Mage Character: Nettle

Nettle

Name: Nettle Gideon (formerly Iris Seaton)
Player: Lisa
Chronicle: Salt Lake By Night
Tradition: Verbena
Concept: Masochistic Nymphomaniac Witch

Nature: Fanatic
Essence: Pattern
Demeanor: Bravo

Cabal: The Unbound
Chantry: The Chosen
Allies: The Broken

Attributes:

Physical
Strength: XXXOO
Dexterity: XXXXO Fast
Stamina: XXXXO Tireless Endurance

Social
Charisma: XXXOO
Manipulation: XXXOO
Appearence: XXXOO

Mental
Perception: XXXXO Sharp Eyes
Intelligence: XXXOO
Wits: XXXOO

Abilities:

Talents
Alertness: XXXOO
Athletics: XXXOO
Awareness: XXXXO Paranoid
Brawl: XXXOO
Dodge: XXXXO Slippery
Instruction: XXOOO
Intimidation: XOOOO
Intuition: XXOOO
Subterfuge: XXOOO

Skills
Drive: XXOOO
Etiquette: XOOOO
Firearms: XXXOO
Meditation: XXXOO
Melee: XXXXO Fencing Weapons
Research: XXXOO
Stealth: XXXOO
Survival: XXXOO

Knowledges
Computer: XOOOO
Cosmology: XXOOO
Enigmas: XOOOO
Investigation: XOOOO
Linguistics: XXOOO Spanish & French
Lore: XXXOO Vampire, Fae, Garou
Medicine: XXXOO
Occult: XXOOO
Science: XOOOO

Spheres:

Correspondence XXOOO....................... Life XXXXX................................... Prime XOOOO
Entropy OOOOO............................... Matter XXOOO................................... Spirit XXXOO
Forces XXXXX.................................... Mind XXOOO................................... Time OOOOO

Advantages:

Backgrounds
Allies XXOOO coven acolytes, High Priestess Gretchen, High Priest
Avatar XXXOO Ivy
Library XXOOO set up in horizon realm
Mentor XXXOO Veil

Arete
X X X X X O O O O O
Willpower
X X X X X X X X O O

Combat
Glock- Diff. 7, Dmg. 4
Saber- Diff. 6, Dmg. 6 (3 settings: electric blade, flaming blade, electric stun-projectile)
Knife- Diff. 4, Dmg. 3
Class 1 Armor: Reinforced Clothing

Merits
Animal Magnetism 1pt.
Coven Ties 2pts.
Faery Affinity 2pts.
Natural Linguist 2pts.
Prestigious Mentor 1pt.
True Love 2 pts. (Alec)

Flaws
Curiosity 2pts.
Hatred 3 pts. Iteration X & Progenitors
Intolerance 1pt. towards littering, wasting natural resources, etc.
Masochism 2pts.

Nettle's avatar Ivy

Gallery of Nettle's family!

Appearance:
27 years old (as of current game-time)
Date of Birth: Sept. 12, 1974
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair: platinum blonde
Eyes: green
She wears dark eye make-up, has tattoos of nettle leaves and stems encircling her wrists and ankles, a tattoo of a half sun/ half moon-circle in the center of her upper back, and a tattoo of the symbol for Virgo combined with Scorpio at her bikini-line. She wears a mixture of hippie/ gothic clothing. She wears a choker of hematite stones (Life focus), a Norse sowelu rune (looks like a stick-letter S) ring on her right ring-finger (Life focus), a wide ring with circles against a black field (a gift from Alec-- holds the Mind 2/ Time 2 rote "Hey Remember When?") on her right index finger, and an antique necklace with an ivory carved center of a woman standing by a tree and a gold outlaid frame (a gift from Alec). Sometimes she leaves the rune-scars she makes on her arms, and sometimes she heals them.

Foci:
Correspondence - baseball-sized deep blue crystal ball with the continents etched into it
Forces- small candles of various colors/ lighter
Life- (no longer needs any foci)
Mind- Medieval-style tarot card deck
Matter- small purple-tinted rectangular sunglasses
Prime- quartz crystal
Spirit- incense sticks

