Merits & Flaws

Mages still need money in order to function in the human realm. And in your case, you’re kinda fucked financially. Student loans, credit-card debts, child-support payments, gambling losses, legal judgments, medical bills, car and /or mortgage payments… the ways in which a modern mage can get in over her head financially are as numerous as the parties who prosper from such debts. And then there’s the possibility of financial manipulation from Awakened sources – mages or Night-Folk who, intentionally or otherwise, are keeping you broke in order to assert their hold over you (see Technocracy: Syndicate, p. 28). Maybe you just suck at the whole paying-your-bills thing. For whatever reason, your income keeps going back out. You might indeed have the Background: Resources, but the money just doesn’t stay in your bank account for long.

As a Flaw, these Debts represent a minimum amount of money you owe your creditors. The more you owe, the more this Flaw is worth:

• (1 point) Minimal debt (less than $10,000).

• (2 points) Moderate debt (less than $50,000).

• (3 points) Significant debt (over $50,000).

• (4 points) Crushing debt (over $100,000).

• (5 points) Overwhelming debt (over $500,000).

From the three-point level onward, your creditors will expend a fair amount (perhaps a great deal) of effort to collect those funds from you. Certain creditors, like loan sharks, will start far lower than that. Tactics could range from round-the-clock phone calls and red-envelope letters to lawsuits, repossessions, threats, eviction, and physical violence. For folks with small and /or irregular incomes, the pressure from debt and debt-collection harassment can cause intense emotional and psychological distress… which, in turn, affects one’s ability to make money… which deepens the debt… which deepens the stress… in a desperate cycle that can lead to desperate acts.