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Wat Keam, Mage the Awakening, FATE Core
Dec. 16th, 2013 10:59 pmName: Jake Lynch aka Wat Keam
High Concept: Tattoo Magician
What, I'm supposed to go hide out in some mountain somewhere? Fuck that! The city's where the action is. People going in and out, chakras firing off every which way, you're not gonna get energy like that up in the Himalayas, I'll tell you what. Look, anybody can sit in an empty room and go "Om" a bunch of times, but try it sometime with a needle going 150 times a second through your skin. Or a sharpened bamboo stick dipped in charcoal and snake venom, if you'd rather go traditional. That'll teach you discipline like nothing else. And when it's done? You don't get some cheap relaxation that goes away the second you're back in your cubicle, man. You get something real.
Trouble: Enlightenment Junkie
Look, I get what brass is saying, I really do. There's some shit you just don't fuck with, you know? But here's the thing. Enlightenment is this organic thing, man. If it was something you could just drop on somebody half the world would have Awakened by now. Stagnation is death. You always gotta learn. You always gotta evolve. You can't just stop your karmic journey on a dime because you got a memo. You uh...can probably guess management ain't too crazy about me.
Awakening: Pain Reveals the Illusion
I been a tattoo artist a long time. Way before I woke up. Had a place in New York for almost ten years. Loved every second of it. Loved the work, loved all the little superstitions...I ate all that shit up, man. You ever heard of Sak Yant? It's a type of ritual tattooing they do in Thailand and Cambodia. Supposed to protect you from evil spirits and shit, or at least that's what I thought then. I just wanted a kickin' rad back piece, somethin' nobody else had, you know?
Yeah, I was kind of an idiot.
So anyway, big day comes right? Finding the place was a bitch and a half, since I didn't want no tourist bullshit. Half day's hike up a fuckin' mountain, then we get there, my guide fucks off, and the monks come out like they were expecting me. I'm weirded out as hell, but I go with it, whatever.
They take me back to this guy. Had to be ninety if he was a day. And the room he's in has fuckin human fuckin' skins on the wall with some of the most amazing shit I ever seen. I ain't gonna lie, man. I was ready to bail. I guess they must've saw that 'cause they were on top of me like that. They hold me down, get my shirt off, and the old guy's just watchin' like he's seen this shit a million times. He just grabs a bamboo needle and starts up.
Now tattoos are gonna hurt, no way around it. But this was a whole new level. I honest to Christ thought the guy was skinning me alive for more wallpaper, only worse than that. Way worse. It just kept building and building and building, until all of a sudden, it was like...I got pushed through to the other side of the world. The pain was still there, and it was still just as bad, but that didn't matter because I knew what it meant. It was waking up nerves that I didn't know I had, and it was making me see everything. All the skin and stone and wood that was all surface. Underneath I could see the symbols, the real images of what they were.
I wound up staying there for a month, showing the monks what I saw. I showed Oh, the abbot, some sigils they forgot how to do a couple generations back, and he showed me how to anoint the inks and the needles. Nice guy.
Shadow Name: Wat Keam
It's Thai. It means "Temple of the Needle." Usually I just go by Keam. Yeah, I know I'm white, asshole. Thanks for pointing that out. It's the name of the temple where I Awakened. Seemed the respectful thing to do. And not only that, you heard the expression "the body is a temple," right? Well, it really is if you know how to tap into it. See, everybody has divine energy inside them, just like in a temple or in a church with a really sincere congregation. The buildings let you tap into that with prayer, meditation, that kind of thing. I use my needles.
Signature Magic: Patterns of the Soul
Magick's all about finding the right symbols. The right pattern. Everybody and everything's got one. All different. But it's like a puzzle. People are made up of parts. Heart, skin, brain...all working together to make a working body. It's the same with somebody's pattern. Sentience and soul and bravery and blood and mind and love and hate and all the things that make the you inside. Just shapes making this beautiful picture that nothing else has got.
