Editing Doppelgänger (section)

==Abilities==
These Others feed on a target's [[connection]]s, [[Self]] and Identity, in some cases outright replacing them. For example a mannequin serving as a person's "good twin".<ref name=":1"/> Many Others might be described as "dopplegangers" in some sense, taking over human lives; from common things like [[Faerie]] to unique creatures like the [[Faceless Woman]], even some Practitioners.<ref name=":3">
:''Roland'' mimes the Doppleganger, riding the fine line of identity and humanity to stalk and mirror individuals.  Feeding an insatiable hunger to replace an absent childhood, he mirrors young boys, stealing their faces, bodies, and memories, while they undergo a kind of warped puberty, adopting piecemeal qualities of a fifty year old man.  His Demesne is his sole place of residence for the latter stages of this process, allowing him to disconnect from the connections and realities of everyday life and better discard what remains.  The final stage of the process sees him take over the mind, shucking off much of his own awareness and memory, so he might be a boy in mind and heart as well.  As he leaves childhood behind and becomes a teenager, he regains his memories and awareness, rapidly ages to fifty, and begins anew.

<br>[...]<br>

:Roland does face a difficulty with his practice, and it is one that plagued him in the first century of his routine; when he takes the boy’s place, the boy takes his, including his ability to practice and much of his experience, with only personality differences, traits, and facets of appearance carrying over.  His efforts to create deathtraps only he could escape, enlist help to murder the fifty year old practitioner, and negotiate with the targets all had their points of failure.  To these ends, he used the Demesne as a thing tied to his Self, impossible to transfer.  Carrying out the process, he migrated to the boy’s location, put the boy in the Demesne, and kept the doors locked.  The man that had been his target would be kept within, to be devoured by the darkness that swelled as the Demesne fell into its cycle of sleeping, waiting for its master to return so it could wake and resume its part as part of his engine of stolen childhoods.  A large part of it becomes this efficient devouring, keeping the target ''within''. - from [[Demesnes]], quoted in [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/12 Bonus Material: Demesnes Text]</ref> They can not usurp the Face easily having to create a facsimile of it.<ref name=":4"/>

Some are immune to their mimicry,<ref>“What comes next is relevant.  A man of unnatural beauty was spotted by Lis, having bystanders do the task of filling up his car and paying for his gas.  The beauty came from a place outside of Lis’s reach, impossible to emulate, so Lis went to Maricica for assistance, Maricica turned the man away.  I do not think this man is gone.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/06/29 Excerpt] from [[False Moves 12.3]]</ref><ref>“I can’t tell if you think I should trust them more or if you think I’m an idiot for trusting them in the first place,” Lis said.  She couldn’t take on traits of Helen like she could with humans and the Others most similar to being human, but she’d found a way to age up a bit, still wearing the uniform.  Smoke came out of the end of Lis’s cigarette like exhaust from a car’s tailpipe, pumped out even when her mouth wasn’t close to it. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/12/31 Excerpt] from [[Hard Pass 22.a]]</ref> while still more can tell what they're doing.<ref>Lis reached over, and Snowdrop startled awake.  Immediately, the opossum began to hiss, raising her paws and scratching at the air.<br><br>“Oh, wow,” Lis said.<br><br>The hissing continued.<br><br>“I’ve heard that opossums might hiss but they very rarely bite.”<br><br>“Snowdrop’s not your usual opossum,” Avery said.  “Might be best not to test it.”<br><br>“Yeah, okay,” Lis said, frowning.  She looked really down, in the aftermath, and Lucy had no idea how to read that.<br>[...]<br>“I think you just surprised her.  Right, Snowdrop?” Avery asked.<br><br>Snowdrop became human, dropping into a crouch.  She frowned.  “No, wasn’t surprised.”<br><br>“That’s a relief,” Lis said, her forehead creasing with concern.<br>[...]<br>“What was that?” Lucy asked Snowdrop.  “More than surprise.”<br><br>“Feels like Avery but isn’t.  Feels like you but isn’t.  Feels like Verona, but isn’t,” Snowdrop said, dropping her head closer to her shoulders.<br><br>“I think that’s just what she is, Snowdrop,” Verona said.<br><br>“Doesn’t feel off or anything.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/02/09 Excerpt] from [[Shaking Hands 9.1]]</ref>

They can get a bad rep from both [[Other]]s and [[Practitioner]]s for their depredations,<ref>“Others like us are the first to get thrown under the bus when we get inconvenient.  Body thieves, life thieves.  Practitioners don’t like that some of us can take over a practitioner and use some of their arts, and neither do a lot of Others, for that matter.  And those Others who set up places like this will discard us if it’s a question between protecting us and making nice with those practitioners.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/02/23 Excerpt] from [[Shaking Hands 9.5]]</ref> much like [[jockey]]s.

The book [[List of Books#Quasi|Quasi]] covers many such creatures.