Winds That Will Be — Aedan's Journal
Todd's
Comments on Aedan's Journal
The JournalYes, I know that Aedan's story isn't done yet. I promise I will finish writing it.
Every journal was a first draft. Some things don't match up and some stuff doesn't make complete sense. That's the way first drafts go. I wrote it as a tool to help me deepen Aedan's character. Hmmm, that sounds like an oxymoron of sorts, seeing as how Aedan was rather shallow. Anyway, I also wanted to reward Simone for her hard work. Reading characters' journals is one of my favorite parts of being a GM and I hoped to bring some of that joy to Simone. If you have any thoughts or comments about Aedan's journals, please send them my way [bluemonsta (at) gmail.com].
I took massive notes during play, occasionally having my hand cramp up during extended conversations. However, the end result is that most of the PC's dialogue is what the players actually said during the game-assuming I could read my handwriting later. Some dialogue is paraphrased, but the players should recognize their own words most of the time. When something didn't make sense the way I had recorded it, I made stuff up to fit the story together. Simone corrected me a couple times when I overstepped my bounds-all writers need a good editor.
I especially enjoyed filling in the details of Aedan's ten years with Caine. Since Caine's appearances in the actual game were minimal, I think I created more of his character than Sim did-well, to my mind, at least. It was also fun to try to accurately portray the other PC's, to a point. Aedan was somewhat self-centered, immature, and egocentric. I expect that none of the other players will particularly like the way their characters were portrayed; that's fine. They could have written their own journals.
I tried to make Aedan somewhat egotistical, immature, and reckless, but also likeable. If you read the Chronicles and compare them to Aedan's journal, it should be fairly obvious that he was being manipulated much of the time. I knew that too, but Simone is fantastic at running NPC's; Aedan never suspected he was being set up. Concerning the other player characters, I'm satisfied with my characterizations of them. Interestingly enough, I think Gabriel actually comes across better in Aedan's journal than in his own. I doubt Ameer visualized Gabriel as an acne-prone wimp, but it fits him better than the "Captain Ass-Kicker" persona depicted in Gabriel's own deluded rants. That stuff never happened except in Gabriel's mind (ask Guy). Gabriel really was a power-mad, paranoid, sick and twisted runt. We all miss him very much.
Aedan's Psychological Profile and Secret Character Motivations
As for Aedan, the primary motivating factor in his life was his lack of good parents. Having had no father figure until he was seventeen years old made him more than a little bit anti-authoritarian. He worshiped his mother, so when the Tower began matronizing Aedan and giving him power, Aedan believed her wholeheartedly. He jumped at the chance to destroy and remake the world. The other PC's were shocked by Aedan's actions at the end (killing Magni, attacking Gabriel, trying to destroy the Universe) but I had designed Aedan for this sort of thing before the game ever began. Look at Aedan's trump description: shattered statues, sunset, and a skeleton. Read what Aedan's "business card" says when he meets Gabriel for the first time in Aedan's 4-30-00 journal. This young man was born to upset the apple cart. Too bad he wasn't around to enjoy the applesauce.Simone offered us "directed bad stuff," which I bought. Aedan had 7 points in "disadvantage: reckless." His reputation for "impetuousness" soon became an occasional joke as the other PC's questioned Aedan's behavior whenever he didn't jump in without looking first. I started a list of Aedan's Impetuous Acts. There were sixty of them, which averaged out to two per session. Imagine my shock when I later remembered that I had bought "reckless" as a character trait, not "impetuous."
Impetuousness
Impetuous is defined by Random House's Compact, Unabridged Dictionary as "1. acting rashly or with sudden energy; 2. moving forcefully or rapidly."Admittedly semi-facetious, here is the list:
Aedan's Impetuous Acts
1. Storming into the closed-door meeting and attempting to take Julian's place among the elders.
2. Confronting Brand immediately thereafter, despite Brand's warning to leave him alone.
3. Rappelling down the stairs to the Pattern.
4. Attacking the monster on the Pattern.
5. Striding down the Castle Halls in the middle of the battle with no regard for personal safety, headlong into the Fey/Guard melee.
