Chancel Aleph

Fictional Characters who might be Collectors:

Strategists, Collectors of a Creational Estate.

* Mr. Croup ………….. Collector of Porcelain
* Mr. Pin ……………….. Collector of Knives
* Ash Ketchum ……… Collector of Pokémon
* Raoul Duke ………… Collector of Drugs
* Spider Jerusalem .. Collector of Gonzo Journalism

Nobles, Collectors of That Which They Have Emotional Connections to.

• Mario Mario
• Gomez Addams
• Popeye the Sailor
• Moloch von Zinzer
• Reginald Jeeves
• Domovoi Butler
• many Norse Gods

Arc Summary:

[0] Big Heart - [Arc level] extra Bond points / Treasure slots.
[0+4] Preservation - Story Convention: Treasure is automatically maintained, doesn't need food, water or sleep, reloads automatically, retains memory if world is changed, doesn't age, etc.

[1] Connection - Understand and learn about a Treasure, know if it's threatened/unhappy.
[1+4] Projection - Be with your Treasures, use miracles as if you were there.

[2+Spotlight] Anchor - Form a bond with target, making it a Treasure.
[2+4] Reconstitute - Restore a destroyed/killed Treasure, resurrect someone by bonding them.

[3] Guidance - Communicate with Treasure, it gets +1 Intention, 2 Edge.
[3+4] Greater Guidance - Treasure gets a default Intention 7.

[4+Spotlight] Awakening - Give Treasure a power, activate this power.
[4+4+Spotlight] Greater Awakening - Give Treasure an extraordinary power, activate this power.

[5] Ignition - Treasure gets 3 edge, can interact with miracles.
[5+4] Greater Ignition - automatically win mundane contests, intention 9.

[6] Design - Create/modify Treasure.
[6+4] Greater Design - create/modify large-scale Treasure.

[7] Summon - Treasure reaches you "in time" from anywhere in region.
[7+4] Greater Summon - Treasure reaches you "in time" from anywhere.

[8] Divine Plan - Destine a Treasure to do something.
[8+4] Greater Divine Plan (Imperial Miracle) - Make a Wish using your Treasure as catalyst.

Miracle Ladder

[0+0] Big Heart

You get [Arc level] extra Bond points. These must be apportioned to Bonds regarding your Estate.

[1+0] Connection

For the rest of the scene, you may understand and learn about a Treasure, know whether it's threatened/unhappy/or whether it wishes to communicate with you.
This works regardless of distance.
If one of your Treasures 'prays' to you, you may take an action to resolve it into a 1-2-syllable message; "Help me!", "They're here!" "Call back!" "Monsters!".

While the effect is ongoing, you may reflexively take Wounds to prevent objectionable effects from affecting your Treasures.

[2+Spotlight] Anchor

Form a bond with target, making it a Treasure.
This requires that the target is part of your Estate, and that you have a Bond you can dedicate to the Treasure.

As a guideline:
a [1] Bond suffices for a mundane Treasure,
a [2] Bond suffices for a collection of mundane Treasures,
or for a single magical Treasure, while
a [3] Bond suffices for a collection of magical Treasures,
or for a single miraculous Treasure.
Several Treasures can share a Bond if they're connected enough.

Note: There is no easy method to un-anchor a Treasure; reassigning the Bond tends to break the Treasure physically or mentally, unless you spend a mid-sized Quest on it.
Removing a Treasure from a Collection is easier by comparison.

Anchoring a Miraculous being, like a Noble, is tough, and usually requires consent or rendering them helpless; otherwise they will take a Wound to prevent it. For a Player Character to be Anchored they need to take a Wound to hold the Anchoring in, typically something like "My shadow got Anchored!" or "My name and likeness belongs to X!", but the result is they don't get as wrecked when unanchored.

Being Anchored means being part of your Estate; edge cases tend to drift towards becoming more ideal versions of your Estate over time.
For example, if your Treasures have the implicit Property: "The Things X Feels a Connection to… Can fly", then those you Anchor may feel a pull towards growing wings, or getting a pilot's license, or taking up base jumping.

Examples:

• You are a Collector of "Things you Love or Hate". You anchor your mortal family, using a [4] Bond of "I love my family". You anchor your family as a whole using 2 of the Bond points, and use the rest to anchor your Mom specifically as a Magical Treasure.
• You are a Collector of Boats. You put a bathtub in the sea and rig a mast, managing to Anchor it. Over time, it drifts toward being bigger and more streamlined.

[3+0] Guidance

You connect to a Treasure, lending it your strength and allowing you to communicate as if the both of you had cell-phones.
While you sustain this miracle, the Treasure gets +1 to its Intentions, and 2 Edge.

Note: the Treasure has its own Will pool to make Intentions with.

[0+4] Preservation

There is a general Story Convention in play that Treasures:

• are automatically maintained,
• don't age,
• don't need food, water or sleep,
• reload automatically,
• are generally lucky enough not to get targeted by mortal creatures, and
• retain their memory if the world is changed.

Even so, if your Treasures get damaged or exhausted somehow (but not outright destroyed), you can use this miracle to heal or recharge them, setting a regeneration effect in place that finishes the repair in a few minutes.

Note: If your Treasure is a collection of items, the Treasure itself is maintained with this miracle, but individual items may still be destroyed and get replaced. Healing individual items will require Reconstitute.

