Aisling Tulane is a Hunter in Darkness Cahalith.
Background[]
| “ | "I know why you've come out here to see me, boy, but she's already dead. What do you mean 'who's already dead?'" | ” |
Most Cahalith have heard the story of Aisling Tulane, the seer who knows the future as Luna does. Every Cahalith knows the stories of the black she-wolf who runs with nightmares and bad omens instead of a pack and sometimes rips havoc across a city or town, with Luna ever at her back. Few Cahalith know that Aisling Tulane is real.
At some point, long ago, Aisling Tulane and her pack went out into the spirit wilds. Aisling was a potent and nurturing alpha, and had convinced her pack they should devote themselves to Luna in a way no one had before. They should, she said, run into the wild places fit only for the Pure, and fill them with Luna's light. She chose her path, unaware of its consequences. Stories of her plight suggest that Aisling suffered under particularly traumatic visions when she slept, and that Luna often gave her dreams about which she could do nothing. It's said that she was mad long before her pack, which followed her with cult-ish, sycophantic devotion, fled to the spirit wilds.
They say that once there, Luna sent visions to Aisling nightly, compelling her to do strange things during the day, odd rituals with no apparent meaning or changing things in their environment with no clear purpose. More than that, Luna compelled the mad woman deeper into the Shadow.
The further Aisling went, the more of her pack died and the crazier she got. In time, new wolves began to run with her: odd, ethereal black dogs that seemed to herald doom wherever they went. Eventually, lesser nightmares fell in step with Aisling's mad run through the spirit wild until she was, after a fashion, their goddess.
But what does the mad seer do now? It seems that she is now mostly a function of Luna's strange and fickle nature. The great Cahalith is most often found running through the Shadow following strange impulses that lead to trouble for the Pure, though. Aisling seems to have no awareness of her actions. Sometimes, guided by moonlight, Aisling will leave the wilds, bringing her pack of night terrors with her, and approach the territories of the Forsaken. Chaos tends to follow as Aisling's visions rarely coincide well with the present. She might know, for instance, that a building must be present. She might know, for instance, that a building must be destroyed, and so she sets about having it destroyed, but not realize that the building's end wasn't necessary for another forty years.
Description[]
Though she has the appearance and upkeep of a wild woman, she still appears quite young for her age and very fertile. Her movements and gestures around human men are seductive and coy, like the bright coloring of a poisonous plant. She, like the plants, is meant as a warning. When she can be reminded to speak in English, she is eloquent and clever, if not overly educated. Most of the time she grunts, trying to force out human (and when she inevitably fails to communicate her ideas, she defaults to the First Tongue).
It's said that if an Uratha really ought to know what will be, he'll find the Goddess of Nightmares, and he'll tell him what he wants to know. This is though to be a curse as much as a blessing.
Storytelling Hints[]
Aisling is a catalyst and puppet in a lot of ways, a victim to visions of the future she cannot understand or ignore. Her nature was once a gentle and giving one, and that might have had something to do with why she chose to devote herself entirely to Luna. She wants to stop, but is fatalistically dedicated to doing "whatever it is Luna demands of her."
She is practically incapable of fear, since she lives her life at the edge of death and in her madness laughs in its face. Her only companions in the world are creatures that deed off of the fear and foreboding she creates in her wake, and the only way to keep on top of them and not be consumed is to have no fear.
She does not know how much of a hindrance she has been against the Pure, nor does she know how much they well and truly hate her. It is likely that if she did know, she wouldn't care, and in her devotion to Luna, she would revel in their hatred. Some argue that her purpose is as Luna's tool against the Pure, but since she is often also a problem to Forsaken, it cannot be the sole reason for her existence.
Aisling can see limitless potential futures at all times, and so she often has trouble differentiating now from then and then from has been. It is for this reason that Uratha sometimes seek her out, in hopes that she can clarify some future event for them in ways a less potent Cahalith could not.
When using Aisling in a story Storytellers should use caution, just because she can see the future doesn't mean the future she sees at the time is set in stone (or sane enough to be understood at all). Using Aisling should not be a means to steamroll characters into an event or end if it takes away from the story to do so. Additionally, Aisling is very mad, and cannot function in a way that allows her to tell the characters everything they want to know.
So how should she be used? One thought is that she can tell the characters exactly what they don't want to hear. Why would she lie? Perhaps the fortune told was merely a step on the path to get the Uratha to do what they were destoned to do. Maybe it wasn't a lie at the time, but the triumphant heroes changed their own destiny.
Another thought for Aisling is to use her as the catalyst to a battle against the Pure who hare her so. In this case, her mad visions have driven her to cripple or somehow hinder the Pure in question in such a way that if the characters are clever enough, they might be able to win the day. Of course, if it only appeared that Aisling was hindering the Pure, the characters could quickly find themselves in a new degree of danger against their ancient foe. It isn't as if Aisling understands any of it, anyway.
Stats[]
Auspice: Cahalith
Aspect: The Mad
Tribe: Hunter in Darkness
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 7
Physical Attributes: Strength 3 (4/6/5/3), Dexterity 3 (3/4/5/5), Stamina 3 (4/5/5/4)
Social Attributes: Presence 6, Manipulation 3 (2/3/0/3), Composure 3
Mental Skills: Academics (History) 3, Investigation 2, Medicine 1, Occult (Death) 6, Politics 1
Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Brawl (Claws) 4, Drive 3, Stealth 2, Survival (Finding Shelter) 3
Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 2, Expression (Storytelling) 5, Intimidation 4, Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 3
Merits: Allies (Death Spirits) 5, Fast Reflexes 2, Inspiring, Language (First Tongue, Spanish) 2, Striking Looks 2, Totem 4
Willpower: 10
Harmony: 2
Virtue: Faith. Aisling is a passionate devotee of Luna, and is willing to do anything for her Glorious Queen. Of course, no one can know the wishes of the moon, and so Aisling tends to assume random actions are the best way to give proper worship.
Vice: Wrath. Aisling's whole existence is forfeit to Luna, and in her ecstatic worship, she has lost herself. While she cannot see it, that makes her full of anger. That anger is largely focused on the Pure, her goddess' enemy, but it is by no means well focused.
Initiative: 12 (12/13/14/14)
Defense: 3 (in all forms)
Speed: 11 (12/15/18/16)
Health: 8 (9/11/10/8)
Primal Urge: 10
Renown: Glory 5, Honor 2, Purity 2, Wisdom 3, Cunning 2
Gifts: Death Sight, Know Name, Pack Awareness, Relentlessness, Right Words, Camaraderie, Ghost Knife, Lesson Learned, Resist Pain, Traveler's Blessing, Corpse Witness, Hone Fury, Sagacity, True Leader, Unspoken Communication, Glorious Empowerment, Word of Quiet, Call of Glory, Legend Lives On, Vengeance of the Slain
Rituals: 3; Rites: Banish Human, Banish Spirit, Bind Spirit, Blessing of the Spirit Hunt, Call Gaffling, Cleansed Blood, Rite of Dedication, Fetish Rite, Funeral Rite, Rite of the Spirit Brand, Wake the Spirit
Essence Max/Per Turn: 20/5
References[]
- WTF: Signs of the Moon, p. 148-149
