Entitlement for Changeling the Lost -Created by Hammerone (Original Source)
Madam, you can not stop the inevitable, the coming of midnight. Surrender now and your passage into the hands of the great Clockmaker will be swift. Resist and we will be forced to show you the true ingenuity of our maker, that you can not stop the Hands of Time.
To most Changelings the Lost of the Hands of Time is either something they have never heard about or at best an obscure myth about dark figures descending on Earth on a scavenger hunt for rare artifacts and slaves to be taken away to their own dark domain. The different versions of the stories can agree on few things but the few common threads are that the so called Agents of Midnight, although very different in shapes and sizes, always appear dressed impeccably if in a somewhat archaic style, always wield a pair of strange bladed weapons looking remarkably like large versions of the hands of a large clock, always appear out of nowhere to appropriate some object or person and take that object or person with them back to arcadia.
Survivors who have gotten an unfortunate closer look at the Agents of Midnight, all tell how the agents are all mechanical in appearance, made of brass and copper as if mechanical clocks in the shapes of men and women. Their bodies emits high pitched groans if hit by blunt force and they do not bleed blood but have rather have been observed to spray clouds of tiny cog wheels, when struck with claw or bladed weapon. And all survivors have experiences the same strange deformations of time, cone
What is known to a few sages is that the Hands of time are the agents of the enigmatic Other known simply as the Clockmaker. From his huge clock work metropolis, perpetually clad in the shadows of the hours before midnight, the Clock knights travel forth to serve their master’s strange agendas. Whenever the maker requires something or wants some obstruction removed; his Hands travel forth, destroying all obstacles.
But the Hands of time are not merely mindless clockwork automatons as one might surmise from their master’s obsession with wound up mechanical imitations of life. Rather the Hands of Time generally seems to be a group of refined individuals, members of an elite who apparently puts great value on finesse and civil behavior. The few survivors of Hands attacks all recall how the Hands would politely introduce themselves and state their business, before closing in for the kill. It must be noted though that the Hands of Time have never given up the advantage of surprise or superiority of numbers out of politeness. They will only extend this courtesy to enemies who are outnumbered and outgunned. With the Hands of Time’s preference for stealth and ambushes, this is the case quite often.
Survivors also recall how the Hands of Time will act well mannered amongst themselves even in the midst of a bloody battle, politely requiring their fellow agents to humbly disarm that ogre, dispose of that elemental with extreme prejudice and so on.
This has caused some sages, among them the wizened Romulus Cartwright, arguably the greatest authority on the Agents of Midnight, to speculate that in their own mechanical realm, the Hands of Time are not simply warriors or retrieval agents, but rather an aristocracy, a higher social caste who is merely carrying out its duties to ensure the continued prosperity and safety of its society. Some have even been heard to refer to themselves as explorers, educated adventurers who have ventured into a wild and uncivilized place
The Goals of the Hands of Time, as much as they have been discovered by the Lost, are obscure and often confusing. Lost Sage Romulus Cartwright has the following theory as to the motives of the Clockmaker and his agents: “When one considers the Hands of Time, one should perceive them as they apparently do themselves – as members of a superior civilization, who venture into much more primitive worlds with equally primitive inhabitants, to explore, colonize and harvest resources from. The Hands of Time explorer Earth, to them a savage place, to look for resources or artifacts which the locals can’t possible understand or use properly. Instead the Hands take these valuable items and individuals and put them to far better use than the uneducated inhabitants of earth could possible do. One might surmise that the logical conclusion to this approach is the actual colonization of earth and potentially the other realms of Arcadia as parts of the Clockwork Metropolis”.
Stats
Titles
Hands of Time (Gentlemen Clockers, Agents of Midnight, Hands of the Clockmaker, Clock Knights)
Prerequisites
Wyrd 4, Contract of Hours 2, Stealth 3, Weaponry 3 and Two Weapon Fighting style 2, In addition all new hands are expected to have at least Socialize 2 preferably with a specialization in Good manners. Although Hands of Time need the second clause of the Contract of Hours as a minimum, and most have the third or even fourth.
