Wushu Skidoo

Anathema: The Cursed

A beautiful woman enters the bank, a parasol in her right hand and three sticks of dynamite in her left. She smiles and preens, as if by habit, but no one seems to notice. The men waiting in line cast glances at her from beneath their fedoras, but none take the slightest interest. She might as well be invisible.

A homeless man tries to enter behind her, but two guards intercept him. He followed her here from five blocks away, screaming warnings at everyone within earshot and begging policemen to intervene. They all ignored him, much as they ignored her. Much as they would ignore the cracks in the sidewalk or the doorman at a hotel.

She slips behind the tellers, approaches the vault, and tucks a stick of dynamite into each of its massive hinges. Then, she twists their fuses together and lights them with a match.

On her way out, she bumps into one of the guards at the door. He spins on his heel and sees her, as if for the first time. "Pardon me, miss. I didn't see you there."

"I know," she weeps.

This month's article challenges you to create "super-anti-heroes," PCs who hate their powers. Want to play a fly brick? You have to start with a person who would view such powers as a curse, maybe a pacifist or a penitent warmonger who knows he can't be trusted with that kind of strength. Want to play an invisible thief? You have to start with a law-abiding citizen or a crazed attention-seeker. Put them together with a malevolent force that keeps them on the move, and you've got the makings of a truly bizarre road trip serial.

The End of the World

During the Roaring Twenties, excess was a way of life. Prohibition and economic expansion made an intoxicating mix, but it wasn't to everyone's taste. As the decade drew to a close, a gypsy woman brought terrible magic to America's shores. She roamed the continent for years, casting curses upon the vain, the greedy, the self-righteous, the corrupt, and the perverse.

Unfortunately, the malign power that she called down to manifest her will was far from tame. Those who suffer its attention know it as Anathema, and it does not limit itself to the old woman's victims. If the Cursed stay in one place for too long, or gather in large numbers, its baleful eye begins to wander. It twists things, inverts their best or strongest qualities, never for the better. Healthy things become diseased and innocent things become dangerous, violent. Normalcy gives way to terror.

Some believe that the old woman was a harbinger of the End Times... and maybe they're right. The Roaring Twenties are now over and America is in sharp decline. The stock market crash of '29 brought the world's economies to their knees. The Dustbowl has reduced America's bread basket to a barren hellscape and another Great War lurks just over the horizon.

Maybe the End is nigh.

The Cursed

This is not your grandmother's hedge magic; it's world-shaking, nature-defying juju. If you're clever, and if you're willing to make sacrifices, you can turn any Curse to your advantage.

The Invincible Pacifist

After this infantryman returned from the Great War, he renounced violence and became a man of the cloth. As time passed, his message of compassion and forgiveness gave way to an inflexible, moral arrogance that just plain rubbed the old gypsy the wrong way. She cast upon him this curse: "You shall not prevail in any conflict except through violence, and in violence you shall be invincible."

At first, he resisted temptation. Then, he prayed for forgiveness. Now, he wanders the ghost towns of the Midwest, seeking salvation. He preaches the Word to those who need to hear it and avoids personal conflicts whenever possible. His true sin is that, deep down, he enjoys raining righteous vengeance down upon the wicked. He runs from his own damnation.

The Unseen Beauty

Her mother always said that the affections of men are worth their weight in gold, but this stunning lass was never interested in money. She just craves attention. The silver screen loved her, but there's nothing the old gypsy despises more than vainglorious youth. Her curse: "You shall never attract the attention of anyone of importance."

Now, the girl falls so far below notice that she might as well be invisible. The only people who can consciously perceive her are those who have no importance: strangers, servants, vagrants, and other Cursed. (Note that people like guards or police are important only while she's doing something incriminating.) It is, needless to say, torture... if potentially profitable torture. She runs from that most terrible of fates: Obscurity.

The Tainted Physician

All he did was try to help an old woman. She'd been attacked by someone, or something, and he found her unconscious and bleeding. He carried her back to his office and treated her wounds, gave her something for the pain. When she awoke, she accused him of trying to poison her and laid down the following curse: "Your touch shall be like poison and everyone you treat with your 'medicine' shall wither and die."

His medical practice didn't last the week. When the third person died at his feet, after no more than the touch of a tongue depressor, he closed up shop and applied for a position with the coroner's office. When his presence in the morgue started raising the dead, he packed up and left town. Now, he seeks a cure for his affliction.

The Penitent Thug

A cranky, slightly senile old woman with a malevolent, otherworldly power at her disposal isn't exactly a recipe for Good Things (tm), but the gypsy did occasionally serve up some just desserts. Case in point: a bloody-knuckled thug with the Chicago Outfit. He made his reputation shaking down gamblers and petty criminals, finding ways to draw blood from proverbial stones. His curse: "You shall feel what your victims feel."

