Wait, so Avery’s Aunt and uncle on her mum’s side of the family are also her aunt and uncle on her Dad’s side of the family? That feels… weird. Nothing wrong with it, but its just close enough to feel uncomfortable when I first read it. (just a reminder of how small Kennet is I guess?)
Surprised Ashumare Ashumare, (mystery girl without pair), is rated as so low on connection to Kennet. Lower than some random “games vs death” family.
She seems to like Avery (which may or may not be safe), and is Other, so usually that would seem a reasonablely strong argument for inviting her to Kennet some time.
Mostly, I want to see Verona meeting Ashumare Ashumare, since she seems to have a steller instinct for how others tick.
Also, Ann Whit’s “Connection” label is missing. Might be typo, might be intentional(?!?)
Avery Kelly
Second Witch of Kennet, Finder and Path Runner.
Currently living & practicing in Thunder Bay, making new alliances and working with the Lord of Thunder Bay, as an errand runner and an extra set of eyes. Maintaining contact with various outside individuals & allies.
Family:
Kellys
Grumbe (Had multiple strokes, Miss you too even if you’re technically still here.) + Gran (Miss you)
Connor(+Kelsey), Sean(+Tracey)
Rowan, Sheridan, Avery, Declan, Kerry
Walshes
Moira (in the hospital a lot) + Truck (Divorced) Truck + Laurynn (2nd Marriage, Divorced)
Kelsey, Tracy, Clara, Uncle Declan
Innocent Connections:
Nora, Jeanine, Oli
Atrip, Hui, Mayaa, Putnam, Harper, Gianna, Sophy, Ariel, Cussins
The Team
(Rules is to use last name if someone joined the team with your name already)
Other connections get their own page
S.drop
First Familiar of Kennet, spirit companion of the paths, glutton, arsonist, snuggle buddy. Prospective Goblin Sage. Currently assisting with surveillance, goblin outreach, exploration, and vetting of closer innocent relationships.
Family:
Drops (Dubiously accurate but I don’t think we’ll get gainsaid. Kinda nice to name the sibs.
Momdrop
Airdrop, Teardrop, Eardrop, Backdrop, Dewdrop, Raindrop, Eavesdrop, Paradrop, Gumdrop, Snowdrop
Pos Connections:
Cherrypop (Is friend, Gives milk, Funny, Terrible but in a good way)
Louise (Talks & naps after gobs get annoying, Gives snacks after Avery cuts me off (SNOW!))
Sir Toadswallow (Future boss?)
Melissa (Also terrible but in a good way)
Familiar:
The bond means Snowdrop gets a longer lifespan, bit more humanity and power, for stronger spiritstuff, and more ability to function in daylight.
Imparts some ability to offload fatigue or be more effective at night, omnivorism, opossum senses and a Lost awareness that helps with seeing around and through things.
We went with a very free, open, flex-y bond.
THUNDER BAY Them
The council has a large number of families, a handful of independent Others, and a Lord. Listed in rough order of how active they are in the council. With the goal of keeping track of stuff and possibly focusing on building alliances, I’ll outline some key factors:
Weak——Stronger to this side
Range of what we think it could be (coloured)
Power: How strong they are in their raw practice/Otherness. Verona says the word is ‘puissance’ but power is better IMO
Connect: Strength & value of connections, reach, allies, contacts.
T.Bay: Apparent loyalty & concern given to Thunder Bay.
Kennet: Loyalty or likelyhood they would support or help us.
Musser: Relationship with Musser, willingness to help him.
B.Heron: Support/ties to the Blue Heron. May or may not be ties to Musser.
Vibe: My gut feeling. Also covering other things & traits…
The Lord of Thunder Bay
An elemental with some spirit to her. Elementals need something to latch onto and sometimes that’s an echo, a spirit, or a human or animal pattern (for constituents). She got big and took on Thunder Bay, I think she might have challenged a lordship by instinct and settled in.
Vibe: I think she likes me. Got me on board fast.
Power: 8-10
Connect: 3-10 (Dunno on this one)
T.Bay: 9.5-10 (She IS T.Bay)
Kennet: 4-6
BHI: 2-3 (~90% sure she doesn’t care)
Musser: 0 (Enemy)
Ann Wint, Destroyer
Enforcer and one of the practitioners behind the throne, or thinks she is. Her practice uses the Abyss to break down visceral things and Ruins practice to break down the spirit. Sends things & places plunging into those realms?
Vibe: Most likely to ruin my time here in T.Bay so far. Tries so hard to come across as menacing. Is she overconfident or real bad at selling others on her ability.
Power: 7-9 (She couldn’t be enforcer if she was weak)
Connect: 4-6 (Within T.B. sure but otherwise? No signs.)
