Archetype systems, e.g. Jung's

[Earl Wajenberg]

So far, the various archetypes offered seem unrelated to 
each other, except for the case of the Tarot arcana and 
the question about pairs like the Lovers.  Some people might 
be interested in the idea of systems of archetypes. I'm offering
an example here.

One of the major modern workers in archetypes is Carl Jung. 
I gather there are zillions of Jungian archetypes, several 
for each major Jungian writer, sub-dividing and hybridizing 
to increase the population still more.  But there are a few 
that are early and major in his system.  The top four or five 
are:

The Persona - The mask you wear, your social role(s).  It's 
healthy to have one, everybody needs one for guidance and 
protection, but you have problems if you (or society) mistake 
the mask for yourself.

The Shadow - The opposite of the persona, the rejected aspects 
of the personality.  It is not simply evil, but there's a lot of 
overlap with evil.  In Jungian theory, the commonest problem of 
the shadow is denying that you really do have those negative 
aspects.  Health requires accepting them and then either using 
them or (for the genuinely evil) actively, consciously restrain-
ing them.  (The difference between "I *DON'T* have a bad temper, 
dammit!!" and "I will NOT pound this little snot, however much 
I want to.")

The Animus - The in-born and/or learned-but-unconscious concept of 
what "male" ought to be.  

The Anima - The in-born and/or learned-but-unconscious concept of 
what "female" ought to be.

A woman has an Animus in her unconscious; a man has an Anima.  (At 
least for straights.  I don't know what Jung would say about gays.)
Actually, both have both archetypes, but the same-sex archetype 
is the "Self" or "Integral" archetype for that individual.

In addition to these two contrasting pairs of archetypes, Jung 
subdivided them into four sub-types each.  My impression is that 
these correspond to the four temperaments of classical psychology 
and alchemy.  (Jung was fascinated by alchemy.)  The four 
temperaments are now enshrined in the Myers-Briggs personality 
typing system (which uses letter codes).  They are:

Sanguine/SP - Motivated by the desire for action.
Choleric/NF - Motivated by passion.
Melancholic/SJ - Motivated by duty.
Phlegmatic/NT - Motivated by the desire to know.

Crossing the two, you get sixteen archetypes:

Animus:
- Sanguine: Action Hero
- Choleric: Romantic Hero
- Melancholic: King
- Phlegmatic: Wise Old Man

Anima:
- Sanguine: Action Heroine
- Choleric: Romantic Heroins
- Melancholic: Queen
- Phlegmatic: Wise Old Woman

Shadow:
- Sanguine: Thug
- Choleric: Cad
- Melancholic: Tyrant
- Phlegmatic: Evil Genius

Persona:
- Sanguine: Spear-Carrier
- Choleric: Social Bit-Part
- Melancholic: Bureaucratic Official
- Phlegmatic: Ceremonial Officiant

Jungians, at least, claim that these archetypes are real-world 
phenomena.  You could use them as members of the 333, or as 
larger categories into which UA archetypes fall.  Remember the 
options to hybridize as well as sub-divide.  (E.g., the Femme Fatale 
is an Anima/Shadow hybrid.)  The Shadow, in particular, has clear 
uses with regard to the House of Renunciation.

Other systems are possible, e.g. the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven 
Splendid Virtues, or astrologically based ones, or the aforementioned
Tarot trumps.  A system of archetypes could give cohesion to a UA 
campaign that encounters many different archetypes, or at least 
provide color to a game involving some acedemically-include 
archetype-spotters among the Underground.

Earl Wajenberg