Análisis estadístico

Background

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Martin O’Sullivan, the son of a good Irish father and pious Irish mother. Martin, one of many children, was raised to work hard, say his prayers every night, and respect both his parents. His father raised sheep, his mother crocheted lace, and everyone assumed Martin would one day grow up to become a man like his father and marry a woman like his mother.

Fate had a different plan for Martin.

As a very young child, Martin had vivid dreams. While asleep in the large bed he shared with his siblings, he visited wondrous lands where he would learn fantastic and hidden lore, which he forgot almost immediately upon waking. He tried to share these beautiful dreams with his family, but they had no time for his flights of fancy. Martin’s father, after all, was raising sensible sheep farmers — not idle dreamers. Martin quickly learned to keep his dreams to himself.

His dreams, though, kindled within him an intense curios- ity. Martin wanted to know if these dreams were true dreams, if he visited real places in his sleep. His priest told him that these dreams were gifts from God and the angels, and so Martin felt sure that these places must exist somewhere, but had no idea how to find them.

Then came the day his father took him to market. Martin, finally old enough to help with the flock at age 12, accompanied his father and older brothers as they drove their sheep to Galway for sale and slaughter. Martin had never before seen the sea, and his first visit to Galway introduced him to yet another wonder: ships. A living forest on the water of tall wooden masts and canvas canopies, Martin fell in love with these tall ships at first sight. At every opportunity, he slipped away from his sheep-tending duties to instead sneak into sailors’ pubs and listen, wide-eyed, to their tales of travel and adventure. Martin knew that his fate lay not in becoming a sheep farmer, but a sailor.

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His father, however, would not hear of it. Martin was of good shepherd stock, like his father and grandfather before him. Shepherding was honest, safe work. No son of his would become a sailor, not while he had anything to say on it.

Riding on the wagon away from Galway, Martin thought his heart might break as he saw the masts and sails slip away. He spent the next year pining for the sea, his dreams wrapped up in the adventures and distant lands of which he’d heard the sailors speak. Martin wished to be a good boy, as his parents wanted. He could not resist the call of the sea,

no matter how hard he tried. Slowly, a terrible desire formed in his heart. At first,

Martin rejected the idea, but his dreams grew more intense, and he eventually devised a plan.

As Martin waited for the year to pass, he spent time planning what he would do. After the year was out, he was now a young man of 13, and he again accompanied his father and brothers to the markets of Galway. For 13 days out of the fortnight he and his family spent in the city, Martin did as his father told him.

O n t h e 14th day, be- fore the sun rose, he walked out of the rooms where his family slept, and made his way to the wharf. There, he picked his favorite ship — a three-masted beauty with a painted hull and polished wooden mer- maid on the prow. The captain had need of ready hands, though was reluctant to hire a poor shepherd from a landlocked village. The gleam in Martin’s eye and the boy’s obvious passion for the sea eventually swayed the captain.

Dawn came, the tide went out, and Martin was aboard his first ship as a cabin boy. The work was hard, the weather unforgiving, and the food barely edible, but Martin didn’t mind. He was at sea. Never had he felt so at home,

so complete, until that evening, when he was finally allowed to sleep. The spiritual force that had been scratching at the doors of Martin’s mind finally made itself known. The Swimmer, as it called itself, manifested as an amalgamation of every sea tale Martin had heard — and some he hadn’t. Martin gleefully ac- cepted the Swimmer’s offer, and became a Makara.

Martin quickly turned the ship into his Lair. Feeding in such close quarters proved to be challenging, but Martin was a Collector who enjoyed stealing

secrets from his crew mates.

At first, he stole small and mean- ingless secrets — who had snuck extra

rations or helped them- selves to the captain’s brandy. These simple secrets were as hard-

tack to the feasts he craved, though. Martin wanted to understand t h e w a y the world w o r k e d , down to its core.

He began tear- ing larger, more powerful secrets from his crewmates. When at port, he’d find the most learned theologians, academics, or mystics and stalk their sleep repeatedly, steal- ing knowledge until they had nothing left to offer. Such gluttony might have been enough to awaken a nearby Hero, but Martin was always sailing to a new harbor by the time anyone gained enough power to

oppose him.

The more he gained, the more he wanted. Martin became a master occult-

ist. In his quest for knowledge, though, Martin lost sight of himself. In trying to unlock the secrets of death and madness, he sacrificed his fellow crew members by the dozens. In trying to unlock the secrets of the unseen world, he captured and tortured more

than a few supernatural creatures.

Martin’s sanity suffered as he traversed farther and farther into his hunt of secrets. As he spiraled down, he began to resent what he perceived as his confinement — the artificial restric- tions of morality, of his ship, and eventually, of his own body.

One moonless night when he was supposed to be on watch, Martin walked to the prow of his ship and dove into the sea. He swam down, as far as he possibly could. His lungs burned for air, but Martin kept swimming. The pressure squeezed his body, but Martin kept swimming. Eventually,

either the pressure or the lack of air proved too much, and “Martin” died.

Free of his physical body, the entity formerly known as Martin was reborn as the Empyrean Swimmer.

