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ysabetwordsmithHere are the character notes for "The Hog Knows the Tree."
Ti-Jean Castille -- He has fair skin and gray eyes. His brown hair is often long, but sometimes cut shorter by work hazards such as fire. He usually has a scruff of mustache and beard. He is tall and thin. He can change his appearance with both magical and mundane methods. His heritage is Cajun including American, French, and Spanish. Ti-jean speaks Bayou Bantu, Cajun French, English, and Spanish. His accent drifts from all the traveling, but still carries enough Cajun to recognize unless he tries hard to hide it. His birthday is January 27, 1981. His sun sign is Aquarius and his moon sign is Scorpio. He was 24 in 2005. He is 35 years old in 2016.
Ti-Jean is the grandson of Gros-Jean, son of Mi-Jean and Abella. He has a bunch of siblings and cousins, some of whom are also into mystical matters -- a family tendency -- but they don't like him much because they consider him to be irresponsible. He maintains a network of friends and allies in the bohemian community, using them to find and help solve problems as he travels around. He has no permanent home, and prefers it that way. His experiences have left him with little faith in divine and mortal alike.
Ti-Jean is an expert shyster; he excels at theft, sleight-of-hand, escape, and convincing people of whatever he wants them to believe or to do. When that's not enough, he often resorts to magic. He knows a lot about occult topics across many different traditions. He's also formidable at street fighting.
Wracked by guilt and stress, Ti-Jean is rarely all the way sober. He drinks, smokes, and sometimes uses other drugs to cope with the horrors he has seen. This makes him prone to queasiness, shakes, and occasional collapse. He is particularly inclined to drink himself into a stupor after finishing a hard job.
Ti-Jean has crossed paths with Freesia and Cas. He has even had sex with Freesia on occasion, but she doesn't really do committed relationships and he's too afraid of attracting trouble to get attached to people. Ti-Jean also knows Aidan, although he seems to regard that with some embarrassment.
Origin: Ti-Jean was conceived in a cemetery by two teenagers screwing around, and that gave him even more of a sense for mystical things than usual for his family. As a teen, he and some friends dabbled in magic. When he was 16, it got away from them and most of them were killed. The other survivor, Guy-Vidal, went into seminary school and Ti-Jean became a wandering troubleshooter.
Uniform: Ti-Jean dresses in durable clothes, typically with dark colors. He likes long, loose coats and garments with plenty of pockets. He can conceal a great deal of weapons and magical materials in his clothes.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Existential Intelligence, Expert (+4) Shyster, Good (+2) Cajun, Good (+2) Protective, Good (+2) Street Fighting, Good (+2) Traveler
Poor (-2) Traumatic Guilt
Powers: Expert (+4) Mojo Man
In Terramagne-Cajun use, a mojo man is someone who understands the mystical and how to control it, but doesn't have the close spiritual connection of some other roles. Often it's someone whose experiences have caused a loss of faith, or even hostility toward spirituality. They tend to know a little of this, a little of that, blending different roles together as they solve problems with magic, folk remedies, or anything else that works. Most have a lot of contacts in the mystical fringe communities, although some are loners.
Ti-Jean has Energy Manipulation, Occult Knowledge, Power Theft, Sigil Magic, and Subtle Senses at Expert (+4) level. He has Astral Projection, Divination, Do Not Notice Me, and Healing at Good (+2) level. He has Hexing/Blessing and Telekinesis at Average (0) level.
He can bind, banish, or destroy most nefarious creatures, and a lot of what he does involves traveling around to deal with mystical problems. He can lay magical hexes or blessings. He can create mojo bags, poppets, witch bottles, and other magical artifacts.
His sleep magic uses the incantation "Fais do do." (Cajun: "Go to sleep.")
Vulnerability: Poor (-2) Bad Luck
Ti-Jean has terrible luck. If anything can go wrong, it will. This happens at least once in every confrontation, sometimes more if it runs longer. It gives him kind of a fatalistic view of life, but it also gives him more energy to fight back. Ti-Jean usually wins a fight, but he also tends to limp away from it battered in body and spirit.
