Every man’s home is his castle.

Attributes: The Lord of the Manor is the embodiment of the sanctity of the home, and of a man’s power over his home. Despite the title, one can also be a “Lady of the Manor” as well, it is not a gender specific avatar.

From shanty shacks, old apartments, suburban houses to massive Victorian mansions and even medieval castles; the Lord of the Manor is king in his own home. It is representative of the man’s ability to keep his home clean, safe, and orderly. Note that none of these things actually have to be done by him; he can and should employ the staff that will do the cleaning, cooking, and guarding. But he is the organizer and the supervisor of the entire household- the head of the family.

Similar to The True King but on a much smaller scale; The Lord of the Manor’s home is his ‘turf’. The walls, rooms, floors, and the immediate surrounding grounds are all a part of his home. It should be noted that not all of an estate counts as the Lord’s Manor, only the main housing area and surrounding. For instance a Farmer with a large field, barn, and pasture would only have the farmhouse where he lives and his wife’s flower garden fall under his ‘Manor’.

At the same time, the Manor can be quite large or small. However, it must be larger then a single room and bathroom. Doesn’t matter how you dress up a studio apartment, it’s still just a tiny little place. The Lord’s Manor can also stretch over the living spaces of others; for example a live-in landlord would still have his or her manor stretch over the living spaces of his or her tenants and guests.

Taboos: The Lord of the Manor must keep his home safe, orderly, and clean in that order. To be robbed without an attempt to arrest, catch, or even harm the intruder would be against his archetype. (The Lord of the Manor doesn’t cower under his bed when a invader comes inside his home, he grabs his rifle!) The house must also fall under Orderly, and must be kept in line with his wishes. (No parties without my permission! Turn off the lights when you leave the room!) He must attempt to punish the offenders of these actions or may suffer a disconnect with his avatar. Finally, he must also make sure the home is clean and safe from infestations, pests from insect to human, having access to utilities, fixing the leaky roof and so on. He does not actually have to do any of the dirty work himself, but he must at least get someone else to do it, or see it taken care of.
Secondly; The Lord of the Manor must keep to the same home. It is possible to move homes as The Lord of the Manor (to a bigger and nicer or smaller and worse is irrelevant), but will usually result in a loss of Avatar experience points. This can be remedied to a degree by bringing over the same people, same furniture, keeping the layout similar, painting with similar colors and even keeping the same flowers in the gardens can help. Whenever the Lord of the Manor switches homes, he should lose anywhere from 1%-15% of his Avatar skill, subject to how much he had tried to ease the move and GM discretion.
The third and final way to lose points and be disconnected with the Avatar is to leave the house and not spend much time their. The Lord should spend the majority of his time at his home; of course he may leave for errands or for his job, or for short trips or even vacations. But spending weeks away on adventures very often or spending seasons in his ‘summer home’ will make him disconnect with his Avatar.

Symbols: Trophies (from the Lord’s adventures and decorations that suit his tastes), bathrobes and comfortable clothing, the pipe, the armchair, keys (to the locked doors of the house) and so on.

Masks: Dracula and other vampires in their castles, English gentlemen in their country estates, Emperors in their palaces…

Suspected Avatars in History: Basically any authority figure in his home, often associated with the upper class and having a large home in the first place. Sarah Winchester (Winchester Mystery House)

Channels:

