The Grimm Truth is for ages 18+

We would very much like players to attend a scheduled character creation gathering to build their characters rather then working on their own and arriving at our game site with something we as storytellers have to work into the game dynamic. Because community plays such a large roll in The Grimm Truth, please please please, try to attend a character creation session, or at the very least, meet with us beforehand. We will have some very limited pre-gen character sheets at game site, but prefer not to use them.

With that being said, the below are some things you should keep in mind when coming up with a concept.


Themes
Community With limited resources and limited areas to safely take haven in, how will those who share in situation come together and divide? (Court politics and group problem solving are the focus.)
Harvest The touch of Faerie has left another part of you longing and craving. The feeling of glamour warming your mind, body, and soul is both necessary and pleasurably addicting. (The Harvest merit and resource distribution will play a large role.)
Pledge Chaos can be more easily brought to order through labeling. Deed, identity, and beyond, we are all composed of the words we assign ourselves and are assigned. (All characters will have a fealty pledge to Sweet Briar Hollow and be expected to conduct business utilizing the pledge system.)


Gentry and Durance
We have several Gentry that we would like to encourage players to draw from for their Durance. These Gentry will be tied directly to plot. (Will be updated here shortly) Player created Gentry will be considered on a case to case basis.

Lord Haigren, The Handsome Devil, Thief of Compliments Tortures: Twisting Self Perception, Public Disgrace, Tithes: Stolen Praise, Art Made in(to) his Image, Groveling/Obsequiousness Lures: Honey Words, Friend to the Lonely, Stolen Moments Realm: The Monument - Splendor is the first word to build a description of the Monument. From there one can go to posh, illustrious, paramount, and maybe a dash of utmost. Average is an eyesore, blatant, and mocked. Here aesthetic, perception, and form are all there is. In these halls and courtyard of the beholden, beauty is all that can be seen. There is no room for humanity, and praise is lavished on those who howl at the sight of efforts made by mere man. The perfect image is an obligation here, and if you cannot find it for yourself you can always take it from someone else.

Ostra Nox, The Midnight Gardener Tortures: Starvation, Madness, Nightmares Tithes: Hedge Fruit, Dream Cultivations, Servants Lures: Tasties, Dream Whispers, Opportunity Realm: The Black Soil Estate - A palpable moisture fills the air of this night drenched home of great and terrible verdure. Through the white mist one can take in glimpses of movement; stooping, swooping, and scrambling. Here the scarecrows head moves while overlooking roots drinking waters cultivated from dreams. Woe be to thoughs taken to the shed and never, never steal from the garden.

De La Rosa, The Harlequin Prince of Many Faces Tortures: Whimsical horrors, Exhaustion, Confusion, Tithes:Entertainment, Children, Faces caught in moments of extreme emotion Lures: Flowers, baubles, toys, sweets, will-o-wisps, music, curiosity Realm: De La Rosa is a complex mind that is not easily satisfied with something exsisting as one absolute. The Harlequinn Prince feels as though that if something can appear different it is different. There is no greater example of perceptions changing than night and day, and so even the streets and lanes he treads reflect this. The Brilliant Cobblestone City of Celebration Awe and Wonder; bustles under the sun shining on the Many Faced Jester. A complex function of laws, etiquitte, and presentation. The one law universally enforced is that one must always wear their mask. Various sunshine rumors speak of frowns being confiscated, animals that cannot speak or will not speak, must be cooked and eaten, and that all doors and windows must remain open. The celebration of lights and propriety where the only sanctuary is a thin mask you wear. The Black Back Alleys of Cutthroats Urchins and the Stalking Dread; lurks under the blanket of night. A time of lawlessness and merriment at the cost of the foolhardy. The night knows no bounds and does not flinch at any sight or sound no matter how depraved. The only rule at night is that all doors and windows must locked shut and kept that way. Woe be to the one who is caught outside, or the one who opens their haven to allow sanctuary. The night has a thousand eyes and its only law will not be broken.

Miser of the Forgotten, Dust Collector, Usurer of the Omitted Tortures:Loneliness, Purposelessness, Improper Use Tithes:Rotten Bounties, Forgotten Vows, Bygone Dreams, Recaptured Lost (overlooked) Lures: Being noticed, Pledges Realm: City of the Nameless Sorting - When something is forgotten, left to fall through the crack into oblivion, sometimes its descent into wormy nothingness lands it into the rabbit hole leading to one of the ghetto's of the Miser. This realm functions off of laws so ancient none can recall where they are written save one. All things have their place and duties, and should something stray from its simple exsistance, stand out in anyway, then it is back to the crack. Rags to rags, dust to dust. The price for having a place is obscurity of self.

The Seven Year Warden, Gentleman Six Crow, The Willow Man Tortures: Calamity, Failure, Penance Tithes: Cursed items, Ill Omens, The Unwary Lures: NA Realm: The Standing Over Encampment - The walls have ears, the night has eyes, the wind can whisper, and the ground can bind, there are people here, but, none are enforcers. White owls seen only by a single individual, a roost of crow counts always eight, every mirror is broken, and every walk piece cracked. The law here was written down long ago by wives who made it home. Good folk tell tales of respecting your time owed and your behavior around this Fair folk. In this tall, thick, and dark woods, there are no morals only law.

