The Martyr
(Charity)
I'll give everything I have to save you! |
If charity is the noble impulse to give of yourself to others,
the Martyr turns this simple kindness into a sick, self-destructive
parody.
Whether it stems from feelings of worthlessness, or an unreasonable
fear of one deity or another, the result is the same: a Shadow
who thinks that only through extreme self-sacrifice can one be
truly worthy of existence. And the Shadow constantly preaches
this truth to the Wraith, hoping to get her to think much more
of others than of herself, to the point where she not only neglects
her own well-being, but seeks to make herself worse just to make
the others better.
Those who are overcome by the touch of the Martyr often look
grotesquely messianic, or else take on the appearance of a raggedy
pilgrim, star-eyed ascetic or complete wretch. The pathetic strangeness
of their appearance puts them at -2 in all social rolls, except
those that require the onlooker or listener to feel pity.
Heart's Thorn: No Greater Love
The power of the Martyr stems from self-sacrifice, and the Shadow
can offer dice to help the Wraith perform an insane act of it.
This might include such things as taking on an extremely superior
foe {or far too many foes} to allow others to escape, or defend
a Necropolis, or else bargaining as many favors as possible from
a buyer while selling everything for the Wraith's favored cause.
The shared power makes others doubt their own intentions, and
wonder if they, too, should lay down their lives on behalf of
the Wraith. Each success on the Wraith's Presence + Angst takes
away one from the Defense scores of each opponent in hand-to-hand
combat range for the rest of the turn. Those who wander out of
the Wraith's range get it back, until they return to it, and
those who wander in lose it, until they wander out.
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