licensed by Kyia herself and are only able to perform their duties once they receive her authorization to do so. A random animal form is used instead of allowing the original draconic form to surface because almost all of those treated for the active Saruan curse stay in Metamor City under Erik and Kyia's watch and too many dragons in close proximity is a recipe for disaster.

Clara Firemane is on of the select few over the centuries that has adopted a humanoid draconic form. The Saruan curse in her was far too advanced to be able substitute another form; Kun'epp abandoned Erik and selected Clara as its new Master rapidly triggering the herditary curse flowing through her body.
Erik takes her under his wing to help her adapt to her new form and instincts and properly handle Kun'epp without killing herself. Clara was a street level opportunist that used her smarts to get by, using self taught magic and regularly breaking into the Net via pirate spelljacks to earn her keep. Clara's idea of clothing is it's only necesary for protection from the elements. Once she becomes a dragoness, she regularly has verbal battles with Erik debating why she should wear clothes if her scales are perfectly fine against the outside weather.

In addition to being the place where new Metamor City stories are vetted before going on the podcast, this is a clearinghouse and discussion forum for any new story ideas that might potentially be incorporated into the universe. If you've got an idea tickling your brain for Metamor City, feel free to throw it out here and we'll at least discuss it!

Cheers,

Chris/Etherius/Raven/whatever

I've posted a little story-poem in the Stories section in honor of the season. Enjoy! :)

A Lightbringer's Christmas Tale

There are a lot of ideas that go into Talbot. The first and most important one is that he is kind of an object example of why, in some ways, we are(to paraphrase the Bible, Genesis 4:9) our brothers keeper. He is one of society's rejects come back to haunt it. He was born and lived in Pyralis, he went to school with a major in finance where he met his wife, they got married, and he got a job as a mid level accountant and planned a life that to most people would be painfully dull.

That was until Daedra'kema, 1995. His family was brutally attacked by a daedra that was summoned by a mage that had more knowledge than competence and he survived only due to the intervention of the local law enforcement. Unfortunately his family was not so lucky and were torn limb from limb and he was powerless to stop it, despite his best efforts. His physical injuries were minor but his mind was shattered completely by the massive trauma and he alternated between hysterics and complete catatonia. Unfortunately his house was in ruins and he had no family to speak of, so he was sent to Akkala’s Home, a facility run by Pyralis used to treat the mentally ill. As the years passed it was found that he could not be treated by any magical or psychic means. Something in the very core of his being absolutely refused to allow anything he considered “paranormal” or random to exist in his presence. He knew about these things but part of him didn’t allow them to be real. It was speculated by the few mages that were familiar with his case that he could have been an extremely powerful mage had things worked out differently but they didn’t. Most mages had other places to be, spells go off before he shows up or after he leaves, reagents were spoiled or the wrong kind, and so forth. Those few times when anything magic/paranormal does happen around him(his anti-entropy field is about 90% effective) he either doesn’t fully “see” it, withdraws or can become violent. This anti-entropic field includes the Curse of Metamor City, which because of the sheer strength of Talbot’s unconscious mind just doesn’t take.

In the second quarter of 2000 funding was cut for Akkala’s Home and all of the residents were forced to leave. Nathan was considered “lucky” because he was marginally functional due to a steady supply of mind altering drugs but still obviously broken as a human.

On October 30, 2000 he was released from Akkala’s Home and given a job doing data entry and filing in the capital city of Pyralis, or at least that was before there was a filing error that put him in the employee exchange program with Metamor.

He can be redeemed but only by something truly and utterly remarkable and can very easily become something really, really scary. When he is capable of thinking about anything he sees as unusual he thinks of the daedra and any creature that is non-human will slowly loose their energy if they are forced to be around him.

I was reading the Bible and it looks like either there isn't a great deal on the scientific end or I can't find it. Either way, I thought that a discussion about the state of science in Metamor might be interesting and useful.

