Nobilis: Of Love and Heaven - Chancel and Imperator Creation

[Lee Deity]

This thread is for everyone to discuss what they want for their Chancel. Your chancel is basically your base of operations, a hidden place pinched off from the world where the rules of the world are changed, and you, as Nobles, have power. Chancels can be just about anything you want, and can have just about anything you desire - after all, Imperators make them, and will warp them into anything they desire. The list of Chancel Attributes are in the Chancels and Imperators chapter.

For the moment, we don't have everyone's Character Sheets, so I don't know how many chancel points you get to spend - but for those still making characters, your Chancel points are equal to the combined Realm Scores of everyone in the group. With Drew's score, this gives us a current total of... 0. Unless the other two decide to become Realm King/Queens, this will probably mean that you won't have a lot of points to spend on things, so you'll either have to buy a few negative properties, or severely limit what your chancel can do.

But, while we wait for everyone to finalise their characters, we can at least do the following:

1) Discuss what Chancel Properties are on the wish-list - what you'd like to get, and what you're willing to get to pay for them.

2) What sort of theme and general flavour you'd like your chancel to have.

[Lee Deity]

Alright, the three players currently up now have a combined total of 2 Chancel Points to spend (them appearing courtesy of our Power of Life). Spend them wisely, Don't be afraid to pick up Negative chancel properties (Since none of you have particularly high Realm scores, I'd probably recommend a high Landlord as a good start

[004]

Okay, why don't we start with the theme we'd like the Chancel to have?

I understand that most of the game is going to take place inside the Chancel (or so it says is usual in the book). So, what kind of flavor/genre/theme do people want for the setting of the game?

Lee, could we get your input/opinion on this as well, too?

[SalmonMax]

The game takes place in the Chancel? I thought we'd be more involved in the real world, with the Chancel just being a sort of 'hideout.'

Doh.

[Lee Deity]

It can go either way. I'd probably expect a fairly equal mix of in-chancel stories and out of chancel stories. Regardless, I'd agree that best thing would be to agree on a general theme for the chancel, so you know what's likely to be appropriate.

I'll throw some input into the actual process when everyone's had a chance to contribute.

[The Fine Balance]

I'm sure the final product will be rather different, but let's take a look at what we have here: Life, Stories and Secrets. I would imagine a very vibrant, mythical sort of place, but very layered. Everything has a life, and everything has a voice. But everything also has secrets. A sort of dark fantastical theme, in other words, rather like Changeling: the Lost's Arcadia.

[SalmonMax]

Well, bear in mind that I have no points in Realm, so I wouldn't expect Secrets to play much of a role in the Chancel's environment.

[004]

Not having points in Realm just means that you're not particularly powerful personally in the Chancel. I like Alex's idea of a darkly mythic Chancel. Has anyone ever read Neil Gaiman's Sandman? A feel like the Dreaming would be fun and interesting to me.

[SalmonMax]

It would actually be kind of oddly amusing to create the Endless using Nobilis and see how close one could get.

[004]

Honestly? They'd be Imperators. And their realms out of Sandman would be their Chancels. Nobilis is rather perfect for Sandman, or really most of Neil Gaiman's works.

[SalmonMax]

Y'know, that'd be kind of cool. The Endless go off to fight some kind of foe, and to watch over their realms in their absence (to avoid the sort of kerfluffle that afflicted Morpheus' realm when he went missing for awhile) they imbue mortals with fragments of their powers.

Dream might create 'nobles' of Story (which could include inspiration), Mystery, Dreams (including nightmares), and so on. They'd all 'share' The Dreaming, of course.

I think Life would fall under Desire's spheres.

[004]

Given the explanation of the function of the Endless in the comics (i.e. they define their opposite), then Life would fall under Death's power.

Destiny defines freedom.

Destruction defines creation.

Death defines life.

Dream defines reality.

Desire/Despair define emotions between the two of them.

Delirium defines sanity (for the moment) and the paradox of existence.

[SalmonMax]

I don't know if I agree that "defining their opposite" is the same as saying, "they have power/responsibility over their opposite."

