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Spirits
Feb 6, 2018 19:01:17 GMT -5
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Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 6, 2018 19:01:17 GMT -5
Since some have concerns, I thought I'd reiterate things here.
My name is Maison D'âmes, it means House of Spirits. My role and training as a Speaker for my clan means that I can speak with the dead. This training and my own path has led to my carrying of extra spirits within me as I assist them in handling their unfinished business and taking them on to the Graveyards they belong in. That is always my ultimate goal, helping the spirits here reach their final rest.
Possessing multiple spirits should be fairly understandable, as often I've found that the adventurers in Caladore have had more extra spirits than myself. Those spirits seem trapped in an endless cycle as they travel from one living person to the other. I don't partake in the fae candy because I feel this cycle to be wrong. Spirits are meant to rest, not be exploited. The fact that I'm opinionated should surprise no one. I have always offered to aid in communication with the spirits to create a more symbiotic relationship and to help address their unfinished business and have never forcefully taken spirits from anyone.
My spirits are people who I have grown to trust, and who have assisted everyone in preventing possession. Without them there would not be runes protecting people from possession in Midway. Nor would we have a way to strike at the Harlequin and even the biata lich.
They have, barring the one time I have been possessed against my will, been nothing but helpful. And their presence, particularly Ahnissi and Ada'Ma, as well as my own experience has made it so that I do not believe I could be possessed unwillingly again except by something powerful enough to not have need of it. Even Shayron negotiated rather than attempting to take a space. As many who were possessed in Midway can attest it is neither pleasant nor something most of us have the ability to prevent. I have a small fighting force in my head, training from Jorim and an ability to fight back.
If ever you have questions, or concerns, about what I do, please ask. I feel many things could have been settled before now. And I will always agree to an enslavement antidote or to be checked by Jorim who has been in my mind many times.
If any of you who worry about the fact that the fae spirits can travel from one body to another, potentially sharing knowledge, would like to have your fae candy spirits taken to the graveyard, please speak with me and I'll take them on to their resting place, no matter what grievances we have against each other. This is my duty and my responsibility and I take it seriously.
As an aside, I have been receiving notes from several helpful spirits. They appear blank to anyone else but I have transcribed several of them for Reader who has my permission to share their contents if someone really wants to see them. They're Mystic business, related to laying a clan circle, and while I'll also gladly describe them to you they're not really magic nor useful to anyone except me. And honestly I'm not sure if they're useful to me either. I have more questions than answers. I've found several so far in the tavern, and other shorter ones in places no living person could have placed them at the time.
Again, any questions, I'll answer publicly or privately. I do not really have secrets, though few ask me what is going on I do attempt to share the information I have to those who will listen.
If you have a grievance against me, please name it so it can be handled. I remain willing to accept resurrection for the unwilling possession that resulted in Mutt's death some time ago, now if that is still a concern. If it is not I will consider that debt cleared.
Maison D'âmes Ahora Speaker
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 12:51:38 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 12:51:38 GMT -5
I've got plenty of questions if you've the patience to entertain them. No impertinence is intended, as I understand some of these are a little personal, so feel free to respond privately or not at all:
Were you born Maison D'âmes or was that a name you took on later after your training?
Do you still possess the spirit you were born with?
Could we get a list of all your resident spirits and their basic identifying information?
Is there any way to identify which spirit we are interacting with at any given time?
Do all spirits always share all information perceived by the host body? I.e. are you aware of everything that happens when another spirit is controlling your body, and vice versa? How have you been able to verify this?
Do all of the fae candy spirits have unfinished business they need to resolve?
Is there an upper limit to the number of spirits you can carry?
Whatever happened with the Biata lich?
- Cornix
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 13:15:53 GMT -5
Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 13:15:53 GMT -5
Cornix, My current Road name is Maison D'âmes, before that I was known as Bliss, and before that Dragonfly. My people change our names as needed to fit us. If you want to know why I changed or chose each name, we can have that discussion privately.
Yes, my own spirit, identifiable as me is not only present, but also the only one who will identify themselves as myself. Typically only in October when the veil is thin will you find me allowing my spirit riders to 'drive.' Only people whom I trust are allowed to do this. I can give you an indepth explanation of my mental 'world' or Jorim can allow you to visit.
What sort of identifying information would you like? Race, gender, skill set, names? Would you like to meet those of them that will/can speak?
