this is the last place i go for now [infopost]
NAME: Nicolas Isaac Kaser
BIRTHDATE:
IDENT: Tattoos: (Forces/right wrist, fire and song/collarbones l > r)
DEMEANOR: Caregiver
NATURE: Benefactor
ESSENCE: Questing
TRADITION: Celestial Chorus
CONCEPT: Urban Activist
FOCI: Fire, light, song, holy symbol (Cross), touch, prayer, incense
BACKGROUND: Resources, Allies, Church Influence
MERITS: Clear-Sighted, Higher Purpose, Self-Confident, Soothing Voice
FLAWS: Absent-Minded, Driving Goal, Lifesaver, Pain Empathy, Naive
TRADITION: The Celestial Chorus
The Missionaries believe the primary task of the Chorus is to help and protect the Sleepers. Missionaries spend most of their time "in the field", doing their best to stave off the crises of modern times. They work constantly to free people from drugs, hunger, poverty and despair. They sometimes come into conflict with the Technocracy, but often work against ordinary sleepers, including criminals and corrupt governments. The Missionaries are not exclusive, and accept members from other subtraditions.
SPECIALTY SPHERE: Forces
Light was created first of all creation, to uphold it and manifest the power of the One. The great forces of nature are reminders of the enormous power wielded by the Highest, and how tiny we are in comparision. But at the same time, they light up and warm us, showing how much the One loves us. Through faith and discipline we can be given some measure of control over these forces, to spread the faith and protect the faithful.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Nicolas is 6'1" with dark blond hair and light blue eyes, which generally give the impression he's somewhere far away, and this is often true. He's 20, but could easily be mistaken for ages a few years on either side, and looks younger when he smiles, which is frequently. His body type is lean-to-skinny, depending on whether or not he...remembers to eat. For days on end. See previous notes about not being on this planet. His ethnicity is predominantly Scot-Irish, so in winter he's about as pale as it gets, although in warmer seasons he spends as much time outside as possible and thus is frequently sunburned and/or moderately tan.
MISC PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES: Mode of dress can be described as basic: jeans, t-shirts, heavy canvas workjacket in the winter, sneakers. These will generally be of good quality owning to the fact that he's pretty well-off financially (more on that later.)
For those with enhanced sense of smell: on a workday Nick can smell of a variety of unpleasant city things, if it was a particularly unlucky day. He works with a lot of homeless people and/or drug addicts, so things like vomit are not all that uncommon, sorry to say. Otherwise, he's not really a cologne person so generic soap and detergent will be the norm.
Less mundanely, he will routinely emit traces of magic, candlewax, and pure fire.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: Fire and song on his collarbones, left to right respectively.
BACKGROUND/DAY TO DAY: Nicolas was raised by Lee and Sybil Kaser, both of whom teach at Loyola outside their native Chicago (critical theory and political science, respectively). He is an only child and his parents get along well, so the most tumultuous thing to occur in his childhood was the fact that his mother was often featured on the news and/or arrested for crusading one cause or another re: protests that could often turn violent. Chicago is a ....very fertile place for that. At age 20 he still lives with his parents in Evanston, IL. Eventually he'll move out, because that's uh, the sane thing to do, but at the moment it's an acceptable situation for all involved.
He was brought up in the Unitarian church, although his parents tended toward a very liberal stance on Christianity they wanted Nick to have the choice of deciding what he believed with as much information as possible. This was decided for him by his Awakening (this varies from Tradition to Tradition; for a Chorister it's a vision of the Highest wherein the Sleeper is called and thus Awakened) at age 15. The Faithful number approximately 21 in Chicago and the surrounding areas, one of whom is Nick's mentor, David Therodrin.
David is the director of the Project Justice Chicago office, which means in addition to mentor, he's also Nick's boss. (The concept of the PJC is loosely modified from a number of organizations dedicated to exonerating the innocent and reforming the criminal justice system, including The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, The Innocence Project, and The Justice Project. These are worth a click.) Nick does not have anything remotely like a law degree, so most of what he does there involves research.
Additionally, he volunteers at The Franciscan Outreach Association, The Lakeview Pantry and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
If you're actually still reading, firstly thank you very much, have a picture of a lemur.
Secondly, don't let all of this benevolence make you think Nick is some ridiculous paragon of virtue - he....sort of is, or at least he strives for it, but every human being has flaws, and he's no exception.
Specifically, he has a tendency to be so absorbed in contemplation of the divine or what have you he frequently does AMAZING things like get off at the wrong stop on the El, or lose important papers, or keys, or wallet. When you work for an organization that depends largely on finding evidence very very quickly (such as before your client is executed o_o), that's a major, major problem. Forgiveness is...nice, but sometimes it doesn't really change anything.
