Deirdre Brooks, Bodhisattva of Education

Dierdre Brooks worked very hard to earn her PhD (in Education, with a thesis on “Epistymology and Education: On knowing when something has been taught” and when something has been learned) and it launched her from the world of mere mortals into the magnificent world of academics, where she had always yearned to be. Only there, she discovered that she was locked in an endless wheel of dissertation, publication, argumentation and lecture. She realized that she learned nothing and knew nothing. So, she abandoned her lofty position and wandered the world.

She studied in the secret laboratories beneath the Rocky Mountains she found data without context. She sought knowledge in the sacred libraries of the vatican and found only dust. She meditated with mystics in India and found empty babbling. She journeyed further east until she found her path blocked by endless ocean, and a single island, and upon the island, a deer. She sailed to the island and clambered the winding paths of its mountain, always following the strange deer. Finally, the deer stopped by a fountain in a cave, and bowed its head.

“You may drink,” it said “But you will forever be burdened with wisdom.”
Suddenly, all became clear: the context behind the data, the meaning of the dusty books, the truth in the babbling, and the purpose of the fountain. “I know what I came to know.” She said, and the deer became a kirin and bowed its head

“Then you should teach me.”


And thus, was Deirdre enlightened. Kirin became her student and offered the Estate of Education as her payment. Deirdre came back down from the mountain bearing a new great work: The Eightfold Path to Smarter Living: the Art of Self-Engagement, a wondrous treatise that laid out the steps necessary to improving ones life. But though the wisdom contained unparalleled wisdom, those who followed its precepts needed a teacher, and Deirdre became that teacher, for she had transcended her professorship and became something greater: a life-coach.

Dierdre follows the Song of Light, and her flowers are the Vervain (the Key of Something Powerful) and the Alyssym (the Key of Destiny Fulfilled).

Anchors

The Red Mark

There exist seven blades called the points of order. Each guards a location that pinions order to the world, keeping it from descending into chaos. Several have already been lost, including the Point of Justice (which was only recently lost during a US presidential election) and the Point of Philosophy, which was replaced by a poor substitute created by the desperate magics of a Franciscan friar, William of Ockham. The Red Mark is the Point of Wisdom, and the defender of the Font of Wisdom always carries it. Deirdre always keeps it at her side, and rarely draws it unless necessary. Those wounded by the blade have their flaws revealed to all the world, even to themselves. Seeing exactly how one is wrong is usually enough to undo any mortal, though Gods have been known to reinvent themselves as correct and, of course, the flawless have nothing to fear from the blade.

The Body of Deirdrian Literature

Deirdre has published a consider volume of work in her increasingly long lifetime, but especially during the time she was trapped on the Wheel of Academics, before she escaped and became the Bodhisattva of Education. Her two most important books, sometimes called “the capstones” or the black and white treatise, are the “Epistymology and Education” and “the Art of Self-Engagement”. Either presents the user enormous power of insight and awareness, though the latter is very difficult to find in the mortal world (you can still get some limited print runs, though), and both together have the power to bring those who study both the sort of enlightenment that Deirdre herself found, and access to her Ivory Tower God-Body technique (which is the physical manifestation of her enlightenment).

Any of the books have the power to summon Deirdre, and those who read her books often describe the content of their pages to address the reader directly, if Deirdre so wishes to bestow them with the glory of her wisdom.

The Disciples of Self-Engagement

Deirdre offers her services to those who wish to improve their education and finally achieve the sort of happiness and enlightenment that she, herself, has. She has a few mortal clients, though most of these are prophets of some fragment of her wisdom, who peddle what they’ve learned in the self-help market. She also helps fellow powers (including Magnus Carter), vampires trying to kick their teenage-girl habits, minor Gods who seek to rehabilitate their image by appearing in major motion pictures, and Kirin herself. She is bound by her own divine will to improve their lives, and they are bound by her divine will to become part of her greater estate.

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The first of her clients was Kirin herself, who revealed her true identity to Deirdre and asked for help in gaining the acceptance and love she sought. Deirdre accepted and understood, and so she seeks to undermine the Excrucian War. She regularly meets with Cameron Delacroix and discusses what can be done to bring the war to an end.

Deirdre is also a hipster; her academic dissatisfaction was spurred by the whisperings of the Arch-hipster, and it drove her across the world. She bears a sleeve tattoo that has been embellished in every country she has travelled, and wears authentic horn-rimmed glasses to fix her eyesight. She was the vector of infection for Yvonka/Kirin.


Deirdre is also in love with ideas. She has fallen for another Estate, and thus the power associated with it. She finds it fascinating and could study it endlessly, but fears revealing her crush to anyone, for fear of falling afoul of the Windflower law and, more importantly, revealing a weakness to others.

Aspect 2 (Pulp Hero) (6)
Domain 0
Persona 5 (15)
Treasure 0
Miracle Points: 8 (3)
Common Gifts: Immutable (1)
Gifts:

• The Red Mark, a Point of Order (Treasure 5, Simple Miracle, Local Things, forces someone to understand their errors) (2)
  
• Ivory Tower God-Body Technique (Aspect 5 Skill: Martial Arts, Simple Miracle, Self, Broadly applicable) (3)
  

Passions and Skills

Passion: “You can learn to live better” +1
Superior Quality: Enlightened +1
Skill: Life Coach +3
Skill: College Educated +3
Cool +2
Shine +5

Bonds and Afflictions

Bond: I must guard the fountain of Wisdom +3
Bond: I am the pinnacle of human education +3
Bond: My PhD makes me a better person than people without one +1
Bond: I make my clients, including Kirin, better people +1
Bond: I’m in love with an idea +2
Affliction: All the world is my school 3

Affliction: I’m a hipster 3