Equipment:
Expert (+4) Cigarettes That Can Do Anything
The most common effects include flash-bang, smoke bomb, grenade, and banishing. He always has a pack with those already charged and ready to be thrown. However, Ti-Jean can spend an action to charm one to create a variety of different effects. Because they're small, though, they can only affect a room-sized area or up to four targets standing close together. He always carries uncharged cigarettes too. These require a base of tobacco grown for magical or spiritual purposes; otherwise a level is lost. They also require some ceremonial preparation; otherwise a level is lost. So Ti-Jean tends to buy his supplies from American Shaman or a hoodoo source. Grabbing a pack of ordinary cigarettes can still be made to work, but only at Good (+2) level with preparation or Average (0) level spontaneously.
Expert (+4) Utility Outfit
Ti-Jean always carries a considerable arsenal. Anything the size of a shotgun or smaller is something he can reasonably pull out of his clothes. Searching him for weapons is a conflict situation. If the searcher wins, they find weapons or other items equal to the difference between the higher and lower rolls. A tie discovers the single most obvious item. A loss discovers nothing. Without one of the key garments, like a coat, the outfit still functions at Good (+2) level. Less than that, no bonus for Average, but Ti-Jean can roll to produce something even when seemingly naked at Poor (-2) level. He is just that good at hiding things on his person with magic or other trickery.
Motivation: To protect what's left.
A number of Cajuns have nicknames prefixed with “Tee” “Ti,” “Tit,” “T,” and so forth — all pronounced tee. This prefix is derived from the French word petit, meaning “small” or “little.” It typically denotes a namesake/junior, or else the youngest child in a family.
Ti- , Mi- , Gros- (préfixes créoles)
Pronunciation varies; in this case it's closer to "zheen" than "zhahn." The "n" often vanishes at the end, especially in Jean- compounds, but at the end as with Ti-Jean it's more audible.
Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Jean
Jean is the French form of John. Both names are ultimately derived from the Latin “Iohannes”, the Greek “Iōannēs” and the Hebrew “Yochanan” all of which translate to “Yahweh (God) is gracious” or “God is generous”.
[---8<---]
From that point on, Jean became a wildly popular choice among the French where it remains on the Top 100 list of most favored boy names.
Bayou Bantu is a Terramagne-American language carried on by slaves, especially those who escaped into the wilderness of the bayous. It is a Bantu-based creole with liberal additions from other West African languages, plus some Choctaw and Chitimacha, with a little English and French thrown in. Compare with Louisiana Creole and Gullah from local-America.
The migration of the term mojo into today’s language is mainly due to its use in 20th century rhythm and blues songs. However though the word still refers to a source of power, it doesn’t necessarily refer to a mojo bag. Instead, it may simply mean magic or spells.
Fais Do-Do (fay doh-doh)
The French term literally means to “make sleep,” but in the Cajun culture, a fais do-do is a big party where dancing and festivities last long into the night. Babies sleep in a back room so their parents don’t have to leave early.
Ti-Jean's sun sign is Aquarius. His moon sign is Scorpio, which influences personality.
I like to describe this archetype as Fucked Up Urban Shaman. First, a shaman is someone who uses their mystical abilities to interface between the material and spiritual realms. The darker, edgier version is sometimes called a witch doctor. An urban shaman is someone whose affinity lies with cityscapes rather than wilderness, which influences what type of magical components they use and what their subtle senses tell them. They are still involved in solving mystical problems, but they use different tools and may deal in somewhat different types of problems. When someone's powers have a high cost, and their past is fraught, then you get a damaged hero or if they're obnoxious they might be called an antihero. Add that all up and you get Fucked Up Urban Shaman. For another example, see John Constantine from the prompt. This archetype is also ubiquitous in cyberpunk, and appears in variations across many roleplaying games.
