Marques
Hunchback mutations can be almost anything, but throughout history the Miserable have noticed some general themes amongst their kind. These trends are known as 'Marques', and they define more than a Hunchback's looks; a Hunchback's Marque determines how their specific Curse alienates them from others, and how they might be able to gain some measure of acceptance amidst the tragedy that is a Hunchback's life.
Carabeau
The 'social' Marque, the grotesque twistings of the Carabeau have left certain features (most commonly the face, but hands and voices are also known) untouched and outright beautiful. Carabeau can fit in with normal society to an extent by choosing a career that focuses entirely on their attractive features (i.e. a Carabeau with a nice face could become a face model, or one with a pretty voice could be a voice actor), but while this will get them a steady supply of money, it's a cold comfort as their beautiful features only make their disfigurements stand out all the more.
Gameplay-wise, the Carabeau gain Intelligence and Social stats and can designate a certain number of mortals as 'Intimates'. The Carabeau suffers no social penalty when interacting with Intimates, who will treat them as any other human, but there's a catch; fail a composure roll (made once per scene of interaction) and the mask slips, resulting in the former Intimate rejecting the Carabeau just like any other hunchback.
- Butter Face: Inverted; Carabeau tend to have gorgeous faces and ugly bodies.
- Fan Disservice: Their particular curse is that they're just attractive enough to make their hideous deformities stand out.
- The Social Expert: They're the only Marque that has some sort of 'in' with regular society. This is represented in game by allowing them a group of mortal 'Intimates' who they don't suffer social penalties with... until they do.
Feraleur
The Marque of wild men, the Feraleur have mutated beast-like features and seek company amongst their fellow wild creatures. This has left them uncomfortable in towns, but animals don't care about the Feraleurs' deformities and the Feraleur suffers no social penalty with them.
- Beast Man: Feraleur always have some animal trait (like being covered in hair, having fangs, slit eyes, hooves, et cetera). Morality degredation adds more, until they look like some sort of horribly misshapen patchwork monster.
- Crazy Survivalist: They generally live as hermits, and being Hunchbacks, tend to be more than a little crazy.
- Friend to All Living Things: Well, as close as Hunchbacks get to having friends. They can talk to animals and suffer no social penalty with them.
- Nature Hero: For a very, very loose definition of hero.
Malvisagi
The really, really ugly Marque. These are the hunchbacks considered deformed by other hunchbacks. Their disfigurements are so horrible, that they can cause nausea and fainting at their presence, when they aren't causing witch hunts. On the bright side, they're really good at hiding and sneaking around, limiting the number of people who try to kill them on general principles.
- Gonk: Hunchbacks are Gonk by default, and Malvisagi take this up a notch.
- The Hermit: Often how they live, to minimize the number of people affected by their horrid looks.
- Stealth Expert: They kind of have to be this, as being seen tends to result in instinctive violence towards the Malvisagi.
Oublieur
The Marque of the occult. Oublier are the stereotypes of creepy recluse wizards, usually being pale and clammy with wide, staring eyes. Oublier have a strange rapport with supernatural creatures, who won't see them as threats and are usually content to just ignore them unless the Oublier does something specific to agitate them.
- Undeathly Pallor: They're not actually undead, but that doesn't stop them from looking the part.
Punchello
The Marque of clowns, jesters, and circus freaks. The Punchello have managed to figure out a loophole in society's rejection of them; comedy. By convincing mortals that they are performers and their deformities are all part of the act, they use ridicule as their weapon to let their unusual features pass unremarked as something not to be taken seriously. Punchello can be found amongst groups of other performers (sometimes mortals, sometimes other Punchello) or as solo acts. But whatever they choose to do, they suffer no social penalties as long as the other person believes it's All Part of the Show. Of course, the greasepaint has to come off sometime...
Also, for some reason, the Invictus covenant of vampires hate them with a passion and have almost hunted them to extinction. Probably someone made fun of the wrong Prince.
- All Part of the Show: How the Punchello avoid social penalties with humans; they convince people that their deformity isn't real and is just a part of their act. By being laughed at, they avoid being feared.
- Everyone Hates Mimes: A common problem that Punchello mime artists face. After all, they're still Hunchbacks and have to be rejected somehow.
- Monster Clown: No matter how funny or nice the Punchello actually is, they're still hunchbacks and by default are scary and monstrous. Convincing mortals that it's an act is a very temporary solution.
- Non-Ironic Clown: Most Punchello are genuinely trying to be entertainers and don't want to be scary, but their curse means that, like it or not, they're going to come off as Monster Clowns at some point.
