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Mariaj Lwa “Through the spirits I can speak”
According to voodoo lore, a spiritual marriage offers something for everyone. The spirit gains entry to the human world, where in dreams or visions it makes its proposal of marriage to the person. If the proposal is accepted, the spirit is honored and celebrated, in exchange for which its earthly spouse is promised divine protection from life's misfortunes. Sally asks Papa Legba for permission to speak with those that come across her path.
Exert your Mind and spend one minute to activate. You must use up Papa Legba Candle in order to activate this Effect.
You may understand and communicate to Creatures and humans as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.
This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.
If you use this Effect to spend an hour speaking with a native speaker of a human language you don't know, you may Exert your Mind and roll Intellect + Culture Difficulty 7. With Outcome 4 or higher, you permanently learn that Language.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: May not harm a dog or dog like creature without a self control roll.
- Communing with creatures does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.
- The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
- When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.
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Charlatans
“Unsettling are the days in which everyone is an expert.”
― Criss Jami
Nowadays you can't go a day without some phony prophet trying to peddle their wares to you.
Driven by the increased interest in the supernatural, charlatans from palm readers to televangelists are everywhere. And while the vast majority of witches, psychics, magicians, hypnotists, cures, potions, faith healers, and clairvoyants are complete fakes, they do make a living.
As the saying goes, "it's easier for an actor to make it in alternative medicine than Hollywood."
Most people scoff at these clearly-phony supernatural services, yet those same people often buy into at least one scam.
The most dangerous charlatans are the self-styled monster hunters who carry a mall-ninja arsenal and guns with silver bullets. Most have never encountered anything supernatural and do absolutely nothing besides burn some sage and patrol the area for a night or two. Even so, those who are superstitious, fearful, or desperate enough will hire them to solve the problems they simply don't understand. In some cases with disastrous results.
For Contractors, charlatans are red herrings and obstacles. Clumsy fakes that conjure a smokescreen of misinformation and escalate the situations they're in.
Community
Commune Gifts
The Language of the Birds
Understanding birdsong, or any animal really.
A lot of animal communication is soundless, and most of that is through movement and posture. I've learned to understand that and make the appropriate motions in return. That much is obvious to anyone's eyes, though they may not realize that I intuitively understand the sounds animals make as well. When communicating back with them it can get tricky, I haven't learned many of the right sounds in their speech. Thankfully they understand my tone of voice for emotional context, even when I'm whistling to a bird or meowing to a cat. They seem to pick up on human language, at least when I say it, but it's like someone speaking with a bad accent. If I'm slow they get enough, and maybe part of the problem is that humans use more intricate concepts linguistically. Animals don't need most of that.
Anyhow, they get me and I get them, but if I take the form of a similar enough animal (or the same kind) then they understand me flawlessly. We can talk easier then, and also not be understood by humans when we talk.
Some legends talk about humans learning the languages of animals, often from a mystical source like tasting dragon blood, but also as simple as being taught bird tongue by a bird. How did this ability spontaneously manifest? Honestly, it's through an inherent connection with animals that comes about from latent and innate shapeshifting abilities. It's in the blood, metaphorically anyway.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
- Communing with terrestrial animal does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.
Speak with Dead
Allows communication with spirits.
When touches a corpse he is able to commune with the spirit of the body. Jean is held paralyzed until he has finished the conversation.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend an Action to activate.
You may understand and communicate to as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next ten minutes.
A quick chat
He speaks! She chants! Their whispers confound.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate.
You may understand and communicate to humans and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language for the next hour.
Whenever you encounter a Language you could commune in with this Effect, you immediately understand which language it is, the dialect, region, and other details about it.
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation or for its duration will almost certainly be disturbed to see Haïta’s eyes turn black.
While this Effect is active, you are at -2 dice to all Actions and cannot Concentrate.
- The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
- When narrating disturbing content, be cognizant of your group's tone and accommodating to those who would like to "fast forward" through the description.
Nature's Tounge
They all have their own languages, and now I know them.
Carpathia speaks in Italian (her first language) to her target, who appears to be comprehending what she's saying and responds with their respective form of communication, whatever that may be.
Carpathia gains an instinctual knowledge of how animals communicate with eachother and is able to translate it to her human tongue, and when they take a close enough look at her they can feel her ties to the spirit of the natural world, and by extension, them.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to Creatures and humans as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
- Communing with creatures does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.
- The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
Sleeper’s Programming
Jordan approaches the large Russian man, pauses for a moment, and then cracks a joke in Russian. To your surprise, the large man laughs.
Jordan pauses for a moment (less than an action, it is barely a second) as his brain processes the alien spy database he was grown with, a database that contains all languages on the planet he was assigned to (Earth). He then speaks fluently in that language, as if he had always known it. Because the database in his DNA always had.
As Jordan continues to awaken from a sleeper agent into an active agent, he may unlock sections of this database that are currently locked off from him…such as knowledge of alien languages, and of creatures outside his primary assignment of infiltrating human society. Now he has continued along that reawakening, and so alien portions of this database have unlocked as well.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to Creatures, humans, and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
This also includes understanding any recorded communications from the relevant targets, including writings, scent trails, etc.
- Communing with creatures does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.
- The target of "human" refers to any target that speaks a human language.
- When reading written communications, you get no information beyond what the writer was intending to communicate.
Stock
Commune Gifts
Death Speak
They want to speak, but their mouths are too dry.
The Necromancer spits into the mouth of a recently deceased corpse. For the few minutes, the corpse's head comes back to life and speaks to the Necromancer.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Dead target within 50 feet. Dead targets must have died within the past week, and you must have their remains in your possession.
The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.
- You can target yourself if you qualify as a valid target by the other requirements.
- Your target must be within line of sight, or within range of another sense if more fitting for the Gift's flavor.
Beastlish
"Yip yap! Yip yap!"
The beastmaster can speak to and understand any animal.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
- Communing with terrestrial animal does not grant them intellect but does allow you to converse with them.