Chariot

III. The Chariot

“Let me do this. Failure is worse than dying.”

Persona-users in service to the Chariot are widely considered to be an odd bunch: militaristic, chaotic, organized, powerful, unsophisticated, tactical. For some reason, all the adjectives apply though they might contradict each other. In truth, the Chariot is all that and more, the Arcana that represents the spirit of progress.

Chariots awaken when their death is the result of being strangled by obstacles. They had causes, goals and ambitions that would have remained unrealized if they stayed dead. To them, their dream of what could be drives them on. They live for their ambitions to finally be realized.

Unsurprisingly, many Chariots are women: a few centuries of suppression, rape and the conquest of opportunities by men have more than contributed to women taking their own lives (or worse) in frustration. Yet others are killed by those who hate progress: the protester, the union rep, and the idealistic politician are other roles that make up the ranks of the Chariot.

Before one thinks that Chariots are bright idealists fighting for a better world, it might be wise to remind the reader that the reverse of the Chariot Arcana is blind ambition and progress for progress’ sake. The embezzling CEO and the most ruthless specimens of mankind are by and large Servitors of the Chariot, oftentimes marked for elimination by their equally ruthless rivals.

Simon Namarre is of the latter sort. A newly minted Dealer of the Chariot Arcana, he is arguably the most famous of the Dealers outside the World of Darkness. To the ignorant, he is the noble invalid strapped to a wheelchair who happens to be a popular spokesperson for a number of causes for the disabled. In truth however, he’s a vicious con-artist who preys on the softhearted for cash to help the disabled. Only Simon’s Servitors know that he has full use of his legs---Simon is known to chastise errant Servitors with a well-placed kick to the kidneys.

The Powers of the Chariot

Simon prefers Servitors who won’t be a threat to his own power---he himself is a warning to any Dealer who doesn’t keep a watchful eye on his Servitors---but he knows better than to contradict the precepts of his Arcana. He grudgingly supports charities and trains newly awakened Chariots to their power because he knows if he doesn’t a mutiny (or assassination attempts) might land on his head. The temperament of most Chariots ensures that his hold on their lives is a mild deterrent at best.

Chariot 1: Run to Your Goal
Roll: Stamina + Athletics + Numina. 1 Numen.
Chariots move with astonishing alacrity when they have to.

Exceptional Failure: The Chariot burns out his legs, and takes a -2 penalty to Athletics rolls for the rest of the scene.

Failure: The power fails to function.

Success: The Chariot’s Speed is multiplied by his Stamina for as many minutes as his Stamina ranking. Thus, a Chariot with a base Speed of 10 with a Stamina rating of 3 can run at a Speed of 30 for 3 minutes---easily outdistancing a horse at full gallop.

Exceptional Success: The duration of the Speed boost is doubled.

Chariot 2: Marathon Fitness
Roll: Passive. 1 Numen.
This ability enhances a Chariot’s ability to resist exhaustion. When activated, the Persona-user doubles his Stamina rating for the purposes of running, jumping and holding his breath and other Athletics based rolls.

Chariot 3: Hear Me Roar
Roll: Stamina + Presence + Numina vs. Stamina + Numina (if contested)
A Chariot with this ability can use his voice to channel his dreams and rally others to his cause. This ability cannot work if the Persona-user is silenced, overpowered vocally or the target is deaf. In addition, the Chariot must be understood by his audience and speak in a language they understand.

Exceptional Failure: Listeners can only hear the volume of his voice, and not the message. For the next 2 turns the Chariot is unintelligible.

Failure: The power fails to function.

Success: The Chariot’s words are eloquent and rally his listeners. He forms a separate dice pool in reserve for each success that he collects. When dealing with any of his listeners on a one-to-one basis, he can add these successes to his Presence/Manipulation rolls for up to 3 turns after his speech. He cannot accumulate more success by giving multiple speeches. Rolls for this ability are contested if the Chariot is competing for the attention of his audience.

Exceptional Success: The Chariot’s speech is memorable; his dice pool lasts for 5 turns instead of 3.

Chariot 4: I am the Best
Roll: Passive.
The Chariot benefits from the 9-again rule on rolls concerning Stamina.

Chariot 5: Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better
Roll: Stamina + Wits + Numina vs. Stamina + Resolve + Numina. 2 Numina per turn contested. Reflexive.
A Chariot with this ability can mimic the physical abilities of another creature for as long as he garners more successes.

Exceptional Failure: The Numina backfires, empowering his target to mimic the Chariot’s skills. This power does not cover specializations.

Failure: The power fails to function.

Success: For the space of the turn where he garners more successes, the Chariot can perform any Physical Skill he has observed his target doing, adding his own rating in that skill (if he has a rating in it.) Thus if Simon Namarre, who has a Brawl rating of 2, were to successfully mimic a martial artist whose Brawl rating is 3 , for the rest of the turn he would have a Brawl rating of 5.

Exceptional Success: As Success.