- Sad Clown: Punchello want to be normal entertainers, but being Hunchbacks mean that they will inevitably end up looking like creepy caricatures and scaring people instead of entertaining them. One of their Twist, Tears of the Clown, invokes this, enabling the Hunchback to garner sympathy for themselves by telling or acting out a tragic story.
Sanctuaires
Actually a term coined by those who study the Miserable instead of something they use to refer to themselves, but the system uses it because it gives a name to trends that the hunchbacks themselves don't care to identify. If Marques are the Hunchback equivalent to Clans or Auspices, Sanctuaires are the Covenants or Tribes. One's Sanctuaire determines the kind of Master a Hunchback seeks out, and once chosen, Hunchbacks never change Sanctuaires except in extreme circumstances (i.e., a Hunchback who loses their Master and cannot find another might become Abandonnai if they don't go insane), a form of obsessive behavior likely inspired by their curse.
Concordian
The Concordians seek the approval of not one, but many. A Concordian chooses an organization (research team, church, hospital, whatever) as their Master. Within that organization's territory, they're nigh-unbeatable, but outside it, they quickly fall apart.
- The Shut-In: Concordians tend to suffer from extreme agoraphobia, and never willingly leave whatever their 'territory' (building that houses their Master organization) is.
Mabuse
The classic Igors, Mabuse turn to science and medicine as a relief from their pain. A Mabuse's master might be a medical doctor, a doctor of sciences, or even a Genius, but they are usually as scorned as the Mabuse is, and connect on that level. They tend to be the most technologically adept Hunchbacks.
- Mad Scientist: Their choice of Masters. Mabuse tend not to choose rational scientists for Masters, instead gravitating to the rejected, like themselves.
- Mr. Fixit: They tend to get really good at fixing up machinery for their Masters.
- The Spock: They tend to be the most rational of Hunchbacks.
- Sycophantic Servant: Mabuse are noted to be the most sycophantic of the Sanctuaires, getting into their Master's good graces by stroking their ego and agreeing that they were totally right and their peers ridiculed them out of jealousy and not because their theories were crazy.
- Wrench Wench: Female Mabuse tend towards this trope.
Mondelora
Mondelora take on one of the most difficult tasks a Hunchback can attempt; fitting into human society. A Mondelora's master is some sort of social superior, who the Mondelora hopes will be able to smooth social situations over for them, in exchange for doing more... unsavory tasks. As such, Mondelora tend to be adept manipulators.
- Manipulative Bastard: Mondelora tend to be adept at manipulating other people into doing what they want, either to aid the Master or to keep the Mondelora from being tossed out on their ear.
- The Social Expert: Mondelora try their level best to integrate into human society, and tend to become very adept with social skills to overcome the hurdle of their deformities.
Outrevie
The Occult Sanctuaire. Outrevie are those hunchbacks who have realized that their malformation is supernatural instead of physical, and have sought out other supernaturals as Masters who can understand the Hunchback's nature.
Savagine
The Beastmaster Sanctuaire. These Hunchbacks have abandoned human society altogether, instead choosing to find Masters amongst wild things. This Sanctuaire tends to interact most often with the Uratha, who generally tolerate them.
- The Beastmaster: Usually found in the company of wild animals of some sort, who they can influence to a degree.
Abandonnai
The life of a Hunchback is a hard one. Your Master is probably some sort of nutcase who doesn't really care about you, your Tragic Love is always out of your reach, and the best you can hope for from humanity at general is pity that inevitably turns into revulsion. Faced with all this, the Abandonnai just give up. They don't search for a master and reject acceptance. The nicer ones live in quiet isolation, while many choose to embrace their role as monsters and revel in violence and the fear they cause.
- The Hermit: The inoffensive version of Abandonnai.
Rues
If Marques are the Clans of Hunchback, and Sanctuaires are the Covenants, then Rues are the Bloodlines; optional groups you can join that offer some neat extras... and a whole lot of drawbacks, because Hunchbacks can never catch a break.
Ataudine
Hunchbacks have supernatural abilities, low self-esteem, and a whole lotta repressed hatred for everything else. This makes them great assassins and general thugs, and some Masters gather Hunchbacks for this purpose. Ataudine Hunchbacks gain bonuses in carrying out contract killings, at the cost of an obsessive focus that cripples their ability to do anything else. And there's no guarantee that your Tragic Love won't be your target...
Ataudine gain access to the Homocidio twist, to better kill their targets.
- Crippling Overspecialization: When on the hunt, an Ataudine can't focus on anything else.
- Hired Guns: The Ataudine's role.
- Master Poisoner: One of their special powers is creating magical toxins.
- Magically-Binding Contract: Any contract of an Ataudine is one of these.
