A Personamancer who loves to bring down the house.

The term ad-lib often means the introduction of unscripted material in an otherwise scripted scene in a TV show, movie, or theater production. If done correctly, it makes the scene work very well indeed. If not, it throws off the other actors and brings the performance to a screeching halt.

Mike Lawrence is well versed in both.

History:

Mike, like a lot of Personamancers, was fairly isolated as a child. He went to school but wasn’t actually involved in that much, and was in a prime position to observe it and watch instead. He noticed a few patterns in the way people behaved differently around different people. As he got older, he started thinking about these patterns more and more, especially as he was sucked into them.

His road to adepthood truly began at the age of 13, though he wouldn’t actually become one until many years later. As pressure to be involved in more and more social programs and sports teams mounted, Mike took to working off his frustrations via the writing of stories. Typically, he was the protagonist exacting vengeance on an uncaring world through extreme violence.

Then the school counselor got a hold of the stories and all hell broke loose. Mike found himself being questioned by psychologists and psychiatrists, being prescribed medication, and finally committed to the psychiatric word for a month or two.

Working against the flow of the drugs’ effect on his mind, he kept trying to understand what had happened. How had all of these people — allegedly experts and proffessional — mistaken fiction for fact? How did 2 + 2 become 22? He worked on that problem constantly long after they let him out, day and night, until he found his answer. Or maybe his mind snapped. Or both.

These people could not seperate fact and fiction because there is no difference between the two.

Over the next few years, Mike caught up on the social skills he was unable to develop in childhood, chose to behave in certain ways in front of certain people, and studied how they responded. Everything supported his conclusions; fiction and fact were identical. What people beleived, they acted on, which made things real even if they had no physical evidence.

Present Day:
Mike is now a college graduate with a degree in public relations. His studies in the psychology, theater, and journalism departments let him gradually uncover the truths right under the noses of the mundane world, specifically the Archetypes of the Invisible Clergy. He’s an accomplished writer, with a few short stories and one novel out (about a team of spelunkers who discover alien solar-powered weapons of mass distruction hidden away by the Freemasons). Perhaps most importantly, though, he was able to develop his magickal abilities to a reliable level.

Mike sees all of human interaction as scripted, prewritten according to certain rules. By adding in unexpected, unscripted lines and actions, he can completely destroy one story (a bank robbery) and make others go off smoothly (a horrific car crash causes zero fatalities). He’s become a sort of would-be superhero in the Occult and Criminal Undergrounds.

Vital Statistics:

Name: Michael C. Lawrence

Age: 29

Personality: By definition, flexible and mutable. His most common persona is that of a hyperactive comedian type, throwing out jokes and non sequitors at the drop of a hat.

Obsession: (Personamancy) Improvisation. Ad libbing lines here and there in the script of the play of Humanity can change the ultimate end of the story.

Wound Points: 55

Rage Passion: Being Patronized. As good as Mike is at concealing his true feelings, being treated in a condescending manner is still an easy way to see the actor behind the act — in all his bloodthirsty, screaming glory.

Fear Passion: (Helplessness) Unforeseen Consequences. For someone who likes to act randomly, Mike is not that comfortable with random situations. He tends to worry a lot about stuff like unexpected questions making his impersonations fail while he charges up.

Noble Passion: Poetic Justice. Deep down, between the “Kill them all, let God sort them out” personality and the “Everyone deserves a second chance” personality, Mike wants to see assholes take what they’ve been dishing out.

Body 55 (Robust)
Swimming 30%, Ignore Injury 25%, Jiu Jitsu 30%

Speed 55 (Good Balance)
Dodge 35%, Drive 25%, Initiative 27%, Shotgun 25%

Mind 60 (Clever)
Public Relations 40%, Notice 35%, Mask Crafting 30%

Soul 70 (Whatever Works)
Acting 45%, Creative Writing 45%, Magick: Personamancy 55%

Madness Meters

V: 3H/2F
U: 2H/2F
H: 2H/3F
I: 1H/1F
S: 5F/3F

Possessions: Used foreign car with good gas mileage, small apartment, moderate sized library, 12 gauge shotgun (max damage 120, capacity 2).

Minor Spells: The Basics, He’re’s My I.D., The Mirror Crack’D, I Am Not Who I Am, Visage of Terror, Strip the Mask, I Play One On TV

Significant Spells: Mask of the Man, Mask of the Beast, Mask of the God

Charges (on average): 6 Minor, 1 Significant

Charging Methods: Playing parts in commercials and PSAs for his PR clients; Shakespeare in the Park; local comedy club; impersonating his landlord and neighbor across the hall.

Masks:
Rhinocerous Mask (Trample)
Cat Mask (Climb)
Chameleon Mask (Hide in Plain Sight)
Bald Eagle Mask (Fly)
Rattlensake Mask (Poison Bite)
Messenger Mask
Confessor Mask
Todd Montgomery (Garbage Man)
Quentin Stanley (Phone Company Lineman)

All Masks are made primarily of wood.

Mike has vague plans to get a major charge and use it to make a mask that lets out a person’s inner self, letting their repressed desires take over their body and surrounding environment. In essence, the Mask from the Jim Carey movie of the same name. Until then he just runs around screwing with the screwballs.

What You Heard:
Ad Lib the Personamancer is hiring adepts for spots in a massive ritual play. Something about a sign that’s yellow. Some people think he’s trying to break open the universe and let madness infect everyone. Other people say it’s about the tragedies that can happen if you don’t pay attention to those school crossing warnings.