Durance
-Why was your character taken? This can be character IC knowledge or not.
-What did you have to do in Arcadia to survive? Most Gentry require tithes from their citizens. What sort of currency did you yeild?
-How did your time end? Escape, rescue, banished, released, unnoticed, negotiated?

Second Life
-Where is San Diego did you remember strongly enough to travel out to? (This can include "where the guy in front of me was going." but all destinations outside of Arcadia and the Hedge were San Diego.)
-How long did it take you to find solace in Sweet Briar Hollow?
-Have you confronted your fetch? Do you have a fetch?

The worst moment of your characters life? (If left empty it is assumed to be repressed or forgotten and a ST will create.)

Three to five things cause your character:
Desire –
Fear –
Sorrow –
Anger –

Costuming
(Gina loves costuming and will reward all players who put in the effort.)


Fealty Pledge to The Sweet Briar Hollow
(vassal)
I am free of the thorns, mended of their scratches.
On paper of tree and ink of flower i have seen the laws of this land
On grounds of trust, in gardens of vigil i have met their Majesties
And i, True name, swear Fealty to the Throne and Court of Sweet Briar Hollow
I swear Fealty to the streets and lanes of San Diego and root the pact of Four Doors
I swear service to tradition, vigil, and duty, and bloom in my home

(monarch)
We see you bloom, free and well, and are rejoiced.
We have sewn our wisdom, We have cultivated hospitality
And we, Monarch's Title of the Great Court Season, recognize you as one of our own
We recognize our own and see them safely home and welcome
We recognize our own and offer grace, direction, and fellowship

(vassal)
I am home again, the soil fresh the sky familiar
I am home again, my water fresh the fire familiar
My life is in my roots, my dreams seeds in the winds
My trust is in my depths, my passion in wisping embers
I trust you with who i am in these lands
And I pledge as long as Earth, Air, Water, and Smoke recognize you so will I

(monarch)
We welcome you home, the Four Doors open to you
Should you turn your back on duty or court they shall close on you.
And the Earth, Air, Water, and Smoke that recognize me shall too.


Some Restrictions
Merits
New Identity (Unlikely to come up)
Hollow (Only allowed outside of Downtown and at size 1)
Mantle (No exp cost, can only be gained through seasonal vows)
Court Goodwill (No exp cost, can only be gained through seasonal pledge.)
Hobgoblin Trainer (Unsanctioned)
Market Sense (Unsanctioned)
Hedge-Beast Companion (2 dot maximum, one per character)
Fae Mount (2 dot maximum, one per character)
Token Maker (Unsanctioned)
Fighting Style: Dream Combat (Unlikely to come up)
Soul Sense (Unlikely to come up)

Unsanctioned Goblin Contracts
Sight of Truth and Lies
Changing Minds
Fatal Transformation


Upon approval of character backstory, the 35 points experience points shall be awarded as per the �Fresh From the Thorns� starting character package.


Contracts and clauses available at character creation.

Universal Contracts (In-Seeming for All Changelings)
-Dream, up through third clause.
-Hearth, up through second clause.
-Mirror, up through second clause.
-Smoke, up through third clause.
*(House Alteration) Second clause has been removed, Third clause has been moved down to second new clause added. Smoke Signal, Smoke Clause 3, see below for details.

In-Seeming Contracts
You must obtain a pledge with someone of the appropriate seeming to obtain the right to purchase an in-seeming contract other than your own, Contract purchased with this privilege can only be acquired with xp. All contracts in 'Winter Masques' are considered in-seeming for the seeming they are depicted with.
-Artifice, up through third clause.
-Animation, up through second clause.
-Darkness, up through third clause.
*(House Alteration) The Grimm truth will not be regularly dealing with ghosts, spectres, wraiths, etc. Thus nullifying the use of Shad and Spirit as an in-seeming contract for Darklings. Darklings will instead have the Contract of Entropy mentioned in association of the Dusk Court in Dancer in the Dusk as their second in-seeming contract.
-Entropy, up through second clause.
-Element, up through third clause.
*(House Alteration) First clause of elemental is being merged into its second clause. First Clause is now Prestidigitation see below for details. Additional Elements can be negotiated into a Contract of Element for three xp and a vow with said Element.
-Communion, up through second clause.
*(House Alteration) Additional Elements can be negotiated into a Contract of Communion for three xp and a vow with said Element.
-Fang and Talon, up through third clause
*(House Alteration) Additional Animals can be negotiated into a Contract of Fang and Talon for three xp and a vow with said Animal.
-Den, up through third clause.
-Stone, up through third clause.
-Oath and Punishment, up through second caluse.
-Vainglory, up through third clause.
-Seperation, up through second clause.

Court Contracts, these contracts are only considered in-seeming if purchased by member of a recognized Great Court (5 members or more with fielty). If the Court is unrecognized the contracts may be purchased if the requirements are met however they cost Out-of-seeming price in xp. No Court Contracts from 'Lords of Summer' are sanctioned for this game.
-Fleeting Season, up through second clause.
-Eternal Season, up through third clause.

Goblin Contract, the cost to purchase one of these chaotic contracts is as per book with a slight alteration. A pledge between recipient and vender must be bound in order for the clause to be active. The xp cost and pledge is also typically on top of whatever price is negotiated as a sales fee. Unsanctioned goblin clauses have been previously listed.