{"id":1907,"date":"2013-08-02T06:00:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/?p=1907"},"modified":"2013-07-29T10:00:06","modified_gmt":"2013-07-29T17:00:06","slug":"serpent-princess-and-sky-arrow-a-villain-and-a-hero-for-better-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/2013\/08\/serpent-princess-and-sky-arrow-a-villain-and-a-hero-for-better-angels\/","title":{"rendered":"Serpent Princess and Sky Arrow – A Villain and a ‘Hero’ for ‘Better Angels’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Better-Angels-cover-v4-front-612px\"<\/a>Written by Greg Stolze, \u00a9 2013; illustrated by Kurt Komoda, \u00a9 2013<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

The villainess Serpent Princess and the superhero Sky Arrow appear in \u201cMe and Karish-Nephet the Defiler,\u201d a short story you can read in Better Angels<\/em>\u00a0and, with some clicking, online: part 1<\/a>, part 2<\/a>, part 3<\/a>, and\u00a0part 4<\/a>.\u00a0Here\u2019s what they\u2019d look like in the game.<\/p>\n

Serpent Princess<\/h1>\n

The tragic history of Margaret Silverberg is recounted in Better Angels:<\/em> A grad student with relationship problems and self-esteem issues, she got demon-infused, went a little too far with her powers and is now on the run.<\/p>\n

Her demon, Karish-Nephet the Defiler, is one of the \u2018big\u2019 demons described in the optional rule on page 70.\u00a0 So not only are her Aspects under Karish-Nephet\u2019s control, he\u2019s saying \u2018yea\u2019 or \u2018nay\u2019 to her powers as well.\u00a0 With the guilt she feels over the\u2026 unpleasantness\u2026 with her ex-boyfriend and old mentor, she\u2019s ever more vulnerable to her demon\u2019s urges.<\/p>\n

CUNNING<\/strong> 2, PATIENT<\/strong> 2
\nGreed<\/em> 2, Generosity<\/em> 2
\nEspionage<\/em> 3, Knowledge<\/em> 3<\/p>\n

SLY<\/strong> 2, OPEN<\/strong> 1
\nCruelty<\/em> 3, Courage<\/em> 0
\nCowardice<\/em> 2, Endurance<\/em> 0<\/p>\n

DEVIOUS<\/strong> 4, INSIGHTFUL<\/strong> 3
\nCorruption<\/em> 1, Nurture<\/em> 2
\nDeceit<\/em> 3, Honesty<\/em> 0<\/p>\n

POWERS:<\/strong> Body Control, Impossible Beauty, Mind Reading*<\/p>\n

ASPECTS:<\/strong> Carapace (in the form of an eight-foot-tall snake-woman) and Horned (in this case, poison fangs, but Margaret isn\u2019t terribly comfortable biting people).<\/p>\n

PRIMARY SINFUL STRATEGY:<\/strong> Devious<\/p>\n

* Mind Reading is pretty much \u2018Telepathy\u2019 from the example on page 81.\u00a0 She can roll Cunning Espionage and, with a set, she gets some idea of what\u2019s on the target\u2019s mind.\u00a0 They can resist with Cunning Knowledge, but only if that\u2019s their declared action or part of a multiple action.\u00a0 It\u2019s only good for practical thoughts and plans.\u00a0 She can\u2019t use this to dig out memories or repressed desires, just \u2018what\u2019s on their mind right now.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sky Arrow<\/h1>\n

Sky Arrow is a demon-infested youth named Scott Fletcher.\u00a0 He goofed off a little in high school, assuming that he\u2019d get into college like his smart older sister and athletic older brother but\u2026 his parents\u2019 real estate investments crashed just as he graduated and nobody was really looking for another mediocre student with so-so test scores.<\/p>\n

He moved out after getting a promotion at his fast food job, landing some piece work that fit his schedule, and finding an introverted room mate. He settled into a grind of toil, broken up by exhaustion and tedium, until he woke up to a mid-life crisis at the age of 23.<\/p>\n

That day, he abandoned his job, took all his money, and drove fourteen hours to Miami, with no particular agenda other than \u201cstop being bored.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s missing about 48 hours in there, but when he woke up he was naked except for beard stubble, a green and yellow cape, and a patchy layer of vomit.\u00a0 His money was gone, as was his ID, as was his car, but on a hunch he leapt into the sky\u2026 and flew.<\/p>\n

Specifically, he flew back home and got a change of clothes.<\/p>\n

Scott is now enrolled in college (thanks to his parents\u2019 economic recovery and a Master Die added during his interview) but happily fighting crime on the weekends and evenings.\u00a0 He has no idea that his powers are diabolical in nature.\u00a0 He simply thinks that life is complicated and that choices aren\u2019t always easy or obvious.<\/p>\n

At some point, his demon is going to start talking to him and explain about how Cloven Hooves work, but right now it\u2019s letting him enjoy his freedom and power.\u00a0 It\u2019s waiting until he\u2019s does something he can\u2019t take back.<\/p>\n

CUNNING<\/strong> 3, PATIENT<\/strong> 1
\nGreed<\/em> 1, Generosity<\/em> 1
\nEspionage<\/em> 3, Knowledge<\/em> 1<\/p>\n

SLY<\/strong> 2, OPEN<\/strong> 2
\nCruelty<\/em> 3, Courage<\/em> 1
\nCowardice<\/em> 1, Endurance<\/em> 3<\/p>\n

DEVIOUS<\/strong> 1, INSIGHTFUL<\/strong> 1
\nCorruption<\/em> 2, Nurture<\/em> 1
\nDeceit<\/em> 2, Honesty<\/em> 3<\/p>\n

POWERS<\/strong>: Ineffable Defense, That Hideous Strength<\/p>\n

ASPECTS<\/strong>: Cloven Hooves, Wings<\/p>\n

PRIMARY SINFUL STRATEGY<\/strong>: Cunning<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Greg Stolze, \u00a9 2013; illustrated by Kurt Komoda, \u00a9 2013<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Greg Stolze, \u00a9 2013; illustrated by Kurt Komoda, \u00a9 2013 The villainess Serpent Princess and the superhero Sky Arrow appear<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[144],"tags":[142,11],"class_list":["post-1907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-better-angels","tag-characters","tag-greg-stolze"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/Sky-Arrow-feature-image.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1wrNI-uL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1907"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1915,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1907\/revisions\/1915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcdream.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}