Overview

So what is possession, and how does it work? A ghost, as most know, is a soul without a corporeal form, so to combat their lack of a physical form, ghosts steal and borrow vessels, usually living things. Through the expenditure of their own ectoplasm, they can become something similar to a living being for a time by dominating or co-inhabiting the bodies of living individuals. Regardless of intent, possession is always taxing on the soul, of both the ghost and host, and it takes time and control for any ghost to truly perfect the art, but through this ability many doors are thrown open for the aspiring dead, or otherwise mortally challenged folk.

Possession is effectively a battle between a ghost’s possession skill and the discipline of those they would want to possess. A ghost’s strongest ally is an opponent's emotional turmoil. As such, those who’ve honed their minds with meditation are the most readily equipped to remove a hostile presence from their mind once it’s gotten in. Though fighting a ghost attempting to possess you has many forms and flavors, at the end of the day, one’s discipline and ability to clear their mind through meditation are the two most valuable skills when it comes to handling such an unwanted intruder.

One important consistency is the host’s soul’s own resistance to dying. Sometimes, because a ghost has been dead for so long, the ghost will forget to maintain the standard acts that keep a host alive, forgetting to eat, drink, sleep, pass waste appropriately. This is usually only found in the tier 3 types of ghosts. This leads to the host withering away while under a long term possession. Should the host reach a critical point, being quite near to death, the host’s own soul will use up a tremendous amount of power, automatically, to free itself of even the strongest ghost. Because of this, ghosts are unable to force a host to commit suicide. This also means that if a ghost possesses someone who is dying, they will typically be immediately ejected. This ejection puts terrible strain on a person's soul, and thus damages their mental and emotional state akin to PTSD.

Standard Possession

The act through which a ghost forcefully enters the body of another living being, be it a person or animal. Standard possession, as a general rule, is an aggressive act and all ghosts are intrinsically aware of their ability to do it. Living souls have a certain “warmth” that dead souls find appealing. Thus, some acts of possession may begin simply as an attempt to reclaim what it feels like to be alive, whereas others might possess people to further agendas. Regardless of intent, possession is the act of dominating the will of the being one wishes to possess. As such, possession is a fairly simple two-step process. A ghost must touch and enter a body it wishes to possess, at which point it may simply decide to possess this body. With that conscious decision made, a battle of wills ensues, with the victor gaining control of the body. In the case that the ghost fails, they will find themselves significantly drained for a time, as it is both a mentally and spiritually draining task. It is generally wise that a ghost becomes competent at sizing up marks to attempt to possess. Typically the higher sentience a being is, the more difficult it will be. For instance, possessing an animal such as a cat is much easier for a ghost than a person.

Being possessed is often strange for most people. If there is no symbiosis, then the possessed loses all control. However, weaker ghosts are not always able to completely stifle the soul. The possessed is able to still feel the world through their five standard senses, but ghosts can stifle these based on the competency difference between the ghost's possession skill and the possessed's discipline skill. If the ghost is the same competency, they cannot cut off any senses. If the ghost is one tier higher, it can cut off one sense. Two tiers higher is two senses cut off, three tiers is three senses, and four tiers is all senses. The ghost may choose which senses, if any, they cut off.

Should a possessed individual be willing, they can achieve symbiosis with the ghost, granting them a telepathic link to the ghost. Standard possession lacks this link, but both ghost and host can feel the other's emotional state at all times, regardless of skills.

A person does not need to be conscious to be possessed. In fact, many ghosts tend to target these individuals, for their defenses tend to be down. The act of possession will wake someone from their sleep, even if they don't realize what is going on. A ghost cannot rouse someone from other forms of unconsciousness through this method.

Standard possession does not allow a ghost access to the abilities of an Immortal marked, nor the abilities of a Mortalborn, nor their domain magic abilities, nor their dreamwalking abilities, nor the host's own ghost skills. The reason for this is because these abilities are built into the host's soul, not necessarily their mortal body. And possession only affects the body. However, symbiosis can allow these things to be used by the ghost, if the host allows.

