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A closer look at Entitlements.

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Midsummernight Posted: 22 Mar 2009 12:49 PM

A discussion about the Lost Pantheon Entitlement on another thread as got me thinking about Entitlements in general.

I was wondering which are everyone’s favorite and why? Which have you used and have been useful in shaping your chronicle? What conflict arose between Entitlements?

Here are a few of mine...

 

The Lost Pantheon from Lords of Summer (P.151): In our game the Pantheon is the path of the Autumn King. A very old Elemental Woodblood that has grown very powerful and less and less in touch with the Freehold politics, which he is vital to.
This shift has led other members of the Autumn Court to great concern of the growing laps in political leadership. More savvy Changelings have fancied themselves as a more appropriate King or Queen but utterly lack the power to remove their Demigod king.

The King has been grooming himself and a select group of pupils as a new pantheon of Gods and Goddesses. He has a deep understanding of the Archetypes that touch the dreams of billions of mortals around the globe and craves further transformation into the Green Man- God and Lord of nature and growing things.

His fellow members of the Pantheon and students in this Eldritch Order include a Broadback Best Satyr that’s become the Horned God. A Fairest Bright One that seeks to embody the Goddess of Love and a Darkling Gravewight that seeks to be called simply “Death”.

 

The Scarecrow Ministry is also a strong presence in the Freehold.

Basically they are just fun as hell to use. In game they use fear a weapon to secure their rather fucked up interests. Some of them have crossed the line and have become the boogie men they originally masqueraded as.

In our game the Autumn Court is the smallest in numbers but counts among it ranks some of the most powerful Changeling in the Freehold. The Scarecrows are a major deterrent to the other courts taking action against the Autumn Courts strange ways.

 

The Lord Sages of the Unknown Reaches from Lords of summer (P. 147) play a role in the Freehold as well. They are diplomats and adventurous, occult investigators.

They stepped in when a member of the Scarecrow Ministry, a Crow headed Roteater, ate the Child of a very old Vampire lord for lunch in attempt to teach the old blood sucker fear of the fae, and also because he was hungry.

There efforts kept the fragile co-existence with this near indescribable Vampire.

 

The setting for our game is in Minnesota so the Winter Court is strong in a land of 5-6 month long winters. They are easily the most powerful Court and expect the other Courts to play by their rule or wake with a slit throat.

This power lets the Duchy of the Icebound Heart be social élite in the Freehold. They break hearts and lives with impunity.

The Winter Kings right hand men are the Knights of Utmost Silence (P. 103 Lords of Summer) If any of his favored need protection from pissing off the other Courts or orders he calls the Knights.

 

The Hound Tribunal (P.63, Lords of Summer) make crossing the Summer Court a bad idea. Most who do end up dead on the dog days of summer.

Please post the Entitlements you use in your game.

 

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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Nobody wants to post the Entitlements they use?

I thought it sounded fun.
* pouts *

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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I mentioned on the old forum that I used Entitlements to represent specific OWoD Kiths, like the Sluagh and the Redcaps.  However, I don't use them for my local game, unless someone will get a stray hair someday and want to try it.  For our group, I'm trying to steer it more towards real spirituality.  As such, some Entitlements are perfect for it, but the majority will end up being homebrewed, I feel.  Some of the Entitlements will stay as they are, with a few changes to mein or flavour to make them more.. "realistic", haha. 

One option we were considering is having an Entitlement to represent changelings that were once True Fae, and have them gather in a very loose entitlement bond.  This title, probably called The Exiles, is multi-tiered, with higher Wyrd (And lower clarity) bringing back a few of their True Fae talents (Like at Wyrd 5~, gaining True Fae dreamshaping skills, maybe?). 

As for published ones, I think that Lost Pantheon, Office of Vizierial Council, and Solstice Court.
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I think the Solstice Court is a feaking great idea; however in execution they fall very short.  

I mean you can go with their cool theme of between times and enjoy role-playing the theme but mechanically they are not worth a hell of a lot. You have to be courtless and meet prerequisites and in exchange their Privilege is a worse version of what you could get by joining a court in the first place.

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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I was focusing on the idea of the Entitlements being fairly large, and only the corebook was out when my game started, so we ended up with mostly corebook groups plus a pair of homebrews.

