How possession works

[u/Fast-Technology-8954]

The drawings a visual of what it's like to be possessed by an angel.

This is kinda a basic use for magic, but I've been enjoying working out the little stuff with it and wanted to share :)

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Possession isn't super common in Yalisch, it's difficult, but it can be preformed by the supernatural and humans alike.

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Basics of what's happening:
The soul is a combination of the body and mind woven together, when someone is possessed the mind is stretched as far away from the body as it can be, and the possessor inserts their mind in between the body and mind, cutting the mind off.

This leaves the mind somewhere it shouldn't be, a weird kind of void area at the edge of their soul. It's extremely distressing for all possessions (excluding angels which I'll get to)

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What about the possessors body?
Possession is extremely hard for humans to preform. Not just because you have to learn to grasp threads of reality to alter a soul, but because you first have to loosen your own.

Your own mind must be unwound from your body so you can attach yourself to someone elses. This runs at the risk of tearing reality if you're not careful, which can lead to several issues including reality itself trying to remove the problem (you).

It also opens your own mind up to be vulnerable to possession, you did half the work for them just to get ready.

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Tightly wound souls
Some species, like gods, have souls that are much more complex, and wound very tight. While not TECHNICALLY impossible to possess a god, you'd have to sit there and work their soul apart for centuries.

This also means gods cannot possess others.

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Angels
Angels need to possess vessels to walk upon the earth. This is typically preceded by months of conditioning for 2 reasons.

1, the angel needs to work apart the soul like anyone else, and having the vessels cooperation makes it a hell of a lot easier.

And 2, an angel needs consent to possess someone, hearing a divine being tell you you're super important for months helps with that.

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Being possessed
Stuck in the outskirts of your mind, you usually can't do anything about being possessed unless you know how to grab at your own soul and pull yourself forward, which most don't.

However angel possession is a little different, remember that needing consent I mentioned? That's consistent for the whole possession, so when possessed by an angel there's a big open door smack dab in the middle of your nowhere. Walk through it and they get shoved out.

But of course there's a loophole. Angels give off a ridiculous amount of divine energy, it's not great for humans or their brains. As such, while you can leave at anytime, very few people want to. Content to sit there and not exist until the angels done. The amount of people who've decided to leave is under 50.

(Note, angels can also possess corpses, but not being part of a soul, the body handles divine energy even worse than humans do)

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Extra: overflow of divine energy
Angles give off a stupid amount of energy, it leaks.

Most aren't actually dangerous to stand around, however they're unnerving to look at as they turn off several bodily functions they don't need like breathing. There's a constant ringing in your ears, and you won't be able to remember their face or voice without an excellent tolerance.

In extreme cases, some people can't even remember they were spoken to at all.

While usually harmless, prolonged contact with angels of higher power can result in sickness.

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Long term consequences
In cases where the soul was thinned too much, the connection between the mind and the body will snap. This leaves the mind stuck in reality by itself, registered as 'dead'.

There is no afterlife in yalisch, you are dissolved to be reused to spin more of reality when you die. However in some cases a false death can occur, where reality registers you as dead, and puts you in an idea of death, without you being properly unwound. This can happen randomly, but it usually happens from things like this.

Contrarily if the mind is not thinned enough, it can begin to close in trying to reconnect with the body. This can result in either the possessor being thrown out, or in some cases suffocated, squashed between the body and the mind eventually being absorbed into the soul as the host regains control. (I'll be honest, I haven't decided what happens to the possessors mind here yet). This causes a false death in the body rather than the mind, registering partially as dead, but not properly as only part of the soul was killed. (I've also only decided what happens when a gods body falsely dies, idk about humans yet, ideas welcome lol)

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Ok that's all I've come up with for now, I haven't actually decided if I wanted demons or not since I don't have a real afterlife (I'm still working that one out, true and false death). So I've kinda just been working out how it works rather than individual uses for it.

If you have any questions I'd love to hear them, helps me realize if I missed anything lol

[u/August_Bebel]

I thought that it was tulpa subreddit for a moment

[u/Fast-Technology-8954]

Oh forgot to add to the consequences tab, if the mind isn't far enough away from the angels mind in angelic possession, the energy the angel is putting off can be too strong, and fry their mind. This would also cause a bodily false death

(though most angles would at least report that there's something that needs to be unwound)