The impression I get is that they 'define' their negatives not by having power over their opposite, but because in determining what their opposites are NOT, they help define what those opposites ARE.

For example, by embodying entropy and the breakdown of complexity into simplicity, Destruction 'defines' creation as being NOT that. That doesn't mean he controls creativity or creative forces. Similarly, Dream is imagination and everything UNreal...and thus what IS real is defined by what is NOT his.

And finally, Death is the guardian of ways; the 'boundary' and the guide across the boundary between life and death, existence and non-existence. Everything in between birth/creation and death/destruction (like life) is by definition -not- hers, even if it is delineated and defined by her.

That's my take on it at least.

[Lee Deity]

Alright, my thoughts, and a few ideas thrown out:

* The fact that we have both Secrets and Stories (information both told and untold) gives a few nice possibilities. One could almost set up the Chancel as a battlefield between these two Estates, between the bright light of dissemination and the dark shadow of censorship. This can go quite a few ways in terms of what genre your chancel's likely to be, as this a fairly basic theme.

* Khabaka is heavily Egyptian-themed, and we could very well take that to the chancel itself (It might be the Chancel is very old and was made from part of the world-spanning Egyptian empire, and Khabaka was actually a chancelfolk before she was enNobled).

* Don't be afraid to go a little silly, or a little surreal. When your Imperator took a part of the world and turned it into their Chancel, they likely have changed it to their own tastes, which are unlike any human's. So, things like a big Zeppelin City in the sky, powered by the flocks of uranium-birds that fly around it, are perfectly legitimate in a Chancel. After all, who else is going to see it?

* On a similar note, things that are more abstract in the real world can take a more concrete existence within your realm. The idea of, say information being valuable can translate to knowledge being legal tender - that chancelfolk trade scraps of paper with information on it instead of banknotes. Libraries then become banks, etc.

I've often used the ideas of Michael Moorcock and the Dancers at the End of Time as a yardstick for what I might see in a chancel - The Nobles' and Imperators' only hard and fast limit is their own imagination, especially in their Chancel, and of course, specific Nobles often control specific sections of the Chancel anyway, so out-of-place things can exist within a chancel.

[The Fine Balance]

I am just going to throw a few ideas out and see what sticks:

*I'm not crazy about Egyptian themes in general, but I could see it working quite welll; the libraries Lee mentioned (an idea I love) could become walls upon walls of dusty scrolls in an Alexandrian structure.

*Information tends to either eradicate or embellish on itself; that is, it either grows and changes (into a Story), or it dies (and becomes a Secret). Sort of like a quantum computer; lots of power, but things tend to get smudged if you don't watch them closely.

*As I mentioned earlier, everything is filled with life, sand and stone and tree and masonry. Many things, such as trees, are engaged in bizarre activities such as dropping leaves over the years to create a complex mosaic. There may even be areas in which ones time sense changes slightly to better observe the struggles of the trees or other inanimate objects.

*The more humanoid citizens are somewhat indistinct beings; they fade into one another, have little in the way of individual personality, and are primarily concerned with basic archetypal goals, until they do something particularly notable and earn a Name. Thus, most of the background folk will be literal 'extras' on the stage, limited and fading into the background the moment you look away. Ones importance corresponds to ones fame.

*Except when it doesn't. Fame is both a weakness and a strength, and Named are instinctively secretive, annihilating information about themselves wherever they find it in a basic survival instinct. Rarely, this goes far enough that they lose their identity. And so the struggle between legend and secret continues.

*All citizens are surprisingly resilient. A gunfight may break out, a Named may be stabbed, and at the end of the scene everything is more or less back to normal. Significant (read: Noble) involvement, or truly epic events in general, may change the rules.

*There are farmers. They do not always farm what is expected. Nor do the ranches confine themselves towith cattle. You may see a farmer harvesting Forgetfulness and Nostalgia, or a shepherd herding his flock of tropes across the hills, or a dairy farmer milking his cliches for all they're worth.

*Everything is more vibrant and intense, like someone grabbed the dials on the television and twisted till they found the most eye-aching, intense color and tint imaginable. A shout turns into a thundershock; a leper is a living nightmare; the smell of a field of flowers is powerful enough to cause dizziness; a Van Gogh masterpiece is literally painful in its piercing beauty.

