The Harget Family
From DevilshireWiki
Contents |
Overview
The Harget clan defines the term WASP. They are all of Anglo-Saxon descent, marriages outside the British-descended gene pool are frowned upon, and they all attend the local Episcopalian church. A Harget will often be on the board of selectmen and the men are rarely found in jobs that don't involve a white collar and a tie. The women are usually found at home, keeping the place spotless. Only recently have some female Hargets started to rebel.
The Hargets always attend the local public institution as a point of pride. It is a rare year that a Harget isn't in high school and sporting a varsity letter on his jacket. The often attend the local university but more often attend Harvard, the family's institution of choice. The Harget men enjoy a reputation as playboys, much like the Moore men.
History
In reality the founding of the Harget family is far more sinister than even they would ever believe: Brandon Harget, the first to settle in Devilshire as it was founded along with his brother Jacob, was a successful banker who found his luck in the New World to be lacking as his fortune quickly dwindled away in business ventures that never came to pass. A man with a terrible temper, he quarreled with his brother one night over their latest failed endeavor and in a rage beat him to death with a fireplace poker. When he realized what he had done and the punishment that would be associated, he prayed to any god that could hear to help him in that moment. When help was not immediately forthcoming, as it usually isn't for a murderer, he quickly disposed of the body by wrapping it in a bed sheet and dumping it in the harbor.
He was surprised when Jacob showed up for work the next morning, pale and smelling of the sea but very much alive. Brandon worked the rest of the day terrified and unable to look at his brother. When darkness fell he hurried to return home to his wife only to be stopped by Jacob along the way. He fell weeping to his knees and begged his brother's forgiveness but Jacob explained he would be needing more than that. The thing before him was not Jacob but some powerful old god from the sea--god or demon Brandon could never guess and did not want to know--and it was willing to make a deal. Nearly mad with terror and guilt, Brandon agreed to all terms--that his descendants would be marked by the essence of this thing before him and that one of every generation would be lost to the sea. Of their own accord, unlike Jacob's sad end. In exchange it would bless the family with prosperity in their ignorance. But only in their ignorance. If any of his children, or their children's children sought to break the deal, even by the most innocent of means, the family would suffer hardships like never before. Laying his hands over his brother's face, Jacob spoke in a guttural language Brandon had never heard before. When he opened his eyes in the silence that followed, Jacob was gone.
True to his word, Brandon's businesses flourished from then on, aiding in the prosperity of the growing town. When his favorite son Timothy went missing one winter's night, Brandon's heart sank but he put on a brave show for his other six children and his wife, traversing the shores nightly looking for him even though he knew he would never see him again. When his grown sons began organizing more intensive search parties Brandon put his foot down and began the long line of iron fisted, steel hearted Harget patriarchs, demanding everyone stop their whining and forget Timothy had ever existed. If he was too good for the family, if he could run away like that, they would just never speak of him.
And so the next generation and the next dealt with the disappearances the same way. In 1929 when Samantha Harget went missing just before her twenty-fifth birthday, her twin brother Harold refused to give up the search for her, entertaining the psychics and fortune tellers of that age to try and find her whereabouts. He was eventually pointed to the sea and while it could never be proven to be his fault for Black Friday certainly touched a lot more than just Devilshire, the financial losses for the Hargets that were devastating, striking chords of fear through the older members of the clan and eventually leading them to have Harold committed before his 'troubled ways' brought the family to more ruin.
The facts behind the Harget Curse have mostly been lost to the generations. The Hargets are unaware of exactly what the curse is, but they do know that every generation a member of their family just vanishes. In whispers this is referred to as the family curse, when it is spoken of at all--and it is rarely spoken of by anyone except siblings and cousins trying to get a rise out of each other as children. The truth is, the family would rather wallow in their prosperity and not know rather than know and find potential ruin. Often times subtle ways are employed to try to find the whereabouts of the missing Harget in question, but those investigations are always closed relatively quickly usually after some misfortune, financial or otherwise, befalls the family.
Major Family Relations
- Devlins
The Hargets are entirely unaware of the true nature of the Devlin Family. To them, the Devlins are social elites who are something to aspire to. Not only are the Devlins richer than the Harget family, they have entirely more sway in politics what with being the founding members of the town. Whenever possible, Hargets love to get in good with Devlin family members to climb that social ladder.
- Moores
To the Hargets, the Moores are merely financial peers who don't seem to have an interest in town politics. While that suits them just fine since it means the Hargets can try and monopolize all the various boards and committees, it causes them to look down on the Moores somewhat. After all, how can a family hope to become the sort that the common folk look up to if they aren't vested in the town itself? The fact that they have money means the Hargets will always be pleasantly polite and gracious, but the Moores' aloofness is the subject of some very careful, well timed gossip at high society functions.
- Swanns
The Hargets have no idea that the Swanns are demon hunters and simply see them as solid citizens of lower standing. They are the very sorts of people that the Hargets try to work their influence on with their involvement in the town government. The hard working sorts like the Swanns are too busy raising their rabble-like families and being good citizens to really know what's best for themselves. Luckily the Hargets are there to show them the way and give them something to aspire to.
Notable Hargets
- John Harget is the Harget family patriarch.
Harget Package
The Harget package reflects the fact that all Hargets are born as half-demons thanks to the deal Brandon made with his deceased brother--or whatever was animating his corpse. While only one in every generation disappears, all are born hardy and with benefits to help them survive in this world. Helping with this is the fact that no Harget reads as demonic in nature to any magic or supernatural senses, allowing those who are not chosen to live relatively normal lives. Well, as normal as you can get in Devilshire.
Harget Quality
+1 to Strength and Constitution
+1 to Sports, Influence, or a wild card having to do with Business or Law
Contacts 1: Local Government
Resources: Well-off
Hargets will not read as demonic to any supernatural senses or spells
Covetous 1: Ambition
Curse 1: Family curse
Obligation 1: Harget Family
Cost: 5
Note that the package above is for PCs that are raised by the Hargets. If your character was raised by someone else for whatever reason but is still a Harget by blood, you take Technical Harget, which will still take up a census slot but does not cost any points.
| The Harget Family | ||
| Patriarch | John Harget | |
| Current Members | Phillip | |
| Further Reading | Major Family Relations | |
| Devilshire News File Topics | ||
| News Files | Building Guide • Copyright • Policy • Resources • Staff | |
| New Player Information | Application Procedure • Census • Character Types • Playing Villains • Restricted Concepts • Sample Character Background | |
| Game System | Attributes • Combat • Drama Points • Drawbacks • Fear • Global Commands • Experience Points • Human Qualities • Human Drawbacks • LP & Healing • Magic • Spells • Note • Package Qualities • Rolling • Skills • Supernatural Qualities • Supernatural Drawbacks • Superscience | |
| Setting and Theme | Overview • History • Folktales • Speech • The Four Families • Town • Conflict • Theme | |
| Characters | Casting • NPC Casting • The Devlin Family • The Harget Family • The Moore Family • The Swann Family | |
