Secret Sapience

This playgroup is intended to allow ALL ages. Keep that in mind at all times during your participation of this particular playgroup. This will affect everything from character approvals to interactions on the server, including play.

• Animals: All characters are to be given the Animal liability as all Contractors are animals of some variety. 
• Limits: All Limits apply to interactions with both humans and animals of the same and similar species. Animal Lovers expand this to all animals and should only be taken by herbivores. Lifesaver applies to other animals on contract and prevents killing without Trauma rolls. Neither applies to kibble and other Burden-provided, pre-packaged food. Obligate carnivores are not recommended to take either.
• Languages: Animals do not necessarily communicate well with each other. To understand your fellow animal Contractors your Contractor must learn other animal languages. i.e.: Cat, Dog, Corvid, Fox, Wolf, Owl, Bird, et cetera. Some dialects may overlap and allow for a Perception + Animals roll to understand. Animals can also learn to understand human languages just as they would animal languages. You will not be able to speak other languages outside of your native animal tongue, but you will be able to understand them, which may allow understanding if they can also understand you. You begin with your native animal tongue and your Burden's native human tongue, you may only ever speak your native animal language. (With the exception of some primates being able to sign.)
• Humans: Humans roll at a -2 difficulty to defend against or resist supernatural powers as long as they are still oblivious to it. If they are ever able to recognize it they instead roll at a +2 difficulty versus the same rolls instead. Those humans who have succumbed to supernatural influence are at neither a penalty nor bonus in difficulty or dice pool against the supernatural.
• Burdens: All animal Contractors begin with a Burden, a human who provides for them and can be a tool or a liability on Contracts. It is assumed that many Background Assets & Liabilities are actually represented by your Burden (with the notable exception of Polyglot and Additional Languages.) Burdens with knowledge of additional languages are represented by Database. This human is at a -3 dice pool penalty (minimum 1) to resist your supernatural powers until they succumb to dark forces.
• Inherent Powers: All contractors start with a free Gift point that must take that reflects their animal capabilities first and foremost. Also, one in every three power points must be used to advance these animal capabilities. Powers that can be explained as animal abilities can be up to Seasoned rank as early as character creation (and only these powers have Seasoned rank unlocked).
• Assets & Liabilities: Every Contractor must take Animal and Gifted, these do not apply to the normal 5 Assets and Liabilities restriction at character creation. (Giftless is never used in this playgroup.)
• Supernatural Powers: All non-mastery, non-concealed Powers must be subtly supernatural when activated and might grant a mutation that marks the wielder as supernatural or bizarre if discovered if the Disfiguring drawback is applied. Powers may be made obvious by adding the Traumatic drawback, but this may cause Burdens to turn to supernatural forces. Certain Gifts may be too obvious to conceal and are prone to corrupting otherwise oblivious to the supernatural.

The humans cannot see the truth beneath their very noses, that's where you come in.

The moon is full and bright tonight, and there is hardly any wind. Leafless trees cast tangled shadows all around you, and the air is crisp and cold. Your breath
steams silver in the moonlight as you make your cautious way to the heart of the woods.

At last, you come to a clearing, and the ancient Millennium Tree is at its center.

There, perched at the tip of a branch, is an imposing gray owl who stares at you unblinkingly as you emerge from the trees.

“You-ooo are late!” calls the owl, his tone severe.

You open your mouth to answer, but he gestures for silence with one wing.

“Let us not waste time with your excuses, kitten. Your teacher has sent you to learn from me, so sit down, stay quiet, and listen.

“I have much to tell you about sapient animals, their magic, and the many threats that plague us and our human Burdens. And when I am finished, you can tell your teacher that I consider my debt to be discharged.”

He tilts his head to one side, staring at you disconcertingly until you swallow, nod, and sit on the chilly ground.

When you’re sitting uncomfortably, he begins.

The truth has always been present, and the animals have always known. The cats' arrogant acknowledgment, the dogs' near-zealous devotion, the rabbits' weary acceptance, the birds' fickle view, and every other animal far and wide has some understanding that humanity cannot spare the world at large from themselves, much less the dark powers that creep in from the shadows. So it goes that the fauna, whose sapience escapes their notice, must step in to fight back the horrors of the beyond.

Humans are both oblivious and, possibly resultantly, resistant to the supernatural influences of the world. This keeps them primarily uninvolved in its workings. The humans who do learn of the dark forces at work quickly become enslaved by otherworldly forces' promises of power and other rewards, but there are those rare individuals who become "Burdens". Burdens are neither fully aware of the supernatural (lest they become enthralled by it) nor fully oblivious, they walk a thin line that allows them an intuitive, but not conscious, understanding that their pets are trying to protect them. This understanding goes deeper than just understanding the symbiosis of their relationship but is incomprehensible and incommunicable beyond that point. This allows their closest animals to influence them and become a tool to aid them in their fight against the shadows but makes them susceptible to learning enough to be corrupted by the very forces their guardian animals are protecting them from. This is why they are called "Burdens".

Long have cabals, cults, and secret societies thrived in the shadows. Their roots run deeply through humanity’s oldest systems of power. Machinations are challenged, and sleeping dangers awaken. But now the information flow is increasing the spread of dark influences. For hundreds, maybe thousands of years, Harbingers approached worthy animals with an offer they couldn't refuse, but now the need is higher than ever.

The Games have always been, but new generations of Contractors are being forged. Now it's your turn.