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Lady Vengeance

Hell Hath No Fury Like A Woman Scorned

Attributes: Lady Vengeance is the embodiment of the saying “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” She is the woman wronged, at least in her own eyes, almost always by a man, and this wronging will not stand. She will repay the one who wronged her, in bloody, spectacular fashion. She is capable of very cold calculating and deliberation toward her end, but when the time comes, her vengeance is usually a frantic orgy of violence.
No man may channel Lady Vengeance.
Each Avatar of Lady Vengeance must have suffered a grave wrong that is, in her eyes at least, is the fault of one or more individuals. The offender(s) could all be part of some organization, for instance, and she could begin pursuit of her vengeance knowing the organization and not the people, but in the end it must be people, not something abstract or lacking agency, on which the vengeance must be exacted.
*** A plea for caution: One wrong that, both in classical and contemporary media, has a great deal of purchase on the idea behind Lady Vengeance is rape. The Rape-Revenge movie is its own sub-genre, and many contemporary authors use rape as a motivator for their female characters expansively. This is a deeply problematic phenomenon, and both player and GM should think carefully about whether they want to take on the responsibilities of treating the subject with the seriousness and traumatic reality it has. To either pick or portray such motivation flippantly is a moral failing and a failing at everything that makes roleplaying worthwhile.***
Taboos: Lady Vengeance cannot show mercy to an object of her wrath. She may bide her time, especially if doing so will make the eventual reckoning more painful, but her heart cannot be moved to sympathy for him, no matter how pitiful his condition. Meeting this condition could require Self or even Helplessness checks, depending on the circumstances.
Channels:
1-50%: At this level, the Avatar of Lady Vengeance can reroll any failed check against Violence, Helplessness, or Self related to pursuing or acting out her vengeance. Only one re-roll may be attempted per check.
51-70%: On a successful Avatar: Lady Vengeance roll, the avatar can add 20 points to a Body or Speed check or check for a skill governed by Body or Speed for purposes of pursuing her vengeance or escaping capture, binding, imprisonment or the like. As long as the initial stat or skill check was a success, the improved roll is a success, even if it raises the roll higher than the relevant stat or skill.
71-90%: At this level, the Avatar of Lady Vengeance can invoke fear in a person by pulling back the mask and exposing the inhuman coldness with which she pursues her vengeance. By making eye contact and a successful Avatar: Lady Vengeance roll, she can inflict fear on her target. The target must make a Madness check against the meter keyed to his Fear stimulus, but may not use the stimulus to flip-flop or reroll. The difficulty of the check is the higher of the numbers rolled on the Avatar: Lady Vengeance roll. If the target’s roll is successful, he is still deeply shaken, so that any attempts to intimidate him or push him around are at a +20% shift. If his roll is a failure, his response must be paralysis and he will do anything he can and divulge anything he knows to placate the Lady Vengeance. If he does not have to roll because he is already Hardened past the strength of the stress test, he does not suffer either of these additional effects.
91%+: The Avatar of Lady Vengeance can access the mind of a target of her vengeance, for instance to gain insight on where he is or to learn his secrets. On a successful roll, she can perceive everything the target perceives for minutes equal to her roll. The target of this ability feels unease and gets the sense of being watched severely enough to cause a Rank-4 Unnatural test.

2 thoughts on “Lady Vengeance

  1. HeroTwo says:

    I must say, this looks like a retooling of the Avenger archetype that was posted here a while back, albeit specified toward one gender. I almost feel like the Avenger already covers this material, but makes it applicable to a more broad spectrum of retribution. It would be nice to see some masks or historical examples to justify that this has a niche that The Avenger does not fill. Apart from that, though, this is a nice writeup.

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  2. PhilosopherKnave says:

    I confess I feel like I have more contemporary examples than historical masks. There’s the entire rape-revenge genre, exemplified by “I Spit on Your Grave” and “Last House on the Left”, then there’s The Bride in the Kill Bill movies. I think other recent examples abound, and I’m rather confident that they are tapping in to a broader historical trend, but I’m sadly ill prepared to identify examples from that history.

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