| Adversarial Backgrounds |
Merits |
|||
| Debts (student loans) |
oo |
Lightning Calculator |
1 |
|
| Enemies (Four Corner Hustlers,
The Syndicate) |
oo |
................. |
||
| Ward (Quintas Bixby, older sister) |
o |
|||
| Avatar |
Contacts |
|||
| Syzygy - The Union of Opposites |
Dr. Vincent Hersh - ULV Biostatistics |
|||
| Syzygy seeks the unification of all
narratives under one meta-narrative that will order all events and experiences into one, over-arching structure. It can appear as anything as long as it features some duality or conflict of synthesis (dark/light, imaginary numbers/real numbers, male/female, up/down, etc.). One of its most common forms is the hermaphroditic queen-king from alchemy. It desires more structure and order in Scout's chaotic, undirected existence. |
||||
History
|
| Scout Bixby was born Scout Olivia Bixby
during the winter solstice of 1982. She grew up in Hinesville, Georgia,
just an hour south of Savannah. Throughout her childhood, she demonstrated
prodigal math skills that eventually skipped her through grade school, middle
school, and high school. The death of her father during the Persian Gulf
War delayed her studies, but by 16 she was accepted to the University of
Georgia in Atlanta under a mathematics scholarship. Within the first year,
however, her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and Scout withdrew from school
in order to wait out her mother's last days. Her mother's death triggered her Awakening. Having lost both parents to the void, Scout projected her identity into the afterlife. She slowly became aware that she was the result of a male-female dichotomy -- what was, in essence, a story composed of bits of information that have zipped to and fro throughout eternity. All of reality, it seemed, was one giant tale that still had yet to reach its exciting conclusion. Scout's first spheres were Correspondence and Entropy. The majority of her earliest magickal undertakings involved bending space with the use of linear algebra and dusty paperbacks detailing folk witchcraft. Hinesville was and still is a highly religious community, and since her powers could easily be construed as Satanic (for a time Scout even believed her powers were the result of devilry), she kept an extremely low profile when it came to her powers. She learned early on that blatant uses of magick always came crashing back on her. With both her parents gone, and having just legally become an adult, Scout and her sister Quintas were left to fend for themselves. Scout returned to school, where she worked diligently and quietly, developing her own alternative to the string and M-theories with a theory of her own. She also applied chaotic mathematics to hive systems. Her time at the University of Georgia was cut short when her sister developed chronic fatigue syndrome, and thus Scout lost her primary means of economic support. At this same time Scout was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, although she lacked the health insurance to follow up. Also, she lost her scholarships due to the country's economic downturn and the cuts from federal aid programs. Scout never completed her degree and was left with thousands of dollars in loans. Desperate to pull herself out of this quagmire, she hopped a bus to Las Vegas in the hopes of using her lucky magick to hit it big. Her luck didn't pan out so well. First, she was caught counting cards while playing black jack with violent but amateur thugs. Second, she was caught using magick in a casino, which was promptly relayed to the Syndicate. She only evaded the goons because she was kidnapped. After several hours of interrogation at the hands of the technocrats, she escaped, only to find herself stranded in the middle of Nevada's desert, near Area 51. It took another day before she found help and high-tailed it to Los Angeles. While in LA she met other willworkers, the Hollow Ones. The Hollowers were quick to bring Scout into their ranks, due to her proficiency with highly contrasting magickal styles. Although LA was a haven of sorts, she caught wind of the Syndicate again, and decided that it was better for her to keep what happened in Vegas -- in Vegas. Although her craft acted as a new family, she needed cash; and although LA was full of marks, LV would be better for the pickin'. After all, suckers were suckers, and there were far more drunks in Sin city willing to lose their money on three-card monteys and other scams. And besides: it's always best to keep one's enemies close. Scout, the avid conspiracy theorist, thinks she may be able to learn something just as grand as any unification theory from her newfound foes. Maybe all of those loons raving on message boards about the end of the world aren't so kooky after all..... Magick Style
Scout's
magick depends on one central belief: that reality is composed of narratives.
Consensual reality is a veritable crossroad; it's the grand narrative made
up of the other scattered narratives. Unlike her Avatar, which seeks to pull
all narratives together into one single meta-narrative, Scout believes that
the fragmented nature of all the world's tales is what gives reality is uniqueness
and beauty.
