Do you feel that, owing to your background as a spymaster like Nick Fury, the DM should have declared by fiat that you had detected him earlier?
Of course not!
But, I do feel that the GM made it a player vs. player contest (instead of a PC vs. NPC contest) even while he knew I was trying to keep player information out of the game.
How did the GM do that? And again, why didn't you react to and investigate all the bad things that was happening?
There are a lot of subtle non-verbal cues, from how the possessed character washed his hands to how he ate his food to how he woke up in the morning, that an expert observer of people should have caught up on.
Leaving the facts that being a super spy doesn't mean that you are an "expert observer of people" (especially since you didn't even take the observer feat) and that the basis for your character was fooled by Hydra for decades, if these were things that happened in-game, why didn't your super spy react to any of it? You don't have to roll for anything to act on things you notice in the game. If you see your friend Bob all of the suddenly start having toast instead of eggs for breakfast it is totally in character to ask yourself why that is and be a bit suspicious about Bob. Especially if Bob is acting strange in other ways as well.
There should have been a lot more Passive Insight checks. Instead, there were two or three total.
Turn those passive checks into active checks by actively investigating the things you say your character thought was out of place. Bob is acting weird? Keep your eyes on Bob. Your spy network being attacked? Investigate the shit out of that.
As a side note, I wouldn't retire the spy master just because of this. I have a hard time thinking of what kind of game where an assassin would work perfectly but a spy master would be completely out of place. Especially now that you've been playing him for so long. If it is because you're PC is more of a "behind the scenes" type of guy you can easily roleplay it that, just like Fury, sometimes in times of crisis you need to leave your corner office and take care of things yourself. Especially if your spy network has been compromised. If you can't trust the people working for you you need to get out there and do things yourself.
There is nothing that can be done now to change what has been done.
The only question should be, what should the player do now?
You already gave the answer; talk to the DM. I think you need to have a meta game conversation with the DM, as in discuss how you feel as a player to have been placed in this position given the manner of how you built your character. This is where I feel some degree of railroading has occurred. You feel your spymaster build should protect you from this sort of thing from going on this long. The DM may agree with you or disagree with you, but this will give you the opportunity to clear the air between you, which is what you probably need the most.
At this point, whether the DM did or did not give your character the full measure of their qualities, you need to play on as if it were the right call by the DM. You can't back up a campaign over any significant length of time and then replay things. It just wrecks things for the flow of the game.
I have had similar challenges and you have to either shrug them off and just play, talk to the DM and see if they will take a different direction, or just get up and walk away from it. I chose to shrug it off because of DM favoritism for some players over others. Like you, I did vent here a few times, and that made me feel better to put it down in writing, only to have a number of folks here say, "So?" We all bring our own perspective to these fora so if I'm missing the point of your post it is probably because I can't put myself in your shoes to understand exactly where you are with it. But talk to your DM, and know that you can't undo what has been done. You can only change direction.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
...the evil spirit got away with inflicting massive damage on the good guys' interests and especially my PC's. Among other things, he wrecked the spy network's (the one I work for) faith in me and released an exceptionally high-level vampire with visions of world conquest loose on my country had another high level vampire's wrath focused on me and replaced at least half of my agents that he knew of with dopplegangers working for him.
This is the money for me, right here (I added the bold).
It's a difference in play style, I think. Or maybe just a different way of looking at it...
As a player, I would love all of this. I have no problem with being 'disadvantaged'. You situation looks like a bunch of cool hooks there.
Now I'll admit, if a famous last stand is called for, then I'm your guy. IMO a cool death is a great way to end a long-term character. And I know a lot of people are not cool with volunteering for that.
I get, then, that this is not how everyone feels. But here's the thing: your position is something I can see, but genuinely cannot "feel". I get that people feel like that - because I've seen people say stuff like you're saying - but I have no idea why. I can't even speculate without sounding a bit snarky - I'm *not* snarky, but it'd sound it. (Are you trying to "win"? Are you friends with your character? Who cares if they're "losing"?)