1%-50%: The Lord defends his Manor. Any and all actions taken by the Avatar that are to directly defend his home or those living in his home may be flip-flopped as if it were his obsession skill. Usually this is used to attack human and animal assailants loose in the house; if that be a generic robber or a enemy Adept or Avatar looking to settle a score. This cannot be used to dodge or resist their attacks, only to attack them or remove them from the premises. This channel can also be used to help defend the house itself from fire or storms, helping to put out the flames and board up the windows and such. This can be used in maintenance and cleaning tasks of the house as well, such as fixing a leaky faucet or repairing a broken door- but it only applies to things that are directly required for the household to function. Fixing the internet wouldn’t count. It can also be used for first aid for any permanent or long term tenant of the house; but only if the injury was sustained in the house and the healing is done in the house. If the target leaves the Manor area and comes back the healing cannot be flip-flopped by the Lord.
As a secondary effect, if somebody tries to break into the house by looking for an open or unlocked door or window simply roll against the Avatar: The Lord of the Manor skill. If it rolls under, the house is locked. This doesn’t stop the robber or invader from breaking in by force or lock picking; it simply locks the doors as if the Lord himself had locked them. This could also arm a security system if the house is equipped with it.

51%-70%: The Lord is very in tune with his house, and can both sense what is happening within and can move around easily. Similar to The True King’s first channel; the Lord may use his Avatar: The Lord of the Manor in place of a regular Notice skill check while within his Manor, which can be used for hearing (through the walls, listening in on a conversation in the next room), sight (during the dark night with the lights out!) or even magickal intuition.
Secondly; the Lord can move around his house with ease. There are often tales of those Lords who, in their manors, seem to move about supernaturally fast while nobody is looking, much like a magician who seems to pop up right outside a room in the West wing when you swore he was just in the East wing! With a simple Avatar: The Lord of the Manor skill check he can appear anywhere inside his manor within mere moments- as if he took a secret passage or trapdoor. Obviously he can’t use this in a room where people are watching or present. He can also move freely through locked doors as if he had the key, regardless of if he did or not. No container in the house is safe from him; save for those brought in that are not a ‘natural’ part of the house’s interior. For example, if the Avatar has an electronic safe he keeps in the guest room that he lets the guests use for free when they stay, he can easily riffle through it as if he had the key or combination, even if the guest has the key or changed the code. However it could not be used on a safe brought in by a guest him or herself, or it couldn’t be used on a safe or locked container brought in by the Lord or one of his companions; you can’t raid an Adepts house and open the probably-magickally locked safe inside the Lord’s Manor regardless of how long it stays there or how strong you are as an Avatar; you didn’t bring it in for your own household’s security!

71-90%: The Lord’s Manor is magickal in nature. Similar to The Mystic Hermaphrodite’s 91%+ channel, the Lord gains charges from being in his home for continuous periods of time. He cannot leave the Manor’s area beyond a number of feet equal to his Soul stat during this time, or the clock will reset. To gain a minor charge he must spend a number of continuous days in his home equal to his Avatar: The Lord of the Manor skill subtracted from 100. The Avatar can also gain significant charges by being in his home for a number of weeks continuously!

Ex: John the wealthy landowner has a Avatar: The Lord of the Manor skill at 75%. (100-75=25) Therefore he receives 1 minor charge every 25 days he spends within his manor during a continuous period of time. He cannot leave at all during this time, or the clock resets. He would also gain 1 significant charge every 25 weeks of continuous time spent in the Manor, which means he’d have to spend about half the year without leaving the Manor or its radius. Needless to say, this is rarely done, but is more powerful at the higher levels. Regardless of the Avatar’s level, the Lord of the Manor cannot get more then 2 significant charges every month. This ability of charging is very slow and steady, but unless the Lord is also an Adept these charges cannot be spent anywhere but inside the house.

If the Lord is also an Adept, he can use these charges for his various magickal workings. Regardless of if he is or isn’t; he can spend the charges in his Manor to create minor and significant phenomena within. He has little control over these phenomena, but can specify the rooms/general parts of the house where he wishes the minor or significant phenomena to occur. This is very useful for spooking away any robbers; and many haunted houses are claimed to be the Manors of living and dead Lord of the Manor avatars.

91+%: The Lord’s Manor is his domain, and it gives him power. Simply being within the Manor will grant the Lord a +10% shift on all actions. This is identical to The True King’s third channel. As a final bonus; he is also immune to all Isolation checks while within his manor.