T.Bay: 8-9
Kennet: 0-1
Heron: 3-4 (I think she said she might send her kids there. But doesn’t know/care much about it from what she said to Pesch.)
Musser: 0
Family practitioner, sorta? Pretty sure her husband is innocent with no clue. I overheard her saying she’d decide which of her two kids to awaken when the youngest was 10, and she’d keep it from him.
Deb Cloutier
Seems to think she’s assistant Lord but more like assistant to the Lord. Goes to violent elemental confluxes to get power and collect elementals. She badly undercuts the cool factor by being a brown-noser/suckup/teacher’s pet. Which, whatever, but she’s thinks she’s in charge of me.
Vibe: I think she gets those scars on purpose, which is wild. Gotta watch rep & respect with her. Easy to offend.
Power: 5-10 (Strong but hard to say how strong.)
Connect: 3-4 (Less likeable than Ann, somehow.)
T.Bay: 7-9 (Get the feel she’d betray for power)
Kennet: 0 (Barely knows we exist.)
BHI: 2-3 (Might not mind the connections but no kids and no current contact, I don’t think.)
Musser: 0-4 (Not a fan. But ambitious?)
Solo practitioner with no kids. Has said she might eventually take an apprentice when she’s older. Some tragic kid will get to learn her practice but only after waiting on her her in her old age
Florin Pesch
Puppeteer. Controls Others that replace/control people. Says he doesn’t have influence over the city, but I’m pretty sure he means he doesn’t, yet. If he was a little bit older I could see him fitting in with Alexander’s group. He’s surveillance target #1. Signs of possible Lordship attempt?
Vibe: Hard to figure out how much to worry about him. I think he naturally bucks at Ann & Deb’s control over T.Bay. I’m one more tool for him to use against that, maybe?
Power: 6-8 (Different sort of power than Ann/Deb.)
Connect: 9-10 (Connections are his department.)
T.Bay: 3-4 (This Lord & city? Not really.)
Kennet: 2-3
Heron: 6-9 (Knows what’s up, who’s who, is tied into that culture. Only thing is he doesn’t have a kid there.)
Musser: 8-9
Solo, no apprentice or plans for an apprentice, no family or plans for family.
Gilkey
Distillation of alchemical poison. Don’t know the exact details, but he tried alchemy or someone tried it on him & his Self just went splat, poisons! Poisonous to touch, can turn into a liquid. A regular on the council. More the Lord’s right hand than Deb, I think.
Vibe: Pretty easygoing. Watching him might give a sense of how the Lord feels about me/us. If he’s watching us… so’s she?
Power: 4-5
Connect: 2-3 (He’s nice but not social.)
T.Bay: 2-3
Kennet: 4-5 (I think he’d be into it. He’s ok in T.Bay though.
B.Heron: 0-5 (Doesn’t care?)
Musser: 0-5 (Doesn’t care?)
Odis Saulsbury
Blackforest Trapper. Manages a series of bus lines across western Ontario, captures criminals & bad sorts like a Hansel & Gretel witch. Apparently Blackhearted but is weirdly easy going? Asked nice questions, is fair-ish? Keeps info close to the vest.
Vibe: Creeps me out but that might be the F.R.T. thing. Not an ally we super want, but could deal with him? Very carefully.
Power: 5-9
Connect: 3-5
T.Bay: 5-8 (fairly active but not too invested)
Kennet: 2-3 (We don’t want his buses.)
Heron: 2-6
Musser: 2-8 (Actually no clue.)
Independent practitioner, took an apprentice, Thea, who is on the council as a standalone practitioner.
Hugh Legendre
Binders, sealers, and exterminators of goblinkind. Which is like holy crap what the shit, right? Living beings. They occupy a weird space where they don’t have much status but do a pretty essential job of keeping bad stuff put. Just wish they could do it without hurting others.
Vibe: They haven’t been around so it’s hard to say. Pretty awful just by the stats below, general info.
Family practice, large, cousins, kids, etc. Hugh handles the council stuff. When he’s away, usually nobody replaces him.
Nicole Scobie
Elementalists often title themselves after the most badass elemental they can comfortably use. This elementalist of the Receding Frost is not as cool as this icon Verona made before seeing her and apparently can’t use her namesake elemental very well. She’s been trying to tap into Abyssal practices for a power boost.
Vibe: Unhappy and spreading it. Steering clear.
Power: 1-3
Connect: 2-5
T.Bay: 8-10 (She’s loyal. Not to Deb/Ann but loyal.)
Kennet: 1-2
Heron 8-9 (Teaches. A BHI parent.)
Musser: 2-10 (Zero idea, really. They sided with Bristow, though.)
