TEXT: You're never alone with a skull on a pole. Especially one which lights your way through 
  as dark a place as this. 
  • 
  The Ascension Chamber - Home-grown archetypes just like Le Comte used to 
  make 'em 
  • 
  The Schoolyard - New schools of magick 
  • 
  Down to the River - Kicking ass for the Lord 
  • 
  The Freak Hut - Critters: we got 'em 
  Ascension Chamber  
  The Working Man  
    
  The Working Man 
  The power to create, shape and manipulate has always been jealously hoarded by those 
  who owned it, and obsessively coveted by those who sought it. This rivalry has led to 
  many strange conflicts and customs, from the hobbled blacksmiths of Medieval times, to 
  the guilds and secret artisans' societies of later centuries, but the core of the struggle, for 
  those in the know, has always been about one thing and one thing only: the Archetype of 
  the Working Man. 
  The Working Man does not embody skilled work as much as work itself, although the 
  work is usually physical rather than social or mental in nature. Avatars of the Working 
  Man gain endurance, resistance to pain and fatigue, and the ability to work at a task until 
  it is completed, but they do so at great cost - a follower of this Archetype may never 
  leave a task uncompleted, even if it means their own death. To do otherwise is to 
  deviate from the path of the Archetype and to weaken the connection. Modern Working 
  Men (and, of course, the Archetype may be channeled by either sex, especially after the 
  boost given to female labor equality in the munition factories of the Second World War) 
  are often carpenters, janitors, or civil engineers. 
  Symbols: Work clothes covered in soot, dust, or sweat are a powerful symbol of this 
  Archetype, as are bare arms and fire. 
  Taboos: As mentioned above, an Avatar of the Working Man may never leave a task 
  uncompleted. This includes tasks which have failed once, but may be re-attempted. The 
  Avatar must work until it is impossible to continue, no matter how hazardous. 'Task', in 
  the sense it is used here, is typically a physical project or objective, although other 
  important actions may qualify. 
  Suspected Avatars in History: History is full of mythical and semi-mythical craftsman 
  figures, most of whom have passed into legend as Hephaestus, Vulcan, and Paul 
  Bunyan. However, serious analysis of recent contenders for this Archetype points most 
  strongly to 'Schmidt', the Dutch factory worker whose tireless and efficient work allowed 
  Frederick W. Taylor to write his Principles of Scientific Management in 1910, a book 
  which went on to become the foundation of all operation-management disciplines. 
  Channels: 
  
  1-50: At this level, the Working Man gains the ability to work on after others have fallen, 
  unconscious, at their benches. Whenever the Avatar would normally gain an exhaustion 
  penalty from sleep deprivation, intoxication, or some other factor, they may roll against 
  their Avatar: Working Man skill. If successful, they gain as many hours' respite as the 
  tens digit of their skill. After this point, they gain the exhaustion penalty as usual, but they 
  may roll this skill again when the next penalty is applied, and so on, until they fail the roll; 
  after this point, they get fatigued at the normal rate and must rest before using this 
  channel again. A Working Man never takes penalties to his or her Avatar skill due to 
  fatigue, pain, or exhaustion. 
  51-70: A Working Man with this level takes no penalties due to environmental factors 
  (darkness, rain, heat, cold, etc.). This only applies to actions falling within the domain of 
  this avatar; thus, operation skills (like Driving) or craft/repair skills (like Carpentry or First 
  Aid) are safe, but 'ethereal' skills like Charm or those skills which don't create anything 
  (like Shoot from the Hip) take the penalty as usual. 
  71-90: At this level, the Working Man's fists strike with the power of sledgehammers. 
  The Avatar may add the sum of the two digits of his or her Avatar: Working Man skill to 
  all bare-handed melee attack damage. Alternately, any tool (hammer, hoe, spade) 
  wielded in combat does +9 damage, and is thus capable of doing firearm-style damage 
  on a matched result. 
  91+: This channel grants the Working Man the ability to work at a task until it is 
  completed, free of any constraints but elapsed time. Put another way: if a Working Man 
  performs an action which fails, and it falls within the territory of this Avatar (see the 51-70 
  channel for details), they may immediately re-roll the failed check, and keep on re-rolling 
  until they succeed or roll higher than their Avatar: Working Man skill. If any roll is higher 
  than their Avatar skill, the action fails. In combat, these re-rolls happen (and take effect) 
  after everyone else has acted. Out of combat, these rerolls may also take up some time; 
  a rough guide (which should be modified depending on the circumstances) is that every 
  reroll represents an extra 20% of the time required to complete the task. 
  Back to the Chamber... 
  Back to the top...  
  The Schoolyard  
  Anglomancy  
  Pictomancy  
  Pictomancy: The Power of Images 
  Definitions aside, Pictomancy isn't a fully-fledged school of magick - yet. While it has 
  many of the elements necessary for that status (the contradiction of art and not-art, 
  obsession, transactionality, and obedience), it is still in an embryonic stage as far as 
  formulaic study and definition go, simply because few Pictomancers have the occult 
  training to expand their natural, quirky, talents into something which can be taught to 
  others. This is both an advantage and a disadvantage; the primary advantage is that 
  Pictomancy can be adopted alongside another school of magick, while the 
  disadvantages are that such an association tends to drive the user insane over time, and 
  that Pictomantic effects are costly in terms of charges and very limited in application. 
  Most Pictomancers are urban graffiti artists; however, there is nothing to prevent their 
  
