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Bio: Drosselmeyer
Dec. 25th, 2022 04:12 pmName: Drosselmeyer
Date of Birth: March 13, 1995
Apparent Age: 70s
Place of Birth: St. Petersburg, Russia
Current Home: New York City
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black (graying)
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 174 lbs
Sex: Male
PB: Morgan Freeman
Race: Ratkin
Breeed: Rodens (Caged Folk - Rattus superior)
Aspect: Engineer
Concept: Theatrical Lab Rat
Occupation: Tinkerer, Hacker
Nature: (A character's basic personality, their fundamental behavior and perception of the world.)
Sage: Knowledge is your treasure and your joy, and you enjoy both learning as well as teaching others your wisdom. Regain Willpower when you help someone through your vast knowledge or uncover an obscure piece of lore.
Demeanor: (The image the character projects to the outside world.)
Decoder: You thrive on puzzles and riddles, be they the obvious sort, found in books and games, or hidden within seemingly benign texts or even a person's face. Regain Willpower when you solve a particularly challenging puzzle or mystery.
Jewelry: In homid form, has a black eye patch with decorative gold trim. This sometimes manifests in Crinos and Rodens form, though only when it won't endanger the Veil.
The Call You Mad - Genius has its price. Every Engineer has a psychological trait that distracts him from real' world concerns. Other Ratkin can buy these as Flaws; you must automatically take one of these for free.
- Kleptomania (roll versus Willpower to avoid taking that little widget that would be just perfect for your next creation)
Appearance: Years of genetic manipulation have altered the appearance of Ratkin Engineers. Each one has a physiological trait that identifies him as the gene freak he is. Drosselmeyer has only one functional eye. He's been blind in the other since birth. In Rodens form, this manifests in one of his eyes appearing to be a cloudy pink, the other appearing to be normal black. In Rodens form, his fur is white.
Merit:
Flaw:
Kleptomaniac - Rats get attached to all sorts of little knickknacks humans leave lying around. One sign of a thriving infestation near someone's home is the sudden disappearance of small personal objects. Your character has an extreme version of this trait. If she's got the 2-point Flaw: Kleptomania, she can't resist continually snatching up tempting objects wherever she travels. The Storyteller should set up a signal or code word to designate a "tempting object" in the story. Each time the Storyteller uses this code word, your character has the chance to steal something nearby. If you disregard this signal, the Storyteller will have you roll Willpower (difficulty 9) to avoid snatching up the nearest shiny thing. Often these items will be harmless, but some of them may be hazardous, illegal, or just plain demented. Many Ratkin Engineers automatically have this disadvantage; if they do, they don't get extra points for taking it as a Flaw.
Bad Sight - 2 point Flaw - Your sight is defective. The difficulties of all dice rolls related to vision are increased by two. This Flaw is neither nearsightedness nor farsightedness — it is a minor form of blindness. The impairment is not correctable.
Curiosity - 2 Point Flaw - You are a naturally curious person, and find mysteries of any sort irresistible. In most circumstances, you find that your curiosity easily overrides your common sense. To resist the temptation, make a Wits roll (difficulty 5) for simple things like, "I wonder what is in that cabinet." Increase the difficulty up to 9 for things like, "I wonder what those strange sounds coming from the Unseelie duke's freehold are. I'll just slip in and check it out — no one will ever know. What could possibly go wrong?"
History: Drosselmeyer was born a lab rat in a lab run by Developmental Neogenetics Amalgamated in Russia. Abnormally smart due to genetic tinkering by the lab, he and several of his littermates escaped the lab and took up residence in a nearby theater. These Caged Folk made a home in the walls and hidden spaces of the theater, venturing out for supplies, food, and sometimes entertainment. Drosselmeyer in particular was close to a stagehand who helped with the various productions at the theater, a young black human who would often share tasty tidbits with him or give him interesting shiny bits. He was fond of the ballet The Nutcracker, mainly for its inclusion of rats, and had obsessively watched it three years running (making him quite old by rat standards).
Then, infection. Drosselmeyer still isn't sure when exactly he was infected with the Birthing Plague. Their little colony of escaped Caged Folk were attacked by territorial rats from a nearby alley, attracted by the smell of the theater rats' food stores. Drosselmeyer was bitten and clawed several times during the fighting, as were many of the theater rats, but they were ultimately victorious over the alley rats. Drosselmeyer was, however, the only one of them to get sick, horribly sick, nearly delusional from the fever. Terrified by what was happening, he ran from his colony and his theater home, eventually ending up on a train bound for France. There, in the alleys of Paris, he had his first change.
Though he has been superficially gracious to Madame LeFarge's rodentia in the sewers of Paris, enough so that he's counted among their Plague, helping with their games of intrigue and espionage when asked, he keeps himself aloof from most Ratkin, preferring other Caged Folk when he can find them, humans or other Fera when he can't. Someone introduced him to Steampunk, and from then on, much of his favorite fashion and technology incorporates elements of it.
