One can’t talk about Promethean without talking about Disquiet. Disquiet is a supernatural effect that plagues the Prometheans due to the fact that they are an aberration of reality. Their very existence turns the “normal” world against them. People, animals and even nature itself twists and perverts itself as if to continually punish the Promethean who chooses to stay in one place too long.
I find that Disquiet is an interesting mechanic, and one that makes things very difficult for Promethean players to put down roots and for good reason. Prometheans are incomplete, and are on a quest to achieve humanity. Like questing knights, the Promethans may not, and can not settle and stop their search for mortality. Whatever difficulties they face they must face head on, and unlike humans, they don’t have the luxury of just giving up this endeavor without resorting to suicide.
Perhaps one of the most disturbing facets of Disquiet is the subtlety by which they affect a society. Just by meeting a Promethean for the first time in a scene, a person (or a group of people) have to make a contested Resolve+Composure roll against the Promethean’s Azoth score. Should the person fail this roll, then they suffer 1 stage of disquiet. This effect is cumulative with any other stages that the person may already be suffering from with prior contact with the Promethean.
While this may sound damning, an average starting Promethean has an Azoth rating of 1 or 2, while an average human has at least 4 dice on their Resolve+Composure. This pretty much means that while weaker Prometheans are unlikely to spark Disquiet in people, those who have truly undertaken their quest, having achieved Azoth scores of 4-5 are at real risk of warping society around them, and Prometheans of Azoth scores of 7 or higher are likely to start inflicting some wide-scale pandemonium.
The other difficulty with Disquiet is that the effects only go away once the people who have come in contact with the Promethean have been left alone for a significant amount of time. Disquiet degrades very slowly, with effects lasting a number of weeks per stage of Disquiet equal to the Azoth of the Promethean which inflicted it.
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This sort of deal is troubling, admittedly as it means that Prometheans who grow in power have difficulty even interacting with humanity by virtue of their Azoth. The closer they are to their goal, the more difficult the path becomes forcing them to work even harder to get anywhere, lest they end up stagnating on the very edge of their goal.
From an enlightenment /alchemy standpoint, it makes sense. The higher levels of Azoth represent the Dark Night of the Soul, the point at which everything seems so completely stacked against the Promethean that it would just simply be easier to just throw ones hands up in frustration and give up.
Disquiet is fascinating, admittedly, and from a story standpoint I find that it makes for interesting situations. However I can imagine why some players might find playing Promethean undesirable given the sheer social rejection and hate that the characters must suffer through and endure in order to find deliverance.
Still, with the right group, and the right mindset, Disquiet can be used to great effect to make Promethean a memorable and interesting experience.
In the very short Promethian game I played in, we found that disquiet made the game almost unplayable. You could not settle to build things, one of the character’s talents, investigating was more difficult as people would not deal with you, and so on.
It is an interesting concept and I see how it fits into the game world, but I fail to see as a mechanic how it makes the game more interesting and playable.
You know, the disquiet effect was an important part of the comic book series The Elementals — at least the early portion of it.
Maybe a supers version of Promethean?
Hi there,
I do see where you’re coming from with regards to Disquiet making certain game types unplayable. Social interaction of any extended duration is nearly impossible without the downward spiral of distrust and eventual hate from humanity. It would seem that Promethean is a game far more suited to campaigns where the Prometheans don’t ever stick around, instead move from place to place, working the occasional odd job, helping people when they can, or otherwise just trying to survive.
It’s not suited to games of strong investigation (admittedly my favored campaign type) or politics and influence from what I can tell. However it does keep Promethean players from trying to go the whole “Hah! I’m immortal and I’ve got special powers! This ain’t so bad.”
I like the paradox of more Azoth leads to more Disquiet. Since embracing your Promethean heritage does take you further away from your intended goal of becoming human.
So if a group of Prometheans do cause the disquiet of an area to shoot up, then they may not be doing something right.
Promethean is ultimately about accepting ones flaws to achieve your ideal state of being.
If raking up Azoth is a character’s ideal path of progression, then I don’t think anyone should be surprised when humans start feeling uncomfortable around them.
In the case of investigative campaigns, it will be a bit tricky, but its up to the Player/Promethean to think of “human” methods to solve their dilemma, instead of relying on their supernatural abilities.
Once again, I want to point out that both GM and Player have to work together to come up with a fruitful campaign. If the GM insists on throwing more challenging opponents instead of more challenging situations, then the whole point of playing Promethean is lost.
If Mage is having all that power – and learning their limitations.
Exalted, having all that power and trying to make their mark in society – without society retaliating.
Then Promethean is having all that power – but no one cares.