Mentor (mage V20)
Mentor
An “elder” mage has taken an interest in you and provides training, guidance, and occasional assistance. Note that said elder might be your own age or even younger, said training could consist of dropping you off rooftops, said guidance may involve more Yodaisms than a Karate Kid marathon, and said assistance could boil down to whacking you in the head just after you read that passage in the flesh-bound grimoire. This Background’s rating reflects how helpful your mentor is for you, above and beyond her personal power. After all, a Hermetic Grand Master isn’t much good for her students if she refuses to do anything other than let them sleep on her floor.
The mentor/ student bond tends to be one of the most influential experiences of a mage’s life. In many cases, the mentor notices some interesting talent in a currently unAwakened Sleepwalker, initiates the prospective student, and then nurtures and guides that spark as it bursts into full Awakening. This is especially the case with Technocrats, who often get recruited soon before or just after they attain Enlightenment... or else get converted from their previous Reality Deviant careers by an effective Technocratic operative.
Mentors have their own agendas, of course, and those goals aren’t always obvious. Plenty of mages get their first taste of Awakened society from mentors who are distant, abusive, manipulative, uncaring, ineffective, or downright insane. Others, of course, learn from elders who turn out to be loving, caring, insightful, and wise. It really depends on the nature of your mage’s personality, backstory, and affiliation. Technocratic mentors are often (though not always) cold and efficient, whereas mystics can be silly, eccentric, aloof, or any combination of wizardly traits you can imagine.
Game-wise, a Mentor provides some social lubricant, magickal or technological training, occasional resources, and perhaps interventions or assistance if your mage really needs help. In return, she’ll expect a certain amount of respect, obedience, and help around the workshop. A student’s behavior, good or bad, reflects upon his mentor, so it’s not wise to abuse this relationship. Especially for a young and inexperienced mage, an angry mentor can be a terrible thing.
As with Allies and Familiar, this Background represents Storyteller characters with their own backgrounds, personalities, motivations, and relationships to the world at large. Your Storyteller can (and should) have a blast playing up such characters, running agendas that often remain obscure to the students in their path. Remember the various games being run by elders throughout the Harry Potter saga – games in which the pupils rarely understood what was really going on. Mentors give nothing for nothing; if one has taken a guiding interest in your mage, there’s always something more than simple kindness or duty involved!
For examples regarding the mentor-student relationships in various groups, see the Initiation sections of the two-page spreads throughout Chapter Five.
- X -- No mentor worth mentioning.
- • -- An unreliable or inexperienced mentor.
- •• -- A helpful yet eccentric guide.
- ••• -- A good and noteworthy teacher.
- •••• -- A wise, helpful, and respected elder.
- ••••• -- A powerful elder with serious investments in your success.
