What does it profit a man to acquire the world and forfeit his soul?
–Book of Mark, chapter 8, verse 36

“Nuthin’ worse than a monster who thinks he’s right with God.”
— Malcolm Reynolds, Firefly

This is the final overhaul of this archetype. The second stage was advised by the “Designing Cosmic Archetypes for Beginners” guide by semicasual, and the final version is yours to peruse. Please comment with any feedback you have. Enjoy!

THE MONSTER

Attributes:
The Monster represents mankind’s tendency to willfully abandon their humanity for the sake of accomplishing something otherwise out of reach. It sounds insane, and usually it is, but that doesn’t stop hundreds from falling under the purview of this archetype. We read about them every day. We hear reports of them every hour. Killers with strange or over-the-top motives, perpetrators of war crimes, and pretty much all terrorists. Even drug addicts and other criminals will go to unthinkable extremes to accomplish their goals. There are lines you should not cross – everyone knows that – but every day, someone decides to step outside those boundaries for whatever reason, and sometimes without any logical reason at all. These aren’t any common rules violations, though. These are the violations of the sanctity of life, the cohesion of society, the necessity of decency, and the instinct of self-preservation, all for the sake of a reason most of us don’t understand. For the most part, people try very hard to pretend they don’t exist, but we all know they do. We know because we would never cross those lines…unless….
Avatars of this archetype are not necessarily evil, however, as those who feel they must stop these avatars often find that they have started channeling the archetype themselves. After all, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, and desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s all a matter of perspective and scale. The goals of a Monster may change, but they will be met, come Hell or high water. For those who stand in the way of that goal, or those who have more moderate methods to reach the same goal, the Monster is aptly named.

Masks:
Thor and Tyr (Norse), Judas Iscariot (Christianity), Gilgamesh (Mesopotamian), Odysseus, Achilles and Hector (Greek), Abinadi (Mormon), the archangel Uriel (Judeo-Christian), the Youkai (Japanese)

Symbols:
Neitzche’s warning from Beyond Good and Evil, “He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster” and it’s variations, when written out and displayed, is perhaps the most prominent modern symbol. The concept is very old, but it is believed that a godwalker recently (sometime in the last century) ascended, changing the nature of the archetype in the process. Because of this, quite a few of the symbols are rarely esoteric or antique, as compared to others. These symbols include an eye surrounded by black or void, a burning building with one man inside, a torn or damaged “red cross,” and a mushroom cloud. Two older symbols of the archetype do seem to have survived to the modern age, however: the basilisk and the sword with a broken blade.

Suspected Avatars in History:
Pyrrhus of Epirus, namesake of the Pyrrhic victory is one of the rare noble examples of a suspected avatar, since he was recorded to show deep remorse at what fate forced him to do. Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Thomas Jefferson and Malcolm X are all cited as possible avatars. There are too many prominent figures in the history of the European Crusades to list here. The rise of the antiheroes popular in the 90’s (Spawn, Azrael, Deadpool, etc.) is cited as the archetype asserting a strong influence on the world in that decade. The last known godwalker was Charles Manson, but his last stated purpose during his trial in 1970 – to act as his own attorney – failed, and he broke taboo. This is assuming, however, that he was ever an avatar in the first place. As mentioned, he has not stated a purpose since then, so the channels have never manifested.

Behavior:
The Monster is an extremist, but that word is as relevant as it is misleading. As opposed to an ideological extremist, each avatar of the Monster is an operational extremist. Everyone is a stepping stone, a resource, a liability, or an obstacle, and every motivation is sacred, paramount, and far too important to allow failure. All that matters is the cause, the dream, and the ambition. In contrast to the Warrior, however, Monsters are fluid and adaptable, but only in what their driving rationale is at any given moment. In practice, they are quite similar, but the Monster has the option to change his mind once a task is complete. That being said, Monsters come in one of two varieties, which some dukes have codified as “killers” and “talkers”. Killer Monsters are simple. Once they declare a task, they steamroll everything in their path without even an ounce of hesitation or subtlety. They can’t be reasoned with because they show no signs of anything resembling sentience, let alone logical reasoning skills. Talker Monsters are trickier, but not much. Their methods can be as varied or repetitious as the imagination of the avatar allows, but this offers little comfort to those who have encountered them in the past, because they can’t be reasoned with, either. This is because talker Monsters aren’t walking the path out of instinct or necessity. They want to do it, and their own motivation, bolstered by the taboo of the archetype, is nigh impenetrable. To illustrate this fact, a suspected godwalker recently went on record, saying, “You’d be surprised what you can live with inside yourself. The costs of compromise are far heavier than the cost of sacrificing yourself to the completion of a task. There are things which must be done, and I don’t trust you to do them. I don’t trust any of you.”

