Unnatural Phenomenon: Leaper
People born on February the 29th, a date which only occurs on leap years, typically celebrate their birthday on either February 28th or March 1st in other years. Legally this varies by jurisdiction.
Magickally it’s another story, this fractional percentage of the population might not be as rare as seventh sons of seventh sons but they have a certain symbolic gravitas of their own. Their legal and biological ages keep track with everyone else’s but for the purposes of magick they age at a quarter of the normal rate, one year for every four when February 29th rolls around. Mostly this is inconsequential but in a few instances it makes them hot commodities when it comes to rituals that demand components or participation from someone of or below a certain age. Even among the debauchery of the occult underground people are less squeamish about harvesting and suborning adults than children.
It’s not all bad news for leapers though. Not only are they in a position to bargain with blood and organ-harvesting wizards that only a fraction of one percent of the population enjoys, but their status confers them one additional protection. Every leap year - on that day cobbled from the leftover parts of the previous four - they are completely immune to magick. Curses drop off, proxy enchantments wither, not even the powers of godwalkers can afflict them on the day that isn’t there.
There’s a cabal of former bank robbers including a pair of twins born on the 29th who have stumbled across this fact. It forms the crux of their plan to seek vengeance against the Demagogue who set them up to take the fall 12 years ago, but they’ll need to be swift and sure. If they miss their window they don’t just lose the element of surprise, it’ll be another four years before they can count on immunity to his charms and rituals again.
No comments:
Post a Comment