Ti-Jean Castille -- He has fair skin and gray eyes. His brown hair is often long, but sometimes cut shorter by work hazards such as fire. He usually has a scruff of mustache and beard. He is tall and thin. He can change his appearance with both magical and mundane methods. His heritage is Cajun including American, French, and Spanish. Ti-jean speaks Bayou Bantu, Cajun French, English, and Spanish. His accent drifts from all the traveling, but still carries enough Cajun to recognize unless he tries hard to hide it. His birthday is January 27, 1981. His sun sign is Aquarius and his moon sign is Scorpio. He was 24 in 2005. He is 35 years old in 2016.
Ti-Jean is the grandson of Gros-Jean, son of Mi-Jean and Abella. He has a bunch of siblings and cousins, some of whom are also into mystical matters -- a family tendency -- but they don't like him much because they consider him to be irresponsible. He maintains a network of friends and allies in the bohemian community, using them to find and help solve problems as he travels around. He has no permanent home, and prefers it that way. His experiences have left him with little faith in divine and mortal alike.
Ti-Jean is an expert shyster; he excels at theft, sleight-of-hand, escape, and convincing people of whatever he wants them to believe or to do. When that's not enough, he often resorts to magic. He knows a lot about occult topics across many different traditions. He's also formidable at street fighting.
Wracked by guilt and stress, Ti-Jean is rarely all the way sober. He drinks, smokes, and sometimes uses other drugs to cope with the horrors he has seen. This makes him prone to queasiness, shakes, and occasional collapse. He is particularly inclined to drink himself into a stupor after finishing a hard job.
Ti-Jean has crossed paths with Freesia and Cas. He has even had sex with Freesia on occasion, but she doesn't really do committed relationships and he's too afraid of attracting trouble to get attached to people. Ti-Jean also knows Aidan, although he seems to regard that with some embarrassment.
Origin: Ti-Jean was conceived in a cemetery by two teenagers screwing around, and that gave him even more of a sense for mystical things than usual for his family. As a teen, he and some friends dabbled in magic. When he was 16, it got away from them and most of them were killed. The other survivor, Guy-Vidal, went into seminary school and Ti-Jean became a wandering troubleshooter.
Uniform: Ti-Jean dresses in durable clothes, typically with dark colors. He likes long, loose coats and garments with plenty of pockets. He can conceal a great deal of weapons and magical materials in his clothes.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Existential Intelligence, Expert (+4) Shyster, Good (+2) Cajun, Good (+2) Protective, Good (+2) Street Fighting, Good (+2) Traveler
Poor (-2) Traumatic Guilt
Powers: Expert (+4) Mojo Man
In Terramagne-Cajun use, a mojo man is someone who understands the mystical and how to control it, but doesn't have the close spiritual connection of some other roles. Often it's someone whose experiences have caused a loss of faith, or even hostility toward spirituality. They tend to know a little of this, a little of that, blending different roles together as they solve problems with magic, folk remedies, or anything else that works. Most have a lot of contacts in the mystical fringe communities, although some are loners.
Ti-Jean has Energy Manipulation, Occult Knowledge, Power Theft, Sigil Magic, and Subtle Senses at Expert (+4) level. He has Astral Projection, Divination, Do Not Notice Me, and Healing at Good (+2) level. He has Hexing/Blessing and Telekinesis at Average (0) level.
He can bind, banish, or destroy most nefarious creatures, and a lot of what he does involves traveling around to deal with mystical problems. He can lay magical hexes or blessings. He can create mojo bags, poppets, witch bottles, and other magical artifacts.
His sleep magic uses the incantation "Fais do do." (Cajun: "Go to sleep.")
Vulnerability: Poor (-2) Bad Luck
Ti-Jean has terrible luck. If anything can go wrong, it will. This happens at least once in every confrontation, sometimes more if it runs longer. It gives him kind of a fatalistic view of life, but it also gives him more energy to fight back. Ti-Jean usually wins a fight, but he also tends to limp away from it battered in body and spirit.
Equipment:
Expert (+4) Cigarettes That Can Do Anything
The most common effects include flash-bang, smoke bomb, grenade, and banishing. He always has a pack with those already charged and ready to be thrown. However, Ti-Jean can spend an action to charm one to create a variety of different effects. Because they're small, though, they can only affect a room-sized area or up to four targets standing close together. He always carries uncharged cigarettes too. These require a base of tobacco grown for magical or spiritual purposes; otherwise a level is lost. They also require some ceremonial preparation; otherwise a level is lost. So Ti-Jean tends to buy his supplies from American Shaman or a hoodoo source. Grabbing a pack of ordinary cigarettes can still be made to work, but only at Good (+2) level with preparation or Average (0) level spontaneously.