  magick from operating in a rural environment. 
  Pictomancers gain charges through the creation of visual art - tags, murals, mosaics, 
  and the like (not computer-generated or artificial images such as photographs). The 
  charges gained are, in turn, expended through the creation of other, magickally active, 
  images. These images are treated as artifacts, in that they embody a certain effect and 
  have a specified duration or life span. Pictomancers cannot create their art in any 
  medium that they own or have a direct or indirect claim on; their art must be created in 
  secret, but must always stand revealed once completed - private spellcasting is an 
  anathema to this school. Pictomancers are known as rune taggers in the occult 
  underground. 
  Blast style:  
  Pictomancers use a similar blast to Urbanomancers; the victim is damaged by a 
  seemingly random outpouring of violence from their immediate environment - a flowerpot 
  dropped from a high ledge, a swerving car, or a gas main explosion. However, the effect 
  is generally weak and costly (see Blood Tag, below). 
  Generate a minor charge:  
  Create an item of art in keeping with the general guidelines of the school - a graffiti tag 
  or small mural. The image may be abstract or representative, but it must be recognizable 
  for what it is - hence, it must look like a consciously created image rather than a random 
  paint splatter. The image should be approximately five square meters in size, and will 
  require between fifteen minutes and an hour to create. The image must be seen by at 
  least ten people before it yields a charge. If the image is removed or painted over before 
  you spend the charge, you lose the charge. 
  Generate a significant charge:  
  As for a minor charge, but the image must be much larger - between fifty and one 
  hundred square meters - and must be seen by one hundred people before it yields its 
  charge. An entire train car or alleyway would suffice. The image must bear your mark, 
  signature, or pseudonym. An image of this size requires at least an hour to create, but 
  may require much longer if a specific subject is to be depicted (roll a die, and add one - 
  that's how long it takes). 
  Generate a major charge:  
  As for a significant charge, but the image must be seen by at least one million people 
  (either live or via the media) before it yields a charge, and must bear your full and 
  recognizable given name. If you change your name before using the charge, you lose it. 
  Taboos:  
  Creating an image for any reason except the gaining or expenditure of charges causes 
  the tagger to lose all their charges. Writing is safe, but a smiley face, an arrow, or any 
  symbol grounds them out, irrespective of the medium in which it appears. Similarly, a 
  
  tagger may only deface, obscure, or paint over a symbol or piece of art if they replace it 
  with an image of their own; anything else (like whitewashing a tagged wall) is taboo. 
  Random magick domains:  
  Pictomancy has no random magic domain - all its effects are created through the handful 
  of formulaic spells detailed below. Hypothetically, should the school ever mature, its 
  random magickal domain would be phenomenally broad - if something can be depicted, 
  it can be caused to happen. This, of course, cancels out any 'invisible' effects. 
  Starting charges: 
  A fresh-off-the-rack rune tagger has two minor charges. 
  Pictomancy Effect Durations: 
  When a tagger casts a spell, use the artifact rules to determine the number of uses the 
  image has. 'Uses' can be interpreted as 'life span' or 'charges' - thus, a tagger who 
  creates an effect with seven uses can either have it affect everyone who sees it for 
  seven days, or the first seven people to see it. The image can, at the tagger's discretion, 
  be targeted at a specific person or group of persons; in this case, it must be of a form or 
  contain images, writing, or symbology which would only be recognized as meaningful by 
  that person or group. A 'life span' image can affect any given target every time the view 
  the image (although at least an hour must pass between viewings); a 'charge' image can 
  only affect them once. 
  Example: Steffi is a Pictomancer who has been having some trouble with a group of 
  ancient Irish ghouls stalking her neighborhood. She spends an evening putting a Blood 
  Tag up on the wall of her hideout; she incorporates (after some research) several 
  appropriate phrases written in Gaelic into the image, spends her charges, and succeeds 
  in her Pictomancy roll with a 42. Now, this would let her create an image with 6 'uses' 
  (4+2); she decides that she wants it to be active for six days rather than just affecting the 
  first six targets to see it. The Blood Tag will affect anyone who can read Gaelic who sees 
  it, once per day, for the next six days. 
  Pictomancy alongside another School: 
  Pictomancy, in its current form, only has to be a character's Obsession skill if they don't 
  have an existing magickal school to obsess about. Adepts who pick up some 
  Pictomantic techniques need to make an Unnatural stress check of a rank equal to the 
  highest digit in their Pictomancy skill roll each time they cast a tagger spell. Practitioners 
  of schools of magick which have some overlap with Pictomancy (most notably 
  Personamancy and Iconomancy) can halve the rank of this stress check, rounding up. If 
  Pictomancy ever gains full school status, this benefit will be lost, and practitioners will 
  take a Failed notch every time they cast a spell in addition to the results of their stress 
  check.  
  Pictomancy Minor Formula Skills: 
  
