a.k.a. The Opponent, The (Insatiable) Challenger

For many, a road is simply a way to reach an end. For Fighters, the road is the addiction. They find themselves in the ring, on the racetrack, in the court – and every waking moment they spend living a normal life is bland, is time they could spend training, or fighting.

Fighters are those who must constantly prove themselves to their family, to the world, to themselves; it doesn’t matter the audience or the proof. All that matters is the drive, the training, the goal that they hang in front of themselves like a carrot on a stick.

A Fighter’s heart and soul are typically in their arena of choice at any given moment (many lose family and friends for this), but they are not totally isolated creatures. Their hunger is for the challenge, and therefore they need someone to challenge them. A solitary test (the high score, weightlifting, a mountain scaled) isn’t enough. The variable element, the addictive thrill of chaos and uncertainty, is the human opponent. Fighters must have a Path wherein they compete directly with others (the presence of an “arena” of some kind is usually a good indicator).

Fighters need not be physical combatants, though it’s easy to imagine that many of them are, and the current archetype appears to have been one. Each Fighter chooses their own Path, not unlike a Pilgrim – but there is no goal that need be obtained. Progress along the Path must be measurable, but there isn’t a necessary end. Even the title of World Championship is just a measure of how far you’ve come; the Path still stretches on infinitely before you. The True Fighter longs for the next challenger who stands a chance of taking their crown away.

Fighters are not Warriors, who are committed to a cause outside of themselves as individuals: Fighters are only committed to their own individual betterment.

Taboos: The Fighter can never turn down a worthy challenge. They need not see every challenge through to the bitter end – the Heavyweight Champion doesn’t have to KO every pipsqueak on the street who wants to start a fight, and the pipsqueak doesn’t have to throw his life away the moment he sees a change to tackle Mike Tyson. But the challenge must be entertained.

Once engaged in a challenge, the Fighter cannot surrender while either they or their opponent still have some juice to keep going. This doesn’t mean all challenges are to the death – or even officially declared victory – but until one side unquestionably demonstrates their superiority in the contest, the Fighter can’t back out.

There’s much debate in the avatar underground, but it’s generally accepted that a Fighter can cheat without violating their archetype.

Symbols: Personalized armor or weapons. Arenas: Boxing rings, chessboards, the deserted battlefield, etc. Championship belts seem to have persisted across time and cultures – from the black belt to the wrestling championship belt.

Masks: Most older masks (like Achilles and Lancelot) have been replaced by a fresh cast in movies, which have helped elevate the archetype to a degree of spectacle not attained since the days of the Colosseum: Films, from the ROCKY franchise to the recent REDBELT and 300, have injected fresh blood into the archetype. Even cartoons – for adults (Afro Samurai) and children (Dragon Ball) alike – have fed it. Some suspect that the most recent ascension has something to do with this archetype’s prevalence in film.

Suspected Avatars in History: Miyamoto Musashi, Muhammad Ali, and Bobby Fischer were almost certainly channeling the Fighter. Duk Koo Kim is widely regarded as true Fighter, literally until the bitter end. Unsurprisingly, there’s much speculation that Bruce Lee was the last to ascend as the Fighter. Talk of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt being Fighters really caught fire after the most recent olympics, where each of them shattered world records in races.

Channels:

1-50%: The Fighter pushes themselves past their limits. With a successful avatar roll, a Fighter can go without food, water, or rest for a period of days equal to the tens place in their Avatar: The Fighter skill – so long as they spend that time continuously training, sparring, or fighting. These stimuli do not go away, but until they stop or channel’s effects run out, they simply don’t matter: the Fighter takes no penalties for fatigue, hunger, exhaustion, or dehydration. (Short breaks are allowed, but if you break enough to actually sate these biological needs – say, eat anything more filling than a Powerbar or two – the channel’s effects end.)

Afterward, of course, it catches up to them, and the Fighter is very thoroughly spent – unless they’re really driven, and attempt to use the channel again immediately. They can, for a number of consecutive uses equal to the tens place in their Avatar: The Fighter skill. This is more dangerous than it sounds; weeks of not tending to your body’s needs can leave you needing immediate hospitalization. But then, Fighters are not known for giving up, especially when it nearly kills them. And anyone expecting a training Fighter to be too drained to fight back is in for a surprise.

51-70%: The Fighter is relentless. Being tireless is impressive, sure. But the real Fighter is the one who is tired – and keeps on Fighting. At this level, Fighters take a lot to put down. Any time a Fighter takes damage in a challenge, they may roll against their avatar skill. On a successful roll, they add the sum of the dice to their hit points. These extra hit points go away once the fight is over. Note that being able to take a lot more punishment does not mean the Fighter has any easier a time taking down her opponent, but often her opponents will be stunned at the Fighter’s unstoppable drive. Duk Koo Kim’s match with Ray Mancini is a tragic and impressive example of this channel in action. (Fighters finding themselves in scenarios similar enough to their version of a challenge can still use this channel: A martial artist attacked by muggers can use it, but an Olympic racer can’t.)

71-90%: All that matters is the fight; everything else is everything else. Fighters at this level are so driven that they virtually cannot be deterred or distracted while in a challenge on their chosen Path. Attempts to distract the Fighter automatically fail. Madness checks are ignored entirely during the contest. Other attempts to deter the Fighter (say, blinding, shocking, or tranquilizing them) can be resisted with a successful Avatar: The Fighter check – this specific rolls gets the same bonus as your focus shift, if you are in combat as part of your contest. Fighters using this channel in a challenge cannot use their Fear, Rage or Noble passions – however, they can bypass the stress checks normally required to ignore or contradict them. During the fight, at least.

91-98%: The Fighter has become a shining example of what humanity can achieve. Fighters at this level wear an aura that leaves a mythic, heroic impression on all that encounter them; even those that hate them cannot help but recognize the magnitude of their achievements. Expert marksmen miss, melee attacks are diverted effortlessly by the Fighter, assassins just can’t bring themselves to push the detonator switch. No-one may attack or harm the Fighter at all without first challenging her, as per her chosen Path. It just feels like too much of a loss to humanity otherwise. It’s not necessary to defeat the Fighter in such a challenge, but you cannot harm them outside of the ring. This applies to each individual attempting to attack the Fighter – just because you challenged her, doesn’t mean your sniper buddy is now free to pick her off once you’re in the ring.

This does not, however, apply to sociopaths – or unnatural beings with no connection/interest in humanity. Non-entities and demons are covered by this channel, tenebrae and lycanthropes in animal form are not. Unspeakable Servants are immune to this channel only if they have no human master. (Golems are always seeking human masters, and so they are not immune.) Astral parasites themselves are immune – they’re just animals – but the mage that tries to attach one to the Fighter, is not. Whether or not clockworks powered by human memories are immune is uncertain.

What You Hear: Surprisingly, no-one seems to know who the current Godwalker of the Fighter is (no-one reliable, at least – though they would almost certainly recognize them if they met them). It’s rumored that this is because the current Godwalker is very, very, very, very old – because, it’s said, their Godwalker channel was to never age until their title is usurped, so that they can eternally search for the most worthy opponents.