Shanna Harrington aka "Shannanigans"

So this is the concept post for my character. I sort of have a "Phase 1" version and a "Phase 2" version that is just an older wiser version of the same person. Phase 1 has more room to grow for obvious reasons, but Phase 2 still has plenty of play potential that I will explain in a moment.

So Phase 1 Shanna is a mid 20's young woman who felt like she was finally finding her stride as an adult. Her paternal grandmother disappeared eight years and some odd months ago. Her parents reported her missing back in the day, and she was declared legally dead after seven years and those some odd months ago. That is where Shanna got her recent windfall. Her grandmother left her $20,000 in her will.

Shanna had done the typical millennial thing and gone to college after high-school. She didn't really have a focus so she majored in business figuring that would give her the most options afterward. When she graduated she bumped around from office job to office job, never really settling into a career. When the money from her grandmother arrived, she felt she needed to do something grand with it. She could have done the safe thing and paid off her college loans and made a down payment on a better car, but that wasn't the right thing for Shanna. See Shanna was a rock-a-billy punk D&D nerd at heart. She didn't want to work a boring 9-5 office job, and now she had the means to do something different.

She decided to pursue the dream of owning her own business. Gathering together a few close friends she bought a bar and got her liquor licence. They turned it into a hipster dive bar/bistro with a great selection of board games for their patrons to play while they ate and drank. She called it Shannanigans' Games & Grog. It took a few months for the place to catch on, but eventually they were doing pretty good business. They had two trivia nights, Friday Night Magic: the Gathering, Saturday was live music night (softer stuff until 10, after 10 was usually punk or metal or something like that), Sunday's she would play D&D with her friends and limit people to coffee and beer. Monday they were closed because Shanna was usually hung over. It was great.

Then the was The Night of the Bender From Hell. Shanna remembers that day clearly. It was a Sunday, D&D night. She was in the back, her Ranger was just about to kill a hydra that had been terrorizing the kingdom when the strangers walked into the real-world bar. He was impossibly handsome, bronze skin, a perfectly sculpted quaff and the right amount of facial hair. She was absolutely ravishing, skin like pure alabaster, a rock-star fashion-model but somehow down to earth. It was unclear if they were friends, lovers or siblings, they never said.

They insinuated themselves into the D&D group and made the adventure even more epic than it was shaping up to be. They stayed late and convinced Shanna to mix drinks. They shared stories of amazing adventures they had had from around the world. They drank. It was amazing, then Shanna believes they slipped her something. She remembers seeing her friend Caitlin out, promising to meet for lunch the next day and locking the door behind her, leaving her alone with the strangers. The next thing she remembered was waking up on Tuesday afternoon because Caitlin was banging on her door. It was time to open the bar.

Shanna was hung over and exhausted. She couldn't explain anything about where she had been for the last day. She had no memories about what happened with The Strangers after Caitlin left Shanna alone with them. Given the number of empty booze bottles it seems likely Shanna invited them back to her place and kept the party going. There were flashes of both blissful and horrifying images. Monsters from D&D and creatures she had never thought she could dream of came flooding back every so often. She had the impression she had been playing some long drawn out game, where her very life was at stake. The Strangers were there, but they were different, somehow even more beautiful but also nightmarish beyond description. And her grandmother was there, somehow. The older woman was there protecting her from something that Shanna didn't understand.

End of Phase 1

So that is the backstory of phase 1. The secret that this Shanna doesn't know is she was taken by a pair of Gentry and used as their plaything. It seemed to last years, but was really only a day. Her grandmother had also been taken by the same True Fae. Her grandmother was a favorite of theirs but was always trying to escape. In order to stop the grandmother from escaping, the Strangers took Shanna and wagered her life against her grandmother's captivity. If Shanna and her Grandmother had won their game, they both would have come home. But they lost, which meant they both would stay. Shanna's grandmother made another offer, if they let Shanna go, her grandmother would stay and never try to escape. Her grandmother didn't word the deal quite right though. She made the Gentry agree to let her go, not return her to the mortal world. Shanna was brought to the edge of the Stranger's realm and released into the Hedge. She was forced to find her own way back.

If we go with Phase 1 Shanna, that is where her story starts, within a day or two of her return. She would be a Dual Kith Wizened Gamplayer Brewer with the ability to win every game she plays and create very intoxicating drinks. She will have no knowledge of her Changeling nature until it comes up in game, but might instinctively use some of her powers or Glamour without realizing how or what she did. Of course her own reflection will give her away, but she will explain that away as aftereffects of the drugs she believes the Strangers gave her.

