Mocks Mocks are an ancient and potently evil variety of the Kin which have become all but extinct in modern times. Formerly powerful, the Mock was the root of the medieval Jester traditions. Royal families suffered Drain-addiction to theic hereditary Mocks (hence the immunity ot Jesters and Fools to the wrath of the nobleman). Mocks were brought into being as curses against the bubris of royalty and were born out of the mean-spiritedness of some humor. Mocks are the dark, unsavory side of humor incarnate. Once very influential, the Mocks of the various European royal courts used to gather periodically to form their own Mock Court of Europe, which secretly directed much of European affairs and prolonged the duration of the Dark Ages The Mocks orchestrated Medieval misery for their own amusement, gaining sustenance from both the suffering they inflicted and the tortured guilt of their royal Renfields The power of the Mock Court was finally broken early in the Age of Enlightenment by the concerted efforts of powerful Claves and Lodges of Sorcerors Almost extinct, the few survivors cling to the dwindling circuses for cover.Attempts to expand their numbers have led to sporadic increases in clown party services, puppet shows Clown-O-Grams and other similar such covers. The Mocks almost made a serious come back during the 19th and early 20th Centuries, but their efforts were opposed by @ rare alliance of both the Commune and Complex Kin The race of Weryls, brought forth by the experiments of Vector Frankenstein, represent a partial, and diluted re-emergence of the Mock strain. Rather than being a totally new Kin race spawned by cross-breeding Vampyres and Werewolves, the Weryl is the result of the earlier crossbreeding that took place between the Mocks in the height of their power, and other strains of Kin who had claimed positions of nobility and power during the Middle Ages specifically the Vampyres of Eastern Europe and the Weres of the North. The seeds of the Mock curse have been carried across the centuries by the Bloodlines of those Kin who had intercourse with them and were distilled out, in a woefully diminished form, through the efforts of Vector Frankenstein The Weryl, though burdened with the Flaws of both the Vampyric and Were bloodlines, have taken over much of the remaining territories open to the Mocks, largely due to changes in public styles of humor. This fact has led to a deep enmity toward the Weryls on the part of the Mocks, an enmity which is blunted solely by the fact that Mocks cherish their royal bloodlines and cannot bring themselves to completely renounce the lineages which they share with the Weryl. The Mock Court still exists, though only a shadow of its former glory, and its Clown Princes still lurk in hiding. dreaming of the time when they can regain their lost power. Ability Modifiers: STR+10 DEX+5 INT+10 WILL410 ATT-10 MA-10 MAX HUMANITY-10 Racial Edges: Drain-Laughter, Psycho, Domination, Crowd Control, Telepathy, Sense AcuityBeginning Edges: Drain-Laughter, Domination, Sense Acuity Flaws: Substanct Vulnerability: Fire--Double Damage, Silver--Double Damage; Environmental Harm: Hostile Audiences 5SP/BT; Diet Restriction: Laughter 20SP/Night; Strange Appearance; Compulsion to wear Bizarre Clothing; Sensitivity to coarse materials and odors (they prefer silks end satins and share the Weryls’ aversion to tobacco smoke) Special: Mocks do possess limited Magical Abilities and are capable of casting spells associated with their own type of Magic and are also capable of harnessing the SP provided by a laughing crowd to do so (It is this trait more than any other that led the Claves and Sorcerors to oppose them in the past and which forms the basis of on-going hostility\toward the Mocks from such Spellcasters. ) Humanity: Mocks take 1SP more or less damage from their Flaws for each 10 points of Humanity over or under 50. The lower a Mock’s humanity, the more grotesque its appearance and the more spiteful and vicious its humor becomes. Description: Mocks have bleached white skin (which human clowns duplicate with white greasepaint), blood-red lips, bulbous red noses, fangs and bizarrely colored hair. They wear extravagantly colored costumes and have huge, oversized spade feet ending in hooked claws (hidden by their preferred footwear). Their voices are often ludicrously high or low and their faces are overly expressive with exaggerated leerings and contortions Their laughter drain works the same way that the Weryl’s does. They can drain by touch, tickling their victims with long spindly fingers, and can cause Drain-addiction with their touch-drain. They take great delight in so draining a victim in full view of a human crowd, which usually mistak the thrashings and convulsive giggles of the hapless victi as signs of delight or amusement As NPC Monster, 25 Str:30 Dex:25“Fit:20 Int:30 Will:30 Per:20 Att:10 Luck:20 Sp:40 Humanity: 40- Edges: Armor (10), Claws, Crowd Control, Drain Laughter, Domination, Psycho, Sense Acuity, Telepathy. Flaws: As noted above. Skills: Acting, Court Etiquette, Disguise, Mime or Mimic, Psychology, Stage Presence, Stealth Note: Many of the rare Mocks encountered will be of advanced age with appropriately greater powers. Mocks tend to be either under 100 years of age or over 300. Any group of. younger/lesser Mocks will be working for a superior Mock who possessed a royal title and a place at the Court. Misc. Mock notes The current ruler of the Mock Court is the Emperor Bobo, a huge gigantically obese creature swathed in royal purple with matching hair who is bored to senescience with life and is convinced that modern civilization is essentially a “phase that the Herd is going through and will pass relatively soon The Emperor is almost 1000 years old and speaks only old High Castillian.The most powerful Mock known to exist is Tristam Punch (aka: "Puncho the Clown") who is the Clown Prince of Britain. Tristam either originated or adopted the “Punch and July style puppet show with its grotesque characters and disturbing violence. Punch is over 500 yrs old and is the true power behind the Mock Court. He is an ancient, hunched-backed, hooked nosed creature with blood red lips, red splotches on his cheeks, fangs, and always wears a hat to cover his hairless bone-white skull. His fingers are extremely long and clawed, used to manipulate puppets, He has a special spell which transforms a victim into a living puppet” which he then tortures and torments through puppet shows before crowds of laughing, cheerful children. Punch is extremely fond of puppeteering and uses Dominated subjects tc carry out most of his actions. He always prefers to control situations from somewhere out of sight and will rarely stay for a direct conflict. Puppets: Some are actually freshly turned Mocks (possibly victims of the "shows" mentioned above) with min. stats, only a foot tall but horrendously evil and dangerous Ice Cream Trucks: a favorite lure for hooks, also allows Mocks te roam fairly freely through unsuspecting neighborhoods Balloons: Magic ability allows flight spells through a balloon focus, also, perhaps spells exist for animatiug balloon animals and using them as familiars or as attack minions. Mimes: an evil off-shoot of the Mocks. Some are able to use Edges or Spells which create solid effects for their miming (ie: real walls or boxes to contain victims, real ropes to bind them ete. all invisible of course)