Family practice with two kids and a cousin or something. Daughters practice. Nicole handles the meetings, husband handles research.
The Childs Family
Not actually what they’re called. We’re getting into the practitioners who serve a functional purpose more than a self-driven one. If you want to play chess with Death, these guys hook you up. Incarnate ambassadors, basically, from an eerie and sorta maybe inbred family.
Vibe: Cool, calm, removed from it all. They like to get down to business. We could do business?
Power: 5-7 (Up there for T.Bay’s ‘lesser’ council members)
Connect: 8-10
T.Bay: 4-5 (Not active, might leave.)
Kennet: 4-6 (I think they’d deal with us.)
Heron: 0-1
Musser: 4-6 (I also think they’d deal with Musser.)
Small family practice. Three family members rotate who comes on a fairly set schedule, don’t come often. No kids yet.
Ashumare Ashumare
Ashumare Ashumare, why won’t anyone give me the story here? It’s not even some secret about the child bones in Ashumare because some locals here would probably relish throwing me off my game by throwing that at me. Might have to do with the fact A.A. is maybe a living story that become an accidental practice. Dangerous story to share?
Vibe: Going to play nice and play along, keep my eyes open.
Power: 2-7 (Hard to say.)
Connect: 2-3
T.Bay: 2-3
Kennet: 0-1
Heron: 0-3 (No interest except likes kids, I guess?)
Musser: 0
The Glean Team
They take apart practice and Others (!?) for raw power, put it into batteries and sell em. Lots of small business vibes. You’d think it’s a very useful job but they only do dangerous Others and practices for favors to friends. Maybe why Ann was sucking up to them some.
Vibe: I wouldn’t expect these guys to go the extra mile. They barely seem willing to go the regular mile.
Power: 2-3
Connect: 1-3 (Less than you’d think.)
T.Bay: 0-3 (Actively talking about leaving.)
Kennet: 2-4 (Only if there’s a job, maybe.)
Heron: 1-4
Musser: 0-2 (Low opinion)
Three individuals in an apprentice-master relationship. Nadine (20), Dav (25) are apprentices to Jason (~40), but Jason hates practitioner politics and just sends whichever one of them he’s least pleased with, which usually means they’re in a bad mood when they turn up. I do think Dav likes the politics, whatever he might pretend. Florin said I might never even meet Jason. Dav’s the one to talk to if we gotta.
Sourav Evans
Sourav is more researcher than practitioner, studies weird echoes, is that guy who goes to possible haunted houses to walk around and do readings. Collects odd ones: special kinds of wraith, poltergeists. When called on to do tasks or support Thunder Bay, he packs a bunch of echo-related entities into big vessels and sends them off.
Vibe: No vibe. Has been away but is apparently active when around. Never met.
Sourav works alone buy sometimes has visiting students. He lives on the periphery of T.Bay and keeps students out of T.Bay biz.
Tomas Whitt
There are iffy people in Thunder Bay who I wouldn’t want to hang with and then there are scumbags like this. Chase’s and Fernanda’s brother in law, sells services that involve altering emotions to sway court cases, probably other sketchy stuff. Minor practitioner , outright criminal.
Vibe: More a Chase than a Fernanda, but without even an air of civility. Sleazy car salesman meets sketch lawyer.
Power: 2-3
Connect: 6-8 (To criminal underworld, a bit.)
T.Bay: 4-5 (Cooperates but the council/city isn’t a priority.)
Kennet: 1-2 (Might care b/c Fernanda cares? Not in a good way?)
B.Heron: 2-6 (His kids might attend.)
Musser: 5-8
His marriage unites two v.small practitioner families, alchemists & emotion manipulators. Parent of four unawakened from two marriages.
Theodora Knight
She only appears late on this list because I ordered by council attendance & influence, and she skips council stuff. She’s strong, scary, and collects mini-universes, and she’s apparently willing to trap people in them. I don’t know how that’s okay, but apparently it’s accepted.
Vibe: Scary? At least she manages realms and Snow & I can navigate/escape them. But scary.
Odis’ apprentice, still new enough she’s focused on following her mentor than preparing to be a mentor. She may be establishing inroads with Musser, which could lead to marriage or other alliances.
Aze
Constituent type elementals find a (usually) human form by stealing one from a human-shaped vessel or an echo. She embodies blinding flashes. An errand runner for the Lord, a little more directly aggressive (and a bit less intelligent?) than Gilkey. Pretty versatile, from what Lucy was saying, even if her form is pretty locked in.
Vibe: She feels tensed at all times, hard to approach
Power: 3-6 (A lot of raw power but she’s not ‘strong’)
Connect: 0
T.Bay: 9-10
Kennet: 7-8 (I think she’d be cool with the Kennet crowd.)