Joining
No one joins the Hands of Time on their own accord. They are instead picked by the Clockfather himself, either from the masses of changelings already in his realm or from the real world if a mortal or changeling catches his eye. As the number of Agents of Midnight has increased over the decades, senior agents have at times suggested potential candidates to their master. The Great Clockmaker, ever maintaining his apparent paternal demeanour, has always humoured his agents and given his permission for them to “appropriate” the potential prospect, both mortal and lost and bring them to him for formal induction into the Hands of Time.
Once a prospect has been chosen, the Clockmaker sends his Hands to where ever the prospect might be to retrieve the unfortunate individual to his wharf sized workshop beneath his realm’s version of the big Ben, the heart of the Clockwork Metropolis. The lucky ones, the ones that are close to the preferred specifications of the Clockfather, are merely “modified” where as those who differ, are picked apart, component by component and reassembled in a more optimal configuration. Needless to say, few are left unscarred by this nightmarish experience and more than a few of the Hands have become slightly unhinged by it, to the point of fear induced frenzy if presented with the prospect of returning to their master’s workshop or even receiving a “fine tuning”.
Mien
As befits natives of the Clockmaker realm, described by the few who has escaped it as a clock punk nightmare version of Victorian London, All Agents of Midnight dress almost identical as upper class gentlemen of the Victorian era whether male or female. When operating in the field most agents hide their facial features with motor goggles (oddly enough always looking like dual clocks) or even combining the goggles with featureless full facemasks, usually made of polished brass. Inevitably all Hands of Time will being to look more and more mechanical and clock work like, with simple cog designs appearing on their skin and clothes at first but then later on expanding into making their skin look like brass and their limps and joins becoming mechanical. Hands with really high Wyrd scores or any Elemental Manikin/Fairest Telluric have one or more visible clocks in their bodies, replacing hearts, appearing in the Changeling’s chest or eyes appearing in place of the eye ball or sometime eye balls.
Background
All members of the Hands of Time are either elemental Manikins or some Dual Kith combination with manikin as one of their kiths or become so in the process of joining. If they were mortal or even unfortunate enough to be changelings of another seeming before their induction, the great Clockmaker would change them to fit his purposes by slowly and painstakingly picking them apart as a broken clock and then just as slowly puts them back together again. Mortal chosen for the Gentleman Clockers always become manikin clockwork creatures with very few exceptions. The Few that have dual kiths usually have elemental manikin as their primary kith, although there are a few exceptions Recruited changelings, who, by their very nature already have a kith, gains the Dual Kith merit with elemental manikin as their secondary kith. Popular ones include manikin/Fairest telluric for masterful time keepers or Manikin/ Fairest Minstrel or Beast Windwing for clockwork Nightingale warriors. A few of the Hands of time are taken from the realm’s Wizened population but given that most wizened in the Maker’s service are endlessly busy, few can be spared from the his great project.
All those recruited for the Hands of Time share a number of traits; they are always at least proficient in melee combat; most often with some variety of bladed weapon and most are level headed and quick to adapt when faced with bad odds. Strangely enough most are incredible well mannered and polite, even when killing someone which, it seems fits very well with the Clockfather’s archaic world view and concepts of correct behaviour.
Organization
Although there are no formal ranks within, the Hands of Time junior (newly created) Hands are expected to follow the directions and advice of senior agents (created long ago). Apart from this, the Hands of Time are organized like a hybrid between a Victorian men’s club and a secret service, with all members serving the same unwritten code of conduct, and trespasser of said code, being firmly reprimanded by their fellow members.
All this being said; there does actually exist an informal hierarchy within the Hands of Time. “Pure” elemental manikins outrank dual kith changelings with manikin as their primary kith and dual kith changelings with manikin as their secondary kith making up the lowest and least influential part of the Gentlemen Clockers. The only exception to this rule are dual kith Manikins with Fairest telluric as their second kith. These incomparable time keepers are seen as favourites of the Clockfather and the leaders of the Hands of Time in the field.
Privileges
Hands of Time (Token •••) (Courtesy of Friv_Yeti)
At their induction into the order of the Hands of Time, all members are given a set of weapons, a saber like sword and a companion dagger, the sword shaped like the big clock hand and the parrying dagger, shaped like the small clock hand. The character activates them by holding them together, the dagger in front of the saber, as he empowers them with Glamour. Doing so gives the character the ability to speed and slow time for fragments of seconds, increasing her Initiative by her Wyrd rating, and boosting her Dexterity and Wits ratings by 1. This effect lasts a number of turns equal to the character's Wyrd, and may be activated once per scene.