*Places and things that aren't visited much may fade away, turn into something else entirely, entrap visitors, or pretend to be something they're not, i.e. a door pretending to be a wall or a pig pretending to be a tree stump.

*Lighting is always perfect, except when imperfect lighting would generate more emotional effect.

*Body parts or organs may be objects of trade for the desperate, who can easily take a hatchet to their hand, sell it, and in better times buy a new hand and reattach it.

*There are all sorts of ways to get to places, flying horses, dragons, elevated (or levitating) trains, clockwork and steam-powered cars, giant insects, but they all tend to get where they're going whenever would be most interesting. Interesting, of course, does not necessarily mean good any more than it means bad.

*Things grow. A lot. Make of that what you will.

[SalmonMax]

Here's a few ideas:

The Chancel has two "layers." There's the 'Story' affiliated area, which ranges from cheerful and cartoonish to dire and scary. Things in Story are imaginary...caricatures of real things sometimes, but always trumped up to become things of whimsy.

You go through underground passages and caverns then to arrive on the other layer, which is attuned to Secrets. This looks a lot like the normal world at first. Human beings. Buildings. Cars. But everyone seems in on something you're not. Significant looks flash across spaces. Everyone seems to look at you, just to glance away when you try to catch them. People are friendly, but there's always something behind the smile that suggests they know something about you. Imagine a world run by the Illuminati...-everyone's- in it, to one degree or another. A giant conspiracy so complex no one person is in on it all.

All this, with the additional wrinkle that everything is alive. Everything. Even inanimate things can be spoken with, if you know how to wake them up. This could be a sort of animistic/shinto world perhaps, where everything has a spirit self...or it might be more obvious, where nothing is truly inanimate. Or maybe it works one way in one layer, and another way in the other...

[004]

Here's my responses to Alex's points:

*I'm not crazy about Egyptian themes in general, but I could see it working quite welll; the libraries Lee mentioned (an idea I love) could become walls upon walls of dusty scrolls in an Alexandrian structure.

I love the library idea as well. I'd also be up for a just one small part of the Chancel being Egyptian themed. The Library and its surrounding areas would work, especially since the mortal that Khabaka would have moved here is of a scholarly bent.

*Information tends to either eradicate or embellish on itself; that is, it either grows and changes (into a Story), or it dies (and becomes a Secret). Sort of like a quantum computer; lots of power, but things tend to get smudged if you don't watch them closely.

I like this idea, especially if you combine it with the money idea. You can use information as a medium of exchange, including everything from vouchers of information to pulling out your own memories to 'make' tender for yourself. But it will always change each time it changes hands. It can grow or become smudged and lost, but every time it changes hands something will happen. It means that the exchange in this world is always a risk but that even the thoughts here are living things.

*As I mentioned earlier, everything is filled with life, sand and stone and tree and masonry. Many things, such as trees, are engaged in bizarre activities such as dropping leaves over the years to create a complex mosaic. There may even be areas in which ones time sense changes slightly to better observe the struggles of the trees or other inanimate objects.

This seems interesting but not very playable. I dunno.

*The more humanoid citizens are somewhat indistinct beings; they fade into one another, have little in the way of individual personality, and are primarily concerned with basic archetypal goals, until they do something particularly notable and earn a Name. Thus, most of the background folk will be literal 'extras' on the stage, limited and fading into the background the moment you look away. Ones importance corresponds to ones fame.

This is actually a very Egyptian idea, with Names being reflections of the number of souls a person possesses. Only the Phaoroh was thought to have all seven souls (and thus such complicated names), with slaves and unimportant people more often having profession names that weren't personal. Like Baker, Butcher, Builder, Scribe.

*Except when it doesn't. Fame is both a weakness and a strength, and the Named are instinctively secretive, annihilating information about themselves wherever they find it in a basic survival instinct. Rarely, this goes far enough that they lose their identity. And so the struggle between legend and secret continues.

Hmn. I think it would be more fun to say that people when named also earn a True Name. If you learn someone's True Name you have complete power over them, so the Named try to insure that no one ever learns their True Name. It's a part of their very soul, though, so there is almost always a way to find it out if a person is determined enough. Secrets making stories.