Description

The Empyrean Swimmer has divested itself of all possible vestiges of its former humanity. Its previous life as Martin the boy from Galway is now less real than a dream.

The thing that the Empyrean Swimmer remembers most is the yearning - the desire for freedom, adventure, and knowledge. It now swims through the Primordial Dream, investigating lost and forgotten places. On a few occasions, it has even been able to reach the springs of Arcadia and the streams of Hisil. The desire to uncover hidden, occult knowledge has become the Empyrean Swimmer’s Ban.

As for a Bane - the Empyrean Swimmer cannot leave the water. Such things mean little in the Primordial Dream, but

do become meaningful whenever the Empyrean Swimmer touches another realm, including the material plane. Whenever the Empyrean Swimmer manifests, it always appears in a lake, stream, river, pond, or other natural body of water. It firmly resists any attempt to remove it from the water. The Empyrean Swimmer can move over land through water open to the air, such as canals and aqueducts, but not through pipes or plumbing.

In some circumstances, the Empyrean Swimmer may ap- pear on a boat. However, the boat must be at sea (not on a river or docked) and the Empyrean Swimmer cannot go belowdecks; it must remain in the open air and with easy access to the water. Such manifestations are always brief, lasting minutes at best.

When manifesting, the Empyrean Swimmer appears com- pletely inhuman. It has the general body of an octopus, but one covered in coral, barnacles, and wisps of seaweed. Small schools of tiny fish surround the Empyrean Swimmer, mystical atten- dants who constantly wink in and out of existence. Most alien and disturbing, however, are its eyes. Luminous and bright, one

STORY HOOKS

• A legendary Beast (perhaps even one of the Incarnate) threatens the characters and they must track down their

enemy’s personal history if they are to have any insight as to his weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Predictably, however, the Beast has taken care to obscure all accurate information regarding such history. In the course of their efforts to track down this information, the characters discover the existence of the Empyrean Swimmer and realize this creature likely has the knowledge they seek. The spirit gives away nothing for free, though. If they wish to know how to defeat their enemy, the characters need to trade some secret the Empyrean Swimmer does not know. Unless the characters have already built up a store of occult secrets, or possess any particularly juicy personal secrets, odds are they’ll need to find something new. Since the only lore the Empyrean Swimmer reli- ably doesn’t possess is regarding Kindred, this means the player characters are going to have to visit the local vampire court in the pursuit of new secrets.

• Jinever Marques, despite being a mage, has never been overly concerned with unlocking the secrets of the

universe or accumulating untold cosmic power. Jinever uses her powers to build the most wondrous and magical zoological garden in the known world. Her demesne is full of tremendous and rare creatures: bushes of ever- blooming roses watered by the Fountain of Youth, magically constructed unicorns gamboling in their enclosure, captured werewolves contained by electrified silver. Jinever recently learned of the Empyrean Swimmer, and is determined to add it to her next exhibit. For this reason, she hires the player characters — or, rather, attempts to. If the player characters are themselves Beasts, they’ll likely balk at Jinever’s offer and instead turn their efforts to protecting the Swimmer against Jinever’s machinations. After the characters turn her down, Jinever turns to a more amoral team of magical mercenaries, whom the player characters will have to oppose.

• At some point during its travels, the Empyrean Swimmer confronted its limitations. Though it is free to travel

through worlds, it remains constrained by water and finds travel through the material world difficult. As a result, the Empyrean Swimmer has chosen to take one of the characters as a protégé — someone it can have perform various tasks on its behalf in exchange for tutelage and protection. The protégé must also be either a Makara or a Collector, though both would be ideal. The Empyrean Swimmer tasks its protégé with goals of increasing dif- ficulty and dangerousness. However, in exchange, the Empyrean Swimmer will teach the character quite a few Nightmares, share fragments of occult lore, or reveal the location of much-coveted magical artifacts.

• A vortex of spiritual chaos draws the player characters in, as disruptions in the Primordial Dream spread chaotic

nightmares. The Empyrean Swimmer chose to take one of its extremely rare trips into the material world just as a cabal of mages enacted a portal-closing ritual. As a result of the ritual, all nearby extra-dimensional gate- ways are now closed. The Empyrean Swimmer is now trapped in the material world. It has never encountered this problem before, and has begun to panic, lashing out at the parts of the world it can still touch. At night, it invades the dreams of nearby sleepers, carelessly stealing Essence in an attempt to return to the Primordial Dream. The characters must figure out what is going on, then help the Empyrean Swimmer return home.

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cannot look into the eyes of the Empyrean Swimmer and detect anything kind, compassionate, or human — only an intelligent, yet overwhelming, hunger.

Communicating with the Empyrean Swimmer is a strange experience for anyone who tries. The creature is powerful enough and intelligent enough to have retained language. Somehow, it has also retained a voice and the capability to use it. Its experience as an unbound spirit of the Primordial Dream, however, has caused it to lose all understanding and empathy for the concerns of those still embodied. The only thing the Empyrean Swimmer understands is its ban, the hunger for knowledge. Such acquisitiveness is the only topic capable of holding its attention for any significant length of time. Regardless of the discussion, however, everyone who speaks with the Empyrean Swimmer comes away with the dis- tinct feeling of having brushed up against a wholly alien and inhuman consciousness.

rumors

“What most people don’t know is that there are many planes of existence. Even among the people who do know about other realms, they generally only know about one or two. The Empyrean Swimmer has been to all of them, multiple times. You may encounter it in places you never thought even possible. It always comes home to the Primordial Dream, though.”

