Twilight scar examples

Is there a good list of example twilight scars? Both when twilight is comprehended and not comprehended.

I would love a list for inspiration...

3 Likes

I don't think I've got any official examples, but I can provide some from our own game:

Some examples of largely Twilight Scars:

  • An aura of quiet that takes the edge off of loud sounds to make them less alarming without diminishing their audibility.
  • All of the characters bodily emissions smell pleasant.
  • Blooming flowers slowly turn to face the character if able to.
  • Open flames in their surroundings burn more cleanly and brightly.
  • A gentle wind always blows towards the character in such a way that their cloak billows dramatically.
  • NPCs around you will tend not to swear and instead say "Holy [noun]", with the specific noun always being some innocuous object.
  • Dirt, mud and dust seem unable to adhere to your clothes, hair or skin. Falling off as if you were made of Teflon.

Some negative examples:

  • You attract a perfectly normal fly that settles on your clothes or flies around, but the moment you kill it or drive it away, another one appears.
  • All the food around you has the subtle aftertaste of sulphur
  • Whenever your name (Or a psuedonym) is spoken by somebody, others will unconsciously take a sharp intake of breath.
  • Your clothes will be perpetually slightly damp and prone to mildew.
  • Your fingerprints do not fade from things you touch and become distinctly visible, making any book you read look as though it has been handled carelessly.
  • A mild static shock happens when you touch a metal object.
  • There are always a few drops of blood on your blade whenever you draw one.
  • The area around you is always a few degrees colder than the ambient air of that place.
7 Likes
  • a physical little scar, like a red iron mark.
  • the hair of an abnormal color (like dark blue instead of black or a redhair really red)
  • the color of eye(s) violet or red or gold
  • all jewelry metal fade faster (bronze turns to vert-de-gris, silver turns black,...)
3 Likes

here are some that either have occured in the games I play or figure on my list of possible twilight scars

positive:

  • The mage's hair-tips are coloured in bright orange, yellows and reds, this persists even if the mage cuts their hair (CrIg twilight)
  • the mage's heel is stained blue
  • the mage has a mirror like stain on the skin over coracoid bone (top of the chest, the warping points resulted from a splatter of acid-like substance tainted with dark magic, the stain turned pretty)

negative:

  • a sixth scaly little finger on one hand. The finger moves of its own accord and seems to have a kind of sentience behind it.
  • The mage leaves wet footprints whereever they go
  • The mage has a dead look in their eyes
3 Likes

Our best TwScars:

  • after a serious botch in a magical cave filled with serpents: any Vis closer to you than 3 paces starts hissing like a snake
  • Wizards Communion shared botch: when at least 2 of the former participants are together and speaking at the same time their voice starts to deepen and get more and more powerful and creepy
  • After an especially forceful episode creatures interacting with the mage are tainted by magical air for diameter
  • After a long and Botchful adventure on Ultima Thule a mage was imbued with the power of frost: whenever he gets angry the temperature starts to fall around him
4 Likes

Our Flambeaux botched a lot of fire spells in a level 8 faerie aura, so... (And some others)

  • The magus's blood is combustible
  • Items the caster is touching slowly cool in temperature
  • The maga's hair always becomes tangled and twisted over time.
  • Anyone meeting the magus's eyes can see stars behind their dark irises.
  • The magus's shadow is cast 15% north of where it should be.
2 Likes

None of the PCs in my campaign have taken Twilight Points yet (they seem afraid to risk it), but I have given some older NPCs the odd Twilight scar.
There is a Bjornaer mage who fights the Hedge Wizard reputation and the spots on his heartbeast resemble the triple snake Hermetic Order design on the front cover os the Ars 5 book.

1 Like
  • a mage's snake familiar has fused into her body. It looks like a raised tattoo that moves around independently. It can be seen sneaking from inside her hair to under her ear to whisper at her. Neither seem perturbed by this development. The mage is unable to separate from the familiar (it is now part of her essential nature) but then she will always have her closest friend near her.

  • a Criamon who was contemplating and researching the essential nature of time got himself "pulled out of time". He spends only 15% in the "now", and goes from only a little bit out of time to interacting with things in the far future and from distant past. His ability to conduct research is... strained, but he is also immortal.

  • a Jerbiton who tried to duplicate her image and give the illusion sentience disappeared for many years. When she returned, she had a deep red line all around the side of her body, as though she was cut cleanly in two (front and back separated) and glued back together. The "wound" causes her no discomfort at all, but it looks stark and violent.

1 Like

I'll go for a few pro and con by category.

Mentem

"it's that guy" effect -People interacting with the magi have a dim positive memory. Maybe he was nice to their kid, helped fix their wagon, the memory doesn't matter, and is different for each person.
People interacting with the magi have a dim negative memory. Bumped in to him and spilled his beer in a pub, scowled at his children, etc.

Animal
Dramatic Nature - The sounds of nature are with the magi. Travelling through a forest, there's the sound of woodland critters, songbirds, etc. Entering a clearance, if there is a conflict, there is an eerie silence.
The negative - sounds of croaking frogs, crows and other birds of ill omen caw around the magi, etc.

Aurum - there's so many scars of roses, windswept hair, etc, I'll go with something different. The Spark. - The magic can hold a thumb and a finger together and generate a spark. Negative- whenever the magic shakes someones hand there is a small static shock.

Perdo- Lord of Rot. Anything the magi touches which has mild signs of decay, such as rot, rust, mildew and fungus flake away. Negative, everything around the magi decays faster. We aren't talking an apple rots literally in the magi's hand, but it is unnaturally fast.

1 Like
  • The Magi smells like a rose bush. This is not added smell, they no longer smell like a human at all. The scent changes with the season so in summer they smell like a rose bush in full bloom and in winter they smell like a woody shrub with hints of dried rose petals. [This was from a pretty spectacular 11 warping botch]

  • A Flambeau expels a volume and darkness of smoke based on their anger level, from their mouth and nose. If just a little angry it will be small curls of light grey smoke. At a full on rage a black caustic smoke will be pouring forth in a great stream. The smoke does not interfere with their senses.

1 Like