Art for Art’s sake, transcendence is just a side effect….
AttributesThe Artist, also known as the Visionary or the Auteur, is a man or woman with a Vision–a Vision which can only be expressed by them through some sort of artistic medium. This medium can be painting, sculpture, film, music, poetry, etc. Unlike the Chronicler or the Messenger, what the Artist is trying to express need not be based on any sort of objective reality. The Artist is delivering Truth, not facts.
TaboosThough an Artist’s greatest rivals may be other Artists, their greatest danger comes from commercial success–and the temptation to alter one’s work to make it more commercially viable. The Artist can never compromise his Vision, for it is what makes him what he is. Any attempt to conform to another’s expectations (fans, agents, society at large) weakens the Artist’s connection to their Archetype–for this reason, Artist’s are often percieved as eccentric.
SymbolsEach Artist is unique (copycats and poseurs may be artists, but never Artists), so typical Artist symbology involves tools of an individual craft. An eccentric lifestyle is also associated with avatars of the Artist–and since the 1960’s, this often includes drug use and abuse.
MasksThe Muses (Greek) are probably the best known, though craft gods of a number of the world’s religions may also be masks of the Artist.
Suspected Avatars in HistoryThe mysterious circumstances surrounding Jim Morrison’s death (only one person claimed to have seen the body, nobody could find the doctor who signed the death certificate, no funeral, etc.) may mean that the Door’s frontman ascended to the Archetype. Lord Byron may also have channelled the Artist. Pop artist Andy Warhol and guitar-god Jimi Hendrix almost certainly.
Channels
1-50% Expressing the Artist’s vision becomes easier. Any Soul-based skill gets a 10% bonus when used in furthering the Artist’s vision, whether directly related to the art in question or not. An auteur director using Charm to convince a troublesome actor of his motivation counts, as does a painter using Lie to scam money for art supplies.
51-70% Materials needed to fulfill the Artist’s vision will make themselves available to her–this may involve a certain amount of searching, but paints and sculpture materials can always be found the perfect actor for a role is waiting to be discovered, etc.
71-90% Any Stress Checks that come as a result of an Artist fulfilling his artistic vision always succeed (these are typically Isolation and Self checks that result from alienating friends and family members or from days or weeks spent working alone).
91-98% Obstacles that prevent the Artist from fulfilling his work resolve themselves so that completing the immediate project is possible–(up to and including death) though this does not prevent whatever nasty consequences from falling on the Artist’s head immediately afterwards.
suspected avatar: Prince, or better: the Artist formerly known as Prince. Add malnutrition (starving artists) and suicide, add that you can only ascend after you have died (the greatest artists only achieve true recognition until after they die) and… wait, the third channel seems unneccesary, what’s wrong with artists going insane and cutting of their earlobes?
Excellent archetype.
Nice work. I had an idea for an avatar called the Auteur, which I never really wrote down. However, I can give you one thing I did write down: the archetype took a hit when Vic Morrow and two children died on the set of Twilight Zone: the Movie.
Going with Mattias’ suggestion, perhaps modify the third channel that failing a Stress Check after a successful artistic achievement does not keep the person from doing it again (unlike most others)?
I was thinking about a variation of this today.
Then I read this and wonder if perhaps it is too broad?
Would it be too much to break down the Avatars in this case by disipline? (Music, Art, literature)
Or would that be counter to the process of the 333?
I used this for MUAC, a player doesn’t even know she has it:-)
I’m really not sure about variations of this. But ok, who’s the first person that pops into your mind when I say “artist”? Picasso? 50 cent? Hitchcock? Grafitti-boy on the corner? Terry Pratchett? John Tynes?
Depends on where I am looking at, which is the problem.
To be more specific of my problem, I was thinking of two subdivisions of musicians specifically: The Pinnacle of Debauchery (of which I can’t tell if Freddie Mercury accended or not…) and The Musician Touched by the Gods.. (Paganini which is my belief of the current accended.)
Although there can be overlap between these two, there isn’t always.
Why restrict the options/advancement of Godwalkers to their media of choice? Unless my understanding on advancing the Avatar skill is mis-understood (the closer you align yourself with the current Accended of the position the higher you will advance without being stopped in the process.)
Wouldn’t this happen if one media did not match the current accended? Or at least be a creative/difficult process to circumvent?
I think of Freddie Mercury as walking the path of The Party Animal, not the artist. That he happened to sing good enough for the charts, well, the holy trinity of women, wine and song (or sex and drugs and rock ‘n roll) has always been parts of dionysos, so it fits really well without necessarily being a The Artist. Think of it as two different archetypes who both can and may sing, but one lives for the art the other lives for the party.
I think that his vocal skill is actually a bit higher than you might believe… Freddie was classically trained.
David Lee Roth fits more the description that you mention…YMMV of course.
But that is part of what I was asking about… thank you for an alternative view, that does indeed help
Glad to help, happy new year, btw…