PACT DICE: INCARNATESIncarnate practitioners face down the pillars of reality. In the stories, a man may play chess with Death, a King may meet with the Fates, and people worry of the approach of Death, Conquest, Famine, and War. The Incarnate Practitioners deal with these sorts of forces directly, drawing on them for power and protection. Incarnate practitioners are arguably the heavyweights of the immaterial practices. The forces they deal with are universal ones that touch on the human experience everywhere, and which can raise up or level kingdoms. These forces are termed ‘incarnations’. Incarnations and their influences are not often found as concrete things in reality, but as generalized concepts that we all must deal with. Establishing connections with these forces will often grant some broad, lasting benefits to the practitioner. One who maintains good standing with Time or Death could avoid growing old. This remains a defensive practice, but covers other bases and avenues than holding back an imminent attack or drawing a diagram that wards off harm. Instead, the Incarnate practitioner draws on a smaller set of offensive and defensive tools, while applying subtle and often double-edged effects over the entire battlefield, timing them to be most advantageous to them and their allies. The forces they deal with are often inevitable, and the Incarnate practitioner is thus stubborn, invariably a heavy hitter with a great deal of influence in specific fields. When they act, it is with the force of Dream, or War, Pestilence, or such named forces at their back. |
Being an Incarnate Practitioner
Most practitioners begin their journeys with an awakening ritual, and may knowingly or unknowingly be associating with incarnations as they place skull, timepiece, blade, woven object and coin in the diagram (these items may vary, depending).
The Incarnate practitioner will make this explicit, often choosing which incarnations they deal with, and this may even be a part of their awakening ritual. As they narrow down their paths, they’ll often close some doors to certain types of incarnation, while opening doors to others.
It’s relatively rare for an Incarnate practitioner to work hand in hand with a true Incarnation, and instead, they will manifest the forces in question into briefly-lived personifications, flocks, pillars, and other entities that then broadcast that influence out. Most are very goal driven, especially among the other, sometimes reactionary or patient protection schools. They must be, lead, and capitalize on the practice they set up. Many Incarnations are double-edged swords that the practitioner must learn to wield.
Example Incarnations
Anguish harms everyone in her light, and does exponentially more harm to those who are suffering from wounds, low morale, curses, and other debilitating conditions. Intensified, she twists the knife, so to speak, exaggerating any and all existing conditions. The effects of this persist even after leaving the area. Those closest to ‘her’, or the source of her light will suffer more. Those who collapse within her light find it hard to rise again- to resume fighting, to rise from fitful sleep, or to recover from injury.
An offensive practice, her propensity to harm those who draw near has its defensive uses to ward off aggressors.
Her motifs are the thorn, the twist of metal (including barbed wire or heated wreckage), the bleeding wound, and a clash of color, such as teal and blood red.
Doom promises harm and inevitably delivers. Those in her area are aware of the growing danger; pain and devastation come after they leave her light, to a degree that corresponds to how long they were within that light. Intensified, she primes a singular attack that grows stronger the longer it is delayed. This may be a sword suspended in air over the figure’s head, or a trap that collapses. The damage cannot be prevented.
An offensive practice, her propensity to harm those who linger in the area has its defensive uses to ward off aggressors.
Her motifs are the Sword of Damocles, suspended overhead, the spike, and the eclipsed sun against a red sky.
Instability is a lack of footing, both real and mental. She distorts the playing field and battlefield both, with a tendency to upset the people with the advantage or upper hand. This manifests in a tilting of the ground, and a blurring of madness and reality to promote chaos and paranoia. Intensified, the perspective tilt worsens and the madness and chance of falling become more dangerous.
When used offensively, she inflicts a sort of madness that touches the emotions. Defensively, she makes the approach harder.
Her motifs are the wave, the twisted floorboard, the expression that touches only half the face. She likes motley colors, such as red and blue together, or orange and green.
Wanderlust is the restless drive to explore and to move. Those in her area cannot stay still to work at a task. Those in her area find moving faster and easier, but stopping to pause for more than a few seconds is not possible. Intensified, she punishes those who backtrack and doubly punishes those who tarry. Spikes may sprout from the ground to tear at the feet, or teeth may nip at the heels.
While a utility practice, it has its defensive uses; one cannot pierce a vault if they cannot sit still to drill.
Her motif favors feather, fur, free hair and a lightweight style of dress or decoration at the top, and thorns or gnashing teeth at the feet.
Shelter dampens effects that are sweeping over the broader environment (smoke, rain, sun, gunfire), and provides a kind of soft safety. Intensified, she shelters an area, protecting it against aggressiveness from beyond the shade cast there, reducing damage taken and making it so no one source of harm can hurt those within. This does not create a barrier, and someone who enters the ‘shelter’ can still do harm. Attacking those on the outside from within the shelter weakens her.
Though a defensive incarnation, offensively, she may thrust people into dark wilderness, detaching them from the present place and time and forcing them to fight their way back.
