Doctor Anton Stark is a Psychiatrist and an Autumn Person or Dauntain (reports differ).
Overview[]
Several years ago, worried parents brought their daughter, Katie Denholm, to Dr. Stark for evaluation. It seemed that she was living in a very complex fantasy world in which magic, elves, unicorns and other creatures of faerie were very real to her. After several session with the girl, Stark decided to use extreme aversion therapy, electro-shock therapy and several varieties of drugs as the treatment to shock her mind back to reality, where it belonged. Within two years he reported complete success: the girl had lost touch with her fantasy world and could live in the "normal" day-to-day world.
Over the next several years, Stark discovered a few dozen more cases like his first patient. In all cases, the onset of symptoms was rather abrupt, often leaving the victims in a state of shock as they adjusted to the fraudulent information their brains were giving them. He called the ailment the Quixote Syndrome, more properly Pervasive Paracosm-Fixation Disorder. His book, titled Chimera: Living Within Our Dreams, detailed the treatments of these patients based on the information "given" by them. The book gained attention among colleagues of his profession, and they begin identifying others who were suffering from this very same problem. Many others promptly published studies showing the issues with the diagnosis as a concept, claiming it was sometimes other disorders or simple overactive imaginations, but the damage was done.
Now, Stark lectures at schools, universities, and to community groups in hope of helping them identify this disorder before it renders its victims unfit for human society. Some groups have protested the extreme measures used to eliminate the disorder, but none can deny the treatment's success rate.
Students[]
Chimera: Living Within Our Dreams[]
Copies of the book are very convincing and very Banal. If a changeling character whose permanent Banality is higher than their permanent Glamour reads it, it is possible they could gain an extra point of temporary Banality.
Ironically, the book is not popular among psychiatrists; Dr. Stark is actually somewhat of a crank, and his dedication to removing imagination comes off as unhealthy at best. Sadly, many parents don't know that.
Character Sheet from Hunter: First Contact[]
The epitome of a sleeper, Dr. Anton Stark is arrogant, close-minded and extremely dangerous. How he became a renegade is unknown, but the precipitating trauma was so great that he fell victim to Banality - and has never looked back. After treating a young girl whose parents feared she spent too much time in an elaborate fantasy world, Stark became convinced that her "malady" was sufficiently widespread among others to deserve his full attention.
Since then, he's devoted himself, his considerable reputation and his resources to locating and "treating" goblins. Stark doesn't realize that his patients are supernatural in origin, of course. They're simply "delusional" or "schizophrenic" - and in need of help. He likewise doesn't recognize his own supernatural capabilities, using them unconsciously when faced with other goblins and dismissing the phenomena as coincidence or by applying "scientific" explanations.
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Charisma 2, Manipulation 3, Appearance 2, Perception (Skeptical) 4, Intelligence (Logical) 5, Wits (Clear-Headed) 4
Abilities: Academics (Psychology) 4, Alertness 3, Brawl 2, Bureaucracy 2, Dodge 2, Drive 2, Empathy 3, Etiquette 2, Expression 3, Investigation (Forensics) 4, Medicine (Pharmaceuticals) 4, Performance 3, Technology 3
Backgrounds: Contacts 4, Resources 4
Spells: Ban, Enslave, Forget, Go Seek
Glamour: 4, Banality: 9, Willpower: 7
Gallery[]
References[]
- CTD: Changeling: The Dreaming Second Edition, p. 279-280
- CTD: Book of Storyteller Secrets, p. 28, 35-37
- HTR: Hunter: First Contact, p. 104