This is the archetype of the Lord of Wheels, Road, Sea and Sky.
Attributes: The charioteer is often seen one of the sidekicks of the archetypes, he is a testament to civilisation and technological growth. Without vehicles there would be no one to drive them. The Charioteer is the first archetype to embody mechanised vehicles that remove humankind from mere apes that domesticated animals, to ingenious creatures that harnessed those animals and forces for our expedience and convenience.
The charioteer assumes and overlaps all the variety of vehicles of transportation that need to be steered. In this age of telemetry the charioteer also has part of his finger the pie of remote control.
The charioteer has a vast number of names depending on what vehicle is controlled. He is known as the Driver, the Pilot, the Steersman, the Sailor, or the Rider. He was also known as the Tiller when man first hitched animals to ploughs and put a seat on top and the Cabby when horses pulled buggies and carts.
Despite the profusion of names the Charioteer is most often evoked with visions of bloody chariot races in Roman circuses. It’s this image that has carried over to the hotshot test pilot or the Formulae One racer. It is the earliest and, while not correct, most evocative of all the names.
It isn’t destination the charioteer travels to, nor is it the vehicle he operates; it is the fact he is a man in control of a vehicle that can propel people from one point to another.
Most low-powered Charioteers often specialise with one type of vehicle and thus blithely miss each other because of ignorance. As the Charioteer raises his ability, he becomes aware of all vehicles within his archetype’s domain.
Taboo: The Charioteer must be in control of a vehicle at all times. It is critical to the partnership of man and machine. The vehicle must a machine of transportation. It can be a car, a plane, a bicycle, a skateboard, a locomotive train, anything as long as it transports the controller with it.
The Charioteer must be in the vehicle when it moves, although fly-by-wire technology is acceptable. If the Charioteer was outside the vehicle such as a radio controlling an aircraft, he risks breaking taboo with the archetype.
The vehicle must be a mechanised contraption. A saddle on a horse is not a vehicle, a cart pulled by horses is. A bizarre clockwork earthmoving death machine is also acceptable.
Symbols: The steering wheel or joystick, the automobile, the tiller of a yacht, or the road stretching ahead are all symbols of the Charioteer.
Suspect Avatars in History:
Channels:
01% – 50%
The Charioteer can operate his vehicle if he rolls his Charioteer skill. This either allows the Charioteer to free up his action this round, or reroll a failed action while operating his vehicle.
The Charioteer always takes the lowest possible damage from a crash.
51% – 70%
The Charioteer can operate a vehicle that seems to be in reasonable condition. This includes cars that have been in recent accidents. The gas tank can be on reserve, the radiator can be puffing steam, the tires can be flat, but the vehicle acts as if it is in safe running condition. An obviously far-damaged vehicle can last in hours as the sum of the Charioteer roll before dying.
As long as the avatar is piloting a vehicle he need not sleep. The Charioteer’s current exhaustion is kept in stasis until he stops piloting his vehicle.
The Charioteer can pilot any vehicle – even ones that require specialist training to operate; such as helicopters or jet aircraft – by rolling his Charioteer skill.
71% – 90%
The Charioteer can end up in any destination as long as he drives there for long enough. This destination can be a road name or a landmark he sees scribbled down on a napkin, he can get there eventually. The avatar must drive for a number of days equal to the sum of his Charioteer skill. The destination can be any place on earth the Charioteer could drive to. The Lost City of Atlantis is not viable, but Third Avenue is.
If the Charioteer is without a vehicle, he can roll his skill to see if the universe supplies him with one. The appropriate vehicles can only be those available to the average person – so no nuclear submarines wash up on deserted beaches. The vehicle is an average version of what’s available.
91%+
The Charioteer can leapfrog spaces with other piloted vehicles anywhere. A Charioteer driving a sedan in Tunisia can swap places with a car in Austria. The car and all its contents effortlessly switch around although the other car’s passengers might get the shock of their lives. The area must be a place the avatar has at least driven through once.
An avatar that doesn’t know where he’s going goes nowhere… He doesn’t get to come back.
