“‘Oh, shut up, silly woman,’ said the repitle with a grin. ‘You knew damn well I was a snake before you took me in.'”

The Snake is a sociopath, sincerely needy but unable to stop betraying those who help her. She comes to a kindly, tender person and begs for help. She accepts the help with insincere gratitude, but does not return the kindness. Instead, she takes advantage of it, then returns kindness with destructive cruelty. The Snake does this even when there’s no reason to do so. It’s in the snake’s nature.

The Snake seeks out, soaks up, and punishes charity. Sometimes he is a fast con man, begging for a quick handout before turning on his benefactor and moving on. Sometimes he does it slowly, staying with his benefactor for months or years, slowly bleeding his host for all he can. Mostly, this is a matter of idiom and opportunity, rather than restraint. The Snake doesn’t have restraint – he goes too far, then runs away.

Nonetheless, the sad fact of the Snake is that her sorrow is genuine. She’s poor, because she can’t get or keep a job. She’s incapable of taking care of herself. She’s desperately lonely, because nobody wants to be with her. She burns every bridge behind her, and when someone takes a risk to do her a kindness, she responds with sweet lies and treacherous cruelty. The Snake is no good at all, and that makes her truly miserable and in need. There’s no way to truly help a Snake – she’ll flee or kill you before you can do her any real good.

Attributes: The Snake is naturally drawn to bite a helping hand, and therefore spirals down into increasing desperation until she has nowhere left to run and no one left to call upon. The Snake always attempts to ruin those who are kind to her. Desperation, betrayal, and sorrow are all part of this Archetype’s story. In the end, the Snake is often destroyed by final, horrible retribution – desperate wretchedness and well-deserved punishment strengthen connection to this Archetype.

Symbols: Vipers, scorpions, and other poisonous animals. Daggers. Beggar’s bowls. Rifled dresser drawers. Being hunted. Tears, both sincere and feigned. Phone calls late at night. Large eyes. Hunger. Desperation. Hasty departure and short-distance travel. Coldness. Shameless pleading. Self-destructive betrayal. A popular story tells of a poisonous animal that begs for help, then poisons its benefactor without cause.

Masks: Loki (Norse), Ghede (Voudoun), the Serpent of Eden (Judeo-Christian)

Suspected Avatars in History: Delilah, from the Bible, is a classic example. Bampfylde-Moore Carew was definitely an Avatar, possibly a conscious one who improved his connection to the archetype with rituals. Tom Bell was a likely Snake. Yellow Kid Weil is a contested possibility. Cato Caelin, O.J. Simpson’s permanent houseguest, is a popular modern candidate. Margita Bangova, a famous gypsy beggar still performing con jobs in Quebec today, is another possibility.

Taboo: A Snake must always claim the best of intentions, and promise to pay back everything given, to do right, to change his ways. He can only truly admit what he is when he leaves his victim behind. Also, the Snake can never give the patsy anything – not so much as a cigarette or candy bart – unless acquired with the patsy’s own money.

Channels:

01-50% The Snake portrays herself as truly pathetic and needy, desperately in need of help. This acts like a Charm skill, but only for one patsy at a time, and it’s a little more potent. On a successful roll, her patsy will ignore or forget any wrongdoing she’s done, no matter how blatant, and will ignore warnings from friends. However, if the Snake fails, she can’t try to snare the same patsy again, ever; time to move on. Also, this channel won’t make someone more generous: a heartless soul, who would ignore the pain of a true innocent in need, would be unmoved by this channel. If the Snake uses this channel on a new victim, all previous effects cease/

51-70% The Snake can sense the valuables of his patsy. After successful use of the first channel on a sympathetic victim, the Snake can use this channel to know the location of the most valuable thing his patsy owns. If he steals that thing, he can find the next most valuable, and so forth. This only affects physical objects, and worth is determined by what the Snake would find valuable – the Snake will discover the powerful artifact his victim never knew was special, but not a treasured but unsaleable teddybear.

71-90% Once per day, the Snake can ask the patsy to do her a favor, with a successful Avatar: The Snake roll. The victim will oblige, despite possible misgivings. If the request grossly and obviously violates the victim’s morals or preservation instinct, the Snake must roll above the patsy’s Mind or be refused.

91-98% When the Snake uses this channel, the patsy becomes aware that he’s been manipulated, but must make a choice: pursue the Snake, or forget her. To act against the Snake, the patsy must give up the rest of his life, leave his home, and rededicate himself to hunting the Snake. The patsy’s Obsession changes to “Seek vengeance upon the one who ruined my life” and gets a new Obsession skill. If the victim instead chooses to rebuild his life and move on, the Snake has gotten away with it again. The victim dismisses the Snake as not worth the effort to pursue – he cannot seek to recover his loss, report the Snake to the authorities, or otherwise act against the Snake. Once the Snake uses this on a patsy, she can’t use any channel on the patsy again, so a Snake usually doesn’t do it until she’s taken everything she can, and left the patsy in ruin.