Despite his apparent age, especially in Homid form, Drosselmeyer has made a name for himself in certain (Gaian) circles as a talented tinkerer, tech wizard, and hacker. Though he likes to have space to tinker with machines, this space is often more like the spaces favored by rats than by humans (thanks to him being more comfortable in Rodens form), and he has a reputation for disappearing altogether when people or even other Ratkin get too nosy about his business.
Personality and Skills notes:
Date of Birth: March 13, 1995
Apparent Age: 70s
Place of Birth: St. Petersburg, Russia
Current Home: New York City
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black (graying)
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 174 lbs
Sex: Male
PB: Morgan Freeman
Race: Ratkin
Breeed: Rodens (Caged Folk - Rattus superior)
Aspect: Engineer
Concept: Theatrical Lab Rat
Occupation: Tinkerer, Hacker
Nature: (A character's basic personality, their fundamental behavior and perception of the world.)
Sage: Knowledge is your treasure and your joy, and you enjoy both learning as well as teaching others your wisdom. Regain Willpower when you help someone through your vast knowledge or uncover an obscure piece of lore.
Demeanor: (The image the character projects to the outside world.)
Decoder: You thrive on puzzles and riddles, be they the obvious sort, found in books and games, or hidden within seemingly benign texts or even a person's face. Regain Willpower when you solve a particularly challenging puzzle or mystery.
Jewelry: In homid form, has a black eye patch with decorative gold trim. This sometimes manifests in Crinos and Rodens form, though only when it won't endanger the Veil.
The Call You Mad - Genius has its price. Every Engineer has a psychological trait that distracts him from real' world concerns. Other Ratkin can buy these as Flaws; you must automatically take one of these for free.
- Kleptomania (roll versus Willpower to avoid taking that little widget that would be just perfect for your next creation)
Appearance: Years of genetic manipulation have altered the appearance of Ratkin Engineers. Each one has a physiological trait that identifies him as the gene freak he is. Drosselmeyer has only one functional eye. He's been blind in the other since birth. In Rodens form, this manifests in one of his eyes appearing to be a cloudy pink, the other appearing to be normal black. In Rodens form, his fur is white.
Merit:
Cagebound - 3 point Merit - You were born in a cage and raised by humans. Months of handling and affection have made you well-tempered, patient and sweet. Then the Birthing Plague changed everything. The Call of the Rat God was irresistible, and you had to leave behind the human with whom you had bonded. Fortunately, your tragic story has a happy ending. Your peaceful upbringing helps you enter Rapture, use Blood Memory, and gain Gnosis through meditation: you get a -1 difficulty on all of these rolls. You are also highly-knowledgeable about human society, though this knowledge is limited to what you saw in the room where you lived.
Caged Folk - 3 point Merit - If the Storyteller is willing to admit to the existence of the Caged Folk, you may purchase this Merit with her permission. You may select highly intelligent rats as your Kinfolk or Contacts. They generate their stats just like any other Kinfolk character, and can solve problems as efficiently as any human. Not surprisingly, they see all of human society through rodent eyes, misinterpreting the
reasons humans do things. They are also fanatic about concealing their true intelligence, forever wary that men in white lab coats will find them and take them away.
The Caged Folk:
Most rat Kinfolk have the intelligence of the average rat. They can be trained to do simple tricks, respond to their names, or even spy on people, but they can only communicate in simple sentences. As rumor would have it, though, there's allegedly one notable exception. Legends tell of family of Kinfolk that escaped from an elaborate experiment in the laboratories of Developmental Neogenetics Amalgamated. Through genetic manipulation, they have gained an abnormally high intelligence — slightly higher than the human average — and passed this blessing on to hundreds of Rat Kinfolk descendants.
Now the Nests pass on tales of a conspiracy of rodentia intelligentsia infiltrating the rodent population of North America. Secretly, it's said, they refer to themselves as the Caged Folk. Many are thought to have taken up positions as agents of espionage in research laboratories. Their mission is to breed frequently enough to raise the average intelligence of the rodent population, replacing the species Rattus narvegicus with the more evolved Rattus superior. Operating from secret nests, they educate their rugrats in reading, elementary science and rodent espionage. If these numbers are true, then this tiny group has probably already offered up a few of their own into the ranks of the Ratkin Engineers. They're always described as inordinately patient — insisting that their time will come.
Kleptomaniac - Rats get attached to all sorts of little knickknacks humans leave lying around. One sign of a thriving infestation near someone's home is the sudden disappearance of small personal objects. Your character has an extreme version of this trait. If she's got the 2-point Flaw: Kleptomania, she can't resist continually snatching up tempting objects wherever she travels. The Storyteller should set up a signal or code word to designate a "tempting object" in the story. Each time the Storyteller uses this code word, your character has the chance to steal something nearby. If you disregard this signal, the Storyteller will have you roll Willpower (difficulty 9) to avoid snatching up the nearest shiny thing. Often these items will be harmless, but some of them may be hazardous, illegal, or just plain demented. Many Ratkin Engineers automatically have this disadvantage; if they do, they don't get extra points for taking it as a Flaw.