The thing about symbols though? They're also like language. I can see the letters and make new words. If you're sick? I know what 'healthy' looks like on someone's soul. I bring that symbol into the physical world, and then I connect it to you. That's why I gotta tattoo it on you. That's how I tell your pattern it's there. The sick part of you changes it's pattern and becomes something new, but still you.
Doesn't need to be a tattoo either, as long as I can make the symbol the magick will do it's thing, but it's like regular tattoos. If you want something that'll last, you gotta deal with the pain.
Mission Statement: TBA
Arcana: Thyrsus, the Shamans
Spheres: Life 4, Prime 3, Spirit 2
Infirior Arcanum: Death -1
Skills:
Lore 4
Systems 3
Will 3
Notice 3
Athletics 2
Melee 2
Physique 2
Rapport 2
Deceive 1
Drive 1
Politics 1
Stealth 1
Stunts:
Specialist: Magical Sigils
Magic Tattoos: Mage Armor (Life), 3 blue dice
Stress:
Physical [ ][ ][ ]
Mental [ ][ ][ ][ ]
Mana [ ][ ][ ][ ]
Status [ ][ ][ ]
Refresh: 5
M:TA Character Sheet
What do you want to learn, to experience that you can't get at Eidolon?
Eidolon's got this need to control, like, all the magick. I mean, I get where they're coming from, yeah? Dangerous tools, keep 'em outta the hands of the ignorant. Good idea in theory, I guess. But you can have all the R&D in the world and nothing you come up with is gonna match the shit nature does on a daily basis. How does life evolve? Mutations. They're kind of shooting themselves in the foot, you know? What's got a better ecosystem, a forest or a garden? Magick's meant to evolve, man. You're not supposed to choke the vine before it flowers.
How do you feel about tattoo removal? What does cosmetic surgery do to the soul pattern?
Balance in all things, man. Body and soul need to be in harmony with each other. They want to be in harmony with each other. As above, so below, as without, so within. Makin' changes to one affects the other. Removing a tattoo completely destroys a bit of your pattern. It leaves a scar on your spirit same as your body. Even if it was some shitty tramp stamp you got when you were wasted. That's still a piece of you. Who you were at the time. Coverups are way, way better. You take the energy of that old ink and reshape it into something more in harmony with what their spirit is now. On the other hand, sometimes that part of you just needs to go, like it's an infection you need to cut out. You need that scar there to remind you not to go back to that place you used to be. That's pretty rare, though.
Cosmetic surgery? It's a little different, but the principle's pretty much the same. Sometimes your soul doesn't match your body, and there's ways that can be fixed. The big example there is like a sex change surgery, but hell, even a boob job can be good for the soul if you're doing it for the right reasons. You really gotta know yourself before you get into that shit though, I think. A lotta times it's done out of fear, you know? The one you love leaving you 'cause you don't look young enough, that kinda shit. And that's a bad idea. You start throwing your aura out of whack, and it don't solve anything. That's how you get things like plastic surgery addicts.
...nah, not Michael Jackson. What he did was way, way worse than that. Bad mojo, man.
Would you sell someone something you knew would harm them for a briefcase full of money?
What, like...something they didn't know would harm them? No fuckin' way.
Here's the thing though...and money don't really have anything to do with this bit...harmful don't necessarily mean bad or evil. Sometimes harm is the price for something way more important. But I always tell 'em what they're in for. Always.
On the other hand, sometimes it's just some idiot looking for cheap cosmic thrills. You can spot those guys a mile away though. I don't do business with them.
What about a briefcase full of...magic?
...aw fuck.
...
...
...
...It...depends, I guess? I mean, if we're talking, like, a suitcase full of tass or something, no. Fuck that. Some rote or something? No. But I mean...if it was, like, something that might save the world?
...Maybe, I guess? We'd have to be talking some really, really high-stakes shit, y'know? I mean, hell, head office is always talking about "the greater good," and all that. 'Cause...that's a lot to have on my karma, y'know? It'd really have to be worth it.
