Will o' Wisps

in: Races

## Introduction

A byproduct of the Hive Mind are the parasites that feed off the strangeness of mortal feeling while logic reigns supreme. Amongst the True Fey, these tricksters and violent illusions are said to have even driven the Mad King to the Madness he is famous for. Beware the lair of the Wisps for nothing will help the mind once they have finished their feeding.

## The Basics

* **Other Names:** Wisp, Wispies, Spirits, Parasites
* **Appearance:** Will of the Wisps have a variety of appearances, something always slightly off about their appearance that marks them as a spirit and tend to be dependent on what emotion they feed upon.
* **Lifespan:** Indefinite (as long as they are not starved or killed)
* **Height:** 170 cm - 190 cm
* **Regions Found:** Wisps are often found in hidden places within well-populated areas.
* **Culture:** Wisps rarely work together, being creatures of greedy appetite. They often link themselves to one of the True Fey, feeding off the trail left in their wake and have been known to work with Demons.
* **Common Character Roles:** Matchmakers, Advisors, Healers, Torturers, Performers
* **Common Allies:** True Fey, Demons
* **Common Enemies:** Returned, Changelings, Vampires, Faeries, Nienne, and other Will o’ Wisps
* **Architecture:** Large cities that attract crowds of people.
* **Religion:** None
* **Views on Magic:** Will o’ the Wisps embrace magic as a whole given their creation.
* **Abilities:** Appeased Eye, Emotional Turbulence, Feed the Mind, Induce Madness, Winged Flight
* **Weaknesses:** Fire, Iron, Emotionally Needy, Dip in the Dead, Sphere Confinement
* **Quirks:** Physically colored by the emotion they feed on, persistent, gregarious, greedy, violent, obsessive, vain, etc.

## Appearance

In the OtherLands, Will o’ Wisps are nothing more than colored phantoms of light that give many True Fey an ethereal glow. Upon entering the more corporeal realms outside of their native lands, their ethereal glow is woven into the humanoid form and deeply embedded into their eyes, giving a permanent glow. They also have strange lobed ears that hold within them the parasitic tongue of the mind. One can protrude and stretch from each ear to sink into a victim that is close enough, like a thin delicate tentacle that has the texture of a tongue with a harder cartilage center to it. Alternatively, Wispies have adapted antennae to absorb what they can feel from others in the environment. Their spiritual float causes a set of ethereal wings forged of hardened stone and light. Skin tones and hair colors are often reflected in preferred emotion.

There are certain emotions that these parasites seek to feed on and it does affect their appearance, though they only choose one of the following five:

* Those who demand wrath, anger, self-righteousness often come out in shades of red and orange with much of their person.
* Those feeding off of desire, love, and vanity find themselves in shades of pink and purples.
* Blacks and grays tend to be very characteristic of those who seek out fear, insanity, and jealousy.
* Those Wisps who delve deep into the pools of sorrow, loneliness, and grief find themselves in the deeper shades of blue and white.
* And the few Wisps that feed off happiness, joy, and excitement often favor yellows and greens.

The Appeased Eye form often gives the Will O’ Wisps the ability to disguise themselves as if they might be some sort of elemental or strang colored human, hiding all aspects except those glowing eyes.

**\*\*Must use glowing eyes as a tell in the Appeased Eye Form. Must use ears, antennae, and wings in the usual form. Tongue tentacle depiction optional as appropriate\*\***

## **History & Culture**

When the True Fey began their experiments on the creatures that had slipped into the Otherlands with them, they were not alone. As the True Fey began subjecting the creatures around them to the horrors of their hatred, desire, grief, happiness, fear… and with those thoughts can the apparitions known as Will o’ Wisps. These creatures were a by-product of the power created through the emotion and connection between True Fey and their prey. Their first appearance would be as ethereal lights that would float about the True Fey, cleaning the excess power and emotion that slip from the endeavors while the True Fey experiment. The illuminated spirits seemed to be symbiotes, growing larger with the feeding and seeking to take what they could in the strange symbiotic relationship between the two.

At first, only five of the Wisps emerged: Sorrow, Wrath, Happiness, Desire, and Fear.

Each would cultivate their own further parasites, finding only these basic variations. Every emotion could be consumed by one of the five and therefore, no other variation would come about. **Sorrow** would consume a great deal of sadness, grief, and loneliness. **Fear** would partake in the delights of what was left from a scare, madness, and uncertainty. **Desire** sank into love, lust, and vanity, finding themselves often plenty around particular narcissists. **Wrath** indulged in every anger, revenge, and self-righteous proclamation (having done particularly well during the uprising in its gluttonous intent). That which fed on joy, excitement, and the hope of others was **Happiness**, finding much needed nutrition amongst mankind.