Additionally he has great focus, but sometimes trying to get him to realize a world exists outside of whatever it is he's trying to accomplish is nigh unto impossible, so dealing with him can require patience. A lot of it.
Choristers are hugely into touch as a positive experience of the One's love, so occasionally he's a little oblivious about the fact that some people just don't like physical contact, especially from a stranger. PLEASE mention this to me if it's important, such as like...your character is going to bleed from the eyes if patted on the shoulder, that kind of thing.
WoD Specific Flaws: Pain Empathy is exactly what it sounds like: if someone around him is in pain, Nick feels an echo of it. Think of it like the body aches generally associated with the flu, in varying intensity according to how much pain is involved. He reacts similarly to both mental and physical pain, and generally does not have the ability to discern which is which. Further, he can't tell what's causing it, he doesn't know if it's a migraine or a death in the family, just that it's there.
Under most circumstances this will drive him to attempt to alleviate the source of said pain. As with everything, please let me know if your character is in some kind of agony Nick shouldn't know about; I am totally willing to work with you to make up a reason or other!
Lifesaver is a little more complicated, but not...really. Essentially it boils down to this: Nick is pacifistic to the point of being almost physically incapable of taking a human life, even in self-defense. If put in circumstances where there is no other alternative, the emotional aftermath is basically incapacitating.
The merits explain themselves, I feel.
ALLIES: Friends, Family, Etc.
Sybil and Lee Kaser (parents): Nick's mother and father met at the University of Chicago just as Sybil was finishing her bachelor's degree in history (with an emphasis on the treatment of women in the Middle East) and Lee his masters in English literature. Both were religious, albeit with a liberal bent, much of their courtship took place in and around the Episcopalian church they both attended. Nick was born about seven months after they got married, and the subsequent upheaval eventually resulted in their move to a Unitarian congregation. Sybil is 42 and in addition to teaching political science at Loyola feels it's God's will that she crusade virtually every cause ever (Nick had to get it from somewhere, guys). She's loud, extroverted, and will quite freely tell a person what she thinks at a moment's notice, which explains the frequent arrests re: every cause ever. Lee at age 50 teaches critical theory (also at Loyola); while his political and social views are much the same as Sybil's he chooses to express that through the care and teaching of his students, many of whom go on to work in fields influenced by what they learn in his classroom. In further contrast to his wife he's also prone to speaking only when he's given very weighty consideration to what he has to say. This doesn't mean he's not fiercely loyal to his wife, however - really, if he weren't he wouldn't have bailed her out so many times. Nick thinks they're both right. The three of them are a very close family unit, which explains on a few levels why he still lives at home at 20. The fact that they are not exactly hurting for money probably does too.
David Therodrin (Mentor): The most dynamic man alive. Really. Also the director of the Project Justice Chicago office. While he's considerably more flexible than say those Choristers who seem to think all other Traditions are byproducts of EVILE, he's still far more conservative than Nick. Fortunately (for Nick much of the time) he's also a very forgiving guy, as one would ....hope. Seriously.
to be added to as necessary.
format modified from vitaedolce and domina_mira
BIRTHDATE:
IDENT: Tattoos: (Forces/right wrist, fire and song/collarbones l > r)
DEMEANOR: Caregiver
NATURE: Benefactor
ESSENCE: Questing
TRADITION: Celestial Chorus
CONCEPT: Urban Activist
FOCI: Fire, light, song, holy symbol (Cross), touch, prayer, incense
BACKGROUND: Resources, Allies, Church Influence
MERITS: Clear-Sighted, Higher Purpose, Self-Confident, Soothing Voice
FLAWS: Absent-Minded, Driving Goal, Lifesaver, Pain Empathy, Naive
TRADITION: The Celestial Chorus
- The Celestial Chorus is a tradition devoted to the belief in God
- You must come willingly to the faith, or be "called" by God.
- Faith should be allowed to take its own course without undue influence from the Chorus
- Yes, The Crusades were a tool of the Celestial Chorus in the Middle Ages.
- God is called the One, the One is the creator.
- The symbol of the One is the Sun and sometimes the rose or the cross
- The origin of the Soul is the One.
- All Choristers believe in the Evil of the Infernal and the necessary control of its influence.
- The Celestial Chorus believes that there have been four ages in Human/Chorus history.
- The Celestial Chorus Horizon Realm was/is called the Great Adytum. (Although it has had many names in the past)
- The Chorus was Lead by the Pontifex Maximus who was in charge of the Curia.
- Know some of the Celestial Chorus specific ranks (Exarch = Master, Presbyter = Adept, Catechumen =Apprentice, Adytum = Chantry, Praecept = Mentor, Etc.)