Barnumene
Deformed people working in circuses (as performers or attractions) is nothing new. These Hunchbacks follow in this tradition by working at a circus or carnival, whose members aren't bothered by the Hunchback's deformities; after all, they're used to the strange and grotesque. Barnumene know the Twist of Humbuggery, allowing them supernatural talent at carnie showmanship.
- The Freakshow: This is where the Barnumenes carve out their niche.
Bruno
Hunchback biker gang. What more do you need to know? Well, okay, they're a nomadic clan of Hunchbacks who have the Gang itself as their 'Master', and who (lacking the Tragic Loves needed to gain willpower from their Virtues) tend to indulge in their vices to spread misery and fear in the places they visit, moving on before consequences catch up to them. They use the Road Rulez twist to enhance their biking skills.
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: They gleefully embrace this stereotype.
- Badass Biker: They are supernaturally good with their bikes.
Cyrano
Not everyone famous has to be seen. Cyranos interact with society solely by an intermediary, while remaining out of the public eye and communicating by voice. Reclusive singers, radio personalities, voice actors, etc. might just be Cyranos hiding their Hunchback nature by never showing themselves.
- People Puppets: The highest power of Cryptovocce allows them to do this.
- The Voice: All Cyranos strive to be known only by their voices.
Enfantes
Not all parents (read: almost none) react well to having a Hunchback child. Some deal with it by locking their offspring away, either to avoid poisonous social interactions or to avoid shaming the parents. Either way, this treatment has made them children in adult bodies, who are monstrously strong but very dim and fearful of disappointing their parents. They use the twist of Rompus to 'play' with others, who usually aren't happy about it.
- Abusive Parents: Enfantes are defined by possessing a set; their parents locked them away as children and still are loath to let them free.
- Imaginary Friend: One of their powers allows them to mimic an imaginary friend by becoming invisible to everyone except one child, who will be blamed for any mischief the Hunchback causes.
- Manchild: Enfantes are severely socially stunted due to isolation.
Guignol
It's a common theory that the Hump is a mutation of the Ghoul, a Vampire's mildly-supernatural and totally devoted servant. Even if this is false, many Hunchbacks gravitate towards vampires as masters, and some go the extra mile by actually drinking blood. Real vampires tend to find them "Amusing, if messy." The 'messy' part comes from how their Hematropics twist allows them to crudely manipulate the blood that they drink. It... really is messy.
- Blood Lust: They're defined by drinking blood in an attempt to emulate vampires.
- Bloody Horror: Their particular brand of Hunchback creepiness.
- Bloody Murder: Hematropics focuses on this, allowing the Hunchback to spray blood at their opponents, which can blind them, make surfaces slippery, and really gross people out.
- Overdrawn at the Blood Bank: Guignols can hold a lot more blood than most humans in their hump.
- Vampiric Draining: Like to do this, although they aren't vampires; the blood gained is instead stored in the Hump and used to activate Hematropics.
Moreau
Ever read The Island of Doctor Moreau? Well, imagine that, but backwards. They are exclusively Feraleur Mabuse who try to surgically correct their beastlike deformities. This is incredibly and constantly painful, but if successful, they can use the twist of Anthropomorphics to become more human-like.
- Meatgrinder Surgery: All of the rituals to progress Anthropomorphics require surgery, for which no anesthesia may be used.
Morgue
Hunchbacks of the Rue de Morgue seek the company of the dead, who at least can't judge them. These are the creepy gravediggers encountered at Midnight and the grave robbers who found the parts for Frankenstein's Monster. At the higher levels of their signature twist, Funeralla, they become necromancers.
- Necromancer: Funeralla deals with corpses; the lowest ranks just do stuff like preserve them, but higher-level Funeralla powers allow them to have hands reach out from their graves to grab intruders and animate corpses.
Noveau
The fun thing about the Internet? Nobody has to know who you are. You're a name on a screen and maybe a profile picture, neither of which give a hint as to your true identity. It seems like a dream come true for the ostracized Hunchbacks, but the Curse is a stubborn thing, and their innate ugliness will somehow manifest itself; in this case, it's via behavior and violations of internet etiquette. Flame wars follow these real-life trolls wherever they go, creating the Misery their humps feed on.
- Troll: Noveau replenish their Misery via causing dissent and anger on the web; i.e., trolling.
Quasimodo
Remember The Hunchback of Notre Dame? The book, not the Disney movie (which is markedly more hopeful); the one where Quasimodo is a jerk, Esmarelda is naive and infatuated with an asshole knight, and almost everyone dies in the end. These Hunchbacks make their havens in churches and cathedrals, much like their inspiration, and can gain power based on features of churches, like the bells, gargoyles, and the practice of Sanctuary (where anyone within a church was safe from prosecution as long as they remained there).