Other creatures of the OtherLands seemed to pay them little notice until they began to grow larger and greedier. Occasionally the crowding about a True Fey or its stewing creation would become too much and one of the Wisps would wander off, the bright colorful illumination used to lure other creatures to it before feeding from said creature. Sometimes the feeding was subtle or calming… even helpful in the emotion that it ignited. Once the appetite grew and the host became too little to sustain the Wisp, they would find themselves consumed and driven insane.

As the Will o’ Wisps began to move to easier smaller targets for a more satisfying meal, the True Fey began to feel the effects of the by-product of their experiments. First and foremost, the King of the True Fey. Given their greed and great appetite, the Wisps had clung closer to the one so busy. Fixated on his quest to escape the Veiled prison, he would forget to cast them aside, having always discounted the power that Wisps had over one in emotional turmoil. Pride and folly would lead to more of that emotion being taken by those that feasted upon his desire, and happiness. With these emotions siphoned away, that left a very strong sense of fear, sorrow, and rage with the King. The imbalance of his emotion led to a maddening desperation with his horrors and the chaos he might inflict upon the world once more if only freed from the veiled prison.

The True Fey of his court would notice this shift in their king, but it was far too late. The King had been driven mad and had gone missing. The Queen would cast out the lesser Wisps as punishment for their greedy and overzealous appetite against one of her court through a small tear in the veil, hardly large enough for the ethereal creatures. Cast out of the Otherlands, the spirits could not draw in the emotional ethereal magic of the spirit in the incorporeal form from outside their prison. They would slowly begin to starve and taper out of existence.

Some of the Wisps had felt familiar power on the other side of the Veil and while their kin would perish, they would return and whisper against the  Veil of their finding. Word would be relayed to the Queen who could not pass, nor could the Spirits bring him to return. A bargain would be struck between Wisps and the Queen: a corporeal form so they might feed in exchange for the care of the Mad King. The Queen would use her own emotion to fuel this transformation between the Otherlands and Ashborn, allowing the Wisps to take on the form needed between both realms.

The corporeal form offered two ways to feed: one to soak up residual emotion and one to draw it directly from the mind and heart. The weightless beings were granted wings to assist them in moving through the planes. In their corporeal form, Will o’ Wisps were able to find other means of reproduction. While normally enemies, the parasites will often mate if found to have one female and one male in corporeal form before parting. Birth is only successful with a return to the Otherlands, as all babies that come forth (usually three or four during one termed gestation) emerge from their mother as one of the ethereal spirits that must grow before living within a corporeal form.

During the Second Great War between the Fey and others, the Will O’ Wisps were persecuted and slain… many wings ripped from their bodies and used in power against the True Fey. Often they were stripped of their organs to feed and left to starve in slow agonizing madness, as revenge for the madness they induced in others. A merciful death was that of being run through with iron because while painful, at least it was swift. With the closing of the Veil, the Wisps were drawn back to feed on the creatures behind it, making enemies of many behind the Veil. It is here that they began to learn how to hide parts of their appearance, being at the forefront of attempting to tear down the Veil as they fed from the power that pulled along it. The parasitic spirits ached to escape their prison and to be amongst the variety of emotion in the easily manipulated mortals once again...

## Society

As the veil falls and Will o’ Wisps find themselves once more able to slip into society, they have discovered a particularly useful race to mimic: elementals. Many societies are accepting of the strange creatures and the Wispies mimic much of their traits in the appeased form. Those who take certain spheres of magic find this a particularly favorable match. The only particular problem is with those who can discern their true nature or slavers that mistake them for an elemental.

Most of the Wisps are able to soak up information quickly and have had years to study those they have seen beyond the veil. They are able to find themselves slipping into professions that appease their appetite rather quickly. Each emotion finds themselves seeking out certain areas in which it is easy to feed and maintain appearance. Power is always preferred for the greedy appetites and so the easier it is to eat, the better.

Those of anger often seek out a great deal of political arenas or rougher professions such as dive bars or prisons. The rage there is delicious and the self-righteousness of politicians is just as equally satisfying. Those of desire often seek out brothels or matchmaking services, finding both to supply just what is needed. Some of the more nefarious appetites even seek out the midwife profession, knowing that no level of love is better than that of a mother and child. While their drive to feed is entirely selfish, Will o’ Wisps in the area is not necessarily a terrible thing. Those who feed off joy and happiness often do all they can to create a positive environment, finding that becoming a professor or a performer of great comedy can create a fulfilling dining experience, though in their desperation to feed… those Wisps who were heralded for their ability to incite emotion are often the most feared.

The parasites that feed on fear often find themselves in more violent professions, relishing in their ability to incite nightmares or create obsessive envy between others. Where there is a torture dungeon, there is a Wisp lingering. After a Will o’ Wisp of fear has finished and the executioner has taken the life, those of sorrow may find themselves as undertakers or professional mourners, soaking in the grief at the end of life.

