Editing Incarnation (section)

== Varieties & Servants ==
There are a variety of beings which are creations or, in some sense, extensions of Incarnations.<ref name=":0">As for the general Others that they'll run into & operate with, they're from the immaterial and interaction tracks. So...<br><br>
'''Concept-driven Others''' - especially the riff-raff surrounding things like Incarnations. The agents or soldiers of Dream, Death, Fate, Nature, Ruin, Innocence, etc.<br>
*'''Envoys''' - These Others persist by making deals and furthering the ends of the incarnation they represent/are. They may be urban legends or itinerant Others. The deals are usually tricky or really loaded. "Did you hear? They say that there's a way to summon a little old man who will ask you for a name. He'll destroy a person you name, but he'll take what you cherish most from you in exchange. Everyone always regrets it." A girl with strangely colored hair finds people in enough torment that they've lost their senses- the sleep deprived, the maddened, the drunken, and she offers them a deal. She'll take the memory of whatever it is that is maddening them out of their head and the heads of everyone around them, but they're given the task of re-enacting or forcing that same agony on three other 'deserving' people, or she'll give them the memory she took from the ''last'' person she visited, and somehow it's always worse than (and somehow related to) what they were dealing with before. These Envoys visit our world and seek out targets who fit their schema and generally push deals that net an overall positive contribution to [incarnation], but when they aren't here, they're somewhere, and that's often the Paths. If found or visited, they may offer similar deals, or barter with whatever it is they've collected or done.<br>
*'''The Leftovers''' - these are like incarnations, but writ small. Isolated bits of 'incarnation' that splintered off or exist in isolation. Especially common in the Paths because there's a whole lot of isolation there. Characters (and 'character' is the operative word here) that are defined by single attributes and personalities. Shored up by spirits and other things. A fragment of Regret splinters off due to circumstances, gets isolated in the Paths (where it naturally ends up), and gathers up enough pieces of other things, like a mask of a mouse and a party dress, picks up on ideas and the tatters of echos surrounding those things, and builds up a persona as the Cringing Mouse, a girl with a mouse head and a garish dress, who can't help but do cringeworthy things at the worst moments and then agonize over them. Once they solidify as such, they tend to resist being absorbed elsewhere. Leftovers love to attach themselves to others as traveling companions, or recur on the paths. These form some of the 'wildlife' in the Paths. Not all are sentient or sapient. Unwittingly, they tend to further the cause of their parent Incarnation.<br>
*'''Pawns & Playing Cards''' - The forms these guys can take is impossibly varied. Extensions of an Incarnation with some power that wanted soldiers, messengers, servants, builders, or whatever else, they end up in the Paths if their parent Incarnation dies and they don't go with it. Tend to congregate in groups, all with a theme. The Victims of Innocence, who are wide eyed children, beautiful, all dressed in pristine white clothes, with a penchant for hurling themselves into the most horrible fates available, if there's any chance it'll break people's hearts to see it. The Rats of Plague, who wait and multiply in anticipation of a chance to deliver a plague worse than the Black Death upon humanity- except they're quarantined. All they need is an open door or for one rat to sneak through and they can do just that. Tend to be really, ''really'' stupid, however, while appearing in great number, leaving diplomacy as the key to dealing with them.<br><br>
'''Echoes & remnants'''. Ghosts, vestiges. Because they intersect with the Paths, they might deal with other kinds of echo.<br><br>
*'''Wild Echoes''' - Overlaps with Incarnations, above. Echoes (ghosts) of humans who were done away with by very dramatic Incarnation-type events. Tend to be flavorful, hard-to-deal-with echoes who don't follow the usual tropes or tools of necromancers, so most necromancers won't bother. Tools and approaches with Death in mind don't apply if we're talking about an Other who was done away with by Ignonimity or Lust.<br><br>
*'''False Echoes''' - Echoes of people who didn't exist, except by rumor. A real pain in the ass for necromancers, but not so much a problem for Finders.<br><br>'''Spirits''' - Spirits are bread & butter, and not exclusive to the Paths, but frequently found are...
*'''Petitioner Spirits''' - Spirits consolidated around a question or set of questions. They often ask people they see and then may get power to act if the answer is right or wrong. Can be hooked into echoes or have echoes as central points, depending.
*'''Abstract Spirits''' - Spirits of consolidated Path-trash, may be even less defined or consistent than usual spirits, but can be useful as a kind of wet clay for those looking to mold them. The problem is that if these guys are a blender of weird, well, sometimes that blender has blades inside. The trick is finding out what's at the center, holding them together. - [https://old.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/f03xyr/_/fgs0o17 Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>

