The greater they are, the harder they fell…
An Archetype written by a friend of mine.
Attributes: You’re the kind of guy who’s done everything right his whole life; you are the epitome of good, and everyone loves you.
And then suddenly, you make a mistake or maybe fate just doesn’t like you. Someone or something screws you over, hard. You’re down for the count, it’s amazing that one event can bring you down so far, in spite of everything you’ve done thus far.
Do you have to accept this? HELL NO!!! It’s time to make someone pay, make ‘em fall even harder than you did. The Fallen Angel is not about simple revenge for minor wrongdoings. Somebody screwed you over in a serious way, and you want him to suffer in the way that he made you suffer, perhaps a bit more, too, just to drive the point home to him. You draw power from bringing about your target’s downfall, so you have to make your vengeance exquisite. This is a path that is difficult to enter through one’s own choice, and it is difficult to follow, even when the desire for revenge is great: it pushes its followers to their limits. Fallen Angels follow the path by helping fellow Angels execute revenge, as well as pursuing their own ends. In all and all, it is never wise to do a Fallen Angel a wrong, lest you be subject to fury unknown to any other.
Masks: Satan and his cohorts (Christianity), Hamlet (Shakespeare), many tragic figures.
Suspected Avatars in History: Any person who was imprisoned wrongly and got his revenge after imprisonment is a likely Avatar. Richard Nixon almost became one, but failed as he didn’t pull off the vengeance required of a Fallen Angel.
Symbols: halos, pitchforks, goblets, anything associated with someone who wanted revenge really badly.
Taboo: Showing any form of mercy to your targets of revenge and their associates. You are only allowed to help these people as far as it gets them to fall into your own plans for them. You are still allowed to be kind and gentle to those people who didn’t hurt you, but those that get in the way of your vengeance are just as bad as those that you wish to exact vengeance upon. You may adopt as many targets of revenge as seem fit, but having too many makes violating taboo much easier and more likely. Furthermore, you must make your targets of revenge suffer at least as much as you did when they wronged you before they are no longer counted as a target.
Channels:
1-50%: The Fallen Angel is greatly inspired by the idea of bringing about the downfall of those who do wrong to him, and finds it much easier to hurt the things or people that he has a personal grievance against. He gains a 10% shift to any skill being used for the sake of bringing about the fall of his adversary or associates. The Fallen Angel would gain this shift to his Struggle skill if he was fighting one of his sworn enemies, or he would gain a shift to his Lying skill if he were trying to lead his adversary into a trap, but he would not gain a shift for an attempt to Dodge his adversary’s attacks, nor would he gain a shift to anything used to harm someone or something that he has no grievances against. The shift is compatible with any other shift or bonus.
51-70%: The Fallen Angel is not bothered by the methods he uses to bring about his target’s fall, even if it were something that would normally make him squirm. All that matters is to him is the revenge. He does not need to make stress checks for situations that actively bring down his target of vengeance; A Fallen Angel lacking hardened Violence notches can torture his adversary with no ill affects, as an example. Furthermore, the Fallen Angel cannot be swayed from his targets by any means other than his own doing (a Cliomancer can’t make him forget his targets or what they did to him, for example).
71-90%: A very successful Fallen Angel can get at his targets for revenge in means beyond conventional methods. With a successful Avatar: Fallen Angel roll, the Fallen Angel can divine one truth about his target (i.e. general location, a fear, the identity of a loved one, etc.) or mentally affect his target in a minor manner (e.g. The target of the Fallen Angel may receive a brief message from the Fallen Angel, and suffer through associated stresses). This ability may only be used once per target per day. A critical success may result in the Fallen Angel discerning one of the target’s deepest secrets (even things that the target himself doesn’t know), but a critical failure will alert the target of one of the Fallen Angel’s truths.
91+%: Such is the determination of the Fallen Angel to bring about the downfall of the one that made him fall in the first place that nothing short of hell or high water can get in the way of him exacting his revenge. The Fallen Angel can only be killed in a manner related to his downfall that made him a Fallen Angel in the first place, or if the circumstances are exceptional (as per the discretion of the GM). If the object being used to harm the Fallen Angel is especially relevant to his fall (e.g. Archangel Micheal’s spear when attacking Satan, as opposed to just any spear), it will inflict twice the damage it would normally cause to anybody else. At the same time, the Fallen Angel cannot be harmed in a mundane manner. He can be hit by a car and just pick himself back up, but if he is hit by an oil truck that then explodes, he will suffer any and all consequences. Likewise, no street thug can casually kill a Fallen Angel by shooting him, but a firing squad will have a better chance (of course, these examples assume that said car or thug are not relevant to the Angel’s fall).