The Empyrean Swimmer has visited many planes beyond the material and the Primordial Dream. Its favorite is the Hedge, for that realm is beautiful and everchanging, though it also enjoys swimming through the Underworld and learning the secrets of the dead. However, the Empyrean Swimmer feels most at home in the Primordial Dream, and always returns to this realm after a visit elsewhere. Legends of the Empyrean Swimmer have spread within the Beast community and further into other supernatural avenues through its travels. Those that wish to find it may have to seek out rumors from other super- natural creatures and their experiences with the elusive spirit.

“If you want knowledge about things beyond your own front door, you need to seek out the Empyrean Swimmer. I hear tell it has been collecting a great amount of information about all the other supernatural creatures in the world, things they would never want you to know.”

The lives of changelings, mages, werewolves, and other supernatural beings often touch parallel worlds. As a result of visiting these planes, the Empyrean Swimmer has been able to learn a lot about these creatures. The one exception, however, is vampires. Kindred generally exist in no realm except the material — the one plane the Empyrean Swimmer visits the least often. On the rare occasions it does make the trip from the Primordial Dream into Twilight, few vampires have the ability to even perceive, much less interact with, the Empyrean Swimmer. It knows of the existence of vampires, and is aware of the differences between the vampire clans, but otherwise knows nothing about Kindred society. This is a gap in its knowledge which it would like to remedy. Any who seek out the Empyrean

Swimmer must be prepared to share information it does not already have in return for what they are looking for, which is often a difficult task.

“I hear the Empyrean Swimmer has a vast library filled with volumes upon volumes of lore and magical artifacts. They say it keeps these things in some kind of underwater lair; if you can find it, you are likely to find riches beyond your imagining.”

The Empyrean Swimmer is a spirit. It owns nothing, has no possessions, and claims no territory beyond the patch of water it currently occupies. Yet, what the Empyrean Swimmer knows and has witnessed would be enough to fill a library of the sort of which the rumors speak. While it may not specifi- cally own any magical artifacts, it certainly knows where quite a few of them are located.

After obtaining a rare journal detailing the work a mage performed with spirits, the hunter organization Aegis Kai Doru learned of the Empyrean Swimmer. A cell of hunters working for this conspiracy, while looking further into the spirit’s existence, has realized that the Empyrean Swimmer knows the location of many magical artifacts. The cell would like to figure out a way to communicate with the Empyrean Swimmer, though it has no violent inclinations towards it, yet.

Legend: Acquisitive Rank: 5

Attributes: Power 8, Finesse 14, Resistance 11 Corpus: 16 Willpower: 10 Essence: 35 Size: 6 Speed: 24 Initiative: 25 Defense: 8

Influences: Fear •••, Water ••

Numina: Awe, Bane Sense, Drain, Invade Dream, Nightmare Weaponry, Pathfinder

Manifestations: Fetter, Nightmare Apparition, Realm Gateway: The Hedge, Realm Gateway: The Shadow, Realm Gateway: Temenos, Realm Gateway: Underworld, Unfetter

Ban: Must collect secrets, especially occult secrets. Bane: Cannot leave naturally-occurring bodies of water (or manufactured bodies of water open to the sky and air, such as canals or aqueducts). If the Empyrean Swimmer is tricked into entering a waterless area (such as by being lured into a canal which was then blocked and drained), it may be harmed by mundane attacks. Notes: The Empyrean Swimmer is not a fighter, though it is magically powerful. If threatened, it simply swims away (possibly into another realm). Only if the Empyrean Swimmer is trapped or cornered will it fight back — and only to end the conflict quickly and decisively. Few other beings have the ease of movement that the Empyrean Swimmer enjoys, and it knows pursuit is difficult.

Background

The waters just below the bluff were widely known to be treacherous, but they had always called out to him. Siren song wasn’t the phrase; the waves that beat against the cliff felt safer than land ever had, and though swimming in them as a child always earned a swift call to come out and a lecture as he was ushered back into the house, he never listened for long. He couldn’t. The little dwelling just down the hill from the light- house wasn’t home; the rolling waves and cold, salted water were where he was always been most at peace.

As he grew older and watched the waves of summer people come and go from his sleepy cape town, the nightmares began. Beneath the placid waves lived giant, malevolent creatures, things that lurked in water far too shallow to house them, things that loathed the influx of bodies to their home. They brought poisons with them — the chemical lotions, the gas and oil from their motorboats, the waste from beachfront picnics — and cared little, if at all, for what they did to the water they invaded. When the waves frothed and foamed with motion and the tourists ran screaming, he waded in peacefully, almost in a trance. The world shrank around him as every step brought the water up higher — ankles, shins, knees, thighs, and chest. The undertow would grip him when he lost his footing, yank-