TheHoverpope/Aai

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Aai, the Slate

Aai are at first blank, they are nothing. When an Aai is created, it is a crude sculpture, a rough figure of man-size, with no features and no mind. It is immobile, and can hardly be considered alive - but it is, it is very much alive. The whole sculpture appears to be made of roughly carved but otherwise featureless dark grey clay; the only marks on its surface are at its eyes, which are simply empty sockets. Far too many have thought that these sockets are not watching. For though they cannot even think initially, they watch, and always watch. They will pick one person, or it will be chosen for them, and they will not stop watching it.

And as they watch, the Aai learn. They absorb everything they see and naturally, without effort, make it a part of their fabric and their substance, and so they change. They learn incredibly rapidly without any conscious effort to do so, and they take on the aspects of the things which have taught them. If they manage to learn everything that a being has known and copy what it is, then they consider themselves one - for if they share all knowledge and ability, what is it that seperates them? When they have completely taken the aspect of their target, they forget who and what they are, and are completely absorbed in its aspect. They invariably feel that the original is a cold mockery of them, a creature stealing their form, and will attempt to destroy it either subtly or with force, depending on their talents at the time. To do so is their own destruction - if they fail to defeat the original that bore them, they are killed, and if they do manage to overcome that poor creature, then they are still doomed; for at the next calibration after their teacher dies, they will turn to a curdely carved clay statue with no memories of their past whatsoever.

Many craftsman-sorcerors among the exalts have called upon the Aai, for who among that number would not want an assistant of equal quality? Who would not want a research partner with a mind as quick as theirs? And what warrior would not want a partner to watch his back who thinks with the same tactics and fights with the same valour? The Aai are a mighty tool to any who can tame them, and a great danger. For in that final forgetting of their being, they lose the bonds that bound them on summoning, and are free of any restriction.

Nature: Explorer

Attributes: Strength 0, Dexterity 0, Stamina 1, Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0, Perception 0, Intelligence 0, Wits 0.

Abilities:

Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 1, Temperence 1, Valor 1.

Willpower 1.

Soak: 1B/0L

Health levels -0,-1,-2,-4,I. Essence 3, Essence pool 37

Cost to materialize: 20

Charms:

Other notes: The Aai learn any ability or attribute which they see executed well by the being that they have imprinted on. If one of them witnesses any roll that attains three successes, the Aai may gain a dot in an attribute, ability, or specialty that was involved in the roll. If the Aai witnesses its teacher channel a virtue, it gains a dot in that virtue. If it witnesses its target regain two or more temporary willpower at once, it gains a point of permanent willpower. None of these stats may ever surpass that of its teacher. The Aai's permanent essence will never rise. It may not learn any non-spirit charms, but it may learn similar charms; it may learn Principle of Motion in the place of Five-Dragon Wrath, or Uncanny Prowess in the place of excellent strike, for example.
As the Aai grows closer to its teacher, it looks and acts more and more like it. With the first dot of dexterity it becomes ambulatory and starts to lose the first of its clay nature. By the time it has one dot in each attribute that its teacher has at least one dot in, the Aai no longer looks anything like a statue, but now resembles more its teacher, although a less defined and developed version. The last thing to change in the Aai is its eye sockets; they will remain empty until the moment it completes its transformation. Many Aai try to hide this with glass eyes, which do not in any way obstruct its sight. When the Aai's abilities, attributes, willpower, specialties, and virtues are all the same as those of the creature it is observing, it loses any sorcerous binding on it. It is still a demon, though it is not aware of this fact. On the first morning of Calibration, all of the Aai's stats revert to as shown if its teacher is deceased, and it turns back to a statue.