Editing Incarnation (section)

== Specifics ==
They are a singular idea, they can not be as complex as a country,<ref name=":7">
:Going off of incarnations, could a country be a incarnation? Would these incarnations engage in battle to save their own hide, or were they powerless to do anything?<br><br>A country could not be an incarnation, as an incarnation is generally an idea. Death, war, famine, faith, conquest, dream, desire, destruction, etc. - [https://redd.it/8upije Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> or a festival, but principles and labels,<ref>They were of the incarnate.  They came from a ''principle'', ideas largely unique to the framing mankind gave them, and the fact it was so defined by ''man'' was a crude and cruel insult, drawing on her background.  They were of Hunger, and they were eating [[Carmine Beast|her]]. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/08/10 Excerpt] from [[Summer Break 13.3]]</ref> despite this there are nuances to them, like the difference between conquest and war.<ref name=":8">“But if there’s no war-”<br><br>“He isn’t War, but Conquest. Massed forces, takeovers, forced change. He continues to find power in other ways. Yes, he prefers warfare and bloodshed, but he can draw power from the steady expansion of civilization into nature, from real estate, from business takeovers, government, law, and other small forms of tyranny. As an Incarnation, he can invest his power. Where Death might bring death to things by touching them, or Love might strike a couple through their hearts with a metaphorical arrow given form, Conquest can do the same.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/04 Excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.1]]</ref> They also have states of health and how well their individual ideas are expressed, positively or negatively.<ref name="de5"/>

They have a hierarchy among them, the [[Pillars of Human Existence]] being the top tier with a large majority of other incarnations considered subordinate to them.<ref name=":PD"> The Incarnations or The Pillars are the forces that govern those things that are universal to the human experience.  The core incarnations are Death, Nature, Time, Fate, and War, with Fortune sometimes included as a sixth.  There are subordinate incarnations of various forces such as Conquest, Instinct, and Youth, who operate in very similar ways, and are ultimately structured very similarly to spirits.  More granular forces may be subordinate to broader, more important concepts, with the core forces being dominant.<br><br>What makes these forces distinct from spirits is how integral, essential, and universal they are.  For something to be Incarnate, it must apply, whether it’s to ten people on a deserted island or a modern city.  Being as essential and worked into the human experience as they are, these forces are fairly non-negotiable, occupy their own spaces, and are sometimes called Inevitable forces because of how they and any practices that result from them tend to be much harder to adjust or work around.  Rooted in the Ruins (a good field for any would-be Incarnate practitioner to familiarize themselves with), Incarnations and Incarnate practices are as heavyweight as echoes are diffuse and adjustable, being hard to ‘kill’, more unwieldy, more inflexible, and utilizing power in ways that must generally be evaded, because few forces stand directly up to them. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LZFjFfwxLK1UWS59EY5js8ORYAlQLvLzBmkcqdpTp_0 PACT DICE]</ref>

They cannot go against their nature as incarnations without a loss of power, which makes them somewhat predictable.<ref name=":10"/><ref name=":11">Conquest stopped, weapon poised. The blood formed a line between us.<br><br>''Blood of a free man''. I thought, still backing away. ''Once captured, rescued and given liberty. By you, no less.''<br>[...]<br>“Freedom may run contrary to my nature, but blood doesn’t,” Conquest said. His deep, eerie voice felt like it could carry across the neighborhood, over a good portion of the city, even. “Suffering doesn’t. Death and dying don’t.”<br><br>He stepped over the line of blood.<br>[...]<br>''He can’t turn down a fight'', I thought. ''He has to crush the weak.''<br><br>The mirror stuck in the middle of the circle I’d drawn. The blood of a free man, Laird.<br><br>The circle would be lined with Rose’s hair. Hacked off. Caught by Conquest, freed by myself.<br><br>Maggie had torn out the pages of Black Lamb’s Blood, weighing them down so they wouldn’t fly away. I couldn’t afford to lose them. The pages that had bound an Other, now free.<br><br>''Thrice bound'' - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/06/17 Excerpt] from [[Void 7.7]]</ref> An Incarnation will need to absorb humans every so often to keep itself relevant to humanity,<ref>“I prefer subjugation over death. I surrender my self,” Canfield said. “It’s my understanding that an incarnation needs to root itself in humanity from time to time, to stay relevant and rooted in the doings of man.”<br><br>“Yes.”<br><br>“All I ask is that my daughter is taken care of.”<br><br>“You’ll have it.”<br><br>With that, the Incarnation stepped forward until it intersected Canfield.<br><br>For an instant, Canfield was the one wearing white.<br><br>Then, a moment later, the one wearing white had a trace of Canfield’s features.<br><br>Those features were soon swallowed up in a greater ocean. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 5]]</ref> this 'meal' can last them any where from a few decades to several centuries.<ref>“Incarnations of major, inviolable concepts run into an issue where they calcify.  They get so set in their ways and routines, they start missing wrinkles and issues.  They become mechanical, they stop handling things they should handle.  They slow down.  They work less.  So… that’s when they reach out, they find a vessel, absorb a person.  That person gets a lot of freedom to interpret their duties, maybe fix a problem in their old life.  A soldier becomes the new War, gets to spend a good chunk of the power they’re given to save their hometown as part of the deal for assuming a huge responsibility, maybe gets to emphasize certain duties over others, then settles into the role for a good few decades, maybe a century or two, before they start calcifying too.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2022/10/22 Excerpt] from [[In Absentia 21.6]]</ref> These absorbed humans will then be in the driver's seat, so to speak, their memories and [[Self]] are 'fuel' which they 'burn' in order to be more flexible and unpredictable, to depart from their mechanistic role.<ref name="mpi"/> Without them, they become entirely rule-bound and mechanical, a part of the mechanics of the world.<ref>“He isn’t human,” I thought aloud, interrupting the conversation between husband and wife. “He follows a set of rules. There are things he can do, but there are an awful lot of things he can’t.”<br><br>“Yes,” Rose said. “But any Incarnation will tap the ranks of humanity for fitting subjects and sacrifices, to give themselves a reservoir to draw from. Pride might be able to perform actions that don’t raise its standing or gain the ability to bow to others in a pinch. If they go too long without sacrifices, they start to become more… I don’t know how to phrase it…”<br><br>“Mechanical,” I said. “They become more mechanical.”<br><br>“Basically. Parts of the overarching machine of reality.”<br><br>“Well,” I said, “That’s a weak point. How often do they need sacrifices?”<br><br>“Depends how often they break their own internal rules. Once every thousand years? Once every hundred years? Daily?” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/11 excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.4]]</ref>

