Significant new material from R. Sean Borgstrom, posted out of the goodness of her heart to the Nobilis list. Excerpt:

Impossible-0:Significant. Impossible-1:Difficult (major character goal). Impossible-2:Very difficult (campaign goal, character lifework, major plot). Impossible-3:Insanely difficult (but why bother?)

Note that while Ambrolam's purpose falls under Impossible-2, *many* entities in the setting have Impossible-2 goals. Some of them will achieve them. Leave them alive long enough, and maybe *all* of them will.

Highly recommended, for those Thought-Records readers who don't subscribe to Nobilist. The rest of you probably already saw it.

Possible gifts of Spirit are little explored in the Nobilis rules. Our players have come up with a couple of good ones that others may find worth adopting:

Bond of the Hearthfire - Allows the Noble to increase the number of mortals she may anchor, as if her Spirit were higher for that purpose. Jen's character Tempe bought this one. Cost follows:

The base cost is the necessary level of Spirit. If you wish to have six anchors, the base cost is 5. These are not "extra" anchors. The anchors to which your actual Spirit score entitles you are included in the total. If you have Spirit 1 (2 anchors), and buy a Force 5 gift (6 anchors), you get six anchors, not 8.

Activation: Automatic (+1)
Area: Local (-1)
Utility: One trick (-3)
Frequency: Uncommon (+1)
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Total Modifiers: -2
Cost Range: 1-3

Honored - The Noble receives just the respect benefits of a higher Spirit score. Bill bought this gift for Ratatosk, to reflect the esteem in which he is held as "messenger of the gods":

Base cost is the level of respect desired.

Activation: Automatic (+1)
Area: Local (-1)
Utility: One trick (-3)
Frequency: Uncommon (+1)
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Total Modifiers: -2
Cost Range: 1-3

Last night, we played out "Intro," the first story in our campaign. Following is a recap of what Ratatosk was involved in.

Our story opens on My Name Is Jack, who is being approached by a young man with a cellphone. The young man, whose name begins with a J (Jeremy?), offers My Name Is Jack $20 to be in a movie. My Name Is Jack lectures him about how they are controlling us all and making us put together sneakers, but goes along after being told of the buffet.

At the "studio," My Name Is Jack exposes himself to a receptionist, shoves a box of Cheez-Its into his bag, pees himself, watches a man bite off his own finger, and watches two men fight each other using only their teeth, the latter two being filmed. My Name Is Jack is then led into a boxing ring and presented with a squirrel and told to bite its head off. My Name Is Jack grabs the squirrel, puts it in his bag, and tries to flee, yelling about how the squirrels are saving us from the Rosicrucians and control the world and the YMCA. He is stopped and talked into drinking two bottles of Blue Nun and passing out.

Meanwhile, Ratatosk has been checking in on Central Park and notices that My Name Is Jack is gone. Fearing the worst (which is really just playing the odds in My Name Is Jack's case), Ratatosk makes his way to the studio and sneaks into My Name Is Jack's bag. Only briefly distracted by the soft pretzel inside, Ratatosk convinces the squirrel in the bag to hide herself while he waits for the film crew to open the bag.

Ratatosk allows himself to be placed in the squirrel cage and the crew arranges for another homeless man to bite off his head. Ratatosk plays along until the homeless man reaches for him, then leaps out of the cage, dashing to and fro and causes a general ruckus. In the process, he manages to bite the 9 off of Jeremy's cell phone and knock out all of the crew members, leaving only the homeless men awake. The homeless men immediately start going for wallets.

An asian woman enters the room and is invisible to the Sight. She goes over to Jeremy in order to protect him and his wallet. Ratatosk wakes My Name Is Jack up subtly and tries to get My Name Is Jack to leave, but cannot convince him. My Name Is Jack believes that he is owed $20, so Ratatosk steals Jeremy's wallet and the two make a break for it.

Unfortunately, the Asian woman manages to grab My Name Is Jack and when Ratatosk looks back for him, she has him pushed up against the wall with a knife to his throat. Ratatosk uses Guising to look like a human and walks back in in an attempt to reason with the woman. The woman then rolls her eyes up in the back of her head, so Ratatosk uses the Vulcan Neck Pinch that he learned in Svartalfheim* to knock her out and leads all of the homeless men to freedom (and Central Park).

Ratatosk then decides to return the wallet (minus the $20). He heads across town, leaping across rooftops, and sneaks into the building. Ratatosk then slips the wallet under the door and peeks through the keyhole. He doesn't see anyone in there, but just as he's about to leave, he hears a scream.

Ratatosk knocks loudly and eventually the Asian woman comes to the door. Ratatosk talks her into letting him in and receives a bowl of Macadamia nuts. Ratatosk and Felicity (the Asian woman) talk about things and Ratatosk determines that she is an Anchor for Aaron Knocks, the Power of Shadow (who just happens to follow the Code of the Fallen). She tortures Jeremy and Ratatosk makes stories in Jeremy's head so strong that he will have to film them instead of his films about homeless people. The story ends with Felicity sitting down to tell Ratatosk her story.

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*or not. That's his story anyway.