Merits & Flaws

In the eyes of your society, you’re clearly divergent. Dis­ reputable. Other. People suspect you of criminal, or at least unsavory, behavior; the authorities harass or detain you for little or no reason, and your loved ones probably “wish you could just be like normal people.” Granted, every mage is “other” to some degree. In your case, though, the othering threatens your life, liberty, and happiness.

Also known as Mistreated Minority, this Flaw reflects prejudice within your society. The amount of trouble it caus­ es, and the frequency of said trouble, determines the value of your Flaw:

• (1 point) Folks around you tend to harass you in small but noticeable ways (acting uncommonly brusque, using slurs in your presence, taking uncomfortable liberties

with your privacy, property or person, etc.) and seem to feel there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Other people might stand up for you, but more often than not they won’t.

• (2 points) As above, but now your family and other in­ timate companions feel that you deserve to be avoided, shamed, insulted, and so forth because you are who or what you are.

• (3 points) Strangers feel free to shame, insult, avoid, and perhaps physically attack you on general principle. Authorities might intervene, but probably won’t do so unless major laws are broken… and maybe not even then.

• (4 points) Authorities discriminate against you too. Your house may be searched, your job may be terminated, you might be evicted, robbed or assaulted and very few people will care.

• (5 points) Merely living in this society is physically, socially, emotionally, and legally hazardous to your safety, your sanity, and possibly your life. You could be imprisoned, enslaved, tortured or killed with little-or-no response from the authorities.

Unlike the physical Flaw: Profiled Appearance, this discrimination isn’t based on physicality. A character with this Flaw cannot also take the Profiled Appearance Flaw; if your character stands out physically while also being discriminated against socially, simply take more points in this Flaw.

Nor is this Flaw tied to any particular creed, gender or ethnicity; while a Wiccan could be a Cultural Other in a town filled with fundamentalist Baptists, a fundamentalist Baptist could be a Cultural Other in a Wicca-based Horizon Realm. You could follow a “heretical” creed, belong to a “disreputable” subculture, identify as a sexual /gender /ethnic /religious “mi­ nority,” hold an unpopular political opinion… anything that inspires others around you to treat you poorly and get away with it could be considered grounds for this Flaw.

That said, a character with this Flaw must indeed be treat­ ed poorly; having folks call you out on an unpopular opinion, or criticize your behavior, is part of the human experience, whereas having cops shake you down merely for existing is an actual problem. In order to take this Flaw, your character must face actual discrimination and attack on a fairly regular and hazardous basis. No, being called names on the Internet does not count, although an intense bout of cyberbullying – that is, doxing, swatting, career destruction, and serious threats to life and sanity – might count as this Flaw, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Because Cultural Other is tied to the character’s social surroundings, a radical change to those surroundings may mitigate or eliminate this Flaw. A polyamorous person may be

discriminated against in one city, and welcomed with open arms (and open legs) in another; if that poly character remains in poly-friendly sur­ roundings, then the player needs to buy off or replace this Flaw. Similarly, your “otherness” must be either something that people know about, or something that they could find out about easily enough for that element of your life to become a big problem for you. A deeply hidden “otherness” is a Dark Secret (see below) until or unless it gets revealed.

To be clear: This Flaw in no way reflects judgment on the part of this game, its creators, or – one hopes! – your gaming group. It’s intended to reflect the ways in which mortal (and, often, Awakened) society tends to treat people who stand out from their cultural norms. Being who they are and what they do, mages often do stand out in ways that can be hazardous to their social and sometimes physical health – hello, Burning Times! However, if this Flaw seems redundant in your group, creates unwanted real-life tensions between your players, or gets abused by characters (or players) who are catching hell for acting like dicks, then feel free to ignore or discard this Flaw.