TheHoverpope/Dav

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This one will be very, very wierd.

Dav, the Soul Without a Home; Expressive Soul of the Thing that Cannot Stop Being

Dav is. This is one of the few definitive things that one can say about it. It is a being, after a sense, a demon, certainly, and a lesser soul of Aomina. some have conjectured that it is the force that keeps Aomina determined in his travels, and some have tried to declare that it is the core essence of its mind. Some indeed have tried to ask Dav what it is, and it is unable to respond. Only Aomina knows Dav's true nature. That great demon at one time determined after being summoned that the one thing that he truly lacked, compared to the beings of creation, was a soul of his own. He had his second circle souls, but he did not have his own inherant animus, a quintessentail being in and of himself, outside of the beings above and below. In his efforts to better himself, he built himself a soul, Dav. He failed.

Dav has walked, banished from the sight of Aiomina as his one failure, since the second it was born. It is naturally dematerial, of course, but to a far greater degree than most demons. Dav has no body, no shell to contain it, and exists more as a pattern of virtue and thought than a being in and of itself. It can be seen by sorcerous sight as a twirling matrix of blinking light and essence, but will never become material of its own volition. If it is ever forced to materialize, it falls to the ground, inert, as a swarm of thousands upon thousands of grains of brass and black iron, from sand size to the size of a pebble.

Naturally, however, it will float towards the nearest creature to it merge into their being, taking on a position as one of their souls. Taking the body of a mortal, it displaces the po immediately and permanently. Taking the body of an exalt, the po is not so easily displaced; Dav then coexists with the other two souls and the shard if a celestial exalt, making for a very busy psyche indeed. In any case, it nests in the mind and body of that being, becoming a part of them. Dav prefers to fuse with wanderers over the sedentary, and will gravitate towards more powerful beings. It is only interested in beings that already have souls. The being it fuses with is still itself; it has all of its memories, motivations and abilities; it is, however, changed and it pursues, only half-consciously, inscrutible goals and bizarre compulsions often relating to travel and freeing onesself from the world about them. When Dav is living as the soul of a creature, that creature will never dream, as its mind is filled with a hint of the emptiness that is Dav. There are tales of great warriors walking off of a battlefield mid-war as their very souls are changed by Dav's presence, and many a sorceror who has bound it to enter their mind has gone mad or become akuma shortly after.

One speaks of Dav in terms of what it prefers or is interested in, but this is not technically accurate. On its own, it has no mind or will; it is not as a predator seeking prey when it enters a body, but rather as a piece of flotsam being pulled into a whirlpool. Dav has no will of its own.

Nature: Explorer
Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2, Charisma 2, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1, Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 3.
Virtues: compassion 5, Conviction 6, temperance 1, Valor 4
Abilities: Awareness 2, Endurance 4, Lore 2, Occult 2, Presence 3 (Intimidation +3), Resistance 2, Socialize 1, Stealth 2
Charms: possession, principle of motion, uncanny prowess, creation of perfection
Cost to Materialize: 20
Base Initiative: 4
Attack: NA
Dodge pool: NA Soak: 12B/11L (Brass-and-essence body, 10L/10B)
Willpower: 7
Health Levels: -0 x 9, I.
Essence: 7 Essence pool: 40

Other notes: When Dav is outside of a body, it may take no action other than to move towards the most powerful person present and attempt to enter them. Dav will not attempt to enter beings with essence higher than its compassion. Dav possesses a body through use of the possession charm. Dav may convert dice to successes with this charm at a cost of two motes per die. As soon as the possession charm is successful, it ends; the effect is now permanent as follows. When Dav is in a body, it counts as a soul of that creature. Any spell, ability, or other power or item that would detect demons or possessing spirits fails to do so. Any effect which would affect a soul does so. Careful examination with essence sight active (diff 5 during any scene in which the possessed being spends peripheral essence, diff 7 otherwise) might reveal that a being has an extra soul composed of Malfean essence. With that knowledge, it is possible to target a sapphire or adamant circle banishment spell onto Dav, or to use powers that can strike a possessing spirit.

When Dav is acting as one of the souls of a creature, the creature takes the Explorer nature as their own. Dav's attributes, abilities, and essence pool are added to their own. Dav's virtues replace theirs. The sole exception to this is if Dav joins with a celestial exalt whose virtue flaw is focused on their temperance; in this case, the temperance becomes 5 and their compassion changes to 1. The being Dav is connected to gains the use of the charms Principle of Motion, Uncanny Prowess, and Creation of Perfection at their normal costs.