=== Anthro ===
In wiki term for those incarnations that are anthropomorphic personifications of their incantation literally. Some cults actually form to turn an individual into an incarnation.<ref>Incarnations traditionally choose or naturally come across vessels that allow them to refresh themselves.  These can be those who are well suited to wearing a mantle of a particular concept, it can be an agent of the Incarnation that works as a kind of underling grim reaper or custodian of time (etc.), and it can be a way of dealing with 'wrinkly' individuals who have, by practice or circumstance, become very difficult to deal with, existing outside of Nature, Time, Death, War, etc.  By absorbing the (sometimes unwilling) individual the incarnation can better understand the wrinkle.<br><br>There is another means, however, and it is one that has seen exploitation.  The Incarnation can be made, often by choosing a representative vessel and preparing them with the tropes, symbols of office, and some process that distills the incarnation in them.  This is rarely pleasant, and depending on the approach, can mean scourging and altering the individual to reduce the individuality and make them a better vessel, and/or it can mean creating a state through ritual, surgery, and the efforts of community.  Chemicals fed into the body to maintain a sustained primal state, being held on the threshold of death for a prolonged time, etc.<br><br>Someone researching these processes is likely to come across references to various *pilaster* sects.  These sects, not necessarily related to one another, tend to manifest from the same core ideas and feelings, which is that the commonly recognized major pillars have an obvious absence that they need to fill... commonly faith, almost always the *pilaster sect's* faith, sometimes tradition, and rarely something else such as liberty or a counterpoint to one of the major pillars.  The rule of thumb is that the pilaster sects are fanatical and unflinching.<br><br>Unfortunately, the rule of thumb is also that they as groups or larger communities will attempt to forge an incarnation, often by choosing someone from the population to 'raise up' onto a pedestal. Wildbow on Discord</ref>

=== [[Envoy]]s ===
<blockquote>''Main article: [[Envoy]]''</blockquote>
Messengers which make deals, usually following a pattern and inevitably skewed so that they further the Incarnation. May reside in the [[Paths]] when inactive.<ref name=":0" />

=== Leftovers ===
Scraps of concept-stuff that fall onto the [[Paths]] and pick up concepts and symbolism, becoming a sort of weak and alien Incarnation. Unwittingly tend to further their "parent".<ref name=":0" />

=== Locus Incarnate ===
Incarnations that inhabit a location that impresses upon reality making a well so that everything is downhill and hard for anyone to get out.<ref>'''Locus Incarnate'''<br><br>The Locus Incarnate is a location that has become a 'well', where power, presence, and the impact of events drive the location into a metaphysical depression, such that power of a certain type and theme gathers within. The 'incarnate' aspect is due to the locus's trend toward pitching heavily toward a theme, which in the modern day is often death, murder, or madness, in residential areas, but could in the past be nature or some such in a place in the wilderness.<br><br>The areas take on a particular cast and tone, things gain a certain pronounced nature, and the people who find themselves within will often find it difficult to leave; the depression makes all paths and connections outward an uphill trip. More likely, those connected to victims will be drawn in, following trails or retracing their steps until they arrive at the location, and fall prey to the trap. Can be mistaken for a 'haunted house', but echoes are incidental, not at the root of the place (or if they are at the root, aren't responsible for the design and nature of the space). Successful escape requires finding what ~is~ at the heart and weakening it sufficiently to make the depression less steep. In the most severe cases, when the place is forgotten and nothing within has a connection to the outside world, it often falls to the Abyss, taking the contents with it. - Wildbow by Discord</ref> Things are pulled into such a incarnation include echoes and more but what causes the incarnation to manifest is a 'heart' within the location, which if disturbed can allow escape.