6. Chasing the Unicorn/Monster onto the balcony.
7. Following the Will-o-Wisp into the Balcony Woods.
8. Flying in Ailill's realm, an incautious act at best.
9. Searching Random's personal quarters with Magni.
10. Shooting the Little Blue Imp who was sitting on the Throne-Oops, that was Magni's doing.
11. Confronting Gerard about returning the Great Sword.
A. Letting him escape with it.
B. Dissuading Magni from swiping the Sword.
12. Trumping a cranky and murderous Benedict and trying to provoke him. Luckily, Aedan failed to do so.
13. In Gwydion's Lab "Was that twelve drops?" Aedan (no clue) "Yes!"
14. Saving Caine's ass the First Time.
15. Convincing Corwin to "loan" Grayswandir to Caine.
16. Talking to Corwin with no regard for personal safety.
17. In Osric's realm.
A. Yelling at Searlas in the tunnel.
B. Yelling at Osric in his office.
18. Going to the Courts of Chaos via Mandor's Trump. "Hello, nice to meet you, may I come through?"
19. Ignoring the Monkey-Demon's helpful assistance and subsequently getting stranded in Mandor's house.
20. Flying/Jumping toward the new King of Chaos, just to introduce himself.
21. Preventing Gabriel from attempting to kill a wounded Caine.
22. Preventing Caine's personal assassin from killing Gabriel.
23. Busting apart the Fulke mannequin before investigating it.
24. Casually insulting Bleys and giving him cold coffee. (ahem. the cold coffee one was only in Aedan's mind. -GM)
25. Digging through the personal belongings of the new High Priest of the Unicorn.
26. Fiasco in Rebma:
A. Breaking and entering to the Scene of Llewella's death;
B. Breaking and entering to Llewella's personal estate;
C. Stealing some of Llewella's private books on sorcery.
27. Attacking Benedict. As you may recall, when we tried to cure Benedict, he broke free. Aedan charged in and hit him with a Power Word.
28. Outracing Gabriel toward the Bright Light inside Tirdre.
29. Escaping from the Abyss:
Seraph "Choose."
Aedan "Uh, okay."
30. Bringing Brand and Deirdre together for a heart-to-heart talk. Everyone expected blood to be spilled, but he did it anyway.
31. Insulting Benedict in his office in Amber while he hurriedly made preparations for war. Aedan was there, ostensibly, to ask for help.
32. Finding the Crown and Scepter of Amber. The whole bat/cat fey creature incident.
A. Agreeing to be turned into a bat/cat fey critter;
B. Making a deal with the fey for the royal regalia.
33. The Corwin-Hedge incident immediately prior to Martin's coronation.
34. First person to swear fealty to Martin.
35. Following Bleys when the alarm sounded.
36. Bleys "Give me your hand."
Aedan "Okay."
Bleys (grabs Aedan's wrist, cuts his thumb).
37. Chasing an angry Gerard down and persuading him to return and talk with King Martin by standing in his "very threatening" way.
38. Finding Fiona's cool jewelry box and just opening it without checking it for protection. Result: the Chigger Incident.
39. Wandering the halls of Amber naked.
40. Butting in on King Martin's meeting with the High Priest of the Unicorn before the Church ceremony.
41. Jumping at the chance offered by the Tower before he had the slightest idea what was involved or what she was asking.
42. Throwing Grayswandir away instead of holding on to the damn thing.
43. Not ducking when the Tower lobbed two blades at his head-Hey, she was a Goddess. Maybe this was her way of giving him wisdom.
44. Not lying about how Corwin died. In retrospect, this was a mistake.
45. Sleeping in Magni's bed. While Magni was there, he stayed out of the bed the whole time. He was busy tracking down the King.
46. Saving Brand when he was fighting the Tower.
47. Billing "House Oberon" at the most expensive luxury hotel in Chaos.
48. Touching the Serpent as it slithered out of the Abyss to meet the Unicorn. Oh, wait. That was Magni again.
49. Going to Tir na-Nog'th and speaking with the real Martin.
50. Healing Martin. Consequences? Ah, don't worry about them.
51. Attacking King Eric's castle with no knowledge of the situation.
52. The Plummet into the stairs. Oops. Look before you leap next time.
53. Healing Gabriel (sans freckles). In retrospect, this was done without thinking about the consequences. Aedan's life would have been much easier if he had just let Brand's son die of his wounds.
54. Killing the fake, other-Universe Corwin. Hey, he was pretty much dead anyway. Besides, it fixed things, didn't it?
55. Killing Caine. I'll tell you how, if you don't remember.
56. Refusing Eve's gift. Too many strings?
57. Summoning and insulting/baiting/fighting the Seraph.
58. Deciding that Magni would make a good blood sacrifice.
59. Agreeing to help Gabriel try to get Werewindle for nothing in return.
60. Slaying Magni and bringing about the Beginning of the End, but not quite the way Aedan had planned.
Also, I separated out Caine's Maxims. They are recounted here, in their entirety.
Caine's Maxims
No collection would be complete without Aedan's listing of "124 Ways to Kill Osric" (as mentioned in Aedan's 9-2-00 Journal). So what if I started with number 112?
124 Ways to Kill Osric
...One hundred and twelve: tying him up and stuffing the curtain beads into all of his orifices.
One hundred and thirteen: plucking his beard hairs out and forcing him to swallow them in a big, smothering mass.
One hundred and fourteen: ritual disembowelment, then strangulation with his own small intestine, always a favorite.
One hundred and fifteen: put his head in a vise and tighten it a half turn every hour.
One hundred and sixteen: driving red-hot nails into his eyes, his ears, and finally, his forehead.
