The Stringless
Puppeteer Art
Spirit-Catching Eye
Technique
Cost: 2 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Compassion: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: None
Death sharpens a ghost's perceptions.
Ghosts can see better than mortals, can spot flaws more easily and can pick out
the living from the dead at great distances. Some ghosts, however, have
acquired even better methods of perception, and Spirit-Catching Eye Technique
is one of them. This power lets a ghost see other ghosts who might normally be
hidden from the eye. Ghosts who possess mortals or travel inside the bodies of
other ghosts may be able to hide from normal observers, but Spirit-Catching Eye
Technique reveals them.
When invoked, any ghosts or other spirits
within view suddenly seem to glow with a pale white light. If the ghost is
possessing a mortal, the ghost's face overlays the host's. If ghosts are
traveling in another ghost's body, each is distinctly illuminated through the
host's ectoplasmic flesh, which becomes transparent.
The power lasts only an instant, and the ghost may or may not (reflexive
Perception + Awareness roll, difficulty 2) be able to recognize the ghostly
faces she sees hiding in mortal or unliving flesh. Those spotted by use of this
power are not aware they've been noticed, unless the ghost doing the spotting gives
the game away through a reaction of some sort.
Soul-Whispering Empathy
Discipline
Cost: 3 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum Compassion: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Catching Eye
Technique
This technique allows a ghost to sense a
target's surface thoughts and feelings, picking up the rough gist of what the
target is thinking about, as well as any strong emotions he might be
experiencing. While this power does not allow the ghost to go rummaging through
a victim's subconscious, it does allow her to go "along for the
ride," as it were, and pick up knowledge pertaining to what the victim is
doing at the moment. If the victim is reciting a password to pass an enchanted
guardian, the ghost will hear it, but if the victim is trying on various pairs
of shoes, it's highly unlikely the password will come to the surface of his
mind.
The use of Soul-Whispering Empathy
Discipline first requires the acquisition of a target. The victim must be within
sight of the ghost, though no physical contact is required. (Once psychic
contact is made, the ghost no longer needs to maintain proximity.) After a
target has been identified, the next step is a Manipulation + Awareness roll
(difficulty equal to the target's Essence). Success on this roll allows the
ghost to make contact. While contact is established, the ghost
"hears" the target's thoughts. She does not see through his eyes or
hear through his ears. However, the victim's thoughts are easily distinguishable
from the ghost's own.
Contact lasts for a single scene, though
the ghost can extend it for another scene by spending a Willpower point. The
ghost can continue to do this until she runs out of Willpower, if she so
chooses. The victim does not know that his thoughts are being eavesdropped on,
although Exalted and anyone with a Compassion of 3 or
above may (Perception + Awareness, difficulty 1) have the distinct feeling he's
being watched.
Contact with the target is broken at the
end of the scene, if the target is killed or rendered unconscious or if the
ghost doing the eavesdropping is wounded or otherwise distracted (including any
expenditure of Willpower for any other reason than to extend this Charm). This Arcanos
works on ghosts as well as mortals.
Skin-Riding Prana
Cost: 6 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: One scene
Type: Simple
Minimum
Compassion: 1
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Soul-Whispering
Empathy Discipline
Skin-Riding Prana builds upon the base
established by Soul-Whispering Empathy Discipline. However, in addition to
allowing a ghost to simply skim the surface of the target's mind, he can now
make full use of the target's senses. He can see through the victim's eyes,
hear through her ears and even catch the scent of whatever the target sniffs.
While Skin-Riding Prana is active, the
input from the target overlays what the ghost himself sees and hears in a distant,
transparent fashion. If the ghost concentrates, he can easily make out what the
target is seeing and hearing. If there are distractions around the character,
paying attention to both sensory inputs requires a Willpower roll, difficulty
1. Many practitioners of this power prefer to retreat to specially prepared
chambers or tents if they can once contact has been established, the better to
protect themselves from any outside input.
Other than the obvious, Skin-Riding Prana
functions in the same way as does Soul-Whispering Empathy Discipline. The
victim must be within sight of the ghost, though no touch is required. After a
target has been identified, the next step is a Manipulation + Awareness roll
(difficulty equal to the target's Essence). Success on this roll allows the
ghost to make contact, and once psychic contact is made, the ghost no longer
needs to maintain proximity. This Arcanos works on ghosts as well as mortals.
Six Demon Bag
Cost: 5 motes, 1
Willpower to create; 3 motes to eject
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Compassion: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite Charms: Spirit-Catching Eye Technique, Skin-Riding Prana
A Six Demon Bag is a boon to ghostly
smugglers, assassins and couriers of all persuasions. It is equally the bane of
border patrols, bodyguards and customs agents. This power allows a ghost to
create a hollow within herself in which she can store small items without a
hint of evidence.
When using a Six Demon Bag, the ghost
tears open a gap in her flesh and inserts the item to be carried there — be it
cash, a dagger, a scroll or anything else inert and up to one cubic foot in
area — into the hollow thus created. The ghost's flesh is then sealed up around
it, and the item rests more or less comfortably within the ghost herself. Experienced
couriers know to sheathe weapons and the like, lest a smuggled knife cut its
way out during a particularly energetic moment.
The mechanical effect of this Charm is to
add +4 difficulty to a searching character's player's Perception + Awareness
roll when contesting the Wits + Larceny roll the smuggler's player makes to
conceal an object. Removing the object from the Six Demon Bag costs an additional
3 motes of Essence. The ghost can eject the item from her body at any time, or
she can wait for the Arcanos to expire, at which point the item pops out on its
own. The item can be cut out of the ghost in question as well. This doesn't
cost the additional 3 motes, but it does inflict damage on the ghost — three
health levels of unsoakable lethal damage. Items carried in a Six Demon Bag do
show up when the ghost is viewed with Spirit-Catching Eye Technique. This
negates the Charm's bonus, but the ghost's player can still make a Wits + Larceny
roll for the ghost to shield the compartment.
