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Template:Info afflictions To be Geist is to both be a testament of a cruel joke imparted by the Consigner, and a living embodiment that sometimes even the cleverest of Gods are defied by the unpredictability of fate itself. Geists are Afflicted of the Ordial type, once brought about by a disastrous bargain between the Ordial God the Consigner, and an Allorn Prince, who was fooled in producing an army of the Consigner's personal middlemen in stealing the memories from the souls of mortals. As time passed however, Geists became both so numerous and powerful on their own accord, far removed from the Consigner, that they started developing their own culture and were freed from the Consigner's direct control, even if they are still affected by a permanent hunger to consume memories, and are empowered by the same Ordial powers that once created their forebearers.
Core Concepts
Playing a Geist
Geists, being Afflicted, are cursed by "evil" forces, and harm society around them no matter how much someone can pretend they do not. As such, they are the closest thing you might find (along with other Afflictions to being prime antagonists on MassiveCraft in between Events when there aren't DM NPC's to unite against. Playing a Geist means you will likely get hunted/attacked by a large amount of Characters in Roleplay, as they are effectively perpetually illegal, and legal to attack/imprison/cure for vigilantes and Knights. You should not play a Geist if you have trouble with constant conflict, or find being attacked frequently and randomly in even social scenes uncomfortable.
Infection & Curing
Being a Geist, is a curable condition, but also one that is contagious from one Geist to non-Geists. Geist curing requires that a Geist is defeated in combat, and dragged off to a Curing Chamber (or some other form of Curing Mechanic). Only Specific Characters are able to cure Geists (and other Afflictions). Becoming a Geist can be done in a variety of ways (described below), though there are some exception and corner cases. For example, someone can only ever have one Affliction, or some Affinites, meaning that one cannot be a Geist and Vampire, or Geist and Marken at the same time. Geists are equally also immune to being infected by other Afflictions or certain Affinities unless they are Cured. Finally, if they already have Radiant, Sinistral, or Theurgy Point Buy (and other such Dimension Aligned Abilities), they are all converted from their original Alignment to Ordial upon infection, including any Spirits converted to Ordial Shades, until they are Cured, and they both return to their previous types.
- Conversion by Ritual: Conversion by Ritual means writing a story for yourself, or passing it off in backstory, that a Character worshiped the Ordial Gods, and was blessed by them by becoming a Geist.
- Conversion by Feeding: Conversion by Feeding means that 24 hours after being fed on by a Geist, a victim can turn into a Geist also. If a player objects to infection during feeding, this does not happen.
- Conversion by Relic: Conversion by Relic means a person randomly stumbles into an infected weapon harboring a Geist, once belonging to a now-dead Geist. Owning such a weapon turns the owner into a Geist.
Physical & Mental Changes
Becoming a Geist does affect both the body and the mind of the person, these changes taking hold during infection and remaining permanent until they are Cured. These changes are split between Required and Optional changes:
- Required Changes
- All Geist irises turn solid sickly green glowing, and produce light trails as they move around. Additionally, they have perfect nightvision during night, and are able to see in darkness.
- All Geists are free from guilt over their urges, like feeding. This doesn't make them devoid of emotion or consciousness, it just means they won't feel bad about feeding or being Geists.
- Optional Changes
- Infection can enhance the body, for example by making the host larger, more muscular, taller, have bones protruding like spikes, a prehensile tail, claw hands and feet, digitigrade legs, etc.
- Infection can give the host more Ordial-like aesthetics, like bone-white hair, bleached skin, see-through ghostly skin when they get angry and express rage, ordial flames on their hands etc.
- Infection can make a person less emotionally responsive, blunting their happiness and excitement, or making them have a shorter attention span or worse temper, with defaulting to violence.
- Infection may cause a person's view of Affliction to shift completely, from hatred, to adoring and vanity. Even after curing, it may cause a person to desperately seek re-infection.