If i go with Phase 2 Shanna, then she’s been back for a few months and is now aware of her true nature. Her bar could serve as a safe-haven/headquarters for any friendly PCs. And a big goal for her would be to get her grandmother back.

Another element I want to add, but can be worked out in game if you prefer, is that she has a Hedge-beast companion. A giant fey "black-dog" that guards her bar and has Fate powers. It mostly serves as security and a bouncer, is smarter than a regular dog being a hedge-beast, but mostly sits in a corner and demands to be fed.

Thought?

I think that Phase 1 sounds more promising and more fun to play. It gives a lot of opportunity for Shanna to grow into her abilities and come to accept what has happened to her, which will be both interesting to see and perhaps be a part of.

That's the way I was kind of leaning. My initial idea was the Phase 2 version, but then I thought about the roll back. It does give her a bit of an arch to find out what happened then decide what to do with the information.

I also rushed my posting, I left out some other hooks.

There might be a Fetch out there that was supposed to take over Shanna's life while she was captured. The Strangers didn't leave one for her grandmother, but they might have for her. When she returned it may have fled to avoid a fight. (Shanna is not a fighter, so her fetch may not have been ready for one either.) So that could come back to haunt her.

I didn't mention that the apartment is over the bar, so she sort of lives at work. I also intend to get her a Hollow so that she can enter the Hedge from the bar or apartment, but that may have to wait and be a later development.

I feel like there was one more idea I missed, but I can't remember it right now so I will post it later if I remember it.

OK, just a couple of things, I would like to know, and perhaps to answer some questions and help me understand what is going on.

1- Does she have any other siblings? Was she an only child?

2- What does her mother know about any of this, or does she?

3- Any romances in her life? Who does she keep as a close friend?

4- What would you say is her primary motivation?

5- What are her long term and short term goals?

You do not have to have answers for all of these, but there are some things to think about.

Hmmm...

1- Hadn't thought about that. I'm neither for or against the idea. Perhaps yes, but what would be more interesting...older or younger? Shanna would learn that she needs to protect the younger one(s) from the Gentry and the dark things in the world as she learns of their existence. An older sibling would want to protect Shanna and dig into why she is different...thus interfering in her life. Could go either way. I'm open to input.

2- From Shanna's perspective...nothing is known. This happened within between a day to a week ago at most I think, but that can be adjusted if you need it to be. I think I've settled on using the Phase 1 version so Shanna doesn't know much and thinks it was all a dream.

3- No romance at this moment, but she is open to the idea. Shanna is pansexual,had/ a couple of girlfirends and boyfriends in college. Currently has a crush on Caitlin, but thinks she is straight. And Shanna thinks Derrick, the DM of her D&D group, is cute but hasn't though much about that possibility. She's hooked up with a couple locals from around town and has a booty-call situation with Felix Studder, a local bassist for a punk band she likes, but that is not going to develop into anything as Felix is a perpetual loser who constantly has to borrow money from his band mates to keep his bar tab at a reasonable level.

4- Her primary motivation right now is to keep her bar open. She wants to be successful on her own terms. She wants to make her family proud maybe...mostly she's in it for her own interest. She wants to live an interesting life, you need money to be interesting I guess. I don;t like that last part, I may rethink it, but the "Be Successful" is in there somewhere.

5- Long term are sort of covered above and might be altered as I mentioned...but only slightly to be more specific. Short term..probably figure out what happened during her missing day, who the Strangers are, where they went, what they gave her (some weird acid or something?) and what that really strange dream was all about.

I will leave if she has siblings up to you.

If you want she might start to define success as money and change her goals as we play. Goals help you as a player keep focus on what you should do next, also IRL we all function because we have goals, this might be as simple as just get through to gaming tonight, or as complex as getting a PhD. They help us as storytellers(You and I) keep a story moving.

Many Storytellers might get into the habit of railroading groups because they have played with players we are passively waiting for adventure to hit them in the head. The truth is, adventure rarely does this, you need to seek it, and this means moving into dangerous places to achieve goals.

Have you got a sheet for Shan done yet?

Got busy with family stuff this weekend. Shanna's sheet is submitted now.

I Think for now, her long term goal is living a healthy life...but she doesn't know what all is in store for her and her new status as one of the lost. As a short term she will seek out information about The Strangers. Ask around town about a hot couple into wild parties and see where that leads.