=== Pawns & Playing Cards ===
Extensions of an Incarnation who wanted a servant for something. Generally a group of similar beings, and not very intelligent. Tied to the Incarnation and will be [[Lost]] to reality if it dies.<ref name=":0" />

=== Pomme Incarnates ===
Also know as Kernel incarnates are a concentration of Incarnate power found somewhere in a immaterial realm, non-sapient, sessile, not even a rudimentary personality guiding it, tend to accrue over hundreds of years.<ref>The Pomme Incarnate is a kernel of Incarnate power, typically manifesting in Earth-adjacent realms, from a 'seed' of some kind of power, be it an item representative of an incarnation, an item in one of the echo-touched realms that has stored sentiment and power (such as a Ghend's treasure), or something left behind by a practitioner.  It draws echoes to it and grows in size and power.  Typically very powerful, the most notable thing about the Pomme Incarnate is that it doesn't have motive force.  It doesn't move, attack, or defend itself.  They range from the size of a baseball to the size of a house, but trend smaller, and often have intense appearances, throbbing with power while being framed with echoes.  Pommes take centuries to mature to even the smaller forms.<br><br>Those who meet the Pomme halfway (taking a bite of the 'apple', inserting one's arm into the aperture, or passing within, as examples) will be confronted with the Incarnation's force majeure, the full weight of the inevitable.  The most unworthy are absorbed into the Pomme in a merciful end, the most worthy, should they be willing and able to face the Pomme's power to the end, are granted wisdom, power matching or dwarfing typical embodiments of the Incarnate, and/or the ability to rewrite events, past, present, or future.  This isn't an easy task, and many will only pass halfway between the two extremes, often destroying themselves or going mad, but gaining the ability to change events or perform a great act in the process.<br><br>Would you be able to reach within and keep hold of the power inside, if you had to experience every childbirth ever to occur in human history, one after another, in what seemed like a million or more years to you but were minutes to others?  Would you be able to bear the full weight of every individual dying around the world over the hours you spent in the Pomme's embrace, without tearing yourself free?  To have an impossible child?  To bring one person back? - Wildbow on Discord</ref> Most who try to 'eat' a Pomme's power are overwhelmed and absorbed or too addled by the experience to use their new abilities as intended. Any attempted use will cause the Pomme to relocate, size changing whether it absorbed or spent power on a person, someone who secures the unalloyed boon will use up the Pomme.<ref> - Wildbow on Discord</ref>
=== Ritual Incarnates ===
Possibly some overlap with [[Nex Machina]] or [[Envoy]]s. 

