Merits & Flaws

You’ve been marked by some god, spirit, myth, or other metaphysical entity… and the mark is not a pleasant one. Maybe you share Papa Ghede’s nasal voice and crude sense of humor, or Coyote’s grotesquely huge cock, or Christ’s bleeding stigmata. Essentially, this Flaw is the flipside of the Merit: Mark of Favor; in your case, though, the mark complicates your life, twists your body, and alerts people who understand the significance of that mark. In certain circles – say, being marked by Satan while living in a deeply religious region – a Primal Mark can be a life-threatening affair. Such marks can also indicate the profound displeasure of the entity in question, like the Mark of Cain (in a non-vampiric sense, anyway) which set the First Murderer apart while sparing his life for a long-enduring punishment. But even if the entity in question likes you, this particular mark is more of a burden than a blessing. If, for instance, you stink like a goat and have

the heavy, hairy features of Pan, that’s not going to make you terribly popular with the ladies… especially not if you’re female to begin with!

This disconcerting legacy might come through as animal­ istic features that reveal your connection to a totem spirit, as described in the Totem Background entry and the appropriate

section of Mage 20’s Appendix I. (See pp. 326-328 and 633-

636.) Or the “mark” might involve some physical manifestation of your inner Avatar. You could share the archetypal “look” of a notorious family, like the Borgias or Romanovs, even if you’re not actually related to that bloodline; or bear an uncanny resem­ blance to some sinister beast even if you’re not a shapechanger or totem-friend. Maybe you just look like what people think of when they say wizard, shaman, or witch – which, in many cultures, can be rather unhealthy for people so identified. In short, you look weird in the literal, uncanny meaning of that phrase, and people notice.

Obviously, you should define the appearance of this feature, and decide the sort of reaction people have when they notice it. Because this is a Flaw, of course, that reaction should be negative in some way – the “primal mark of the Jolie-Pitt Clan” is not exactly a Flaw unless you’re dealing with paparazzi. The “mark” could also be a tone of voice, a distinct way of moving (birdlike, catlike, Papa Legba-like), or a certain vibe that nearly anyone can sense. Whatever their source and manifestation, these Primal Marks are obvious, and they tend to carry over even when a mage changes shape. People recognize you even when you’d rather not be recognized, and that sort of distinction can be rather unhealthy too.

This Flaw goes well with Backgrounds like Blessing, Destiny, Legend, Past Lives, and, as suggested earlier, Totem. It could be taken as a genetic Flaw for Enhancements, or as a reflection of an especially potent Avatar. For extra fun, you might not even know why you’ve been so marked, who marked you, or what may come as a result of the mark. As with so many elements of a mage’s life, these Primal Marks could be mysteries whose answers lay at the end of a long and winding Path… if, indeed, those answers ever reveal themselves at all.