The Cuckoos
Whether through being disowned or orphaned or perpetually unemployed, some people simply don't have a place where they can fit in and belong. They shuffle through life, alone and yearning for a place to stay. This is not about them.
This is about the parasites that use them as camouflage.
Oh, they look human - their nature assures that. They might have been human at some point, too. But now they aren't.
They still feel completely, psychotically alone. The kind of loneliness that can only be filled by destroying the person filling it. The poisonous, filthy need spilling from their tongues and eyes and fingers infects and destroys families and happy lives.
Have you counted your children recently?
Cuckoo Syndrome (Supernatural; ••••)
Prerequisites: Mortal only. Must not be in any long-term, fulfilling relationships. Integrity 4 or lower.
Effect: You're a cuckoo - a parasite. And you're lonely. You gain access to Brood Parasitism, and gain a +2 bonus on all Breaking Points regarding people who aren't in your adoptive "family". Finally, you take a Beat whenever you see a group of people have a good time in a way that implicitly or explicitly excludes you.
Special: Upon taking this merit, you gain a Major Glitch - rather than being mechanical in nature, the Glitch just needs to mark you as out of place. Strange eyes, forked tongues, and weird hair are common, though acting like a stranger or carrying a strange pall around with you are not unheard of. You do not lose this Glitch if you somehow lose the Merit.
Brood Parasitism
You can't really call yourself a cuckoo if you can't hide yourself in someone else's nest and kick their eggs out. This "magic" lets you do just that - with a little ritual, and some wanting, you can infiltrate the holes in human relationships to tear them apart.
None of the relationships generated by this magic are real - just because everyone in the house believes that you're their Auntie doesn't make it true. As such, you still take a Beat when you take part in group activities with your "family", and they don't remove the Cuckoo Syndrome merit. You don't fit.
Worse, you're invested in trying to - take the Embarrassing Secret ("I don't belong here") Condition. If you exchange it for the Notorious condition, the effects of Brood Parasitism end with regards to that "family".
You gain access to the following tricks; unless otherwise stated, they last until you suffer a Breaking Point, or until the end of the Chapter, whichever comes first:
Hiding Who I Am: A cuckoo can hide in plain sight - by reflexively spending one Willpower, you may hide your Glitches semi-indefinitely. Anyone who meets you rationalizes away your peculiarities; in effect, people assume that you just got a dye-job or that you just have a quirky habit. This protection does not extend to anyone who has an appropriate Unseen Sense, who is under the effects of mind-altering substances, or anyone who has seen that particular Glitch while this defense isn't in play.
Healthy As A Horse: You don't want people to leave you - see? Your cold wasn't that bad after all! You may reflexively spend one Willpower to downplay the external symptoms of injuries, diseases, and curses in the same way that you can downplay your Glitches. This only acts as a cover up - you could reduce the outward signs of a severe case of pneumonia to a light cough, but you'd still suffer all the penalties and drawbacks.
You may empower Healthy As A Horse by defining an Aspiration related to hiding the damage or convincing someone else that the problem isn't as bad as they think - if you complete that Aspiration and then activate Healthy As A Horse at the same time, you gain the normal benefits and reduce any penalties by two.
Walking In Your Shoes: Copying someone else is easy. At least, it's easier than being yourself. Whenever you complete an Aspiration related to learning about or getting close to another character, you may spend one Willpower at the same time to gain the Obsession Condition with regards to "being" that character. Rolls you make to directly impersonate that character improve the benefit from your Obsession to 8-again, and allows you to treat parts of your identity (such as gender or race) where you differ from your Obsession as Glitches for the purposes of Hiding Who I Am. You may only be obsessed with one person in this way at any one time; picking a new person to mimic ends the old Obsession without resolving it.
I'm Your Uncle Ernie: Whenever you complete an Aspiration related to learning about or getting close to a member of a cleanly defined group, you may simultaneously spend one Willpower to incorporate yourself into that group. You gain the Connected condition with regards to that group, as well as a Major Glitch that marks you as part of the group in question - this can be everything from coming up as genetically related to other members of your "family" or receiving a gender or race change. More importantly, other members of the group may take a Beat when confronted with evidence that you aren't a natural part of the group by dismissing it offhand.
For the purposes of this trick, you have no control over where you fall in the group unless you are impersonating a member of the group with Walking In Your Shoes. If there isn't "room" in a group, and you're not impersonating a specific member (such as attempting to insert yourself into a romantic relationship that isn't an open one), this trick automatically fails. Additionally, members of the group that can see through Hiding Who I Am aren't considered part of the group for the purposes of I'm Your Uncle Ernie.
Kicking You Out Of The Nest: Whenever you complete a long-term Aspiration related to excluding or digging up dirt on a member of a group you've joined, you may spend one Willpower to "reveal" that they're an imposter. They suffer a Major Glitch that clearly indicates that they're an outsider, and they gain the Notorious condition due to being "imposters". Unlike other tricks, only the Glitch fades when the normal duration ends - the Condition may only be resolved once you yourself are revealed as an imposter.
If you "reveal" that someone you are obsessing over due to Walking In Your Shoes is a fake, the benefits of Walking In Your Shoes and I'm Your Uncle Ernie last until you are revealed as an imposter.
Starting Cuckoos begin with Integrity 4 and gain the Cuckoo Syndrome merit for free.
Stigmatic Cuckoos may hide their Stigmata with Hiding Who I Am.
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