This is a sample archetype from the Tyrant section of the supplement.
The Nativist
Race: All nativists must belong to one of the native tribes of the New World.
Age: Middle age or older. Nativists should be paragons of their class.
Class/Powers: All nativists must belong to a class that blends charismatic leadership with supernatural power. Nativists use their supernatural powers to impress and intimidate their followers into strict devotion to their cause as well as provide evidence of the oracularity of their visions.
Example: Falling Crow is a feared necromancer of the Black Raven Tribe. She is well on her way to becoming a lich. Besides her ability to summon and bind Raven Mocker, she commands an army of devoted followers.
Description: The nativist is a native tribal leader who has a xenophobic hatred for the colonists. She views the eradication of all colonists, including colonists’ physical settlements and colonial social influences, as necessary to cleanse the land and create native utopia. While for some nativists this xenophobic hatred may develop because of a series of wrongs caused by the colonists over an extended time, it may develop overnight for other nativists. Despite the differences in how this xenophobic hatred develops, for all nativists the hatred culminates in the overwhelming obsession to eradicate the colonists and create a native utopia.
Falling Crow had a vision of a society in which all the native tribes lived and traded peacefully with each other. Because her vision did not include the newly arrived colonists, she interpreted the vision as a sign of what would come if the colonists were destroyed. Using her vision as a rhetorical tool and her powerful abilities as a Black Raven necromancer, Falling Crow has raised an army of likeminded natives to achieve her vision.
History: The nativist first appears in a time of uncertainty regarding who controls the land. This time typically occurs after the colonists have established themselves as a potential political, social, and military power in the New World, but before they have come to dominate politically, socially, or militarily. So even though the power of the colonists is waxing while the power of the indigenous tribes is waning, the two groups have not completely switched positions. The nativist rises in attempt to fill this power vacuum.
Any number of events can precipitate the nativist’s rise once the political, social, or military conditions are right. Perhaps the colonists destroy the nativist’s village or kill members of the nativist’s family that cause her to develop a lifelong vendetta against the colonists. Perhaps the nativist, as in the case of Falling Crow, has a vision of a native utopia devoid of colonists. Or perhaps, even, the nativist exhibits signs of fulfilling a tribal myth or oracle’s prophecy. Despite what form the triggering event may take, the time factor in the nativist’s rise is more important to her rise than the event itself.
Once a nativist rises to power, she always follows the same trajectory. She crafts her idea of a native utopia into a powerfully motivating narrative to attract followers. She begins by focusing on others that may share her sentiments toward the colonists and then shifts her focuses to different groups. Finally, once she has a powerful army built up, she will attack the colonists directly.
After her vision, Falling Crow immediately sought the aid of the Black Raven tribe’s most powerful seers and oracles. She explained her vision to the seers and oracles and what she believed the meaning was. She was so persuasive that among many of the seers and oracles, her vision has become a new myth of redemption. Falling Crow used this approval by the seers and oracles to help her attract other followers. As word of her vision spread, natives from different tribes started to seek out Falling Crow to join her ranks of devotees. She has amassed one of the largest native armies in the New World.
Casus Belli: The nativist’s casus belli is wholly dependent on her vision of a native utopia. She bases all of her actions on her vision and justifies all the consequences for those actions as helping to create her narrated utopia. Even if defeated in a battle, the nativist will emphasize the sacrifice slain followers have made for the cause. Although the nativist utopia is based on removing the colonists and their influences from the land through slaughter and destruction, she will not directly attack the colonists until she feels she is strong enough to fight them in open war. In the early stages of her rise to power, she will encourage gorilla fighting that will cause the colonists to respond militarily against native villages. Once the colonists have started to respond, the nativist will portray the colonists as the aggressors and use this portrayal to rally her followers and to attract new ones.
Although her vision was did not show how the colonists would be eradicated, Falling Crow does not hesitate in referring to the vision regarding even the most mundane of political, social, or military questions. This unwavering approach has caused even the most skeptical of Falling Crows followers to refer to Falling Crow’s vision as an inevitable end to the natives struggle against the colonists.
Leadership Style: The nativist is a totalitarian dictator. She has developed a strong cult of personality that she maintains despite whatever strong-arm tactics she employs. The nativist truly believes in her cause and demands total devotion to her cause from her followers. To gain such devotion, the nativist gives speeches and tells stories that empower her followers by representing them as a chosen people, while simultaneously playing on their fears of the colonists. While she works ceaselessly to recruit new followers and maintain her followers devotion, she is unmerciful to followers she feels have turned against the cause and punishes such transgressors severely. She often uses these punishments to serve as examples to her other followers and has the other followers carry out the punishment as tests of faith.
Falling Crow is quickly developing into a totalitarian dictator herself. While she initial sought out seers and oracles to confirm her vision, she has grown suspicious of all other natives both in the Black Raven tribe and other tribes that hold positions of power. As an already powerful necromancer, she is not easily intimidated.
Weaknesses: As a dictator, the nativist has two major weaknesses: she closely follows a predetermined course of action that corresponds to her utopian plan and she requires such strict devotion to that plan that she does not completely trust anyone. Politically and rhetorically savvy players could exploit her first weakness by exposing contradictions between the rhetoric the nativist uses to develop her cult of personality and the reality of her and her followers actions. While the nativist first weakness requires careful and patient planning on the players’ part, her second weakness makes her unpredictable both as an opponent and as a leader. She is likely to accuse her followers, even those that appear to be her most trusted advisors, of turning against her or betraying the cause without provocation. Stealthy and diplomatically savvy players could exploit the nativist second weakness by planting a spy in her camp and attempting to get the nativist to turn against her own followers. Directly attacking the nativist or her army, however, is ill-advised because of the devotion of her followers.
While Falling Crow’s meeting with the top seers and oracles and convincing them of the prophetic nature of her vision has become the stuff of legends, what few people know is that a number of seers and oracles disagreed with both Falling Crows vision and her interpretation of it. During the meeting, Falling Crow accepted this disagreement, but began systematically executing those that disagreed shortly afterward. She has been careful to hide her involvement in the deaths of these seers and oracles and the remaining seers and oracles have devoted themselves to the cause either out of actual belief or fear. If any of the seers and oracles that disagreed with Falling Crow could be found, they could perhaps damage her strong cult of personality by convincing powerful devotees to turn against Falling Crow despite whatever repercussions they would incur.