Afflicted Form
Afflicted Form is a Transformation that can be used by Geists to disguise themselves, or just look cool while going into Combat. Afflicted Forms are more monstrous forms of their normal body, and allow some more creative freedom like making the Character appear more like a hulking beast, so long as it remains vaguely humanoid, and should not add additional function (like wielding more than one weapon with multiple arms). Afflicted Form cannot imitate other types (like Vampires or Marken), and must always remain the same, and be predominantly green or Ordial-themed.
Afflicted Feeding
Geists, like all other forms of Afflictions, must feed in order to survive. Their Affliction is hardwired in such a way that they have a constant urge to feed that will only momentarily be sated by consuming the memories of a victim. It is only possible to feed from a combat defeated foe, as the process is a violation of the person and no sane person would consent to having their memories invaded and stolen from them. Feeding takes about 5 minutes, during which the Geist consumes memories, but must restart if attacked. The victim may decide what types of memories they forget, they can be the last 24 hours, or specific people, or just random memories from their childhood. Not everyone is willing to admit being fed on to authorities, as this immediately draws suspicion to the victim, they might be infected also. We strongly request players are consistent on feeding in Roleplay and not just offscreen-NPC the feeding process, but won't enforce it.
Geist Weapon
Geists like all Afflicted can use a Summon Weapon Ability to draw a weapon from the ether into their hand in an instant. This Weapon does not need to remain the same and can change appearance over time, representing part of the Afflicted's personality as well in how it looks. If Infected as a Geist for long enough, the Weapon may become infested by an Ordial Shade, which results in the weapon becoming a Geist Relic. This means that if the Geist perishes and the weapon is picked up by another non-Geist, that person is infected and becomes a Geist as well, with the Geist Relic now being their Weapon Summon.
Geist Traits
This section puts all Abilities, Free Packs, Limitations, and Mechanics together for ease of reference. Keep in mind, Afflictions are not Races, these Traits are additive, they do not replace Heritage Traits.
Mechanics
- Common Mechanic I: Geists can use a Court Glamor to hide their Geist visuals and Green Eyes from anyone but fellow Geists, except during feeding. This counts as a Disguise, and does not work on those who already know the Geist is a Geist.
- Common Mechanic II: Geists, if they have Disguising or Shapeshifting Magic, can hide their Geist visuals and Green Eyes from anyone but fellow Vampires, but all of their Proficiencies are set to 0, and they cannot use Abilities in Combat.
- Common Mechanic III: Geists can use a Party Glamor at Server Events/Player Events (not Raids), which acts as a Disguise, until they leave the Event Venue. Cannot ever be used outside of Event Venues.
- Common Mechanic IV: Geists can grant immunity to Geistism to any person willing to bargain with them. In turn, if the bargained person attacks the Geist or reveals the deal, they take massive damage (discuss in Dm's what this means).
Culture
Geists do not possess any sense of historical bloodlines or unity like Vampires do, but can instead sometimes draw common traits and purposes from the various known Death Cults and Ordial-aligned organizations that may have spawned them if they were created by a servant of that cult or came to serve them. These can be used to apply additional themes to roleplay, with some representing Gods, and some representing Races. This is not required reading, purely roleplay flavor.
Malefica Theme: The Children of Kruphos
During the height of the Allorn Empire, the Children of Kruphos dwelled just below the surface as a cult of death-obsessed Altalar who followed in the teachings of their predecessor Zenallăeia of Three Corpses and developed their own radical idea that Bintaar housed a mirrored version of the Allorn deity Estel, called Kruphos, and that it was their sacred mission to bring about Kruphos’ emergence into Aloria. While the Children have long since collapsed and faded away into antiquity, their general practices of death magic and Geist-creation still reign on, and many literary and scholarly sources about the subject that are still read today originate from them. Many modern day Geists can trace the creation of their weapons or the origins of their Legions to the days of the Children of Kruphos and pay homage to them with their defense of sacred Ordial sites like graveyards and Temples, and aid Ordial mages with their death-magic pursuits. These Relics are called Crowns of Kruphos, and Geists who possess them tend to be exceptionally murderous, unpredictable, explosive, and uncontrollable by others around them, purely beset by an urge to kill.