*All citizens are surprisingly resilient. A gunfight may break out, a Named may be stabbed, and at the end of the scene everything is more or less back to normal. Significant (read: Noble) involvement, or truly epic events in general, may change the rules.

I don't like this mostly because it makes the game feel fairly static or, I dunno, pointless.

*There are farmers. They do not always farm what is expected. Nor do the ranches confine themselves towith cattle. You may see a farmer harvesting Forgetfulness and Nostalgia, or a shepherd herding his flock of tropes across the hills, or a dairy farmer milking his cliches for all they're worth.

This is beautiful and pulls all three in together as Story seeds can be farmed and bought for an interesting time in you life, Secrets can be grown in damp dark places and used to spice just about anything, etc. It gives the Chancel another interesting literary feel.

*Everything is more vibrant and intense, like someone grabbed the dials on the television and twisted till they found the most eye-aching, intense color and tint imaginable. A shout turns into a thundershock; a leper is a living nightmare; the smell of a field of flowers is powerful enough to cause dizziness; a Van Gogh masterpiece is literally painful in its piercing beauty.

Eh. Not a fan of this one.

*Places and things that aren't visited much may fade away, turn into something else entirely, entrap visitors, or pretend to be something they're not, i.e. a door pretending to be a wall or a pig pretending to be a tree stump.

I like the first part of this, especially if those places attempt to gain attention through some sort of advertisement or whatnot.

*Lighting is always perfect, except when imperfect lighting would generate more emotional effect.

Eh. I don't know that it would add to gameplay.

*Body parts or organs may be objects of trade for the desperate, who can easily take a hatchet to their hand, sell it, and in better times buy a new hand and reattach it.

I don't like this one. It doesn't seem to fit well with the themes that using the ones I do like would create.

*There are all sorts of ways to get to places, flying horses, dragons, elevated (or levitating) trains, clockwork and steam-powered cars, giant insects, but they all tend to get where they're going whenever would be most interesting. Interesting, of course, does not necessarily mean good any more than it means bad.

Perfect Timing Inc., At Your Service! Be it gryphon, horse, or leviathan, we'll get you where you need to be in the nick of time! (Protagonist success not guaranteed, see brochure for details and insurance.)

*Things grow. A lot. Make of that what you will.

Again, fine for backdrop, doesn't seem important.

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

Here's my responses to Alex's points:
I love the library idea as well. I'd also be up for a just one small part of the Chancel being Egyptian themed. The Library and its surrounding areas would work, especially since the mortal that Khabaka would have moved here is of a scholarly bent.

Works for me.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

I like this idea, especially if you combine it with the money idea. You can use information as a medium of exchange, including everything from vouchers of information to pulling out your own memories to 'make' tender for yourself. But it will always change each time it changes hands. It can grow or become smudged and lost, but every time it changes hands something will happen. It means that the exchange in this world is always a risk but that even the thoughts here are living things.

Very cool. And I am especially proud of that idea.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

This seems interesting but not very playable. I dunno.

True enough, but I was thinking it would work very well for atmosphere.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

This is actually a very Egyptian idea, with Names being reflections of the number of souls a person possesses. Only the Phaoroh was thought to have all seven souls (and thus such complicated names), with slaves and unimportant people more often having profession names that weren't personal. Like Baker, Butcher, Builder, Scribe.

I thought it might correspond to Egyptian mythology, but I was too lazy to go look it up.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

Hmn. I think it would be more fun to say that people when named also earn a True Name. If you learn someone's True Name you have complete power over them, so the Named try to insure that no one ever learns their True Name. It's a part of their very soul, though, so there is almost always a way to find it out if a person is determined enough. Secrets making stories.

I like it.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

I don't like this mostly because it makes the game feel fairly static or, I dunno, pointless.

Yes, it would probably work better for a game set primarily in the Really Real World, to highlight the differences between the two.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

A bunch of other stuff.

Yes.

Originally Posted By: Khabaka

Again, fine for backdrop, doesn't seem important.

It's not, but I think it adds flavor.