And I mean, even then, I'm not gonna let the guy go into it blind. Let 'em know what they're in for, right?
High Concept: Tattoo Magician
What, I'm supposed to go hide out in some mountain somewhere? Fuck that! The city's where the action is. People going in and out, chakras firing off every which way, you're not gonna get energy like that up in the Himalayas, I'll tell you what. Look, anybody can sit in an empty room and go "Om" a bunch of times, but try it sometime with a needle going 150 times a second through your skin. Or a sharpened bamboo stick dipped in charcoal and snake venom, if you'd rather go traditional. That'll teach you discipline like nothing else. And when it's done? You don't get some cheap relaxation that goes away the second you're back in your cubicle, man. You get something real.
Trouble: Enlightenment Junkie
Look, I get what brass is saying, I really do. There's some shit you just don't fuck with, you know? But here's the thing. Enlightenment is this organic thing, man. If it was something you could just drop on somebody half the world would have Awakened by now. Stagnation is death. You always gotta learn. You always gotta evolve. You can't just stop your karmic journey on a dime because you got a memo. You uh...can probably guess management ain't too crazy about me.
Awakening: Pain Reveals the Illusion
I been a tattoo artist a long time. Way before I woke up. Had a place in New York for almost ten years. Loved every second of it. Loved the work, loved all the little superstitions...I ate all that shit up, man. You ever heard of Sak Yant? It's a type of ritual tattooing they do in Thailand and Cambodia. Supposed to protect you from evil spirits and shit, or at least that's what I thought then. I just wanted a kickin' rad back piece, somethin' nobody else had, you know?
Yeah, I was kind of an idiot.
So anyway, big day comes right? Finding the place was a bitch and a half, since I didn't want no tourist bullshit. Half day's hike up a fuckin' mountain, then we get there, my guide fucks off, and the monks come out like they were expecting me. I'm weirded out as hell, but I go with it, whatever.
They take me back to this guy. Had to be ninety if he was a day. And the room he's in has fuckin human fuckin' skins on the wall with some of the most amazing shit I ever seen. I ain't gonna lie, man. I was ready to bail. I guess they must've saw that 'cause they were on top of me like that. They hold me down, get my shirt off, and the old guy's just watchin' like he's seen this shit a million times. He just grabs a bamboo needle and starts up.
Now tattoos are gonna hurt, no way around it. But this was a whole new level. I honest to Christ thought the guy was skinning me alive for more wallpaper, only worse than that. Way worse. It just kept building and building and building, until all of a sudden, it was like...I got pushed through to the other side of the world. The pain was still there, and it was still just as bad, but that didn't matter because I knew what it meant. It was waking up nerves that I didn't know I had, and it was making me see everything. All the skin and stone and wood that was all surface. Underneath I could see the symbols, the real images of what they were.
I wound up staying there for a month, showing the monks what I saw. I showed Oh, the abbot, some sigils they forgot how to do a couple generations back, and he showed me how to anoint the inks and the needles. Nice guy.
Shadow Name: Wat Keam
It's Thai. It means "Temple of the Needle." Usually I just go by Keam. Yeah, I know I'm white, asshole. Thanks for pointing that out. It's the name of the temple where I Awakened. Seemed the respectful thing to do. And not only that, you heard the expression "the body is a temple," right? Well, it really is if you know how to tap into it. See, everybody has divine energy inside them, just like in a temple or in a church with a really sincere congregation. The buildings let you tap into that with prayer, meditation, that kind of thing. I use my needles.
Signature Magic: Patterns of the Soul
Magick's all about finding the right symbols. The right pattern. Everybody and everything's got one. All different. But it's like a puzzle. People are made up of parts. Heart, skin, brain...all working together to make a working body. It's the same with somebody's pattern. Sentience and soul and bravery and blood and mind and love and hate and all the things that make the you inside. Just shapes making this beautiful picture that nothing else has got.