Action: Instant
Drawback: While empowered, the character's motions become jerky and staggered, her own movements out of synch with time, making it obvious that she is drawing on the blades' power. In addition, being a step out of synch with Time makes it difficult to pause and pay attention - the character suffers a -1 die penalty to all perception-based rolls for the duration of the scene in which the Token is activated.
Catch: A character can force themselves out of time, but doing so it very hard on the mind without Glamour to cushion one's perceptions. Doing so causes the character to freeze in crucial moments where time is of the issue, giving them the effects of the Inferiority Complex minor derangement for one day or upgrading it to Anxiety if they already have it. Multiple activations of this Token's Catch in the same day cause the derangement to last more days.
Weapon stats: (Sword) - Damage 3(L), Size 2, (Dagger) - Damage 1 (L), Size 1
Rumours
As the Hands of Time generally are antagonists, the first rumours the player will have heard of them are generally about the fact that they exist at all.
•The Hands of Time are here for something! Local changeling have begun to realized the Clock knights single out materials and individuals, mortal or changeling, who are skilled at fine metal work and mechanical constructions. A Clock knight, caught by the local summer courtiers, utters the words “Midnight is coming” before expiring. It appears that the Clockmaker is building something but what will it mean for the Lost and can they stop it in time.
•Rumour has it that a high ranking autumn court manikin who is, rumour has it, a renegade agent of midnight with his clock hand swords hidden away from sight. But although he has escaped the dark city of the Clockmaker, rumour has it that he has been changed too much; too deeply and that at times, he begins to loose control.
•The time powers of the agents of Midnight disrupt the very foundations of reality and can be felt, even by those who are normally blissfully unaware of the supernatural. Supposedly, clocks resonate with the powers and artefacts of the Hands, glowing with a sickly green light when ever the powers of the Hands of Time, whether through contract or through their signature token weapons, are used nearby. Often this strange glow can be seen as a forewarning of an impending attack by the Hands of Time.
Signature Agent
Precious Songbird (Formerly Anna-May Stephens)
Quote: “I…(slash)…am…(swipe)…not…(slash)…your…(slash)…song…(swipe)…bird”!!
Background
Anna May was born to sixth generation Chinese, the descendant of some of the first Asians to set foot on what would later become the United States. But that was a long time ago and Anna-May and her parents are far more American than they ever were Chinese. If it wasn’t for the subtle colouring of her skin and her almond eyes no one would have considered the law student to be anything but a run-of-the-mill all-American college girl.
But to the eyes of the imperial agents of the Clockwork Metropolis and in particular their archaic master, the slight woman was a rare specimen, an exotic bird unlike anything their limited vision had even caught onto. They stole her away on the night before her final bar exam, dragging her kicking and screaming through the hedge to the realm of their master, leaving a replica, who unlike the hot tempered and outspoken original was so quite and humble, subservient even that few among Anna-May’s family could recognize her. The fetch never took the bar exam and instead became a housewife, following her creators old fashioned views as to what the true vocation of a woman should be.
In the cathedral like workshop of the Clockfather, the real Anna May proved more much more combative as the Hands of Time strapped her to the work table of the Fae Lord, cursing and screaming at her captors. Unlike the Hands, by now enraged by the girl’s stubbornness, the great clockmaker found the girl’s struggle amusing, stroking her chin while musing in mock Chinese, apparently assuming the oriental girl to be not only an uncivilized, even primitive foreigner but also unable to speak the queen’s English, the only language spoken in the Clockwork Metropolis. In truth the majority of what Anna-May yelled at what appeared to be a racist old fool in strange clothing, was fairly modern profanity and the Fae lord’s vocabulary was simply too old fashioned for him to grasp what she was calling him.
Turning to his henchmen, the Clockmaker lectured on how this was a rare songbird and that simple tuning would make her sing even sweeter and upon that he proceeded to slowly disassemble her, all the while making idle chit chat and asking her about the peculiar customs in her foreign godless land. He seemed to be particularly interested in whether she new the fairy tale of the Emperor and the Nightingale and retold how a heathen emperor was amused by a mechanical music box, shaped as a Nightingale. At some point, Anna-May mercifully blacked out.
