Merits & Flaws

Your family knows about your Awakened life – and for the most part, they approve of it. You might belong to an ancestral “fam trad” (a family tradition of magical /occult pursuits), a supportive New Ager-type of clan, an appropriately religious family (that is, relatives who follow the same creed as you do), a wealthy dynasty that backs your current life-choices, and so on. This family could be your proverbial “family of origin” (your blood relations), an adopted “family of choice” (people who are not your genetic kin but who function as your family now), or both. Either way, your family stands behind you. This Merit doesn’t extend to major economic help unless you also purchase the appropriate Backgrounds too (Resources, Retain­ ers, and so on). Still, it’s good to have someplace to call home, and someone to be there when you need them.

The more influential your family, and the more supportive of you they are, the more this Merit costs:

• (1 point) You’ve got a “typical” family for your culture, and their support is mostly emotional although you can get a few bucks, a favor, and a place to crash when you need it.

• (2 points) Your family has status, wealth, and influence. While they expect you to stand on your own for the most part, you can still get help if and when you need some.

• (3 points) A scion of wealth, power, and privilege, you can call upon favors and influence when need be. Your clan pulls strings on your behalf even when you don’t ask for help, and people defer to you because of your heritage.

As anyone who’s been born into a wealthy yet dysfunc­ tional clan can attest, you can have both Family Support and Family Issues (as the Flaw described below). Your rich dad could be an abusive prick, your loving uncle might be creepily possessive, and Mom’s support comes with more strings than a puppeteer’s convention. Both Traits could also represent a character whose family of origin is a mess, but whose family of choice supports her.

For the purposes of coincidental magick, a family reflected in this Merit does not count as Sleeper witnesses when their beloved mage casts Effects. That benefit doesn’t usually extend to your companions, however, unless they employ the same sort of focus as you do, use magick that fits into your family’s world-view, or purchase this Merit to reflect being “adopted” into your family as a childhood friend, a spouse, or an otherwise beloved part of the clan.