The thing about symbols though? They're also like language. I can see the letters and make new words. If you're sick? I know what 'healthy' looks like on someone's soul. I bring that symbol into the physical world, and then I connect it to you. That's why I gotta tattoo it on you. That's how I tell your pattern it's there. The sick part of you changes it's pattern and becomes something new, but still you.
Doesn't need to be a tattoo either, as long as I can make the symbol the magick will do it's thing, but it's like regular tattoos. If you want something that'll last, you gotta deal with the pain.
Mission Statement: TBA
Arcana: Thyrsus, the Shamans
Spheres: Life 4, Prime 3, Spirit 2
Infirior Arcanum: Death -1
Skills:
Lore 4
Systems 3
Will 3
Notice 3
Athletics 2
Melee 2
Physique 2
Rapport 2
Deceive 1
Drive 1
Politics 1
Stealth 1
Stunts:
Specialist: Magical Sigils
Magic Tattoos: Mage Armor (Life), 3 blue dice
Stress:
Physical [ ][ ][ ]
Mental [ ][ ][ ][ ]
Mana [ ][ ][ ][ ]
Status [ ][ ][ ]
Refresh: 5
M:TA Character Sheet
What do you want to learn, to experience that you can't get at Eidolon?
Eidolon's got this need to control, like, all the magick. I mean, I get where they're coming from, yeah? Dangerous tools, keep 'em outta the hands of the ignorant. Good idea in theory, I guess. But you can have all the R&D in the world and nothing you come up with is gonna match the shit nature does on a daily basis. How does life evolve? Mutations. They're kind of shooting themselves in the foot, you know? What's got a better ecosystem, a forest or a garden? Magick's meant to evolve, man. You're not supposed to choke the vine before it flowers.
How do you feel about tattoo removal? What does cosmetic surgery do to the soul pattern?
Balance in all things, man. Body and soul need to be in harmony with each other. They want to be in harmony with each other. As above, so below, as without, so within. Makin' changes to one affects the other. Removing a tattoo completely destroys a bit of your pattern. It leaves a scar on your spirit same as your body. Even if it was some shitty tramp stamp you got when you were wasted. That's still a piece of you. Who you were at the time. Coverups are way, way better. You take the energy of that old ink and reshape it into something more in harmony with what their spirit is now. On the other hand, sometimes that part of you just needs to go, like it's an infection you need to cut out. You need that scar there to remind you not to go back to that place you used to be. That's pretty rare, though.
Cosmetic surgery? It's a little different, but the principle's pretty much the same. Sometimes your soul doesn't match your body, and there's ways that can be fixed. The big example there is like a sex change surgery, but hell, even a boob job can be good for the soul if you're doing it for the right reasons. You really gotta know yourself before you get into that shit though, I think. A lotta times it's done out of fear, you know? The one you love leaving you 'cause you don't look young enough, that kinda shit. And that's a bad idea. You start throwing your aura out of whack, and it don't solve anything. That's how you get things like plastic surgery addicts.
...nah, not Michael Jackson. What he did was way, way worse than that. Bad mojo, man.
Would you sell someone something you knew would harm them for a briefcase full of money?
What, like...something they didn't know would harm them? No fuckin' way.
Here's the thing though...and money don't really have anything to do with this bit...harmful don't necessarily mean bad or evil. Sometimes harm is the price for something way more important. But I always tell 'em what they're in for. Always.
On the other hand, sometimes it's just some idiot looking for cheap cosmic thrills. You can spot those guys a mile away though. I don't do business with them.
What about a briefcase full of...magic?
...aw fuck.
...
...
...
...It...depends, I guess? I mean, if we're talking, like, a suitcase full of tass or something, no. Fuck that. Some rote or something? No. But I mean...if it was, like, something that might save the world?
...Maybe, I guess? We'd have to be talking some really, really high-stakes shit, y'know? I mean, hell, head office is always talking about "the greater good," and all that. 'Cause...that's a lot to have on my karma, y'know? It'd really have to be worth it.
And I mean, even then, I'm not gonna let the guy go into it blind. Let 'em know what they're in for, right?
