The Giggling Dark: Session Ten, Trait Vote the First

For those of you not in the know, the Trait Vote is possibly the best thing about Burning Wheel. Don't get me wrong: I love, I adore the rest of Burning Wheel. But what sets this and the Burning Wheel family of games apart (to the best of my knowledge) is the Trait Vote. After a significant event in the campaign the players take stock, go over the events of that arc, and then start voting on traits and reputations. There's generally a time skip between arcs, so we also figure out what the PCs did in the meantime. Normally this process takes about the length of a small session for 3-4 players, usually no more than two to three hours.

This trait vote, for one player, not two, not three, not four, took eight hours.

How did this happen? How did this monstrosity of a Trait Vote happen to me?

Part One: the Trait Vote

First off, let's review what traits Xellous had at the start of play:

Character Traits
 Single-Minded
Superstitious
Hard-working
Blunt

Dice Traits
Prodigy

We decided that, after we had given him the trait "Chosen of Ikuinen Lampo" to represent his ability to see auras and to communicate with Ikuinen Lampo, that we would take away the Superstitious trait (which was a cultural trait) and give Xellous character trait "Bereaved" and the Call On Trait "Aura of Determination". For those of you who don't know what that does, Aura of Determination allows you to either re-roll a mass Steel test that your group makes or for Xellous to re-roll a test that a group of people are helping him with, once a session. Given Xellous' habit of trying to get everyone to keep their crap together when they were losing it.

The Reputation Vote
The slaying of the Beast of the Apocalypse netted Xellous a "2D Hero of Khouria" reputation. He's pretty well-known across the lands, even if by distant reputation.

The Affiliation Vote
Becoming the Chosen of Ikuinen Lampo netted Xellous an affiliation with Celestial Knights, rated at 1D.

Part Two: Aura Manipulation

So... Kurlak invented a magic system in session eight. Y'know where he went and manipulated the auras of everyone? Yeah, that wasn't me suggesting anything. Kurlak just said "I do this" and I... looking at the fact that there is no Gifted trait required for magic.... facepalmed. And made up something on the spot. And had to continue to do so. Enough of that nonsense. Here's what Kurlak and I came up with for Aura Manipulation. We used the Magic Burner System in the Revised Magic Burner book. I managed to get all the Revised books about a week before they went out of print. I found the Burner extremely useful.

Concept: Manipulating the auras of living creatures to modify its behavior and understand it better than simply having Aura Reading. Think of the more empathic abilities of The Force from Star Wars. 

Technique: The user must take time concentrating and focusing upon the aura of the target.
Cost: Regardless of success or failure a Forte test must happen. If a test is failed by three or more a horrific failure is visited upon the user and he gains infamy for doing so.
Effects: May be used to:

• Force a Steel test on anything with an Aura.
• Force Obstacle penalties on a target. +1 Ob up until three over the obstacle, +2 Ob up until six over obstacle, and so on.
• Suppress Traits: +1D for Character, +2D - +4D for Die Traits, +3D-5D for Call-Ons.
• Add Traits: Ob is point cost of Trait, +1 Ob if target is unwilling.
• Mask Aura: +2D to target if unwilling.
• Mimic Aura

All tests except for Add Traits are VS Tests, with the target using Will.

Limits: The user must use hand gestures, similarly to a Jedi using Mind Tricks and lifting heavy objects. The time in each test is equal to the Obstacle of the test. The duration of all tests is one scene,+3 Ob for the rest of the session.

Part Three: The Red Ethergaunt

Kurlak had ensured that a red ethergaunt, the foot soldiers of the Khen-Zai, was killed. During the Trait Vote he asked what the Traits of the creature were. I realized that I had no idea, not really. Ug. We needed to fully burn it, because he wanted to taxidermy the darn thing. So here's what we came up with, using the Monster Burner which, again, I was very fortunate to have. Yes, this is me very bluntly stating: The Monster Burner works. Reprint it, whatever you need to do, Luke Crane and Co, do it. This was awesome

You think if I put that with bold, underlined, and italicized they'll read it and friggin' do it already??

Anyway. Here's the monster

Beliefs
1. The material universe is ours and all else will be exterminated.
2. The hierarchy must be obeyed strictly.
3. Nothing else is as intelligent as the Khen-Zai

Instincts
1. Always destroy all temples I see.
2. Always refuse a Duel of Wits with non Khen-Zai
3. Always have my etherblade when on expedition.

Traits
 Tall
Thin
Hyper-Intelligent (C-O for Perception)
Planar Phasing (DT, May go back to Ethereal plane, may take passengers, 10 actions)
Horrific Face (DT, when revealed forces Steel test)
Strongly Influence (DT, may attempt mind control, which forces Steel test +15 hesitation)

Skills
Khen-zai Hierarchy-wise G3
Read G3
Write B5
Intimidation G5
Meditation G3
Observation G5
Orienteering G3
Khen-Zai Supremacist Philosophy G4
Khen-Zai Technology G5
Etiquette G4

Stats
Will G6, Per G7, Pow B3, Spd B4, Agi B4, For B3

Attributes
Steel B8, Health B4

Part Four: Practice Time and Enchantments

So Kurlak went nuts here. He made Gauntlets of Brawling from the skin of the Behemoth of the Apocalypse, giving him G5 Brawling whenever he wears them, until the end of time. He also made four Amulets of Healing from some of the organs of the Behemoth, which helped Telos recover from most of his wounds! Telos went from mortally wounded to mildly inconvenienced in the space of six months. Kurlak also finished training Command, Persuasion, and Ugly Truth, as he went and bossed around the monks and fed hard truths about the state of their situation, along with trying to get other people to trade more with the monks. So this guy who was pretty inept socially before is now quite a bit better. That'll help him out next arc!

Oh man, that's done.