Since then Anna-May, now known simply as the Precious Songbird, has become one of the Hands of Time. Having forgotten almost everything about her former life as a woman and only partial elemental, the Precious Songbird finds herself the lowest ranking of the Hands, and is treated as such by her master and fellow Hands. Often being ordered around, talked down to and generally treated like a dim-witted foreigner, she lives an existence of relentless and mechanical oppression. Although she now shares the values of the Clockwork Metropolis, this still infuriates her to end, leaving her to vent her fury on whoever she is sent to retrieve or stop. There have been unfortunate incidents where targets have resisted enough for the Precious Songbird to loose her grip on what little self control she has left and slice them to ribbons with her clock hand blades. Whatever her mood, the Precious Songbird remains a volatile and dangerous member of an already dangerous and mysterious group of lost
Description
The Precious Songbird’s mask appears as Anna-May did before her abduction, a small part Asian woman in her mid twenties. As a small victory, she is still able to dress in the traditional Victorian gentleman’s suit worn by most Hands of Time, although her has been modified with a scarf instead of a tie and with a woman’s riding hat instead of the more traditional top hat. Her dual blades are worn across the back, which although practical is frowned upon by more conservative hands. Needless to say, her less than sunny demeanour has her face twisted in a perpetual sullen sneer, especially when frustrated or ordered about by senior male Hands. At times she has even been ordered to wear a veil, covering the upper part of her face, simply so that he seniors might avoid looking at her darkened face all day.
The Precious Songbird’s Mien has the same general proportions as the mask, but the colour of skin has been amplified to an almost impossible brass like lustre, flowing like liquid gold when ever she moves. Should one ever get close enough to the Precious Songbird, one might discover that her beautiful golden skin apparently is made up of thousands of tiny segments, all shaped like ornamented miniature feathers. Most alien is her face where a bird’s head design has been build directly into her features, the bird’s beak replacing her nose and her eyes exchanged for two dark green orbs, looking vaguely like birds eyes.
Seeming: Fairest
Kith: Dual Kith Fairest Minstrel/Elemental Manikin (see below)
Entitlement: Hands of Time
Court: None
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3
Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 4, Stamina 2
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 3, Composure 2
Mental Skills: Academics 1, Investigation 2
Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Firearms 2, Stealth 3, Weaponry 4
Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 1, Socialize 2, Streetwise 1, Subterfuge 2
Merits: Fighting Style: Two Weapons 4, Striking Looks 4
Willpower: 5
Clarity: 5 (Fixation)
Virtue: Fortitude
Vice: Wrath
Initiative: 6
Defence: 4
Speed: 12
Health: 7
Wyrd: 3
Contracts: Contracts of Time ••, Contracts of Separation ••, Contracts of Smoke ••
On the recommendations of the friendly neighbourhood forumites, I also did a write up on the Great Clockmaker, the Fae Lord behind the Hands of Time. Note that this was written as I recieved my copy of Equinox Road, so I haven't used any of the rules or suggestions in that book. I haven't playtested any of this either and have kind of made it up as I went along, so feel free to change it if you like.
The Great Clockmaker
Titles: The Great Clockmaker, Clockfather to the Hands of Time, Master of the Clockwork Metropolis,
Background
Some tales, almost lost to any but the most ancient and secretive ashen courtier tell of Chronos, the old god of time and how he was defeated and cast down into a hellish prison by a new breed of gods, eager to take his place.
What ever the tales and myths, the first rumour of the great clockmaker arose during the reign of Queen Victoria and the art and design of the British Empire has shaped every encounter with the Clockmaker and his agents ever since.
The Clockmaker has never left his bustling clockwork metropolis in the far reaches of Arcadia and has apparently only left his ship yard sized underground workshop once or twice in the last five centuries. All encounters are handled by his agents, the changelings of the Hands of Time, who have been encountered a number of times, especially over the last ten or twenty years as if they are increasing their activities.
