Hyde

A Hyde practitioner dwells in an arguable overlap between Heartless and Alchemical practices; the prices and visceral practices. They try to use alchemical concoctions of various drugs to create an Other self sometimes called the Hyde.<ref>The Hyde types of Alchemist accomplish it with chemical treatments, and then there are Egoists who, like Heartless pare away ugliness or pare away weakness to turn much of their practice inward. - Excerpt from False Moves 12.3</ref>

Methodology

Work via the use of various alchemical drugs to create an alternate Self to be what the practitioner isn't, multiple 'hyde's for one practitioner are possible. If done badly it can lead to your self being eroded<ref name=":1" /> or the Hyde side becoming dominant and the original side being left weak or destroyed.<ref name=":2" /> Once performed the effects are irreversible.<ref name=":2" />

In order to test this alchemists often create hyde concoctions that are temporary and only last a short while, these becomes less effective with each use.<ref name=":2">One direction alchemy could go was the Jekyll-Hyde dynamic.  Though the books just called them Hydes.

Test runs were important for that, because it was irreversible once set in motion and tended to end with a Hyde side dominant, a broken, weaker Jekyll, or both dead.  Usually the whole thing happened as a secret or side project for the practitioner, to solve some critical problem they were dealing with.

Buying a little bit of time, power, or problem solving at the cost of a lifelong war within themselves.

The nature of the dynamic and the divide depended on a lot.  There were any number of directions Verona could have gone.  Like chasing a more adult, elegant version of herself, or accessing some inverse part of herself that would be a good daughter to her dad, and a disciplined student.  With the regular ritual and alchemy, once that divide in the Self was marked out, it was permanent.

This drug was meant as a test run for all of that.  A way for a prospective Hyde to test what they might end up becoming.  As often as not, it was a gateway into being a full Hyde… usually because the effectiveness dropped steeply.- Excerpt from Left in the Dust 16.9</ref>

Types of Hydes

Hydes are usually grouped into broad categories of:

• Me again - Those who define a space within themselves, and store multiple Others within it.<ref> - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref>
• Fixation - instead of making another ego instead the Hyde accentuates parts of themselves.
• Imposter - Make themselves someone else, someone who already exists.
• Inner Monster - Becoming more monster than man, the very sight might snap innocence.
• Hydra - having many someones in side one.
• Aware - Replicating the hyde practice while ignorent of magic.

They can be further divided into

• Alchemical hyde - What most Hydes are who need an alchemical tincture to transform
• Calander hyde - who always transforms at a set hour.
• Relic Hyde - Where some Magic Item causes the transformation.

Notable Examples

• Henrietta Belton
• Dreg, Tymon's familiar<ref name=":1">“Dreg is a vestige.  Was Aware enough to dip into some Jekyll and Hyde type alchemy, eroded away a good chunk of his Self.  Only a fragment of the person was left, other stuff took up residence.”- Excerpt from Leaving a Mark 4.6</ref>
• Verona Hayward (discarded)
• Gilkey's former associates

Associated Others

• Fraward - when balance between the Practitioner and the constructed persona is lost and the self tears.<ref name=":0"> ======Hydes (as Other)======

[...]
The third (somewhat rarer) case requires more grounding in what Hydes are: they tend to bring about something the practitioner doesn’t have.  Grace, talent, strength, force of will, beauty, sexual prowess, intelligence- the list can go on.  They may walk a tightrope of being human enough to remain in the human world, but Other enough that they operate by other rules, including a tendency to embrace patterns.  A Hyde’s successes can strengthen them, as can their prominence in society and the public eye while the practitioner may be more secluded, doing their alchemy.  This grows the self, and a pattern of success may lead to a pattern employed against their human side.  Other patterns will attach themselves to the war of Selves, and the practitioner who regularly imbibes in the throes of jealousy may find they start to change when jealousy grips them.  The final loss of humanity tends to come about as a result of ultimate jealousy, in this case.  Anger, grief, lust, fear, loathing, and ambition can all form their own patterns. - Bestiary File: Fraward</ref>

Trivia

• A reference to the Jekyll & Hyde story by Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson, though the practice itself precedes it. Interestingly Stevenson's novel was likely inspired by the character Gil-Martin in the earlier novel Confessions of a justified sinner which also explored the concept of duality.

References

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