Also known as Incarnate Rituals. These are rituals which are (generally) created by Incarnations and leaked to [[Innocents]] to entrap them. The clear warnings and a possibility (if slim) to fairly "win" the ritual and be rewarded help to temper the karmic backlash. Some [[Practitioners]] will find the way to win the ritual, then repeatedly do so until it's drained of power and destroyed.<ref name=":1">[[Lost for Words 1.4]]</ref> Some can manifest what appear to be [[Other]]s, but these are merely a person-shaped symptom of the ritual itself.<ref>"Choir knew already. Could smell ’em coming.”<br><br>“You could smell them coming, or they were already there?” Lucy asked.<br><br>“Couldn’t say, dearie,” Toadswallow said.<br><br>“Why not?”<br><br>“Because they’re not a group or anything like that. They’re like a storm or a clog in the sewer. The kids you see? They’re just the raindrops or the bad smell that comes with. The whole thing? Bigger and vaguer.”<br><br>“The storm was already there? Gathering? On its way?”<br>[...]<br>“We need to check in with the Choir. Figure out what they are, try to interview them.”<br><br>“Even if those kids are raindrops from a storm,” Verona added. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/05/23 Excerpt] from [[Lost for Words 1.5]]</ref> Being rooted in the Incarnate, abstract, they can find themselves linked with and drawn to [[the Ruins]].<ref>“The bleakness of this place reminds me of the Hungry Choir’s realm,” Avery said.<br><br>“If you were to map out the connections between worlds, that one would be a close sibling or child of this one. The Ruins are a place of the eroding abstract. Incarnates and echoes. The Hungry Choir is of that abstract, a living ritual rooted in the Incarnate.”<br><br>“Case in point,” Avery said. She pointed.<br><br>There was a figure that could have been mistaken for an echo, but it didn’t flicker.<br><br>A waif, standing in the rain, watching them.<br><br>“The bleakness of this place reminds me of the Hungry Choir’s realm,” Avery said.<br><br>“If you were to map out the connections between worlds, that one would be a close sibling or child of this one. The Ruins are a place of the eroding abstract. Incarnates and echoes. The Hungry Choir is of that abstract, a living ritual rooted in the Incarnate.”<br><br>“Case in point,” Avery said. She pointed.<br><br>There was a figure that could have been mistaken for an echo, but it didn’t flicker.<br><br>A waif, standing in the rain, watching them. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/27/ Excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.6]]</ref>

Although generally associated with Incarnations, they can also form naturally<ref name=":1">[[Lost for Words 1.4]]</ref> or be created by something on a par with a powerful Incarnation, such as a lesser [[Gods|god]] or greater [[goblin]].<ref>That much power that fast has to come from somewhere, and then be given form as a ritual by someone or something. A strong incarnation, a lesser god, a great Goblin. If it had appeared in the last month, I might think it had something to do with the current state of the Carmine Beast. That could be a big enough power source… ''perhaps''. [...] There are things that have that kind of power, like gods and strong incarnations, but I’m not aware of anything that strong that could have any connection to the Choir, and I’ve done some extensive searching. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/18 Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.2]]</ref>

=== Omens ===
<blockquote>''Main article: [[Omen]]s''</blockquote>

Incite events that are linked to an incarnation, while this can be a death they are equally likely to be things such as heartbreak or the gaining or losing of wealth.

=== Items ===
<blockquote>''Main article: [[Cursed Item]]''</blockquote>Similar to Incarnate Rituals, some Incarnations create items which - when some attached warning is ignored - inflict a fate on the [[Innocent]] victim which furthers the Incarnation.<ref name=":1" /> This behavior is not exclusive to Incarnations, e.g. [[Faeries]] have been observed doing this for amusement.<ref>She was pretty certain that presents and boons like the ones Keller was giving out were traps. That they’d be wonderful and fantastic up until the point that things turned sour. Maybe they became too much of a good thing, maybe there was a rule that had to be followed, with some horrific backlash if it wasn’t. Maybe there was a catch.<br><br>Exiled Faerie weren’t allowed to go after innocents, not directly. But, Maggie was fairly certain, they weren’t forbidden from doing something like giving a kid a flute that would summon a sprite to do their chores for them, with the caveat that the sprite would blind them if they ever tried to watch it while it worked.<br><br>End result? The kid would be stupid, the sprite would eat the kid’s eyes. People, the kid included, would rationalize it away as an accident, an infection, or just a freak occurrence. Life would go on as normal, and the local Faeries-in-exile got their jollies without breaking the rules. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/07/12 Excerpt] from [[Signature 8.2]]</ref>

