Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Unknown Armies Avatar Path - The Sergeant


The Sergeant



Attributes: What does it mean to be a leader? Are they the people in charge? If that's the case, does that mean that they're only leaders when their leaders aren't around? Humans are too complex now for the old ways, when Chiefs, Hauptmen or Kings alone were enough to have dominion over them, what was needed was more voices, what was needed what was delegation. The danger when leaders put layers between themselves and their subject is that there is the possibility of rulers becoming estranged from the every day triumphs and tragedies of the existence of their subjects, losing the ability to sympathize with the damage that their decisions can cause. This Archetype is not that kind of ruler. The Sergeant lives among their squad, they eat, sleep, bleed, breathe and die among them; indeed, even their status as an Avatar is dependent on them. A Sergeant's devotion to their squad should not be mistaken for dependence or weakness, but rather as a two-way street, where their leadership is both a thing of devotion, and a call for obedience. The central concept to the Sergeant (as opposed to other leadership-based Archetypes such as the True King and The Captain) is that of The Squad, which can range from 3 (including the Sarge) to up to 10 members; all of the Sarge's channels involve the Squad in some way, shape or form.

Taboos: Leave a soldier behind. This isn't just literal either, if your buddy asks you to help him move and you're the only one, it's time to rent a U-Haul; if you come home and your girlfriend is crying, it's time to call in the next day and make her feel better. You don't have to baby any and every one in your life, but you must respond to direct requests from your 'Squad' to the best of your ability. You don't have to like them, you just have to help them.

Symbols: Non-commissioned rank insignia, Uniforms, Firearms, Reminders of Squaddies, Bellowed Orders, Profuse Swearing.

Suspected Avatars in History: It's hard to say how many military service members throughout history have been Sergeants, but there is always a place for heroic direct leadership in war, the board room and the work place, specific examples may be Lt.Col Jack Churchill, Gunnery Sergeant R. Lee Ermey and Alexander's Generals.

Channels

1-50%: A good Non-com knows the condition of their troops without even needing to ask, they can read it on their faces and the things that they carry. Anytime that a member of their squad takes damage, suffers a stress check or is otherwise put into serious trouble, the Sergeant gets a feeling of their condition and a general idea of their location, distance and direction only, if they roll on their Avatar skill successfully they can gain a brief flash of their Squaddie's location.

51-70%: Drilling, double-checking and double-checking again pays off. When the Sergeant get their Squad working towards roughly the same goal together (such as 'Beating up that Jimmy, the guy who felt up Frankie's Sister.') they gain a +10% shift in pursuit of that goal. It must be a concrete, achievable end, and they must within sight or shouting distance of their Sergeant in order to gain the bonus.

71-90%: Fear, distraction, loneliness and despondency are the enemies of good morale, whenever a member of the Sarge's squad has a stress check within shouting distance of the Sergeant, they may roll their Avatar skill, if successful the check is simply not made. It is as if the event has no purchase within the Squaddie's mind, they remember it, but it is abstracted in such a way that it is simply not terrible to comprehend.

91+%: The Sargeant knows their soldiers better than they themselves do, and they can see greatness in them that they may not even know is there. Upon a successful Avatar skill, the things that need getting done, get done; a quick shout and a reassuring pat on the back gives a Squad member the skill they need to get past one specific obstacle that they otherwise would have no recourse to. Don't know how to 'hack' a keypad to get into the Roy Roger's after hours? Bam, Vinnie gives it a good smack and it flashes green. However, if any one in the squad has the capability to somehow get past the obstacle at the hands of skills they actually possess, the channel fails. Regardless, the Channel can only be attempted once every 24 hours.

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