The Clockwork Metropolis: From the journals of Romulus Cartwright, Legate of the Black Apple, diplomat and explorer:
“The City, indeed the entire realm of the other known as the Clockfather looks startlingly like the paintings of Victorian London, I saw during my youth. The tall towers and buildings rise toward a darkened sky and here and there I recognize landmarks, the Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral and the ominous silhouette of The Bankside Power Station. But they were different, larger, seemingly more decorated and intricate and as I walked by the foot of the Big Ben I realized that they were all made of metal, of brass, copper and steel. Every where there were people, dressed in fine suits and dresses walking calmly be, holding their children’s’ hands and their dogs’ leashes. But they were all machines, again brass and copper automatons that looked like people and moved like people but were machines never the less. Once at this hellish place’s version of Hyde Park, I saw one of the only changelings I have seen so far, a young boy dressed like a much younger child in short pants, shirt and a strange wide brimmed straw hat. Walking with him were a woman, a man, a dog and a smaller child, a girl, I think. At first I thought the automaton family were the boys servants following him around to cater to his every whim, but then I noticed the frozen look of dread and despair on the boy’s face and I realized that he was not pulling the male automaton along, it was pulling him. I wonder how long he had played the role of the only living member of a family of machines and when it had cost him his mind.
And above us stands the clock tower, right where the Big Ben of our world would have been, had this not been a dark mechanical twin of the real city. So tall, the top of it almost disappears against the dark sky with only the sickly green circular disc of the clock being visible, always moving slowly toward midnight.
I’ve been exploring the Clockwork metropolis for a week now and nobody seems to care about my presence. The Fae lord’s primary henchmen, the ever present Gentlemen Clockers were the only forces to patrol the city, although I one time did see a virtual parade of what appeared to be mechanical soldiers, guards in full regalia parading across a square with the clockwork inhabitants applauding them. The question remains whether they were for show, part of some absurd automated routine of if there is indeed an army of clockwork warriors waiting in the bowels of the city.
As I was searching through the lower levels of the Clockwork metropolis, I found something curious; most of a Dark Age castle, made from the same beautiful detailed brass like material as the city above but unused for what seemed like aeons. And further down in the dark I found ruins reminiscent of ancient Greece and Rome and still they were made of from decorated brass clockwork parts. From here it seems that there have many different clockwork metropolises and what I’ve explored so far, has only been the latest".
Description
To the cursory glance, the clockmaker appears to be a kindly elderly man, maybe in his mid seventies with wrinkled tan skin and stark white hair and beard. Always immaculately dressed in the clothes of a Victorian craftsman, he usually wears a white shirt with its sleeves pulled to the elbows, dark pants, west and shoes and a pale tan apron with several pockets with perfectly placed tools. In fact, once one has spent just a short period of time in the presence of the clockmaker, one realises that his appearance is almost too perfect. Tools are perfectly aligned, teeth are shiny white and perfect and face is strangely symmetrical. If one gets close enough to the Fae to actually touch him, one will notice two things about him, that he is constantly accompanied by an almost inaudible sound that sounds like thousands of tiny pieces of metal grinding at each other. At the same time, one notices that the outline of the fae lord is fuzzy, as if in flux.
The truth about the Clockmaker is that he is not made of flesh and bone or even some Wyrd enhanced version of that. Instead he is made up of thousands if not millions of tiny cogs, that constantly run into each other, whether the Other moves or not. Even his clothes are tiny cogs, dyed white for his shirt and black for the rest of his attire.
If anyone should be as bold as to strike the clockmaker, his true nature would be obvious as the place where he was hit would be greatly bend out shape, making him looking horrifyingly deformed and spraying cogs through the air rather than blood or some other fluid, accompanied by the screeching scream of hundreds of little cogs, displaced and grinding toward one another before the cog would slip back into place, re-establishing the Clockfather’s appearance.
Storytelling Hints
Anyone, who encounters the great Clockmaker, initially finds him to be the epitome of the Victorian gentleman, a highly civilized older man with a regal bearing, always treating those around him as were he the friendly wise uncle and everybody else were wayward children. He will listen to pretty much any tale, someone will tell him and then in manner both friendly and incredible condescending lecture the tale teller on that individual’s many faults and failures.
And the Victorian gentleman is but a mask, interpreted by an inhuman monster. Where a similar character from the reign of Queen Victoria would treat foreigners and women as second class citizens, the Clockmaker will consider them less than human, objects for him to do with as he pleases. The Fae Lord will treat most persons and objects as complicated systems for him to disassemble and toy and investigate with, with the subject fully aware of the “process”. The uninitiated might learn something from it after all.