Her motifs are branch, cave, moss, and shade. Her colors include black and green.
Nescience punishes thinking and blunts mental sharpness. Drawing on talent, teaching, learning and skill while in Nescience’s light is often foiled, with a chance of backfire, fizzling, or pratfall, as the case may be. Those drawing on instinct or taking the simpler road may receive minor benefit. Intensified, Nescience steals away talent, higher learning, and skills, and this can be permanent, forcing a hard journey to relearn it, if the target is in Nescience’s embrace for long enough.
More of a double-edged sword than some, Nescience foils the attacker by forcing them to rely on those practices, skills, or abilities that they’ve used often enough to make them partially instinct. In the role of the aggressor, it limits the tools available to the defender.
Her motifs are the caged or contained head or mind- the upper head may be encased in a cube or bound. She may bear a club or surround herself with simple painted blocks.
Victory is capricious, and favors the person with the upper hand in a contest. Victory strengthens the strong and makes the territory and successes of the person who has most recently succeeded that much more secure. Intensified, Victory tends to bring confrontations to a quick close, empowering final blows.
Whether Victory is offensive or defensive depends on the situation; offense is common when in quick confrontations, defense when securing things long-term.
Her motifs are gold, laurel crowns, lions and ornamental weapons.
Basic Practice - Brand
A deceptively defensive practice due to the pause it may give others, Incarnate practitioners can draw power into a hand or tool. It becomes a heavy thing to bear, but gains the ability to mark an area… or a foe.
The Practice: The Brand practice requires one to bear a weapon or raise a hand, with an invocation and gesture or manner of holding specific to the incarnation, or a suitable line or verse of poetry tied to the incarnation in specific. The incarnation will be distilled into what is hereafter called the brand. It will often glow a color appropriate to the incarnation: red for War, black for death, with traceries of other effects swirling around.
While the Brand is carried, it will exact a small but cumulative toll on the bearer. Health, vitality, focus, or mood could be affected, along with a slow but steady shift toward being more of an incarnation oneself, as impurities (or purities, as the case may be) flake away. Longevity impacts the rate at which penalties accrue. They fade after the effect is dismissed.
Benefits: While held, the Brand produces a warning effect that makes others hesitate, and gives even those without specific Sight or knowledge of what’s going on the sentiment that something is going on. Those who push forward into the effect are rendered vulnerable to it. This does include allies of the practitioner.
Application: Touching the brand to a wall or object will spread the incarnation’s influence into it. This could be artistic graffiti, a crack that glows to the Sight, or any visual motif. As the Practitioner wills it, it will spread, crawling forward, or intensifying in one area. Access determines how easy this is to do, while puissance determines the intensity of the effect. Longevity doesn’t affect duration; it lasts until sufficiently challenged by opposing sentiment or some expression of power, with Longevity determining how resistant it is to these expressions or sentiments. The effect will cast out an aura, with the Incarnation’s ‘light’.
Harming a foe or touching a target with the Incarnation will impose the effect as a curse, with an emphasis toward the negative effects. Vulnerable foes will suffer doubly.
Advancement: Effective use of Brand can inform Incarnate practices about offensive teachings, curses, and making the debilitating effects worse for opposition. It may also make the practitioner a bit better at withstanding the negative effects of their own Incarnations. Finally, it helps to build a relationship with any Incarnation used for the practice, up to a point.
Basic Practice - Aspect
A beginner practice that teaches the management of the ‘pressure valve’ of an Incarnation. A sliver of the incarnation is brought forth and exerts its influence.
The Practice: A piece of poetry or something suitable to the Incarnation must be recited. A related item may need to be held. Access determines how long and how easy this is.
Something representing the Incarnation will arise and take form. This may be a symbol with heavy motif, a large and ghostly figure, or a landmark.
Benefits: The aspect is a fragile summoning, but will shed its light over a wide area. The Aspect is an effective way to cast an Incarnation’s power over an area. While often soft in the effectiveness of the rules it lays down, the area coverage is often vast (can be a city block or more, drawing on Puissance for area coverage rather than raw power) and the effectiveness is increased if opposition can see it.
As the Incarnate practitioner acts, especially if those actions are for a purpose suitable to the incarnation, it will intensify its light and deploy its lowest-tier soldiers, omens, icons, or living motifs. These are often so weak one solid blow will dismiss them, but they will plague the area.
The aspect will last a duration before fading - often more than three minutes but less than an hour.
The incarnate called may be any that the practitioner has a relationship with.
Advancement: The
Basic Practice - Substantiated Word
Incarnate practitioners build something when engaging regularly with Incarnations. Progress along tracks can be spent to get (oft cryptic) answers or make appointments to, for example, play a friendly game of chess with Death. This is more of an edifice that is constructed than a relationship or ‘deal’ type situation.
Knowing this practice affords some passive benefits when it comes to withstanding Incarnate practices.