Similar to a powerful [[Spirit]] but possessing a physical form,<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":1" />, in some cases, an Incarnation's physical form might be an artifact rather than a person.<ref name=":6" /> Ritual and Pomme Incarnates can take more diffuse and immaterial forms.

=== Abilities ===
It is an idea given life and thus unkillable with weapons. It is supported and fed through certain ideas, and weakened by taking the strength from that idea.<ref name=":9">“And nobody’s about to remove the local Conquest from the picture, to keep that from happening?”<br><br>“There are bigger things at play, and an Incarnation isn’t a monster you defeat with a sword or gun. It is an idea given life. You support it and feed it through certain ideas, and you defeat it by taking the strength from that idea. Most often, you accommodate them. But anything powerful enough to become sentient and sapient isn’t something that’s going away anytime soon.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/collateral-4-1/ excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.1]]</ref> Multiple copies/versions/emanations exist concomitantly and can absorb the lesser versions of themselves for strength.<ref>Some agencies contrive to bring these incarnations into being to suit their devices. Is there an agency invested in the apocalypse and Conquest’s part in that? Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. [...] Such agencies want a narrative, and an Incarnation of Conquest arising from Toronto is a weak narrative at best. If such things come to pass, speculation suggests that another, greater Conquest would find, best, and absorb all its lesser kin for strength before taking action. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/04 Excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.1]]</ref><!----<ref>It created a vacuum.  The vacuum was a currency that could be used to pay certain forces, because they too had roads they had to travel, ways they sustained themselves, and things they wanted to pay for.  Just like Alpeana, they were constantly on the lookout for wrinkles and snarls in the fabric of things, and they sustained themselves by tending to those things. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2022/05/21 Excerpt] from [[Wild Abandon 18.y]]</ref>--->

Incarnations will have abilities based on the thing they embody.<ref name=":8">“But if there’s no war-”<br><br>“He isn’t War, but Conquest. Massed forces, takeovers, forced change. He continues to find power in other ways. Yes, he prefers warfare and bloodshed, but he can draw power from the steady expansion of civilization into nature, from real estate, from business takeovers, government, law, and other small forms of tyranny. As an Incarnation, he can invest his power. Where Death might bring death to things by touching them, or Love might strike a couple through their hearts with a metaphorical arrow given form, Conquest can do the same.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/04 Excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.1]]</ref> They are among the types of Other that can become powerful enough to affect the area they inhabit as a sort of pseudo-[[Demesne]].<ref>“To be in Conquest’s domain is to be in a constant state of transition. Emotions rise and fall, there is fire and rebellion at first, then we make peace with the state of things. Broken things erode away, and then there is only defeat. But to be the Conqueror is not a simple thing either. They either take on a different role, which my lord cannot do, or they find new territory to seize, people to subjugate. The territory changes as he finds new ground.”<br><br>“I didn’t know a demesne could be this… out there. I mean, I read about apartments covered in flesh, but…”<br><br>“This isn’t a demesne, as you understand the term,” he said. “Some beings are strong enough to influence their surroundings simply by residing there.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/06 Excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.2]]</ref>