Rotes:
1. Mindscreen: (Mind 1)- disguises thoughts, dreams, or auras from prying mind-effects.
2. Peril Alert: (Mind 1+ Matter 1 or Life 1)- alerts the caster when an item or living thing presents an imminent danger to the group.
3. Test Substance: (Mind 2+ Matter 1)- allows the caster to mentally test an unknown substance for its effects by touching it without resulting bodily effects.
4. Species-Skin: (Life 3- herself or Life 4-others)- temporarily alters the subjects' skin to a tough, reptile-like armor that retains its natural color.
5. Annurism/ Embolism: (Life 3)- causes a blood-clot to form and travel in the vessels of the victim's brain, resulting in death.
6. Poor Me!: (Mind 2)- causes the subject to feel very sorry for Nettle, and want to help her/ protect her/ forgive her.
7. Is that a Focus in Your Pocket�?: (Mind 2+ Life 3)- this spell can work on females as well as males, resulting in the subject suddenly wanting Nettle very badly! In males, this causes an immediate, uncontrollable erection.
8. Bullet With Butterfly Wings: (Matter 1+ Forces 2+ Life 3)- the mage removes a bullet from a wound using Matter 1 to locate the bullet, Forces 2 to harness a magnetic field around it, and Life 3 to stop nerve-impulses from traveling between the wound and the brain. She then uses her dagger to open the wound to make the effect more coincidental, Forces to pull the bullet to the knife-tip and stick it there, and Life to heal everything up and return the nerve-impulses to normal.

Quote: "Oooh, cut me again!! What-- you think that hurts? It's ecstasy..."

Role-playing: Nettle has constant mood-swings. One minute she's laughing, joking, and being witty, and then next minute someone rubs her the wrong way, and she's ready to fight verbally or physically. She especially doesn't seem to like females, and gets extremely jealous if any look at or touch Alec. Her mentor Veil and the high priestess Gretchen are the only females she completely respects and bows her head to. Before she met Alec, any man was fair game to flirt with or attempt to seduce, and she enjoyed doing both immensely. Now that she's actually fallen in love, she's completely faithful to Alec, and is thrilled to be his wife. She and Alec both still enjoy flirting innocently with others, and think of it as a kind of jealousy-game that enhances their time alone...and they do value their time alone! After 3 years of marriage, they're finally going to be parents! Nettle is currently pregnant with twins.
As a masochist, Nettle thrives on inflicting pain on herself, or getting others to do it for her. It fills her with power and makes her feel alive. She has an aversion to drugs and people who are stoned because she was almost raped by a stoned family friend, although she has been known to accept a joint or clove when under stress. An understanding has finally been reached between her and pot-smoking, drug-using Alec.

History:
Iris Seaton was raised by hippie-parents Sharon and John Seaton in Boise, ID, and they brought her up entrenched in New Age thought. Sharon's ancestors were from Wales, and John was borned and raised in south-western England before moving to the States as a teen. Nettle was always a very quiet and observant child, and didn't have many friends. She was used to being surrounded by her parents' hippie-friends, and found herself more comfortable around adults than children her own age. Iris developed a strong sense of love, trust, and peace toward this circle of adults.

When she was 16, her parents were having one of their usual pot-smoking parties outside with their friends, but Iris decided to stay inside and watch a movie in the living room. She was halfway through the movie when one of the men who she'd known all her life came in alone and sat next to her on the couch where she was slicing apples to eat. She thought nothing of it until he put his hand on her thigh, and when she looked up into his eyes she saw nothing of the friendly, playful man she thought she knew, but instead saw a lustful stranger. He pushed her onto her back-- spilling the bowl of apple slices-- and began fumbling at her clothes. In her fear and desperation she suddenly had a moment of clarity as she saw the silver flash of the paring knife still in her hand. She slashed the sharp knife with all her strength across the man's left arm-- slicing through muscle and tendon-- and he jumped up with a scream. The man ran outside shrieking and holding his arm, and when Iris' parents sprinted into the living room, they saw her standing tall and stiff-- head bowed with eyes glaring up dark and defiant, the neck of her shirt torn and hanging to the side in a flap, arms flung out and tensed at either side of her body, and her left hand still clutching the dripping knife. They looked from the knife to her face in fear and guilt for what had happened.

Iris' parents were sorrowful, but didn't protest as Iris got on the Greyhound bus with all her belongings. She had made arrangements to live with her aunt, uncle, and cousin Natalie in Salt Lake City and finish high school there, and her parents were too guilt-ridden to try to convince her to stay. Growing up, Iris had spent all her summers in Salt Lake with Natalie, and they considered themselves to be best friends. During their years in high school together, they became inseparable. They had an aura of maturity about them, and seemed unreachable to the rest of the students-- the girls feared them and the guys wanted them. Iris' face-- once so trusting-- had gained a look of hard pessimism. Deep down, she still held onto her New Age beliefs, but knew there had to be something more substantial out there. Natalie's parents were professors at the University of Utah, and after hearing about Iris' search for spiritual truth, they suggested she go to a Wiccan workshop given by the Order of Our Lady of Salt.

