Santa

Critter Type: Jolly Old Elf

Motivation: Steal and devour children

Attributes:

• Str 8
• Dex 2
• Con 9
• Int 3
• Per 6
• Wil 6
• Muscle 22
• Combat 12
• Brains 14
• Life Points 108
• Drama Points 5

Manoeuvres:

• Dodge 12 -
• Kick 12 16 (stabbing/slashing)
• Cuff 11 18 (stabbing/slashing)
• Grapple 14 -
• Headbutt 11 20 (because of the antlers)

Powers:

Faerie Glamour: Santa always appears as you want him to, as the nicest, cuddliest, jolliest Santa you think you remember from your childhood. In this form, he receives +3 to all his Influence rolls (as per Attractiveness +3). In his real form, he is a grossly fat, gnarled old man with pointy ears, claws for hands, and the antlers and feet of a reindeer: Attractiveness -4 (-2 to all Fear checks).

Faerie Magic: Treat as Sorcery level 2 most of the year. This rises to Sorcery 5 during the 12 days of Christmas, and reaches Sorcery 8 on Christmas Eve. By Boxing Day, Santa's powers fade again. Fae magic is always concerned with illusion, deception and pranks.

Hard to Kill 10: Santa is very fat and bulbous from all the children he eats.

Control Snowfall: Santa has a deep affinity with winter, and can control snowfall. Make a Sorcery+Willpower roll. Each success level allows Santa to shift the weather conditions one step closer to a blizzard over the period of an hour. He can only do this once per day. The conditions are:

• Hot Summers Day
• Warm and Bright
• Mild and Clear
• Cool and Cloudy
• Wet and Windy
• Chill and Frost
• Light Snowfall
• Moderate Snowfall
• Heavy Snowfall
• Sudden Deluge with Wind Squalls
• Blizzard
• Mass Emergency Blizzard
• In the Very Face of Ithaqua

Hearth-Travel: Santa can travel instantly from any hearth in the world to any other. He uses this to gain entrance into houses. Where a house lacks a hearth or fireplace, Santa must make a Sorcery roll to appear in the best possible equivalent. Modifiers may apply depending on the location. He cannot use this to enter buildings which are not residences (it's the opposite of vampire powers of entry).

Christmas Magic: Santa is deeply connected to the world of dreams and ideals people have about Christmas. He is thus connected to all Christmases, real, remembered and imagined that have ever happened anywhere. On Christmas Eve, he can use this power to cross-wire these Christmases, giving people a glimpse of the Christmas they always dreamed of... or feared.

Notes:

Santa is a very old elf of the Winter Court, who for eons walked the wastes of Scandinavia and Russia, demanding tribute, and stealing children if denied them. Back then he was known as Nix, and he wore the hooves and antlers of the reindeer and his claws stained the snows with blood. Soon, he began to be worshipped as a god or demon by the peasant folk he tormented. After the Concordance and the Withdrawal, his legend was so powerful he got caught in the fabric of dreams. There he waited, until a Spanish priest called Nicolai gave out gifts to German children on the 8th of December. As Catholic dogma collided with pagan ritual, "Nick" was free to roam the world again.

Over the years, his image and cult has changed and he has changed with them, but his modus operandi has not. He still demands tribute, and still steals children if he is not appeased. These children he places in his sack and takes back to his hut in the frozen north, where he roasts them alive over his roaring fire and then eats them with plum pudding and brandy. Sometimes, he makes them into mince pies. Children these days, as you might imagine, are full of cholesterol, so Santa has grown more corpulent and bulbous with each passing year. His beard is usually stained with gravy and his flatulent, globulous frame stinks of indolence.

This also slows Santa down (hence his low Combat score) so his hunting technique now depends more on deception. His appearance means parents think him perfectly safe and children obey him, allowing him to get close and then use his mighty strength to stuff them into his sack. He takes great joy in his revered status and how it allows him to prey without suspicion. Whenever he is not stealing children, he plays pranks, both harmful and beneficial, to keep people in awe of the holiday and of his image.

Santa has some weaknesses, however. A wreath of holly — symbol of new life - will drive him away, as a cross to a vampire. Very young children can often see through his glamour, which is why they so often scream when placed on his lap, or the lap of those pretending to be him — they can sense that the image is evil. (Children under 10 can make a WP test (not doubled) to see through the glamour — add +1 for each year their age is under six.) Finally, he is technically breaking the Concordance and most of the time is kept imprisoned by the Court, in a cell in the frozen north. He can only escape as his powers peak, and only then when his guards are distracted by something.

But when he does escape, then the children of the world are in great danger, be they naughty or nice. As the song says, you better watch out. Santa's claws are coming to town...