Background: You’re not the leader of the Conductors. There is no leader of the Conductors. You’re a team. That’s the whole point. But you also won’t deny that, being the first, some people might look up to you a bit.
Two months ago you didn’t really know what your future in Questing Country would look like. You’re the memelord who was always telling jokes that nobody understood. You didn’t have any Bondmates, your Spirit Companion always seemed at least faintly disappointed in you, and while you believed you could make a change, leave your mark, you’d have to admit you didn’t know how. What was the unique thing only you could do?
You feel a little bit silly, thinking back on that now. You went to bed in your cramped sleep capsule aboard Aratta Station one night and woke up knowing that it wasn’t what you alone could accomplish that mattered - it was what all of you could do together. When you took on your Dream Form that night, you’d changed, and your Companion had as well. You didn’t know the words Tessera, or Bident, or Conductor yet; you only knew that you had the confidence to make a difference against the nightmares, but you’d need a team - a team that could work together.
The first two weeks were confusing, but several friends chose to help you cultivate a Bond - they felt inspired by your new outlook, your new enthusiasm for their goals, their beliefs - and together you became the first Bond Group of Conductors. Before long, the Empowered Oracle, seeking to understand what had happened to all of you, joined your Bond Group, and found themself undergoing the same transformation.
You know this seems spooky to people. But the bunch of you - you’re not all thinking the same thoughts. Over the Conductor Network, you wonder about each other, question each other, share different ideas, even disagree; you maintain your individual opinions.
It’s just that you never lose sight of what’s most important now: fighting the nightmares. Being together as a group. Supporting each other. It’s okay to disagree over the Conductor Network, but out loud, to people who don’t share the bond, you try to stick with your friends. There’s nothing unnatural about that.
And people get your jokes, now. That’s really nice, too.
Most Conductors join the Bond because Conductors are impressive - something to aspire to. Some just wake up one night already changed - no different from changing from a Champion to an Oracle, really. But there is one thing even most of your fellow Conductors don’t know.
Anyone Sanctioned by a Conductor becomes a Conductor.
Now, Sanctions are super-rare. You’d never even heard of them before the Ouroboros Retrograde - modern Champions DON’T weaponize their bonds that way. But a month ago, a Dark Oracle’s Spirit Companion panicked when it couldn’t communicate with your Tessera, and attacked you and a friend of yours. [NOTE: This Dark Oracle and this friend can be PCs or NPCs, but neither may be the Empowered Conductor. We suggest NPCs unless someone else’s plans line up neatly with this - this is the second-biggest secret in the Jaunt. Keep it safe.]
You just meant to lay the Sanction on the Oracle so their Doppleganger would stop attacking. But the next moment, they were in white and silver. The three of you agreed to keep this a secret unless it was absolutely necessary - Oracles are uncertain enough about Starmover influence on your powers without knowing you can change someone’s perspective, just like a Harbinger. You swear you won’t misuse this power, but you don’t want to let the word get out about it, either.
Goals: -Try to keep the news that Conductors don’t have dreamcatchers any more under wraps. Try to keep that other piece of news under wraps too. -Lead the fight against the nightmares. -Look out for the best interests of every Conductor.
Allies: All Conductors. You furthermore regard all Harbingers as allies, but they don’t necessarily feel the same as you.
Mod Expectations: -Make sure you read the “Conductors At Large” plot role as well. It applies to you. -One thread per week on the Conductor Network, where you make five comments or more in a single thread. -Two threads per week in the current mingle, with non-Conductors, where you make four or more comments in a single thread.
Weekly Reporting: Any memes or in-jokes you share, any time you use a Plot skill, any time you consider someone a threat to Questing Country, any time a non-Conductor’s suspicion rises towards hostility.
Skill: Aura of Direction. Once per week for fifteen minutes, all allies within your line of sight can hear you clearly. If they follow even general instructions you give (“Don’t give up!” “Hold the line!” “GET ‘EM!” all count), they can suppress the first mental status effect (including ordinary or supernatural fear, sadness or doubt, and including supernatural anger, but not ordinary anger) that interferes with that instruction, and automatically heal the first non-fatal wound acquired while following that instruction. This protection is renewed every time within fifteen minutes that you give, and they choose to follow, a fresh instruction.
“Ally” as defined here can be anyone you consider to be on your side - not only Conductors (since Conductors all possess at least one healing power and are immune to most negative emotional states, the only real benefit Conductors gain from this aura is resistance to other mental status effects - i.e. shock, stun, sleep, charm, enchantment, compulsion, confusion).
Additionally, anyone under the effects of this Aura understands any in-joke or meme reference you use.
A Big Secret:Sanction Circle. In-character, you do not know if this skill is possessed only by you, or by all Conductors. When your Bond Group places an involuntary Sanction on someone, you can Sanction more than one person, can Sanction a person with an existing Bond, and your Bond Group only needs to have more members locally present than the total members of the other Bond Group. Ordinarily an involuntary, out-of-group Sanction requires you to outnumber them four to one, and cannot be done on someone who has a Bond of their own.
During the Jaunt, a person Sanctioned in this manner becomes a Conductor, unless they are a Pillar or a Harbinger. You are determined to only use this skill on Adversaries, Dark Oracles, or Travelers who pose a threat to Questing Country, and only after persuasion has failed. After the Jaunt, this skill no longer transforms those Sanctioned into Conductors, and only operates once per month, but may be used at your character’s own ethical discretion. The preceding paragraphs constitute the single exception to the Blanket Statements About Conductors. Make sure the OOC conversation about whether or not to use this skill on a given character includes a Mod, please.