Heron: 0
Musser: 0
Is maintained and supported by a joint crew of Deb the Storm Chaser, the Lord, and some cooperation with Gilkey. Not ‘social’, she feeds on a bright fire the same way I’d recharge with Snowdrop cuddle time.
Sebastian Harless
Harless is sort of like Sourav (and they hang out). He’s a specialist in practitioner & Other contracts, and works out of Thunder Bay in a capacity that’s more practice-adjacent than actually going out and doing magic. He’s someone you call if you’re doing an inter-family contract or wanting to do a deal with a Fae. Said to be inexpensive.
Vibe: I hear he’s a surprisingly boring person.
Was Aware, often mistaken for Others/blamed for their crimes. Awoke to try to control this, but screwed up a contract and the woman who awoke him paid the price instead. He shifted to a much calmer focus to practice, at least partially as penance.
The Record
A gangly, eerie figure with an old camera. Wanders T.Bay videotaping random subjects, ‘looking for something’. He doesn’t do much else, but the Lord of T.Bay seems to like him enough to have let him in like she did with me. Technomantic.
Vibe: Yet to meet. Seems minor, creepy?
[Map of area] Thunder Bay & surrounds, territories.
The territories Musser is taking are vast but have only a few hundred souls in them. Compare to Thunder Bay, which is a Lordship that covers the city and the surrounding area (to a lesser degree).
Musser took neighboring territories with permission from the Lords (a buffer for the Franky-type interference from the Carmine Exile) – depicted in red, but then used that same buffer to establish the secondary territory, mapped in orange.
Which we got with Bridge.
We figure he’d need about fifty or sixty territories like this to have enough of Ontario that he could claim the rest. This isn’t actually bound to the borders of Ontario & may extend a little way into Manitoba. They got 12 scattered territories in the first short while and Musser has been claiming one about every three days.
His Faction
The Mussers
A large family with a lot of money, members are scattered internationally. They’re a loose sorcerer (dabbles but well established in their niche) family emphasizing war practices, coup, claim, and items.
Hennigars
Gore streaked, they emphasize battle practices with a close tie to War, sustaining themselves in battle, so long as they can keep doing damage.
Legendres
Binders & sealers, the defense to the rest of the faction’s offense. They’re rising in status with the current Musser alliance, previously being seen as ‘janitors’
Professionals
Musser used to be in organized crime and would recruit and help situate practitioners in that sphere. So he’s got a lot of these thieves, smuggles, spies, and stuff to round out his group’s abilities. Some of these guys are holding territory.
Oof. Good to know who’s who in T-Bay. The sliders were a little confusing at first, but I eventually got it. I imagine the Lord is very rightly pissed at Hugh and his shenanigans.
In unrelated News, I had my very own Snowdrop visiting my house to try and steal an apple off of the porch. 😛
I feel like Gilkey is more Other than the others, really not caring about practitioner or innocent societies. As if he’s sticking around for lack of anywhere better to go, rather than an actual sense of loyalty to the Lord.
Like, this is a good setup, but he might not be against a different setup with the correct incentives. I wonder if losing his Self to the alchemical poisons stifled his independence so that he just has less drive than the others.
Been wondering this for a while in my first read through, and I know that it’s probably way too late to get a reply, but here goes.
During the Familiar ritual, wasn’t there a mention of Snowdrop giving some capacity to lie/use her rule of speech? I don’t remember which chapter that was, way back, but it hasn’t come up since and this explicit listing of the bond’s benefits reminded me of it.
Snowdrop chose not to share her rule of discourse out of concern it would mess up Avery’s practice. From One After Another 10.1:
“I give you my ability to lie, Avery, out of hopes it screws you up real bad and ruins your practice forever. You get nothing else from me you’d want, in protections and special rules.”
Pale 
Feel like pure Shit, Just want dewdrop 2 back
LikeLiked by 2 people
Cool, I’d been looking forward to this.
With Odis, what’s “F.R.T.?” Is it meant to be BFT for Black Forest Trapper?
Sad that all of Snowdrop’s family are dead.
LikeLike
Oops, this was meant to be a top-level comment.
LikeLike
F.R.T. is the Forest Ribbon Trail. Avery is acknowledging that the trauma the Wolf gave her might be biasing her perception of Odis.
LikeLike
niiiiice
LikeLike
Wait, so Avery’s Aunt and uncle on her mum’s side of the family are also her aunt and uncle on her Dad’s side of the family? That feels… weird. Nothing wrong with it, but its just close enough to feel uncomfortable when I first read it. (just a reminder of how small Kennet is I guess?)