Ninty-five percent of the time you're interacting with me. During October Ahnissi and Ada'Ma occasionally allowed me to sleep, especially after I gave half my spirit's strength to break the cage we were trapped in. During October, it's my understanding their spirits, much like other spirits during Festivals of the Dead, were visible in an overlay on top of my own. You have to understand, I see everyone like that all the time, though, so I couldn't say what looked particularly different. They've always introduced themselves, clarified if there was confusion about who was speaking, regardless of whether it was October or not. Those who met them can speak for themselves, but I believe they've been nothing but polite. They all have jobs to accomplish.
It depends. I have a symbiotic relationship with the spirits that I carry, whether a frightened child that I carry just long enough to take her home or my longer term residents like Ahnissi. I have ways to shut doors but I have had to learn them. Though it seems as if mine have had little difficulty accessing my memory and I their memory it's because they're not locked down, and both Ahnissi and Ada'Ma have some unique experiences and skills that may be assisting. I don't have access to their memories from before I carried them, or vice-versa. I can, and do, lock the door on others, just as I lock some out entirely. In October I had no difficulty accessing their memories of interactions with others, though I had to actually think about it to do so.
Do all spirits all the time? I can't speak for all of any group all the time but it's been frequent enough that I would be surprised if they couldn't, even if they don't always choose to, or don't share them with their new host.
The fae candy spirits I have spoken with have always had desires, wants, needs. I have no spoken to all of them. Sometimes this desire has mostly been to not die, which is slightly too late. They belong in the graveyards, ultimately, whatever business needs completing. I have no fae candy spirits within me. Sometimes they're fragments which can still be taken to the graveyard, or sometimes strengthened and restored into full spirits.
I have no idea if there's an upper limit. Based on my past experience, and the frequent lectures I'd get from my Teachers, I'll probably find out when I kill myself trying to take in too many. My mental landscape adjusts as needed.
I don't know what happened to him in the past, I know the Biata lich had the mate of Sheyron trapped in a spirit web powering it and was pretty pissed we freed her. I believe I know how to find and dismantle all of those webs, freeing the spirits that power them, weakining the lich and letting us end him. I started down this path for one of my riders but I'd like to see it through for him and his family.
-Mai
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 13:32:36 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 13:32:36 GMT -5
Thanks for all this. As per usual, answers beget questions:
I would be interested to meet everyone, but I can't say when I'd get the chance. In the meantime, it'd be helpful to have basics of race, gender, age, skill set, names: the kind of thing you'd try to quickly learn about people you were going to be speaking with if you walked into an unfamiliar room. Things like "how did this spirit come to take residence with you" can be saved for a more detailed conversation later.
I take it from your description that there is no way to identify which spirit is driving except for your word that your residents are all honest sorts? This isn't meant as an indictment, just confirming what you've said above so I can understand. I don't recall seeing spirits overlayed on you even in October.
What did you mean by fae candy spirits being strengthened and restored to full spirits?
What would happen if you took on too many spirits and died? Specifically, where would all those extra spirits go?
What is a spirit web?
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 14:03:34 GMT -5
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Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 14:03:34 GMT -5
Cornix, The long term residents, as I have a number that I collect and guide on in a short period of time, are Ahnissi, she's a Lynx Gorbe and more an administrator than anything. Ada'Ma, he is an orc shaman, with his own culture's connection to spirits and is an earth caster. Jonah is a barbarian undead hunter whose family was killed by the Harlequin and this is connected to the spirit webs. I have a portion of Shayron's spirit within me awaiting our cleansing of his body. And I have a piece of a spirit tied to something related to the Dolnore family.
Well for one I hope my word is good. I have had to grant permission for the spirits who are driving to do so. As for which is driving, in October I was told that Ahnissi's ears and eyes were visible to others, and that Ada'Ma's tusks and his shamanic necklace. Neither of them can, for example, throw gas globes. I cannot cast magic, but they can. They're different people entirely. Other than October where I had several reasons that I allowed them to drive for more extended periods, they don't really 'drive' so much as I can allow them to speak through me. It's not easy for a spirit to possess another at all.
I have previously been able to strengthen partial or weakened spirits to increase their possibilities of resurrection. And I'm willing to attempt resurrection even on a spirit we believe to be permanently dead if it desires. But the goal is for the spirit to move on.