- Know that the rite of awakening exists.
- In the 3rd Age Strife almost tore apart the Celestial Chorus, to due to the disparate Christian beliefs and complete marginalization of non-Christian beliefs.
- Have heard of the term the Sacred City (a city or the world being devoted to and built on the love of God, with everyone as willing participants.) and the desire of the Celestial Chorus to achieve this concept.
- The Cabal of Pure thought was a major force in the Celestial Chorus in the early middle ages. They were the force keeping the Crusades going.
- The Crusades and the inquisition were tools of the Celestial Chorus that got out of control.
- The Inquisition was encouraged/reinforced by the Cabal of Pure thought.
- Prior to Valorans Reunification of the Celestial Chorus the group had very little from or unity.
- Prior to the Council of Nine, the Hermetics and Verbena were at odds with the Celestial Chorus, primarily over the inquisition and difference of worldview (the mythic age vs. the church dominated reality.)
- Valoran was prompted by a vision from the One to reunite the Chorus.
- The Technocrats/Order of Reason are sometimes called the Prometheans by the Chorus.
- Souls are shards of the one and everyone has one.
- The Ahl-I-Batin served the same function as the Celestial Chorus for the Muslims. After their disappearance many Muslims have been converted by CC missionaries.
- Know information about the Great Adytum, purpose what goes on there.
- Know the Main Celestial Chorus Holidays (Summer Solstice, Day of Martyrs, Winter Solstice, Feast of the Gathering.)
- At the End of Times we will rejoin the One.
- At the end of Times the One will choose who will continue to exist.
- The mission of the Celestial Chorus is to shepherd Humanity towards Ascension (rejoining the One)
- The Methods of Shepherding are:
- Instilling Piety and faith (to give them a vehicle for Ascension)
- Caring and nurturing those in need (so they can feel the Ones love)
- Warding the sleepers from the powers of darkness (so they are free to walk the path to ascension.)
- The Manifestation of belief should be based on personal experiences, not on the decisions and dogma of others.
- Individuals beliefs should be judged on their actions.
- Error is always possible when one has free will.
- Evil solely exists as the absence of truth, beauty, and goodness, for those are the principia of Creation.
The Missionaries believe the primary task of the Chorus is to help and protect the Sleepers. Missionaries spend most of their time "in the field", doing their best to stave off the crises of modern times. They work constantly to free people from drugs, hunger, poverty and despair. They sometimes come into conflict with the Technocracy, but often work against ordinary sleepers, including criminals and corrupt governments. The Missionaries are not exclusive, and accept members from other subtraditions.
SPECIALTY SPHERE: Forces
Light was created first of all creation, to uphold it and manifest the power of the One. The great forces of nature are reminders of the enormous power wielded by the Highest, and how tiny we are in comparision. But at the same time, they light up and warm us, showing how much the One loves us. Through faith and discipline we can be given some measure of control over these forces, to spread the faith and protect the faithful.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Nicolas is 6'1" with dark blond hair and light blue eyes, which generally give the impression he's somewhere far away, and this is often true. He's 20, but could easily be mistaken for ages a few years on either side, and looks younger when he smiles, which is frequently. His body type is lean-to-skinny, depending on whether or not he...remembers to eat. For days on end. See previous notes about not being on this planet. His ethnicity is predominantly Scot-Irish, so in winter he's about as pale as it gets, although in warmer seasons he spends as much time outside as possible and thus is frequently sunburned and/or moderately tan.
MISC PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES: Mode of dress can be described as basic: jeans, t-shirts, heavy canvas workjacket in the winter, sneakers. These will generally be of good quality owning to the fact that he's pretty well-off financially (more on that later.)
For those with enhanced sense of smell: on a workday Nick can smell of a variety of unpleasant city things, if it was a particularly unlucky day. He works with a lot of homeless people and/or drug addicts, so things like vomit are not all that uncommon, sorry to say. Otherwise, he's not really a cologne person so generic soap and detergent will be the norm.
Less mundanely, he will routinely emit traces of magic, candlewax, and pure fire.
IDENTIFYING MARKS: Fire and song on his collarbones, left to right respectively.
BACKGROUND/DAY TO DAY: Nicolas was raised by Lee and Sybil Kaser, both of whom teach at Loyola outside their native Chicago (critical theory and political science, respectively). He is an only child and his parents get along well, so the most tumultuous thing to occur in his childhood was the fact that his mother was often featured on the news and/or arrested for crusading one cause or another re: protests that could often turn violent. Chicago is a ....very fertile place for that. At age 20 he still lives with his parents in Evanston, IL. Eventually he'll move out, because that's uh, the sane thing to do, but at the moment it's an acceptable situation for all involved.