The being carrying Dav is in a complex relationship with it. Dav does not directly control their actions - no more than the Po does. It is just another soul residing in their body. Dav does not control them but influences everything that they do completely passively. The virtues that Dav grants should be interpreted in a Malfean light. The character's conviction and compassion become their demonic virtue equivalents.

At the beginning of calibration after the first complete year Dav has resided in a single body, it is returned to Malfeas unless sorcerously bound to remain in creation. If the being in which Dav resides is killed, Dav is freed into creation again and will seek a new host.

Comments

Very cool. I can see sorcerers summoning Dav just to have a host-mind, and thus all the bonus attributes and abilities. I've only got two things that I'd like to see elaborated, if possible. First, is what circle is Dav? It doesn't explicitly say anywhere, and while I'm thinking third is implied, I'm not sure. If he is third circle, I'd say he's a bit underpowered, actually. If he's second circle, it makes a bit more sense, as I can imagine the bonuses that giving up partial control of your body to a third circle demon would be a bit larger. Secondly, I'd like a bit more 'crunchy' definition of what happens to one (specifically the sorcerer) inhabited by Dav. Does he act weird? Does he kill people? He seems incredibly virtuous, save his Temperance, which leads me to believe that it's not a big deal to have him inhabit you as long as you've got a way to bump your temperanance (some sort of artifact necklace, or some such). Overall, a great concept, and as a sorcerer, I'd consider having this guy if he's second circle. -- GregLink

It is indeed second circle; now added to the title. I was trying earlier to figure out precisely how it would affect people. I don't want it to inflict any specific behaviour; it has no behaviours of its own to inflict. It is more a pattern of virtues and skills than it is a functioning mind. But yeah, it definately needs something for clarification. I've added a paragraph towards the end about how it affects a person and why. Part of the problem is that I don't really know where the balance is between the two souls, shard, and mind in terms of what someone does. The demonic virtues selection I went with is not ideal; but I'm sticking with it for now, unless you have something better. Which is likely. I was also considering at one point having it instead inflict a derangement. - TheHoverpope

Well, to be honest, since Dav is, in fact, an attempt to create not just a blank slate, but instead a specific soul, I'd say that rather than use general 'demonic' terms, that one would best be served by putting a bit of directness into the mix. For example, you note that Dav is an "Expressive Soul of the Thing that Cannot Stop Being". To me, that says that anyone inhabited by Dav will possibly have the following effects:

• • Immense confidence about one's survival. After all, Dav is a lower soul expecting placement in the heirarchy of a Primordial. Dav knows that regardless of what happens, he will be reborn. This immense confidence is shown in the virtues that Dav grants his host.He has no need for temperance, instead exhibiting a great urge to do what he desires, represented by his superhuman conviction. This immense confidence in the self is also exhibited in dangerous situations, where a character with a Valor of less than 4 will find themselves much more willing to charge headlong into situations. In a more general sense, since the higher soul still controls all aspects of the host, people might notice a greater drive, striving for goals, and unwillingness to believe that one can truly lose. Given that Dav was an attempt to 'better' one's self, it would stand to reason that Dav is just that - a great 'enhancement' of the self. Dav's fault then, is his temperance. As will all things demonic, Dav cannot aspire to the perfection of the Sun, and his excesses in compassion, conviction, and valor are for nothing, due to Dav's inability to control his unshapen self.

If you like the flavor of the above, I'd perhaps recommend changing Dav's virtue system, instead noting that: "If Compassion, Conviction, or Valor are 3 or below, raise them to 5. If they are 4 or higher, raise them to 6. If Temperance is 3 or less, reduce it to 1. If Temperance is 4 or higher, reduce it to 2. This modification of virtues will never remove the great curse, at most causing re-assignment of the curse to the new highest virtue."

Finally, there is one other really huge crunch issue to take care of. As a Second-Circle Demon, Dav isn't small fries. He's big-time. REAL Big. How? One sentence: "You just allowed a Yozi into a Celestial (or better) sorcerer, for like one hour per month. (or whatever it is)." I have absolutely no idea what that might be. Since Dav is both failed, and without consciousness, I'd imagine it's quite possible the Yozi's couldn't actually do anything, but I'd like it written explicitly as such.
--GregLink