Barring the destruction of my spirit, Mystic Speakers go to the Long Road when we die and become guides to the spirits on the Road. Those who make it off Tyrra to the spirit realm but not yet all the way to the specific graveyards. I would hope my spirit would be able to guide my riders as needed. But I don't really worry about my permanent death, truly. It isn't frightening to me and I have a long time before my spirit joins the Sea of Memories.
A spirit web is a web that traps spirits. It's powered by a strong spirit, generally, that I've found. It pulls them away from the Long Road, the graveyards, and steals their power for the entity that is using it. The Harlequin is one such, the biata lich is another.
-Mai
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 14:35:56 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 14:35:56 GMT -5
What were the terms of your negotiation to allow a portion of Shayron's spirit to reside with you?
- Cornix
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 14:57:05 GMT -5
Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 14:57:05 GMT -5
Cornix,
He requested refuge and I granted it. It's what I do. He wasn't the most polite about it at first, but I consider it freely given and without coercion. Were it otherwise I'd feel no obligation to abide by the terms. He has expressed that he won't take control of any of the adventurers whom he has possessed except to attempt to save us from death, since he'd rather our bodies stay alive, but I do not know what that might look like.
-Mais
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 15:16:01 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 15:16:01 GMT -5
Mais,
Sorry, my barrister instincts are kicking in here. Do you actually have set terms with Shayron, and if so could you restate them here? How would that agreement be enforced? Also, how many adventurers has Shayron possessed that he retains the power to take control of?
- Cornix
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 15:50:07 GMT -5
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Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 15:50:07 GMT -5
Cornix,
While I understand your instincts, I want to make it clear that a being like Shayron has the power to take what he wants, and has in the past. While I would attempt to set my strength against his if need be, I would certainly fail. I could probably evict him if by nothing else being utterly annoying. But if he decided to kill me in the process, he's a wyrm that wants to be a dragon. I sass him regularly, but I'm under no delusions.. he could likely rend my spirit.
That said this is a relationship, not a fae bargain or a legal quarrel. I would not be so transactional with my spirit just as I am not with my body or my emotions. While I make a point to understand what I am consenting to, it isn't about enforcement. I gave my word. If I were coerced I wouldn't feel bound by that promise.
He has agreed not to take control of our bodies without consent. He has stated he would lend us some abilities to make us harder to kill. I am attempting to get him to lend more to the others so that accomplishing his goals is actually probable. I wasn't exactly consulted in his possession of others. I would have taken the risk of it on myself if I had been and spared them. But his actions have reduced the risks of having a wannabe dragon in one's head.
The side effects seem to involve some expression of scales on the individuals affected, a raspy voice and experiencing his whining and annoyance regarding the possession of the dragon egg. But he should shut up and deal with it since he clearly cannot be trusted with it right now. I have more experience than others with separating the emotions of another being from my own. And mine are quite strong enough not to confuse them with his often.
Let me repeat, Shayron could, if he desired, unwillingly possess and control nearly anyone. Much as I'm an alchemist and theoretically capable of enslaving everyone. It's not about power. It's about choices.
-Mais
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 17:06:21 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 17:06:21 GMT -5
Mais,
Thank you for your honesty. To clarify when you say:
"He has agreed not to take control of our bodies without consent. He has stated he would lend us some abilities to make us harder to kill. I am attempting to get him to lend more to the others so that accomplishing his goals is actually probable. I wasn't exactly consulted in his possession of others. "
For whom has he agreed not to take control of their bodies? To whom would he lend abilities? What others are you persuading him to give power to? What are his goals? Who does he currently possess, that you are aware of?
- Cornix
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 17:53:34 GMT -5
Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 17:53:34 GMT -5
Cornix,
Shayron has agreed not to take control of the bodies of myself, Romulus and Merric. At the last time I have spoken to them they were the only people who have possessed portions of Shayron's spirit. They were also both already possessed at the time that I accepted Shayron. It is conceivable he could have split himself up further but as I have mostly been spending time with the Mystic clan, I have not been around the two of them, and Shayron himself essentially moved in and promptly fell asleep.
As I stated originally he discussed this before I accepted. He did at the time keep me from re-entering my own body. I believe I could have outlasted him in stubbornness, or simply resurrected and he would have been incapable of maintaining that control, but following our discussion I offered him refuge.
