Toby Houston (Internet’s-Regal, Shepherd of the Digital Cleave)

[liquidcitrus]

This writeup is from an in-universe perspective. Opinions expressed here are not those of the author. In fact, the author only wishes that things were this simple.

Toby Houston is a Regal of his Estate, and as such his Estate conforms to his desires with barely a thought. Toby Houston has a great deal of Purity. This makes the Internet one of the most ritually pure congregations of mortals in Creation.

This is not a good thing.

Purity is an ethos for Nobles. It is a system that only makes sense as a way to apply a unified concept of morality to the various Songs that the Nobilis individually pursue. To pursue Purity is to gather and purge one’s momentary passions, animal instincts, and transient beliefs; and this means that having Purity imposed on you turns you into a caricature of the things you hold dearest to your heart, with all else discarded. And this is why the Internet is filled with warriors deadlocked in eternal arguments, fringe beliefs with tiny handfuls of believers that will deny all evidence, and a total lack of regard for the people on the other side of the screen.

Toby Houston does not care what morality you follow, so long as you are absolute in your dedication. And the ways in which he has bent the mortal world to this ideal are either the best or the worst things he has ever done.

Toby Houston is not a particularly public Power. He attends few events, keeps few social contacts, has very few Anchors. He vastly prefers interacting with people who do not make excuses for being themselves, and almost nobody meets his standards. Where he does show up, his purity is greatly respected. His position of Shepherd of the Digital Cleave is that of erasing the moral stains on the association's actions, giving the group a great deal of social legitimacy - and because he can provide this legitimacy, he himself wields significant power. If he were to declare someone in the Cleave irredeemable, the group would eject the offending member without a second thought.

Purity is a rare byway attribute - a path of personal development that few Nobilis pursue, dedicated to preventing and fighting subtle Excrucian influences on Noble souls. The 2e version is written up in several posts on Jenna’s blog. It does not yet have a 3e writeup, but for the purposes of mechanics, it may be treated as an equivalent number of Chuubo’s arcs of Gatekeeper (Unclean Influences) instead. (Chuubo’s is lower power than Nobilis, so this is a lowball estimate. You may wish to trim out some of the MP cost increases or use-per-book restrictions.)

Toby himself follows the Song of Light. This is an odd choice for someone with high Purity. I am sure he has a justification for it. I don't know what that justification is.

The Internet

• connects people across any distance
• magnifies all that it comes across
• thinks it knows something about everything
• brings out the best and the worst in people
• remembers who you once were

Toby Houston himself has:

• Domain (Internet) 5
• Purity 3
• Heart of Stone (self-only Lesser Destruction of Emotion with simple (0MP) activation)

His full character sheet would obviously have a few more things on it, but those are the important bits.