The Host

By Adam Solis (ajsolis@aol.com)

Overview

Face it guys, Banes are just stupid. They trade their individuality, powers, and immortality for a short trip as a fleshly creature. Not all Spirits are that stupid though. So be careful, that "fomor" you may be confronting may be Host.

Tell me, do you happen to know any spirit mages? If you do, they make great friends and worse enemies. One of their tricks is guesting a spirit, so that they can channel the Spirit's power through themselves. Well, The Host are a lot like that trick, except it is the Spirit's idea to begin with. These guys are just bad news; to begin with they are a better breed of spirit to begin with. The end product is something more along the lines of a Kami than a fomor, usually.

You kids are probably not interested too much in their cultural values or political opinions, so I'll start off with their powers.

Powers of the Hosts

First of all, the Host retain their innate spiritual nature unlike those fomori types. So Host retain their charms, power, gnosis, and Rage. Oh yeah, they can definitely use those powers too. Now think about it pup, The Host by definition already has a body. They also already have rage, but it is their charms which are the killer. Take the Charm Manifestation for example; that is definitely one of their faves. The Host retains all the abilities and characteristics of the "meatbod," their pet name for the fleshly part of their little union. With the expenditure of a little power, The Host could increase its dexterity, stamina, strength, health levels to any amount it wanted. It could also heal its body, or give itself any kind of ability (talent, knowledge, or skill) to levels that leave Dream or Past lives in the dust. In other words, think of any manifested spirit you have ever fought with a free base of a human or animal meatbod to begin with. Scary thought, eh? Also, Host with the Shapeshift Charm can still shapeshift, and pretty much use any other charm in its repertoire with the obvious exception of Possession, which is already in use. Mental and social aspects of the Host depend apon the meatbod's social and mental characteristics as well as the Spirit's Gnosis. (I have not quite decided on the rules for this yet. Any thoughts?)

Host regain power, gnosis, and rage like every other other spirit. Since Host do not tie themselves to the meatbod as tightly as Banes do, they may leave the meatbod at any time and are also vulnerable to exorcism as well. Furthermore, if the meatbod dies, well the Spirit can always find a new meatbod to possess.

Variations

Magick: Just as certain Spirits can use magick, so can certain Host. Such Host have Arete, spheres, and suffer from paradox like any other magic worker. Host can even belong to a specific paradigm, although most can be safely considered Orphans.

Host Fomor: Although Host invariably consider themselves superior to fomori, host can have fomori characteristics. Create the fomor as usual according to Freak Legion, but such fomor always have the Banespeak and Unpossessed merits and the Dispersal power. These aberrations are looked down apon by The Host.

The Spirits Themselves

The Host are not so much a race as a state of being. The only requirement for becoming Host is that the spirit have the Charms Possession and Materialization, or their equivalents.

Middle and High Umbra: Spirits of any of the Triat can become Host. There are rumors that the dreaded WyldThings are really Wyld Host. There are several Bane Host, as in Warriors of the Apocalypse. The most famous fomor host is Malfeaxis, the Wyrm Bear. Weaver Host are unusual, but possible.

Low Umbra: It may be possible for there to be Host of a meatbod and Wraith/plasmal/spectre. It would require Puppetry 5, and Embody at the very least. These are essentially living Risen.

Maya: A Chimera Host? Anything is possible...