  By 
  Their 
  Tags 
  Will 
  You 
  Know 
  Them 
  Cost: 
  2 
  minor 
  charges 
  This effect is produced by including some kind of personal representation into a piece of 
  art - a rough self-portrait will do, although more subtle techniques are also used. As long 
  as the image remains active, the Pictomancer can draw mystic energies into his or her 
  own very identity. People who have never met them will find them familiar; people who 
  know them, but haven't seen them in a while, will suddenly call them up or drop them an 
  e-mail. This effect provides a +10 shift to any social skill uses for the Pictomancer for the 
  duration, plus an additional +10 for each extra significant charge dumped into the spell. 
  Note that the targets of this effect need not have seen the mystical image which is 
  holding the spell. 
  Street 
  Scene 
  Cost: 
  2 
  minor 
  charges 
  This spell allows the tagger to mess with probabilities within visual range of one a 
  specially prepared image. The image created must depict an activity or procedure - 
  anything from a boy scout rally to a drive-by shooting. While the spell is active, all 
  participants in a scene of that type within visual range of the image gain a modifier 
  towards any attempts to engage in the activities it portrays. This bonus can take two 
  forms, depending on whether the activity in question is depicted as being successful or 
  unsuccessful in the image, but generally involves substituting the Pictomancer's magick 
  skill for one of their own skills. If the activity is depicted as having been unsuccessful, the 
  targets use the new total or their existing skill, whichever is lower; if the activity is 
  depicted as having been successful, the targets use whichever is higher. This general 
  effect may be modified depending on the exact events portrayed; if the Pictomancer is 
  not trying to affect directed actions but rather the results of actions, results should be 
  appropriately flip-flopped in the appropriate direction instead. Each Street Scene can 
  only affect one activity, although there is no restriction on overlapping multiple images as 
  long as there is an unbroken line-of-sight to all of them. 
  Example: Steffi creates two Street Scenes on opposite sides of the street in which she 
  plans to ambush her enemies. One depicts a vampire being staked, and is entitled 'Just 
  Plain Buff'; the other shows a young woman standing unarmed in a silhouette of bullet-
  holes, and is entitled 'Bulletproof'. When the showdown occurs, anyone attempting to 
  drive a stake through someone else gets to use Steffi's Pictomancy skill instead of their 
  own 'Drive a Splintery Piece of Wood Into Your Chest' skill (or whatever skill they would 
  normally use); in addition, anyone who takes bullet damage can flip-flop the damage 
  dealt and take the lower value.  
  Where 
  You 
  At? 
  Cost: 
  2 
  minor 
  charges 
  This spell requires that a representation of the spell's subject be worked into it somehow 
  (following the guidelines mentioned previously, this can be abstract or a true portrait). 
  For the duration of the spell, anyone who closes their eyes and places a hand against 
  the image gets a brief visual image of the building or area which the subject is presently 
  occupying. This image is a 'street-level' view - the pint of view is that of someone just 
  outside the area or building, not inside it, so it won't help with providing an exact location 
  for the subject. 
  