Max: your idea is very cool. I think it needs to be worked in.

[004]

I like the themes of SM's idea, but not the split of the Chancel. I'd prefer if everything were intertwined instead of having specific places for Story and Secrets. Just a personal preference.

[SalmonMax]

Just seems like it's the nature of Secrets not to be exposed in plain sight. You have to seek them out. They shouldn't be obvious.

[Lee Deity]

It occurs to me that if you wish to emphasise the deal with information and stories, perhaps we could state that the Chancel's economy doesn't just include the Chancel's secrets - The Chancel, in fact, seems to just collect secrets and stories from just about everywhere on the World Ash. In fact, this Chancel could well be considered a go-to place for Nobles and others who wish to discover information about someone, hidden or not.

This would have the benefit of giving your Chancel a lot of power in the world of the Nobilis - information, after all, is power. It does, however, have the downside of giving your Chancel a lot of power in the world of Nobilis - information, after all, is power.

If you wanted to go with this, I'd be happy to grant you the Important Chancel property for 0 points, and make this component of the Chancel's workings a very important element of the game.

[004]

That sounds fantastic to me, especially with what else we've discussed about the Chancel. It's probably a place with many libraries/reliquaries and whatnot that appear in the Chancel with the Stories or Secrets they contain become powerful enough in one way or another to manifest there. I'm all for it!

[Lee Deity]

Alright, so now that we have a general theme, it's worth looking at the kinds of properties that would be appropriate for the Chancel and Imperator. To recap, you have I believe 3 Chancel points between the three of you, to spend as you wish.

Here's a list of Chancel Properties that seem appropriate for your position. If you want to look at the whole list, they go from page 136:

• Accessibility - This chancel improves your Chancel's connection with the outside world, allowing you to access more places than otherwise. 2pts will give you more openings (say, the chancel being accessible from any state library), 6pts makes the chancel accessible from literally Anywhere, 7pts makes the Chancel mobile, capable of moving from one place to another. Generally, these don't affect the security of the chancel - the roads are still secret and winding, and outsiders will find it difficult to enter without permission. Alternatively, you can get some points back by leaving the Chancel wide open with the Open property - anyone can just enter or leave as they wish.
• Banes - a nasty negative property that creates a dangerous enemy within your Chancel, chomping at the bit to destroy you and the Chancel. -1pt for each enemy
• Landlord - A landlord is an Immortal non-noble who has been granted a Realm Score, and thus can assist in protecting the Chancel. This is quite useful, but it is also a Negative property - The higher the Realm score of the landlord, the more forceful they will be about exerting their control. You get as many points back as your Landlord has Realm levels.
• Magical Inhabitants - You have creatures with magical abilities. They aren't miraculous, so they can't harm Nobles directly, but they're perfectly capable of affecting mundane things within the Chancel. This is 1-9 points, depending on how many there are and how useful they are.
• Resources - This is a generic property that determines technology and magic level within the Chancel. The question of whether you want Super-tech or Magic in your chancel, and whether you want that to be useable outside the chancel, rests on this property. This property also includes negative properties, such as the Deviant Technology property, which makes any technology in the chancel fail to work outside the chancel
• I've already mentioned the Important property - basically, your chancel is well-respected because of a particular service you provide to the Noble community. Nobles will generally hesitate to cross such a chancel. Should you want it, it's on sale for 0pts this game.

As for your Imperator, I think we're getting an idea of the sort of creature they might be, but alas I've not a lot of time to elaborate totally. However, their properties are in the same chapter, feel free to look around at any that seem appropriate. When I get time tonight, I will give a list of properties that might be appropriate.

[SalmonMax]

Lets brainstorm a bit in concrete terms.

To my mind, stories and secrets are to some extent opposed (though interrelated) concepts. The idea being that a story that is told to others...while a secret is kept to oneself.

I realize there's permutations that are more complicated...but even a yin and yang have points of intersection...and those two little dots of each other's nature. The dynamic tension between these two polarities could form the spiritual energy source of the Chancel...that which gives it life.

I'm thinking there definitely should be a library in the Chancel...something very important and central to it. It could be a library in the same sense as the library in the Unseen University (for Pratchett fans) which seems to go on forever.