Surprised Ashumare Ashumare, (mystery girl without pair), is rated as so low on connection to Kennet. Lower than some random “games vs death” family.
She seems to like Avery (which may or may not be safe), and is Other, so usually that would seem a reasonablely strong argument for inviting her to Kennet some time.
Mostly, I want to see Verona meeting Ashumare Ashumare, since she seems to have a steller instinct for how others tick.
Also, Ann Whit’s “Connection” label is missing. Might be typo, might be intentional(?!?)
LikeLike
Unofficial Transcript:
THUNDER BAY Us
Avery Kelly S.drop
Avery Kelly
Second Witch of Kennet, Finder and Path Runner.
Currently living & practicing in Thunder Bay, making new alliances and working with the Lord of Thunder Bay, as an errand runner and an extra set of eyes. Maintaining contact with various outside individuals & allies.
Family:
Kellys
Grumbe (Had multiple strokes, Miss you too even if you’re technically still here.) + Gran (Miss you)
Connor(+Kelsey), Sean(+Tracey)
Rowan, Sheridan, Avery, Declan, Kerry
Walshes
Moira (in the hospital a lot) + Truck (Divorced) Truck + Laurynn (2nd Marriage, Divorced)
Kelsey, Tracy, Clara, Uncle Declan
Innocent Connections:
Nora, Jeanine, Oli
Atrip, Hui, Mayaa, Putnam, Harper, Gianna, Sophy, Ariel, Cussins
The Team
(Rules is to use last name if someone joined the team with your name already)
Other connections get their own page
S.drop
First Familiar of Kennet, spirit companion of the paths, glutton, arsonist, snuggle buddy. Prospective Goblin Sage. Currently assisting with surveillance, goblin outreach, exploration, and vetting of closer innocent relationships.
Family:
Drops (Dubiously accurate but I don’t think we’ll get gainsaid. Kinda nice to name the sibs.
Momdrop
Airdrop, Teardrop, Eardrop, Backdrop, Dewdrop, Raindrop, Eavesdrop, Paradrop, Gumdrop, Snowdrop
Pos Connections:
Cherrypop (Is friend, Gives milk, Funny, Terrible but in a good way)
Louise (Talks & naps after gobs get annoying, Gives snacks after Avery cuts me off (SNOW!))
Sir Toadswallow (Future boss?)
Melissa (Also terrible but in a good way)
Familiar:
The bond means Snowdrop gets a longer lifespan, bit more humanity and power, for stronger spiritstuff, and more ability to function in daylight.
Imparts some ability to offload fatigue or be more effective at night, omnivorism, opossum senses and a Lost awareness that helps with seeing around and through things.
We went with a very free, open, flex-y bond.
THUNDER BAY Them
The council has a large number of families, a handful of independent Others, and a Lord. Listed in rough order of how active they are in the council. With the goal of keeping track of stuff and possibly focusing on building alliances, I’ll outline some key factors:
Weak——Stronger to this side
Range of what we think it could be (coloured)
Power: How strong they are in their raw practice/Otherness. Verona says the word is ‘puissance’ but power is better IMO
Connect: Strength & value of connections, reach, allies, contacts.
T.Bay: Apparent loyalty & concern given to Thunder Bay.
Kennet: Loyalty or likelyhood they would support or help us.
Musser: Relationship with Musser, willingness to help him.
B.Heron: Support/ties to the Blue Heron. May or may not be ties to Musser.
Vibe: My gut feeling. Also covering other things & traits…
The Lord of Thunder Bay
An elemental with some spirit to her. Elementals need something to latch onto and sometimes that’s an echo, a spirit, or a human or animal pattern (for constituents). She got big and took on Thunder Bay, I think she might have challenged a lordship by instinct and settled in.
Vibe: I think she likes me. Got me on board fast.
Power: 8-10
Connect: 3-10 (Dunno on this one)
T.Bay: 9.5-10 (She IS T.Bay)
Kennet: 4-6
BHI: 2-3 (~90% sure she doesn’t care)
Musser: 0 (Enemy)
Ann Wint, Destroyer
Enforcer and one of the practitioners behind the throne, or thinks she is. Her practice uses the Abyss to break down visceral things and Ruins practice to break down the spirit. Sends things & places plunging into those realms?
Vibe: Most likely to ruin my time here in T.Bay so far. Tries so hard to come across as menacing. Is she overconfident or real bad at selling others on her ability.
Power: 7-9 (She couldn’t be enforcer if she was weak)
Connect: 4-6 (Within T.B. sure but otherwise? No signs.)
T.Bay: 8-9
Kennet: 0-1
Heron: 3-4 (I think she said she might send her kids there. But doesn’t know/care much about it from what she said to Pesch.)