The dominant Entitlement in town was the Monks of the Glacier, which was a homebrew group devoted to slow, determined, patient action. Mostly Winter Court (hence the name) but not exclusively. The Monks were just one of the ways that the local Winter Queen was controlling pretty much everything.

Trying to break out of the mold, though, were the Hedge Wardens, who wanted to make the local freehold wake up and start fighting the Hedge. The local Spring Queen and Summer King were both members, and they were advocating for more action on the part of the freehold (recently, they got it in spades, successfully killing one of the Gentry and freeing several of her slaves).

Meanwhile, the Satrapy of Pearls, the Blackbird Bishopric, and the Scarecrow Ministry pretty much did their things, those being basically what they were known for. The Satrapy was involved in a growing internal dispute, since one of the members (Handsome Todd) was trying to overcome the leader (Strider John). Todd was allied with the Spring Queen, while John was a friend of the Winter Queen, and whichever could gain power would shift the balance between the others. The Scarecrow Ministry was rumoured to be led by the Autumn King, who of course elegantly denied any such thing, and the Blackbird Bishopric crossed Court lines and was fairly quiet and efficient most of the time.
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Friv Yeti:
I was focusing on the idea of the Entitlements being fairly large, and only the corebook was out when my game started, so we ended up with mostly corebook groups plus a pair of homebrews.

The dominant Entitlement in town was the Monks of the Glacier, which was a homebrew group devoted to slow, determined, patient action. Mostly Winter Court (hence the name) but not exclusively. The Monks were just one of the ways that the local Winter Queen was controlling pretty much everything.

Trying to break out of the mold, though, were the Hedge Wardens, who wanted to make the local freehold wake up and start fighting the Hedge. The local Spring Queen and Summer King were both members, and they were advocating for more action on the part of the freehold (recently, they got it in spades, successfully killing one of the Gentry and freeing several of her slaves).

Meanwhile, the Satrapy of Pearls, the Blackbird Bishopric, and the Scarecrow Ministry pretty much did their things, those being basically what they were known for. The Satrapy was involved in a growing internal dispute, since one of the members (Handsome Todd) was trying to overcome the leader (Strider John). Todd was allied with the Spring Queen, while John was a friend of the Winter Queen, and whichever could gain power would shift the balance between the others. The Scarecrow Ministry was rumoured to be led by the Autumn King, who of course elegantly denied any such thing, and the Blackbird Bishopric crossed Court lines and was fairly quiet and efficient most of the time.
I like the interweaving plots!

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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Midsummernight:

I think the Solstice Court is a feaking great idea; however in execution they fall very short.  

I mean you can go with their cool theme of between times and enjoy role-playing the theme but mechanically they are not worth a hell of a lot. You have to be courtless and meet prerequisites and in exchange their Privilege is a worse version of what you could get by joining a court in the first place.

 

 

 



Yes, but you have the storyline potential of forming a real Court out of it.  For example, I have a modified version of the Solstice Court to represent the Cout once its become more filled out and powerful but still before it is a true Court.  It's a three-tiered system, with the typical members getting the emotional feeding on Desperation.  The next tier up could be used to give them a Mantle-like dice bonus.  The Third Tier, probably reserved for only the pseudoking or a a small group of leaders, would have a semi-Crown like power.

And all it takes, explanation wise, is getting enough people and power.  In Las Vegas, there is enough of a neutral presence between the two Courts that the Twilght Court rose as a middle man to help balance the power and give home to the outcasts or inbetweeners.  It didn't take long to go from humble beginnings to a more potent Noble Order.  So long as you have an ST that doesn't mind tweaking the rules, I'd suggest a similar path to anyone wanting to develope the Solstice Court further.  After all, in the same book, they give an example of another 3 or 4 tierd Entitlement.  I'm suprised we haven't seen more of them.
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I’ve considered many times tweaking the Solstice Court. For one changing their emotion to something besides desperation because I don’t think that fits the theme of the Court at all.

Mostly I’ve been waiting to see what the Dusk Court is like before I decide what to do with Solstice.

 

 

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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I think it would be interesting to think up if it would be mechanically feasible to do an "Unemotion".. that is, they feed off of emotional temperance.  They feed off of the chaste priest, who resists temptation.  They feed on the young girl who bites through her tears to be strong.  They feed on the man that weighs his options before making a decision, rather than letting his urges and emotions guide him.  If I recall, one of the types of Fair Folk in Exalted fed on just such an emotion.  It CAN be done.

