Vessel Pre-release

Description

++Spirit/+Will

“The battleline between good and evil cuts through the heart of every man.”

— — Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

You are an unassuming host to a baleful supernatural entity, which occasionally escapes to sow chaos and reap destruction. While normally your playstyle is social and supportive, you can become a devastating magical threat to everyone (including your allies) at a moment’s notice.

Conduits designing a mission for you should try to give you plenty of strong emotional hooks in their plot and NPCs, which you will need to unlock the full potential of your kit. You tend to function best when given time to build investment and set up future plays, so if the Conduit wants to really challenge you they could try increasing the mission’s time pressure.

Grounded in the trope of evil sealed within an innocent, particularly pervasive across modern fantasy media.

Examples from pop culture include:

  • Raven (Teen Titans/DC Universe)
  • Tokoyami Fumikage (My Hero Academia)
  • The Hollow Knight (Hollow Knight)
  • Number 6 (The Umbrella Academy)
  • Midoriko (Inuyasha)
  • Tia Dalma (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Challenge Level: High

Edition: Aspirant v1

Public: Yes

Owner: Robby

Signature Gear

Base Gear

Ceremonial Raiment

Base

Simple gown worn by the subject of a ritual.

  • Religious or spiritual individuals will tend to trust the owner, with Impact scaling up to High on how much the owner thematically reflects that individual’s faith (through their Appearance, actions, and similar).
  • Predisposes individual bystanders to come to the owner’s aid or defense if the owner appears to be beleaguered or imperiled, scaling Low–Mid on how sympathetic and/or appealing the owner is to that individual.

Ritual Knife

Base

Ornamental blade, very sharp but delicate.

  • When fittingly incorporated into the Paired Action of a sacrifice (for Energywork, Manifestation, or similar), Boosts the potency of the resulting magic.

Altar Lights

Base

Consecrated candles, magically lit at will.

Quantity
3x
Duration
Mid
  • While lit, gradually weakens and eats away at hostile magics within a Low Range.

Elective Gear

Deathmask

Elective

Eerie mask, meant for the dead.

  • While worn, gradually causes fear and discomfort in non-agents towards discomfort and fear over a Low Duration while they remain in the owner’s immediate presence.
  • This mask will gradually afflict any wearer with a crippling illness over a High Duration. This fades at the same rate once the mask is taken off.
    • If the owner incurs this illness, they may also inflict it upon any being they touch who is fully affected by the above fear and discomfort.

Shadow Blade

Elective

Streak of dark, eerie magical energy that badly burns others on contact, materializing around the owner’s hand as though it were a continuation of their arm.

Essence Cost
Low
  • May only materialize during a successful Turning Point involving the owner, sharing the Duration of its associated effect (Low if none listed).
    • Essence Cost is paid upon materialization.
  • Incorporeally bypasses armor. Successful strikes deplete a target’s Essence, rather than physically harming them, in proportion to the damage the strike would normally have inflicted.
    • Courage, virtue, and strength of character protect against such blows rather than physical toughness.

Star Crystal

Elective

Radiant gem.

Quantity
1x
  • Any being may calmly hold out this crystal uninterrupted for a Low Duration to imbibe it, healing them and restoring a full Essence Threshold. The crystal is expended in the process.
    • The crystal will glow brilliantly as it is being imbibed. Anyone who sees this (besides the source character) is instantly inclined towards deeply coveting the crystal.

Abilities

Insidious Whispers

Learn a major secret about another person, exaggerating your own worst personal flaws in the process. This secret may only be shared privately, also exaggerating the flaws of whoever it is shared with.

Essence Cost
Mid
Cooldown
Mid

Paired Action: Pause ominously as you hear your entity's eerie voice whispering into your mind.

  • The secret is learned from your character's entity, voiced by the Conduit, as grounded in your character’s Backstory.
  • Flaw exaggeration for the user and those they share the secret with scales Low–Mid on the secret's importance.
  • Any other player whose character the user is closely interacting with (or the Conduit, in the case of an NPC) may, with your permission, activate this Ability themselves (spending their Essence). They and anyone they share the secret with have their personal flaws exaggerated as normal.

Embrace the Darkness

Become possessed by the dangerous entity within you, dramatically Boosting the power of your aggressive Manifestations.

Essence Cost
High
Duration
Mid
Cooldown
Mid

Paired Action: Portray a Turning Point of being overwhelmed by negative emotions (fear, hatred, or similar), proceeding then to act indiscriminately malicious and destructive to everyone around (ally or enemy) as a potent Altered State.

  • Impact scales on how compellingly you portray the Paired Action and Altered State, beyond High at max.
    • Specific behavior in this state should be informed by the nature of the entity within them, as grounded in their Backstory.
  • Boosted Manifestations must be directly thematically linked to the user’s entity, as grounded in their Backstory, and can be used more often than normal without incurring a Limiter from the Conduit.

Fill the Void

Spare a single person from yourself, protecting them with a shadowy barrier.

Essence Cost
Mid
Max Duration
High
Cooldown
Mid

Paired Action: Portray a Turning Point of genuine gratitude, appreciation, or similar for your target.

  • The target becomes completely immune to all harm and negative effects sourced from the user (Abilities, physical actions, or anything else).
    • Preexisting harm and negative effects are not affected.
  • While the target is interacting with the user in an uplifting manner, the user’s Defiance is Boosted.
  • Cooldown begins on use rather than on expiry, though reusing the Ability will end the current instance.
    • Outside of an Altered State, if the user ever feels rejected or betrayed by the target, this Ability will end prematurely.