Musser: 0
Family practitioner, sorta? Pretty sure her husband is innocent with no clue. I overheard her saying she’d decide which of her two kids to awaken when the youngest was 10, and she’d keep it from him.
Deb Cloutier
Seems to think she’s assistant Lord but more like assistant to the Lord. Goes to violent elemental confluxes to get power and collect elementals. She badly undercuts the cool factor by being a brown-noser/suckup/teacher’s pet. Which, whatever, but she’s thinks she’s in charge of me.
Vibe: I think she gets those scars on purpose, which is wild. Gotta watch rep & respect with her. Easy to offend.
Power: 5-10 (Strong but hard to say how strong.)
Connect: 3-4 (Less likeable than Ann, somehow.)
T.Bay: 7-9 (Get the feel she’d betray for power)
Kennet: 0 (Barely knows we exist.)
BHI: 2-3 (Might not mind the connections but no kids and no current contact, I don’t think.)
Musser: 0-4 (Not a fan. But ambitious?)
Solo practitioner with no kids. Has said she might eventually take an apprentice when she’s older. Some tragic kid will get to learn her practice but only after waiting on her her in her old age
Florin Pesch
Puppeteer. Controls Others that replace/control people. Says he doesn’t have influence over the city, but I’m pretty sure he means he doesn’t, yet. If he was a little bit older I could see him fitting in with Alexander’s group. He’s surveillance target #1. Signs of possible Lordship attempt?
Vibe: Hard to figure out how much to worry about him. I think he naturally bucks at Ann & Deb’s control over T.Bay. I’m one more tool for him to use against that, maybe?
Power: 6-8 (Different sort of power than Ann/Deb.)
Connect: 9-10 (Connections are his department.)
T.Bay: 3-4 (This Lord & city? Not really.)
Kennet: 2-3
Heron: 6-9 (Knows what’s up, who’s who, is tied into that culture. Only thing is he doesn’t have a kid there.)
Musser: 8-9
Solo, no apprentice or plans for an apprentice, no family or plans for family.
Gilkey
Distillation of alchemical poison. Don’t know the exact details, but he tried alchemy or someone tried it on him & his Self just went splat, poisons! Poisonous to touch, can turn into a liquid. A regular on the council. More the Lord’s right hand than Deb, I think.
Vibe: Pretty easygoing. Watching him might give a sense of how the Lord feels about me/us. If he’s watching us… so’s she?
Power: 4-5
Connect: 2-3 (He’s nice but not social.)
T.Bay: 2-3
Kennet: 4-5 (I think he’d be into it. He’s ok in T.Bay though.
B.Heron: 0-5 (Doesn’t care?)
Musser: 0-5 (Doesn’t care?)
Odis Saulsbury
Blackforest Trapper. Manages a series of bus lines across western Ontario, captures criminals & bad sorts like a Hansel & Gretel witch. Apparently Blackhearted but is weirdly easy going? Asked nice questions, is fair-ish? Keeps info close to the vest.
Vibe: Creeps me out but that might be the F.R.T. thing. Not an ally we super want, but could deal with him? Very carefully.
Power: 5-9
Connect: 3-5
T.Bay: 5-8 (fairly active but not too invested)
Kennet: 2-3 (We don’t want his buses.)
Heron: 2-6
Musser: 2-8 (Actually no clue.)
Independent practitioner, took an apprentice, Thea, who is on the council as a standalone practitioner.
Hugh Legendre
Binders, sealers, and exterminators of goblinkind. Which is like holy crap what the shit, right? Living beings. They occupy a weird space where they don’t have much status but do a pretty essential job of keeping bad stuff put. Just wish they could do it without hurting others.
Vibe: They haven’t been around so it’s hard to say. Pretty awful just by the stats below, general info.
Power: 2-5
Connect: 5-8
T.Bay: 1-3 (Borderline hostile now.)
Kennet: 0-1 (He’d murder our little guys.)
Heron: 7-10
Musser: 9-10
Family practice, large, cousins, kids, etc. Hugh handles the council stuff. When he’s away, usually nobody replaces him.
Nicole Scobie
Elementalists often title themselves after the most badass elemental they can comfortably use. This elementalist of the Receding Frost is not as cool as this icon Verona made before seeing her and apparently can’t use her namesake elemental very well. She’s been trying to tap into Abyssal practices for a power boost.
Vibe: Unhappy and spreading it. Steering clear.
Power: 1-3
Connect: 2-5
T.Bay: 8-10 (She’s loyal. Not to Deb/Ann but loyal.)
Kennet: 1-2
Heron 8-9 (Teaches. A BHI parent.)
Musser: 2-10 (Zero idea, really. They sided with Bristow, though.)
