Knights of the Widow's Walk

Requirements: Wyrd 2+, Subterfuge 3+, Mantle Mask, Riddle-Kith; Have Hit Rock Bottom

Origin tales:


 * 1) Once there was an Elemental who could not look at themselves. Everytime they did so, they saw only blood. Blood of their family, blood of the motley mates, blood of the innocent. One day they came across a wall of ice and saw themselves. They could not bear it any longer and began to tear at themselves, desperate to be someone new. Their image in the ice leaned down to the mangled changeling. “Who you are is a monster. Who you could become can try to make up for it. I’ll make a bargain. I’ll let you be someone new if you will make sure other traitors like yourself are found.”
 * 2) She was running through the Hedge. For nearly a month now, she’d gotten no more than 6 hours of sleep a night and often much less. They were always after her and would not stop for anything. As she ran, she tore off her fur and replaced it with stones so that they might be confused. Soon, she tore off her long ears, for surely they would be identified, and put moss on them to cover the bleeding. Finally, unable to run any longer, she collapsed next to a tree, utterly spent. The Gentry ran on past for there was nothing there but a rock goblin, not the hare She was hunting.

Legends:


 * 1) The Knights of the Widow’s Walk do not leave legends. Their tales instead have been hidden as legends in other Entitlements.

What We Do in the Shadows:

It's easy to fall from grace when you're a changeling. Temptations from the Hedge, whispered threats and promises from a long-forgotten Fae, selfish urges opened by a vista of magical possibility; all of these things can trip up a Lost and one bad decision begets another, and soon she's more than halfway to fucked.

Maybe she's made some enemies. Maybe she's trying to recover from one or several addictions (be it heroin or oneiromancy). Maybe she just can't keep reality and her hallucinations straight. As one's Wyrd climbs, so do the possibilities -- some good, many bad. A changeling bloated with power can become a monster, a tyrant, a coward, or a lunatic. Potent Lost have a thousand ways to ruin themselves, because the bottom of the barrel isn't really that far at all.

And when you hit the bottom of the barrel, when you realize you’re in so deep you can’t get out, there is only one way to escape. When you can’t be that person who did these horrible things then you need to make yourself someone who didn’t do those things. The Wyrd obliges and from that dealing comes the Knights of the Widow’s Walk.

Each Knight is seeking to escape the person they were before and each one is seeking to make amends for what their previous self did. The Wyrd offers a simple deal; become a different person and become the spies the freehold needs. Their charge is to seek the hidden things the changelings of the Freehold hide from one another and search oh so carefully for any hint of danger. Where the Hound Tribunal have a Hunt and make judgements, a Knight is working carefully to discover even small pieces of data so as to see the bigger picture. After all, a single pebble can start an avalanche.

Mask & Mein:

As time goes on, the Mein of a Knight of the Widow's Walk begins to blur a little. They begin to lose any defining character traits; at low Wyrd this can be things like their notably deep dark sapphire eyes becoming an average shade of blue while at higher Wyrd they can be difficult to even be noticed in a police lineup.

Bequeathal:

Once a changeling of estimable power falls into the gutter, they might find a hand descend from above: And it belongs to one of the Knights of the Widow's Walk. Any Knight is free to make the offer to a changeling if he thinks she could make a good spy. Loose morals, check. An urge to flee this life, got it. A tongue whetted sharp with lies, okay. This is not an offer made lightly. Often, a Knight in a position to make the offer is a Knight who is already in deep cover somewhere, so it means blowing his cover and revealing a great deal. A smart Knight vets the potential spy for weeks, months, even years if he feels that he has that kind of time. Some don't have that luxury or that intelligence, and make the offer right away.

Denial isn't really an option, given the secret nature of the Widow's Walk. If the target turns down the opportunity -- or at some point tries to bail out of the deal -- then that target has to take a permanent dirt-nap. It's sad, but necessary. Such is the nature of the order's clandestine business. The only comforting thought is that this represents a small mercy: After all, if the target has truly hit bottom, then shoving them off this mortal coil is a kindness. It's worth noting that not every member of the Widow's Walk Knighthood is strictly one who has hit bottom, though that counts for the largest portion of its membership. No, sometimes the members are ones that are on the run: Fleeing a vengeful queen, escaping the seemingly-infinite hands of a diabolical Keeper, or just trying to leave one's own human family in peace. In a way, they've hit bottom too, but it's not so much of their own doing. They're still in need for an escape from their escape, and thus they can become the lost among the Lost: A Knight of the Widow's Walk.

Token: A Bouquet of Lies [1-5]
 * The token itself can take many forms but often looks like a ring or a necklace. In all cases it was something left behind by another and has a mark of a teardrop on it. When active, the token adds its rating to all attempts to determine lies for a scene.


 * Catch: The only people around you are friends.


 * Drawback: The way the Bouquet informs you is with a smell only you can perceive… and it's always terrible. Gain the Disoriented Condition for one hour after using this token.

Blessings
 * [1] This blessing lets the changeling regain 1 Glamour whenever she regains Willpower through her Needle in direct pursuit of her role. She may spend the Glamour immediately on anything she likes or store it in her heraldry token for later use. The token can store up to her Wyrd in Glamour. If she can neither spend nor store it, it’s lost. All stored Glamour empties at the end of the story.
 * [1] Choose one of the following specialties: Subterfuge (Detecting Lies, Long Cons, Disguise), Stealth (Hiding) or a unique speciality that fits with the new persona (Work with ST to determine this specialty). The chosen speciality also gains exceptional on three successes instead of five.
 * [1] Additional Thread.
 * [1] Perfect Infiltrator: Permanently upgrades Riddle-Kith to be able to change Seeming as well as Kith and removes the Goblin Dept required to use Mantle Mask. Both Contracts now last for a day if desired. This only applies to the changeling using them; Riddle-kith gains no bonuses when being used on another changeling, only the Knight of the Widow’s Walk. If the Knight already possesses the Elemental bonus for Riddle Kith or develops it, the Riddle Kith Contract’s duration is extended to one week, (Conditional)
 * [1] Truth’s Facade: The Wyrd builds for you a past and present for yourself. It builds a personality and a few memories for you to slip into. Gain dots in Alternate ID equal to your Wyrd, divided as you need. Naturally you cannot have over 3 dots in Alternate ID, in this case, the Wyrd builds another ID for you. You also may have multiple identities all at rating one or any mixture of ratings. (Conditional)

Touchstone: A person living under an assumed name.

Clarity Curse: Clarity attacks suffered while being recognized as your former self add damage dice equal to ranks invested in this Merit.

WP: Once per a scene, gain a willpower when you use your own history as an object lesson.