Host Magic

Hosting is the art of inviting Others into your self to perform esoteric effects. Others used for hosting are sometimes called "riders".

Methodology

Hosting is a deal and price-oriented school of magic, as such it is extremely risky. Each use usually comes with a chance of taking damage, minor long-term changes, or even permanent possession<ref>V:  It’s an old story, isn’t it? Stupid kid starts using performance enhancers, only it goes bad. Side effects take over. Except they weren’t drugs. Not steroids or any of that. Lacey had another way.  Warpaint, a few words. Some of the other guys on the team got into it.

L:  My mom always called it riding.

R:  Possession.

L:  Controlled possession. A spirit of something fierce, to make him move a little faster, make him a little stronger, give him that edge he needs to spook the other guys for a second when he looks them in the eye. Surface deep stuff. Stuff that can be explained away by placebo effect and some cosmetic stuff for the team.

R:  What happened? It went wrong?

V:  We’re not sure what happened. The stars aligned wrong, or it was a full moon, or whatever it was got a foothold somewhere along the way. I put on the war paint and I wasn’t me anymore. I came to, and I was violently ill, soaked in blood. Someone else’s. - Excerpt from Gathered Pages: 2</ref>. Therefore most beginners start with the simpler Spirits, as they learn to balance the power and control of their 'riders'. Each successful 'riding' will typically better future interactions with those Others and create a foundation one can use for more powerful Others. Benefits gained depends on what spirits are being used and what was negotiated beforehand. Some examples of benefits include supernatural senses, enhanced physical ability, regeneration, tunnel traveling, mutations, etc. Below are some basic Host practices.<ref>Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>

Manifest

The practice of using a poetic ritual to summon an abstract Other from the area. Unfortunately, these Others tend to be aimless, hard to identify, or weaker than other types. Part of the ritual requires the abstract Other be named, and a risk of never being able to call that Other again if that name is forgotten. After practicing this multiple times, the Host may gain some natural ability to See abstract forces. This practice can also be used to make an abstract foe manifest, another foe to show itself, or force something to take a body that can be hurt. May require a show or expense of power and a name or label.

Invitation

The practice of striking a deal with an Other, inviting them in, and gaining some passive benefits. The Other serves as a power source, though they negotiate beforehand how much power the Host is allowed to use. The Other can also provide knowledge, senses, or memories at the risk that they may impart hallucinations or attack their Host's mind. Advanced Host's can modify the deal, such as setting time limits, restrictions or terms on control, focus on the physical or the mental, or keeping the Other on hand as a token (depending on the contract and spirit). After inviting Others a set number of times, the Host can adjust their hallow.

Medium

The practice of channeling an Other's abilities through themselves.

Cleanse, Bar, and Forfeit

A collection of protocols to help manage the price of Hosting. Cleansing decreases the duration of lingering costs and the severity of permanent costs as long as the Host avoids missing a scheduled cleansing, or else the costs become greater. Barring is about resisting changes for so long that they are slowed or stopped. Forfeiting allows the change to happen, in exchange for being able to guide and negotiate it.

Pound of Flesh

The practice of giving up a share of flesh, potentially changing themselves permanently, all to empower another practice or impart power to something.

Types of Hosts

Hosts are usually grouped into broad categories of:

• Pantheon - Those who define a space within themselves, and store multiple Others within it.<ref>Pantheon - The Host demarcates several hallows within themselves. May focus on one part (such as the heart), or on the individual chakras (brow, throat, heart, etc). Multiple Others can be held within, as one becomes the metaphorical swiss army knife with a wide assortment of powers and qualities to draw on, as suggested on the first page of this document. - Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>
• Abomination - Those who hold a great and terrible power within them.<ref>Abomination - Not so dissimilar to the Harbinger, the Abomination is a Host who holds a great and terrible power within them, but manifests no storm. Much like the Heartless, they can tap into this for dramatic changes, though they do not necessarily keep a hand on the reins at all times. - Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>
• Duality - Those who maintain a balanced relationship with a single Other while they share a single body.<ref>Duality - A relationship closer to familiar and partner, the Duality Host maintains a single Other that they share a body with. Where the Abomination is more powerful, but suppressed, the relationship here is more balanced. Careful selection of Other is important, as it is in any Familiar relationship, as a lasting bond means that small differences will become gulfs and massive points of contention. On the upside, committing means specializing is easy and beneficial, and changes may be more fluid, natural, or practiced. - Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>
• Hoarde - Those who amass a selection of Others as physical objects, that they draw into themselves as required.<ref>Hoarde - Some Hosts specialize in amassing a selection of Others that they keep as physical objects, drawing them into themselves as required. While diverse and versatile, provided they’ve had a chance to build their selection, the practice comes with risks. Every new addition must be tended and looked after, both in the sense that a neglected Other may break free or rebel, and the addition of a new spirit to a hoarde may make another jealous or upset. Second, what is codified into a possession is something that can be taken or lost (on the flipside, it can be traded). Third, each new addition is something that must be added with care. To hoarde a hundred Others is to take a hundred risks. - Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>
• Eater - Those who consume symbols and Others to create a new type of Other within themselves.<ref>Eater - Hewing to older traditions, the Eater does not select a specific Other, but devours Others or symbolic meals. The meals become an amalgam within them, a new creation that must be contended with, but with care and the right rituals, the practitioner can maintain a careful control over what lies within them. Rather than corrupting spirits, however, the danger lies in other taints. When one makes what they eat a deeper part of themselves, then a small amount of taint can become a major issue. - Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>
• Vicinity - Those who can clear out the spaces around them.<ref>“A kind of Host.  Highly respected.  She’s at her most effective when she has time.  Where most Hosts will hollow out a part of themselves, Cyn created a ritual space that allowed her to hollow out a specific space outside the bounds of her body, which was then reinforced and linked to her with ritual and practice.”- Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.b</ref>

Associated Others

• Jockeys

Notable Hosts

• Victor (hosted a predatory nature spirit)
• Blake Thorburn (hosted spirits as sticks and birds)
• Rose Thorburn Junior (hosted the spirit of Blake Thorburn)
• Arguably the Rat Kids in Johannes demesne
• Matthew Moss (cross-trained from previous specialty) (hosts a Doom)
• Wilkins family
  • Xerxes Wilkins hosts Bloody Money
  • Erasmus Wilkins hosts Aslaug
• Cynthia Gaspard (Vicinity Host)

References

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