Legend (mage V20)
Legend
Humanity’s collective imagination focuses on you. Although you might not actually be a reincarnation of King Arthur or Biggie Smalls, you evoke those figures on a primal level. People see you as a legend, and so they expect legendary things from you. As a result, you function as a walking Node, able to recharge your own Quintessence – and possibly the Quintessence of other people too – by living up to your associated legend.
In story terms, pick a legend and then model your character off some familiar elements of that figure. Little Red would wear a crimson hoodie and wander off where she’s not supposed to go; Popeye would talk weird, eat spinach, and get into lots of fights. Our media age manufactures legends, so your model could be a pop-culture character, though the power of such legends doesn’t run very deep. The more you live up to the legend, the more energy it lends to you.
In game terms, you can roll your Legend Background no more than once per story. Each success refreshes one point of Quintessence in your pool. (It’s wise to choose a high Avatar rating if you’ve got this Background.) The difficulty of that roll depends on how well- known that legend is in your current location; embodying Sun Tzu might score you major props in a Chinese military academy, but the average U.S. citizen would be like, “Sun WHO?” The roll’s minimum difficulty is 6; if your Legend is obscure, that can go as high as 9.
Once per story, you can also instill items with Quintessence – turning them into Tass – if they’ve had something to do with you living up to your legend. A Colt .45 used by a modern Jesse James, for instance, would acquire a certain energy through association. Such items have a potent feel to them; even Sleepers sense something special about Jimi Hendrix’s guitar. Characters who can use Quintessence may access that Tass for their own purposes. Each dot in this Background allows you to either instill a single object with the entire Background rating’s worth of Quintessence, or you can imbue one item with a single point of Tass for every dot in the Background. Legend 5, then, would either fill a single item with five points of Quintessence or imbue one point of Quintessence into five separate items. Once that Tass is used, it’s gone until the next story.
Other Awakened characters can recharge their Avatars from you as well, if and when they take an active role in your legend. A lover of James Dean, a drinking companion of Janis Joplin, a mage sharing the Round Table of a reincarnated Lancelot – these characters may enjoy the benefits of this walking Node effect as well, so long as they’ve participated in the legend over the course of that particular story.
(Technocrats can have this Background too; that reincarnated Lancelot might be a cyborg with a particularly noble personality and a really active dream life.)
Objects or animals can have the Legend Background, with all the same powers of a character’s Legend. In this case, the “living up to the legend” element requires other people to believe in their connection to that legend. Hendrix’s Sunburst Stratocaster might be a Legend in its own right, an object of reverence for music lovers everywhere. A mage who got her hands on that guitar could recharge her Avatar by playing the instrument... which explains why certain objects become hot properties among folks who know them for what they are, and why people keep killing white buffalo and stags whenever they appear. Legendary objects and animals, though, should remain property of the Storyteller. If the Storyteller allows a character to acquire that object or animal, it becomes a Treasure or Ally.
In all cases, that Quintessence holds legendary Resonance too. Smoke from a joint passed by Monsieur Zig Zag will evoke the 1960s even in 2015, and faint echoes of Ahiii-ahiii-ahhhh!!! follow the trail of a Man With No Name. Lizzie Borden’s hatchet makes people feel queasy even though the real Lizzie Borden killed no one with it. That force of belief clings to the essence of a Legend Trait. Folks touched by a legend know they’ve been part of something extraordinary.
This Background works well with these Backgrounds: Destiny, Past Lives, and Totem, and with certain Merits and Flaws as well. Obviously, you need a compelling reason to claim the Legend Background. Simply looking like Jim Morrison is not enough – you must be Jim Morrison in every way that matters. Plenty of people claim to be “the new Beatles” or “the next Jesus Christ,” but the connection has to run deeper than that. This Background draws upon sublime power from the realm of archetypes. Unless that power runs true and manifests in clear and constant form, then you’re just another pretender, not the real McCoy.
- X -- No legendary connection.
- • -- An obscure legend (Clever Gretel, Abou Hassan) or minor pop culture figure (Betty Boop, Grumpy Cat).
- •• -- A minor legend (Sinbad the Sailor, Don Quixote) or significant pop culture figure (Janis Joplin, the Cheshire Cat).
- ••• -- A famous legend (Guy Fawkes, Shaka Zulu) or pop culture icon (Batman, Elvis).
- •••• -- A major legend (George Washington, Geronimo, Red Riding Hood).
- ••••• -- A universally popular legend (Cinderella, King Arthur, the Mona Lisa).