Bad Sight - 2 point Flaw - Your sight is defective. The difficulties of all dice rolls related to vision are increased by two. This Flaw is neither nearsightedness nor farsightedness — it is a minor form of blindness. The impairment is not correctable.
Curiosity - 2 Point Flaw - You are a naturally curious person, and find mysteries of any sort irresistible. In most circumstances, you find that your curiosity easily overrides your common sense. To resist the temptation, make a Wits roll (difficulty 5) for simple things like, "I wonder what is in that cabinet." Increase the difficulty up to 9 for things like, "I wonder what those strange sounds coming from the Unseelie duke's freehold are. I'll just slip in and check it out — no one will ever know. What could possibly go wrong?"
The Freakachu "Yuri" - Rage 2, Gnosis 9, Willpower 3, Power Varies -
This is an electronic Rat-spirit, a tiny critter with an affinity for the Weaver that would put an Engineer to shame. It breeds in complex electronic systems, and takes on many of the characteristics of a virtual pet gone bad. Anyone who owns an electronic device inhabited by this spirit becomes its owner...or its victim, depending on your point of view. Freakachus (or "Freakas," as they're colloquially known) are notoriously hard to kill, even in the spirit world, since they can hide in the smallest computer networks.
Unlike its more sedate, mundane counterparts, the Freakachu has a repertoire of tactics for conditioning its owners. To the mundane, this manifests as amusing technical glitches that can only be solved by unusual methods. ("Really, the computer likes it when I sing.") For the spiritual aware, the critter will appear on a television or computer screen, taunting its owner. As the name suggests, it will "Freak-at-You" until it gets what it wants.
Freakachus have a love-hate relationship with Ratkin Engineers; their mood can make them boons or banes. A clever Ratkin, however, can nurture one of these little bastards into an electronic ally. When released in a computer network, the Freaka can carry out viral terrorism on command. Truly proficient owners will train their Freakas to battle each other as they develop, releasing them into contained computer networks surrounded by elaborate firewalls. Ratkin Engineers sometimes incorporate Freakachu events into their most popular aspect moots.
History: Drosselmeyer was born a lab rat in a lab run by Developmental Neogenetics Amalgamated in Russia. Abnormally smart due to genetic tinkering by the lab, he and several of his littermates escaped the lab and took up residence in a nearby theater. These Caged Folk made a home in the walls and hidden spaces of the theater, venturing out for supplies, food, and sometimes entertainment. Drosselmeyer in particular was close to a stagehand who helped with the various productions at the theater, a young black human who would often share tasty tidbits with him or give him interesting shiny bits. He was fond of the ballet The Nutcracker, mainly for its inclusion of rats, and had obsessively watched it three years running (making him quite old by rat standards).
Then, infection. Drosselmeyer still isn't sure when exactly he was infected with the Birthing Plague. Their little colony of escaped Caged Folk were attacked by territorial rats from a nearby alley, attracted by the smell of the theater rats' food stores. Drosselmeyer was bitten and clawed several times during the fighting, as were many of the theater rats, but they were ultimately victorious over the alley rats. Drosselmeyer was, however, the only one of them to get sick, horribly sick, nearly delusional from the fever. Terrified by what was happening, he ran from his colony and his theater home, eventually ending up on a train bound for France. There, in the alleys of Paris, he had his first change.
Though he has been superficially gracious to Madame LeFarge's rodentia in the sewers of Paris, enough so that he's counted among their Plague, helping with their games of intrigue and espionage when asked, he keeps himself aloof from most Ratkin, preferring other Caged Folk when he can find them, humans or other Fera when he can't. Someone introduced him to Steampunk, and from then on, much of his favorite fashion and technology incorporates elements of it.
Despite his apparent age, especially in Homid form, Drosselmeyer has made a name for himself in certain (Gaian) circles as a talented tinkerer, tech wizard, and hacker. Though he likes to have space to tinker with machines, this space is often more like the spaces favored by rats than by humans (thanks to him being more comfortable in Rodens form), and he has a reputation for disappearing altogether when people or even other Ratkin get too nosy about his business.
Personality and Skills notes:
- Thanks to his background as one of the Caged Folk, Drosselmeyer does understand human concepts with much better accuracy than many Rodens Ratkin, making him a bit odd but not completely unusual when about on his own among humans.
- Despite his apparent age, he's fairly adept at technology, and though there are many human things he sees no point in learning, computers are not one of those things.
- While he can work on technology in Homid form and has in the past, much of his adapted tech has been scavenged and intended for use in his Rodens form. This does lead other Fera to finding a rat with an eye patch hunched over a pile of spare parts, lit by scavenged Christmas lights, intently soldering the parts into something useful.
- Thanks to his curiosity and the Ratkin reputation for remaining unseen and overhearing secrets, Drosselmeyer does deal in secrets with other Fera, as well as technology, though he will absolutely not betray other Ratkin or Caged Ones.
- His love of theater is well known in circles that know him at all (read: other Fera), especially his love of The Nutcracker, and searching the local theater when he's known to be in the area is always a good place to start if someone is looking for him.