Standard possession does allow a ghost access to a host's physical skills, such as combat skills, crafting skills, etc, but not access to mental skills such as physics or teaching.

Symbiosis

The act in which a ghost is allowed possession of a body by the host and allows more collaboration between the two. This possession is fairly consistent at all levels of experience and still requires effort on the part of the ghost to enter and assume control of the host body, but it is much less draining on the spirit and less damaging to both host and ghost. This type of possession is beneficial, as well, in that they are good for scenarios in which a ghost wishes to explain something or teach something in a particularly hands-on manner. This is further amplified by the fact that while a ghost is possessing a willing target, telepathy between the two is available. Furthermore an Expert or higher in possession can share its memories directly with its host. If the host is an expert in meditation, they can share their own memories with the ghost over the telepathic link.

Symbiotic possession allows a ghost access to a host's physical and mental skills.

Shadowing/Static Possession

Shadowing is a ghost's ability to relinquish control over a host that it is currently possessing, without the ghost leaving the body. This allows the ghost to conserve ectoplasm, and even increase it through the syphon skill. Often this type of possession is achieved by the ghost hiding within a smaller piece of the host's body and not interacting or exerting control. The host will typically still feel the ambient emotions from the ghost, but many of these tend to go unexplained. This allows ghosts to extend their time within the host's body, as this allows them to rebuild their ectoplasm.

However, this only hides the ghost from the host. Should a person with the ability to see ghosts, such as a Zuuda, see the host, they will notice a highly concentrated spot of light (or darkness) in the location where the ghost is hiding.

Shadowing is only accessible at expert level possession.

Ghost's have no access to the host's skills while in a static possession.

A Return to Life

Living Possession

This is an ability gained by the ghost should they achieve master or higher possession, and then come back to life. This ability is not usable if they are still an undead and have a physical form ( Wisps and Risen for instance). The former ghost is able to “step into” a living being or object and contend with them in the standard battle of wills. The ghost's living body is converted into ectoplasm during this time, and remains that way until they leave the possession. If the possesser loses the battle of wills, they are ejected, returning back to their normal body state, but being incredibly drained of life force, thus causing them to be incredibly tired and hungry, and unable to possess again for the trial unless it is on a willing target.

The former ghost is able to access all three types of possession during this time. If the body they are in is destroyed, they are expelled, but lose a large amount of ectoplasm in the process.

Astral Projection

This is an ability gained by the ghost should they achieve master or higher possession, and then come back to life. This ability is not usable if they are still an undead and have a physical form (Wisps and Risen for instance). The former ghost is able to create a projection of themselves from their ectoplasm. They can push this projection out of themselves, while their soul remains within their own body. This projection can only travel within 50m of the former ghost, but is able to see and hear (no other senses) during this time, and is able to move through objects far easier than even a ghost with the materialization skill can. The projection is able to possess living beings and objects just as the ghost could, albeit at half the strength. The former ghost is able to access standard possession and static possession during this time but not symbiosis.

This method of remote possession does not put a constant drain on the former ghost, but does make them vulnerable. While their projection is out of their own body, they are unable to utilize any other ghost skills. Additionally, they are prone to many more mistakes, as they are in control of two bodies at once. These mistakes can be fatal for the former ghost’s body, or can allow the host to capitalize on the mistake, and expel the projection, rending away much of its ectoplasm in the process.

This also leaves the returned ghost's body extremely vulnerable. If they are focusing too hard on their astral projection, they can accidentally pull their own soul out. If this happens the body begins to die, and if the ghost doesn't possess their own body again in time, the ghost has yet again died. Additionally, while in astral form, their own body is vulnerable to possession by other ghosts.