She should have specified "Pain." Instead, the legbreaker forms a persistent, telepathic connection to anyone he harms. As long as they keep feeling whatever he did to them, he gets a back stage pass to their brain. That includes the pain, of course, so there's a cost to be paid for this power. It's often worth it to extract someone's darkest secrets, but the constant buzz of other people's suffering is slowly driving him mad. He runs from his creeping insanity... and John Law... and the many, many people who want him dead.

The Deathless Man

After his wife passed on and his farm blew away in the dry, summer wind, this elderly farmer saw no reason to go on living. If only suicide weren't a sin. All he could do was sit on his porch and neglect his health until nature took its course. That's exactly what he was doing when a woman with a strange accident happened upon him. He offered her his whiskey and invited her to sit, but his bellyaching about the pain of being alive sent her into fits. She cursed him to "live until you have buried everyone you've ever loved."

It's been years since the farmer has seen any of his children or grandchildren, but he still loves them. Damn his heart. He's been in car crashes, fallen from buildings, mangled by a thresher, he even tried to shoot himself with a sawed-off. Somehow, the universe conspires to keep him alive. He seeks his long-lost loved ones; what he'll do when he finds them... well, he's keeping that to himself.

Anti-Superheroes

The Anathema isn't the only thing that keeps the Cursed on the move. There are others who know about them. Some want to destroy them before they destroy the world, others want to use them to immanentize the eschaton. The warped creatures created by the Anathema just want to strip the flesh from their bones.

The Santiago Family - The old woman's relatives have been tracking her for years, trying desperately to clean up her mess. That means putting to the knife every Anathemite and Cursed they can get their hands on. There are many ways to play your gypsy assassins: As descendants of the Thuggee cult, they could be fanatical ninja-types who kill with silken cords. As itinerant thieves and grifters, they could be manipulative puppetmasters who play elaborate con games. As masters of the unseen world, they could be spell-slinging necromancers who send demons to do their dirty work.

The Gatherers at Megiddo - Somehow, these Christian fundamentalists know all about the old woman and her Anathema. They believe she is a prophet of the End Times, planting the seeds of Armageddon. They say that the Book of Revelations has foretold that Gabriel will sound his trumpet when they gather the Cursed together at Tel Megiddo. As a foil for both the Cursed and the Santiago family, you should present the Gatherers as wealthy, powerful, and connected. The only good news for the Cursed is that the Gatherers need them alive. Maybe not with working legs, but alive.

Anathemites - These are the supernatural nasties who come out of the woodwork whenever the Cursed cool their heels. Each is potentially unique, but here are a few examples...

• Hellhounds are man's best friend turned traitor. Local dogs are often the first to turn, becoming bigger and meaner by the hour. They'll kill anybody, but they have a sweet tooth for the Cursed.
• Changelings are innocent children turned into cannibal pygmies. Their caretakers are usually their first victims, then they let their plaintive cries lure in fresh meat.
• Plague Beasts are farm animals that become a walking pestilence. Their flesh is riven with parasites, their blood is toxic, and their merest touch causes rapid decomposition.
• Dust Devils are the personification of Nature's betrayal of Man. They are whirlwinds of withered crops and barren soil that coalesce into many-limbed monstrosities.
• Hags are elderly women turned into lascivious succubi. Imagine the end of Little Red Riding Hood with all of the sexual subtext turned up to 11, but it really is grandma in bed!

Pick Me Ups

The Gatherers have built themselves a honeypot. Ambrosia is a bucolic town in the Midwest where the cult controls everyone from the Mayor and the Sheriff to the butcher and the baker. They use the local paper to circulate rumors of a holy man who can, among other miracles, break curses. Then, they wait for signs of the Anathema and scoop up anyone who's new to town. The trouble is: every time they spring their trap, it's a three-way battle between the cult, the Cursed, and swarms of Anathemites.

A group of Cursed have teamed up to rob a bank. They case the joint, come up with a plan, get everyone in place... and then the Santiago family sticks their noses in! It's now or never, but the getaway won't be easy with cops and gypsy assassins on their trail.

For the Cursed, good luck never stays good. The old woman has fallen right into their collective lap and she claims that she can lift their curses. First, however, they have to get a Santiago hit squad off her back. You can toss the Gatherers into this game of cat and also cat, too. They consider the old woman their prophet. Mix in a few Anathemites for a four-sided conflagration.

Next Up: Shinto ghosts, demon dogs, and magic foxes with many tails!