=== Token ===
<blockquote>''Main article: [[Token]]s''</blockquote>
Similar to cursed Items but meant for different purposes.<ref>“Call Brie,” Jessica said, pulling something from a tree trunk.  It looked like a coin, but it was lumpier.<br>[...]<br>“What’s that?” Avery asked, indicating the bit of metal.<br><br>“A token.  Certain inevitable forces will leave them places.  Like an Other closely related to Love leaving behind roses or rose petals, or an Other related to Mania leaving a pitchfork embedded in something.”<br>[...]<br>“What’s got you guys spooked?” Avery asked.  “Does it have to do with that token?  The bit of metal?”<br><br>“A group of lesser incarnations,” Jessica said.  She reached out, holding the token like she was going to drop it.  Avery put her hand out.<br><br>The bit of metal, slightly triangular.  A squashed bullet, edge sharpened.  It was wrapped up in cord.<br><br>“My best guess is this is Hunt,” Jessica said.<br><br>A bit of glass wrapped in more cord, curved and smooth on one side and broken on the other, like it was from a magnifying glass or marble.  There was blood on the pointiest corner, worked into the cracks.<br><br>“Inquest or Inquisition.”<br><br>And a ring, snipped, the band twisted so it formed a curl, where the snipped ends didn’t meet but crossed instead.  There was a heart shaped hole at the center of the band, opposite the mis-aligned ends.  The cord was threaded through the hole and around the ring itself.<br><br>“Which one is this?”<br><br>“I don’t know.  But it’s compatible with Hunt and Inquisition, that token represents it.  If you let them drop from your hand, they fall into a position that forms a triangle.  Don’t actually drop it.  I don’t want to waste the time.”<br><br>“Okay,” Avery said, holding the tokens in her hand.<br><br>“They fall equally distant apart.  The triangle shape appears in the tokens, too.    They’re a team of three.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/01/16 Excerpt] from [[Vanishing Points 8.3]]</ref>

=== Dogs of War ===
''Main Article: [[Dog of War]]''

Patchwork members of a large group that died under chaotic circumstances, usually war. Although classified as [[Anima]]<ref>“The Carmine Beast predated us,” the Aurum said. “But not the Alabaster Doe.”<br><br>“She was an Animus, a walking intent,” the Alabaster said. “Much as your Dog of War is one.”<br><br>“I- I’m not familiar with that.”<br><br>“Forces between spirit and incarnation that exist for purpose. Often malign, but not always. Physical. They are defined by the task they accomplish. The Swordbearer animus exists to find the noble and heroic, equip them, and send them on their path. The Dog of War exists to perpetuate the senselessness of war. Muses inspire art.”<br><br>“What did she do?”<br><br>“Before she was the Carmine Beast, she reminded civilized men who had come here why their ancestors were so afraid of the deep night,” the Alabaster said. “Henhouses emptied, livestock slaughtered. Howling that shook hearts, and fangs that took the lives of people who were in the midst of discovering just how dark a forest can be without the torches, candles and lamps of a nearby city.”<br><br>“Was she evil? I know we asked, but- before?”<br><br>“She wasn’t good or evil so much as she simply ''was''. Just as she ''was'' the Carmine Beast. The role precedes all.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/08/18 Excerpt] from [[Leaving a Mark 4.1]]</ref> these beings may stem from Incarnations (War, Famine, Hate etc.)<ref>The queen at the center of this particular hive is a black dog. It’s derived from an incarnation of famine or something, took the form of a young girl in the middle of the war in Afghanistan<br>[...]<br>“I ask a second time! Black Dog Yalda! Casualty of war and child of Famine! Come!” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/08/15 Excerpt] from [[Out on a Limb 3.z]]</ref><ref>Hang Dogs [...] Stem from hate rather than war - [https://old.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/goyerk/_/frpaibe/ Wildbow on Reddit]</ref>
=== Leathermen ===
''Main Article: [[Leathermen]]''