Incarnations and related Others tend to be somewhat "inevitable",<ref>“That may be the case. In any event, we need protection and security while we call her out and bind her. She’s rooted to a huge power source, and that, to my understanding, makes her ''rough'' to deal with.”<br><br>“If her origin is Incarnation related,” Alexander said, “she’s going to have power like that. Incarnation related others tend to have something inevitable about them.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/08/15 Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.z]]</ref>or at least give off that impression, tapped into overwhelming power sources or growing stronger each time they're rebuffed.<ref>“The Doom would come back stronger each time. Incarnations and things stemming from them, like omens and the doom, they lean heavily into the inevitable, or the illusion of the inevitable,” Matthew said. “It’s in their makeup.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/28 Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.5]]</ref><!----This is inpart because they give give over to other incarnations in a cycle <ref>


Incarnations were inevitable in part because they existed in flux with counterparts.  Comedy and Tragedy, Death and Life.

https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/05/18/dash-to-pieces-11-6/


</ref>--->
=== Origins ===
An incarnation can come into being when a person [[Summoning|summons]] and melds into it, or a major event helps crystalize it.<ref>“He’s an incarnation,” Rose said. “A being tied to the intrinsic workings of the world, at least on an abstract level. They have no technical beginning or end. They just ''are''. What we see is kind of a crystallization of that essence. Some jackass decided to invoke a force and absorb the force in question into themselves and fucked up, they gave themselves over to the force for some reason or another, or a big event helped it come into being. Now it’s autonomous. You can weaken it, but you can’t really kill it. He’s… major enough to count, I think.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/04/29 Excerpt] from [[Subordination 6.1]]</ref><ref>“And the host?” I asked. “I learned my lesson last night. Fuck of a lot easier to deal with something that’s human at the core.”<br><br>“Conquest was human once,” she said.<br><br>“I almost forgot,” I said.<br><br>“Kind of similar, really. Let a mote get carried away, you end up with something that isn’t recognizable as human. Our advantage is if this thing isn’t that far gone, there might be something human at the core.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/ Excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.4]]</ref> Another scenario would have an [[echo]], one that gained enough power and influence, which might become a site for an Incarnation to emerge.<ref>“A boy drowned in a dip in the river, when the water level was high enough the flow was pronounced. There was a drop in the water flow, and it formed a tube that trapped him inside, flipping end over end. Enough of a violent and remarkable end to create an echo. Enough left unresolved around him that it encouraged spirits. He became a petitioner spirit, plaguing people by the water with whispered questions.”<br><br>“Like a ghost by the side of the road who asks for a ride,” Verona said.<br><br>Verona sounded so casual, in the midst of this. Like she didn’t care about where they stood. Avery was unsure if she was a good actor or so focused in on the practice that she’d lost sight of the danger.<br><br>“Yes. But he wasn’t mature or coherent enough to ask good questions. If such a spirit learns to ask questions with a design, or to attach a pattern of action to the questioning, the actions can gain strength. Your roadside spirit could gain enough strength to punish the wrong or unwanted answers with a push, putting the victim in the way of incoming traffic. He wasn’t that strong. He whispered nonsense about being caught in the wash. Left to his own devices, he could have become a wraith, a spectre, a malign spirit, or connected to a thing of the Abyss, or enough collective sentiment to become a spot for an incarnation to emerge. I burned him, ending him.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/28/ Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.5]]</ref>

Nascent Incarnations in [[the Ruins]] may absorb neighboring [[Others]], such as appropriate [[Echo]]es, that are associated with their concept until they have enough strength to emerge in reality.<ref name=":5">“The Others native to [[The Ruins|this place]] are predators that feast on echoes,” Miss said. “Echoes will find their roots here, what you see in reality as the tips of the icebergs, if they’re complex or multifaceted enough to have icebergs. When they’re spent, they dissolve out here, reduced back down to spirit stuff, if they aren’t taken apart for other purposes.”<br><br>“What purposes?” Verona asked.<br><br>“Some might make Others and send them out. Others might be similar to Alpeana, building nightmares or scenarios, like a funnel spider might build a web, but using scenes and memories instead of webbing. Nascent incarnations might seek out echoes that tie to their natures, an Incarnation of Innocence eating child and elderly Others until it has the strength to take form in our world. [...] Incarnate practitioners who specialize in things like the Hungry Choir ritual or dealings with a specific Incarnation, such as Dream or Bondage, will have cause to come here.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/27 Excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.6]]</ref> Upon emergence the pseudo-Incarnation matures and clarifies itself.<ref name="de5">Incarnations and incarnate things aren’t even a single clear concept when they emerge, and absorb a lot from their surroundings in early days. If a Desire isn’t healthy, she can reflect something stunted, something frustrated, or something loveless.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/27 Excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.6]]</ref>

Incarnations with enough strength to take human, sapient form are always fairly powerful; Practitioners generally accommodate them rather than fight them.<ref name=":9" />