  Pictomancy Significant Formula Skills: 
  Blood 
  Tag 
  Cost: 
  2 
  significant 
  charges 
  This is the Pictomancer blast spell. However, it only does minor-blast damage unless the 
  target is actually depicted in the image in a recognizable form. So, a general ward using 
  a Blood Tag would only deal out martial arts-style damage, whereas a specific ward 
  against someone whose likeness appeared in the image would do firearm-style damage. 
  In either case, the image must depict the occurrence of an appropriately damaging or 
  hazardous event - although this is is not necessarily the route that the blast will take to 
  inflict its damage. 
  Spreading 
  the 
  Love 
  Cost: 
  1 
  significant 
  charge 
  This is as close as Pictomantic magick gets to long-distance effects. By creating a 
  magickal image and then successfully casting this spell, the tagger imbues the image 
  with limited powers of movement. The image can move along the surface it was created 
  on at walking page, and even flow over obstructions or right angles to enable it to cross 
  a street, slither in through a window, and so on. Any final destination may be nominated, 
  but the caster must be familiar with, or at least have line-of-sight on, this point. The 
  image may not move while anyone but the caster is watching; if it suddenly enters 
  someone's visual field, it will freeze until it can once again move unobserved. Like other 
  magickal effects, visual recording devices don't count; only naked, unaided eyesight will 
  have this effect. The image retains mobility for as many minutes as the tagger's casting 
  roll; after this, it cannot be reanimated. 
  Cult 
  of 
  Personality 
  Cost: 
  2 
  significant 
  charges 
  Whether the person depicted is Tupac Shakur or Ronald Reagan, a Pictomancer using 
  this spell has the ability to trap some of that person's character and reflect it onto anyone 
  in visual range of the image. At casting, the tagger nominates one of the depicted 
  person's Passions; anyone in visual range of the image begins (consciously or 
  unconsciously) using that Passion as if it were their own, flip-flopping appropriate rolls or 
  suffering appropriate stress checks. Note that the tagger need not have a firm idea of 
  what the subject of the spell's Passions are (or were); he or she simply picks a feature of 
  their personality and binds it into the spell, and that feature begins to act like a Passion 
  for all those affected. This spell can be a useful way of divining someone's character; if 
  the image created is focused around their Noble stimulus and everyone in the 
  neighborhood suddenly starts building pipe bombs and skinning their household pets, it's 
  time to pick a new subject of inquiry. 
  Pictomancy Major Effects: 
  Major effects? No-one knows - no tagger has ever held a major charge, or, if they have, 
  no-one knows what they did with it. Speculation exists that a major charge would allow 
  an image to become 'real' - able to step off the wall in three full dimensions and interact 
  with reality in some unprecedented manner. 
  Sample Pictomancer: 
  
  Steffi 'Staph' Isandrou 
  Rage Stimulus: People getting away with acts of selfishness and carelessness. 
  Fear 
  Stimulus: 
  (Self) 
  Drowning. 
  Steffi 
  can't 
  swim. 
  Noble Stimulus: Steffi wants to deliver her neighborhood from violence and crime. 
  Personality: Bipolar, alternating between 'dreamy, optimistic idealist' and 'cynical street 
  kid'. 
  Obsession: Getting things 'out' - whether in conversation or through an artistic medium. 
  Body (Healthy) 45: Struggle 25%, General Athletics 25%, Stay Real Still 25% 
  Mind (Always Planning) 65: Notice 40%, General Education 15%, Streetwise 30% 
  Speed 
  (Deft) 
  60: Work 
  Fast 
  20%, 
  Dodge 
  55%, 
  Shoot 
  You 
  Down 
  5%  
  Soul (Unfocused) 50: Lie 15%, Street Gang Contacts 5%, Charm 25%, Pictomancy 
  35% 
  Charges: Steffi always has a significant charge up her sleeve, and 1-4 minor charges. 
  Gear: Pushbike, 5 aerosol cans, facemask, reversible windbreaker, chemical spray, .22 
  automatic 
  Madness Meter 
  Violence 
  Isolation 
  Self 
  Helplessness 
  The Unnatural 
  2 Hard 
  0 Hard 
  0 Hard 
  0 Hard 
  2 Hard 
  1 Failed 
  0 Failed 
  1 Failed 
  1 Failed 
  1 Failed 
  History: Steffi's a junior member of a 'good' magickal cabal which calls itself the Third 
  Eye of Atlantic City, who encountered her in the course of their unsuccessful attempts to 
  crack an abduction ring operating in the immigrant community of some of the city's 
  poorer areas. Despite her youth (19), she had been conducting occult vigilante actions in 
  the area for some time, after seeing her mother torn to pieces by a swarm of glowing, 
  bat-like shapes one night several years ago. Third Eye took her under their wing, 
  offering to help her develop her fragile magickal skills into a more effective weapon, 
  while at the same time hoping to learn as much about conventional, street-level vigilante 
  operations from her as possible (Third Eye are a collection of soccer moms from the 
  suburbs, whose few successes have been attributable to their determination and 
  inventiveness rather than their combat or investigative skills - a deficiency they intend to 
  correct). 
  Some members of Third Eye have, amusingly enough, begun to learn Pictomancy from 
  Steffi; their efforts to integrate her bare-bones street magick with existing magickal 
  techniques (mostly back-engineered shamanic stuff from American Indian and Aboriginal 
  culture) may, in time, provide Pictomancy with the necessary magickal depth to become 
  a fully-fledged school. 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Unknown Armies [multi]/Unknown Armies [1st & 2nd ed]/Unknown Armies The Haunts.pdf