The Miracle Man brings rhinestones, smiles and spectacle. Sometimes it’s real wonder, and sometimes it’s all show.

The Miracle Man is a travelling wonderworker. He typically travels from town to town demonstrating and selling wonderful things. Sometimes he’s a showman, and sometimes he’s a salesman – in a way, he doesn’t really see a difference between the two.

The Miracle Man is spectacular, in the sense that he is a spectacle. He is bright and outgoing, and attracts crowds, and he surrounds himself with wonderful things to show off. The Miracle Man is usually dishonest, and for every real gem, he sells a hundred pieces of colored glass. He often has a few genuine miracles and many fakes. In some way, though, he’d argue that it doesn’t matter whether it’s real or fake – only whether you believe it’s valuable. In the eyes of the Miracle Man, he’s not cheating people – he is turning worthless items into truly valuable items by making people believe in them. By showing real miracles, he turns the fakes into treasures as well. A colored piece of glass is worth as much as a diamond until you know the difference, and a sugar pill can cure disease if you believe in it enough. By being flashy and impressive, and using the power of suggestion and showmanship, he turns snake oil into powerful medicine, and brightens the hearts of those he sees.

The Miracle Man was a replacement for an outdated Archetype, the Wandering Mystic. The archetype of the Wandering Mystic faded during the age of enlightenment, as the archetype failed to keep up to date with the concepts of science, modern commerce, and wide travel. As communications and literacy became more common, the world no longered needed travelling scholars, bards and wandering storytellers. An enterprising medicine show traveller channeled the archetype, and he rose to replace the Wandering Mystic with the Miracle Man – slick and smooth-talking, deceptive and impressive, with amazing goods usable by everyone instead of secret knowledge.

The Miracle Man is like the Merchant, in that he deals with the trade and presentation of material things, but unlike the Merchant, he’s selling his showmanship as much as he’s selling his own goods. The Miracle Man is also like the Demagogue, since he’s a charismatic leader who perpetuates a constant illusion, but unlike the Demagogue, he’s focusing the attention on his possessions and wares, rather than himself. The Miracle Man is like the Pilgrim in that he travels, but the Miracle Man lacks a single directed goal – instead, he operates on a circuit, where each leg of the journey is as important as the next.

While the Miracle Man is traditionally associated with carnivals and medicine shows, he can be anyone who focuses their life on discovering amazing things and showing them to the world. These may be wonders of science, art, magic, or skill, so long as they are awestriking. Some Miracle Men become museum creators, travelling to find wonders but displaying them in the same place, and some act as importers and commerce middle men. Some tour with rock festivals, or travel to art or trade conventions. Most are, in some way, a travelling salesman. A few Miracle Men exclusively deal with the Occult Underground, selling their wares to the cynical but credulous few that truly and completely believe in the impossible.

The Miracle Man is always on stage, even when he’s off stage. He’s selling many things, but as any salesman can tell you, the first thing you’ve got to sell is yourself.

The name of the Archetype is masculine, and most Miracle Men are male, but some female Miracle Men do exist.

Attributes: The Miracle Man is always charismatic, in a flashy, superficial way. He travels frequently, and always has wonderful things to show. In some way, the Miracle Man represents the splendor of the unknown, brought into the mundane world in a way that is amazing but not threatening. This clean, consumable presentation is often, but not always, a disguise.

Symbols: Large closed vehicles, such as carts, vans, trucks and trains. Caravans. Clothing and attire which are impressive and gaudy. Sharp-looking suits, especially with vertical stripes. Anything covered with sequins, gold plate or make-up. Fool’s gold. Bottles of medicine with gaudy labels. Hastily improvised stages. Tents, display cases, and portable cages. Spotlights, bright colors, and megaphones.

Suspected Avatars in History: Wild Bill Hickock, P.T. Barnum, and the Blue Man Group. There’s been a great number of traveling salesmen, infomercial presenters, and spotlight-seeking inventors that are suggested. Some suggest that many hosts of cable shows, including cable sales channels and shows about the wonders and oddities of nature, are Miracle Men, whether consciously or unconsciously. Ibn Battuta, William Shakespeare, and Richard Burton have all been suspected as Avatars of the original Archetype of the Wandering Mystic. David McConnell, the founder of Avon Cosmetics, is a likely candidate.

Masks: Some claim that Coyote makes a reasonable Mask for the Archetype, while others argue that Prometheus, or Daedalus, is a better example. For the most part, though, this Archetype is too new for any substantial masks.

Taboo: Letting people in on the secret. A miracle man can offer miracles or fakes in equal measure, but he can never admit the fakes, reveal how he does his tricks, or otherwise reveal a mundane side. He can’t admit that any of his miracles are fake, even to friends and allies.

Channels

01-50% The Miracle Man is an expert on presentation. Once per hour, he can use his Avatar: The Miracle Man score in place of any roll to make something he owns or sells look more impressive. This could be Interior Decorating, Wagon Painting, Get a Computer to Work For the Moment, Fashion Design, or Decorate a Horse to Look Like a Unicorn, but it only applies to surface appearances or presented performances, and only for physical goods. This will only give as much results as a normal mundane skill would give, but given the broad range of skills available, that’s a lot.

51-70% The Miracle Man is drawn toward real miracles. Once per month, he can wander across roads, following his instincts. On a successful roll against his Avatar: the Miracle Man skill, he will be drawn towards a real miracle of some kind. This might be a magic item, an incredibly talented acrobat, a frog with two heads, a solitary inventor with a jet pack, an unnatural phenomenon, or who knows what else. The Miracle Man can’t control what he’ll find, or even make suggestions, but it will definitely be something miraculous. It won’t necessarily be useful to him, and it won’t necessarily be readily available, but most Miracle Men take pride in finding ways to benefit from the miracles they find.

71-90% A Miracle Man can win over skeptics. Once per day, by making a successful Avatar: the Miracle Man roll that’s above the Mind score of a single disbeliever, the Miracle Man can sway them. It has to be someone who clearly does not believe what a Miracle Man is saying, and the Miracle Man must say a few glib words to the doubter. For the next hour, the target will sincerely believe in the Miracle Man, and will trust anything they say about anything. After the hour passes, they will remember their belief as genuine, but may consider themselves to have been fast-talked or tricked.

91-98% Everything the Miracle Man owns is actually of luxury quality, as long as the Miracle Man owns it. He can pick up a plate of moldy garbage and it will turn into delicious food, and his empty shell of a car will run like it’s brand new. His clothes are top quality items of stylish design, and he can turn aspirin into rare prescription medicines. He can make items of up to $50,000 in value this way, but he needs a similar item. Anything he gives away or sells will fade back into its true form over the course of an hour. This is constantly in effect: everything the Miracle Man owns will change to a high-quality item within an hour, and stay that way as long as the Miracle Man owns it. The Miracle Man cannot suppress this ability.