By Smiling Jack (kitab@hotmail.com)
Life was good. I was alive. And it felt great. Shame about what happened.
I walked through Central Park, quickly. It was about 8.30pm, and that is a bad time to be out in the Park. There's muggers and psychos. A lot of them, too. The air was cold and crisp, making my breath come in huge clouds of steam. The stars winked in an unusually clear sky. I decided to cut through the paths. Bad mistake.
A man stepped out in front of me. With a knife. I looked about, but there weren't any other people. Figures.
"Give me your wallet." he said, flashing the knife. I reached inside my pocket, slowly bringing out my wallet. He motioned for me to throw it to him. He looked inside, and appeared very pissed. There was nothing in it, apart from small change. "What the fuck's this, huh?! Where's your cash, shithead?"
"I haven't got anything." I managed to come out with.
"Bullshit," he said, and came towards me. I turned, and started to run, looking back at him. At this point, everything goes into slow motion, like a bad movie clichee. He pitched his knife at me, the blade spinning through the air, light glinting on and off it.
Reality came back with a thump as it impacted in my back, severing my spinal cord. It was a thousand to one chance, but he managed it. I crumpled to the floor, blood running out of me, unable to move, my sight beginning to fade away. My glasses had shattered into a thousand brilliant white chips, which winked like the stars above. His boots crunched on the glass, as he searched my prone form, swearing at the lack of money. The boots walked away, and everything faded out.
"What have we got?!"
"Male, mid-thirties, he's been stabbed, right in the spine."
"Damage?"
"It's been severed."
"Shit." My thoughts exactly. Thanks a lot doctor.
"Get him up. On my count. 1 - 2 - 3." I was lifted onto the table with a bump. Ow. "Saline, IV feed. Morphine, 3 mills. Get him on a chest tube." Things started fading again.
"We're losing him!" And then it happened.
I rose up and out, and looked down. At my body. They were about to shock it. A declining silver cord attached me to it. They shocked it. No response. The cord disappeared. I somehow knew that I was dead, and waited for the tunnel of light, or whatever it was.
Nothing.
"Time of death - 9.35pm," said the doctor. I had been dying for an hour? Still nothing. I wandered if I could walk about like this, and hit the floor. Good. Was I a ghost? I decided to stroll through the hospital, and left the room. By walking through a wall. I stepped back and forth through it, feeling no resistance each time. Hmm.
The emergency rooms were full. People crowded into the waiting rooms. In each and every one of the rooms I visited where someone died, a blinding light seemed to envelope them. When it went away, they were gone. No one else seemed to see the light. I could feel myself fading, somehow. I felt weaker, less substantial. I needed to get a body from somewhere, or I would die. I sensed it instinctively. Wondering about something, I jumped into a passing nurse, on impulse. I blinked with surprise: I was riding inside her head! I tried controlling the movements, but nothing happened. I suggested to her unconscious mind that she should take a trip to the morgue, and her feet began moving of their own accord, steering us towards the freezer. I -- we -- looked down at her body. She was quite pretty. It was a shame that I was a ghost. On that, I was feeling better, although the nurse seemed to be more tired. I looked, and implausibly, felt a surge of lust. From what I could feel of her thoughts; the nurse was confused. She'd felt it as well. That must have been strange; looking at yourself and wanting to have sex with your body, as if you were someone else. She was getting very confused. I smoothed down her thoughts, and we continued towards the morgue.
It was very cold in there, the surfaces gleaming metal. I was at a loss as to what I should do and the nurse suddenly looked down at the toe-tags on some of the bodies. I searched for one that was suitable, and thought that any would do, for the next few minutes. First things, though, was to do something with this nurse. But what? We sat, and I thought about my course of action. She was mentally running through her shopping list. Right. There was only one thing to do. Make her sleep. She toppled over instantly into a deep slumber. Some things could be quite easily done then. I jumped into the first body.
The body feeling unfamiliar and strange, like I wasn't fully integrated with it. I looked at it, and decided that I wouldn't take this one, thanks. I didn't even breathe in it. It was also riddled with gun-shot wounds, almost unusable. I left, and it settled back a bit more with a meaty thunk. Some blood exited the wounds, passing right through me. Most of them were completely useless; either too wounded, or they had internal faults. Including mine. I tried moving it, but I couldn't. The spine was completely severed. Utterly useless. I cried a few spirit tears over it. They dissipated and vanished before they hit the floor. I could feel myself weakening again, and contemplated not having an existence. I knew that if I got too weak, I would no longer exist at all.