Rumours
•All encounters with the Clockmaker or his agents inevitably lead to characters hearing about the coming of midnight. So far few have been able to shed any light on what this coming of midnight actually means and what it will mean to the Lost. However, a few theories have surfaced that each try to explain just what the clockmakers midnight is. One theory says that the Clockmaker wants to build a huge empire, resembling the empire of his Victorian “forbearers” and that he is preparing a huge invincible army of clockwork soldiers to conquer not only earth but also the realms of the other Fae Lords. Another idea that the Fae is building a machine, a gargantuan clock, housed in a mountain like clock tower, with which, he plans to stop the very flow of time at a point where it is most perfect in his archaic view.
•Since traces of several earlier versions of the Clockmakers empire have been discovered beneath the Clockwork Metropolis, each drawing upon a historic period for its form, customs and culture, some have begun to suspect that the current Victorian form and behaviour is merely the latest in a series of facades, the being currently known as the Great Clockmaker assumes. This might mean that the current form of the Clockmakers empire and indeed of the clockmaker himself might not be its final form, if it even has something like a final form. Rumour has it that Romulus Cartwright, one of the few Changelings to visit the Clockwork Metropolis without being changed into a clockwork creature, found early designs a city resembling a set piece from a 1950s science fiction film, complete with art deco flying cars and ray guns, accompanied by notes describing a paranoid McCarthyesque society, perpetually threatened by fifth column infiltrators and saboteurs. Perhaps this is the next incarnation of the Great Clockmaker and his metropolis?
Mental Attributes: Intelligence 6, Wits 4, Resolve 6
Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5
Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 4, Composure 6
Mental Skills:
Academics 5, Crafts 6 (Clocks), Investigation 6 (Clocks), Occult 4 (+1 Astrology specialty), Science 6 (Mechanical science)
Physical Skills:
Athletics 1, Brawl 2, Larceny 1, Stealth 3, Survival 1, Weaponry 2 (+1 Cane speciality)
Social Skills:
Expression 2, Intimidation 5, Persuasion 2, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 2
Merits:
Allies (Hands of Time) 4, Eidetic Memory, Encyclopedic Knowledge, Good Time Management, Workshop 5, Resources 5+ (The Clockwork Metropolis with its almost unlimited resources),
Willpower: 10
Virtue: Faith
Vice: Pride
Initiative: 9
Defence: 4
Speed: 10
Health: 10
Wyrd: 9
Contracts: Contract of Hours •••••, Contract of Artifice •••••, Contract of Animation •••••, Contract of Elements (Metal) •••••, Contract of Communion (Metal) •••••
Frailties: Victorian Mindset (Major Taboo), Sand in his gears (Minor Ban), Must Set all Clocks he encounter (Minor Taboo)
Mien Blessings: Elemental Manikin/Wizened Artist/Fairest Telluric
Armour: 6
Weapons/Attacks:
Whirling Cog blow, Damage 4 dice, Dice pool 6, no special (The Fae strikes, the whirling cogs that make up his body tearing at the flesh of the target)
Cane Strike, Damage 2 dice, Dice pool 7, no special (The Fae strikes the offended with his walking cane)
Fae Aspects
•Legendary Monster: Most True Fae are limited to a maximum of 6 in any Trait while in the mortal world. The Great Clockmaker transcends this limitation;
•Immortal Flesh: As an inhuman entity manifested in physical form, The Clockmaker can shrug off some of the lesser slings and arrows of the mundane. Bashing damage does not affect The Great Clockmaker at all, unless delivered by a cold iron bludgeon. Cold-forged iron causes aggravated damage, should someone be skilled enough to strike him with such.
•Ruled by Passion: The Great Clockmaker is a creature almost embodied by his passions and vices, with higher morality and self-denial little more than a whim to him. For him, passion is a virtue, and denial of such an affectation. His supernaturally amoral nature is reflected in an inverted ability to regain Willpower. The Great Clockmaker regains one Willpower point from indulging his Virtue, but refreshes his whole pool when satiating his Vice.
•Setting back the Clock: Although tied to the fabric of time itself, the Clockmaker is more a master of time keeping devices than of time itself. This limits his control over the flow of time but still allows him to set the clock back, travelling up to half and hour back in time. This allows him to some extend predict events, as he has already experienced them and allows him to act accordingly.
