Everything

It’s traditional: the faithful butler, the brilliant mechan­ ic, the groundskeeper or housekeeper who tends the same manor their ancestors tended. Such servants have provided mages with companionship for millennia, and some still do so today. Although such positions are often filled these days by hired workers (p. XX), full-time servants occupy a significant place in the Awakened world, especially among mages with a decidedly old-fashioned outlook.

Unlike punch-clock employees, these sorts of servants live where they work, and often define their lives (or have their lives defined for them) in terms of the role they fulfill in that household. Some serve out of cultural tradition (“As my forefathers served you, so will I”), others out of personal desperation (“Help me and I will serve you”), quite a few from social status (“My people are born to serve”), and many out of personal obligation (“I owe you a debt I can never repay”).

Participants in kinky relationships might pledge servitude to their dominants, too. (“Yes, Mistress…”). Either way, a certain amount of respect and deference is essential. (“As you wish, sir. May I be excused?”) In return, their overlords provide food and shelter, clothing, protection, a certain amount of trust, and perhaps a small allowance. Such com­ pensations might not seem like much, but they’re probably an improvement over the state those servants would have experienced otherwise.

Other forms of servitude exist as well, most notably in groups with ritualistic cultures and ancient hierarchies, like the Verbenae, Thanatoics, Akashayana, and the Hermetic Order. Apprenticeships and initiations often feature periods of servitude in order to weed out uncommitted applicants (particularly among groups that do not differentiate between Awakened and unAwakened members), and certain sentences within the Tradition Council’s justice system suggest servi­ tude as punishment for a person’s crimes. (See “Indenture/ Service” in The Book of Secrets, p. 216.) Thus, Awakened mages occasionally wind up as servants, too. Although that wizard’s butler is probably a consor with a few useful skills, it’s often wise not to underestimate people you meet around the Chantry, even when they’re called servants.

The master-servant relationship is troubling to discuss these days. Unequal and exploitative by definition, it’s regarded with distaste in many circles. Culturally, though, it’s a common arrangement even in the 21st century — not merely in “tradi­ tional” regions but in corners of the modern world we don’t talk about very often. Caste-based societies have dominance and submission integrated into their foundations; folks with wealth and power have servants as a matter of course. Mages and Enlightened executives maintain ranks of servants and, especially in the Otherworlds, might assert the rights of life and death over them. Though deeply opposed to egalitarian philosophies, domestic servitude remains a fact of life.

A person’s attitude toward their servitude depends a great deal upon the reasons for that servitude, the culture surrounding both the servant and their overlord, and the treatment and dignity afforded to that servant by the master in question. A lower-caste person who was raised in a family of servants would consider the situation perfectly natural, maybe even desirable if the masters are especially generous, whereas someone from an egalitarian society who’s been sentenced to servitude would kick against that situation as much as possible. Even in societies where servitude is part of the culture, though, a servant’s apparent deference may mask sarcasm, resentment, opportunism, and outright hate. For both the masters and the servants, their arrangement is a balancing act of politesse and obligation. If both sides feel they’re getting what they need from that relationship, things will probably go well for everyone concerned; if not, then “master” might learn the hard way that intimate resentment can have serious consequences, or the servant might fall into a far more abusive situation…

Suggested Traits: Servants specialize in the Traits their job demands. An archivist would have several dots in Academics, Investigation, Research, and an array of appropri­ ate Knowledges, while a mechanic possesses enough Crafts, Technology, and Jury-Rigging dots and specialties to handle the gear in his care. Any wise servant, however, has at least a dot or two in Etiquette, if only because a servant’s fortunes depend upon ingratiating himself with the overlords.

Suggested Templates: Any sort of character can be a servant under the right (or wrong) circumstances. Most of­ ten, however, a servant character would follow the Human Resources template, with skills determined by that servant’s role in the household. More formidable servants might function as Thugs or Professional Badasses if they’re, say, bodyguards or gang members. Under certain circumstances, Night-Folk or other superhuman entities might work as servants to an especially powerful master. Power Player-type characters, though, would almost never be found in a ser­ vant’s role.

Katherine Peet

Kate Peet was born to a rough family in a rough part of town. She tried to avoid the fighting, the arguing, and the general malaise plaguing many working-class families in her small section of Preston, in northern England. Through sheer perseverance, she made her way through school and university, the first in her family to have done so, ever. Her job interviews to work as a translator, though, failed time and time again. It didn’t matter that she had nearly perfect scores; interviewers heard her lower-class accent, and their interest in her skills seemed to disappear.

Finally, Katherine broke down and answered an advert for a position as a nanny for an American couple. The family clearly had money, with the husband working in the energy sector, and the wife operating a successful marketing business online. The wife had given birth to twins the previous year but taking time away from work wasn’t really an option for either of them. The family had gone through dozens of nannies, none of whom proved able to keep up with the difficulty of working with two intensely energetic toddlers. Kate was well-used to the energy level of young children, though; she’d practically raised her brother and two sisters, and her hard upbringing left her with an attitude of, “Well, it’s paying work — just get on with it, then.” As she did in school, Katherine rose to the task, well enough to be kept on by the family for going on three years.

Taking care of another person’s children is challenging: You must find an acceptable middle ground between parenting, advising, and letting the children do as they are told by their parents. Katherine seems to have found that magical middle ground. The Americans, Scott and Felicia, have nothing but good things to say about her and her work with their kids. With the children now approaching school age, though, there have been discussions on whether or not they are going to

keep Katherine on for much longer. They’ve already floated the idea that Katherine could go and work for one of the other families in Scott’s firm, a place Scott jokingly refers to “the Syndicate.” At least, Katherine assumes those are jokes, but no one seems to laugh when he mentions them. She cer­ tainly hadn’t planned for a nanny’s life, but the pay is good, especially in these rough times, so she muddles through. Kate has had enough of poverty to last a lifetime, thank you much! Katherine has considered asking Felicia if she could take a crack at translating some of Felicia’s articles into French and Spanish as a way of earning some extra cash, but Kate’s bitter attempt at making her degree useful has rather crushed her self-confidence in that regard.

Katherine calls herself short, and as she stands a mere 1.57 meters in her bare feet, many people would agree. She’s got the thick, black curly hair that points to both Lancastrian heritage and Irish relations. Kate’s preference is for long-sleeved shirts, to cover up the scars she received from being dragged into knife fights she wanted nothing to do with as a teenag­ er. She tells herself daily: “Chin-up, do this until you find something better, at least you aren’t living at home or drunk on a street corner.” Such pep talks rarely leave her in good spirits, but she never lets the children see that. Her adopted family, at least for now, seems to generally appreciate her.