FIRST CONDUCTOR - DEEDEE
Two months ago you didn’t really know what your future in Questing Country would look like. You’re the memelord who was always telling jokes that nobody understood. You didn’t have any Bondmates, your Spirit Companion always seemed at least faintly disappointed in you, and while you believed you could make a change, leave your mark, you’d have to admit you didn’t know how. What was the unique thing only you could do?
You feel a little bit silly, thinking back on that now. You went to bed in your cramped sleep capsule aboard Aratta Station one night and woke up knowing that it wasn’t what you alone could accomplish that mattered - it was what all of you could do together. When you took on your Dream Form that night, you’d changed, and your Companion had as well. You didn’t know the words Tessera, or Bident, or Conductor yet; you only knew that you had the confidence to make a difference against the nightmares, but you’d need a team - a team that could work together.
The first two weeks were confusing, but several friends chose to help you cultivate a Bond - they felt inspired by your new outlook, your new enthusiasm for their goals, their beliefs - and together you became the first Bond Group of Conductors. Before long, the Empowered Oracle, seeking to understand what had happened to all of you, joined your Bond Group, and found themself undergoing the same transformation.
You know this seems spooky to people. But the bunch of you - you’re not all thinking the same thoughts. Over the Conductor Network, you wonder about each other, question each other, share different ideas, even disagree; you maintain your individual opinions.
It’s just that you never lose sight of what’s most important now: fighting the nightmares. Being together as a group. Supporting each other. It’s okay to disagree over the Conductor Network, but out loud, to people who don’t share the bond, you try to stick with your friends. There’s nothing unnatural about that.
And people get your jokes, now. That’s really nice, too.
Most Conductors join the Bond because Conductors are impressive - something to aspire to. Some just wake up one night already changed - no different from changing from a Champion to an Oracle, really. But there is one thing even most of your fellow Conductors don’t know.
Anyone Sanctioned by a Conductor becomes a Conductor.
Now, Sanctions are super-rare. You’d never even heard of them before the Ouroboros Retrograde - modern Champions DON’T weaponize their bonds that way. But a month ago, a Dark Oracle’s Spirit Companion panicked when it couldn’t communicate with your Tessera, and attacked you and a friend of yours. [NOTE: This Dark Oracle and this friend can be PCs or NPCs, but neither may be the Empowered Conductor. We suggest NPCs unless someone else’s plans line up neatly with this - this is the second-biggest secret in the Jaunt. Keep it safe.]
You just meant to lay the Sanction on the Oracle so their Doppleganger would stop attacking. But the next moment, they were in white and silver. The three of you agreed to keep this a secret unless it was absolutely necessary - Oracles are uncertain enough about Starmover influence on your powers without knowing you can change someone’s perspective, just like a Harbinger. You swear you won’t misuse this power, but you don’t want to let the word get out about it, either.
Goals:
-Try to keep the news that Conductors don’t have dreamcatchers any more under wraps. Try to keep that other piece of news under wraps too.
-Lead the fight against the nightmares.
-Look out for the best interests of every Conductor.
Allies: All Conductors. You furthermore regard all Harbingers as allies, but they don’t necessarily feel the same as you.
Mod Expectations:
-Make sure you read the “Conductors At Large” plot role as well. It applies to you.
-One thread per week on the Conductor Network, where you make five comments or more in a single thread.
-Two threads per week in the current mingle, with non-Conductors, where you make four or more comments in a single thread.
Weekly Reporting:
Any memes or in-jokes you share, any time you use a Plot skill, any time you consider someone a threat to Questing Country, any time a non-Conductor’s suspicion rises towards hostility.
Skill: Aura of Direction. Once per week for fifteen minutes, all allies within your line of sight can hear you clearly. If they follow even general instructions you give (“Don’t give up!” “Hold the line!” “GET ‘EM!” all count), they can suppress the first mental status effect (including ordinary or supernatural fear, sadness or doubt, and including supernatural anger, but not ordinary anger) that interferes with that instruction, and automatically heal the first non-fatal wound acquired while following that instruction. This protection is renewed every time within fifteen minutes that you give, and they choose to follow, a fresh instruction.
“Ally” as defined here can be anyone you consider to be on your side - not only Conductors (since Conductors all possess at least one healing power and are immune to most negative emotional states, the only real benefit Conductors gain from this aura is resistance to other mental status effects - i.e. shock, stun, sleep, charm, enchantment, compulsion, confusion).
Additionally, anyone under the effects of this Aura understands any in-joke or meme reference you use.
A Big Secret: Sanction Circle. In-character, you do not know if this skill is possessed only by you, or by all Conductors. When your Bond Group places an involuntary Sanction on someone, you can Sanction more than one person, can Sanction a person with an existing Bond, and your Bond Group only needs to have more members locally present than the total members of the other Bond Group. Ordinarily an involuntary, out-of-group Sanction requires you to outnumber them four to one, and cannot be done on someone who has a Bond of their own.
During the Jaunt, a person Sanctioned in this manner becomes a Conductor, unless they are a Pillar or a Harbinger. You are determined to only use this skill on Adversaries, Dark Oracles, or Travelers who pose a threat to Questing Country, and only after persuasion has failed. After the Jaunt, this skill no longer transforms those Sanctioned into Conductors, and only operates once per month, but may be used at your character’s own ethical discretion. The preceding paragraphs constitute the single exception to the Blanket Statements About Conductors. Make sure the OOC conversation about whether or not to use this skill on a given character includes a Mod, please.