[UA] Grin weakly, it's another archetype

[Chris Cooper]

Hello people.

In trying to populate the Playground that is Los
Angeles with gutter magicians and street magic, I
first put up who I wanted as the dukes.

So far I have...

The Devil - a powerful avatar of the Merchant. He has
a real name, but pop-myth has tagged him the Devil.

The Wicked Witch - the True King (Queen) who has the
slain body of the previous True King's corpse (and her
ex-husband) housed in Avalon (Catalina Island)

Crow Nation - too complicated to spit out.

The Dry Vein People - weirdly diseased homeless
sorcerers that live in the dry canals and storm drains
and worship wire shopping carts.

The Cult of the Hill - cult of depraved Hollywood
Iconomancers and Personomancers and bored celebrities
led by an avatar of the Grotesque Libertine (see
below.)

OAO - Ordo Ab Ovo, the newest cabal of old school
thaumaturgists.

Below is the archetype of the Grotesque Libertine. It
is pretty much complete but suggestions are always
welcome.

Thanks.

Cheers,

Chris.

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

The Grotesque Libertine

Attributes: The Grotesque Libertine is the living
embodiment of the undeserving cripple and the
self-loathing that is garnered by the revulsion and
refusal of society. Unlike the Outsider, the Grotesque
Libertine is there to make people accept who he is
regardless of his own physical disfigurement and
perhaps people will readmit the Grotesque to civilised
human society. The Outsider gets his place from being
in conflict with the roles within society, the
Grotesque Libertine attempts to make society see that
a working mind is of better value to society than
merely looking pretty.

The Grotesque Libertine is also not a version of the
Healer. They may overlap in some areas, but the
Grotesque Libertine doesn’t need to be healed of his
physical imperfection, he needs to stand up with it
and make people accept him. 

It is debated that the Grotesque Libertine ascended to
the Invisible Clergy when the old Hermit was booted
out as cities enveloped lone communities of the
handicapped forcing people to be confronted with the
mirror of what they are without the make-up.

The Grotesque Libertine is a yardstick determining how
far society is willing to utilise a person and skills
regardless of physical deformity.

The Grotesque Libertine has always been a fringe
archetype, creeping within the shadows of sexual
decadence to get a leg up. He was a player in the
bizarre sex circus of Caligula and in the decadent
courts of Louis the Sun King until the peasants sliced
everyone’s neck off.

The Grotesque Libertine is ultimately there to force
the three primal instincts of food, shelter and sex
and tame them in those around him. Often the Grotesque
will have to make the first move by first getting
people to pity him and then work on rubbing away the
pity so people can accept him for what he is. 

Unfortunately the unrequited desire for normalcy
twists those same three basic instincts of food,
shelter and sex and twists them into a warped braid
gilded with debauchery, decadence and décor. The
Grotesque Libertine sometimes becomes a sham as he
becomes a novelty item when a desensitised society
uses the Grotesque Libertine as a consumer item for
personal pleasure and experimentation thrills.

As they increase in power certain Grotesque Libertines
start to display an ugly side that exceeds any
perceptive discomfort observers might feel. Although
they continue to channel, they become warped and
monstrous, extorting pleasure and power from people
too scared to risk the Grotesque Libertine’s wrath.   

But there are those that make the Grotesque Libertine
a champion for those that are shunned normalcy.

Taboo: The Grotesque Libertine must have some visible
disfigurement, whether amputation, severe burn-scars,
birth defect or deformity as a skill no less than 20%
and no lower than half his Grotesque Libertine skill.
If the Grotesque Libertine ever hides or smoothes away
his deformity in any way he breaks taboo with the
archetype. Certain channels allow the Grotesque
Libertine to gently violate this restriction.

Masks: The brilliant Otto Sump from Judge Dredd
comics, The Cenobites from Clive Barker’s Hellraiser
franchise, Ennis and Dillon’s Jesus de Sade from
Preacher. The Hunchback of Notre Dame would be the
good version of this archetype and the Baron Harkonnen
is a powerful negative version.

Suspected Avatars in History: The Elephant Man, John
Merrick, is perhaps the most famous suspected Avatar
although his cloistered life probably stunted his
avatarhood. The corpulent and wheezy Marquis de Sade
is another strong contender.  

Special: The Grotesque Libertine’s deformity skill is
worth –20 and can be broken up in four 5-part
penalties that can must be attributed to certain
stat-governed skills. The skills suffer shift
penalties, only certain skills suffer the penalties.
Body, Speed, and Soul stat-governed skills can be
penalised. So can Wounds. 

Channels:
	01% – 50%: 
People that show fake sincerity while bitching nasty
about the Grotesque Libertine get nasty surprises, as
do people who project selfish pity. These demeaning
influences are twisted around in the minds and mouths
of those that try to use them.

All social rolls made against the Grotesque Libertine
are flip-flopped to their worst result, unless the
relevant skill is above the avatar’s Grotesque
Libertine skill.

This works even if the Grotesque Libertine is not
present.

	51% – 70%
The Grotesque Libertine is given power when he
immerses himself in the social order.

The Grotesque Libertine gains a bonus when accepted in
social groups (parties, soirees, celebrations, etc.)
of more than fifty people. He gains +30% to a chosen
governing Stat’s skills while at the party (capped by
the Grotesque Libertine’s . The Stat can be chosen at
whim and then the bonus applied. The Stat increase
works until the party ends. This effect can raise the
skills above their Stat limit. It can also be used to
increase wounds.

	71% – 90%
The Grotesque Libertine can throw off his physical
ugliness to someone else for one day. The target gets
the Grotesque Libertine’s imperfection skill. The
Grotesque Libertine is without his deformity for one
day.

The Grotesque Libertine cannot use this more than once
per week or violate taboo. This is supposed to teach
the victim to walk in the Grotesque Libertine’s shoes.

Although this is a violation of taboo, it allows the
Grotesque Libertine to experience the world from the
other side – to drift unseen and see the world without
it gawking back at him and make him value his personal
fight. Certain insiders see this as a little reprieve,
a breather when the Grotesque Libertine can walk
unnoticed, a nod of acknowledgement from the
archetype.

	91%+
The Grotesque Libertine can take another’s deformity
onto himself once week. The other person is left
without a deformity permanently. An amputee gets his
arm back while the avatar loses his.

The Grotesque Libertine can throw off these stockpiled
deformities onto someone else within line-of-sight.
This is also a permanent transfer.

If the imperfection is disease-based, the actual
disease is made inert until it is thrust onto someone
else.

The Grotesque Libertine must always be left with one
incurable disfigurement. If he ever throws off this
last physical imperfection and doesn’t get another one
within twenty-four hours, he immediately loses his
contact with the archetype until he gets another
disfigurement of equal value.

What you hear: The rough-and-tumble Chilean Gonzalvez
Milo is the current Godwalker. He works with an avatar
of the Pilgrim. They work in dirt-poor barrios –
taking on the injuries left by inhuman cruelty and
giving those very injuries to the people that find it
easiest to dish them out.

As the Godwalker of the Grotesque Libertine turn any
of his Wounds suffered into a disfigurement of equal
value and toss it around in sociological warfare. 

More than a few targets of Milo’s wrath have been left
as drooling vegetables when he gave them a limb
amputation to the psyche.





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