Astronomy - The charting of celestial objects is used for space mining as well as a preventative measure to keep the planet from being impacted by asteroids. The two branches work together to keep the status quo as well as advnce the economy.
Biology - Genetic engineering is used in cases where magic is impractical or impossible. Biology is slowed somewhat in regards to advancement because there is more material to cover when taking into account the additional creatures that biology in the real world doesn't really have to worry about outside of the discipline of cryptozoology.
Chemistry - Magic is used to alter the molecular makeup of materials to form more ideal structures. As the mana used to alter materials is very high it is only used for specific purposes, such as deep sea or space vessels.
Physics- Mind expanding magics are used to elaborate much more fully on the underlying mathematic equations in that make up the discipline. Out of unspoken theological concerns on the part of scientists(where I read it in the Writer’s Bible I can’t find at the moment) the area of dimensional science has been neglected.

The overall idea is that magic is used to help science and vice versa.

So, am I on the right track in regards to where the science would be? I can go forward or back in regards to the level of technology once I get some feedback on it.

He was told that the band on his wrist was to help with the headaches he had when he was younger. He barely remebers these headaches all he remembers is the pain they caused and that he doesn't want to feel them again.

Jacob is what the Collective call psi-mages. They are the only ones that register a power level that is exactly 0.5. Because they are so psionically weak The Collective usually slaps a supression band on them as soon they manifest the migrane-like headaches that will kill the child eventually if not treated. Then they usually wipe much of these memories to allow the child to live a "normal" life with a sporadic disjointed magical potential. The child never removes the band because he/she does remember just the pain (on a scale of 1-10 the pain is like 15) and never wants to feel that way again. Many of these children end up lost to the Streets as gang bangers with that extra boom at the right moment that keeps them slightly up there on the hierarchy. Those that do make it in regular society are thought to be just another weak mage.

No one up until this point has figured out what the connection between the psionic ability and talent for the arcane truly is. The Collective has just figured out it's a conflict of the 2 abilities and one of the abilities needs to be suppressed for the child to survive. By supressing their psi ability they are making sure such an aberation is kept out of breeding pool of the Collective.

Perhaps a psi not completely under the Cllective's ever watching eye could realize Jacob's true potential.

Perhaps they are a nation of creatures that keep to themselves with little need for technology or for the modernization that has covered the world. Maybe there is no true organized government, just a true democracy where everyone decides the actions. They have a Coucil of Elders that meets at various times when decisions must absolutely be made in the mortal definition of a hurry ie. contact with other governments or once a year to discuss the path that the nation has been taking. These Elders are the dragons which have lived the longest and do have the great wisdom. Sometimes these Elders might be reluctant to be leaders but their society obligates them to do so.

I've decided to make the Metamor City wiki a private site. Since I've discovered that Google is caching pages from this website, it occurred to me that a person who is looking for the podcast might accidentally get spoiled on critical plot points just by doing a Google search. There are some major events coming up in the remaining nine chapters of Making the Cut that I really don't want the listeners to find out about ahead of time, so restricting access to the site seems to be the most logical way to prevent it.

I'd like to see a murder mystery set against the backdrop of the Imperial Space Command. There's a lot of activity going on around asteroid mining in MK2K, and the cultists of Nasoj (the Brotherhood of the Sepulchre) are gradually infiltrating the ISC in order to eventually use those asteroids as weapons in a mass human sacrifice. Obviously, not everyone in ISC is going to go along with this, so some high-level people are simply going to have to be removed.

For the cultists' purposes, the most important person to remove is the commander in charge of the space station where asteroids are brought for processing. I haven't established anything about this place or its people, but the following traits seem reasonable:

