Not all dukes walk on two legs.

History
It shouldn’t have happened. There’s no ritual, no adept school, no avatar that can make a dog start talking and thinking. Regardless of that, Oliver talks and thinks – and is a pretty skilled Urbanomancer to boot. Speculation on how he came to be runs rampant: some think he was present at the ascension of a godwalker (most would say the Savage) and got zapped with enough mojo to achieve sentience, while others think he’s some fleshworker’s sick creation, or a demon trapped in a dog’s body. Even he doesn’t remember how he came to be – the years following his awakening are hard to recall, much like a human’s infancy. He can, however, remember a time when he knew how he was made, a fact that drives him positively mad. However, this German Shepherd has found a purpose in life, living like a lord in the Occult Underground of Berlin.

Personality
Cynical and sarcastic, but he’s still got an essentially dog-like nature. Oliver is, despite his cynicism, pretty friendly and likable, once you get over the whole “not a human” business, and is unshakably loyal to his allies.

Obsession
Keeping the streets of Berlin safe for him and his pack. (Urbanomancy)

Passions
Rage: People who abuse animals. Shits like that don’t deserve to live.
Fear: Being trapped and caged, powerless to escape. (Helplessness)
Noble: Adepts. They’re the only people Oliver has ever been able to really talk to, and they’ve been decent people for the most part.

Stats

Body: 55 (Big Dog)
General Athletics 20%, Go For the Throat (Struggle) 55%, Large And Hard To Move 20%

Speed: 45 (A Bit Awkward)
Dodge 27%, Initiative 40%, Run Like A Greyhound 40%

Mind: 50 (Smarter Than Your Average Dog)
Canine Senses (Notice) 50%, Conceal 15%, Occult Knowledge 30%, Unexplained Knowledge (General Education) 20%

Soul: 90 (Soulful Eyes)
Charm 15%, Lying 15%, Magick: Urbanomancy: 70%, Smell Auras 25%, Woof Woof 25%

Canine Senses: This skill works more or less like Notice, with a few exceptions – dogs and people don’t have quite the same senses. Oliver takes a -15% shift on all rolls made to notice visual information (to see things, in other words), but gains a +15% shift on all rolls made to smell stuff.

Smell Auras: This skill works much like aura sight, but auras are perceived as smells, not visually. Oliver can use this skill to track people with exceptionally strong auras – pretty much any adept, avatar, or thaumaturgist with over 25% in the appropriate skill.

Woof Woof: Oliver can still communicate normally with other dogs, mostly through a combination of barks and body language. However, this skill can be used to convey slightly harder concepts. Things like literacy or complex instructions are still beyond his grasp to teach or communicate, but “watch this box until the man who smells like fish comes” is fine.

Madness Meters
Violence: 2 Hardened | 0 Failed
Isolation: 0 Hardened | 2 Failed
Helplessness: 1 Hardened | 2 Failed
Unnatural: 3 Hardened | 1 Failed
Self: 0 Hardened | 1 Failed

Magick
Urbanomancy works a bit differently for Oliver, owing to his strange nature. One of the most significant changes is to his taboo. Oliver has nothing to worry about the dirt of Berlin. No one’s quite sure why, but most think it has something to do with animals being tied to nature more than man, yada yada yada. Filthy hippies. However, if he is ever restrained – put on a leash, caught in a cage, snared in a bear trap – that breaks taboo (and, in the latter case, probably a leg, too).

In addition, a few spells work a bit differently for Oliver. First off, his blast is delivered through animals of the city – pigeons, rats, wild dogs – instead of stuff like car accidents and falling building materials. When he uses the Vermin’s Eyes spell, he can use it on people in addition to animals – but only if the person he’s casting it on is willing. When he casts Ragged Warriors, he gains control over wild dogs, instead of the homeless. Most dogs have a Body and Speed score somewhere between 30 and 50, based on their size, and a Mind and Soul score of about 10-30.

Charging is somewhat troublesome for Oliver. Gaining minor charges is pretty easy – all he has to do is walk around for a couple hours – but causing significant changes to the city is pretty hard when you’re just a dog. Luckily, he’s discovered that, if he casts the Vermin’s Eyes spell on a person, and that person does something that would earn a significant charge, Oliver can snag it (unless the person’s a city rat himself, in which case he has first dibs). Oliver’s helped get some of his packmates in power through use of the Napoleon of Notting Hill spell, and thus gets a fairly decent stream of significant charges – about one or two month, or so. When encountered, Oliver typically has 4-5 minor charges and 1 significant charge.

Possessions
Oliver doesn’t own much. He’s got a collar which claims his name is “Rex”, and serves to keep animal services at bay. He usually keeps a Lucky Charm clipped to his collar, with three out of four uses left. He’s got a small den in the alleys of Berlin, made from materials scrounged from the trash, in which he keeps a couple bags of kibble, about $100 in small bills, and a couple books and magazines.

Allies
Oliver’s main ally is his Pack, a loose association headed by him. Most members of the pack are just stray dogs who’ve picked Oliver to be their alpha, but some homeless, down-and-out types – a few adepts among them – also work for the dog. It’s not big, it’s not powerful, and it makes Mak Attax look masterfully organized, but it’s the only family Oliver’s got.

Oliver’s got a few clued-in friends, slightly less desperate than those in his pack, that’ll do him a favor every now and then. The slightly unscrupulous doctor and avatar of the Healer Doctor von Hohenheim is on decent terms with the dog, and has helped patch him up after a few fights (the good doctor’s fees are what most of the money Oliver hoards up goes to). The naive young Entropomancer twins Alexa and Elli run with the pack occasionally, seeking thrills and danger (and bugging the shit out of Oliver in the process). Finally, fellow Urbanomancer Karl Mortiz has helped the dog out more than once, keeping animal control laws loose, and has helped Oliver score a significant charge or two when he was down and out.

Oliver has met the Comte de Saint-Germain while the First and Last Man was traveling in Germany, and the dog’ll be damned if it didn’t scare him shitless. He has nothing against the Comte, but something about him just scares poor Oliver. The Comte, on the other hand, seemed rather amused by the prospect of a talking dog, and would seem to have taken a liking to Oliver. Lucky him.

The Soul Dilemma
According to the rules, animals have no souls – they’ve got minds and spirits, but souls are for humans only. How this rule applies to Oliver is up to the GM. Below are several options for the nature of the dog’s soul.

A Soul of His Own: When Oliver was handed a mind, he was also given a soul – and it may be that you can’t give one without the other. He’s got an afterlife ahead of him, and may be the world’s first canine demon (imagine the look on the face of the first poor boozehound to summon him). If he chooses to, he could become an Avatar, and even ascend as an archetype – he may even unconsciously ascend as the Dog.

Borrowed Soul: Oliver has a soul, but it’s not his own. Maybe he’s a demon who possessed a dog and lost his memories, or maybe some duke bound his soul to a dog’s body as he lay dying. Regardless, someone else’s soul has been put in Oliver’s body, and is most likely the source of his sentience. Oliver can do all the things anyone with a soul can – but it may be that, in time, the borrowed soul will be rejected from Oliver’s body, or just dissipate into nothingness.

No Soul: Like every other dog, Oliver has no soul – whatever made him sentient didn’t make a person. If he dies, that’s it – no coming back as a demon, no afterlife, nothing. Likewise, Oliver can’t embody an archetype as an avatar or ascend to the Invisible Clergy.