He had stated he'd act to protect us from death, as that would make protection of his spirit more difficult, I asked if he would not grant more physical strength or magical power to Merric and Rom to allow them to fight better when we go to cleanse his body. His goal is the cleansing - death - of his corrupted body, and of those still corrupted servants that were feeding him power from the graveyards. - Something which has since been partially fixed as the graveyards have been repaired and protected with a circle, but also not entirely. The logistics of the cleansing are somewhat complicated and best explained in person and I gladly will do so. I have been trying to do so for months but someone keeps obfuscating their location even from those of us who can track and have been there.
His goal has mostly been the cleansing of his body. Ultimately what he wishes after that, I don't really care much about other than he no longer seems to be corrupted. If this results in his permanent death than I will see him and Trellis to their resting places. If this results in his resurrection his spirit and body will rejoin and he can do whatever he likes that doesn't involve devouring the spirits and corrupting the land. I got involved due to the former. But he seems quite genuine in his regret. I think he'd like the egg back eventually as broody as he is over it, like a hen. But I have nothing to do with the egg. I think he'd be best served by finishing his nap if he survives and achieving the dragonhood if that isn't some sort of horrible evil thing. But I don't know if Trellis is saveable from her madness, nor am I certain where her spirit is at this moment. He's not being chatty and my spirit was wounded at the time she left Dusty.
For what it's worth, while I don't mind answering questions, I'm unlikely to announce every change to the spirits I carry, much as I do not announce everyone who comes and spends the night with me, not even if it's long-term. No matter that a spirit residing within me is many times more intimate, I'm sure I would receive scorn for even beginning to do so in humor.
I am somewhat baring my spirit, and theirs, here but I am really quite exhausted of trying to convince people to trust me. Do, or don't. It's fine and I'll survive or not as I would anyway. I have only ever wanted for my people to be safe here. And they are, mostly, though not safe enough in my mind or heart. But if I'm seen as the fluff-headed Mystic I have oft pretended to be, well that's my own fault for acting too well. And if I'm judged on the jokes I make to counterbalance my grief with joy, my tears with laughter, then that's their prerogative. I am constantly warned to give less of myself, but I can never give less than my all into what I do. My path may drive me mad, or it may not. It may kill me, or it may not. It may lead to me being able to save the town, or it won't. My decisions will never be perfect. I've made more mistakes than I can count. But I really cannot think myself unique in that either. I don't believe I've set the town in danger, and I have always attempted to recompense any whom I have harmed. Hence my genuine offer to accept a resurrection for the harm done to Mutt in the past. I live by my people's ways, and I teach them to our children, but I won't apologize for them nor be chided. *some formerly damp smudges*
And there, my emotions get the best of me again, and my hurt has hit the page as strongly as my anger and joy has in the past, and as I believe that my emotions are my strength I'll leave them here unaltered. If you have more questions, I'll answer them when the pendulum has swung another way.
Maison D'âmes Ahora
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 18:10:05 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 18:10:05 GMT -5
Mais,
I did not realize Shayron had changed his attitude in the past few months. The last time I'd heard of him he was posting threatening messages to the tree, which colored most of my questions.
Again, thanks for your honesty. Rest assured the above was not coming from a place of prejudice against you or your chosen work. I, per usual, only speak for myself here: the difficulty is not trusting you, but trusting a handful of others I have never met and cannot readily identify. Sometimes that is a trivial request, others it is nigh impossible.
Next time we meet in person I would be interested to hear more of your thoughts on spirit riders generally, including the fae candy circuit.
- Cornix
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 18:11:39 GMT -5
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Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 18:11:39 GMT -5
Cornix
Dustie cleansed his spirit at great cost to herself.
-Mai
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 18:47:04 GMT -5
Post by cornix on Feb 7, 2018 18:47:04 GMT -5
This is potentially embarrassing. Was I there for that bit? When we walked off into the woods and into somewhere else and there were a bunch of drakes and a cage or something? I remember a lot of running around, a fair amount of screaming, and not having a teaspoon's worth of understanding of what was going on.
- Cornix
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Spirits
Feb 7, 2018 18:51:13 GMT -5
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Post by Maison D'âmes on Feb 7, 2018 18:51:13 GMT -5
Cornix
I cannot recall if you were present. I was rifted into a cage. I broke it at a severe, but temporary, weakening of my body and spirit. And I was exhausted afterwards. That is one of the times I went to sleep shortly after and I allowed one of my riders to drive. My people do not do well in cages. Some of us worse than others. I don't have strong recollections of who else was present other than Dustie, Andante, Glenn and Darius. We had stepped into the spirit realm by accident and it led to much confusion about what had occurred and what still needed to happen.
-Mai
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