Maur Wachiru, Scion Shaman

   For today, it’s the third member of our little Scion team – Maur Wachiru, their mystic and social engineer. Maur is – at least for Scion – an extraordinarly versatile, if relatively low-powered mystic and prefers to be a noncombatant. To make up for it, he has minions. In fact, he has lots of minions…

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Maur Wachiru

   Scion of Ogoun

   Maur grew up in a modest village in northern Africa. Unfortunately, the turbulent violence of the region washed over his village when he was fifteen – and mere hours after Ogoun had dropped by to introduce his vision-questing son to a few spirit-bodyguards and allies.

   His new allies were more than enough to cover the villagers retreat, but the war wasn’t going away. With his new powers, Maur was a resistance leader within a few weeks – and nearly died for it. He just didn’t have the defenses to stop a skilled sniper with a high-powered rifle.

   Maur was far more cautious after that, kept some of his spirits (usually the Metal Elemental) on bodyguard duty, and employed his talents far more subtly. He still became known as a local leader, and as the most powerful shaman that the area had seen in generations.

   By the time he was seventeen, he had managed to bring the local area under the protection of one of the greater national militias, but he had also become aware of the influence of malevolent spirits, sorcerers, and supernatural creatures, and of the need to pursue them. Just as importantly, he had become a destabilizing influence himself – attracting opponents, seen as a potential rival by the national militia commanders, and an inspiration to local hotheads and cultists. It was time to leave.

   Tracing his opponents web of connections – and the rumors of a powerful magical Kris that they had been using to call forth the Dragons of the Sands – led him to North America, and to a meeting with Arnor and Dernulf. Joining forces seemed appropriate: Arnor was a master of melee combat – an area in which his bodyguard-spirits were relatively weak – and Dernulf possessed some useful defensive talents which he could share with his allies, plentiful funds, and considerable expertise as an investigator, as well as being virtually omni-competent.

   Maur is a solidly-built black man with complex tribal tattoos and an extensive collection of small fetishes, engraved tokens, and similar talismans. He dresses in classical african garb if he has a choice and usually shaves his head.

   Maur’s tactics are designed to shield his personal weaknesses. His magic is subtle and versatile, his social talents are excellent, and his manifested spirit bodyguards are formidable at long-range combat – but none of his abilities are well adapted to close-quarters combat, offer him much real protection against a long-range strike, or will readily scale up to deal with truly potent opponents. A bulletproof vest is useful, but it really doesn’t offer much protection in scion-level combat. On his own, he’ll send minions if at all possible rather than enter combat personally.  

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• Calling: Freedom Fighter
• Nature: Judge
• Willpower: 6
• Legend: 2 (4 Legend Points)

Virtues:
Harmony	3
Order	1
Piety	2
Vengeance	3

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Attribute	Base	Epic	Knacks
Perception	3	1	Unfailing Recognition
Intelligence	2
Wits	2
Strength	2	*
Dexterity	3	1	Monkey Climber
Stamina	4	1	Damage Conversion
Charisma	5	1	Friends Everywhere
Manipulation	4	1*	God’s Honest
Appearance	2

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	Ability	Skill	Notes
	Academics	3
	Animal Ken	3
*	Art
	Athletics	3
	Awareness
	Brawl
	Command	3
	Control	1
*	Craft
	Empathy	3
*	Fortitude
	Integrity	3
	Investigation
	Larceny
	Marksmanship	1
	Medicine
*	Melee	1
	Occult	3
*	Politics	3
*	Presence	3
	Science
	Stealth
	Survival
	Thrown

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• Dodge DV: (Dexterity+Athletics+Legend)/2 + Epic Dex = 5
• Net Soak: 7B/5L/2A.

Birthrights (5 + 15 Bonus Points):

• Followers/10 Heavy Weapons Trooper Spirits (5/7):

   Heavy Weapons Troopers use the Experienced Soldier template, but throw in a couple of extra weapons of choice (usually a heavy military weapon, a bayonet or melee weapon, and three grenades), an additional skill at 3, a relevant kit (medical, demolitions, etc), and a helmet (+1L/1B armor). They tend to be well-coordinated, but are usually a bit overconfident in their weapons.

   Given that most of the time the GM will only care what the heavy weapons are like, Maur’s troops carry one flamethrower, 2 LAW missile launchers, two light machine guns, one demolitions pack (a selection of mines and satchel charges), two grenade launchers, a light mortar, and a surface-to-air missile launcher. Getting in front of this bunch is NOT a good idea. Of course, they’re also REALLY hard to explain in most situations.

• Followers/10 Nature Spirits (4/5): Place (Mountain, Desert, Forest, Hearth, Prairie) and Elemental (Water, Air, Earth, Fire, Metal) Spirits.

