The Rosgrim

Marquis of Masks
Dominus Indumentum Oris

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Skill: Beautiful Mask (3)
Passion: No one's true face is good enough, not yet (3)
Cool (3)
Shine (3)

(Note that the Rosgrim's Skill and Passion is inhuman and inherently superior)

Affliction: The Rosgrim is a mask that eats into the face (3)
Affliction: Those who look upon the Rosgrim believe the hype of the one wearing it (2)
Affliction: Everyone wants to wear the Rosgrim (1)
Bond: The Rosgrim is a mask—literally—it doesn't do anything but look pretty if it isn't put on (3)
Bond: If you come to the Rosgrim not understanding who you are, it will define who you are (3)
Bond: All masks, ultimately, are the Rosgrim (2)

The Estate of Masks

Masks are lies we accept as true (3)
Masks are easy to put on and difficult to take off (2)
Masks protect us from one another (1)
Masks hurt to remove (1)

Aspect 1
Domain 3
Persona 3
Treasure 1

Bought +1 MP per stat (1 character point)

Background

The Rosgrim was forged to reveal the truth. A mask when worn ate the lies, the reasons for donning it, and leaving only a purified self behind. It captured masks perfectly, and few could wear it without succumbing entirely to it. Many sought refuge in it, sought it as a shortcut to power and fame. Would be heroes wore it and became empty figures heads, while true heroes wore it and found they knew themselves better than ever before. All who looked upon it saw only that which the wearer saw of themselves looking into the Rosgrim for the first time and imagining themselves as the hero wearing it.

Inevitably, the Imperator who counted Masks as a Domain took the Rosgrim. It served the Imperator as a battle mask, projecting the truth of the Imperator's invincibility and making the passage of the Imperator through places it is awkward for an Imperator to go far easier. However eventually it came time to un-mask, and when the Imperator removed the Rosgrim, the Estate of Masks had been devoured by the Rosgrim.

No longer merely a tool of the Imperator or a mere thing to be worn, the en-Nobled Rosgrim found itself among the most popular masks of humanity. The characters that dwell forever in dreams, that actors love to play, and that have a reality of their own now. Like the Rosgrim, they have taken something from those that wore them and become more for it. Before the Rosgrim was a holy artifact, a symbol, to them. Now it has become a friend and confidante. What's more, those savvy mortals who wish to form a role to endure the ages seek the Rosgrim, daring it to devour everything they pour into the act, and hoping that when they remove it all that is taken from them is the character.

An entire PR agency has grown up around this pursuit. Talent is fed into the Thousand Faces Agency and out comes memorable public personas, reinventions that dazzle belief, and personas that endure from person to person. The material costs of services are ultimately trivial to all involved. It is all about the chance to wear the Rosgrim, to deliver who you wish to be with miraculous force, and to risk the Rosgrim eating away at everything you are. Through the agency, the Rosgrim has been worn by celebrities from David Bowie to Andy Kaufman.

Personality

Even when the Rosgrim was not a Noble, it had personality despite being a mask. The Rosgrim's nature gave it a sense of destiny and meaning that surpassed what its creator imagined possible. It knew its purpose—to reveal truth through obscuring facts—and acted upon it as best it could. Now that it is a Noble, it wrestles with far more. Although it doesn't have an individual ego in a traditional sense, it has preferences. It enjoys dramatic irony, satire, meta-fiction, and other things that reflect its nature. Those who wear the Rosgrim and have it act through them have their personality possessed as well; it is not unlike them, but has a distinct set of changes. Those the Rosgrim moves through in a more direct fashion are brought to their extremes, they become more intense versions of themselves, and enjoy what the Rosgrim enjoys. In short, they become a role played by the Rosgrim. Another tool for it to seek truth and to give a true life to that which we wish existed, but that the world has not yet seen fit to deliver.

At its heart, the Rosgrim is an unironic optimist. It believes that Creation can become a mirror to heaven, that we will shine and heaven will be revealed as a mask and behind it the creator's face will look down. This is the truth that gave the Rosgrim its potency, that is hidden in its fixation on the forms of fictional selves, and that it is beginning to wrestle with as a core of identity or simply another artifact that simulates a self.

Appearance

When not worn, the Rosgrim is a mask of untarnished silver that reflects how those who look at it believe their face should be. Regardless of how you turn it, you see a version of your face that is perfect for you. What must have been intended when your face formed. The contours of the mask are simple, and its expression if felt out or looked upon by someone who can ignore their reflection, is coyly inviting.

When worn, the Rosgrim is ignored and the person's face is secondary to how they present themselves. Specific features may become prominent and fixed in the mind of all those looking at the person, but there is often a mutability that even cameras cannot undo. The person's face is memorable beneath the Rosgrim—but the details are less important than the impression produced.

In carrying out duties that require a body, the Rosgrim prefers to be worn by the now living roles that are its kin. For these situations the Rosgrim is often worn by roles of casual authority and effortless wealth—men in very expensive suits who are generally faceless even without the Rosgrim hanging in front of them, looking as if it is unworn as it speaks on behalf of the Estate of Masks or the Thousand Faces Agency. However, any particular client or employee of the Thousand Faces Agency may be wearing the Rosgrim. Beings of a miraculous nature can see both the intended effect and the Rosgrim as it is when unworn.

Life Paths

Wild Rose (XI)
Heart: My Nature

  • A mask
  • Every mask
  • A delightful burden
  • Roles that are now real

Shadow: My Struggles

  • Self-doubt
  • Trying to fit in
  • Faceless

Louts Flower (I)
Heart: My Power

  • Devours the face beneath
  • Talent agency owner
  • Makes people beautiful

Shadow: My Nature

  • Glorious
  • Set apart
  • A lie that becomes true
  • Baskers in reflected glory and fame

More than Anything Else, The Rosgrim is Just Plain Weird

The Estate of Masks Is From the Light Side of Human Experience
The Estate of Masks Is Something You Live

The Rosgrim Lived an Extraordinary Life

Contacts
Organization
Followers
Alien(s)

The Rosgrim Heeds the Song of Heaven

Theme Songs
Often heard playing at the Thousand Faces Agency

  • You're So Vain
  • The Fear
  • Fame
  • The Fame
  • Starfuckers, Inc.

The Rosgrim's personal theme song would probably be Metal, as covered by Nine Inch Nails.

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