A Few Notes

All Ghost Sparks are automatically turned dormant. Their magic cannot be accessed or used while a ghost, and they cannot perform an initiation upon another mortal, through Possession or otherwise. Ghosts also cannot use the abilities of an Immortal Marked host or those of a Mortalborn host through possession. This is because the act of Possession is purely physical, and does not have the power to affect the soul of the possessed.

Ghosts cannot use a host’s dreamwalking skill while possessing another, however they can use their own dreamwalking skill, and if they are at an appropriate level, escort the possessed body and soul with them. This will take them both to the dreamscape of the ghost.

Ghosts can only use a host's own ghost skills if the possession is symbiotic.

Ghosts can never forcibly possess a host that is their anchor. They can, however, possess a willing host to achieve symbiosis.

Competency Tiers

Novice

At this level, a ghost is just learning of its powers and getting a feel for them. The mentally infirm, inebriated, and other mentally compromised people are the easiest, most consistent prey at this level. The ghost will also be learning the ropes of when it’s best to attempt to possess someone, be it in their sleep and other moments of weakness. Animals are also prime targets due to the lack of mental discipline to fend off a ghost. At this level, the longest a ghost can maintain a possession is around four breaks. Only standard possession is available at novice.

Competent

The ghost has now become more comfortable with possessing people and may now hold the possession for a significantly longer time depending on how much ectoplasm they have and the will power of those they wish to possess. The longer a ghost has been without recharging their ectoplasm, the worse it gets. Furthermore ghosts at this point are picking favored types of people to possess and darker ghosts are finding methods to break the wills of those they do possess. A ghost may now possess an individual or an object for a full trial before having to leave and recover. The ghost now has the ability to achieve symbiotic possession at this tier.

Expert

Static possession becomes possible at this rank. Ghosts at this point have a significant amount of stamina when it comes to possessing victims and have become increasingly adept at battering down an opponent's mental barriers and beating back their attempts to push them out. A ghost may now possess an individual, an object, or an animal (of similar size to a humanoid or smaller) for up to 10 trials before either having to leave and recover or to return to a static possession

Furthermore, at this point, a ghost is now able to use the skills of those they've possessed at two competency tiers below the host’s skill level, even if the ghost themselves have no familiarity with the skill. This means that if a ghost possessed a grandmaster in singing, the ghost could sing at an expert level. If the ghost possessed a competent singer, the ghost would be able to sing at a novice level. If the ghost’s own skill is higher than that of the host’s, they will default to their own skill level. This does NOT include domain magic, dreamwalking, or ghost skills the host may have.

Master

A master possessor is a force to be reckoned with, able to dominate the mind of those they’ve possessed and go so far as to see not only their victims thoughts but delve into their memories, if they so choose. Seemingly nearly limitless in stamina, it is not uncommon for those possessed only to escape by being on death's door or truly herculean efforts of will power.

A ghost may now possess an individual, an object, or an animal (of similar size to an elephant or smaller) for up to 50 trials before either having to leave and recover or to return to a static possession

Furthermore, at this point, a ghost is now able to use the skills of those they've possessed at one competency tier below the host’s skill level, even if the ghost themselves have no familiarity with the skill. This means that if a ghost possessed a grandmaster in singing, the ghost could sing at a master level. If the ghost possessed a competent singer, the ghost would be able to sing at a novice level. If the ghost’s own skill is higher than that of the host’s, they will default to their own skill level. This does NOT include domain magic, dreamwalking, or ghost skills the host may have.

Grandmaster

In addition to be able to have capstones, a grandmaster possesser has a few more perks. Grandmasters are able to possess an individual, object, or animal (of similar size to a blue whale or smaller) indefinitely. at this point, a ghost is now able to use the skills of those they've possessed at one competency tier below the host’s skill level, even if the ghost themselves have no familiarity with the skill. This means that if a ghost possessed a grandmaster in Singing, the ghost could sing at a grandmaster level. If the ghost possessed a competent singer, the ghost would be able to sing at a competent level. If the ghost’s own skill is higher than that of the host’s, they will default to their own skill level.