One hundred and seventeen: strapping him face up in a bathtub and letting it fill, one drop at a time, until he drowned after days of anticipation.
One hundred and eighteen: smashing all of his teeth, mixing them into a paste and using it to seal his nose and mouth shut permanently.
One hundred and nineteen: a simple skull-caving. Sometimes the simplest plans are the best.
One hundred and twenty: peeling the skin off his body, one small strip at a time, and forcing him to chew and swallow it to stay alive.
One hundred and twenty-one: breaking all of the bones in his body, beginning with the littlest ones, and working up to the ones that would puncture the skin and cause him to slowly bleed to death.
One hundred and twenty-two: suspending the Great sword of Gerard by a hair over Osric's neck.
One hundred and twenty-what? Did he just say Magni could leave? But I couldn't? One twenty-three: I hit him over and over again until he stops moving permanently.
One hundred and twenty-four: I would pick Magni up by his scrawny ankles and beat Osric with his long, stringy body until he begged to be put out of his misery. So I would kill him by stuffing Magni into Osric's brainpan through his ear-hole.
Mysteries never resolved in game:
1. Aedan's father. Simone told Todd after the game was over. I'll just say that Aedan's speculations were completely wrong. Also, Ygg led him astray. Never trust an insidious tree.
2. Llewella's spell book? That was a prop thrown Aedan's way. I don't think it was significant.
3. Unicorn time travel thing? How did the Unicorn die forty years before the start of the game, then appear at the funeral only to die again?
4. What the Hell was Brand up to? Was he really a good guy? Supposedly, he was obeying the Unicorn when he restored the Keep of the Four Worlds and regained his old powers. Then he turned out to have been one of the original servants of the Tower. What exactly was he trying to do and why?
5. Grayswandir/spikard. Whoa. Simone should know better than to give one of Todd's PC's access to an extremely powerful item. Wheee! It was fun.
The Tir na-Nog'th Power: Breath of Tir
Simone let me create a power for her campaign based on the City in the Sky. Aedan never advanced beyond the beginning level, which is basically Power Words, but it was cool to have my own unique spooky power nonetheless. As a bonus, Aedan actually got to use every Word during the course of the game.
The powers of Tir na-Nog'th wax and wane relative to the cycle of the moon and the time of day, being strongest during the night of a full moon.
10 Beginning: Words of Tir
The Words of Tir function in a manner similar to Power Words and their cost is roughly equivalent, i.e., five words for ten points. The words themselves are mere aspirations, pronounced with a breath and a whisper sotto voce.
Flight: a short burst of flight, as swift as an owl, leaving a trail of moonlight and pixie dust.
Cause Light: radius in feet and duration in minutes equal to user's Psyche. Creates a silver will-o-wisp, moderately controllable.
Cause Sleep (must overcome victim's Psyche). Victim will sleep for some amount of time, determined by GM based upon Endurance, Psyche, or need.
Shade: User's form becomes dark, shadowy, and able to blend into the unlit nooks and crannies of the world. This is not invisibility, and direct light will reveal the user to any observer.
Shock: Put into the victim's mind a brief mental image designed to unsettle, shock, distract, or frighten him/her. The user does not know what the image is and cannot control it.20 Advanced: Journey of Tir
N.B. In a trancelike state, the user is only dimly aware of his/her immediate, physical surroundings. The user is vulnerable to physical attack, but will notice a sudden bright light, hear a shouted warning, feel the heat of impending flames, etc. Breaking the user's concentration removes him/her from the trancelike state and ends the use of the power.
Foretelling: (trance) See visions of the possible futures, as when walking in Tir.
Journey Inside: (trance) Magically enter something and travel through it. Learn how it works, what it is (similar to Pattern Lens or Logrus). However, it is viewed in terms of possibilities, not in cold, hard factual terms.
Journey Outside: (trance) Mentally travel overland as fast as an owl. Enter a trancelike state and travel along the ethereal plane (±). The journeyer is barely visible as a spectral form, and can be detected with sorcerous sights.
Journey Within: (trance) travel within oneself to discover truths: recount past events in exact detail, find hidden, locked, or lost memories, anything that can be found within the user's own mind.
Journey Beyond: travel to far and distant lands by conducting a short ritual within the upper chamber of the Tower of the Moon in Tir na Nog'th. The destination can be a Shadow of the user's desire, a specific known Shadow that is somehow connected to Tir, or anyplace else the GM deems appropriate. The specific arrival point of the user will be in darkest shadow, a pool of moonlight, or something equally appropriate. The user always arrives at night. This trip is one-way. Alternately, the user may travel to a desired circumstance within an unknown (GM-controlled) Shadow. For example, the user might wish to travel to "a celebratory ritual to the Horned God." If the GM allows that, she would determine the rest of the destination Shadow, be it high-tech, medieval, Neolithic, etc.