The Wounded King

by Kevin Mowery (profbobo@io.com)
(With props to Stacy Stroud, Jim Dyer, Earl Wajenberg, and the rest of the people on the mailing list who gave me ideas and suggestions. My role in this one was just organizing everyone else's thoughts, really.)

Attributes: The Wounded King is a representation of the unity of the ruler and the land. Since ancient times, kings and their land have had a symbolic, if not actual link--even the royal "we" is a remnant of that belief, referring to the ruler and the land. As the king's fortunes go, so goes the land. The Grail King of legend was probably not the first Wounded King, as the archetype can be traced back to ancient fertility gods. Although the archetype is referred to as the Wounded King, avatars can be of either sex. Taboos: Avatars of the Wounded King must have a territory they protect. This territory can be of any size although practical considerations must play some part in the decision; no fledgling avatar could possibly protect a kingdom the size of Los Angeles or Newfoundland. At any time, an avatar can claim more territory if it has no King avatar ruling it (and there is more than one variant on the King archetype) or if he defeats the ruling King avatar in combat (usually this results in the death of the vanquished King). If the avatar ever loses his land entirely, his skill in Avatar: Wounded King drops to 0 and must be rebuilt from scratch.

The avatar must protect the realm or he will break his taboo. A broken taboo for the Wounded King results not in a loss of skill, but in a loss of Wound Points. These Wound Points can only be healed if the wounding of the realm is repaired in some way, or if the avatar removes skill points from his Avatar: Wounded King skill on a one-for-one basis. Protecting the realm does not necessarily mean personally protecting it. [Example: The Wounded King of New York could not possibly protect all of New York from crime. He can work to support legislation that will help solve the crime problem or phone in anonymous tips to the police department.]

Symbols: The symbols of the Wounded King are the grail, the spear, and blood. As an agricultural god ears of corn and sheafs of wheat are also potent symbols.

Suspected Avatars in History: Pellam the Grail King, if he existed, was probably an avatar of the Wounded King. Norton I of San Francisco and Ludwig II of Bavaria are rumored to have been avatars of the Wounded King, although if they were, their wounds were somehow mental rather than physical. The Merovingian kings are also likely candidates. In general, Wounded Kings tend to keep low profiles.

Channels:

1% - 50%: The avatar gains a link to his domain. He can sense when and where his domain comes into danger. With a successful skill check, the avatar can tap into his domain to locate specific people or objects within it. [Example: Joshua is the avatar of the Wounded King, claiming a city park as his domain. While fishing in the lake, he gets a sense that there is trouble on the nature trail. He's had some trouble with Armand DeMain, the Wounded King avatar of 3rd Street. He makes a successful skill roll and asks the GM if Armand is in the park. The GM informs Joshua that he is. Joshua makes another skill roll and asks if Armand brought anyone with him. Since he's not asking about a specific person, the GM does not answer.]
In addition, at this point, the domain of the Wounded King often reflects his own state. [Example: Joshua's apartment is bombed and he is badly burned. At the same time, a pile of peat moss ignites under its own weight in the park. Example: Armand and his wife concieve a child. The cherry trees along 3rd street bloom out of season.]

51% - 70%: The blood of the avatar gains magical potence. When the avatar is wounded, his blood can be used to heal others on a point-for-point basis or to cause fertility in plants or animals. [Example: A jogger is wounded by a mugger in the city park. Joshua arrives to find her still alive and decides to save her. He pulls out his pocket knife and drives it through his palm, inflicting 9 points of damage to himself. He bleeds onto the jogger's wounds and she is healed of 9 Wound Points of damage--not enough to eliminate her wounds, but enough to bring her to consciousness.]
Also at this level, the avatar can leech life from his domain to heal himself. For this purpose (and only for this purpose), consider the land to have as many Wound Points as the avatar. Wound Points lost by the domain relfect disrepair, blight, and so forth. These Wound Points can be replaced only by the avatar's blood sacrifice to heal the land. [Example: Joshua tracks down the mugger who has been preying on joggers in his park. During the struggle, the mugger is killed, but Joshua is shot for 55 Wound Points. He's only got 65 Wound Points, and he thinks he hears someone else coming. Joshua leeches 40 Wound Points from the park. In the park, grass dies, and trees are blighted. If Joshua drains 25 more Wound Points from the park, everything in it will die and he will no longer be the avatar of the Wounded King. If he bleeds himself into the land of the park over the next few weeks until he has sacrificed 40 Wound Points, the park is healed.]

71% - 90%: For the avatar's work in protecting his domain, the domain will protect him. With a successful skill roll, the avatar of the Wounded King can cause his very domain to initiate unarmed combat at the avatar's own Struggle (or equivalent) skill level. [Example: A gang has moved onto 3rd Street and Armand wants them gone. He makes a successful skill roll and then rolls his Struggle skill. He succeeds and a piece of masonry falls off of a building onto the gang's leader.]

91% +: The avatar can move within his realm at the speed of thought, although not during combat. The avatar can also prevent any non-avatar from entering his realm with a successful skill roll, although the wording must be specific. This will not manifest as an invisible wall of force. Rather, events will conspire to keep the person out of the realm. [Example: Joshua is getting tired of fending off attacks from Armand. He can't keep Armand from entering the park, but if he knows the names of Armand's thugs, he can restrict their movements.]
Finally, the blood sacrifice of the avatar can improve the health of the realm in intangible ways. This is mostly up to the GM, but the avatar's sacrifice can reduce crime, lower tax rates, keep the streets clean, whatever the GM decides is reasonable.