Verdant Spring

Court Contract

Lords of Summer 39
Spring
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To bring this Contract in line with the other Contracts from Lords of Summer Prerequisites have been either added, or adjusted.

Passion is a keen-edged weapon: it is capable of spurring a changeling to unimaginable heights but, like dancing along a cliff edge, the exhilaration is equal to the potential risk. While the Fleeting Spring Contract allows those of the Emerald Court to sense, manipulate and fulfill desire, the Verdant Court Contract allows them to channel their passion to accomplish a variety of goals.

Contract Levels

• Font of Inspiration

There is more to a successful creation than the creating itself. In order to craft an effective speech, you have to not only have a way with words, but an knack for reading your audience and what they want (or are willing) to hear. Creating the perfect toy requires more than the ability to build, paint or design mechanics. You have to have a sense of what will be fun for the toy’s intended owner. By accessing their own inherent knack for sensing others’ desires, Lost with this clause are able to create more successfully. The enhanced results are not a result of the clause increasing their workmanship, but because it allows them to better interpret and anticipate the needs and desires of their target demographic. Thus, the ability can be applied to other’s creations as well, allowing a changeling with this clause to inspire, advise and consult with other people and enhance their ability to create as well.

Unfortunately, the line between incredible success and dismal failure is sometimes a very thin one, and the fires of creativity can burn unwary fingers. For those who set their sights on amazing creations, one misstep may mean disaster. Success or failure, only one attempt to use this Clause may be made on any given creative endeavor.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) • or Court Goodwill(Spring) ••
• Cost: 1 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Wits + Empathy Skill + Mantle(Spring) (minus the target’s Resolve if actively opposed)
• Action: Instant
• Catch: The changeling invests his own (literal) blood, sweat or tears into the creation of the object or plans for the project.

Roll Result

• Dramatic Failure: The endeavor fails horribly. The creator (and inspiration, should the changeling be exerting influence on another individual) is under a –4 penalty for all creative works (Crafts or Expression challenges) for the next month as the weight of his disastrous efforts hinder future creations. As well, even if the failure happens in secret, the creator (and inspiration, if applicable) is set at –2 for all social challenges against members of the Spring Court for one month, as those of the Antler Crown will inherently sense the failure.
• Failure: The creator (and inspiration, should the changeling be exerting influence on another individual) is under a –4 penalty for all creative works (Crafts or Expression challenges) for the next month as the weight of his disastrous efforts hinder future creations.
• Success: For each success, the changeling (or person he is inspiring) receives a +1 bonus to his next Crafts or Expression challenge. These bonuses stack with any other supernatural or equipment bonuses applicable to the challenge.
• Exceptional Success: Not only does the bonus above apply to the character’s next creative challenge, but to all social challenges made against members of the Spring Court (minimum 1 point of Spring Mantle) for the next week. Only one such bonus can be active at any given time. For better or worse, if another exceptional success using this clause is made before the previous one wears off, its bonuses apply rather than the earlier ones.

•• The Ineffable Gift

Some people have a certain aura of confidence and focus about them that comes from being dedicated to following their own dreams, goals and desires – regardless of what the rest of the world thinks. This can come across to others as intensely annoying and self-centered, or strangely attractive and intriguing. Changelings with this clause of Verdant Spring can use their own inner passions to appear more appealing to others. Unfortunately, if used too often, the clause backfires, driving others away.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) •• or Court Goodwill (Spring) •••
• Cost: 1 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Presence + Manipulation + Mantle(Spring) versus target’s Resolve + Composure
• Action: Instant and Contested; resistance is reflexive.
• Catch: The character speaks out loud about something she is passionate about.
• Drawback: Every time after the first that this Clause is attempted on the same target gives a –1 cumulative penalty to the roll. Thus the second time the Clause is attempted on any given target (whether the first attempt was successful or not) the roll is made at a –1 penalty; the third attempt is –2, and so on. Attempts on other targets do not affect each other. These penalties do not decrease over time.

Roll Result

• Dramatic Failure: The character’s passion comes across as self-centered narcissism. Any attempts at Social challenges (those using Presence, Manipulation, Composure as a stat) towards the target fail for a number of weeks equal to the changeling’s Mantle (Spring) plus the target’s Mantle (Spring) or Court Goodwill(Spring) if they have any. As well, all Social challenges made by the changeling against any target are at –4 for the next 24 hours as his self-centered nature taints interactions with others.
• Failure: The clause doesn’t take hold. This still counts as an attempt for purposes of the cumulative penalties applied against a single target.
• Success: The changeling’s passions come across as somehow appealing or persuasive to the target. For the next 24-hour period, all Social challenges towards the target by the changeling gain a +3 bonus, which is stackable with any other supernatural or natural bonuses the changeling may possess, but not stackable with itself (i.e.: only one use of this clause by any changeling can be actively affecting a target at any given time.
• Exceptional Success: The target cannot help but be struck by the changeling’s passionate nature. The changeling is at a +4 bonus for any Social challenges made against the target for a number of days equal to the changeling’s Mantle (Spring) plus the target’s Mantle (Spring) or Court Goodwill (Spring).

