SINselectedAll,
I am trying to get a grasp on what the Mystic Hermaphrodite is, and how it can best be channeled in a modern game. I’m looking for ideas as to how best express the concepts of paradox that this avatar seems to embody. I was hoping someone else out there had some ideas they could pass on.
I had an idea of taking the MH in the direction of opposite extremes in synergy. Expressing both feminine and masculine traits not as a blending of the two, but a stark contrast of each other in the same space…
If anyone has any ideas as to how better express this concept, or perhaps trigger events or even ascension ideas, please let me know.
Thanks in advance!
Neville Yale CrontenStark contrast works, but so does a blending. The only requirement, really, is that both opposites have some major defining point present or that there SHOULD be some defining point present, but all are totally absent. So either clash of opposites or destruction of. That way you get ultra-masculine cross-dressers AND creepy androgynes following the path, interpreting it very differently. You might want those who are engaged in extreme opposites without choosing either to possibly be able to gain power more quickly, but be more likely to break taboo. The middle-of-the-road hermaphrodites take a more subtle path, but can be just as powerful. Someone caught in a transition and using that between state as their identity, such as a partial-op transgender, might be another path.
Damn, wouldn’t it be funny if the Mystic Hermaphrodite, which no one really seems to think about anymore, was replaced by, say, two different NEW archetypes, sort of sharing the old concept space : The Metrosexual and the Tomboy. Well, the Metrosexual, at least. Wouldn’t it be great to have some deep, very mystical (even so far as mystical things like archetypes go) be replaced by something so shallow as the Metrosexual? It’d be beautiful.
Also, you might want to watch Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
Mr UnluckyAnother line of thinking could be found in the works of Chuck Palahniuk.
I heartily recommend “Invisible Monsters”, “Lullaby,” and “Haunted”. Of them, regarding the MH, “Invisible Monsters” has some of the more intriguing concepts applicable.
Also, for campaigns involving the portrayal of Annihilomancers as more than mere walking Molatov cocktails, check out the *book* “Fight Club”.
SINselectedThank you both for the response. This thread has spawned from a character I’ve been playing for about 3 years. Recently I’ve been stuck in sort of a slump for how best to express the avatar in a new a unique way and I am sort of hard-pressed for a unique ascension catalyst. The concepts of masculinity and femininity while expressed are not the central focus of this avatar. I have been trying to portray conflict in every aspect of this characters life, from his inner conflicts that have risen from background, story, and plot, to trying to portray his maddens meters accurately, to dealing with protagonists. My big sticking point is trying to come up with a dedicated avatar path (read: character motivation) to follow that focuses on conflict and paradox without using traditional images of cross-dressing or transexuality. The example the book gives about chemotherapy (doctors poisoning to heal) and the vengeful lover are more what I’m going for. Since a MH can’t dedicate themselves to one cause for too long (save for their avatar) it’s been pretty rough going.
EncryptshunHey, SIN. You know who this is, and you know that I probably know less about all this than you do. That said, I thought I’d chime in and opine another “Ascension” story that you already know.
Watch “Silence of the Lambs.” In my take, Buffalo Bill is an Avatar of the MH, and his ascension scheme is to finish his “woman suit”. By putting it on, he feels he will ascend. Killing the women is incidental to his ascension, because he considers taking their “feminity” to be directly related to their physical appearance, and since he believes he’s the Archetype, he’ll be able to erase that in the end and justify by saying that what he took from them was his to begin with. His choice of symbol, the death’s-head moth is analagous to his Ascension. He films himself putting on his woman-suit as he finishes parts of it for a record of his toils in following the Path. One might argue that he deliberately abducted the daughter of a Senator (Katherine) in order to bring his Ascension plan more to the public eye.
For what it’s worth.
Mr UnluckyAlternately, regarding the Buffalo Bill analogy, it could be someone making the jump from Thanatomancer to the MH — by keeping portions of the skin, the charges remain to keep him going, with the significance of the daughter of a Senator (poor, poor Katherine) being the major charge perceived as required for the massive shift in potential.
Either way, the Buffalo Bill idea is a solid one. Kudos, Encryptshun, on the insightful idea.
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