Mortal-Shadowing
Technique
Cost: 7 motes, 1 Willpower
Duration: One hour
Type: Supplemental
Minimum Compassion: 2
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: Soul-Whispering
Empathy Discipline
Mortal-Shadowing Technique is the next
step on the road to possession. A ghost using Mortal-Shadowing Technique can
literally meld into a mortal's body, journeying with him and experiencing all
that he experiences. This includes everything from ecstasy to death, though the
latter forces the ghost out of the host's body.
Activation of this power requires, first
of all, finding a target. Once the ghost has a target, she has merely to touch
him or make an unarmed Brawl or Martial Arts attack that need do no damage. Her
player then makes a Dexterity + Awareness roll, with a difficulty equal to the target's
permanent Essence. If the roll is successful, the ghost sinks into the flesh of
her host and will journey with him wherever he goes and whatever he does.
The host is unaware of the ghost unless
she breaks her silence or otherwise gives herself away, but once he is aware, he
can spend a Willpower point for his player to make a contested Willpower roll
against the ghost. If the ghost loses, she is ejected from the body. If not,
she remains. If the host is killed, the ghost is immediately forced out of the
body. Note that while using Mortal-Shadowing Technique, the ghost cannot
control or otherwise affect the body that she is "possessing." She is
merely a passenger, albeit an awake and aware one. Interestingly
enough, any damage done to the host body manifests as bashing damage on the
ghost.
Spending an additional Willpower point
extends the effect for a day. More than one ghost at a time can use Mortal-Shadowing
Technique, but if one extends control to the level of Puppeteer's Masterful
Hand, the rest are ejected instantly, with the host none the wiser.
Puppeteer’s Masterful
Hand
Cost: 7 motes, 2 Willpower
Duration: One hour
Type: Supplemental
Minimum
Compassion: 3
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Mortal-Shadowing
Technique
Unlike Mortal Shadowing Technique, this
Arcanos allows for true possession. Once in command of the mortal body, the
ghost truly controls it. She can use any of the body's Attributes and
Abilities, but she is not privy to the host's secrets or knowledge. If the
victim is Exalted, she can use all his attunements and
automatic effects, and any reflexive effects the Exalt activates to preserve
his frame, but the ghost has no access to the Exalt's Charms. The ghost can
also use her Arcanoi, including those involving effects to the ghost's body
such as Ghost-Devil Form. Any transformation and reshaping lapses the instant
the ghost departs the victim's frame. The puppeteer uses her own Essence and
not the host's to power any Arcanoi she activates.
Puppeteer's Masterful Hand requires a
Dexterity + Compassion roll with a difficulty equal to twice the target's permanent
Essence. The possessing ghost may extend the effects of this Charm for an
additional hour by expending 1 Willpower per hour, but
her player must succeed at the possession roll again each time the duration is
extended. During the possession, the body's native intelligence is removed from
authority and has no awareness of what his body does while it is possessed
unless the ghost wants to let him watch. Needless to say, this can produce some
awkward situations, as the ghost is under no obligation to leave the host in
better shape than she found him.
If so possessed, the reflexive Charms of
one of the Exalted continue to defend his body. The Exalt's player should
decide intelligently what reflexives activate when, but the consciousness of
the Exalt is not making the decisions, the player is just portraying the
character's supernatural combat training.
Nemissary’s Ride
Cost: 5 motes, 1
Willpower (+ 1 experience point)
Duration: One day
Type: Simple
Minimum
Compassion: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Mortal-Shadowing
Technique
This Arcanos allows a ghost to acquire a
host more pliable and convenient than a living human. Instead of a living host,
he possesses a corpse and manipulates its dead flesh as a ghost using
Puppeteer's Masterful Hand manipulates the living. Because there is no
resistance, the character's player need only succeed in a difficulty 1 Strength
+ Compassion roll for the ghost to inhabit the corpse. The only limitation is
that the magic animating the body isn't strong enough to hold disarticulated
bones together, so there must be enough flesh remaining to actually move the
corpse.
A ghost using this Charm may extend the
duration by paying the activation cost again. His player may spend an experience
point to make the possession permanent. This locks the ghost in the body, free
of charge, until he chooses to leave. When he abandons it, it can never be
inhabited again. As a corpse will decay to the point of uselessness in just a
few weeks, most nemissaries are very hard on
permanently possessed bodies. Ghosts who know this Arcanos and have access to
their own corpse can possess it permanently without the cost of an experience
point.
Dead Fur Cloak Method
Cost: 6 motes, 1
Willpower
Duration: Indefinite
Type: Simple
Minimum
Compassion: 3
Minimum Essence:
2
Prerequisite
Charms: Nemissary's Ride
The possession of the human form is
easiest for the dead, as they were themselves once human. Yet, with refinement
of their skills, the dead can also possess animals as well. This Arcanos allows
a ghost to possess the corpse of any beast no larger than a wolf. It is most
typically used on raitons, because they mummify
naturally and can be made to fly even when long dead. The Deathlords use veritable
legions of such spies. When in possession of an animal's body, the ghost has
all of its Physical Attributes but otherwise uses his own Traits. As with Nemissary's Ride, the character's player need only make a
difficulty 1 Strength + Compassion roll to effect the
possession.
Death
Of A Host
While the death
(or destruction) of a host doesn't mean the death of the rider, it can have unpleasant
consequences for the ghost in command. The ghost is forcibly ejected from the
host's body and stunned and unable to act for a number of turns equal to the
host's Willpower.