Legacy of the Black Apple

Requirements: Wyrd 2+, Subterfuge 1+, Persuasion 3+, Empathy 3+

Origin tales:


 * 1) The Keepers rejoice in playing with mortals but the first Legate learned a lesson with his time spent with them; you can bargain with nothing. The first legate was a simple beggar with nothing and yet he still was able to save another by taking their place and bringing a single red apple. The apple grew black in the Keeper’s foul hands but he took it back all the same so the Keeper would get nothing.
 * 2) Once there was an Artisan who tried to create life from nothing. They carved a perfect apple but it was still wood. Knowing they needed more, they sought out a Huntsman and located its hidden heart. They bargained with the Huntsman's master for the chance to get the heart and the Keeper agreed on the condition they not give it to the Huntsman. The Artisan took the heart and combined it with their apple. The apple grew black with the deal they made but it now smelled and felt like one. The Gentry all felt the oath sworn and would now speak first, rather than risk a misstep.

Legends:


 * 1) A smirk, a laugh, and an undefeatable arrogance was enough to enrage the monster. Strike after strike, the Monster failed to injure the Legate as the Wyrd provided the bulwark to keep the Legate safe. As they continued their banther the Monsters rage grew and grew until it pleaded with another to strike the Legate. For this it granted one favor. Years later the Monster was marching on the freehold. The favor was called in to grant a 24 hour reprieve. In those short hours the freehold left, and everyone short of the Legate was unharmed.
 * 2) A small price to pay. In one years time the Legate and his motley would willingly stand before this Keeper. In turn the Legate caused the Gentry to change courses. The freehold would watch the True fae meet on the field of battle with an encroaching Hob army. The Hobs were quickly decimated. Whatever happened to the Legate is unknown.

What We Do in the Shadows:

The legates speak, they serve, and they suffer for their work. For no other entitlement has them work so closely with Them. Usually Legates are a last resort, when everything a freehold has done has failed and They are breathing down the freehold’s neck. Legates are a thing of suspicion in most freeholds. No sane changeling would willingly approach a Gentry to bargain for something. Understandably, many Lost are wary of this entitlement as they hold pledges with the Gentry so willingly. They fear that many of the Legacy have been turned to Bridge Burners or Privateers. But who do you go to when you have no other options?

Mask & Mein:

The shifts to a changeling's mien upon joining the Legacy of the Black Apple are not particularly overt. The first thing one usually notices about a Legate is the whiff of an apple scent hanging around them. A deeper pull of air into the nose, though, reveals a sour, pungent odor underneath the more pleasant smell. It's the aroma of fermentation, a scent of rot and organic breakdown. Also like the apple-made-black by the hands of the Keeper, those within this order suffer small striations of black skin almost as if the skin has lost its blood supply to that localized region and has begun to necrotize. These striations are blessedly easy to hide, for they seem to appear in small, strange places: Between the fingers, behind the ears, underneath the tongue, on the inner thighs. The skin puckers and darkens, and sometimes oozes faint rivulets of fermented apple-sap. Stories say that those who have been in the order for a very long time manifest an even stranger facet: Small green worms playing in the heady striations of rotted skin.

Beyond the mien, the Legates offer very little dress code: Some might dress as their nameless beggar founder, appearing in rags and showing off dirt-smudged cheeks. Others dress as ostentatiously as possible for the purposes of making an impression upon those mad Gentry with whom they meet. The only common element to a Legate's dress is the shiny black lacquer apple token ever-present somewhere prominent: Lapel, sleeve, dangling from a necklace. What's fascinating is that this particular token (found below under "privileges") is literally part of the Legate's mien. If she removes a frock upon which the apple was pinned, she suddenly finds it pinned to the hem of her undergarments. If she removes those, suddenly the apple dangles from a thin silver thread around her neck. It cannot be removed. It cannot be destroyed.

Bequeathal:

The Legacy of the Black Apple does not seek out changelings of that ilk to join this order; actually, they never seek anyone out. The order is renowned enough in most freeholds that the local changelings know just who the Legates are and just what they do. They've surely formed opinions about this -- some consider their efforts noble, others noble but misguided, and others still are utterly suspicious of anybody who marches up to those fiends and meets the Lords and Ladies nose-to-nose and walks away with all her fingers and toes intact.

The Legacy of the Black Apple therefore will not recruit. If a changeling wants to join, well, then she can petition a member and make the attempt. How do they test a changeling's qualifications? One would hope that at the level the Legacy operates, they're pretty familiar with most of the Lost in a given freehold, especially its more prominent members. If they don't know a changeling, they're unlikely to allow that Lost entry into the noble order.

That's not to say they don't test a potential Legate. The true test remains secret, and is both sudden and punishing. A handful of Legates enter the Hedge with the stated goal of interfacing with a prominent hobgoblin, a powerful market maven, or a lesser Keeper (such as one exiled from Faerie). They tell the up-and-coming Legate that he is to remain hidden and observe at a distance. Of course, it's just a test. They don't allow the newcomer to remain hidden and silent. They orchestrate it so that he's face-to-face with the enemy. The Legates don't expect miracles, of course. He can't flee. He can't attack the True Fae. They don't demand results. They just demand that he show what he's made of.

Token: A Black Apple [1-5]
 * One merely needs to concentrate on the apple pinned to the sleeve, lapel, or skin (or hanging around the neck or dangling from an anklet). Upon activation, the smell of fermented apples fills the nose coupled with a moment of dizziness. For the rest of the scene, the Legate can add this token's Rating to her Defense provided she only defends herself and makes no attacks of her own. This bonus may be used against ranged attacks. Upon making an attack, the benefit is lost. This can only be used once per day.


 * Drawback: If the changeling makes an attack in the same scene she activates the token, the scent of apple becomes too potent to handle. She feels a wave of sickly drunkenness, subtracting two from Dexterity, Intelligence, Wits and Defense for the remainder of the scene. She gains no Social bonuses, though.


 * Catch: The apple bites the skin and leeches a goodly pint of blood into it, growing red and polished as it does so. This incurs one point of lethal damage.

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: Occult (True Fae, Goblins), Persuasion (Begging) or Empathy (Hidden Subtext, True Fae). The chosen speciality also gains exceptional on three successes instead of five.
 * [1] Additional Thread.
 * [1] Please, Sir: The Legate falls to their knees or shows another form of subservience when entreating with a True Fae or similarly powerful Hob. Whether it be pity or some other warped emotion or effect the creature always grants the Legate Wyrd minutes to speak.
 * [1] Beneath Your Notice: Against a Legate, the True Fae cannot gain an exceptional success on clarity attacks. (Conditional)

Touchstone: A person or member of a family rescued once long ago by another Legate.

Clarity Curse:  Clarity attacks suffered while making or sealing pledges that majority benefit oneself add damage dice equal to ranks invested in this Merit.

WP: Make a deal with a powerful hedge denizen that harms yourself while benefiting another.