Basically, for me, the important question is: isn't the situation you describe cool?
Disowned by your own agency! A vicious villain to hunt down! Unable to trust anyone but your closest comrades! The world against you - a world you are trying to save!!!
How is that not super-cool?
I think it's super-cool. I would totally watch that movie.
No one ever paid to watch Jason Bourne have everything go his way, is all I'm sayin'.
So although it might be too late, I'd suggest considering it from that point of view.
How did the GM do that? And again, why didn't you react to and investigate all the bad things that was happening?
Leaving the facts that being a super spy doesn't mean that you are an "expert observer of people" (especially since you didn't even take the observer feat) and that the basis for your character was fooled by Hydra for decades, if these were things that happened in-game, why didn't your super spy react to any of it? You don't have to roll for anything to act on things you notice in the game. If you see your friend Bob all of the suddenly start having toast instead of eggs for breakfast it is totally in character to ask yourself why that is and be a bit suspicious about Bob. Especially if Bob is acting strange in other ways as well.
Turn those passive checks into active checks by actively investigating the things you say your character thought was out of place. Bob is acting weird? Keep your eyes on Bob. Your spy network being attacked? Investigate the shit out of that.
As a side note, I wouldn't retire the spy master just because of this. I have a hard time thinking of what kind of game where an assassin would work perfectly but a spy master would be completely out of place. Especially now that you've been playing him for so long. If it is because you're PC is more of a "behind the scenes" type of guy you can easily roleplay it that, just like Fury, sometimes in times of crisis you need to leave your corner office and take care of things yourself. Especially if your spy network has been compromised. If you can't trust the people working for you you need to get out there and do things yourself.
There is nothing that can be done now to change what has been done.
The only question should be, what should the player do now?
You already gave the answer; talk to the DM. I think you need to have a meta game conversation with the DM, as in discuss how you feel as a player to have been placed in this position given the manner of how you built your character. This is where I feel some degree of railroading has occurred. You feel your spymaster build should protect you from this sort of thing from going on this long. The DM may agree with you or disagree with you, but this will give you the opportunity to clear the air between you, which is what you probably need the most.
At this point, whether the DM did or did not give your character the full measure of their qualities, you need to play on as if it were the right call by the DM. You can't back up a campaign over any significant length of time and then replay things. It just wrecks things for the flow of the game.
I have had similar challenges and you have to either shrug them off and just play, talk to the DM and see if they will take a different direction, or just get up and walk away from it. I chose to shrug it off because of DM favoritism for some players over others. Like you, I did vent here a few times, and that made me feel better to put it down in writing, only to have a number of folks here say, "So?" We all bring our own perspective to these fora so if I'm missing the point of your post it is probably because I can't put myself in your shoes to understand exactly where you are with it. But talk to your DM, and know that you can't undo what has been done. You can only change direction.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
This is the money for me, right here (I added the bold).
It's a difference in play style, I think. Or maybe just a different way of looking at it...
As a player, I would love all of this. I have no problem with being 'disadvantaged'. You situation looks like a bunch of cool hooks there.
Now I'll admit, if a famous last stand is called for, then I'm your guy. IMO a cool death is a great way to end a long-term character. And I know a lot of people are not cool with volunteering for that.
I get, then, that this is not how everyone feels. But here's the thing: your position is something I can see, but genuinely cannot "feel". I get that people feel like that - because I've seen people say stuff like you're saying - but I have no idea why. I can't even speculate without sounding a bit snarky - I'm *not* snarky, but it'd sound it. (Are you trying to "win"? Are you friends with your character? Who cares if they're "losing"?)
Basically, for me, the important question is: isn't the situation you describe cool?
Disowned by your own agency! A vicious villain to hunt down! Unable to trust anyone but your closest comrades! The world against you - a world you are trying to save!!!
How is that not super-cool?
I think it's super-cool. I would totally watch that movie.
No one ever paid to watch Jason Bourne have everything go his way, is all I'm sayin'.
So although it might be too late, I'd suggest considering it from that point of view.