Kult Characters

Dierdre O’Donnell (New Age Pagan archetype)

Characteristics

Load Capacity: 15 kilograms
Movement: 7½ meters/5 seconds
Actions: Two actions/combat round
Initiative Bonus: +3
Damage Bonus: 0
Damage Capacity: 4/3/3
Endurance: 100

Appearance: 5′ 7″, 117 lbs., long brown hair in a pony tail; grey eyes; comfortable clothing and boots in earth tones and silver jewelry with settings of semi-precious stones and crystals in the shape of mystical symbols.

Dark Secret: Occult Experience (Her high school math teacher Miss Ellen Haversham was also a dabbler in the occult: she invited Dierdre and her friend Jennifer Sasser to witness an occult ceremony. The ceremony went horribly wrong, summoning a horrific creature from beyond the Veil that killed Miss Haversham and Jennifer. Although she survived, the experience put Dierdre in a mental asylum; the unknown cause of her survival has been a source of puzzlement and worry for Dierdre ever since. The teacher was blamed for both deaths by the police, who understandably ignored the occult aspect of the crime entirely.)

Skills: Martial Arts (Aikido) ¹⁸⁄₁₅ [Instructor: Throw 15, Grip 12, Block 15, Dodge  6, Fall 12; Budo maneuver: Soften Attack] Hypnosis 18 Meditation 15 Fortune Telling (Tarot) 10, Net of Contacts (New Age) 10 Occult 10 Parapsychology 10 Computers 10 Psychology 10 Handgun 10 Woman of the World 10

Profession: Psychic consultant, lecturer and speaker/Therapist Living Standard: 6 (Upper Average)

Equipment: Car: SAAB 9000; Makarov 9mm. pistol, ammunition, concealed holster; notebook computer with fax modem; mini tape recorder; mini video camera with telephoto lens; light amplification/IR binoculars; assortment of books on psychology, parapsychology and the occult; collection of natural and synthetic crystals; assortment of clothes (professional, practical, and outdoors) and jewelry; luggage; various office supplies.

Note: the Kult character creation system rolled a d6 for the number of advantages and disadvantages but when I rolled a “1” and a “6” I didn’t specify which, so I wrote two different descriptions, one with 6 advantages and 1 disadvantage and one with the opposite.

Mystical Crusader

Advantages: Body Awareness, Empathy, Enhanced Awareness, Intuition, Magical Intuition
Disadvantages: Curse (the Veil will part locally if Dierdre stays in one place more than a week)
Mental Balance: +60

Dierdre left the asylum cured and a changed woman. No longer was she the young, innocent teenager; her metal (and mettle) had been forged by the fiercest fires of Fate into a competent, confident woman. It was through her training in the gentle martial art of Aikido that she discovered her awareness of her own body and honed it to tool for defense and self-discovery. Her desire to help others led her to discover that she could read the feelings and intentions of the people around her; conversely, she found that other people were very comfortable in her presence. Finally, she discovered, through her growing self-awareness, her ability to see auras.

Haunted Medium

Advantages: Enhanced Awareness
Disadvantages: Curse (the Veil will part locally if Dierdre stays in one place more than a week), Haunted (Jennifer Sasser); Mental Compulsion: Clothing (wears sexually suggestive clothing), Sexually Tantalizing, Unwilling Medium
Mental Balance: ‑45

While Dierdre was in the asylum, the spirit of her friend Jennifer came to possess her several times. Besides giving the therapists at the asylum the impression that Dierdre was suffering a psychosis or split personality, some of Jennifer’s mannerisms eventually rubbed off onto Deirdre: Dierdre will dress provocatively and subconsciously use suggestive body language in personal situations. Other spirits are drawn to Dierdre, finding her attractive for their own purposes: she has little defense against their possession or influence.

Notes

• Even while Dierdre was in the asylum, she could see and hear things that no one else could. Speaking about these visions kept her in the asylum, until at last she realized that if she stopped talking about the visions, she might be able to leave. By then she had learned exactly how to fool the psychiatrists and therapists, and so after nine months Dierdre was released from the asylum.
• Dierdre swore to fight the powers she saw beyond the Veil, and so trained herself both to combat them herself and to enlighten others to find the same powers within themselves and take up the fight themselves, thus covertly fighting the powers beyond the Veil.
• Shortly after Dierdre left the asylum, she would feel the boundaries between the worlds that is the Veil parting in her vicinity if she stayed in one place too long, so she must travel constantly. Fortunately her profession allows her to do so naturally, speaking at seminars and teaching classes and lectures around the country (and further).
• Dierdre starts each day by practicing her martial arts for a half-hour. She will spend the day speaking and teaching publicly or privately, or researching events in the vicinity and speaking with local contacts. Her spare time is spent reading one of the many reference books she always carries with her. She will again practice her martial arts for another hour every evening, then meditate for an hour before sleeping.