Ernst Cabell is the current Godwalker of the Charioteer. No one knows what his Godwalker channel is but whatever road he drives down bleeds stigmatically from all asphalt-cracks and potholes for one day afterwards.
Huang Xiang could easily peddle his bicycle up walls, ceilings and ropes at speeds equal to a galloping horse. In 1949, he pedalled into a Chinese Sleeper landmine.
Just a question about the Taboo – does the Charioteer have to be in control of a vehicle 24/7, 265 days a year, or do they just have to be in order for their powers to function?
He does not have to be in a vehicle, to lose the Charioteer’s Avatar rating. Obviously the avatar rating will slide if the amount of time is too long (you judge).
He only whacks taboo if he’s not in control of an operating vehicle he is capable of driving.
Cheers,
Chris.
An interesting idea. Unconscious avatars include cabbies, bus drivers and the like.
I’d have the first channel read that if his Drive roll is below his “Drive” skill and his “Avatar: Charioteer” skill, he can take another one-handed action without penalty.
That may be what it does now, but it’s not clear from the wording. A few of the others seems a bit off… don’t know how I’d rework them for my game, though.
The first channel allows the charioteer to roll charioteer instead of his piloting skill.
It gives the charioteer a free-action devoted to steering, while his normal action is free for other things like punching people off his car door.
Cheers,
Chris.
It’s a clunky mechanic. Besides, skill replacement is pretty useless until you get to a pretty higher level.
It should all fall under one roll of the dice. Rolling under both the Drive and the Avatar skills works much better. In fact, it would function as a natural “Do Two Things At Once” skill for driving, plus they take minimum damage from crashes — Clean, subtle, not distracting.
Anyway, I’d just tweak it a bit if I ever used it in a game.
Anyone remember that commercial… I think for some kind of potato chips… that featured a guy whose feet never touched the ground? He gets up in the morning, onto his skateboard. Twirls around in the shower. Grinds the rail downstairs. Eats potato chips from canister, one-handed. Runs out of potato chips. Sees “no skateboards” sign on stop’n’rob window. Rides shopping cart through store, flawlessly dismounts back onto skateboard with new canister of chips. Revised sign is replaced in window.
That’s gotta be connected somehow.
The advertising industry is full of hard-wired occult-watchers. This makes sense since both groups are full of shit and egos.
Cheers,
Chris.
Good archetype, but I think there’s a few flaws:
-I think the Taboo needs to be cleared up a little. I’d state it like this:
“Charioteers must be in the primary control position of any vehicle they are willingly using to travel. (Being stuffed in the trunk of a New Inquisition operative’s car wouldn’t taboo an avatar, but conciously accepting a ride from a paramedic in the back of his ambulance would.)”
-Some of the lesser channel abilities could do with trimming, or perhaps folding into each other. I’d maybe combine the ability to use a worn-out car with the ability for a worn-out charioteer to continue driving.
-The teleportation-like effects are a bit weak compared to the pilgrim, though I would keep that ability at 70%. I’d say allow the Charioteer to get anywhere he could plausibly pilot his vehicle in a day. (Might be a problem if you’re driving a subway train or a Boeing 747, but them’s the breaks.)
-The 90+ ability is a bit incoherent with the charioteer concept. (Travel is the pilgrim’s gig. Control is the Charioteer’s.) I’d suggest allowing incredible feats of driving prowess instead. At this level, say, you can jump gaps in bridges from behind the wheel of a Gremlin, fly a jumbo jet between skyscrapers with a barrel roll or bring a train to a halt very quickly. (This is good for taking insane risks when using car chase rules.)
Also, for Suspected Avatars, I’d suggest Casey Jones.
“-The teleportation-like effects are a bit weak compared to the pilgrim, though I would keep that ability at 70%. I’d say allow the Charioteer to get anywhere he could plausibly pilot his vehicle in a day.”
(By which I mean, make it similar to the pilgrim ability, but with the travel infrastructure restriction, but with the bonus of being able to bring people with him.)