Arcane

Some mages are merely sneaky, but others have a preternatural ability to avoid detection. A mage with the Arcane Background is one of the latter, gifted with the capability of slipping through the cracks and skating through existence unidentified. Since many mages run afoul of all manner of enemies (the Technocracy, supernatural monsters, the IRS), this Background proves extremely useful.

Any time you complete a scene (say, at the conclusion of a fight, after running from a location or having just finished a meeting) you may expend one of your Arcane Traits to cause everyone involved to forget and lose all record of either your name or your face. (You may spend two Arcane Traits to make them forget both.) You must do so immediately upon concluding the scene, for you cannot retroactively cause someone to forget you later. When you spend an Arcane Trait thus, all of the appropriate records of your character just vanish from that scene. The camera that should have recorded you had a technical problem, the interviewer just couldn’t remember your name and forgot to jot it down, the computer crashed.. . whatever it takes. This Background has no game effect other than removing records of your character. You can’t, for instance, decide how your Arcane will wipe out records and decide to use it in a fashion that would hit other people’s records or some other important information. It works only on you. Even subjects with benefits like Mind magic or a photographic memory lose track of your character’s personal information inexplicably.

Arcane may hide your identity, but it doesn’t cover your actions. Even if someone can’t remember who you are or what you look like, a victim will certainly remember your spells, your attacks, your crazed behavior or the dangerous information that you passed along.

Your Arcane works only at your behest. Your friends don’t suddenly forget your name. Arcane Traits refresh each game session.