My group is starting a two-Phase campaign starting in Usurpation, and during our FoN brainstorming we came up with two enemy ideas we really liked: a Pirate Lord and a Cotar Fomas directly opposed to Todd’s Cult Leader/Space Moses concept. Both my players didn’t care which FoN, if any, were Vaylen, but I do want one of them to have the worm and I decided on the Cotar Fomas. My question is, what’s the best way to get “Cotar Fomas-ishness” out of the Vaylen LPs? Does one just take stuff like Commander and Cult Leader under the Vaylen Setting and say that this worm is in a Cotar Fomas’ head? Or would the most realistic way be to spend 2 circles points on a relationship with a “real” Cotar Fomas and 3 resources points for the human body, burn up the CF under the bodyguard/stentor rules, and do the hulling in-game in an early color scene? The latter option seems indirectly suggested on p. 193, but the former option seems less complex to me.
I had a similar concern with an FoN in my group. One of the FoN’s is a Vaylen, and it would work best for all concerned if that Vaylen were also a Church authority. My plan was to do your second recommendation, but it would be interesting to hear if there’s another way to go about it. It seemed to me that the Vaylen lifepaths lead to non-power careers: i.e. he wouldn’t be the Metropolitan, but he could be a cult leader. I’m not sure if I should read those careers much more broadly, or just assume that the Vaylen never really start in important positions. (From the comics, the Vaylen seem much more willing to coopt FoNs through persuasion than through hulling. (Seems like most of the hulling gets done to minor functionaries or main characters.)
Rod
While the second method is a possible option and a sign of excellent Vaylen-think, I think the first method is the most appropriate here.
Why? Because the players want the Cotar-Fomas to be the Figure of Note. Which means he’s got to start play as the Figure of Note.
Commander and Cult Leader are definitely the paths you want.
Good point, and thanks for the recommendation.
As an aside, option #2 would actually severely curtail the Vaylen because the new skills would start at their host’s roots, right?
Right.
All of the Vaylen Vaylen LPs are meant to be broad and open to interpretation. So Cult Leader and Commander could absolutely represent the Cotar Fomas. If you must have the CF trait, pay for it with your trait points. It’s a 3-pt trait.
-L
Also, take note:
You shouldn’t need to use too much of that, though, since the Cult Leader already gives access to some of the bigger Cotar traits.