Embody
Name: Embody
Guild: Proctors
Status: Restricted
Marking(s): (1e/2e) Dappled patterns on skin / (20th) Marked by chosen Embody focus
Contents
Introduction
Embody is one of the primary thirteen Arcanoi from Wraith: The Oblivion. Those who use Embody can manifest in the physical world and, under the right circumstances, appear as a living person.
Embody, while not expressly forbidden, is strictly regulated by the Hierarchy, due to the influence of the Dictum Mortuum. Legally, only Deathlords and high-ranking Hierarchy officials have any right to cross the Shroud. Despite the risk of breaking wraithly law, many wraiths crave the secrets of the Proctors, as being Embodied is the closest thing to being alive a wraith can ever experience.
Once a wraith is fully Embodied, they can be injured like any ordinary human. If enough damage takes place, an injured wraith is subjected to a Harrowing as if they were still in wraithly form. Embodied wraiths are also still susceptible to regular aggravated damage from Stygian steel weapons.
Proctors can also take living Consorts, and can attune themselves so that only that person can see and hear them. While this makes it easier to work with certain members of the Quick, the living person runs the risk of seeming insane for talking to nothing but thin air.
A Proctor who fails to use Embody properly is subject to a number of effects, some merely frustrating, and some quite serious. The two most serious are accidentally plunging themselves into the Tempest while trying to materialize, or gaining large amount of Angst when deprived of a desired experience in the Skinlands.
Basic Abilities
- Ghostly Touch: A Proctor can exert an extremely light touch into the living world.
- Maintain the Material Form: A Proctor can Embody themselves for a longer time than normal.
(Basic abilities were dropped in the 20th anniversary edition.)
Standard Powers
- • Whispers: A Proctor may whisper through the Shroud.
- •• Phantom: A Proctor can materialize in a hazy, intangible form.
- ••• Statue: A Proctor can materialize into a solid form, but cannot move while in it.
- •••• Life-in-Death: A Proctor can materialize as a passable version of a living person.
- ••••• Materialize: A Proctor can temporarily return to a lifelike state.
Alternate Powers
WRAITH: THE GREAT WAR
Embody abilities during the Great War are the same as the basic abilities and standard powers with the following exceptions, which replace the skills of the same level or where noted.
- Sense Embodiment: A Proctor can tell if another person is a wraith Embodied. Does not replace any basic abilities.
- ••• Shadow Presence: This allows a Proctor to manifest more "fully" than with Phantom by allowing for more lifelike effects such as casting shadows.
- •••• Corpse: Other than the name change, there is no difference between this ability and Life-in-Death.
- ••••• Slip the Lethan Bonds: A Proctor can "forget" their wraithly selves across the Shroud and go into an almost fully human state.
20TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
The 20th anniversary edition introduces the initiate arts, a set of Embody abilities available to members of the Proctors' Guild with sufficient status.
- • Maintain the Material Form: This is essentially the same as the old basic ability.
- •• Cache: A Proctor can temporarily move a relic into the Skinlands.
- ••• Skingrasp: A Proctor can have their hands exist on both sides of the Shroud, enabling them to physically manipulate objects.
- •••• Shroudguide: A Proctor can share the effects of Embody arts that allow manifestation in the Skinlands with other wraiths.
- ••••• Harrow the Mortal Flesh: A Proctor can bring a mortal or other supernatural into the Shadowlands.
SOURCES
- WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion Second Edition, p. 140-141
- WTGW: Wraith: The Great War Rulebook, p. 117-118
- WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 158-161
