The Usurper

The Thief of Power

Attributes: The Usurper is the traitor in the ranks, the friend who stabs you in the back. Every leader has looked for the hungry stare of the Usurper in their eyes of their subjects. The Usurper is the thief of power. He infiltrates and subverts the hierarchy from within before toppling the leader and stealing his authority. The Usurper is a fairly easy Archetype to follow. The powers granted by following the Usurper map out a path of action, and each step on the road leads straight towards the power the Usurper craves above all else. Understandably, those known to be following this Archetype are hated and feared. Many Cabalists actively screen their followers for symbols of the Usurper, and try to squash nascent Avatars before they reach the second channel. Usurpers must hide their true calling, become the loyal, unambitious follower - until the time when the knives come out and the Usurper takes the throne…

Taboo: Taking the power he desires is everything to the Usurper. All his actions must lead towards his ultimate victory. He may never rest, never stop plotting and planning. He breaks taboo if he allows personal weakness or other any other needs or desires to come between him and his goal.

Symbols: The cuckoo, the hidden knife, the smiling mask, fallen chairs, snakes in the grass, and wolves (especially in sheep's clothing) are associated with the Usurper.

Suspected Avatars in History: The first recorded instance of the Usurper is believed to be Jacob, who stole the blessing destined for his brother Esau by disguising himself. Mordred Usurped King Arthur's throne in legend (some tales include Mordred marrying Queen Guinevere - this is a suitable mystic Betrayal.), and King John "Lackhand" Usurper his brother Richard the Lionheart. Occult Shakespearean scholars point to Claudius (in Hamlet) as a representation of an Avatar of the Usurper. More modern observers have tracked the careers of numerous politicians and industrialists, looking for the tracks of the Archetype.

Channels

1%-50%: Initially, the Usurper seeks out concentrations of power, organisations and hierarchies. He can scent his prey, taste the golden apple. With a successful Avatar roll, the Usurper can detect authority in any situation. He could walk into an office and identify the boss, see who the toughest kid in the schoolyard is with a glance - or pick out the richest person in a crowd. He can focus on specific types of authority and power (e.g. if a Usurper tries to find someone in authority in the Occult Underground, he can try to detect a Cabal leader in a bar. He couldn’t detect a Peon, though, because the Peon is not on  top of the chain of command.) To progress to the next level, the Usurper must attach himself to a Master, a leader or authority figure.

51%-70%: At this level, the Usurper becomes indispensable to his chosen Master. With a successful Avatar roll, he may reroll any failure lower than his Avatar skill that would cause his leader to mistrust or doubt the loyalty or competence of the Usurper. The Avatar also gains standing within the ranks of his Master's followers, receiving a +10% shift to all Charm rolls.

To reach the next channel, the Usurper must ritually Betray his Master. He must symbolically take the Master's power in some manner. This can be anything from killing the Master (a bit crude, not to mention illegal) to signing the Master's name, stealing his car, sleeping with his wife, sitting in his chair - any act that symbolises the Usurper taking his Master's place.

71%-90%: This is the final step on the road for most Avatars. Once the ritual Betrayal is complete, the Usurper begins to take his Master's power. Over a period of time, depending on the magnitude of the Betrayal (normally within a few days to three months), the Usurper takes his Master's place, and the Master is cast down and destroyed. During this time, the Usurper may use his Avatar skill in place of any rolls that shift power from his Master to him. The universe will conspire with the Usurper to arrange events in his favour. Boards of directors will vote the Master out and the Usurper in, Mafia bosses will be shot and the Usurper acknowledged as the new boss, crowds will shout "the king is dead, long live the king."

This is as far as most avatars of the Usurper get. If they are satisfied with their new place, they may let their Avatar skill degrade. There are two other possibilities. Firstly, the Usurper may voluntarily drop his skill to 30%, and choose a new, higher authority figure as a Master, thus beginning the cycle again. The Usurper gains one to three new skills at a beginning score equal to the number of points in Avatar: Usurper sacrificed to bring it down to 30%. (E.g. Fred the Usurper has just Usurped the position of CEO of GenCorp. He has an Avatar score of 75%. He decides to enter politics, selecting a popular Senator as his master. Fred drops is Usurper skill down to 30%, and gains Politics at 45%. He may now walk the path of the Usurper again.)

Alternatively, if the Master was an Avatar of any of the "royal" Archetypes (the King, the High Priest, etc), the Usurper can swap his Avatar: Usurper skill for the other Avatar skill. His new Avatar skill starts at the lower of the two.

91%+: To reach this level of the Usurper, the Betrayal committed at the start of the third channel must have been especially potent, and the Usurper must go from 71% skill to 91%+ before the Master is overthrown. Instead of simply taking the Master's temporal or politic power or resources, the Usurper may magickally Usurp everything about the Master. The victim of this power is erased from existence, and the Usurper takes his place. The history of reality is edited. The Master vanishes from reality, and the Usurper's past history now includes the best events in both lives. This may cause paradoxes and other problems, but what doesn't?

If the Usurper passes an Avatar skill check, he Usurper gains a new Soul skill, named after the victim (e.g. Skill: Alex Able). This skill begins at the number rolled on his Avatar check. (If he fails this roll, the victim simply dies.) He may roll this skill to temporarily replace any of his own statistics, traits or abilities with one possessed by his victim. The stolen skill lasts for ten minutes, or ten actions in combat. After this, the Usurper must roll again to use the ability. He can have multiple abilities active at once, but his skill is reduced by 20% for every active ability. He may use Magick, but this requires first taking the victim's Obsession (unless they coincide), and then taking the victim's Magick skill. The Usurper may also copy the victim's appearance.

The Usurper may use this ability, then reduce his skill back down to 30% as outlined above.

(Example: Fred, being an example character and therefore able to do silly things like this, reaches 91% as the Usurper of Senator Bob. He mystically betrays Bob by stealing his place in the finals of a major golf tournament. Bob has an Obsession with golf, so this is a fairly big Betrayal. Soon afterwards, the party turns against Bob, and question if  he should be allowed run again. Bob is toppled. Just as Bob's supporters desert him, Fred confronts Bob and uses the fourth channel on  him. Fred rolls a 45 on his Avatar skill. Bob vanishes into non-existence, and Fred gains the skill Bob at 45%. He can roll his Bob skill to activate Bob's Golf obsession skill, or Bob's Avoid Hard Question skill, or to take Bob's appearance. Furthermore, seeing as Fred  has taken Bob's place in the Universe, Fred now grew up in Bob's idyllic home town, not the Chicago slum Fred came from.)

Copyright Gareth Hanranhan, posted on official UA site on July 22, 2002