If he uses this ability during combat, he gains a great advantage by already having experienced his opponents’ manoeuvres and attacks. The first round after he sets the clock back, the Clockmaker can’t be hit by any attack and can make one attack where the target isn’t allowed any defensive measure (dodge block etc)
When the Clockmaker sets the clock back, a ghostly clock disk appears in front of him the big of hand of which he turns back. This takes one turn during which the Other is unable to perform any other action. Setting back the clock costs the clockmaker 4 glamour and 1 will power and can only be performed once every hour to allow the streams of time to realign themselves.
•Halting the Clock: In addition, the Great Clockmaker may stop the flow of time for those around him for a limited period, while he remains unaffected. To an observer everything feels sluggish while the Clockfather seems to move at an almost unfathomable speed. This has a similar effect to that of the Clock hand sword and dagger tokens, the Fae Lord grants his Hands of Time, increasing his Initiative by his Wyrd and increasing his dexterity and Wits by 3 for the duration of the effect. This effect lasts a number of turns equal to the character's Wyrd, and may be activated once per scene.
•Cleaning the Dirty Clock: As a peerless designer, maker and not least repairman of mechanical devices, particularly those driven by clockworks, the great Clockmaker can take apart any mechanical device , he has build including clockwork tokens, Automatons and Changelings he has transformed or merely modified with a thought. The device, person or otherwise begins to disintegrate into its basic components as a dirty clock being picked apart. At the end of the first turn, the device or character is completely gone, disintegrated into microscopic parts, floating around. The next round, the disintegrated device or being is slowly put together again and in the case of living beings is fully aware of his or her re integration, which is such a terrifying experience that most who experience must make a resolve roll to avoid being stunned, effectively gaining a -4 penalty on all dice rolls the next two turns. Watching this, although not as horrifying as experiencing it one self, is still terrifying enough that all onlookers must make a resolve roll to avoid gaining a -1 penalty on all rolls for next two turns.
At the end of the second turn, the device or individual is completely re integrated and cleaned of any faults, which means that the device is fixed as if one had used Brief Glamour of Repair on it and rolled exceptional success, meaning that all repairs are permanent. If the Clockmaker had re assembled a living being, one of his changeling henchmen, the individual would be fully healed, rested and free of any ill effects from attacks environment or contracts, he might have suffered before being disassembled.
•Everything in its right place: This mastery of reassembling clockwork devices also extends to the Clockmakers own body, which, if destroyed, the Clockmaker can reassemble, again as if he was fixing a broken clock. In his case, it takes slightly longer, healing two lethal or one aggravated wound per turn, until completely healed and thus reassembled.
•Mastery of Artifice and Animation: Legend has it that the Fae lord which would one day become the great clockmaker, was present on the day before recorded time when members of the Gentry made great agreements with dual concepts Artifice and Animation, setting up the clauses that would make up the signature contracts of all Wizened changelings eons later. Because he was there when the clauses was detailed, the Clockmaker has greater insight into the rules and arrangements of the two contracts than most other beings, alive or dead. This allows him to work his way around them to his great advantage. Firstly, every time the Clockmaker evokes a clause of either of the two contracts, he get the benefits of having fulfilled the catch of the clause, whether that is the case or not, making the contracts effectively free.
When ever the clockmaker encounters a device or creature animated by the Contract of Animation he may assume control of the animated device by spending a single point of glamour and making a contested roll of Intelligence + 5 (Known number of animation clauses) + Wyrd vs. the animating character’s intelligence + number of Animation Clauses + Wyrd.
Finally the Clockmaker can, if in visual range of a device modified by either contract or a changeling evoking either contract, the Clockmaker can make a perception + Wyrd roll and instantly know the contracts and clauses involved and the user’s exact level of competence.
The Clockmaker’s Changelings
Most of the Changelings inhabiting the Clockwork Metropolis are either Elementals (the majority being clockwork manikins), or Wizened. The remainder are a mixture of the other seemings with preference for Darklings but otherwise a smattering of Ogres, beasts and Fairest.
There! I've got a couple of other ideas for entitlements, like the Lords of the Asylum, (changelings who gain mad insight from loosing their clarity and the ensuing derangements) and the Gentlemen of the Unsavory Deal (Shady merchants who deal in Goblin Contracts and who are strangely protected form the adverse effects of said contracts) but the speed of my workflow and the fact that I just got Left 4 dead, makes me think I'll finish them sometime in 2011…. —Hammerone