Embody Arts


Yes, there was a time when I wanted to hold you, my love. I wanted to take you in my arms again. Kiss you with real lips. Make love to you for real. Be with you again, forever, and never let you go.

But that was before you burned all my photos. That was a dozen of your girlfriends ago. That was before you screwed my own sister, and left her crying in the dirt...

Oh, I'll hold you, alright.

It's an exquisite bit of cruelty that, in order to get to the pinnacle of the Embody Numen - a fully-formed, if "dead," human body - Wraiths have to crawl through a rotting, junk-infested playground of darker, less wholesome Arts. The fact that ***** Fully Form is buttressed by two of the more dangerous and frightening Manifestations available to the dead is, perhaps, proof of how many Wraiths lost their way while climbing towards the ideal.

 

** Will O' The Wisp

This allows the Wraith to take the misty, slightly-phosphorescent form. She can choose to either spread herself out over the size of a small field, creating a small bank of fog or mist, or shrink up into a floating, glowing ball. Both the fog and the ball can move at a rate up to the Wraith's walking speed, but no further.

** Moving Shadow

The Wraith takes the form of a patch of shadow: either her own, or some other shape {or shapelessness}, so long as it's no larger than herself. The shadow can move along walls and floors, creep across ceilings or suddenly loom out and cover the Living.

** Ghost Writing

This old staple of traditional ghost stories has more than a kernel of truth to it: Wraiths can Manifest in the form of writing, should they care to, but the message must be relatively short, and the characters cannot move. The message can appear to be chalk, blood, paint, charcoal, ink, slightly phosphorescent ooze, or whatever the Wraith would care to make it look like, and lasts until the Wraith ends it, or the message is "cleaned up."

 

*** Curio

This allows the Wraith to Manifest as an object of any kind, but one no larger than the Wraith, herself. The object may have moving parts, but she cannot move them herself. Common examples of forms taken with Curio are creepy antique dolls, odd books, keychains, showroom dummies, framed pictures, and so on.

*** Spectral Banquet

This works a little like Curio, except that the object the Wraith manifests as can be either edible or drinkable by mortals. The foodstuffs can be as appetizing or unappetizing as the Wraith would care to make them, and it "evaporates" as soon as it goes down the gullet, with no damage to the Wraith. As with Curio, the Wraith cannot move herself while in this form.

*** Ectoplasm

The Wraith can spread herself out into a wide puddle of thin, watery liquid, or take the form of a smaller and more concentrated wash of thick muck. The liquid can be fair or foul - but not edible - and is often used to make mud, blood, black "water" or stranger things. It's even possible to take the form of weak acids or glowing, unearthly slime.

 

**** Tendrils of Darkness

With this Art, the Wraith can take shape as an object that can move itself. As the name might indicate, this is perfect for making a solid glob of tentacles, but it can also be used to make a moving child's toy, a painting whose image changes when watched, and other frightening things. The only limit is that it must be one object, though a clever Wraith can make herself appear to be lots of things {such as a writhing patch of maggots}

**** Black Shuck

A Wraith can use this Art to assume the form of one animal, which can be as small as she'd like, but no larger than the Wraith, herself. The Wraith gains the abilities of that animal - such as flight, bite attacks or the like - but is still bound to the limitations of her Manifestation. This Art is often used to take the form of a great, spectral dog, but can be used to take other forms as well.

**** Storm of Vermin

Like Black Shuck, the Wraith takes animal or insect form, but takes the form of a pack or swarm of them. The Wraith gains the abilities of that animal - gnawing, stings, webs, flight, etc. - but the animals must be small ones, and the size of the pack or swarm cannot exceed that of the Wraith.

The animal type must also be something that can properly be called "vermin," such as ants, bees, spiders, rats, stray cats, and so on. However, the Wraith doesn't have to be bound by their normal behavior: it's perfectly okay to use this Art to make a swarm of bees, and have it walk about in a human shape, only to fly apart once prey is spotted...

 

***** Fount of Madness

A Wraith can use this Art to take an insane and chaotic form: one that cannot be fully described as solid, liquid or gas, but pulses between these states and is in a state of constant flux. A Wraith using this Art has the ability to shift to new forms at will, and channel the effects of other, known Arts through the form without having to re-Manifest. The only limit to what can be done is the Wraith's own imagination, and how much Essence she's willing to commit to staying in this form.

***** Flowers of Evil

This Art is the next step up from Tendrils of Darkness, allowing the Wraith to manifest as several moving objects. Each one can be as large as the Wraith, but a Wraith can only make and command a finite number of these things without taxing her mental resources.

The Art was named in memory of one particularly nasty Haunter who liked to take the form of a wide patch of beautiful flowers, the better to lure young boys and girls in. He would then tangle them in his roots, and strangle them with tendrils, leaving them to rot amidst the pretty posies left behind.

***** Fully Form

Wraiths who use this Art appear fully, slipping past the boundaries of a normal, two-Essence Manifestation towards a better representation within the Liveworld. All the Wraith's stats are up to normal, she takes damage as normal, and she's able to speak with no difficulty. She is, however, cold and clammy to the touch, and looks distinctly unhealthy and pale.


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