••• Impassioned Blow

Some combats are calm, cool and calculated. Then there are those that involve the Spring Court. A courtier driven to combat by her passions may well find that they allow her to strike a devastating blow. Unfortunately, this same drive can leave her vulnerable to less hot-headed opponents.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) ••• or Court Goodwill (Spring) ••••
• Cost: 1 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Resolve + Brawl Skill/Firearms Skill/Weaponry Skill (as applicable) + Mantle(Spring)
• Action: Instant
• Catch: The target has insulted or assaulted (by word or deed) the changeling in the last hour.
• Drawback: Intended target gets +2 to next physical attack of any sort against the changeling. This penalty is in effect whether the Clause is successful or has failed. It is not, however, stackable. If the changeling’s target does not attack her between multiple uses of Impassioned Blow, the target only gains a single +2 bonus against the changeling.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The changeling’s emotions get the best of her, effectively leaving her vulnerable for the rest of the turn. This may manifest as a misstep that throws her to the ground, a jammed firearm or a dropped weapon. She loses all Defense (not including Armor) for the remainder of the scene, and can take no further actions (including reflexive ones) for the remainder of the turn. If she wishes to continue combat, she must spend the next turn preparing again (picking herself up, recovering her weapon, clearing her firearm’s chamber, etc.) and can make no attack until the following turn.
• Failure: The clause fails; the attack is resolved as normal.
• Success: Passion steers the changeling’s attack, compounding its effectiveness. She receives +4 to her attack pool against the chosen target.
• Exceptional Success: In addition to the + 4 dice bonus offered by the success, the changeling receives an additional dice bonus equal to her level of Mantle (Spring).

•••• Spur the Crowd

Sometimes a changeling’s goal is not to exert his influence on a single person, but to sway an entire crowd. Whether it’s rallying folks at a political protest march from passive resistance to aggressive action, or turning a cocktail party against a newcomer’s cutting edge fashion statement, a mob can be a potent tool for the Emerald Court.

Unlike the Vainglory Contract “Words of Memories Never Lived”, this clause does not rely upon the changeling’s own inherent impressiveness, but rather his ability to trigger the (sometimes hidden) desires of certain members of the crowd, bringing them to the surface where they can spark similar passions in others. Because of this, the changeling does not need to be actively speaking or performing in front of the crowd, or even be visible to them. His kenning of their desires (and ability to shift them to suit his needs) is enough.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) •••• or Court Goodwill (Spring) •••••
• Cost: 1 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Presence + Wyrd + Mantle(Spring)
• Action: Extended and Contested (five successes; each roll represents five minutes). One contested roll may be made reflexively for a crowd based on the highest Composure present. Supernatural targets make their own resistance rolls.
• Catch: No one in the target crowd knows that the individual using the clause is a changeling.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: The crowd is not only not swayed, but turns on the changeling. The effects of this may vary: in a public political gathering, the changeling may become the target of the police’s attention, leading to arrest or physical assault even if he’s done nothing to deserve it. In a social setting, the changeling becomes the brunt of the crowd’s derision, even if they do not realize he was attempting to sway them. Any Social challenge the character makes automatically fails for the rest of the scene. As well, any Social challenge the changeling makes against any member of the targeted group is at a –4 penalty for a full lunar month.
• Failure: The crowd is not swayed.
• Success: The crowd begins to sway in the direction that the changeling desires. A complacent and peaceful group may be made anxious and irritated. A burgeoning mob might be soothed and calmed. The changeling can encourage a group to disperse by increasing their paranoia, incite an already-irritated group to violent action, or lull a relaxed and comfortable one into a near-sleep. At the Storyteller’s discretion, changing a crowd’s attitude and energy level more than one “degree” (i.e. from calm to agitated and then from agitated to violent) may require exceptional success or continued effort on the part of the changeling.
• Exceptional Success: The crowd is so completely affected that their attitude and demeanor as a group is moved entirely in the direction that the changeling desired.

••••• Verdant, Roiling Heart

Virtues and Vices represent, on a fundamental level, the things a character is passionate about and how those passions manifest. In using Verdant, Roiling Heart, the changeling taps into her inherent passions (as represented by her Virtue or Vice) and uses her core sense of self to renew her internal fortitude. This clause may only be attempted one time per week, whether it is successful or not. Additional attempts automatically fail, but may incur the Glamour cost and drawback, regardless.

• Prerequisites: Mantle (Spring) ••••
• Cost: 1 Glamour
• Dice Pool: Composure + Empathy Skill + Mantle(Spring)
• Action: Instant
• Catch: The character takes an action that is directly related to his Virtue or Vice.
• Drawback: For the rest of the scene, all social interactions the changeling undertakes are tainted by his Virtue or Vice. Social interactions are strained for the remainder of the scene and all Social challenges the character initiates are subject to a –2 penalty for the scene.

Roll Results

• Dramatic Failure: Unable to tap into his inner strength, the character loses a Willpower point and is unable to regain Willpower through any means until he has slept for at least 8 hours.
• Failure: The clause fails to activate.
• Success: Bolstered by his passions, the changeling’s Willpower pool is entirely refreshed. All previously spent Willpower is renewed and the changeling’s inner strength is bolstered by tapping into his sense of self.
• Exceptional Success: The character’s Willpower pool is entirely refreshed at the end of the turn. As well, he receives a +2 bonus to any challenges involving his Resolve or Composure for the duration of the scene.