Taboos:
The Monster is a creature of purpose. This purpose may change from day to day or hour to hour, but they know what that purpose is, even if others don’t (or wouldn’t understand even if they did). To utilize the channels of this archetype, the avatar must be serving a purpose. It can be announced to the group, or privately relayed to the GM. Once stated, the purpose must be pursued with single-minded dedication and no compunction may be shown nor attention paid to the cost either to one’s self, their surroundings, or their allies. The moment the avatar ceases to pursue the stated goal in any way, the channels cease to function and the connection to the archetype weakens. Keep in mind that every statement of purpose falls under this taboo, as does every statement to not do something. The avatar is not restricted to one purpose at a time, and may find himself forced into pursuing several at once if he isn’t careful. In addition, and seemingly to define the archetype, purposes which lack risk or… well, purpose, really, also weaken the connection to the archetype. It has to mean something, even if most people couldn’t hope to comprehend that meaning. Finally, the purpose is not a prediction. It must be something the Avatar can actually accomplish, either with help or alone, no matter, but if he cannot affect the outcome of his stated goal at all, his channels do not function and he risks loss of connection with his Archetype.

NOTE: it is very hard to identify an avatar of the Monster when he is not pursuing a purpose, because all of his channels will not function and his connection to the Archetype is completely inert, meaning artifacts, channels and spells meant to identify or track the supernatural do not perceive an inactive Avatar of the Monster. This has given rise to the “sleeping Monster” method of ridding the world of these scourges, and many Avatars who lack subtlety have fallen prey to it. Perhaps the most successful “Monster hunters” are the Sleepers, for this very reason.

Channels:
1%-50%: All Monsters share one thing in common: the willingness to do something others would not. This is because they are willing to cross the line no sane person would cross, but they do it with frightening ease. All avatars of the Monster can use their Avatar: the Monster skill as a Paradigm (the Mind skill, described in the core rule book) which protects the Self stress meter. There is no damaged meter, and if the avatar already has a Paradigm protecting the Self meter, he can use this channel in the event of a failed Paradigm check.
51%-70%: Monstrosity is pervasive; one needn’t look far to find examples of extremism and the damage it causes. Perhaps the most frightening thing about them is when we hear about these terrible acts and we sympathize with the motive, entertaining dark thoughts of participation and support. When someone nearby makes a Self check (pass or fail) in the Monster’s vicinity, the avatar may give the “not so different” speech. This could be a full-blown lecture, a comforting conversation, or a simple “I’m impressed.” Upon a successful Charm or Intimidate roll, from that point forward, the avatar gains a +5 shift towards any attempt to verbally influence that person’s actions. This shift is permanent, cumulative, and is doubled in the case of a matched success.
71%-90%: Think for a moment about movie monsters. Most that have entered the cinematic zeitgeist have one thing in common: they just. Will. NOT. DIE. At this level of connection with the Archetypal Monster, all applications of damage to the Avatar are reduced to 3 points, maximum. This occurs after all normal and magical damage calculations have been made, including protection spells. Any witness to the Avatar’s durability may need to make an Unnatural stress check as well, the level of which is at the GM’s discretion.
90%-100%: At this level of connection, Avatars of the Monster start receiving messages from the Archetype directly… or at least, that’s what they believe. They gain knowledge and insight from seemingly nowhere. This doesn’t explain why some of them become stronger and faster, though, but it would explain why Monsters at this level seem to be so pants-shittingly crazy. At the completion of each purpose, the Avatar gains an experience point, plus another for each fully hardened stress meter, or three if it’s the Self meter. Keep in mind that simple and meaningless purposes break taboo.

Rumor: Nannari Hitsuju, suspected godwalker of the Monster, has never been witnessed killing anyone, but everyone he says he will kill seems to die the moment they are alone. Sometimes it’s bloody, sometimes it’s peaceful, but it always happens as soon as the target is no longer within sight or sound of other people. That’s how Julian Baker ended: he sealed himself inside a mountain bunker, having his friends guard the door. That room didn’t have any way into it without an industrial drill or a key to the room, but they hadn’t even closed the door yet. They heard his throat get ripped out the second they couldn’t see him behind the door.