Unknown Armies

Avatars

The Free Artist

Express yourself!

Aka The High Artist, aka The Street Artist, aka The Starving Artist

Some people perform art to pay the rent, to put food on the table or too live a lavish lifestyle and get off the streets, but you love your art for it's own sake, whether it's dance or painting or even modifying cars, you love it and love showing it off and uplifting others with it, but you don't want to be a fake, Art is beauty and Beauty is Truth, compared to that, even eating is often secondary.

Selling out is death.

A Free Artist is consumed by their art, their medium and everything to do with it, as such their symbols are closely associated with their specific form and medium, and they often tend to view, as avatars in history, famous artists in their field, playwrights look up to Shakespeare, Musicians often look to the mysterious Jandek and visual artists look to Bach or any of the many painters who died in poverty and anonymity but got famous later, It's almost impossible for Free Artists to attain real fame during their life without tabooing, so aren't known by their contemporary society as great artists, though Ray Charles may have managed it somehow. Kafka, Emily Dickinson and Henry Derger are also suspected avatars in history, as is the great artist "Anonymous", though they didn't seem to care so much about the sharing the Art aspect of the avatar, which suggests it isn't as central to the concept as is often assumed or they were following a variation of the artist that didn't require it. Same diff' really.

Masks: Orpheus, the Satyrs, "Anonymous" (writer, painter and composer of so many pieces of art over the millennia)

Taboo: selling out, if you become too rich or too comfortable following the archetype, you taboo. The Free Artist must be facing adversity at every turn to stay connected to it. They must also never be controlled and unable to escape the employ of a higher power (excepting gods or the archetype itself, of course), short term contractual work is okay but they must be able to walk away at any time or you taboo while you slave away for your corporate masters, you sell-out.

01% - 50%: A Free Artist at this level can withstand harm from their environment, with a successful Avatar: The Free Artist they can go for the tens of their avatar skill in days without food OR sleep without suffering penalties or exist in extreme heat or cold and not be affected. (Person/unnatural/beast to person damage is unaffected of course)

51% - 70%: with a successful Avatar: The Free Artist roll, the Artist can
Bring a piece of their art to life in a thematically suitable way for the tens of their
Avatar skill in hours, painting or sculptures would start moving and . The artist has more or less control over the creation depending on what exactly is created, critical fails automatically making the creation totally unwilling to follow any command you give it and critical success makes them follow any command you give them directly, no matter how suicidal or humiliating (anime based gay porn takes on a whole new level of weirdness)

71% - 90%: At this level the Artist will start gathering a small following, who's number shall be equal to the tens of the Avatar skill, the people who are attracted to you with this channel will seek you out to meet you and learn from you, These people will follow you and watch you from afar if you firmly tell them to leave you alone, and will still further your legend when you're gone.

91% - 98%: At this level (and after a successful avatar roll) the avatar can make anything created using the second channel permanently exist (use this as an excuse for putting a drug awareness based otherworld in a dead artist's cupboards)

Miniature Wicker Zombu | profile | Mar 10, 05 | 1:45 pm

Visitor Comments

This is a really cool Archetype.
Definitely makes sense and carries power.

It also relates interestingly to the Freeworker archetype which generated so much discussion in a previous post:

http://www.unknown-armies.com/content_comments.php?id=1737_0_3_0_C2

The archetype could be used very well for the Open Source movement, and I'd probably use this version first.

The second and fourth channels are really strong, but also really interesting, and I'd trust a good GM to regulate it fairly. Also relates to the Pygmalion side of the archetype.

And it allows for awakened computers! And paintings you can walk into! Okay, this archetype rules.

TedPro | profile | Mar 11, 05 | 11:48 am

I really do like the idea, but having been blessed with an overabundance of opinions for Channel tinkering, you'll just sit through the this:

The 1st: of the channels fits perfectly with the "starving artist" idea. Also, subtle enough so a beginning Artist wouldn't notice it kicking in at first. Bravo.

The 2nd and 4th: both very powerful and not really distinct enough to suck up two separate Channel bands. I'd put it in the 71%-90% band, make them last for a number of hours equal to 1's die, and make them EITHER permanent OR obedient on a Crit.

The 3rd: fits well, but seems a bit underpowered for the 71%-90% position. I'd beef it up with a Rebel/Martyr-style Legacy and slide it up to the 91%-98% slot; if you reach that point, you deserve to be famous. (# of Fanatics equal to the 1's digit.)

Alternate Power: You've focused on lifestyle stuff: the artist, his posse, and the artwork/creation. It seems like you're missing a channel that involves the audience's experience.

The 51%-70% band seems like a great place for creating emotionally powerful artwork To represent the ability to make beniegn feelings, I'd say you also let the artist use their avatar skill instead of one medium-specific artisitic soul skill. To show the darker side, let a piece created by a successful roll trigger a Stress check equal to the [10's die] in anyone not looking away. (Only works for originals, not reproductions.)

So after all that, I could have just said:
1st: Starving Artist
2nd: Evokative Masterpiece
3rd: Creative License
4th: Cult Star

Menzoa | profile | Mar 11, 05 | 1:29 pm

Last note: the proposed Evokative Masterpiece channel wouldn't change the audience's madness meters (except maybe if they Fumble the stress check), just trigger a panic reaction.

Menzoa | profile | Mar 11, 05 | 1:38 pm

Thanks everyone for the ideas and compliments (Menzoas ordering of the channels and suggestions about the artistic license channel are ideal imho) I didn't think about a channel focused around the viewer of the art, so here's my take on the evokative masterpiece;

51% - 70%: At this level the Artist is able to substitute his avatar skill for his mundane artistic skills and create a master piece that can either create a single, very simple emotional response among everyone who views the original peice of art or ellicit a very strong emotional response from a single specific viewer who the artist chooses before making the avatar roll and work of art itself.

Miniature Wicker Zombu | profile | Mar 21, 05 | 9:39 am

Very nice, very nice... The general ability to make emotionally-evokative artwork is represented very well by a simple skill substitution.

The stress check bit ("Cathartic Commision"?) is much more balanced when each piece can only target one person (and their proxies?). I'd modify it a bit further by saying it can only have the full effect once, and subsequent viewing only gives an echo of the full feeling.

On the beneficial side, perhaps targeted pieces should also work like a therapy session, letting the chosen viewer roll to regain some of thier sanity.

This targeting also makes it much more personal; only those who get close enough for the artist to know who they are become vulnerable to the full power of his work... On the benign side, I can imagine a grandmother-chef like this, slaving away in the kitchen to make each of her grandkids' favorite dessert, just to make sure they know that feel loved.

Again, very nice.

Menzoa | profile | Mar 21, 05 | 12:07 pm