Phoebe's Past

Where She Came From

Long ago, a group of mystics left their town in Kislev to escape the persecution of the townspeople. They founded a settlement at the edge of a dark forest, and they now have several small villages, surrounded by farms on one side and the forest on the other. Deep within the forest lives a small clan of reclusive elves, whose hair changes color with sunlight.

The Hassun do not believe in gods, but rather in innumerable spirits. They have shamans who intercede for the people. They believe the elves are spirits who have managed somehow to become visible and corporeal. The elves do not disabuse them of this notion. For the most part, they rarely see each other. The elves see the humans more, but stay hidden from them.

The humans hunt along the edge of the forest, but otherwise concern themselves with their villages and farms out in the open. However, they have a traditional rite of passage which involves going into the forest and staying there alone for a certain period of time. When they get back, they are considered adults. The forest is dangerous enough that sometimes someone doesn't come back.

During this time alone in the forest is the time a human is most likely to have some sort of interaction with an elf.

Phoebe's Birth

Some years ago, a girl went into the forest on her spirit journey. When she returned as an adult, she was to marry a certain young man. She didn't return immediately. Instead, she returned, obviously pregnant, several months later. She had seen a spirit, and had spent the last several months with him, and was pregnant with the forest spirit's child.

It had happened before, but not in a very long time. She was honored greatly, as the mother-to-be of a spirit-child, and her marriage was postponed. They didn't want to offend the spirit by making it look like the man was claiming the spirit's child as his own.

The woman and the man married after the baby girl was born. The fact that they were raising a spirit child raised their status significantly.

Phoebe

When the baby was born, named Phoebe (as requested by the elf), it was obvious she was indeed a child of the forest spirit. Her ears looked just like theirs do, and her hair shared their trait: although blonde usually, it turned a pale green in bright sunlight [Unnatural Feature]. As a half-elf, she is also attractive [Adv: Attractive], long-lived [Adv: Extended Life lvl 1], and has perfect balance [Adv: Perfect Balance].

Phoebe was trained her entire life to be a shaman. From a very young age, she could hear the spirits across the veil that usually separates humans and spirits. She couldn't understand their voices; she just heard a constant low murmuring in her head [Disad: Phantom Voices lvl 1]. She also received training in working with people [Adv: Charisma lvl 1], [Adv: Empathy lvl 1], and spirits [Adv: Spirit Empathy ].

She is trained to communicate with the spirits in the shamanic traditions of dancing [Skill: Dancing] and drumming [Skill: Musical Instrument (Drum)] and through meditative trances [Skill: Meditation]. Since she believes she is half a spirit, there are spirits who help her by granting her special abilities, and there are others who curse her for reasons of their own [Disad: Delusion (10pt)].

One of the latter takes her vision away from her at night, so she is all but blind, although she sees normally during the day [Disad: Nightblindness]. She learned that he wants something specific from her, and so she left her small village to find a way to placate the spirit so he will restore her night sight to her [delusion].

She left her village of Abeytu and began wandering west and south, because that is where the spirits told her to go. Along the way, she learned the Old Worlder/Imperial language fluently; she sounds like a native [Old Kislevite, native language; Imperial, literate, speaks like a native]. She picked up Imperial quickly and easily [Adv: Language Talent]. Phoebe believes that's because the spirits help her [delusion].

Phoebe has slowly made her way across Kislev and the Empire, and she has reached Kreuzhofen. In the few days she's been here, she's been meditating, drumming, and dancing, waiting for a Sign from Tania (the spirit who curses her with nightblindness) [delusion, Disciplines of Faith, Mysticism]. Or another spirit. Or anything, really.

She is looking up the road and sees a bright red bird take flight, just as an exotic-looking person wearing red and yellow appears on the road, leading a couple of other people. Phoebe thinks this is an easy augur to read, so easy she doesn't even need a spirit telling her what it means [Skill: Fortune-Telling (augury); delusion]. She will follow the exotic-looking person heralded by the bird.

Phoebe and the Spirits

Phoebe attributes many of her skills, abilities, and problems to the spirits around her.

Phoebe's View of the Spirit World

Attribute	Spirit	Phoebe's Explanation	Gaming Effects
Language Talent	--	Phoebe belives that spirits prompt her and help he rlearn a language quickly and easily.	None.
Perfect Balance	Hella	Phoebe belives that a spirit named Hella is her half sister. Hella is always with her, guiding her and literally holding her up when she needs help.	None.
Nightblindness	Tanis	Tanis is a spirit that wants Phoebe to do something for him. Until she does so, he clouds her vision at night. He does not speak to her directly, or at least he hasn't so far, and Phoebe is trying to find out what he wants from her.	If she can give Tanis what he wants, she can buy off this disadvantage. Or another spirit will appear to plague her with another one.
Sleepwalking	unknown	Phoebe is convinced an unknown spirit borrows her body at night and walks around with it. The spirit disappears when she wakes.	If she can find this spirit and placate it, she can buy off this disadvantage. Or another spirit will appear to plague her with another one.
Damage Resistance (PK psi)	Pardu	Pardu protects Phoebe by placing himself between her and harm and absorbing some of the damage himself. He does not do so without payment, however. Phoebe is required to offer a small blood sacrifice after he helps her each time, and he won't reappear to help her again until she pays him for his previous services. The bloof from a small animal (mouse, lizard, etc.) is all he wants. She can somtimes get away with offering him some of her own blood, but only sometimes.	This acts as a pact limitation on this ability.
Healing (Healing psi)	Arati	Arati is a beneficial spirit who likes helping people. She insits that Phoebe heal whoever she can. Phoebe believes healing tires her because Arati uses her energy to heal others.	This acts as a pact limitation on this ability.
Medium (ESP psi)	--	Phoebe belives a combination of her heritage (daughter of a spirit) and her shaman training allows her to communicate directly with spirits. She believes if she constantly improves herself through meditation and her dancing and drumming rituals, she will find it easier to communicate with them. Before trying to communicate with any spirits nearby, she must spend 10 minutes drumming or dancing herself into the proper meditative trance.	This acts as pact (ongoing rituals) and preperation (10 minutes direct ritual) limitations.
Psychometrics (ESP psi)	--	Similar to Medium, only the spirits feed her information about a place or object instead of commuicating directly with her.	This acts as pact (ongoing rituals) and preperation (10 minutes direct ritual) limitations.
Detect Lies	Kulcipi	??	None.
Fortune-telling / Augury	Truna	Phoebe belives a spirit named Truna feeds her hints through the world around her. She must interpret them correctly, of course. Instead of waiting for something to occur, Phoebe will sometimes place herself into a meditative trance throught dancing, and then interpret the marks of her footprints in the dust.	None.
Weather-Sense	Asya	??	None.