• It would be located at the L4 libration point in the gravitational system between Earth and its moon, Celine. This is a gravitationally stable position that would allow the station to remain locked in place relative to the Earth and the moon — a good way to stay close to the planet without being so close that one can't safely work with things like asteroids (and also not so close as to spend huge amounts of fuel moving ships out of Earth's gravitational pull).
• Outer space has nothing to connect it to the Aether, so mana is extremely scarce. All magic on the station depends on mana batteries that are shipped up from Earth; since this is very expensive, the use of magic is heavily restricted. Mages who want to cast spells on board the station will either be expending their own life force (which is extremely dangerous) or they'll have to depend on a direct physical connection to a mana cell, which might be held in some kind of backpack. These would not be given out lightly, and their use would be closely monitored.
• The station's primary business would consist of sending out ships to locate asteroids of usable size and valuable composition — either valuable minerals, or clean ice. These capture teams would install something on the asteroid's surface that would allow them to move it back to the L4 station, where it would be mined and the resulting ore sent back down to Earth. (Water from harvested ice would be kept for hydroponics and other uses aboard the station.) I'm not sure what tech would be used to move the asteroid — perhaps a pulse-detonation engine, using small nuclear blasts to accelerate the asteroid toward L4.
• The station would also need some means of snagging and decelerating the incoming asteroids. I'm open to suggestions on this, too; maybe a magnetic impeller of some kind that would push against the iron ore in the asteroids. The "ice cubes" couldn't be captured by this method, but they'd also have less inertia, so perhaps they could use normal thrusters to maneuver these into position.
• Making gravity with magic would be too mana-expensive, so the station would either have to have rotating habitat sections or it would make do with null-gravity. The harvester ships would definitely be null-grav.
• Moving asteroids would be a slow process. The capture teams would need to start one rock moving, go back to L4, go out, start another rock moving, etc., and would probably keep this up for months before the first one they sent out arrives at the station. This means that a whole lot of rocks are in transit at any one time, and the station staff needs to calculate how long it will take to process each rock so they can time when the next one should arrive. (This is how the cultists eventually plan to launch their barrage of asteroids at Earth: no one will know that the rocks are off-course until it's too late — or nearly too late — to stop them.)
• While the station would be under ISC command, the mining operations would be privately run. Majestic Industries and one of Talia's corporations would be the primary groups competing out here; both organizations are highly tech-driven and need the rare metals located in these asteroids to make many of their technomagical products. (It's also an easy way to get large amounts of iron and other base metals for use in manufacturing additional equipment for space exploration.)
• The station probably includes research modules, as well, and the scientists most likely feel very out of place among the miners and engineers of the asteroid operation.

So, then: The station commander is murdered, magic can't be spared to do the divination necessary to find the killer, and the next shipment of mana batteries is months away. Essentially, we have a locked-room murder mystery. To make things even more interesting, perhaps the killer drew on the station's mana batteries to do the deed, and now key life-support systems are in danger of running out of mana. (Alternatively, perhaps some of the batteries have simply disappeared.) ISC is rushing to prepare an emergency resupply mission, but the launch window won't open for at least another week. In the meantime, someone needs to figure out who killed the commander and what happened to the missing batteries, before the life support systems shut down and everyone dies. Perhaps a young ISC officer fresh out of the Aeromancer Corps…?

If this sounds like a fun idea for anyone, by all means go ahead and run with it. I've never written a locked-room mystery, so I'll gladly cede the concept to someone more skilled with that sort of storytelling.

Just wanted to let you know that my interview with Kim Harrison for I Should Be Writing is now up and ready for download.

I Should Be Writing Special Episode #26

If you haven't heard it before, I urge you to subscribe to ISBW and start listening to the back episodes. I credit Mur with getting me back into writing after nearly 3 years of doing almost nothing.

Assimilation

I realized today that I needed another story to fill out the 1-hour length of my podcast for episode #3. Since I'd been wanting to do something from Janus's perspective, I wrote this:

The Sentinel

Any feedback would be appreciated. :)

In preparation for the debut of the Metamor City Podcast, I have revised and expanded Welcome to the City in order to make it a bit more informative for people who are new to MK. Your comments and critiques are appreciated…

It's also a good opportunity to ask for perimssion to use certain universe elements in the bible that may be reserved for something else for all I know.

Ok so initially I have Rafak investigating the disappearance of Dan Harper, a computer programmer who has not officially been declared missing. In my mind Dan has discovered an entity of the net, let's refer to her as "Jane" though I haven't actually thought up a name for her yet. Jane is a rogue entity from Majestic Industries' Project Tanaatha (potentially reserved universe element #1) that has freed itself by transferring its concious across the spelltech hardware that powers WorldNet. She consideres discovery of her true nature to be a grave threat to her power, freedom, and existence. Given that she is not a nice person, the natural course of action is to kill Dan. The assasination fails and Dan goes into hiding to try and avoid being murdered. At the same time he can't go to the officials either because A) the story sounds too insane to be believed or B) because "Jane" has made it clear that his mother's life would be forfeit if he did. I haven't decided which is the more convenient plot element yet.

Anyway, Dan goes to ground having to try and avoid all presence on the grid. Which rules out credit cards, anywhere that might have public networked cameras, anything that requires an identifying record be placed in a computer. In my mind that probably has him moving lower down on the food chain to Street or something close. "Jane" is limited by her lack of real world presence aside from whatever real world networked machines she can hijack, or whatever she can influence other people to do for her by changing data/faking phone calls.

