Sentience (Vervists and Ruiners)

“Life is creation. Life is destruction. But, above all, life is death.”

A cousin of the Artificers and the Alchemists, the practitioners of Sentience came into their own in the mid to late 19th century. However, they had existed much earlier; records in the Stygian Library show them as early as the Renaissance period.

The users of Sentience practice a very focused and bastardized form of Inhabit and Flux. Like the Artificers, they can make objects possessed, and like the Alchemists they can imbue an object with mobility. Unlike both these groups, however, the Sentience users can do something neither can do…give an object a literal life of its own.

How the user gives the item life is the cause of the major split in the practitioners of Sentience. Those known as Vervists draw their life energies from the Quick, while the Ruiners pull theirs from the Tempest in the form of Spectres. Needless to say, both groups are not looked upon well on by the Hierarchy, the former for violating the Dictuum Mortum, and the latter for dealing with the dark forces of Oblivion. Perhaps no art is as persecuted as Sentience, which is why Vervists and Ruiners are extremely rare. Even so, the Vervists and the Ruiners can be a force to be contended with, and are not as divided as the Shadowlands would like to believe.

Vervists were the first practitioners of Sentience. Many were Artificers with some ability to use Flux; they gradually manage to refine their abilities to trapping life energies within objects. After years of study, they figured out how to use the energies. The art of Sentience was born. Precious few had the delicacy and flexibility required to do this, and the ability became a coveted one.

Most of the Artificers were impressed at first, but gradually began to realize the hazard that Sentience posed. Some were afraid because it appeared to be more powerful than Inhabit; others objected to the ethics of using living spirits. Still, others believed it posed a hazard to Fetters and the future population of the wraith world. Human spirits trapped in object form could never become wraiths. Eventually, the pressure built, and finally, the Artificers expelled the Sentience users.

The life practitioners of Sentience dubbed themselves Vervists and went off in search of acceptance. At first, they found it with the already forbidden Alchemists Guild, who welcomed them with open arms, but the Alchemists came to the same conclusions as the Artifactors and broke ties with the Vervists.

Alone and spurned by nearly everyone in the Shadowlands, many Vervists set out for the Farshores in search of acceptance. Many more sought out isolated places in the Shadowlands where they could practice their arts in freedom. Eventually, enough Vervists came together on a small island in the Tempest to form an organized community. Dubbed Shelly’s Isle (after Frankenstein author Mary Shelly), the Vervists settled into practicing their arts with no obstacles from the Stygian government or much of anything else (with the exception of a few Ruiners; see below). They have grown in power, content in their own world away from the restrictions of the dead.

A few Vervists have grown discontent living on Shelly’s Isle. Some of these have gone recruiting in the Shadowlands, looking for lost Vervists to add to the Isle’s population. Still others have rejoined Stygian life, working with Renegade groups or infiltrating the Legion or the other Guilds.

Vervists seem to have a shimmering glowing appearance, due to the life forces they work with. Many established users will have a pale visage that glows with a steady pure white light.

The Ruiners are the offspring of the Vervists, in a strangely perverse way. When Sentience came into its own, a few discontent with those powers and objecting to the use of living spirits decided to experiment with the possibility of using Spectres and other dark spirits. After all, if they were locked away in objects, they couldn’t bother anyone anymore, right?

Those who used the dark version of Sentience became corrupted by the dark powers. It was partially their demand for power that had the Sentience users expelled from the Artificers. The light practitioners of Sentience realized what had happened and what some of their number had become. These practitioners were shunned from the other Sentience users before the main group joined forces with the Alchemists. Enraged, the exiled focused on one thing; revenge and eventually the obliteration of the light side of Sentience. They called themselves Ruiners, hoping to destroy anything associated with the light side, including the Vervists themselves.

When the Vervists founded Shelly’s Isle, many Ruiners traveled there, hoping to find acceptance, or at least acknowledgement. Instead, they were kicked of the Isle and told to never return. The Ruiners began mounting assaults on Shelly’s Isle. They also used their abilities in the Shadowlands, causing continuously mounting distrust of any user of Sentience.

Nowadays, more Ruiners are terrorists and spies. A few do work for the Legion in extremely secretive operations, but their motivations are as spiteful as the rest of the Ruiners. Other Ruiners have allied themselves with various Spectres and can be seen working alongside them to bring down Stygia; many quickly become Spectres themselves this way. A few goodhearted Ruiners exist, more out of a “mutation” of Sentience than anything else. These few suffer in silence, hoping for a day when both halves of Sentience can be reunited.

Ruiners faces become distorted, and eventually monstrous, much like the faces of the life force they deal with. Many grow fangs as an early sign of Sentience.

Life Tainted: The users of this ability can sense whether an object has had Sentience used on it. Even if the life force no longer inhabits the object, the user can still detect the former presence of one.
System: Roll Perception + Sentience (difficulty 5). One success detects the use of Sentience.

Vervist only: Douse: A Vervist can use this ability to turn off their Arcanoi markings, making them appear as a normal wraith.
System: Roll Dexterity + Sentience (difficulty 5). For each success, the Vervist’s glow is suppressed for a scene.

Ruiner only: Damning Scream: Using this ability, a Ruiner can cause a soulforged object to emit a powerful, disturbing scream. Sometimes, the subject can yell curses at those who destroyed him. Most of the time, the scream is just usually a loud, piecing shriek of torment. Anyone who hears the scream, except for any Ruiners, gain a point of Angst.
System: Roll Intelligence + Sentience (difficulty 6). For each success, a Ruiner can cause an object to emit a scream for one minute.
This art costs 1 Pathos.

