Mages rarely move through life alone. And when certain companions – lovers, children, partners, parents, close friends, even employers – depend upon you, that lack of loneliness can become a liability. This Flaw represents a character, or a group of characters, who require constant attention on your part. Your life is a hazard to them, and their needs often provide hazards for you as well. Wards tend to get in trouble, require rescuing, and go digging into aspects of your life you’d prefer they left alone. Is it love that binds you to your ward? Duty? An oath? Family obligations? A job like bodyguarding, teaching or medicine? Regardless of the reason, each ward is an essential part of your life. Their life is your priority.

Although Ward characters may have a useful skill or two, such folks are unAwakened people, not mages, Night-Folk, familiars, or other powerful entities. That said, you could take a Ward Flaw to reflect a special bond with a Retainer, a Cult member, or one of your Spies. Merits like Supportive Family or True Love (and Flaws like Family Issues) go well with the Ward Trait. Wards don’t have to be human, either – your dog, your cat, your horse… an animal who depends upon you could be a ward as well. You can take this Flaw more than once, to reflect several dependent characters. Yeah, there are reasons that mages tend to avoid having big families!

Obviously, each ward is a Storyteller character, with all the agendas and complications that situation entails. This person might not count as a Sleeper witness with regards to your magick… but if you’ve been keeping that person in the dark with regards to your true life and nature, they could still count as a witness for at least their first experience with your sort of “reality.”