Charismatic fringe leaders preach on street corners, offering their followers an escape from the age of decline into which their world has fallen. These leaders seem more than human, living icons who are invested with the power of the hopes and dreams of their followers.
Most use God, religion and divinity to win followers, others create alluring and convincing tales of escape, survival and preparedness. All prey upon the fears and hopes of the desperate and frightened. Thus, when the prophet presents himself as the man with the plan for survival, people listen. The more followers he gets, the more credible he seems to others. “Follow me and live,” is the siren call of these individuals.
Variants:
The Insane Messianic Leader:
In the apocalyptic setting, any leader who has delusions of omnipotence and glorious destiny as the savior of the world is suffering from a Messiah complex. While some may preach and claim to be a messenger of God, most are ordinary lay people. Messianic leaders may be male or female and are almost always well educated and articulate. They seem 100% certain about all their decisions, make convincing arguments, and ooze charm. These people are the epitome of confidence, have an infectious charisma and inspire people to believe in, and follow them. The problem is, this person is insane!
While this charming, confident and even heroic leader may talk a good game, sound convincing and, in some cases, may even manage to fake psychic or divine powers, the character is making it all up as he goes along. He is flying completely by the seat of his pants. Worse, he makes irrational decisions based on his good intentions, obsessive desire to save people, and his own delusions.
What makes this madman so dangerous is that he appears completely sane most of the time and even shows flashes of brilliance and insightfulness, but he has neither. The Messiah is driven by denial (“It’s all going to be okay,”), a desire to make things right (“Everything will work out. I have a plan.”), and a need to be hero — the savior (“I can save them. It is my destiny.”) The more accolades and followers he gets, the more convinced he is of his destiny and power to lead. Thus, the lunatic must be the one in charge. He must make all the decisions and rarely listens to the advise of others, though he may pretend otherwise.
Any success in that area is pure luck or the handiwork of other, saner minds (or even the hand of a greater power; i.e Caspian and his servants). However, the messiah is a convincing story-teller and a masterful spin doctor. His calm, confident and friendly demeanor wins people’s confidence. His sincerity pushes away doubt. When something goes right for him, he takes credit for it or points to divine intervention. When something goes wrong, he blames someone else. The false prophet is happy to pin trouble, woe and incompetence on one of his aides, an innocent bystander, the intervention of a stranger (like the player group), or better yet, someone within his flock who questions his authority, divine powers or plan. In face, the Messianic Leader will often set up such naysayers for failure or death to silence or eliminate them.
Most are both megalomaniacal and delusional, which makes them driven and ruthless. Though they are desperate to save lives and help people, they must do it in such a way that they get the accolades and are worshiped like a god.
Ironically, because a Messianic Leader appears so smart, calm, sincere and cocksure of himself, it conceals his insanity. All leaders who suffer from a Messiah complex are delusional. They suffered a psychotic break and are detached from reality. They believe they were born exactly for this moment to lead people to salvation. They believe it is their destiny and purpose or that they are chosen by God. Some may hear the voice of God, have visions, be visited by angels or talks to the ghosts of their ancestors. These divine visitors, voices and dreams encourage their choices, plant new ideas, or provide them with the actual plans, strategies and tactics for salvation. This divine aspect of the Leader’s nature may be kept secret or shared with “his people,” especially if he thinks it will inspire greater devotion to him.
The Messianic Leader usually keeps his “plans” secret – known only to him in their entirely – until it is time to execute them. Instead, he beguiles his followers with intoxicating stories about the idyllic life that awaits all who follow him, and keep them busy with “preparations” for the exodus to freedom. Unfortunately, these schemes are always based entirely on the Messianic Leader’s delusions. The plan is always half-baked, ill-conceived, and high risk. One of those situations where “if” everything goes in their favor it might succeed, but the odds of that happening are astronomical. Rescue isn’t coming, though he may be quick to take credit for happy coincidences, dumb luck and the deeds of others (it’s all providence, after all). He doesn’t know the first thing about building a safe haven, and the promised land does not exist. It never did, except in his own mind. All of it may be total fantasy spun from a sick and fractured mind.
His supposed insight is built on delusion and dreams, not reality. His ego and sincere belief that he is chosen one prevents the Messianic Leader from listening to those who might know better or from seeing flaws in his own fanciful schemes.
Sooner or later, the Messianic Leader believe only in himself, his vision, his ideas and his ability. He believes only he can save the people or make his plan work through sheer force of his will or the power of belief (“Believe in me. Follow me, and I”– or god, or whoever – “will lead us to salvation.”) When things start to go wrong or the “followers” begin to question their savior’s leadership, the madman begins to lose his composure, becomes more unhinged, unreasonable, dictatorial, fanatical, and controlling. He may throw fits, scream at people, and may even denounce, banish, imprison or kill his loudest detractors, including friends, family and trusted aides.
To the public, their savior is likely to continue to appear cool, calm and supremely confident. He will assuage their fears and assure them they are safe in his capable hands. Inevitably, all his preparation never leads to the execution of “the plan” before the plan unintentionally leads them to their doom, like lambs to the slaughter. Ironically, the ever resourceful Messianic Leader often escapes the fate of his followers (50% chance). Which only convinces him that he is, indeed, chosen, special and meant to lead. Ultimately, his failure and lost of lives is seen as a lesson to be learned, but it is mostly forgotten as he travels someplace new. The madman’s driving thought: next time, he will succeed at saving his people. And the madness beings anew.