And now, it's time for the start of the next chapter from Arcana Exxet. This one is pure Summoners, and draws quite heftily from Fate/Stay Night. Good times ahead. First, general rules, and then I'll get into each of the individual Incarnations. And when I get finished, I'll post up a summary document, as well, as normal. Thanks for your patience.
Chapter 6: Incarnations
At the time of death, certain special people are able to fuse their residual energy to the Flow of Souls, becoming a tiny part of it, residing there as concepts. These conceptual beings are incarnations, and have great powers to give to Summoners who are willing to use them.
The Origin of Incarnations
Incarnations are a foreign concept. There are occultists who call them "Heroes of Existence", the chosen of the world. In fact, they are concepts formed from special people acting in specific moments in history, who have managed to leave a mark so important that they last forever.
It is important to note that the incarnations are by no means transcended souls. Really, saying that they are the same people they were in life is a complete mistake. What gives them form is the energy that the dead leave behind, the reflection of their existence when they were alive. While their souls return to the Soul Flow normally, her idealized concept, as seen through the eyes of the people, gives birth to a representation of who they were. In this regard, it would be appropriate to compare them to Aeons and other beings born of concepts that reside in the outer layers of the Flow of Souls, with the difference that the incarnations are based on mortals who once lived in Gaia.
Not everyone, for the sake of having power or importance, is able to give birth to an incarnation. For someone to become an incarnation, they need to fulfill a multitude of special conditions in very specific moments in history. First, the person must be a natural child and have a disproportionate importance for the existence (or that is, they have a very high Natura). Second, they should never die in a "normal" manner, their end must always be exceptionally turbulent, so that her death causes a huge release of energy and produces a strong existential reflection. Finally, a considerable number people must believe in them, considering them unique and special. It is for this reason that those who have done great deeds in the shadow of history will never lead to incarnations; it is necessary to secure their powers as "eternal concepts."
It is the nature of incarnations that they have no specific "plans" or "will", but simply exist to fulfill a function, the same as they did in life. Their personalities are based on those from ancient times, but their memories are often fragmented and unable to remember things clearly. Interestingly, most are quite aware of their status as "incarnations" and do not consider too much the kind of actions they take during the short moments they visit the world through the powers of their caller.
The power of incarnations is quite variable, depending on both the one who called them and the "strength" of their belief in general society. Therefore, though often with some reflections based on their mortal skills, residing in the Flow of Souls can grant them entirely new powers, unique supernatural abilities beyond the reach of men.
With the activation of Rah’s Machine, several centuries have passed where no one has become an incarnation (possibly because of the existential disruption caused by Upnapistim), but within the past two hundred years, some have started to returned to form incarnations.
Functions of the Incarnations
For the purposes of play, an incarnation is similar to the Arcana or the Great Beasts, with the difference that when invoked, its essence is manifested in the world through the character. In some ways, one might say she "owns" the caller, merging with him and altering his appearance to give him new skills.
The first thing you have to do as a character when you use an incarnation is to declare what affinity you plan to synchronize with. This determines the level of difficulty of the Invocation Check that must be performed. You must then decide how long you want the incarnation to remain active, using the appropriate modifier as shown in Table 12. Finally, the modifiers for Invoking this particular incarnation are applied which, as we shall see, depend on the similarities that are between them. If the check fails, the effects of the level of failure are the same as if he had failed to summon a normal creature, as explained in the rulebook. If, however, it is successful, pay the Zeon cost of the incarnation and it merges with him. The caller remains "in charge", but he can use the skills and powers of the incarnation as if they were their own for the time period determined on the Table 12.
Contrary to what happens with the Arcana or Aeons, to benefit from the power of an invocation does not necessarily require a covenant with them. Instead, the caller needs to have detailed knowledge about the life of the
individual. If a caller does not have enough information about the life and personality of the incarnation, add a +50 to the difficulty of the invocation.
Table 12: Time Modifiers
Time of Synchronization Difficulty Modifier
5 Rounds -50
10 Rounds -25
One Minute 0
Ten Minutes +40
Half Hour +80
One Hour +120
Grade of Affinity
Each incarnation is divided into three different degrees of affinity. The greater the power of the caller or the more they have in common with each other, the stronger the bond and the greater the capabilities the caller gains by bonding with the incarnation. A lower affinity represents that there is some synchronization between the caller and the incarnation, but the powers which the latter transfers to its host are only mortal, and a tiny fragment of what it actually possesses. When the affinity between the two grows to reach an intermediate affinity, the powers are greatly increased. However,
only those who get a real synchronization are able to capture the full capabilities of the incarnation and at that time, as
its name suggests, they have become "really" there.
Level Requirement
Each affinity has a minimum level requirement, since there must be some similarity between the spiritual presence of the character and that of the incarnation. Therefore, until the caller has achieved this level, he cannot try to invoke a particular incarnation, regardless of whether he has the skill to do so.
Evangeline, a level 4 Summoner, might try to invoke Linx Kazte Hex at his lowest affinity, since the required level for this is 4, but not at intermediate or real levels, because these require 8 and 12, respectively.
Invocation Modifiers
All incarnations have some special modifiers to their difficulty, depending on how they are related to the caller. Naturally, the more features they have in common, the easier it will be for a character to get in sync with a particular entity.
Similarly, there are objects that belonged to the living individuals who became incarnations. These artifacts are called "keys", and they also give a bonus to the caller if he possesses them.
Powers of the Incarnations
All incarnations provide powers and special abilities to the character, as explained in their descriptions. The caller maintains their own characteristics, abilities and powers, but can replace any of them with those of the incarnation if the latter's are superior. For example, the character may choose to use the Attack and Defense abilities of the incarnation rather than their own, while retaining their ability to Summon.
Many of the incarnations create weapons, supernatural representations made of spirit matter which they had in life. In these cases, the damage that is indicated in the descriptions of these artifacts is the Final Base Damage, which includes both its bond quality, potential bonuses for Strength of character, as well as other special powers that the incarnation may have.
The powers of the incarnations increase depending on the degree of affinity reached. However, higher grades keep all the powers of lower affinities, even if they are repeated in the description.
The only limitation is it is not possible to combine the natural fighting power of an incarnation with Ki techniques, Legacies of Blood or Ars Magnus that increase or modify their ability somehow.