Family practice with two kids and a cousin or something. Daughters practice. Nicole handles the meetings, husband handles research.
The Childs Family
Not actually what they’re called. We’re getting into the practitioners who serve a functional purpose more than a self-driven one. If you want to play chess with Death, these guys hook you up. Incarnate ambassadors, basically, from an eerie and sorta maybe inbred family.
Vibe: Cool, calm, removed from it all. They like to get down to business. We could do business?
Power: 5-7 (Up there for T.Bay’s ‘lesser’ council members)
Connect: 8-10
T.Bay: 4-5 (Not active, might leave.)
Kennet: 4-6 (I think they’d deal with us.)
Heron: 0-1
Musser: 4-6 (I also think they’d deal with Musser.)
Small family practice. Three family members rotate who comes on a fairly set schedule, don’t come often. No kids yet.
Ashumare Ashumare
Ashumare Ashumare, why won’t anyone give me the story here? It’s not even some secret about the child bones in Ashumare because some locals here would probably relish throwing me off my game by throwing that at me. Might have to do with the fact A.A. is maybe a living story that become an accidental practice. Dangerous story to share?
Vibe: Going to play nice and play along, keep my eyes open.
Power: 2-7 (Hard to say.)
Connect: 2-3
T.Bay: 2-3
Kennet: 0-1
Heron: 0-3 (No interest except likes kids, I guess?)
Musser: 0
The Glean Team
They take apart practice and Others (!?) for raw power, put it into batteries and sell em. Lots of small business vibes. You’d think it’s a very useful job but they only do dangerous Others and practices for favors to friends. Maybe why Ann was sucking up to them some.
Vibe: I wouldn’t expect these guys to go the extra mile. They barely seem willing to go the regular mile.
Power: 2-3
Connect: 1-3 (Less than you’d think.)
T.Bay: 0-3 (Actively talking about leaving.)
Kennet: 2-4 (Only if there’s a job, maybe.)
Heron: 1-4
Musser: 0-2 (Low opinion)
Three individuals in an apprentice-master relationship. Nadine (20), Dav (25) are apprentices to Jason (~40), but Jason hates practitioner politics and just sends whichever one of them he’s least pleased with, which usually means they’re in a bad mood when they turn up. I do think Dav likes the politics, whatever he might pretend. Florin said I might never even meet Jason. Dav’s the one to talk to if we gotta.
Sourav Evans
Sourav is more researcher than practitioner, studies weird echoes, is that guy who goes to possible haunted houses to walk around and do readings. Collects odd ones: special kinds of wraith, poltergeists. When called on to do tasks or support Thunder Bay, he packs a bunch of echo-related entities into big vessels and sends them off.
Vibe: No vibe. Has been away but is apparently active when around. Never met.
Power: 1-2
Connect: 8.5-9.5 (Apparently really respected despite weak practice.)
T.Bay: 0-1 (Obligatory stuff only. Focus lies elsewhere.)
Kennet: 0
BHI: 0-3 (Might know some key people like Raymond.)
Musser: 0-1
Sourav works alone buy sometimes has visiting students. He lives on the periphery of T.Bay and keeps students out of T.Bay biz.
Tomas Whitt
There are iffy people in Thunder Bay who I wouldn’t want to hang with and then there are scumbags like this. Chase’s and Fernanda’s brother in law, sells services that involve altering emotions to sway court cases, probably other sketchy stuff. Minor practitioner , outright criminal.
Vibe: More a Chase than a Fernanda, but without even an air of civility. Sleazy car salesman meets sketch lawyer.
Power: 2-3
Connect: 6-8 (To criminal underworld, a bit.)
T.Bay: 4-5 (Cooperates but the council/city isn’t a priority.)
Kennet: 1-2 (Might care b/c Fernanda cares? Not in a good way?)
B.Heron: 2-6 (His kids might attend.)
Musser: 5-8
His marriage unites two v.small practitioner families, alchemists & emotion manipulators. Parent of four unawakened from two marriages.
Theodora Knight
She only appears late on this list because I ordered by council attendance & influence, and she skips council stuff. She’s strong, scary, and collects mini-universes, and she’s apparently willing to trap people in them. I don’t know how that’s okay, but apparently it’s accepted.
Vibe: Scary? At least she manages realms and Snow & I can navigate/escape them. But scary.
Power: 9-10
Connect: 4-6
T.Bay: 1-4
Kennet: 0-1
Heron: 0-2
Musser: 6-8
Odis’ apprentice, still new enough she’s focused on following her mentor than preparing to be a mentor. She may be establishing inroads with Musser, which could lead to marriage or other alliances.