Level One: Association
Some people claim that some things will follow them wherever they go. Many think it coincidence or paranoia, but more than likely, they are the victims of this ability. With Association, a Vervist or Ruiner can “attach” an item to a particular person or Spectre so that it follows them everywhere. The victim never sees it physically move; it simply appears wherever the target is. Originally, this art was used to get a target used to an item they may very well end up inhabiting. Some use this to keep Fetters where they will be taken care of, some use this to help forgetful Quick they have taken a liking to, and others use it to mount an assault on the mind of those they dislike.
System: Roll Dexterity + Sentience (difficulty 6). For each success, the item follows the target for a scene.
This art costs 1 Pathos.

Level Two: Channeling
At this level is where the true base of Sentience starts. With this ability, a Vervist or Ruiner can start the energy flowing through an item. Eventually, what starts as a small stream will draw all energy from the target into the item. Once this is achieved, the item is considered possessed. Some use this to trap those they don’t like permanently. Others use them to control those they need controlled by causing illness in the target.
System: Roll Stamina + Sentience (difficulty 7). For each success, one Corpus is drained from the target. When all Corpus are drained, the life energies of the target are totally trapped within the item of choice. Quick, who begin to tire as their life is depleted, suddenly drop dead from exhaustion. Spectres simply grow more and more weak until they disappear.
The effect can be reversed the same way as it is achieved; for each success, one Corpus is returned. The target appears to grow stronger the more Corpus is returned.
This art costs 2 Pathos and gains the user 1 Angst for each use.

Level Three: Gift of Tongues
This art gives an item with life energies running through it the ability to speak. The item can say anything, including who used Sentience on it, who handled last it, or answer questions during an interrogation. Some Quick who have accidentally locked themselves in items without the help of Sentience, such as Mages, can also be talked to with this ability.
System: Roll Charisma + Sentience (difficulty 7). For each success, an item may say one phrase or short sentence. If you score more than six successes, the item is granted the permanent ability to talk. This art can be revoked using the same method to use it, but only one success is needed.
This art costs 2 Pathos for Vervists. Ruiners gain 2 Angst.

Level Four: Reconstruction
Vervist items seem to be especially resilient compared to the items of the Ruiners, and this gift is the reason why. With Reconstruction, a Vervist gives an item the ability to repair or heal itself. If the item is damaged, the Vervist places Reconstruction on the object, and it will heal itself over time.
System: Roll Manipulation + Sentience (difficulty 8). The number of successes rolled is how many “levels” an object may heal itself in a scene. For example, if a Vervists wanted to repair a possessed sword with a badly cracked blade and rolled 3 successes, the sword may heal itself 3 levels during one scene. It will probably take two or three scenes to heal. Larger items require more scenes, while tiny items may only take one.
This art requires the user to invest at least 3 Pathos in the item in the beginning. For each scene spent healing, the item burns one Pathos. If the item is fully healed and has not used some of the Pathos, the wraith may take the extra Pathos back.

Level Five: Golem
The truest gift of life a Vervist can offer, Golem allows the user to create an intelligent being out of a collection of items. This ability can also be used on large objects similar to the way the Ruiners use Doom Lock. More often, robots are created out of scrap parts and invested with life energies. Unlike other uses of Sentience, the Golem retains no memory of their previous life and is a completely different entity unto themselves.
Under very difficult circumstances, and usually by accident, wraiths have been sucked into would-be Golems and become trapped in their new bodies. This is due more to chance than anything, but can and will happen under proper conditions.
System: Choose a target item or items and assign them a “Willpower.” Roll Stamina + Sentience (difficulty 9). When the number of successes equals the number of the “Willpower,” the item comes to life. The Corpus of the items depends on it’s size. A person-sized automaton will have around 12 Corpus levels, while a building brought to life by Golem may have more than 100.
Each attempt at a roll costs 3 Pathos and 1 WP, and gains the user 2 Angst.

Level Four: Tempest Link
A wraith with this art can expel any life energies in an object in a single, short blast, including energies normally handled by Vervists. The blast is quite powerful, but once activated, the life energies are gone with no hope for recovery. Many Ruiners use this art to destroy “enchanted” objects created by the Vervists. Others create “living bombs” used in terrorist acts against enemies.
System: Roll Strength + Sentience (difficulty 8). The user must be touching the item in question. For each success, roll Strength + 3 number of dice (difficulty 8) For each success on this roll, one unsoakable level of Corpus level of damage is done to any bystanders. Only Ruiners may soak damage.
This art gains the user 3 Angst for each use.

Level Five: Doom Lock
This art allows a Ruiner to lock a Spectre into an object; unlike other abilities, the Spectre has complete control of the object, and can act and communicate freely from Ruiner control. The most common use of this art is used to possess buildings owned by allies of the Vervists. The Spectre will drive the inhabitants out and grab hold of as much as they can. The only way to remove a Spectre from the building is to perform a Tempest Link, a risky proposition if there is a large population of wraiths around.
System: Roll Manipulation + Sentience (difficulty 9). This system works much the same as Channeling above. However, when the Corpus is exhausted, the Spectre has complete control over the item.
This art gains the user 3 Angst for each attempt.