Mmmm. Don't tell me you don't remember what it felt like to be warm, to have blood pounding in your body. Oh, I see you remember. Wonderful, wasn't it? We can feel that again, and more. Try holding someone else's fluttering heart in your hands, or hearing her lover moan in your ear. I can never get enough of that... Of all the 13 greater Arcanoi, Puppetry is the one that Charon forbade the most sternly. Only the Deathlords and their Hierarchy were sanctioned to ride the mortals, to possess them and thus affect them directly. But like all forbidden fruits, Puppetry has its devotees, those willing to risk Hierarchy sanction for another taste of the Skinlands. Wraiths riding a subject are ot truly part of the Shadowlands, and as such are immune to the normal dangers of that place. However, they take damage as their hosts do. Also, the host's Physical Attributes and Talents take precedence over the wraith's unless the wraith is in direct control. The Puppeteer is a back-seat driver, and usually nothing more. Most aspects of Puppetry require the wraith to attune himself to a Consort by spending Willpower while Skinriding. The wraith may try these arts on unattuned mortals but the difficulty is increased.
The Guild
The Puppeteers' Guild was never an official part of Stygian society. though even Charon use their services on occasion, he tolerated their presence in Stygia because of their affiliation with the other Guilds and not for any intrinsic merit they might possess. Their participation in the attempted coup was the excuse Stygia had been waiting for, and the Puppeteers were among those wraiths most fiercely persecuted after the coup's failure. Today, those Puppeteers who practice their art must do so well away from any Hierarchy representatives. Most Puppeteers feel a great fondness for mortals, acting protectively towards their wards. Many try to avert wars among the living and guard their favorite Quick. Of course, the occasional bad seed feels quite the opposite; mortal bodies, they argue, are the perfect entertainment, ripe to use and abuse. Puppeteers unconsciously exhibit strange mannerisms and often accents picked up from assorted mortal hosts during Skinrides.
Botches
A Puppetry botch might trap the wraith inside her host, an unwilling passenger without any sort of control. Perhaps the long process of attunement is irretrievably fouled, and must be begun again. In the case of a drastic error, the wraith might unwittingly force her host to do something quite the opposite of what she'd intended (for example, accidentally firing a gun or triggering alarms with the wrong access code).
Basic Abilities
Detect Possession: The wraith may tell if another wraith is currently Skinriding the target, or even if the target has been attuned for Puppetry.
1 - Skinride Skinriding is the most basic art of possession. It is the capability to slip into a mortal's body, thereby joining with him for a brief ride. The wraith can exert no control with this art, and the host acts of his free will. However, any more sophisticated Puppetry art requires the wraith first to Skinride the host.
2 - Sudden Movement A wraith using this art may take fleeting control of her host body's arm or leg. Subtle use of this art can make a host manipulate an object in some way without realizing it. This art costs 1 Pathos per use. If the victim resists, the wraith also acquires 1 Angst.
3 - Master's Voice The wraith can briefly override his host's speech center, causing him to speak. The resulting voice is a strange blend of the wraith's and host's voices. Master's Voice costs 1 Pathos and gives the wraith 1 Angst.
4 - Reign in the Mind This art allows a wraith to possess someone without the host's knowledge. In most cases, this can only be done to a Consort. The host remains semiconscious, though passive, throughout the art's effect, and will regain control when the Puppeteer releases her. She will immediately try to reationalize her actions; failing, she may seek out therapy or mental health testing. Any pain the host feels feeds back to the Puppeteer as Corpus damage, however. Electroshock therapy is useful for driving out wraiths, but cannot keep them out forever. This art costs 4 Pathos and bestows a point of temporary Angst.
5 - Obliterate Soul After conditioning a Consort through extended use of Rein in the Mind, the Puppeteer may begin to live full-time within the mortal's body. The host's personality is devoured by the Puppeteer's Shadow. Whenever the wraith leaves a body thus possessed, it becomes catatonic, responding to nothing and taking no action on its own. Two weeks after its original soul's removal, the host body will begin a slow process of decay. Before too long, it is useless. Therefore, most wraiths with this art use it only in the direst circumstances. This art is ineffective against supernatural beings, and can only be used once a month, on the new moon. If the first attempt to Obliterate the Soul gains no successes, the wraith must wait another month to try again. This art costs 5 Pathos and 2 Willpower, and the wraith gaines a number of Angst points equal to the host's original Willpower.
