I have some reservations: Native Americans / Spirit West

[Incriptus]

(Excuse the Pun)

Presented as a collection of thoughts

Were the Reservations far enough from centers of power to be ignored?

Perhaps the Reservations are allied with the Underground Railroad as a place to hide Nightbane?

Were the Reservations identified as potential source of mystics and attacked directly?

Perhaps these direct attacks drove the Native American Nightbane to the Resistance?

Would I convert Spirit West Shamans to Nightbane, or just leave them as traditional Mystic OCCs

Inspired by Spirit West how about a parallel development where a tribe of 1500's Native Americans entered an Astral Domain, now with the world under siege by the Nightlords, tribal warriors feel compelled to intervene? Or is their Domain under siege by an Astral Avatar and they need help?

[Marcethus]

Some Reservations would be targeted if they were a high profile target. IE the ones that make the most money have the highest traffic. They would make good places for the Nightlords to further target those people they want to replace. I could see the Nightlords using the various minions to replace the Tribal Council with their agents in these cases.

It's possible that Shaman's (Mystic OCC) across the nation had visions and dreams that were signs of the impending invasion/Dark Day. And did something to prepare for it. IE warned the tribal council and they took the entire reservation's population into hiding maybe?

Considering White Eagle (An ancient Native American Nightbane listed in Nightlands) I could easily see some reservations being used as apart of the Underground Railroad. Possibly without the Tribal Council's notice.

I could see the more isolated Reservations being targeted as a possible source of Mystics. But because they are isolated they may also have been ignored.

It's been a while since I read Spirit West, so I am not sure as to what the conversion of them would be like. But I would leave them as Mystic OCC and use Through the Glass Darkly to give them a more Native feel via the methods in TGtD. Could even do it for some of the other Magic User classes as well to create options for Native American Spell Casters.

I like your parallel development idea. The idea that a group of Native American's were aided by other beings that took on the guise of Native American Spirits and guided them to an Astral Domain is very interesting. Then leads to questions of who were these beings that brought them to the Domain, what are their motives for saving a small group of Native Americans. Also what have they and the Native Americans been doing for the last 500 years and how much do they know about the Nightlords Astral plots. Are they involved in Astral Politics at all. If so to what extent. Etc. That just came from off the cuff as I was pondering how to respond.

[Axelmania]

The Nightlords have a limited number of people they can use to replace humans, would they consider any reservation position to be high enough of importance to spend to replace people? Strategically unless the Resistance was using it as a hideout I'm not sure why they would want to single that out.

[Marcethus]

Depends alot on whom they have dopplegangers of. If they had a doppleganger or two of specific tribal peoples then I could see them using them to some effect.

[Axelmania]

Ah true, I guess you can't pick and choose who dopplegangers are made of, they're not exactly customizable like other imposters.

[Marcethus]

Yup. This is why they use the Ashmedai when they do not have a Doppleganger of a specific person they want replaced.

[eliakon]

I would suspect that the Native Americans would be high on the target list.
This is because they went after the occult defenses first. Magic families, mystic lineages, public psychics... and if the Native American's have access to spirit magic and shamans then they would be on that targeting list.

Its a shame about all the violence caused by the rioting during dark day. We need to pass stricter laws to make sure that these sorts of tragedies are not repeated.
And the continued harassment and murder of Native Americans will be dealt with harshly. The NSB has announced today that they will be stationing additional agents to assist in helping to solve these cases.

[Marcethus]

Its a shame about all the violence caused by the rioting during dark day. We need to pass stricter laws to make sure that these sorts of tragedies are not repeated.
And the continued harassment and murder of Native Americans will be dealt with harshly. The NSB has announced today that they will be stationing additional agents to assist in helping to solve these cases.

Yeah I could see them doing something like this. It is very in the style of how they operate.

[Axelmania]

This has me wondering if some way of triggering certain Dopplegangers to be created could exist... like as some kind of advanced magic. It would be a pretty cool new plot development. Like maybe just one Nightlord figures it out and keeps it to himself... or maybe someone else like the Nocturnes or Seekers figure it out and use it to generate and then activate dopplegangers or key people and tap them as anti-Nightlord resistance.

[eliakon]

Any doppelganger taken to the 'world of light' awakens as I recall.
The trick for the Nightlords is that they don't always have the doppelganger of the person they want. Not everyone has a doppelganger it seams, and the they get preyed upon further limiting the supply.

[Marcethus]

Yes if they come to Earth they are immediately awakened but then they have 48 hours to kill their original, or find a way back to the Nightlands or die. The Nightlords standard method is to torture them till they awaken.

[eliakon]

Yes if they come to Earth they are immediately awakened but then they have 48 hours to kill their original, or find a way back to the Nightlands or die. The Nightlords standard method is to torture them till they awaken.

Probably because they like torture and feed off of it.
To awake an Doppelganger simply take it to Earth, then take it back home. Presto one awakened Doppelganger. But of course that is not nearly as much fun nor as tasty.

[Marcethus]

Yes if they come to Earth they are immediately awakened but then they have 48 hours to kill their original, or find a way back to the Nightlands or die. The Nightlords standard method is to torture them till they awaken.

Probably because they like torture and feed off of it.
To awake an Doppelganger simply take it to Earth, then take it back home. Presto one awakened Doppelganger. But of course that is not nearly as much fun nor as tasty.

Yeah that is pretty much what the book says about it. That and it ensures that the newly Awakened Doppleganger fears its Nightlord Masters.

[Axelmania]

Torture is also probably easier to do than opening a dimensional portal to put them through. Less risky for the Doppleganger too since if on the other side of the portal they ran off they would probably die.

I guess it wouldn't be as much of a problem if you had a stable portal secured on both sides... but then, you'd have to transport the Doppleganger to the stable portal.... and they're probably spread out all over the place, so transport time and cost...

Opening dimensional portals might also automatically release 1D4 Poltergeists on both sides like it does in Rifts, in which case that's also added hassle compared to torture.

[Marcethus]

The Nightlords are Psychic Vampires that feed off of darker emotions so they enjoy torturing. There is no need to get all complicated about it.