Spring court, autum court, jade court, etc.

[inq101]

A quick search didn't reveal any other topic covering this so I decided to make one.

I was wondering what other people had done with these plot hooks.  Who's used autumn or spring fae, jade court vamps?  Has anyone tried to make blue, yellow or grey court vampires, or other supernatural gribblies.

I'm running a game based in London.  The spring and autumn courts are groups of changelings who have figured out a way of stabilizing their nature somewhat.  They have a much weaker impulse to make the choice between mortal and fae.  These courts also have an agreement with the queens so that summer and winter have limited power and influence in London as long as the changeling courts maintain the Accords and relative peace.

EDIT:  This is just simple curiosity.  I'm planning on using the spring/autumn court and was wondering how others used the same idea.

[UmbraLux]

Queue S with links. 

The later books provide enough incite into the courts I'd rework some of the early stabs at equinox courts.  I'd probably make them somewhere between rebels and loosely associated splinter groups.  (At least if I planned on keeping the solstice courts' purpose.)

There are also several versions of Jade vampires.  Were there any legends you wanted to emulate in particular?

[Lany79]

I once ran a game with the Autumn and Spring Courts as basically defunct. Summer and Winter had absorbed most of them a very long time ago. Those that were left, were mostly in hiding. They also had strong ties to Arthurian Lore.

[Taran]

Not really plot hooks, per se, but templates of various vamps are here:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,36142.msg1719646.html#msg1719646

Some of those builds may give you ideas

[Hick Jr]

I run the Jade Court as basically Jiang-Shi, the asiatic vampires. This is my writeup of your average one.

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High Concept
Jade Court Vampire
Other
Jiang-Shi, Secret Court, Not A Joke,  Hopping Vampire

Skills
Great: Fists, Discipline
Good: Endurance, Might
Fair: Athletics, Alertness
Average: Contacts, Lore, Resources
Stunts
Hopping Mad (Athletics): Gain a +2 to any Athletics check made to jump. These suckers got hops.

Powers
Human Guise [-0]
Claws [-1]
Living Dead [-1]
Feeding Dependency (Chi) [+1] affecting
Supernatural Strength [-4]*
Mythic Toughness [-6]*
Supernatural Sense [-1] (Breathing)*
Chi-Eater [-5] (At range, Giga Drain, Magic Eater)*
Limitation [+3] are their classic weaknesses- Peach wood, the blood of a black dog, rice, eggs, and fire. None of the powers marked with the asterisk function when doused in the blood of a black dog and they gain the Horrible Pain aspect, peach wood weapons and fire bypass their Toughness, and being hit with an egg removes their Human Guise and downgrades their Strength to Inhuman.

Total Refresh Cost: -13
Stress
Social: 00
Mental: 00
Physical: 0000(000000)

CHI EATER [-1]
You devour life-force and the inherent magic from human beings, be it by touch or with a simple glance.
Effects
Feeding Touch: Physical contact is necessary for a satisfying meal. With a touch, you may draw the chi out of your victim. Treat as a Weapon:2 physical attack using Discipline. This can also be done as a maneuver or a block, adding aspects like Feeling Faint or Too Weak to Move to your victim. Gain a +1 on subsequent feeding rolls if the first one succeeds.

At Range [-1] You may use this ability on targets up to a zone away without touching them.

Giga Drain [-1] Your chi drain becomes Weapon:4.

Magic Eater [-2] You can use your Chi Drain in it’s purest form- Sucking magic out of the very enviroment and your victims. You may now use your Chi Drain as a magical block, adding it’s weapon rating to your Discipline to determine the strength of the block. In addition, you can now apply aspects like Magically Inert and Powerless to victims of your Chi Eater, and can apply scene/zone aspects like Dead Magic Zone and Lifeless Blight. Requires Giga Drain.

The Chi Drain power could use some work or just get replaced with Natural Weaponry, but meh.

I generally run the Autumn Court as basically Halloween Town from a Nightmare Before Christmas. Spring is something i've never seen run, but i'd use DnD's approach to the Day/Seelie Court- a bacchanalian affair. Almost the party court, and more obsessed with growth and plants than Summer.

[UmbraLux]

Here's a slightly different take on the Jade Court: 

(click to show/hide)

An Jung-guen

High Concept:  Assassin of the Jade Court
Other Aspects:  Always Feeding, Always Hungry; Ghost of Smoke and Fire; Shenwu* have the Sweetest Flavor; I Appear Weakest at my Strongest; All Warfare is Based on Deception

Skills
> Superb:  Deceit
> Great:  Fists, Discipline
> Good:  Conviction, Contacts
> Fair:  Rapport, Resources
> Average:  Alertness, Presence, Scholarship

Stunts
> Lush Lifestyle (Possession makes money easy.)