Aze
Constituent type elementals find a (usually) human form by stealing one from a human-shaped vessel or an echo. She embodies blinding flashes. An errand runner for the Lord, a little more directly aggressive (and a bit less intelligent?) than Gilkey. Pretty versatile, from what Lucy was saying, even if her form is pretty locked in.
Vibe: She feels tensed at all times, hard to approach
Power: 3-6 (A lot of raw power but she’s not ‘strong’)
Connect: 0
T.Bay: 9-10
Kennet: 7-8 (I think she’d be cool with the Kennet crowd.)
Heron: 0
Musser: 0
Is maintained and supported by a joint crew of Deb the Storm Chaser, the Lord, and some cooperation with Gilkey. Not ‘social’, she feeds on a bright fire the same way I’d recharge with Snowdrop cuddle time.
Sebastian Harless
Harless is sort of like Sourav (and they hang out). He’s a specialist in practitioner & Other contracts, and works out of Thunder Bay in a capacity that’s more practice-adjacent than actually going out and doing magic. He’s someone you call if you’re doing an inter-family contract or wanting to do a deal with a Fae. Said to be inexpensive.
Vibe: I hear he’s a surprisingly boring person.
Power: 0-1
Connect: 8-10
T.Bay: 6-7
Kennet: 0
Heron: 0-4
Musser: 0-3
Was Aware, often mistaken for Others/blamed for their crimes. Awoke to try to control this, but screwed up a contract and the woman who awoke him paid the price instead. He shifted to a much calmer focus to practice, at least partially as penance.
The Record
A gangly, eerie figure with an old camera. Wanders T.Bay videotaping random subjects, ‘looking for something’. He doesn’t do much else, but the Lord of T.Bay seems to like him enough to have let him in like she did with me. Technomantic.
Vibe: Yet to meet. Seems minor, creepy?
Power: 0-1
Connect: 0-1
T.Bay: 0-1
Kennet: 0-1
Heron: 0-1
Musser: 0-1
TERRITORIES Musser
[Map of area] Thunder Bay & surrounds, territories.
The territories Musser is taking are vast but have only a few hundred souls in them. Compare to Thunder Bay, which is a Lordship that covers the city and the surrounding area (to a lesser degree).
Musser took neighboring territories with permission from the Lords (a buffer for the Franky-type interference from the Carmine Exile) – depicted in red, but then used that same buffer to establish the secondary territory, mapped in orange.
Which we got with Bridge.
We figure he’d need about fifty or sixty territories like this to have enough of Ontario that he could claim the rest. This isn’t actually bound to the borders of Ontario & may extend a little way into Manitoba. They got 12 scattered territories in the first short while and Musser has been claiming one about every three days.
His Faction
The Mussers
A large family with a lot of money, members are scattered internationally. They’re a loose sorcerer (dabbles but well established in their niche) family emphasizing war practices, coup, claim, and items.
Hennigars
Gore streaked, they emphasize battle practices with a close tie to War, sustaining themselves in battle, so long as they can keep doing damage.
Legendres
Binders & sealers, the defense to the rest of the faction’s offense. They’re rising in status with the current Musser alliance, previously being seen as ‘janitors’
Professionals
Musser used to be in organized crime and would recruit and help situate practitioners in that sphere. So he’s got a lot of these thieves, smuggles, spies, and stuff to round out his group’s abilities. Some of these guys are holding territory.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Oof. Good to know who’s who in T-Bay. The sliders were a little confusing at first, but I eventually got it. I imagine the Lord is very rightly pissed at Hugh and his shenanigans.
In unrelated News, I had my very own Snowdrop visiting my house to try and steal an apple off of the porch. 😛
LikeLiked by 1 person
Why is Gilkey’s loyalty to thunderbay rated so low?
Far as I can tell, she’s the one person that The Lord actually trusts…
LikeLike
I feel like Gilkey is more Other than the others, really not caring about practitioner or innocent societies. As if he’s sticking around for lack of anywhere better to go, rather than an actual sense of loyalty to the Lord.
Like, this is a good setup, but he might not be against a different setup with the correct incentives. I wonder if losing his Self to the alchemical poisons stifled his independence so that he just has less drive than the others.
He’s a chill dude, just don’t give him a hug.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This was a very cool rundown of Thunder Bay.
LikeLike
Been wondering this for a while in my first read through, and I know that it’s probably way too late to get a reply, but here goes.
During the Familiar ritual, wasn’t there a mention of Snowdrop giving some capacity to lie/use her rule of speech? I don’t remember which chapter that was, way back, but it hasn’t come up since and this explicit listing of the bond’s benefits reminded me of it.
LikeLike
Snowdrop chose not to share her rule of discourse out of concern it would mess up Avery’s practice. From One After Another 10.1:
LikeLike