For purposes of demonstrating a few things, here are a few aspects of some sample characters.
Our sample crew:
"Crimson Gull", Captain of The Albatross
Molly Cook, Kitchen Alchemist and ship's cook
and Purge, a young Obrimos dabbling with powers he should not be
Aspirations and Obsessions
Aspirations are both goals that your character wishes to accomplish and statements about the type of story that you would like to tell about your character. Obsessions are those specific Aspirations, related to magic, that your character has a need to investigate or indulge in. Your Aspirations and your Obsessions can be similar, or very different - the choice is up to you.
Crimson Gull, practically a perfect example of a Comapny member, is all about maintaining her autonomy, freedom, and luxury. And among that, are her desires to study what she finds interesting: her Aspirations are to maintain her luxury and freedom, and to discover a new disease. Her Obsessions are to study the disease-spirits of the Caribbean, and to find and appease the bird-entity that she encountered in the past.
For Molly Cook, a woman who tries to facilitate more diplomatic relations (but who is more than capable of defending herself), her Aspirations are a bit more grounded: to visit Havana, and to cook the perfect meal. Meanwhile, her Obsessions are to learn about everyday alchemy, and to study the Mysteries of the Caribbean.
Purge, a young upstart Mage, hell-bent on striking back at the Seers of the Throne, has a very different skew to his Aspriations and Obsession. His Aspirations are to cause major property damage with fire and to discover new ways to weaponize the Abyss. In that vein, his Obsession is to wield antinomina sorcery against the Seers.
Nimbuses
There are three type of Nimbus: Immediate, Long-Term, and Signature.
The Long-Term Nimbus is a series of subtle coincidences that surrounds your character. These are purely story-based effects, bits of strangeness that align with your character’s Path. It’s important to note that the Long-Term Nimbus is not a controllable force; it’s just a matter of strange, fractal geometry in the universe. Patterns converge around your character.
However, a character’s Gnosis determines its general Potency. While subtle at first, it can become truly obvious at six or more dots of Gnosis. Wisdom determines the range of the Nimbus’ effects, as it spreads along your character’s sympathetic ties (p. 173). At the Enlightened Wisdom tier, your character’s Nimbus is left on Strong connections. At Understanding level, Medium connections. At Falling level, on even Weak connections.
The Immediate Nimbus is a powerful aura directly surround-ing the mage, wrapping close to her soul and flashing out as the Supernal World ebbs and flows against her. When she casts a spell, her Immediate Nimbus becomes visible to those with any active Mage Sight, regardless of the Arcana she’s using to cast. The Immediate Nimbus appears based mostly on the character’s Path. It’s a force, a halo of raw creation stuff. Sometimes, this is visible — sometimes it’s a sensation, a smell, or a muddy, primal emotion.
The Signature Nimbus is just that, an identifier your character leaves on the things her Awakened will has touched. When she uses a spell, Praxis, or Attainment, she leaves little wisps of her identity on that magic. A mage utilizing Focused Mage Sight can recognize those signatures she’s seen before. If the signature comes from a particularly great Gnosis (6+), it offers a bonus to Revelation rolls regarding that Pattern. For every dot of Gnosis above five, add one die to relevant dice pools. By default, this lasts for a week. However, the bonus dice afforded by high Gnosis fade one per week instead. Once the last die is gone, it fades one week later.
A Signature Nimbus looks the part of a residue from or remainder of the Immediate Nimbus. If your character has a fiery Immediate Nimbus, her Signature Nimbus might be charring and ash, for example. Or if her Immediate Nimbus causes intoxication, her Signature Nimbus might feel like a hangover. If a mage wishes, she can imprint her Signature Nimbus on an object, place, or person at the cost of one Mana. In this case, add her Gnosis to any rolls to scrutinize that Nimbus. This fades at one bonus die per week. Spending a Willpower point turns those weeks into months.
Please see Simpler Nimbus Tilts for the changes to how Nimbuses work, as well as Potent Nimbus and Persistent Nimbus for changes to those related Merits.
Crimson Gull's Immediate Nimbus is the exhilarating high of flight far above the ocean, the heady rush of salt-spray winds and a bird’s-eye view. Her Signature Nimbus is the disappoint-ment of coming back down to earth, the heavy feeling of being chained to land by gravity. And her Long-Term Nimbus makes compasses spin and confuses the senses; navigators find themselves lost and birds fly overhead in strange formations. Soaring above the waves, filled with vigor, those affected by Crimson Gull's Nimbus Tilt gain a +1 to their Resolve, and receive 8-Again on Athletics and Survival checks.
Molly Cook's Immediate Nimbus manifests as hunger or a craving for a favorite food, while her Signature Nimbus feels like satiation and satisfaction at the end of a full meal. Her Long-Term Nimbus makes cooking fires light too easily and intensify too quickly; cooking meat chars before it should and water boils at too low a temperature. Hunger makes people more willing to talk and acquiesce to demands, granting those around her -2 to Composure and -1 to Resolve.
Purge’s Immediate Nimbus is the crackling of flame, the smell of smoke, and ruddy light. His Signature leaves behind a taste of ash and lingering heat. His Long-Term Nimbus brings passions to the fore, stirring arguments and confrontations. His Nimbus Tilt inspires those around to build better and more explosive things, providing +1 to Intelligence and 8-Again to Crafts rolls.
Shadow Name
A Shadow Name is the magical persona that most mages adopt when they are casting magic. It help insulate their Fallen lives from the Supernal, as well as preventing their sympathetic ties from carrying over. It can also draw in tremendous power, and it is for this final benefit that members of The Company of The Codex so frequently adopt a Shadow Name. When casting a thematically appropriate spell, you can use your dots in the Shadow Name Merit as a Yantra, boosting the casting roll.
Crimson Gull takes her Shadow Name quite literally - she deals with blood and violence (hence Crimson) and is seeking/following the bird-entity of the Caribbean (hence Gull) - she frequently shapeshifts herself when entering battle and can rely on her Shadow Name when doing so, or when healing, or when enacting acts of violence.
Molly Cook's Shadow Name is quite self-explanatory. Nevertheless, that does not make it any less potent, and for her ministrations, the crew of The Albatross eats quite well.
Purge is quite mono-focused, and his Shadow Name reflects that. Whenever he is destroying something or someone, frequently with fire, he can use his Shadow Name.
Dedicated Magical Tool
Each mage has a Dedicated Magical Tool — an item that synchronizes with her Nimbus and that feeds in to her understanding of magic. Most commonly something that reflects as a Path or Order Tool, but not always. This is frequently the first tool that they use, though some mages deliberately cultivate new, stranger Dedicated Magical Tools such as a location, the witching hour, a soul stone, or a particular song.
(More) classically trained, both Molly Cook and Crimson Gull use traditional Dedicated Magical Tools: a pewter bowl and a polished copper mirror. On the other hand, Purge, ever the rebel, has learned to dedicate fire and the act of arson as his tool.