Expert (+4) Utility Outfit
Ti-Jean always carries a considerable arsenal. Anything the size of a shotgun or smaller is something he can reasonably pull out of his clothes. Searching him for weapons is a conflict situation. If the searcher wins, they find weapons or other items equal to the difference between the higher and lower rolls. A tie discovers the single most obvious item. A loss discovers nothing. Without one of the key garments, like a coat, the outfit still functions at Good (+2) level. Less than that, no bonus for Average, but Ti-Jean can roll to produce something even when seemingly naked at Poor (-2) level. He is just that good at hiding things on his person with magic or other trickery.
Motivation: To protect what's left.
A number of Cajuns have nicknames prefixed with “Tee” “Ti,” “Tit,” “T,” and so forth — all pronounced tee. This prefix is derived from the French word petit, meaning “small” or “little.” It typically denotes a namesake/junior, or else the youngest child in a family.
Ti- , Mi- , Gros- (préfixes créoles)
Pronunciation varies; in this case it's closer to "zheen" than "zhahn." The "n" often vanishes at the end, especially in Jean- compounds, but at the end as with Ti-Jean it's more audible.
Etymology & Historical Origin of the Baby Name Jean
Jean is the French form of John. Both names are ultimately derived from the Latin “Iohannes”, the Greek “Iōannēs” and the Hebrew “Yochanan” all of which translate to “Yahweh (God) is gracious” or “God is generous”.
[---8<---]
From that point on, Jean became a wildly popular choice among the French where it remains on the Top 100 list of most favored boy names.
Bayou Bantu is a Terramagne-American language carried on by slaves, especially those who escaped into the wilderness of the bayous. It is a Bantu-based creole with liberal additions from other West African languages, plus some Choctaw and Chitimacha, with a little English and French thrown in. Compare with Louisiana Creole and Gullah from local-America.
The migration of the term mojo into today’s language is mainly due to its use in 20th century rhythm and blues songs. However though the word still refers to a source of power, it doesn’t necessarily refer to a mojo bag. Instead, it may simply mean magic or spells.
Fais Do-Do (fay doh-doh)
The French term literally means to “make sleep,” but in the Cajun culture, a fais do-do is a big party where dancing and festivities last long into the night. Babies sleep in a back room so their parents don’t have to leave early.
Ti-Jean's sun sign is Aquarius. His moon sign is Scorpio, which influences personality.
I like to describe this archetype as Fucked Up Urban Shaman. First, a shaman is someone who uses their mystical abilities to interface between the material and spiritual realms. The darker, edgier version is sometimes called a witch doctor. An urban shaman is someone whose affinity lies with cityscapes rather than wilderness, which influences what type of magical components they use and what their subtle senses tell them. They are still involved in solving mystical problems, but they use different tools and may deal in somewhat different types of problems. When someone's powers have a high cost, and their past is fraught, then you get a damaged hero or if they're obnoxious they might be called an antihero. Add that all up and you get Fucked Up Urban Shaman. For another example, see John Constantine from the prompt. This archetype is also ubiquitous in cyberpunk, and appears in variations across many roleplaying games.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-02-13 09:15 pm (UTC)Nah, bruh, dan mess wit da gris-gris man, he put da bad majik on ya.
You jus c'mon out da way, let him do wat he gon do.
Mebbe he hep, mebbe he hurt, but eeda way, ain't nabudy ess's bidnis.
Sorry, I slipped into my native patios. Cajuns might say mojo man, but out here in the country, it's gris-gris (pronounced gree-gree). You don't mess around with gris-gris men and women, they are chancy. You might also be told to leave someone alone, because they might "put the bad gris-gris on you".
You might also hear that someone has "some kind of gris-gris", if they have exceptional luck.