Though, personally, I like desperation for its cross-over flavour.  It means that Solstice Courtiers can feed in MOST circumstances that other changelings can, regardless of Court.  A solstic fae can feed off of the desperate desire with Spring buddies, then turn around and feed on the desperate sorrows with the Winter folk.
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Cleverest of Things:
It means that Solstice Courtiers can feed in MOST circumstances that other changelings can, regardless of Court.  A solstic fae can feed off of the desperate desire with Spring buddies, then turn around and feed on the desperate sorrows with the Winter folk.

I never thought of it that way before. Cool. I guess I had too vague a notion of what desperation counted as; I only thought along the lines of-  needing $200 by sundown to pay a debt and such.

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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In some ways, desperation is the route of all other emotions.  You're sad because of your desperation, you're horny because of it, etc.  I think there's only a few situations where Desperation isn't justifiable for feeding.  For example, when feeding at a drug-blurred orgy, the desire might not be fevered enough to count as Desperation, unless someone starts longing for a specific partner or party favor they don't have access to.  Similarly, walking up and punching a guy in the leg will make him angry, but not desperately so.  While the other emotions are mostly qualities, desperation is almost a quantity.

Even still, I like the sound of changelings that feed on the restraint and repression of emotion.  Is that the Shame that the Sun Court feeds on?  If not, I could see a very interesting entitlement or court based on it.  Almost anti-fae, passionless and rigid, preferring unchanging monotony to shifting chaos.  Or, perhaps, they're less authoritarian, more ascetic.  A group of changeling monks, seeking to purify themselves of mortal and immortal taint.  They may hope to someday leave Earth and troublesome Faerie behind.
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Cleverest of Things:
In some ways, desperation is the route of all other emotions.  You're sad because of your desperation, you're horny because of it, etc.  I think there's only a few situations where Desperation isn't justifiable for feeding.  For example, when feeding at a drug-blurred orgy, the desire might not be fevered enough to count as Desperation, unless someone starts longing for a specific partner or party favor they don't have access to.  Similarly, walking up and punching a guy in the leg will make him angry, but not desperately so.  While the other emotions are mostly qualities, desperation is almost a quantity.

Even still, I like the sound of changelings that feed on the restraint and repression of emotion.  Is that the Shame that the Sun Court feeds on?  If not, I could see a very interesting entitlement or court based on it.  Almost anti-fae, passionless and rigid, preferring unchanging monotony to shifting chaos.  Or, perhaps, they're less authoritarian, more ascetic.  A group of changeling monks, seeking to purify themselves of mortal and immortal taint.  They may hope to someday leave Earth and troublesome Faerie behind.
I really like your take on desperation.

As for those who feed on repression, I think they would make great antagonists. They could also steal or negate Glamour from Changelings. I wonder what kind of new being you could make with something like that.

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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Midsummernight:
As for those who feed on repression, I think they would make great antagonists. They could also steal or negate Glamour from Changelings. I wonder what kind of new being you could make with something like that.


Yeah, that sounds like a good idea for a Bridgeburner entitlement, based a little on both the Autumn People and the Dauntain of the OWoD changeling.  They seek to free themselves, and their fellows, from the horror of a changing and emotional world.  They view their own kind, and especially their makers, as mutant aberrations, illnesses to be cured or cleansed from the world.  They seek to abandon their human and fae weaknesses, cutting out their emotions and helping others see the error of their ways. 

"Hey, did you hear?  Black Gerty just came back, after disappearing for eight months.  They found her stumbling around in the Hedge.  One of her friends surfed her dreams, and said he saw her trapped in a room, with people torturing her for her emotions and sins.  He tried to leave that room in her dreams, but he couldn't.  He said that her entire dream, her whole soul, was gone.  He couldn't find anything in her dreams, outside that room.  There's just white space, as far as the eye can see, as though she's been.. cleansed of herself."
Life itself is only a vision.. a dream.. nothing exists, save empty space and you.. and you.. are but a thought..
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Very evocative!
I was thinking of the Autumn People and Dauntain from C:tD too. (I really miss that game)
But yeah I think Bridgeburner Entitlement would be the way to go.

“We’re all in the gutter, some of us just stare at the stars."  

 

 

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I'm playing a Bodhisattva of the Broken Cage in a PbP game. She's an actress who uses her influence to try to convince young people to ignore convention and fashion and just be themselves.
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