Feris' Plot Notes

[Feris]

Overarching Theme for Motifs

Misanthropic concepts dominate the fold for Feris' magic. Each Rune incorporates elements of scholarly detachment, and the gradual decline of sanity, exploiting the vulnerabilities in others. More physically inclined runes may possess quirks that create a monstrous visage, tendrils, and facsimiles of life. Some Quirks may exaggerate the Sinorad identity, focusing on the mask, or memories of themselves and others.

In essence, the Quirks are meant to help tell a story about how a monster can manipulate the society of men towards degeneration, downfall, and subservience to a higher power. Later Master-tier Quirks should emphasize prophetic or otherworldly phenomena to symbolize Feris' ascension to a demigod-like being which many have come to worship and idolize.

[Feris]

Mesmer Motif: Pathos

Mesmer is the pinnacle of perception, and its vivid exploration. Mind, body, and soul. We tell stories with the senses, so it stands to reason that meddling with such things would change the path of others.

Apprentice Quirk: Black Mambo

A construct unlike the life around him with a mask he cannot disavow, Feris constantly uses his magic to fit in. This has become second nature, and so Mesmer idly warps the associations of his mask to match warmer concepts. Those who look upon his mask will struggle to see a friendly face, interpreting it as if someone were smiling warmly at the appropriate moment. This change is extremely subtle, but helps to give him an edge with day to day life. Few begin to question the mask.

Being a subtle effect, it is easy to dispel. A strong emotion in opposition to the mask will snap the still-drying glue of this friendly association. This can be from a negative interaction, a grudge, or a nay-sayer inviting criticism of his mask. Feris must maintain etiquette, civility, and awareness. Those who hold prejudice against the bestial folk such as Rathari or those that know he is some kind of mage will have an easier time seeing through this ruse.

Journeyman Quirk: Metaphysical Orator

Feris' voice can transcend normal boundaries, communicating through the Symphony all minds possess through a range of speech that will penetrate solid barriers and moderate distances, allowing him to utter words to a specific person across a courtyard from behind a window so that none other can hear. This is limited to as many people as he can manipulate with Mesmer.

Expert Quirk: Psychovore

Within every Melody, there are tendrils of emotion. Feris can with tongue and tooth consume the emotions when standing extremely close. He gains the feeling of that emotion by doing so, and feels satiated as if it were a kind of meal. By consuming enough emotion, he no longer needs to sleep, as the emotions help to mend his mind and expand his palette of emotional understanding. Every consumed emotion robs the victim of that feeling, and if Feris is given minutes to harvest a restrained victim, they will feel ...nothing. They will be momentarily hollow until the emotions begin to return, guided by awareness.

Strong feelings tend to split and fray when bitten while backed by powerful wills, taking longer to completely consume them, necessitating many chomping clacks of gnashing teeth. Thus, it is not so easy to consume the emotions of a combatant within the furor of a melee, but the antagonized emotions may be more enjoyable and satisfying.

Master Quirk: Thoughtformed Being

Philosophy is a strange and dangerous thing. Feris has imagined all of potential, the myriad of ways things can transpire and where life can be found, and the Thoughtformed Being arose from this. It is a creature without a soul but many forms that begins to live in every mind Feris tampers with, something others can feel in his presence that the Mesmer can attribute qualities to. It could claim to be a divine being akin to a God, or a beast lurking nearby, or a parasite worming its way through the body.

Though it cannot cause pain, the being can speak and emphasize areas of perception to those engaging with it, and memories of the being settle deeply within the mind in such a way as not to be easily forgotten. More subtly, it can be the little voice in your subconscious telling you what is right and what is wrong.

Master Quirk: Myth

Seeking to be the manipulator of attention, rather than purely its sole focus, the Mesmer's very presence subtly rebukes acknowledgement by the mind until he reveals himself through speech or flourishing, quelling tendrils of the Melody as they arise. For acknowledgement to escape the subdued subconscious, those wishing to perceive him must be themselves extremely perceptive, looking for him specifically, or in a heightened state of panic or awareness. Violent or showy acts may derail the effect, creating a cascade of acknowledgement.

[Feris]

Masquerade Motif: Bathos

What great joy, what reverie. Masquerade, an argument for living beneath the serious nature of the world. An addiction so potent as to drown the mind outright. Change, and change ever more. Show the dichotomy between this moment and the next.

Apprentice Quirk: Narrator

When at peace while reading a book, Feris can begin to envision an altered reality playing out the events of said book in a trance, a dream-like state where the mind fills in the gaps. Those in contact with him and reading it as well may share in the illusion, but a single interruption from the outside world or the threat of trauma will draw the pair out of it. This could be represented by taking the role of the protagonists in a narrative, participating in the creation of a written recipe with imagined results and processes, or viewing imagined segmented theater.

Journeyman Quirk: Accouterments

Stemming from a fascination with silk, a bolt of red cloth now follows Feris or may be found upon his person. The lead of the silk clings to the air within a foot of his body. As he moves, he is able to manipulate or 'throw' the tail end of it at people, weaving it about their form mentally or through gestures. Twenty feet long and a foot wide, it can wrap around others' limbs and even obscure the eyes, stimulating the senses of touch, sight, and sound as it ripples with the air and moves softly against the body but does not obstruct motion nor can it physically pull people along as it will unravel. Even if it isn't real, it provides a sense of imagined warmth and comfort as it may be layered to form bedding or deceive the mind into staving off the cold.

Expert Quirk: Inversions

All Illusions within Feris' toolkit are created with thematic opposites, secondary states called Inversions that he can draw upon as quickly as blinking an eye, as subtly or gradually as he wishes with no added cost. An illusion of an innocent alley cat could be converted into a monstrous being of eldritch horror at the drop of a hat or over hours of slow derangement, and vice versa. These illusions are always a similar size and composition to the former, and must be at least similar to the original. An illusion of a tree would merely twist and warp into a dead tree of the same size.

Master Quirk: Merriments

Feris finds it profoundly easier to show those who are themselves insane or eager to believe him what they want to see. Those who hallucinate, are inebriated, know something is not real but choose to believe anyway, or are experiencing great joy may partake in a series of illusions called Merriments that more discerning minds cannot see. Those who are happy and then experience a scare may notice the illusion begin to shatter, able to instantly destroy the facade with a single thought. Even Feris himself must be in a good mood to witness these illusions. Merriments are thinner, more flimsy, and far cheaper to produce than standard illusions at one tenth the cost.

Master Quirk: Pages

For all the many illusions Feris creates, he has developed a symbiotic relationship with his creations that allows him to step between and inhabit them with little effort. The illusory environment will cover for him, veiling all the senses that may perceive him unless he chooses to step free from an illusion or loses step with a moving figure such as the puppeteered illusion of a man. He may also choose to enter illusory walls, or interact with the fake environment in a way that deceives the senses without much effort.

[Feris]

Animus Motif: Logos

The vessel is a shifting construct located beneath the cover of reality. Once you attain the power of Animus and begin to understand your own biology, it becomes clear that enacting the magic is much like an argument of reason and logical progression over a structure which you now control.

Apprentice Quirk: Skull Face
Within every form Feris takes, there is a feature so integral to his sense of identity that he can never rid himself of it: the bone mask. It will follow his forms fused to his face, sometimes shifting in shape to match the features of the animal, or willfully subdued into a white overlay of fur or scale upon his upper jaw and face.

Journeyman Quirk: Misanthrope

Expert Quirk: Ardor

Master Quirk: Seethe

Master Quirk: Blood Rites