   Spirits are normally immaterial. Within their particular domains they can provide information (for example a Hearth spirit can provide information about inhabited places), move appropriate material about (an Earth spirit can make clouds of dust and throw rocks), aid travel (those under the guidance of a forest spirit will bypass hazards, find food and water, and travel several times more rapidly than normal through the forest), protect people (a Fire spirit can ward off flames, heat or cold, and smoke inhalation), cause or prevent accidents (a Mountain spirit can greatly ease a climb – or cause a disastrous fall), search their domains (a water spirit can easily locate things under the water), conceal people and objects within their domains (a Desert spirit can easily call up dust and sandstorms, or weave mirages, to conceal areas of the desert), get people frightened or lost (a prairie spirit can easily misdirect those traveling within its realm), withdraw from or surround people (an Air spirit can make it very hard to breathe, or provide air in unpleasant environments), animate appropriate materials (manifesting a body, such as a Metal spirit creating a suit of animated armor around someone to carry them safely out of danger), or provide minor “special effects” (light, puffs of wind, etc). Sadly, none of these effects are especially powerful: simply use the controllers (Charisma + Occult) pool for appropriate effects, but such spirits cannot apply more levels of Epic Charisma than their base cost (in this case, 3).

• Followers/10 Normal Human Spirits (1): These are actually generic “types”, who can fit into virtually any setting when called upon. His set includes a Chauffeur/Taxi Driver, a Lawyer, a “Well-off Patron”, a Cop, a Butler, a Cook, a Doctor, a Beautiful Woman, a competent Repairman, and a Secretary.
• Followers/10 spirit-swarms of assorted nuisances (1) (Perhaps these should fall under “Creatures” instead, but who cares?): Wasps (x3), Fire Ants, Rats, Micro Fire Elementals, Locusts, Jellyfish, Brown Recluse Spiders and Scorpions. Maur usually calls on these when he needs to hinder or distract someone.
• Guide (3): Marindo the Smith. A minor Loa, a master of artifice and maker of devices. He often blesses the weapons and tools of those he favors, but is likely to send his allies on peculiar quests to gather the ingredients he needs. He can make all kinds of devices, both mundane and magical, in mere hours – but is reluctant to teach his techniques, although he can be more readily persuaded to teach the secrets of making specific items. He always demands an offering of wine, meat, and fine cloth when called upon for more than a few words of advice.

   Maur would like to have even more spirits to call upon – a group of creatures similar to Coatl would be ideal – but he simply hasn’t got enough points. Game Masters who don’t want to deal with the Heavy Weapons Troopers (and their assorted destructiveness), or who want a more mythic feel, may prefer to substitute intelligent (and thus 4-point base) Coatl-type beings, or a pack of 10 werewolves (See Scion: Demigod) with a street-cop level base, or some similar group for the troops.

• Veve Tattoos (Relic 3): Allows the use of the Shamanism Purview as if the user’s Legend was one level higher than it actually is and cannot be removed.

Epic Attributes and Boons (10)

• 5x Epic Attributes
• Shamanism II (3)
• War I (1)
• Fire I (1)

   Maur is currently hunting for a Kris which is supposed to allow its user to employ the War and Fire Purviews, as well as allowing him or her to summon (albeit possibly not control except by bargaining) the Dragons of the Sands – but at the moment he cannot employ his War or Fire boons unless someone lends him an appropriate relic.

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Shamanism Purview:

   This purview expresses the user’s ability to relate to spirits and the spirit world.

• Level One: The Spirit Drum. Dice Pool: None. Cost: None. You may contact, summon, and dismiss spiritual allies, contacts, and followers without the use of a relic provided that you have either several minutes to focus, can draw the symbol of the entity or entities in question, or bear a pre-inscribed symbol of the entity or entities in question.
• Level Two: Feast of the Akasa. Dice Pool: None. Cost: One legend point per spirit. If a spirit is “slain” (disrupted) in your service, you may recall it by spending a point of Legend, making offerings, and holding a special ritual in its honor, rather than by waiting a year and a day for it to regain its strength naturally.
• Level Three: The Offering of the Self. Dice Pool: None. Cost: One or more experience points. All your spirit followers gain the benefits of supernatural stamina if they do not already have it and 8 XP to spend (the player may select where these are spent). The user may spend additional XP to further upgrade his or her followers, granting them 1 each XP for every 2 he or she spends.

   Higher levels of Shamanism provide the ability to bind additional spirits into your service, astral projection, and similar abilities.

   Friends Everywhere: You may spend a Legend Point to find a friend – either casually befriending someone in the immediate vicinity or knowing someone in the area (whether natural or supernatural).