Scout's paradigm gives her incredible flexibility when it comes to magick, which is why she naturally gravitated toward the Hollow Ones. Although her contact with the craft has been minimal, her magick style meshes well between technocrat and magus. Her magick blends mathematics with occultism and conspiracy theory. Math has proven to be one of humanity's late bloomers, a narrative that came to full realization only within the past few hundred years. Math also crosses all cultures, with notation and processes that are, for all practical purposes, universal across the globe. It also is the language for the sciences, and Scout would be unable to accomplish her technocratic effects without it. Occultism is largely autodidatic on Scout's part. What she knows of the occult she's learned through movies, comics, and books picked up from stores and libraries. She has no formal occult training, so grand rituals have not yet entered her paradigm. Most of her occult magick depends on impromptu "parlor tricks," such as cutting hexes through air, spitting on some body fluid, or burning a cigarette. With her recent initiation into the Hollow Ones, her occult style is becoming more elaborate and focused on "postmodernist" foci such as goth make-up, fashion, and music. Conspiracy theory as a focus works in several ways. For instance, she believes that televisions are covert monitoring devices for the New World Order. By tapping into a television set, Scout can also use any functional TV to spy on others. More often than not, conspiracy theories are used more to mask her magick rather than to focus it. For instance, she can explain away her neat computer program that can track anyone anywhere as a tool that hacks HAARP in Alaska, and thus hacks the ionosphere. And didn't you know that the NSA can read a license plate from outerspace? So can anyone else who can get into those NSA networks. Spheres and Foci Correspondence: Vectors, linear algebra, software, series calculations, summoning circles Entropy: Probability and statistics, software, lucky (or unlucky) charms, bones Prime: Complex numbers, biochemistry, ash, blood, spit, meditation |
Personal Effects[This is not a complete list of all
of Scout's magickal abilities. I encourage staff and players to critique these
effects and any others that I might add in the future.]
|
| The All-Seeing Eye [Correspondence
1] As the rote Sense All Space. Scout's foci for this effect is usually meditation. |
| Omens [Correspondence 1, Entropy
1] By quickly relating an environment's angles to one another, Scout can decipher omens encrypted or disguised around her. Generally this gives her a sense of what may possibly become of her immediate area. |
| Third Eye [Prime 1, sometimes with
Correspondence 2/3] By rubbing ash around her eyes and lips, then speaking the words, "All that glitters is gold," Scout can sense magick in its most base forms. Usually quintessence will take a form according to its "essence." |
| Critickal Point [Correspondence 2,
Prime 1, sometimes with Entropy 1] With some calculus and a runic circle, the use of magick can be pinpointed almost anywhere. This spell comes in handy when tracking down mages who make a habit of using hanging effects. With Entropy, Scout can also glean the magick's final destination. (This latter effect is called the Hypercritickal Point.) |
| Jump [Correspondence 3, sometimes
with Entropy 3] By solving a simple series calculation in her head, Scout can teleport to nearly any place she's ever visited or can see. With Entropy, she can guarantee that her trip will land her somewhere safe (as opposed to, say, in the middle of a fire or a within a wall) or, at the very least, somewhere interesting. Longer distances (such as Jumping across the city or state) require longer series strings, which takes extra mental effort and time. |
| Pooka's Path [Correspondence 3, Entropy
3] By cutting a hex through the air in her target's general direction, Scout can curse a pursurer with the pooka's path. This curse will cause everything that can happen to lengthen the distance between herself and her pursuers to occur. For instance, cars will brake in front of the pursuer, movers will cut through the path carrying a sofa, crates will fall from a nearby truck, or even something as simple as a sign pointing the wrong direction will lead the target astray. Note, none of these things will directly harm the target; they will only slow him down until the trail is lost. |
| The Golden Thread of Midas [Correspondence
2, Entropy 2] When hard-pressed for cash, Scout can carry a lucky charm (or perform some other luck-inducing ritual) to bring a bit of good fortune to herself. If successful, she will "just happen" to stumble upon a small amount of cash. This money is usually something that would realistically fall on the ground (a $20 or $50 bill; never a wad of $100's). |
| Jam [Entropy 3, sometimes with Correspondence
2/3] Since chaos underlies all things, any tool is subject to random disorder. By calculating the odds that a particular tool may not work, the odds of that probability become "more real." This effect will cause any mundane tool or machine to malfunction according to its purpose: a computer will crash, a car will stall, a lock will open, or a knife will refuse to cut. The more complex the tool the easier the effect is to pull off; simple tools, having a lower probability of malfunctioning, require greater successes. With Correspondence, Jam can hit an entire location or multiple tools at once. (This latter effect can be vulgar in some cases.) |
| Sponge [Prime 3] By laying on her back and staring listlessly at the ceiling, Scout frees her mind from day-to-day distractions. This opens her up to the ambient quintessence flowing around her and channels it directly into her avatar. This ritual requires her to be relaxed, so it's not possible to use in a tense situation. |
| 1-800-TASS-4-ME [Correspondence 3,
Prime 3] By dialing in a specific series of keys in any phone, Scout can tap into a "ley line" leading to the tass and absorb its quintessence. Other versions of this effect will drain quintessence directly from the "data flow." |
| Taking a Shortcut [Correspondence
3, Entropy 3] The opposite of Pooka's Path above, this boon will get the mage to her destination faster. Things will happen at the "perfect time" to minimize travel time: traffic lights will stay green, cars get into the other lane for a turn-off, |