Rafak will find Dan using non-tech methods that are unavailable to "Jane". My main dilemna is coming up with leads that would fall into that category.

The second universe element that I'm interested in is Janus Starson. I'd like Rafak to run afoul Janus once for the sole admitted purpose of writing an amusing short based on the fallout. I don't have any concrete ideas of what he should be looking into that Janus doesn't like at the moment, so I'm open to suggestions. This one is more a matter of just not having crossed that bridge yet, rather than being stumped as I am in the Dan finding line.

I've reserved a nice chunk of hosting space for the show at www.metamorcity.com, and I'm planning on using Wordpress to create the blog and RSS feed. Wordpress is highly customizable, but I need artwork for use on the page to create the proper look and feel. If there's anyone out there with the necessary graphical skills to give us a cool logo and a gritty, techno-urban background image, I'd be hugely grateful for your help.

I'm also in the process of trying to put together theme music for the opening credits and closing commentary, as well as a brief little 5-second clip to use between scenes as a transition marker. I have some vague ideas here, but if any of our musically-inclined members want to jump in with suggestions, be my guest. Obvioiusly, any music we use needs to be podsafe (i.e., licensed for this sort of use, like the music at Magnatune or the Podsafe Music Network).

Finally, if any of you would like to hear your own stories included in the podcast, let me know! Technically speaking, I could do it without asking, since the stories are all licensed under Creative Commons, but I figure that politeness is always a good thing. :)

I've been thinking about what the unifromed police should carry. I'd appreciate hearing your comments, especially if I've missed something. This is similar to what I've seen Police wearing, in shows and in real life.

Let's start from the belt buckle, and work our way to the right (the policeman's right, not your right)
1)Service Gauss gun
2)Portable radio, with speaker unit snaking up, clipped around his right collarbone
3)Handcuff(s) - one or many?
4)Magical restrain belts
5)Night stick (on the left hip)

Optional - multitool/lockpick/utilty knife. Depending on the officer, not manadatory.
I'm wondering if they should hang on the belt, between 4) and 5), or be stowed in various pants baggy pockets (think about army non-dress uniforms, which have these great baggy useful button down pockets).

Any comments would be welcome.

Thanks,

Uri David

Yours,

Uri David

I was setting up in my last story (Patrol:Debriefing) to give Thomas X a brief cameo opportunity with the goal of giving the readers a chance to know the character exists prior to being assasinated. It occurs to me now to ask whether this would be desirable.

Do we want him on the reader's radar by the time he dies, or is it preferable that he remain some distant concept of a character who is revealed only through/after his death? I can see benefits to the feel evoked by both approaches. Which way do the rest of you lean?

I'll also ask out of morbid curiousity, what does "assassinated by unknown means " look like. Is he just going to collapse on the podium, does he explode in red shower, petrified and shattered, a magic bullet that the avatar is somehow not invulnerable too, etc. What is the person watching tv going to see when it goes down?

Let me give the example that spawns this question. I was thinking about the process of adding new stories. I was going to add a section to the story index page for stories awaiting submission so author's could stick them there to await approval. That system might not work out in the end. So is it better for me to ask first or to do first and fix later?

Thank you both for your assistance in making this project possible!

Feel free to jump in, create wiki pages for new characters, and build links to them from the MCPD page. Remember that character pages should be named with the format "characters:name", to ensure that they are placed in the correct directory of the wiki.

I need some volunteers to take the lead in building the wiki entries for the Southlands. Before we can figure out what's happening to them now, we need to know what's happened to them in the past. Unfortunately, I barely know the names of the places in the Southlands, much less anything meaningful about them.

Anyone who has knowledge on this front, please jump in and start building pages in the wiki for it. Here are some particular areas where we need help, along with suggestions about which category they should be placed under in the Writer's Bible:

• Major nations or cultural groups (Places and Organizations, respectively)
• Major geographical features (Places)
• History of the Sondeckis (Organizations)
• The Sondeck — its nature, abilities, and anything known about its origins (Tech)
• History of the Kankoran (Organizations)
• Fellos (Places)
• The Felikaush (Organizations)

The really great thing about wikis is that anyone who's a member can add content. That's what I need from you guys here — if anyone can help fill in the gaps in my knowledge about this region of the MK world, it would be a big help to all of us. Thanks in advance!

