Core Concept
Karites are supernatural entities that crossed into the material plane during the Great War's Tegic experiments and The Cataclysm's dimensional rifts. These daemons require organic anchors to maintain their presence in our reality, creating a complex symbiotic or parasitic relationship with their host bodies.
Origin & History
During the Great War, desperate military forces used Tegic magic to summon supernatural beings as weapons. The massive use of necromancy, dimensional rifts, and reality-warping magic created permanent tears between worlds. When The Cataclysm struck with its combination of nuclear devastation and asteroid impacts, these rifts expanded catastrophically, allowing entities like Karites to slip through permanently.
Physical Characteristics
- Enhanced Healing: Host bodies regenerate at extraordinary rates - wounds close within minutes, broken bones mend in hours
- Unnatural Vitality: Bodies don't age or decay while inhabited; corpses remain fresh indefinitely
- Supernatural Awareness: Enhanced senses, particularly in detecting other supernatural entities
- Dual Nature: Living hosts retain their personality when awake; corpse hosts are fully controlled
Host Relationship Types
Living Host Partnership
- Conscious Hours: Original personality maintains full control during waking hours
- Sleep Possession: Karite takes control during all sleep periods (dreams, unconsciousness, coma)
- Memory Sharing: Both entities may retain fragmented memories of the other's activities
- Gradual Influence: Over time, Karite's personality may bleed through even during waking hours
- Mutual Benefit: Host gains regeneration and extended lifespan; Karite gains material anchor
Corpse Animation
- Full Control: Karite has complete dominion over the deceased body
- Perfect Preservation: Body maintains appearance from time of death, never decays
- Personality Echo: May retain muscle memory and basic knowledge from the deceased
- Emotional Void: Lacks the original person's emotional connections and motivations
- Supernatural Tells: Subtle wrongness - no breath, heartbeat, or natural body warmth
Supernatural Abilities
- Regeneration: Rapid healing of physical damage (cannot regenerate destroyed brain or total body destruction)
- Death Resistance: Extremely difficult to kill permanently; requires destruction of both daemon and body
- Plane Sensitivity: Can sense dimensional disturbances, other supernatural entities, and Tegic magic
- Memory Access: Living hosts may access fragments of the daemon's otherworldly knowledge
- Enhanced Physicality: Increased strength, endurance, and reflexes beyond human norms
Vulnerabilities & Limitations
- Binding Dependency: Destruction of host body banishes Karite back to its native plane
- Iron Weakness: Pure iron causes pain and disrupts regeneration abilities
- Sacred Warding: Abjuration magic and blessed items can force temporary separation from host
- Daylight Sensitivity: Not harmful, but daylight makes possession more difficult in living hosts
- Identity Crisis: Living hosts struggle with questions of self and agency
Social Integration Challenges
Living Hosts
- Memory Gaps: Unexplained absences during sleep periods create social difficulties
- Behavioral Inconsistencies: Friends and family notice personality changes over time
- Professional Complications: Jobs requiring night work or irregular schedules become problematic
- Relationship Strain: Intimate relationships suffer from the host's mysterious nocturnal activities
Corpse Hosts
- Uncanny Valley: People sense something "wrong" even if they can't identify it
- Legal Issues: Officially dead individuals have no legal standing in any faction
- Social Isolation: Lack of genuine emotional connections makes long-term relationships impossible
- Identity Theft: May accidentally impersonate the deceased, causing distress to surviving relatives
Faction Integration
Krasnovian Response
- Official Policy: Karites classified as "Supernatural Security Threats" under ZRE regulations
- Practical Reality: Some Ministries secretly employ Karites for dangerous assignments
- Detection Methods: ZRE systems can identify supernatural entities through behavioral analysis
- Punishment: Discovery typically results in "deportation via airlock"
Circle Trigonist Approach
- Corporate Exploitation: Some Companies employ Karites for high-risk entertainment or security roles
- Legal Complexity: Court systems struggle with questions of personhood and liability
- Underground Economy: Black market trade in Karite "services" exists in some stations
- Insurance Nightmares: Regeneration abilities complicate standard injury and death benefits
OPFOR Integration
- Protoculture Challenge: Karites strain the conflict-resolution system due to their dual nature
- Research Interest: Lethian Flying University studies them as dimensional phenomena
- Humanitarian Concerns: Debate over whether possessed individuals retain their rights
- Therapeutic Approach: Some settlements attempt counseling and integration programs
Character Development Hooks
Identity & Agency Questions
- Am I still myself, or am I becoming something else?
- Do my nighttime actions reflect my true nature or the daemon's influence?
- How much of my personality is original versus supernatural influence?
Moral Dilemmas
- Is it ethical to use my regeneration abilities when others suffer permanent injuries?
- Should I reveal my nature to loved ones, knowing it will change everything?
- Do I have the right to relationships when I'm not fully in control of myself?
Practical Challenges
- How do I explain my mysterious nocturnal absences?
- What happens when someone discovers my true nature?
- How do I maintain professional responsibilities with my supernatural limitations?
Long-term Consequences
- Will the daemon eventually take permanent control?
- Can I find a way to separate from my supernatural passenger?
- What happens to my relationships as I become less human over time?
Roleplay Guidelines
Living Host Characteristics
- Daytime Behavior: Generally normal but with increasing supernatural awareness
- Sleep Anxiety: May develop insomnia or sleep-related phobias
- Memory Confusion: Occasional confusion about actions taken during sleep
- Gradual Change: Subtle personality shifts over months and years
- Supernatural Instincts: Growing awareness of otherworldly threats and opportunities
Corpse Host Characteristics
- Emotional Flatness: Lacks genuine emotional responses to most situations
- Mechanical Precision: Actions are efficient but lack human spontaneity
- Knowledge Gaps: May know facts but lack emotional context for information
- Supernatural Focus: Primarily concerned with maintaining material anchor and daemon goals
- Mimicry Attempts: Tries to act human but often gets details wrong
Story Integration
Karites represent the lasting consequences of The Great War's desperate magical experiments. They embody themes of identity, agency, and the price of supernatural power. Whether as player characters or NPCs, they create opportunities for horror, mystery, and philosophical exploration within the setting's bureaucratic absurdity and space-age challenges.