Lantern Theme: The Deathlamps
After the rise of the Songaskian Masaya, even though it was very Dragon oriented, a natural alliance formed between the Lantern's faithful and Marik's Archon in Farahdeen, both concerned and pushed to action against the growing Undead unrest in Farahdeen. The Deathlamps are Ordial Mages and Geists who joined forces with the Archon in Farahdeen, and fight against Ordial Occult who would abuse and waste away Shades for the sake of power, acting against the wishes of the Lantern. They seek out mindless Undead and put them out of their misery, while (attempting) the less violent alternative to Soothsayer Archon by trying to convince Undead to pass on into the afterlife and let go of the mortal world. Deathlamps are sometimes seen as anti-Geists, because they are often in conflict with many other Geists, who see Shades purely as fuel and stepping stones to power.
Consigner Theme: The Moonlight Circus
The Moonlight Circus is as old as Geists themselves, one of the earliest iteration of Consigner fanatic Geists who remained loyal to their lord, even after most other Geists were torn from the Consigner's control by time and distance. The Moonlight Circus travels around the world, often landing in Regalia, to set up shows and festivities during a night display of the Circus. All visitors have an amazing time, but when leaving the Circus, forget the last 24 hours, with their memories offered up to Consigner during the sunrise before the Circus moves on. Moonlight Acrobats are often mistrusted by free Geists, because they might just want to rope other Geists back into the control of the Consigner.
Glacial Theme: Waste Wanderers
Among the Bene Rexit Isldar, there are some particularly devoted servants of their great Glacial that choose to dedicate themselves to the pursuit of defending their peoples’ territory and fulfilling their God’s great mission of accelerating the creep of Death Isldar Power. These Waste-Wanderers take up the powers of a Geist in order to fight and kill and aid the Glacial's cause in every better way conceivable. Many create epithets and titles for themselves, considering their task a holy one. Most notable of them all is Vallethar the Rime-king, who has fostered a particularly vicious brigade of murderous Isldar Geists that leave naught but frozen corpses and freshly resurrected Undead in their wake. With the advent of war with the Dragon-worshippers on the horizon, a great deal of Waste-Wandering Isldar Geists have flocked to Regalia to fight what they see as the nexus of support for the Life Isldar, their sworn enemies.
Evintarian Theme: The Tychiménean Knights
The Bone King’s armies are composed of a vast array of religious warriors, resurrected Undead and Geists, all unified beneath his banner. There exists a cadre of particularly elite Geists in the army known as The Tychiménean Knights. They are made up of hand-selected Evintarian Unionist knights who prove themselves in the Bone King’s service and are elevated to a higher, sanctified status. While they are not recognized as a true Knightly order in the Empire, they have some notoriety among Ordial followers and Evintarians in particular. The greatest of them take on inherited names and titles, while the rest just wear heraldic armor and represent the interests of the Bone King and Evintarian Unionism. Members from their unofficial order are sent out to lands like Regalia, to protect Evintarian priests (even if they don't want it), or protect Ordial VIP's like important scholars or Ordial Mages with political sway.
Trivia
- A great many Geists, while in their Geist Form, are mistaken for various types of Undead or Ordial abominations of other origin.
- There are some Geists who become so overwhelmed by the presence of the Shade in their weapon that they entirely lose scope of who they are, the lines blurred between their own mind and the Shade’s, becoming known colloquially as Eidolon and sometimes utilized as the most powerful but difficult to control of their kind.
- It is entirely unknown how old the oldest living Geist may be, but by estimations there could be some as old as the Dewamenet Empire itself, though if they do exist the Sefakhem keep their identity and whereabouts under tight lock and key.
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