He was brought up in the Unitarian church, although his parents tended toward a very liberal stance on Christianity they wanted Nick to have the choice of deciding what he believed with as much information as possible. This was decided for him by his Awakening (this varies from Tradition to Tradition; for a Chorister it's a vision of the Highest wherein the Sleeper is called and thus Awakened) at age 15. The Faithful number approximately 21 in Chicago and the surrounding areas, one of whom is Nick's mentor, David Therodrin.
David is the director of the Project Justice Chicago office, which means in addition to mentor, he's also Nick's boss. (The concept of the PJC is loosely modified from a number of organizations dedicated to exonerating the innocent and reforming the criminal justice system, including The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, The Innocence Project, and The Justice Project. These are worth a click.) Nick does not have anything remotely like a law degree, so most of what he does there involves research.
Additionally, he volunteers at The Franciscan Outreach Association, The Lakeview Pantry and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
If you're actually still reading, firstly thank you very much, have a picture of a lemur.
Secondly, don't let all of this benevolence make you think Nick is some ridiculous paragon of virtue - he....sort of is, or at least he strives for it, but every human being has flaws, and he's no exception.
Specifically, he has a tendency to be so absorbed in contemplation of the divine or what have you he frequently does AMAZING things like get off at the wrong stop on the El, or lose important papers, or keys, or wallet. When you work for an organization that depends largely on finding evidence very very quickly (such as before your client is executed o_o), that's a major, major problem. Forgiveness is...nice, but sometimes it doesn't really change anything.
Additionally he has great focus, but sometimes trying to get him to realize a world exists outside of whatever it is he's trying to accomplish is nigh unto impossible, so dealing with him can require patience. A lot of it.
Choristers are hugely into touch as a positive experience of the One's love, so occasionally he's a little oblivious about the fact that some people just don't like physical contact, especially from a stranger. PLEASE mention this to me if it's important, such as like...your character is going to bleed from the eyes if patted on the shoulder, that kind of thing.
WoD Specific Flaws: Pain Empathy is exactly what it sounds like: if someone around him is in pain, Nick feels an echo of it. Think of it like the body aches generally associated with the flu, in varying intensity according to how much pain is involved. He reacts similarly to both mental and physical pain, and generally does not have the ability to discern which is which. Further, he can't tell what's causing it, he doesn't know if it's a migraine or a death in the family, just that it's there.
Under most circumstances this will drive him to attempt to alleviate the source of said pain. As with everything, please let me know if your character is in some kind of agony Nick shouldn't know about; I am totally willing to work with you to make up a reason or other!
Lifesaver is a little more complicated, but not...really. Essentially it boils down to this: Nick is pacifistic to the point of being almost physically incapable of taking a human life, even in self-defense. If put in circumstances where there is no other alternative, the emotional aftermath is basically incapacitating.
The merits explain themselves, I feel.
ALLIES: Friends, Family, Etc.
Sybil and Lee Kaser (parents): Nick's mother and father met at the University of Chicago just as Sybil was finishing her bachelor's degree in history (with an emphasis on the treatment of women in the Middle East) and Lee his masters in English literature. Both were religious, albeit with a liberal bent, much of their courtship took place in and around the Episcopalian church they both attended. Nick was born about seven months after they got married, and the subsequent upheaval eventually resulted in their move to a Unitarian congregation. Sybil is 42 and in addition to teaching political science at Loyola feels it's God's will that she crusade virtually every cause ever (Nick had to get it from somewhere, guys). She's loud, extroverted, and will quite freely tell a person what she thinks at a moment's notice, which explains the frequent arrests re: every cause ever. Lee at age 50 teaches critical theory (also at Loyola); while his political and social views are much the same as Sybil's he chooses to express that through the care and teaching of his students, many of whom go on to work in fields influenced by what they learn in his classroom. In further contrast to his wife he's also prone to speaking only when he's given very weighty consideration to what he has to say. This doesn't mean he's not fiercely loyal to his wife, however - really, if he weren't he wouldn't have bailed her out so many times. Nick thinks they're both right. The three of them are a very close family unit, which explains on a few levels why he still lives at home at 20. The fact that they are not exactly hurting for money probably does too.
David Therodrin (Mentor): The most dynamic man alive. Really. Also the director of the Project Justice Chicago office. While he's considerably more flexible than say those Choristers who seem to think all other Traditions are byproducts of EVILE, he's still far more conservative than Nick. Fortunately (for Nick much of the time) he's also a very forgiving guy, as one would ....hope. Seriously.
to be added to as necessary.
format modified from vitaedolce and domina_mira