Powers
> Soul Eater
> Spirit Form
> Domination
>> Possession
> Claws
> Feeding Dependency affecting:
>> Illusion
>> Human Guise
>> Inhuman Speed
>> Inhuman Strength
>> The Catch:  Segaki trappings affecting:
>>> Superhuman Recovery

*Spell casters / Magicians

Also called gaki, preta, jikininki, or simply hungry ghosts, Jade Court vampires prey on humans to remain physical. In their natural state, gaki are ghosts, spirits of hunger. To live, they dominate and possess humans, slowly eating the dominated souls. As time passes, the possessed bodies become thinner, only-bone-and-skin, emaciated human beings with bulging stomachs and inhumanly small mouths and throats.

I wrote that one intending to scare White Council wizards.    Hard enough to kill a regenerating spirit, even harder when it thinks you're a tasty snack and habitually possesses otherwise innocent humans.

In the long run you'll want to create or choose a version which fits your concept.  There are far more answers than one or two.   

[Sanctaphrax]

Queue S with links. 

Sure, why not.

The Template thread that Taran linked to and the wiki page associated with it are your best bets for homebrew vampire courts.

Autumn/Spring Court stuff isn't so well compiled. So here's a pile of links:

http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22857.0.html
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,17813.0.html
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,25954.0.html
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,33033.0.html
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,34387.0.html
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,27590.0.html

That's not an exhaustive list by any means, but it's a start.

You can find Spring and Autumn magics on the Sponsored Magic list.

[blackstaff67]

Talk about timing...we're undergoing a whole mess of Autumn-related stuff in game, as Summer found a way to fight Winter guaranteeing an eternal Summer in a sort of 30-day long contest of tasks; winner take all.  Winter threatens an occult 'nuclear option' for the area in they lose, so the PC's have to find a way to end the war.  Cue a party PC taking on the Aspect of...the Autumn Knight.  Change, transition, death (the end of things in their proper time--it is time for summer to end).  Basically, our CoG offered herself up as a sacrifice via The Wicker Man (turning the only other PC nearby into an emotional train wreck--turns out dying through smoke inhalation is NOT allowed) and becoming the Autumn knight and possibly acquiring the ability to Call the Wild Hunt for a minor trip to...somewhere. 

IIRC, I do believe that some earlier pagan cultures sacrificed in Spring as well to guarantee new crops and rebirth. 

[Haru]

For Spring and Autumn courts, I once had the idea of a secret order who's job it is to make sure the power transfer between summer and winter takes place as intended. So if one side were to try and cling to the power to prolong their season, they would step in and make sure that everything goes as it should. They'll kill anyone who is disrupting the natural order of things. Including the Queens.

They are made up of powerful Sidhe of both sides, as well as wild fae, all of whom have sworn neutrality and are free of their bond to their former courts.

[Hick Jr]

Hmm. "Regulator" Courts. Interesting idea. Given the actual duty of the Winter Court, which I won't spoil for those who haven't read Cold Days, I basically envisioned Autumn as a

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sort of Homeland Security against the Outside. If any of them, including Nemesis, get past Winter, it's Autumn's job to kick them out again.

[Albavar]

In my campaign, we didn't go Spring and Autumn, but rather the Oriental and Native American Faeries.  Since they are generally portrayed as tricksters and punishing the wicked, I have them set up as watching out for mortals who are trying to reach beyond the Outer Gates and shutting them down.
I also have the Ebony Court vampires in Detroit. They are a variant of WCV that feed on Rage. There is more to it than that, but my players might be reading...

[Silverblaze]

I once ran a game with the Autumn and Spring Courts as basically defunct. Summer and Winter had absorbed most of them a very long time ago. Those that were left, were mostly in hiding. They also had strong ties to Arthurian Lore.

The Arthurian Lore part is what our spectacular storyteller used for them.

The Jade Court - something of a group of vampires that of course fed on life energy but tried to keep a balance.  Very Yin and Yang type stuff.

Most we ran into followed the bushido code.

[vultur]

I've honestly always imagined the Erlking and his goblins as being effectively the "Autumn Court". I think because hunting seasons tend to be in fall (US anyway) and the hunting = harvest = obtaining food connection ... I guess.

Which would presumably make the Spring Court that of one of the other Winter Kings (Kringle obviously doesn't fit).

[Tirs]

You speak about specific organization, or any that expand the world of DF?
I invented some organisations for werewolves and shapeshifters, but they exchange DF-cosmology.

[blackstaff67]

I've honestly always imagined the Erlking and his goblins as being effectively the "Autumn Court". I think because hunting seasons tend to be in fall (US anyway) and the hunting = harvest = obtaining food connection ... I guess.

Which would presumably make the Spring Court that of one of the other Winter Kings (Kringle obviously doesn't fit).

The Green Man would probably be Spring.  Rebirth, growing, the natural time for things to become alive or awaken, etc.  If so, there's your Spring Court (and since I like the idea of it, your Regulator Spring Court).