Question about Embody 20th

[Ipergigio]

Just a quick question of mine.

Since a Wraith need a foci to use Embody (maybe neon lights), it's correct to say that Embody cannot be activated everywhere?

[Callishka]

That's an interesting question. My answer is no, for the following reasons. First, to know how an Arcanos technically works, one refers to the "[Insert Arcanos] Systems" sections, which for Embody is on page 159. Nowhere does it state that Embody must be used in a location where the Proctor's preferred focus exists.

Second, what you're referring to is about Guildmarks. It states, "The markings Embody leaves on Proctors reflect the foci the wraith use to materialize and the events she experiences in the Skinlands." So, here we see that the marks left on the corpus are not only the result of focusing on sensory stimulus as one is attempting to materialize, but also the result of what the wraith experiences while in the living world.

What this communicates to me is that the Guildmarks are a general impression left on the corpus by the experiences and stimuli the wraith seeks out and prefers over the course of their Proctor career. I'm not led to believe that, absent the exact preferred focus, a Proctor cannot materialize.

Take a character I'm playing now, for example. He focuses on the sounds of street traffic, that urban hum, which reminds him of his bustling, busy life in the Skinlands. When he concentrates on that sound, he can follow it into the Skinlands—and it rubs off on him, such that people can hear faint street sounds around him if they listen carefully. A savvy observer might conclude that 1. he's good at Embody and 2. he pulls himself through the Shroud by concentrating on that noise.

But if he were trying to manifest in some rural area without street sounds, I see nothing in the rules to suggest he'd automatically fail. Seems more like he'd imagine those sounds by force of habit, or just listen to whatever noises are present in the local environment.

Also relevant: "A wraith who prefers to focus on visual input might have eyes that reflect the other side of the Shroud, while one who seeks out source of heat may develop blisters or a heat shimmer on his fingers." The operative words here are "prefers" and "seeks". These suggest habitual—but not necessary—conditions for Embody. The emphasis also seems to be on avenues of sensory input: visual, temperature, etc. My urban wraith can still hear things in a quiet rural county at night.