Finally, I came upon one that wasn't too damaged. A woman, short, brunette. Full figured. Young, about twenty five. She had slashed her wrists and bled to death. I got into her, gingerly. I was used to an unfamiliar body by then, but not to the unexpected weight of breasts. It was the only choice. But I still felt unconnected, somehow. I tried something, extending myself into every part of the body, stretching out like a ghostly yawn. Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Breath whooshed into my lungs, and I gasped, a small cloud of icy cold air forming. I was alive! The slashes were closing over. So the other bodies would have been alright, after all! I tried something. The head fell back to the table, and I looked down at it, feeling weak. The eyes were closed. It was breathing! I could feel a resonance between myself and the body. I went back into it, slipping it on like a suit ofr clothes. The eyes opened; what colour were they? Nevermind. I stood up, and almost toppled over again. This body and its movements were unfamiliar and strange to me. I walked around a bit, getting used to it. My new feet slapped on the floor, which was freezing. I realised that I was still naked, and thought about clothes. And then about the nurse who was still sleeping on a table a few feet away. Most of the clothes fit. I left off the bra, partly because it looked like it was too small, and partly because I didn't have a clue as to how to fasten it. She still didn't wake up, so I positioned her on one of the tables, feeling bad about it, but I was in a bit of a difficult situation.
The halls of the hospital were crammed full of people, and I felt like everyone was looking at me. Some tried to talk to me; doctors and other nurses, but I was in a daze, and managed to get into the street. Somehow, I had to work something out, to be alive again.
People die. It's a fact of life. Except that some people don't, either by choice, necessity, or the whims of fate. Vampires, for example, are halted on the brink of death by the power of their blood. Mummies are locked in life, unable to leave it fully. Wraiths are the souls who get stuck in-between this life and the next.
Exiles are different. They have cheated death in an odd way. They have managed to jump from body to body, existing in each as the same person. Certain human beings are born with their vitality and personality fused together as one part. When they die, the vitality somehow leaves the flesh with the personality. At death, they may pass into a human vessel. Most don't know until they die.
These may be anything nearby, such as a person who has just died, or even a living human being, although this is only ever a temporary home.
Exiles can inhabit the bodies of others, riding inside their heads. They cannot absolutely direct them, although they can 'suggest' courses of action to the minds of their Vessels, or make them wake up or fall asleep. [System: Roll Manipulation (difficulty: Vessel's Willpower)]. Vessels will suddenly have the idea that they should do what the Exiles wants them to.
To possess a dead body and create a link between them, the Exile has to spend some of his Vitality. He will fill out into the body, attaching himself to it. Otherwise, he cannot fully animate it and the body will not heal, and will continue to decompose. Generally, it is possible to possess one's own body, but only if it is not too badly damaged. The new body, whoever previously owned it, will heal a number of wounds it has sustained equal to the Exile's Vitality rating. [System: Spend one Vitality point.] As soon as that has been done, the body is the Exile's.
While outside of the body, or when Projecting, the Exile may travel at speeds of [Vitality + Willpower x 10] mph.
Certain things, like the Mental Attributes, Charisma, Manipulation, Abilities, Willpower, and Vitality, will pass over with the Exile. The Physical Attributes, and Appearance are determined by the new body. So it doesn't matter whether you were a weight-lifter; if your new body is an eight stone weakling, you won't be able to do the things that you could before.
Exiles, whilst outside of a body, are not subject to any of the rules or magic that constrain Wraiths. They do no damage or have any effects upon them, whatsoever.
Exiles can Project. This is the term that many seem to use. All it means, is that they can project themselves astrally. Exiles can also gain control of others when Projecting, effectively transferring themselves to new bodies, or using them as Vessels. [System: This is described in most of the WW books. Spend one Willpower.]
Vitality is the animating force of an Exile, but it is only ever used in healing, magic, or when outside a body. It is used to create the various small effects that they can produce, and ranges from 1 - 10. It also determines how long you can last whilst dead, or when Projecting. The time available is equal to your Vitality rating, in hours. Therefore, Exiles have to find a new body very quickly, or they will perish utterly. If you ever go to zero temporary Vitality, your body will sleep until it regains it. this sleep can be staved off with Willpower rolls [difficulty 6], but once it comes, the body will be comatose. The Vitality takes [15 - Vitality] hours to return. It is absolutely impossible to wake the Exile before this happens.
System: N/A
System: See V:tM section on Auspex.
System: Perception + Empathy [Target's current Willpower if unwilling, Intelligence if willing].
System: Roll Intelligence + Empathy [9 - subject's Intelligence].
System: Roll Vitality [6]. The Exile automatically gains + 1 Strength per success, for the duration of the scene.
System: Spend 1 Vitality. For further info, consult the V:TM section on Movement Of The Mind. This power enables the use of up to level four.
System: Roll Charisma [victim's Willpower] and spend 1 Vitality. Every time this power is used, it becomes easier the next time. After every other use, the difficulty decreases by one, to a minimum of two.
Abilities: 13/9/5
Backgrounds: 7
Base Willpower: 4
Vitality: 3
Magic: Any two, or any two you want to create.
Freebies: 15.
Vitality: 4 per level.
Magic: 5 per power.