I also confess I still kind of like the idea of the dualism being represented physically...in there being some kind of "story" side and a "secret" side. It might be two different physical locales, or it might be a more subtle shift, like daytime and nighttime. The library of stories has everything ever written...the library of secrets is everything -never- written. And so on.

Just throwing ideas around.

[004]

I like the day/nighttime idea better than the split of the chancel, although I don't know that literal day and nighttime for the shift would be thematic as many stories are 'nighttime' stories.

What about a duality like the Hisil or old Changeling chimeric reality? Every person, building, whatever, has a secret self that if you know how to 'switch' it, you can access it. So the Library of Stories becomes the Library of Secrets if you know the secret to switch you over to that side. Like the Hisil, there's a commonality between the two sides, though differences do occur. People, sentient beings at least, are a little different in that they can move from one side to another (if they know one of the secrets to doing so, or a location where they can), but remain themselves unless someone invokes their True Name to reveal their secret self.

The Story side is usually larger than life in whatever theme or archetype the area is in (the particular genre of story of an area), and the Secrets side full of deep shadows, hidden places, puzzles, and whatnot.

An idea.

[SalmonMax]

Hee hee...

You and I are on the same channel. That's more or less exactly what I was thinking...

In fact, when I imagine how it works, I think of the scene in Spirited Away where Chihiro first enters the world of spirits. That gradual change from ordinary to fabulous.

As for attributes, I think we need Magical Inhabitants...beings of story and secret given life should have some magical abilities. We could have a landlord too. A Librarian, perhaps...who looked after the Chancel since before we were selected for eNobling. Not so powerful as to be completely intractable, but strong enough to voice his or her mind freely. And the Librarian is the same, in Story or Secret...the Librarian is the only thing that doesn't change.

Resources would also be appropriate...

[004]

Ooh! I like the Librarian idea, although I would say that their Secret is the Story of how they became the Librarian. No one knows, and very few creatures in the Chancel remember a time before the Librarian, but there was at time before.

The Library could also be somewhat like the castle in the Dreaming of Neil Gaiman's Sandman: You can find anywhere in the Chancel through the Library. Perhaps books that if you open them correctly become portals to those places?

I'd say our accessibility would be low, it is a place of secrets. High Landlord, some magical creatures and no above medieval to speak of. I'm not sure we have the points to spend on making the magic useful outside of the Chancel. And I definitely go for Important. We hold the stories and the secrets of the living world.

[The Fine Balance]

I think a Bane would be interesting, and very appropriate for a place of stories and secrets. Not that I'm that incredibly excited about an enemy destroying us from within, but it could be interesting. There's so many permutations I almost don't know where to begin making suggestions...some sort of elemental creeping dust, perhaps, that causes things to begin 'fading'...but it's a moot point if you don't like the idea of a Bane to begin with. So do you?

And about two points in Landlord and a point in magical creatures? Magic is also thematic, if we can squeeze any outta this. Knew I should've taken a dot in Realm...>.>

[SalmonMax]

Here's a thought:

As long as we're pulling pages from Gaiman, why not take another?

Suppose this Chancel has long been abandoned, the inhabitants left on their own, and the Librarian the only real authority. During that time, the magic of the realm has slowly faded, and perhaps even some dark knot of force has taken root within...

Then the Imperator returns briefly from the front lines, realizes that things aren't going too well here and replaces the original Nobles with...us. Maintaining the realm is one of our mandates.

Then as we spend experience, we can put a point into Realm every so often, reflecting the slow re-awakening of the Chancel...and possibly the vanquishing of the Bane...if we decide to go that way.

[Lee Deity]

Quote:

Knew I should've taken a dot in Realm...>.>

So few players recognise the value of Realm, I've found.

[004]

SM - I'm fine with that so long as Khabaka came from another Chancel to this one. She's a bit old to fit comfortably as a new enNobled.

[Lee Deity]

Okay, so I'm seeing the following:

Original Realm Score (-3 points)

Landlord (-2-3 points?)

Magical Creatures (+1-2 points?)