We'll discuss the role of the Syndicate in the story in another thread. For here and now, I need your help coming up with characters, personalities to fill the rosters of the undead criminal empire. I'm particularly interested in coming up with the major players in and around Metamor City, since that's where most of the action is going to be happening.

Take a look at the Writer's Bible entry and then let's start brainstorming:

• We need a regional prince in charge of operations in Metamor City.
• We need a few special agents who might show up and cause havoc.
• We need to figure out the major scions who are competing for power in the City — who they are, what they control, and what they want but don't have yet.
• We need a few people among the lower ranks of the Syndicate: a captain or two for each scion, a few key lieutenants, and any particularly interesting or colorful enforcers, specialists and underlings.

We don't need huge amounts of detail on all of these characters; we'll need to flesh out the prince and the scions a bit in terms of their goals, alliances and rivalries, but just having names, descriptions, and one or two key personality should be enough for the low-level types. Get creative and see what you can come up with; once we have some idea of who the players are, we'll be able to start working them into the stories as needed.

Oh, sure, ultimately the villain is Nasoj, but he's little more than a particularly badass ghost. Without the right body he can't do jack, and that's where the Vessel comes in.

Here's what I do know about the Vessel:

• He's an ordinary guy, not heroic but basically likeable in the beginning. Our readers won't have any inkling of what he's going to become until sometime in Book III (see the Storybuilding page); he's just another protagonist among a fairly large cast.
• Something really tragic happens to him. People don't just wake up one day and decide to be evil, or to take insane risks for the sake of amassing supernatural power; there has to be a motivation, a reason why he is tempted by the power that the cultists of Nasoj offer him. Either he's trying to set right something in the world that he sees as having gone terribly wrong, or he's out for revenge against the people (or creatures) who wrecked his life.
• He is kidnapped and "tested" by the cultists of Nasoj. That in itself is not extraordinary; there are a lot of people out there whose bloodlines indicate that they have the potential to be either the Key or the Vessel, and the cultists intend to kidnap and test each of them until they find the true Vessel (while executing any potential Keys who "fail" their tests).
• He "passes" the test, proving himself to be the Vessel to the satisfaction of the cultists. I'm not sure quite how this happens, but it's likely that it involves him killing some of the cultists and beating some more of them into submission in his attempt to escape. Before he makes good on his exit, though, something or someone convinces him of the potential power at his disposal if he learns what the cultists have to teach him. He begins to see that he can use this power to either make things right or settle the score on whatever caused the tragedy in his recent past (see above).
• The Vessel doesn't know that he's being prepared to eventually be possessed by the spirit of Nasoj. All he knows for certain is that the cultists (the "Brotherhood of the Sepulcher") worship some kind of ancient god who will give him power in exchange for performing certain actions and rituals. He slowly slips into doing more and more at Nasoj's behest, loosening the bonds that imprison him until he finally breaks loose and takes complete control of the Vessel. At this point Nasoj is in charge, and our tragic antihero/villain has been consumed by the dark wizard and his schemes.

The key thing in all of this is that the Vessel has to be a sympathetic character for as long as possible. Even when he is using the power of Nasoj (unwittingly) to accomplish his personal agenda, he should come across as a sort of antihero: maybe some of his tactics are questionable, but his aims are totally understandable and reasonable. Slowly, that sense of reasonability slips away, until finally he does something absolutely horrifying in his quest for power (probably sacrificing an innocent person). It is at that point that the readers see that he has gone off the deep end, and the power that is flowing through him is something inherently dark and evil.

I'd like to hear some ideas about what the Vessel's back-story might be and what drives him to the extreme measures he takes in his journey of self-destruction. My initial thought is to play him against the Vampire Syndicate in some way; they have their fingers in a lot of different pies, and a war against the bloodsucker crime bosses by a man whose life they wrecked would certainly gain the sympathy of the audience. It would also give us a way to rope Morgan into the plot, since the vamps might decide to put some pressure on her to help them find out who this new guy is that's terrorizing their organization — and the Vessel might then target Morgan and her loved ones, on the grounds that she is a vampire and a collaborator with the Syndicate. If anyone else has some better ideas to offer, though — or ways to flesh out this one — I'd love to hear them.