The Overpowering Influence of Delight

Six Occult Backgrounds for Troika!

by Jack Alexander
featuring the art of Alphonse Mucha
1 The Gilded Witch
The only gift your parents ever gave you was the shawl
they wrapped around your body before they left you to
die of exposure. But you did not die. Instead the gentle
lilies bent over and dripped water between your lips
while the old willow tree sheltered you from the
burning sun and the crushing rain. Even now, the
plants of that forest remain your only family.
2 The Winter Witch
As frost coats the bark of ancient trees and cold
begins bites at the fingers and toes of foolish
travelers, you twist the humors of the season,
calling wind and snow down onto your foes
with little regard for those who are swept away
in their wake.

Possessions
Possessions Wand of Frozen Blood (damage as knife)
Silver Shovel(Damage as Axe) Cloak (much too thin, for such a cold night)
Garland of white Lilies
A Child’s Blanket
A Pocket Full of Nuts and Seeds (d6 UD) Advanced Skills
3 Secret Signs - Winter Spirits
2 Spell - Flesh to Snow (as Invisibility)
Advanced Skills 2 Spell - Blizzard (as Hurricane)
5 Language - Flowers & Plants 2 Spell - Freeze (as Affix)
2 Gardening 1 Tracking
2 Spell - Sentry 1 Wand Fighting
2 Spell - Brittle Twig
2 Spell - Quench
1 Language - Humans

Special
You know no magic yourself, can only call upon that of
friendly plants to aid you. Most are willing to serve you
to break the monotony of their simple lives, but more
independent seeds - such as haughty roses and stubborn
oaks - may require persuasion.
3 The Whirling Witch
Life is a song, and though you can’t choose the
melody, you can write the lyrics. So you sing a
jolly aria over a mournful tune. You sing like
your voice is fading because it is. You dance like
you’re going to die because you will. You fly like
you were born with wings, because you wish you
were. When trouble comes, when darkness falls
and the words to your song stick to the dry walls
of your throat, then you can just fly away
somewhere else, can’t you? It’s what you’ve
always done before.
Possessions
Nothing but the Clothes on your Back
and the Music in your Heart
Advanced Skills
3 Dancing
3 Flying
3 Singing
1 Spell - Levitate Other (lasts for 3 hours)
1 Spell - Tornado (as hurricane)
4 The Worshipped Witch
You know that the magic is merely the art of making
the world adhere to your will, and you mastered that
skill when you were still a child. Though as of yet
you have few followers, you have the grace, wit, and
sublime aura to convert many more. The drugs help,
too.
Possessions
Zealous Devotee (bound by charm and witchery)
Elaborate Mask (carved by a former disciple)
Exotic Intoxicants
Advanced Skills
3 Sermonizing
2 Spell - Ritual of Binding
2 Potion Brewing
1 Second Sight
1 Spell - Affinity
1 Spell - Purple Lens
Special
Your followers, once bound through magic ritual,
serve as living phylacteries for your shriveled soul.
They lift the burdens of hunger, aging, and sickness
from your shoulders, suffering on your behalf. But, if
they all die or renounce you, the trauma you had
escaped will all return to you at once. So you treat
them as well as you can. After all, your life lies in
their crooked hands.
5 The Crowned Witch
Across all the lands that lie bathed by starlight, your
name is exalted, your person praised, your deeds
spoken of in reverent whispers - or so you thought.
After centuries of benign neglect your reign faded
into prehistory and you grew tired of lying in state
within your twinkling palace. Now you travel the
cosmos in search of monsters to slay, so that your
subjects will know the tranquil joy of peace and the
unparalleled bliss of fealty to their rightful queen.
Possessions
Crown of Star-Iron
Orb of Glass and Gold
Sceptre of Petrified Bone (as mace)
Absolute Dignity of Mind, Body, and Soul
Advanced Skills
3 Etiquette
3 Astrology
1 Spell - Flash
1 Spell - Light
1 Spell - Read Stars
1 Spell - Starbolt (as Firebolt)
1 Spell - Starry Orb
6 The Collared Witch
You were great, once. You were crowned in gold
and glory. You raised up kings and threw down
tyrants. You held the lives of hundreds in your
hands like so many grains of sand. But you were
dethroned. You languished in prison you had built
for years before you escaped. The collar on your
neck reminds you of your humiliation every time
you gaze into a mirror.
Possessions
Bejeweled Collar, (locked)
Gleaming Greatsword
Very Long List of Enemies
Advanced Skills
3 Run
2 Sneak
2 Second Sight
2 Sword Fighting
Special
You may neither speak nor cast spells until you
break the lock around your neck: either through
impossible magic or by confronting its creator, your
great foe. Once freed, you regain three random level
2 spells from your previous life.