Rapists use many different defenses for their ac- tions, all of them repulsive, but none so much as “she was asking for it.” This is usually a comment on a woman’s dress or manner, and is, unfortu- nately, an effective defense (that is, one that works, not one that’s valid) often enough to be cliché. When considering the Book, it might seem that the fact that the victim has to offer up a piece of identifying information willingly mitigates the effects of the object. Certainly, users of the Book have tried to say so — “It wouldn’t have worked if she hadn’t wanted it to.” But this is, frankly, nonsense. The woman gave out her name and a phone number, nothing more. This isn’t permission for other liberties; the Book simply strips her of her free will. Would she have still chosen to have sex with the Book’s owner without the magic? The question is academic. She wasn’t given that choice.
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chapter two-a million little things
This particular mother has had a very long life and is par- ticularly well-traveled. It was fi rst “born” in a monastery deep in the French Pyrenees in the 16th century. The monks living and working there spent two centuries using and replenishing the mother, integrating fl avor from the period’s fi nest and most potent wines. They would give their vinegar to local villagers, who appreciated the fl avor and lived long, healthy lives.
The monastery supported an 18th century expansion of its order by donating their valued mother of vinegar to a fl edgling monastery being founded in Bremen. Since then, the mother (or parts of it) has traveled far: the monks in Bremen made part of the mother a gift to a nunnery in Manchester, and the nuns shared it with a church on the Isle of Kerry. A very small monastery in New York City requested and received a portion of the mother from the Irish, and has since sold small parts of it to vinegar makers in Detroit and San Francisco.
None of the mother’s newer owners treat it with the reverence its creators did (and their ecclesiastical inheritors still do). They use the Mother to make excellent vinegar, but without the monks’ respect and dedication the vinegar has only minor mystic effects at best.
Vinegar is something familiar to characters with decent Medicine ratings, as well as any who put effort into cooking. Anyone with a Cooking Specialty in either Academics or Science (especially the latter) knows what a mother of vinegar is and may have the resources or contacts to track down this particular mother.
• There are contacts enough in the small-scale food industry for a connected individual to track this mother back along its complex path, but it’s not easy. It takes a good deal of time to follow the trail out of the United States, and the religious institutions are so old that a character must dig into their ancient records to track the mother.
• Everyone on the trail suggests that there is some- thing special about the vinegar made from this mother. The vinegar is vigorous and healthy-tasting, noticeable even by people not connoisseurs. People who frequent the farmers’ markets or the local food stores that sell this vinegar are almost uniformly vigorously healthy.
Storytelling Hints: Players tend to treat sources of “po-
tions” like the vinegar made from this mother as resources to be expended, not minor wonders in themselves. This is fi ne for some games and counter to the theme for others. You can combat this by emphasizing how the provider of the vinegar respects the creation process. If the players’ characters are making the vinegar, it may serve the theme of the relic well for a Storyteller to decide that to mass produce the vinegar will degrade the mother and make it less effective over time.
As a mysterious lead in to this relic, a character may notice something special or odd about a popular vinegar at a farmers’ market. In addition to its full-bodied, com- plex fl avor, the vinegar invigorates those who consume it in quantity, giving them the feeling of well being and seemingly improving their health. Following the vinegar back to its source and discovering the cause of this minor mystic power is an adventure in itself.
Effects
Protection Charm (••+):
This ancient mother of vinegar turns wine into a strong and rich- fl avored vinegar. From a culinary perspective, this vinegar is superior and makes excellent meals. There’s more to the story, however: the vinegar has a mystic quality to it that encourages health. People who drink it straight or regularly fl avor their food with it in significant quantities find themselves more resistant to disease. People unaware of the vinegar’s magic gain the benefi t by eating it often; others treat it like a spot cure, chugging a bottle when necessary. This mother is still a “descendant” of the original mother from the Pyrenees and has weakened over time. By tracking it backwards and adding portions of
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source mothers, a character can make it potent enough to also protect against drugs, poisons and toxins.
A ritual cost replaces the Willpower point for this power. Making vinegar with the mother requires attention and devo- tion to the process, or the vinegar will not be of proper quality. A character who wishes to make properly potent vinegar must control the vinegar’s temperature and taste the product regu- larly to determine when it is fi nished and when to remove the mother. The process requires at least one hour of attention every day for two months and some capital (available to those with Resources 2 or greater) for investment in the initial materials. Square the number of dots of Resources spent fi nancing the process to determine the fi nal number of “doses.” It is diffi cult to produce this vinegar in quantity enough to strike it rich without sacrifi cing the quality, but with suffi cient attention, enough can be produced to turn a moderate profi t, especially for those who market the product as a revitalizing elixir or “miracle cure”.