[Minor Template] The Empty

[amechra]

I met this empty girl, once.
She had no reflection but the one she stole.
She had no shadow but the one she stole.
Her kisses were sweet, but the taste that lingered wasn't hers.
I met this empty girl, once.
I would have loved her, but all she gave me was someone else.

The Empty

There are some people that touch the world gently - their reflections don't linger long, and their shadow is dim. People seldom remember these people, because they aren't truly there. They don't do anything impressive, really. They don't really grow - they stay tiny and insignificant all their lives.

Until, one day, their shadow leaves.

Then the fun begins.

---

The Empty gain the following traits:

Empty Presence
It's strange, really - being there, but not being there. The Empty leave no secondary signs of their physical presence - they have no shadow and no reflection. They leave no scent on their clothing, and their body-heat does not heat the area they're in. This exclusion extends to most forms of machine recording - while their direct actions produce results (allowing them to use a computer or mouse), they do not show up on cameras and cannot use telephones to make calls.

Empty Heart
The Empty do not gain Beats from Aspirations or downgrading Failures to Dramatic Failures. Additionally, they convert their Virtue into a second Vice - it's hard to care about anything when you touch the world so gently.

Reflecting an Uncaring Mirror
When the Empty have made contact with the world, they grip it like a vice. Whenever they take a Beat from a Condition, they also gain one Willpower. In addition, they gain 5 dice, rather than 3, whenever they spend Willpower on rolls in keeping with any of their current Conditions. Finally, they may spend one Willpower while wearing clothing stolen from another character to gain the Reflecting Someone Condition; removing that article of clothing ends the Condition without resolving it.

---

Reflecting Someone [Persistent]
You share someone's reflection - rather than not leaving secondary signs of your presence, you leave the signs of the person whose clothing you are wearing. People see them in the camera footage, hear them on the phone, and smell them on your clothes. For the purposes of Social Maneuvering, you are the person you are reflecting - this also applies to purely social Conditions, such as Leverage and Embarrassing Secret. Select one of your Vices and convert it into a Virtue - the visceral thrill of being someone is wonderful.
Beat: Fulfil an Aspiration, suffer a Dramatic Failure
Resolution: You and the character you are reflecting are both in the same Scene.

[amechra]

I hope you didn't like that reputation.

Or would it be worse if the guy who stole your tie showed up to your job and did it better?

[Teatime]

I love it! Low-key phenomena like these can evoke unease in ways more overt monsters rarely do. A question though: Since Reflecting doesn't seem to actually enable shapeshifting, how do people react to the impersonators? Do they know that something is off but can't help but play along?

[amechra]

Let's say that Coffeetime (who is Empty) reflects you, Teatime.

Over the phone or a Skype call, they sound and look like you.

In face to face conversations, they subconsciously link the two of you. They remind other people of you, and vice versa. The effect is pretty subtle - people just put Coffeetime in the same mental slot as you, rather than believing that you really are the same person.

[Elfive]

I can't help but wonder what happens if they reflect a hollow Mekhet. Does the Ka turn up all like "Hey, 'sup?"

[monteparnas]

Loved it! I agree with Teatime, this kind of low-key phenomena is great in the game. It is much more disturbing than more overtly powerful phenomena will ever be. And more adaptable, too.

[amechra]

I can't help but wonder what happens if they reflect a hollow Mekhet. Does the Ka turn up all like "Hey, 'sup?"

They could suffer from the very unpleasant sensation of temporarily being the Ka.

Not being possessed by the Ka - achieving oneness with the Ka on a metaphysical level.

They could... or they just could fail to reflect the hollow Mekhet. But that's boring.

[amechra]

Loved it! I agree with Teatime, this kind of low-key phenomena is great in the game. It is much more disturbing than more overtly powerful phenomena will ever be. And more adaptable, too.

I've been thinking about why low-key stuff is more disturbing. I think it might be just because it's more believable, on a certain level.

It might also be that powerful things feel like a justification for themselves. The dragon can fly, of course, because it's a dragon - aerodynamics be damned! Weaker things, like the Empty, don't have that sort of internal inertia.

(It also might be that there's a tendency for people to over-explain the powerful, "cool" stuff. You need to be questioning the why's and how's of the whole thing.)

[monteparnas]

Maybe it is all of those and more.

Simple stuff have a focus, for example. Not a core theme, but an actual focus. It isn't about anything more than that really weird thing that shouldn't be possible. Greater splats create an entire alternative thought system that overrides you. You have to learn about so much new things that only the first causes real impact, and the others lessen this first impact.

But also, the simple stuff is a slap in the face of anyone trying to make sense of things. When you think you figured things out, there comes that weird guy, and you simply have no frame of reference again, doesn't matter how much you learned about whatever splat.

[amechra]

Maybe it is all of those and more.

Simple stuff have a focus, for example. Not a core theme, but an actual focus. It isn't about anything more than that really weird thing that shouldn't be possible. Greater splats create an entire alternative thought system that overrides you. You have to learn about so much new things that only the first causes real impact, and the others lessen this first impact.

But also, the simple stuff is a slap in the face of anyone trying to make sense of things. When you think you figured things out, there comes that weird guy, and you simply have no frame of reference again, doesn't matter how much you learned about whatever splat.

I'm reminded about how I've seen magick in Unknown Armies described:

"It works like this. Oh, except for those guys over there, who shouldn't even be possible."