Falstaff

History

Falstaff was an unaccomplished supporting actor in a few minor roles in the French Quarter of New Orleans before failing out of theater school for absences. Afterwards, he attached himself to a travelling Renaissance Fair, having developed an act as an insult artist. The act involved locking himself in stockades and then selling tomatoes to patrons whom he would antagonize into hurling them at him. His awakening occurred when an insult hit a nerve with the wife of a major league baseball player. Falstaff awakened on a stretcher in an ambulance as an Acanthus Mage.

Having lost his job due to the incident he made his way westward, to California, after the bright lights of Hollywood. Unfortunately, his Arcana did not improve his performance or his looks. When he turned to gambling, using powers of Fate to bolster his odds, he caught the attention of members of the Free Council.

While he wasn't much for science, Falstaff enjoyed the word "free" in nearly every sense, and so he agreed to join. From what he'd heard of the other orders, they didn't seem like very much fun--too many rules and responsibilities. He found his niche in the Free Council tackling odd jobs in need of a light heart, a positive attitude, and general dis-concern for his own well fare. He even charmed his way into the esteem of some of the serious sort, the achievers and go-getters, in the way that he was not them, by just being himself.

Awakening

In Falstaff's dream, he was the only spectator in a dark empty theater, facing the stage. A spotlight came on and Falstaff saw himself as an infant crawl across the stage and then disappear behind the opposite curtain, only to reappear as an old man and cross the stage with a walker. And it continued, him watching himself as an adolescent on a skateboard, an adult doing cartwheels, a teenager on a bicycle--he saw himself at all moments of his life, even moments that hadn't happened yet, and they were all out of order. Then, all the figures started crossing the stage back and forth, back and forth, getting closer and closer, blurrier, until they all stood at the same point. Together, they quoted Hamlet, a dozen of his different voices as one:

"The time is out of joint--O cursed spite That ever I was born to set it right! Nay, come, let's go together."

Falstaff stood, raced from the room via the back exit, only to find himself standing in the room again, all his other selves still speaking together:

"What fates impose, that men must needs abide; It boots not to resist both wind and tide."

Henry VI? He ran from the room through another exit and then another, always ending up in the same place. At last, exhausted, he returned to his seat and sat. The images on the stage nodded their approval and then disappeared. A playbill appeared in his lap along with an inky quill, the title: Falstaff. The space after "played by:" was empty. Falstaff signed his name, his old name in the space, and then he awoke.

Free Council Initiation

Some men, who'd seen him perform on a sidewalk, some scene or another from a play, remained after the applause, after the crowd dispersed. He'd thought they'd wanted an encore, but it seemed they wanted to talk. Somehow they'd known he'd had a strange dream, that he now felt different--and he hadn't even told anyone about it. He drove with them to a place where they said someone wanted to speak with him, a leader perhaps. When they got there, the leader told him about Truth, with a capitol T, and Lies, with a capitol L, how there were others like them, Mages, who were growing weaker, who needed innovation and discovery for a new day. He talked to Falstaff about Sleepers and the Awakened, about how all men were magic, only magic had begun to manifest in other ways: technology, art . . . Falstaff could remember acts which he could only describe as magical, that resonated within him, had even hoped to be a part of one some day, and said as much. Magic, the man said, was about the future, not the past, that there was hope for a new tomorrow, a new Atlantis where the magic that was in people would be brought out, married to technology, a brave new world. The man suggested that Falstaff might have a part of that place. Falstaff remembered his dream, the way that all his selves said time was out of joint, needing to be set aright, how they'd descried the futility of fighting fate. The arrival of those men, the Free Council, had been timely, could have been fated. Falstaff agreed, made promises he didn't fully understand about seeking truth, destroying lies, and building a new Atlantis. He was, after all, in the lead role of his play; he'd signed the paper that gave him his name.

Death

After being abducted along with Crowley, Falstaff was beaten to death by his jailer in Bad Things, attempting to hold the jailer's attention with taunts so that Crowley could escape.

Scenes

Free Council

Free Council, Summer 2014 Order and Chaos (Ermac and Falstaff) Libertines Assemble!

Acanthus

Something Wicked 1411

Consilium

Consilium: House of Cards Ariadne, Avis, Zodiac Falstaff and Asp

Supernal Glimpses

Pantless in Sacramento Sad Clown Drunk on Train Tracks A Time for Mugging Fated to Ride the Bench Pocket-Watch Terrorist

Social

Student Seeking Fencing Instructor Fencing Practice Insults for Charity IFC Star vs. Striker IFC Star vs. Josephine IFC Ermac vs. Falstaff Nox Not the One That's So Absurd Nox Absurd Josephine and Falstaff Sole Purpose

Plots

Lambs

Just Jokin' Around Bad Things