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PUPPETEERS

ARCANOI

A Puppeteer can learn the following Arcanoi at initiate and common level

PUPPETRY               LIFEWEB               OUTRAGE

Any other Arcanoi a Puppeteer   learns is common level only

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Cultures around the world have myths of possession. Gods, spirits, demons, and ancestors speak through the mouths of the living. Some reach into the mortal realm to harm, others to offer aid. Scratch any of these stories, the Puppeteers say, and you’ll find one of their number. They’ve been practicing their arts for millennia, leaving their mark on countless civilizations and religions. The masters of Puppetry exaggerate slightly. They have no monopoly on the power to enter and control mortal bodies. However, few others have mastered both the degree of control that Puppetry grants and the understanding of human behavior and superstition that allows for most effective possession. This Arcanos doesn’t just cross the Shroud. It usurps mortals’ bodies and, with some greater arts, their very lives. Puppetry abuse feeds the Shadow and is one of the empire’s most-loathed violations of the Dictum Mortuum. The dangers don’t stop wraiths from seeking out tutelage, though. The renewal of living sensation that Skinriding brings is stronger than any voice in the wraith’s head or Hierarchy official’s disapproval.

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Guildmarks

Puppeteers take on so many other forms that they can lose their own. Each Puppeteer’s Corpus gradually becomes a blend of his hosts’ appearances. Puppeteers who possess a wide range of subjects melt into an indistinct average appearance that approaches an uncanny valley of human norms. Those who specialize in a particular class of host undergo similar transformations, but with a bias toward their preferred
vessels. Wraiths fond of possessing inhuman subjects become gradually less human-looking themselves, reflecting the physical traits of animals or the spiritual traits of supernatural hosts.

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The Guild

Until the empire’s rise, Puppeteers were solitary creatures, each pursuing their own agenda among the Quick. Cult figureheads, oracular voices, and ancestral guides, they chose and shepherded mortal herds for their own ends. Stygia’s ascent ended these practices. Even before laying down the Dictum Mortuum, Charon loathed Puppetry for its direct power over the living. Early Puppeteers banded together for self-preservation, becoming early adopters of the Guild structure to attain the political power to deter the Hierarchy. Puppeteer lore blames Charon for engineering their downfall through sleeper agents. Over several centuries, these wraiths rose to positions of prominence, with one eventually attaining overall Guild leadership. His deliberate sabotage during the War of the Guilds undercut Puppeteer efforts and lost centuries of knowledge to the Artificers’ forges. He disappeared near the war’s end, mission apparently accomplished. Outrage over Charon’s perfidy put the Puppeteers at the forefront of the coup, but the absence of senior leadership hobbled them. The Breaking finished what the war had started, scattering the Puppeteers into reclusive groups that limited themselves to protecting (or exploiting) specific mortal cultures. Only recently have leaders with less insular perspectives emerged to reunite the Guild’s scattered fragments. Most are young wraiths who lived and died in an era of global travel and telecommunication, making them more open to interacting with cultures beyond those of their respective births.

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The Factions

Until recently, Puppeteers collected in small, local circles, each one drawing recruits from a particular subculture or group and focusing its activities on those mortals. Mistrust of higher authority ran deep, a legacy of the damage Charon’s deep-cover agents inflicted. Circles might occasionally meet to exchange information or collaborate on critical projects, but extended contact was anathema. This changed in the 20th century as wraiths without the old scars rose to local leadership. The Fourth and Fifth Great Maelstroms underscored the need for direct intervention to prevent the Quick from destroying the Skinlands and Underworld alike. Postwar migrations also forced many circles to follow their mortal beneficiaries, reestablishing themselves in foreign cities and citadels. Greater cross-cultural contact led to the Marionette movement among Circle leaders who consider themselves citizens of the world. Under their idealistic influence, the Guild reaches toward greater coordination, including the mitigation of wars that could threaten a Sixth Great Maelstrom. Not every Puppeteer is so altruistic. Most cities have at least one Circle that wants no part of lofty agendas, preferring to aid only its chosen mortals. Resistance to a greater Guild structure ranges from parochial rhetoric to bloody assaults on Fetters, depending on the personalities involved. Other goals drive Puppeteers, too. The Harlequins never forgot Charon’s acts and maintain a centuries-old terror campaign against the Hierarchy, exploiting mortal extremist groups to strike Fetters. Conversely, Silhouettes see Puppetry as a means to Transcendence through resolving Fetters, sometimes approaching religious mania on the subject.

 

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