[UA] Pyrrhic Victor - Archetype Write-Up (suggestions?)

[R. Menzi]

      The Pyrrhic Victor as an Archetype was something
I picked up before, it's influence seen in the
promotion of mutually assured destruction.  Just
figured I'd try my hand at working out some of the
details.

     Let me know what you think.

--------------

It is, at its core, a tragic and more than a bit
ironic archetype.  It is the winner who loses more
than victory is worth.  Should a global thermonuclear
war be launched, the current PV would certainly lose
its position to the button-pusher of the first strike.
 This leaves the PV in an awkward position on the IC:
to avoid being replaced, the PV must actually working
against its greatest manifestation and influence on
the world.  Still, the situation is fitting, the
attaining world-destroying power has castrated the
PV's ability to influence the world.  But such is the
nature of the Pyrrhic Victor - when he wins, he also
loses.

It is believed that the current PV has had its
position since long before the advent of modern
weapons of mass destruction.  When the touch of a
button can bring about the end of the world, the
resonance of the PV has become influencial on a scale
that most members of the IC have never been able to
match.  However, for the PV, success in the IC is just
as costly as any other victory.  It is believed that
the PV will be replaced by anyone who enters a
mutually assured destruction nuclear scenario.  This
makes the IC member actually reduce his archetype's
full manifestation, which it has compensated for by
greatly enhancing its potential manifestation.


---------------

Attributes:
     The Pyrrhic Victor pays for it successes, which
are often more costly than their worth.  He is born
from conflict and competition, where he can only be
the nominal winner.  In a shoot out, he will kill his
enemies dead, and lose his entire world running from
the cops.  In his personal life, he will win arguments
with loved ones, but drive his wife to divorce.  In
business, he will crush the competition with cheaper
products of higher quality, but undercut his own
bottom line and attract the attention of regulatory
agencies that will shackle or cripple his enterprise. 
In politics, he will gain the presidency (for himself
or his "side"), but undermine whatever illusionary
sense of legitimacy the government ever enjoyed.  The
price of victory need not be part of the conflict, but
nothing is free - the Pyrrhic Victor can gain the
world at the cost of his soul.

Knowing the price of victory, the Pyrrhic Victor does
not look for conflicts, but does not hide from them
either.  Though he is resigned to the consequences,
that does not mean doesn't care or takes pleasure or
pride in the costly nature of his victories.  Despite
their losses, Pyrrhic Victors will often come out on
top, or at least drag their opponents right down with
them.  Generally, avatars of the Pyrrhic Victor are
avoided whenever possible.  When that is not an
option, it is best to eliminate them before they get a
chance to make it an even exchange


Taboo:  The Pyrrhic Victor must never win a
significant conflict (with a rival of equal or greater
ability or posing a serious threat) without suffering
some kind of negative consequence.  Avatars have been
known to cause self-inflicted wounds, end important
relationships, sacrifice their loved ones or destroy
their businesses if they succeed in something too
easily.


Symbols: The red button; the air raid siren; the
countdown timer; the mushroom cloud; torn yellow
ribbons; faulty math (ie: equations that should
produce zero or a negative number, but shown with a
positive result).


Suspected Avatars in History: Obviously, the Pyrrhic
King.  Another is King Agamemnon (of the Greek drama
the Orestia) for whom the price of military victory
was member of his family.  To gain favorable winds for
his fleet, the King sacrificed his daughter, for which
he was killed by his wife, who would then be killed by
their son.

It is strongly suspected that General McArther was
channeling the Pyrric Victor while clearing out
Pacific islands.  Also, the one-sided nuclear assault
on Japan conjured the spectre of nuclear war without
unseating the PV.


Channels:
1-50%: Tick-Tack-Toe
     The PV is, above all, a tragic figure.  Its
avatars can evoke that tragedy around a conflict.  By
making an Avatar roll, the Pyrrhic Victor can make a
target feel that the consequences of whatever conflict
equal or outweigh the benefits of winning.  The target
feels that the price of winning is too high.  However,
the target may still continue, especially if they have
nothing to lose or if avoiding the conflict would cost
them just as much.  (Some kind of Self check?)


51-70%: It's My Turn
     Costly victory also has a flip side.  If a
challenge or attack on the Avatar succeeds, so does
the next counterattack against his rival.  What
qualifies as a rival depends on the situation.  If the
avatar is attacked by a gang, a hit by one of them can
be returned to any of them; if he has been targeted by
the head of a larger organization (like a crime
racket), anyone under his rival in the organization,
from the decision-maker to the street thug is
vulnerable.

     This does not only apply to physical attacks. 
Challenges on the avatar's finaces, family life, his
weakening hold on the fine thread on sanity are all
grounds.  The avatar must be the specific target, and
the response must be in the same terms as the attack. 
The avatar must still find a way to return the attack,
but once he does his counterattack is sure to arrive. 
How effective it can be depends on the nature of his
response.  The Pyrrhic Victor will get his chance to
match his own losses with his rivals.


71-90%: Tit for Tat
      The avatar can now make sympathetic attack
instead of just responding to another's successful
attacks.  The target must be poised to challenge the
avatar in someway, and target him to establish himself
as the avatar's rival.  Of course, there is nothing to
prevent the avatar from making himself a target and
provoking a challenge from his desired rival.

     By rolling against his Avatar skill, the Pyrrhic
Victor can inflict losses on both himself and his
rival.  The losses come in equal measure; the cost is
the same for both sides.  The avatar can kill his own
child to murder his rival's.  He can gouge out his own
eyes to blind his rival.  He burns his money to rob
his rival of the same amount.

     The avatar may choose to reduce one of his
attributes, inflicting the same reduction on a rival. 
This power can also be used after the fact to inflict
a counterattack against a rival's past offenses.  The
attempt can only made once for each loss the avatar
suffered, and must by called down upon the ones who
targeted the avatar or those who carried out the
attack.  Another alternative application provides
certain success, but requires the avatar to suffer the
identical loss after the fact. 

     This channel cannot be used to kill by commiting
suicide unless the rival is trying to keep the avatar
alive as part of his challenge - such as selling the
avatar into slavery or keeping him alive to be
tourtured.


91%+ : Metaphorical Value
     At this point, the avatar's loss can be very
different from his rival's.  By murdering his entire
family, the avatar can bring their rival's
organizations crashing down.  The severity of the
sacrafice and its importance to the avatar must be
comparable to those inflicted on his rival.  To kill a
target, the avatar must sacrafice something that is as
significant to himself as life is to the rival.

     Direct attacks on attributes can be exchanged, an
avatar can choose to reduce his Soul to extract a toll
on his rival's Body, or vice versa.  The price can be
paid in mental trauma, with the hardening or
shattering of the mind transfered to other aspects of
the rival's life.


--------------


Regards,
- R. Menzi


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