Nobody’s perfect. Or are they?

Attributes: Throughout history there have always been people (this archetype isn’t gender-specific, in spite of the name) who have been driven to excel in every field of human endeavour, and to surpass the limits of human achievement. In layman’s terms, some people just seem to be good at everything they do. And so the Renaissance Man came into being.
As the name would suggest, the archetype seems to come from a time when the classical roots of western civilisation were being re-discovered. Medieval notions of what constituted a well-rounded individual were being updated, and a man who could only ride, hunt, fight, appreciate a courtly ballad and recite the rules of chivalry no longer made the grade. In addition, the new ideal man was expected to be able to speak, write and compose poetry in Greek, Latin, French and Italian, debate the finer points of science, mathematics, philosopy and theology, and generally embody just about every imaginable virtue. Not surprisingly, avatars were somewhat rare. However, the idea stuck around in the popular consciousness.
The Renaissance Man can still be channelled, but it’s a tall order. To live up to today’s ideals, the Renaissance Man must be intellectually accomplished, physically active, charming, considerate and successful at whatever he does. In practical terms, he must pursue at least nine different skills – three physical, three social and three intellectual – and he must study and practice unceasingly until he’s attained at least a professional degree of competence in each of them (around 33% in game terms). To cap it all off, the Renaissance Man must give the impression of being modest about his accomplishments – no one respects a show-off, and if no one respects him he can hardly be an ideal embodiment of anything. Given all that, avatars are still extremely rare, and most people in the occult underground who have heard of the archetype seriously doubt that it exists and are generally inclined to dismiss it as wishful thinking.
Taboos: The Renaissance Man must devote himself to unceasing self-improvement. If he does not spend between 3-4 hours (3 hours and 33 minutes, to be exact) of every day either studying or practicing one of his chosen skills, he is in violation of the archetype. Neither can he pass up the opportunity to learn a new skill – it’s against the spirit of the Renaissance Man to shy away from a challenge. It’s also against the spirit of the Renaissance Man to be boastful: that’s a sign of insecurity and a need for approval, and neither of those are characteristics of the archetype.
Symbols: The rapier, the horse and the sailing ship are all traditional symbols of the Renaissance Man. Other enduring links to the archetype include musical instruments, such as the piano and the violin, and poetry from the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Masks: Horus (Egyptian), Apollo (Greek), Balder (Norse).
Suspected Avatars in History: Some say that the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II was an early avatar of the Renaissance Man. However, the archetype was practically defined by Sir Philip Sidney and James “The Admirable” Crichton.
Channels:
1%-50%: Hard work pays off. Whenever you spend at least 3 hours and 33 minutes studying or practicing a particular skill, you can make an Avatar: Renaissance Man roll. The next time you use that skill you can take the result of the Avatar: Renaissance Man roll or the skill roll, whichever is better.
51%-70%: You know the value of learning from mistakes. Whenever you fail a stat or skill check, make an Avatar: Renaissance Man roll immediately afterwards. If it’s successful, you immediately get 1 experience point to add to the skill that you failed with. This doesn’t usually happen as a result of combat, which generally happens too fast for you to really reflect on much. However, you get to make an Avatar: Renaissance Man roll after any fight that you lose – if you survive.
71%-90%: You can never fail too badly with any skill that you’ve mastered (i.e. that you have a score of 33% in or higher). Whenever you get a matched failure or a fumble on a roll for one of these skills, you can adjust the result by up to either +10% or -10%. If you make a successful Avatar: Renaissance Man roll, you can turn a borderline matched failure into a success. For instance, a disastrous result of 44 could easily become a much more respectable 34, although this still wouldn’t help all that much if your score was only 33%. This is why it’s important to keep up the studying.
91%+: If you make a successful Avatar: Renaissance Man roll, you will get an automatic success the next time you use one of your mastered skills.