Iris went to the workshop, and while listening to the Wiccans speak about the Goddess and their beliefs, she felt her heart burning in her chest and her soul cry out that she had found her place in the universe. After the workshop concluded, she rushed up to the woman who had organized it and asked how she could join the Wiccans. The woman smiled warmly and introduced herself as Sutton Morgan. She asked Iris about herself and how old she was, and Iris told Sutton about her upbringing with her parents, and that she was 17 years old. Sutton gave Iris a schedule of upcoming Wiccan meetings, and told her more about the Order of Our Lady of Salt. She informed Iris that after attending these meetings and learning what she needed to know, she could choose to be initiated into the Order after her 18th birthday. Iris surprised Sutton by suddenly giving her a huge hug, and then rushing nervously from the room. Sutton watched her exit and smiled, and then slowly joined her fellow Wiccans as they began cleaning up.

Iris continued to be involved with the Wiccans and the Order for the next year, and when she turned 18 on Sept. 12, she excitedly told the coven leaders that she wanted to be initiated into the Order. Sept. 23rd brought the Autumn Equinox ceremony, and it was there that the coven joyously welcomed her as their newly-initiated sister. She gave herself the magickal name of Nettle, and had tattoos done of nettle leaves and stems encircling her wrists and ankles, and later a tattoo of a half sun/ half moon-circle in the center of her upper back.

Nettle started school that fall at the University of Utah, and graduated 4 years later with a degree in English History. She had taken fencing classes while enrolled, and became quite competent with the saber. She was a very dedicated member of many environmental organizations, an active member of the Order of Our Lady of Salt, and had recently became friendly with another coven-member named Veil.

On March 20, 1996 during the Spring Equinox ceremony, Nettle was standing and chanting with the rest of the Order when suddenly she felt like she was going into some kind of goddess-ecstasy. She levitated about an inch off the ground, her body began to tingle all over, and her skin seemed to be glowing faintly. After staring down incredulously at her shimmering bare flesh, she slowly began looking around at the trees and people, and saw that everything appeared to be radiating energy and glowing with magick. Her eyes misted with tears and she couldn't speak. Then Nettle saw a radiance brighter than all else coming from above her, and had to blink her eyes several times to see it clearly. Her head lifted, and she saw a woman suspended in the center of the nimbus. The woman had on a black cloak with white lining, and her hair and eyebrows seemed to be made of leaves and vines. On her forehead was a circlet containing a large, purple-blue gemstone. The woman began reaching out to her, and all Nettle could think was that this had to be the goddess! (she later found out that this was her avatar) She became overwhelmed, couldn't catch her breath, and crumpled to the ground in a faint.

When Nettle came to, her head was in Veil's lap, and everyone was looking down on her in concern. After concentrating on Nettle's face for a few moments, Veil looked up and quickly explained to the coven that Nettle had been overwhelmed by the Goddess' presence, and she was taking her back to her car to recover.

Once in the car, Veil explained to Nettle that she had just Awakened, that she would be Nettle's mentor, and that there were other mages in the coven. Nettle looked confused, but Veil smiled and said that all would be explained in time. From this moment on, Nettle has been learning all she can from Veil. After hearing about the Technocracy and witnessing first-hand their destruction, Nettle has developed a particular hatred toward Iteration X and the Progenitors for their perversion of life and the human body, and will stop at nothing to sabotage their efforts.

Nettle-updates:

Nettle has been happily married to Alec Gideon for a number of years now, and the two are the proud parents of twins. Their son, Ian Aleczander, is the subject of a Changeling prophesy, destined to lead the people of his ancestors' ancient kingdom back to Arcadia when the Fae spirit within him awakens, using a moonstone amulet made by his great-great-etc. grandmother Ellowyndriel and her children. He is protected by his great-great-etc. uncle Corrander-- one of those who made the amulet-- who entered the mortal world when the gates to Arcadia blew open in 1969 and has been searching for the bearer of the amulet until now. Nettle and Alec made Corrander Ian's Guardian at the babies' blessing-ritual done by the Llandona-- Nettle's ancestral coven in northwestern Wales.

Their daughter, Simone Rochelle, is a very observant baby, and seems to be able to tell when her parents are using magick. Alec and Nettle are quite sure that she will Awaken at some point in her life, and help lead the next generation of Mages with Tania and Jacob's daughter Sarah in an apocalyptic battle. Alec and Nettle made Veil Simone's Guardian at the babies' blessing-ritual.