Examples:

• You return after 1000 years, finding that your mortal family is still around, well-off and numerous, and even has surprisingly accurate legends about you passed down - but every single member is gone except the Grand Matriarch, who you anchored as a separate treasure.

[4+0] Awakening

You activate a Treasure's power.
Each Treasure has its own power, a thing it can do, a thing it *must* do if you use this miracle.

Alternately, you may spend a Spotlight to upgrade a Treasure from mortal to magical.
This typically gives it:

• a Tough Health Level, if they didn't have one before,
• a minor miraculous power it will activate on command with this ability, and
• a 2-point Superior Skill or Tool Bonus.

[1+4] Projection

Be with your Treasures from anywhere.
You can share their senses, direct their movements, and use miracles as if you were them.
Note: If they disagree with your actions, they may take a Wound to interrupt the connection at least for a few moments.

[5+0] Ignition

While you maintain this miracle, your Treasure gets 3 edge and can interact with miracles.

[2+4+Spotlight] Reconstitute

Even Death and Annihilation cannot separate you from your Treasures.
Use this power to restore a destroyed/killed Treasure, or to repair/resurrect a target .

You may also resurrect/restore a non-Treasure target as part of Anchoring it as your Treasure, as long as you fulfil the conditions for anchoring them.
This is a significant miracle by any measure, but keep in mind that you have limited spots open, that unAnchoring a Treasure tends to kill it or drive it insane, and that your Treasures likely will become unAnchored should you permanently die.

Examples:

• You are a Collector of Things You Love or Hate. Your beloved sword got disintegrated again, so you fix it.
• You are a Collector of Fire. Your dead sister is not naturally part of the Estate of Fire, but after completing a medium-sized Quest, you manage to Reconstitute her in the form of a fire spirit.

[6+0] Design

Over the course of ten minutes or so, you can use an Intention to create or modify a Treasure.

Creating a Treasure requires it to be part of your Estate.
You cannot technically create a Treasure ex nihilo, but you may do things like Anchor a daydream and use this miracle to solidify it, so practically speaking, there's not much of a difference.

Modifications to a Treasure cannot go against your Estate Properties, and doing something that isn't aligned with at least one Property faces a [2]Obstacle.
Apart from that, modifications may be extensive and radical; for example adding extra legs to your anchored horse is fully feasible.
If a Treasure objects to being modified, it may take a Serious Wound to at least make the changes temporary.
Adding Superior Skills to your Treasure with this ability typically requires it to be at least a magical Treasure.

[3+4] Greater Guidance

While you maintain this miracle, your Treasure's actions get Intention 7 by default.

[7+0] Summon

Treasure reaches you "in time" from anywhere in Region.
You may summon your Treasures from out of the Region, destining them to travel to you through coincidence and luck, but in that case they'll reach you at the start of the next chapter.

[4+4] Greater Awakening

This is a Collector's greater power of bestowal.
Activate a Treasure's main power on a grand scale.
This power also allows a Player - though not necessarily their Avatar - to command a Treasure to use its other abilities, such as its Superior Skill, on a local scale, though this miracle can't force it to spend Will or MP.

Alternately, spend a Spotlight to upgrade a Treasure from 'Magical' to 'Miraculous'.
This will typically give them:

• a single Divine Health Level,
• a [3] Superior Skill,

1-2 minor miraculous abilities, and

• the ability to spend 2 Will to activate their magical power in a minor way.

(As before, these abilities tend to be in line with the Properties of your Estate.)

Note: It's *possible* to upgrade a Treasure from "Unanchored mundane pebble" to "Miraculous gem with a grand destiny" in one single step with this miracle, but it is not recommended; such an abrupt shift in its existence is known to cause mental disorders or existential crises. Better to spend three separate Spotlights in three different scenes. Unless of course you need its power right now. Needs must.

Examples:
*You order your Ogre Butler to make use of its super-strength to wrestle your enemies.

• You order your Ogre Sniffer to sniff out a person hiding somewhere on Earth.

[8+0] Divine Plan

This is a Collector's lesser power of fate-weaving.
Destine a Treasure to do something.
The Destiny is stored in a free Quest slot until fulfilled, and is gradually filled by the Treasure's actions, at a rate that depends on the Treasure's suitability for the task.

[5+4] Greater Ignition

For the rest of the Scene, your Treasure automatically wins mundane contests, and their actions default to Intention 9.

[6+4] Greater Design

You can create or modify a large-scale Treasure.
This

Examples:

• Create an oceangoing vessel from your old nail clippings.

[7+4] Greater Summon

Treasure reaches you "in time" from anywhere.
This level of miracle is capable of seamlessly weaving your Treasure into reality.
For example, to make sure your butler reaches you on Mars, he may retroactively come to own a flying saucer.

[8+4] Greater Divine Plan (Imperial Miracle)

Make a Wish using your Treasure as catalyst.
(As in Book)

Thoughts and Comments

This is pretty much the usual Treasure, except I consolidated a bunch of the 'be with your Anchor' stuff into three powers, and used the extra room to add dedicated powers for healing/maintaining your Treasures.

I'm pleased with differentiating Strategists from Nobles by them not necessarily caring about their Treasures, unlike Nobles.
Having the Strategist version of Collector be focused specifically on Creational Estates is supported by the lore; it's something that ties them to Creation, in a positive way.