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>

Catalyze Self

The specific practice needed to create an alter-ego, typically needing alchemical admixtures. Some hydes, such as a fixation hyde or a victim of a glaze won't use this practice.

The Transposition

The actual transformation into the hyde self.

Constitutional Vessel

The diagnostic practice to deterine various factors, the strength of they two selves, the nodes present, general health everything. Advanced versions may involve Alcazars where the two selves can confront each other.

Dosages

Additional alchemical dosages can be taken to advantage.

Mutate

A helpful mutation for the practitioner or hyde or even a foe.

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 - the Hyde accentuates existing parts of themselves, instead of making another ego.<ref>The Fixation - Doing without the Alter Ego entirely, the practitioner has a powerful drug or tool they can use to draw out their strength or talents. The dynamic remains in much the same way, but there is no transformation and the inner voice urging the next dose is the practitioner’s own. They war with their own bodies and might even find their bodies dissolve, depending on just what it was they were seeking. Seek beauty with alchemical makeup and dissolve into savage ugliness if the dosages can’t be kept up. Seek strength and potentially risk becoming so weak that bones break and bend under the body’s weight. The struggle leads to monstrousness, one way or the other. - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref>
• Imposter - Make themselves someone else, someone who already exists.<ref>The Impostor is a Hyde who does not seek to divide their Self, but to emulate or even become someone else. Introduces the complication of a second person/target. Will usually target someone that is idealized or exceptional, or who has something desirable, then takes those qualities while retaining their old ones. Can even exceed the capacities and abilities of the other person, but this induces a stress that requires that steady ground be made and/or that three of the four fluids of blood, sweat, tears, and sex be obtained. Replaces the standard constitutional vessel in favor of something to track the other party, where study and finding out secrets or special qualities unveils nodes (typically at a limited rate). - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref>
• Inner Monster - Becoming more monster than man, the very sight might snap innocence.<ref>The Inner Monster is a change that has the alter ego as something that isn’t human at all. The alter ego’s side of the dichotomy dictates the shape, instincts, mindset, needs, and abilities of the alter ego, oftentimes wild and dramatic, fully and undeniably Other.
  
  The advantages are more abilities, more raw statistics and power, and a great deal more clout, intimidation, and raw ability to navigate, brute force a problem, or otherwise point monstrous capabilities at a problem. The disadvantages are that maintaining the transformation costs constant influence, giving the Other power, and it may be a fight to arrest this, requiring the practitioner to step in and exert willpower or other strength to fight free and cancel the transformation. Take too long and the powerful alter ego can gain enough sway that the practitioner can’t afford another transformation for a day or two later. Further, the alter ego is fully bound to the seal of Solomon and the restrictions of innocence. They may or may not have the awareness of innocents and the ability to skirt the edges of that awareness, and even being seen will count badly against them and the practitioner. - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref>
• Hydra - having many someones inside one.<ref>The Tri-Hyde or Hydra is what many think of when they think of variations, a Hyde with multiple Selves. Any number is possible.
  
  Advantages of the Tri-Hyde are more versatility, more options. It’s really just that simple. What isn’t simple is managing what follows. All personalities must be managed, and if one gets control, the others will want it too, getting restless. Each Self will likely be weaker.- Pact Dice: Hydes</ref>
• Aware - Replicating the hyde practice while unawakened.

They can be further divided into

• Alchemical Hyde - The majority 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

• Aw-Sang<ref> - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref> the subordinate
• 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>
• Georgie<ref> - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref> the bugge nemesis
• Gilkey's former associates
• Henrietta Belton
• Stanislaus<ref> - Pact Dice: Hydes</ref> of Windsor<ref>“Lordship changed over here. Windsor,” Cliff said.
  
  “Retired,” Peter replied. “Things are… in flux.”
  
  “You’ve heard this sort of story before,” Clayton asked, still in the hallway. “Guy crosses the wrong family, the Lord and family that used to run Windsor. His family gets wiped out, except for the guy’s elderly dad, who negotiates a deal to be left alone. Elderly dad figures out he can get around the truce by taking a potion to become someone else in mind and body, becomes a little girl named after one of the murdered granddaughters, or maybe she is a granddaughter, who knows?”
  
  “Who knows?” Cliff asked, without humor.
  
  “Murders the whole next generation of the Lord’s family, going right for the kids. Bad look for the Lord, getting attacked like that. Our old man realizes too late that he’s losing control of his murderous little-girl self, ends up having to band together with the Lord he was going up against, to exorcise her.”
  [...]
  “Who’s in charge now?” Cliff asked. “Of the Windsor territory?”
  
  “Who even the fuck knows?” Peter asked. “Someone else took the Lordship but I think they had a few of their kids get killed too. The little girl picked up some practice, which is a real bad sign if you’re basically drugging a new personality into existence, shows that personality is getting too big for her boots, taking special kinds of initiative. The prior Lord retired but I think she was on his heels for a while. Whole mess.” - Excerpt from In Absentia 21.11</ref>
• Verona Hayward (discarded)

Associated Others

• Fraward - when the 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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