Important (0 points)

It looks like you're mostly running for Magical Inhabitants and Resources for the main positive properties, but you should probably choose what level you want for them. The following should help that:

Magical/Hypertech Inhabitants

Some Beings with Earthly magics/hypertech: 1pt

Many Such Beings: +1pt

These beings can be used as Anchors: +2pts

Some of these beings have Anchor-like resistance to miracles: +2pts

Some have Anchor-like resistance to miracles and Auctoritas: +3pts

Some have actual miraculous powers: +5pts

Resources

Magic and modern technology are nearly unknown in chancel: -1pt

Technology in chancel, even simple things, will not function outside the chancel: -1pt

Technology from outside chancel will not function within the chancel (within limit of your choice): 1pt

Chancel has access to Extrapolative technology (stuff you'd conceive of RL us coming up with in the next 100 years or so): 2pts

Weird Science: Technology that's several quantum leaps away from our tech (things like psionics, dimensional science, etc): +1pt per weird science

Normal Magic (is equivalent to modern tech but cleaner and generally more effective, but highly draining for users): 3pts

Weird Magic: Magic in a similar vein to Weird Science - magical stuff that's quantum leaps ahead in effectiveness of modern technology: +1pts

The main difference between these two properties is it's scope - Resource properties can be used outside the chancel, while the power of Magical Inhabitants are traditionally restricted to within the chancel.

Also, finally, Here's a list of Imperator properties that I think would be useful for the group (the full list starts on page 144). Remember, you have 0pts to spend, so any positive property needs to be paid for by a negative property:

Positive Properties

• Granted Gift: Your Imperator grants the entire familia a 1pt Gift with a 1pt Handicap.
• Harvest: Your Imperator has entrusted you with collecting power for him, in whatever way is granted, and you may thus gain extra dynasty points per "session" when you gather that power for him. Dynasty points serve two purposes - they serve as a group-wide reserve of miracle points. They can also be used to pay for extra Imperator points later down the track, at a rate of 25 points per Imperator point. Without this property, you'd naturally gather a small amount after each story, and you'd gather more by stealing power off Nobles and Excrucians. 1pt Doubles the natural rate, 2pts quadruples it.
• Clear-sightedness: Your Imperator sees the world and those within it with exceptional clarity. Thus, your Imperator will not normally set you tasks beyond your capabilities. You gain the further benefit of being able to see hidden things within the world. 1pt for this property.
• Sympathetic: Your Imperator can feel the emotions of those around them as easily as their own. They may still do callous things, but never unknowingly or uncaringly. Their powers share part of this insight, and gain insight into the motivations of others. 1pt for this property.
• Mastery: The Imperator takes a day (or two, if they enjoy the subject) to learn a skill completely and utterly, thus their Nobles can perform feats an extra Aspect level higher without cost. 1pt per skill for +1 Aspect, 2pts per skill for +2 Aspect
• Incomprehensibility: The Imperator doesn't quite understand their own existence, for whatever reason, and thus is entirely incomprehensible to itself and others. The bonus for their Nobles is that they too share a bit that incomprehensibility. 1pt makes the Nobles invisible to Noble Sight, and impossible to detect for lies. 2pts adds the benefit of being entirely indescribable, any attempt to describe the Nobles is about as useful as a description of a toddler that doesn't include their age.

Negative Properties

• Granted Handicap: Your entire familia gains one particular Handicap, with no further benefit. -1pt
• Demanding: A popular negative property, Imperators with this property are constantly asking things of their nobles, piling up problem upon problem, rarely getting peace.
• Cruel: These Imperators are vicious, caring about feeling and emotion only enough to enjoy inflicting pain upon them. Nobles aren't a target of this cruelty, but such Imperators are likely to push their Nobles beyond their capabilities with their lack of empathy. (-1pt, this property is incompatible with Sympathetic or Clear-sighted)
• Untalented: There's one important mortal skill that the Imperator simply cannot learn, and their Nobles share this problem - in that one skill, they are completely incompetent. -1pts per skill.
• Cold: Imperators with this Property care for a certain Affiliation greatly. As such, as well as their own affiliation, they will lose points if they go against their Imperator's affiliation as well. -1pts