Same Party - Two Sides

AX.GHW.14.03.05

If your party includes both a Shadow-Bound and a Light-Bound Marked, the political implications in the hidden world are significant from the first session.

The Marks are mutually visible. Each Marked's contract signature is perceptible to the other and to every supernatural entity with appropriate awareness. They are not strangers to each other in the way two ordinary PCs might be; they are immediately legible to each other as what they are. Whether that creates affinity, wariness, or professional tension is a player choice — but the information is present.

The sources have opinions. A Hollow entity's investment working alongside a covenant with the Illuminated is not a neutral fact in the hidden world's accounting. The Hollow entity will notice. The Illuminated will notice. What those opinions are depends on the specific sources — they are not automatically hostile to each other, but they are not indifferent. Build something specific into each source's profile about how they regard the other type of contract.

Convergent interests exist. The conditions under which a Hollow entity and an Illuminated want the same outcome are unusual but possible: a threat that destabilizes the supernatural infrastructure both depend on, a situation where the hidden world's balance serves both parties' investments, a specific entity that both sources want addressed for their own separate reasons. When these convergences occur, the Marked pair becomes unusually capable — the sources are not providing support to a single operation, but their separate interests have created aligned conditions. Use these moments deliberately.

Divergent interests create inter-party pressure. When the sources' interests diverge — which is more common — the party faces decisions that have external weight. The Shadow-Bound Marked's obligation to their compact's source and the Light-Bound Marked's covenant expectations may point in different directions on the same situation. This is not a party conflict problem; it is a dramatic resource. Let both players engage with it from their characters' perspectives rather than papering over the tension.