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: Their signature twist allows them to weaponize the ringing of bells.
Savanteur
These are the actually smart Mabuse, who aid their masters (usually scientists or Mages) in their work, in exchange for never-fulfilled promises of cure (well, the book says unfulfilled, but if you're running a crossover with Genius, the higher levels of Exelixi or Metaptropi should be able to actually do the trick if the Genius is the sort to honor their promises). They possess the twist of Encyclopaedie, enhancing their mental power.
- The Smart Guy: This is the Rue of intelligent minions who can meaningfully aid their master's work, instead of just being cheerleaders like most Mabuse.
Valette
Hunchbacks naturally gravitate to become servants of some kind, and the Rue de Valette makes this more explicit. They are butlers and actual valets, using their twist of Domestique to become, as Sebastian Micheales put it, one hell of a butler.
- Almighty Janitor: The Valette has supernatural powers to aid his position, while the Patron is usually an ordinary human. At the highest level of Domestique, they essentially are the master of the house.
- Battle Butler: Their powers allow them to be incredibly effective fighters on their turf.
- The Butler Did It: The name of one of their powers, which allows them to shift blame for something they did onto another servant.
- Stiff Upper Lip: The name of one of their powers, which allows them to use their social attributes normally so long as they maintain impeccable manners.
Antagonists
Hunchbacks, as with any supernatural, have their own special brand of assholes out to ruin everything, in case the entire human race hating you wasn't enough.
Rue de Sade
A Hunchback that loses its master (as opposed to the Abandonnai, who never had one) quickly goes insane under the pressure of the Curse. Most of these quickly die to angry mobs if nothing else, but some find each other and create mobs of similarly broken souls. Such is the Rue de Sade, a group of insane, masterless hunchbacks who have become so emotionally numb that they can no longer draw power from their own misery and must instead torture it out of others. Applicants are only allowed to join if they have murdered another Hunchback. The masters of a group of de Sades are, of course, Marquises.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: You're only allowed to join if you've killed another Hunchback; an act normally avoided because it causes incapacitating pain and marks the murderer with a Red Right Hand. Before that, you're just another victim.
- Malevolent Masked Men: De Sades wear leather masks, more as a gang sign than an attempt at disguise.
- Red Right Hand: A Hunchback who kills a Hunchback gets marked with a stain that they can never truly hide. All de Sades have this mark, and some even choose to accentuate it with tattoos. They're also noted for having more tattoos, piercings, scarification, and general markings than most humans could stand.
- Sadist: Interestingly enough, not always. They torture people not specifically because they enjoy it- most of them are too emotionally dead for that- but because they feed their Humps on the Misery so created.
- Torture Technician: These Hunchbacks cannot generate their own Misery, having become so emotionless they just don't care about rejection. So they have to make others miserable to satisfy their Hump, and the best way to do that is by torture.
Gargoyle
This version of Gargoyles are magically animated protectors of territories... which tends to mean shooing those creepy ugly guys off their lawns. As you are presumably playing these creepy ugly guys, they're antagonists. Unless you're part of the Rue de Quasimodo, who have powers that allow them to pacify Gargoyles.
- Anti-Villain: Gargoyles will only attack Hunchbacks who've intruded on their territory.
Torsos
Fair warning, this one gets gross. Torsos are (thankfully rare) monsters who look like quadriplegic humans, having been transformed by another Torso who gnawed off all of their limbs. Torsos are something like vampires that feed off spinal fluid, which they call Tap. They like to target Hunchbacks because their spinal fluid has been altered by close proximity to the Hump.
- Body Horror: Good God. Torsos are limbless spinal fluid vampires that move on limb stumps, by inchworming, or slithering like a snake. They can replace lost limbs with the limbs of their victims, and create more of their kind by gnawing off all a victim's limbs and then vomiting spinal fluid into their mouths. Eeugh.
- Fantastic Drug: Hunchback spinal fluid has a very intoxicating effect and allows them to bask in the knowledge that there's someone out there worse off than they are.
The Mound of Misery
Way back before Pittsburgh was Pittsburgh, it was home to a tribe of Indians who revered their deformed tribemates. A rival tribe made sure to burn their settlements to the ground and massacre the Hunchback-worshippers, but one thing remained; an ancient Hunchback only known as the Mound. He survived by having his tribe cover him with dirt to create a mound, under which he has lain in suspended animation for centuries. Recently, he has begun to awaken, which is why Pittsburgh calls to all nearby Hunchbacks.
- Body Horror: It's basically entirely a massive Hump with a face and small, atrophied limbs.