## Architecture

Will o’ Wisps are often the benefactors for building large villages and cities. They seek to find or create lively places that draw in the masses. Large city centers are where Wisps can be found more often than not.

They rarely stick to the natural preferences of most True Fey, finding it is not conducive to their survival. Stone structures that contain some form of entertainment or a bar or inn are popular. Arenas are a heavy preference for many Will o’ Wisps, though in recent years they have discovered carnival. The set up of most Carnival troupes is exactly what the parasites enjoy.

Their builds are often loud and vibrant, tiny hints of what they are tucked into little parts of their overpopulated homes. It is incredibly rare that a Wisp will live alone and therefore live in something small.

## Racial Relations

True to the case with most who need others to survive, the Will o’ Wisps do not have many allies and a great deal of enemies. Those who they ally with tend to be heavily powerful and grant a great deal of gifts to protect the symbiotic relationship and keep it continuing. They are often disguised as their true form would horrify most creatures of Ashborn, but some in particular hold a certain disdain for the race or vice-versa.

True Fey are the primary allies of the Wispies. They are their creators and protectors, needing the excess power and emotion generated in the creation of many things to be taken from them, lest they drown in the after-effects of their own hive mind and power. Those who support the Mad King are particularly aware of just how terribly this can devolve for the True Fey, though it is a secret amongst the five original and a handful of True Fey. Neither race can truly succeed and maintain their power without the other, though it is very apparent that Wisps are the weaker of the two overall.

While trapped behind the Veil, the Wisps still had the need to feed and had grown rather populous. As more emerged, they were forced to feed upon the Fey-Touched, and the Nienne. As such, all of these creatures hold the Wispies in contempt as a natural enemy that had been trapped with them. Now outside the Veil and direct protection of the True Fey, it is often that the other fey creatures will hunt down the Will o’ Wisps.

With the emergence of Demons, the parasites have found a second ally. A seemingly unlikely pairing, the Will o’ Wisps are very good at bringing out the emotions of the soul and want nothing to do with the actual soul itself. Those in strong emotional states often do not think as clearly as they should and are more susceptible to bargaining for the product to appease their emotional state. In this manner, Will o’Wisps can feed while a demon deals for the soul. Different types of feeders work better with different types of demons. While Wisps are ethereal spiritual figures in their natural state, they do not have an actual soul and therefore, not a target of demons.

Other Will o’ Wisps focus primarily on feeding on an emotion that would not suit another and given their voracious appetites, they are not much for sharing. Apart from a brief encounter to reproduce, Will o’ Wisps more often than not, avoid one another. They may even go so far as to murder another that feeds in their area with how gluttonous they are. There have been rumors of a few Wisps occasionally working together, though this is typically limited to that of sorrow, fear, and anger OR happiness and desire. There are rarely more than two together (and never of the same color), apart from around the True Fey. Wisps that attempt to feed one another will find the spirit form to mimic the effects of the dead and sicken themselves.

The dead in the world, that being Vampires and the Returned cannot feed the appetite of Wisps. Once a creature has passed or gained the vampiric affliction, it is no longer useful to a Wisp. Most of the parasites will seek to be rid of any of the banal creatures, finding them often seeking to change or kill the living. Given that Will o’ Wisp needs the living to survive, they naturally hold a certain malice and cold intent for the dead. This same cold feeling is focused on Changelings. Due to the lack of emotion, Wisps are unable to feed on the shapeshifters. They find it particularly displeasing when they come across a Changeling in disguise and are duped into wasting their time and power.

## Perception of Magic

Magic is what has brought about the Wisps and has always been held in high esteem. All Wisps practice magic in some form, as their entire makeup is that of ethereal magic. Emotional feeding requires the use of magic to absorb the feeling around them into something substantial. The stretched and slender appendages that stretch from the limbic cortex of the brain seek to sway certain parts of the mood to soak in and divert such toward magical means of strength or weakening a victim.

A few forms of magic are abhorrent to the Wisps as they have found their corporeal form rendered weak to them and that is that of geomancy and pyromancy. Both cause severe burns for these fey creatures as a significant source of power they cannot touch. Few fey creatures can deal with fire overall and geomancy has a particular problem with possibly iron minerals in the earth pulled up.

The dark sphere is simply not used by the Wisps as it contains forms of necromancy and death that do not benefit the Will o’ Wisps, nor does anything within the holy sphere do so. Wisps are not religious by any means, finding such faith to be useful only in their victims when inciting certain reactions, but not amongst themselves. Given that they are ethereal spirits in their natural form, they also have no need of dark or light either. While enjoying the uses that the Coven of the Other can provide as a gathered feeding source for the Will O’ Wisps, they cannot be Marked and therefore, cannot gain access to the Marked sphere because they are fey creatures.

The preferred type of magic used is often mental magic, as it makes manipulation easier for the emotional state of others, as exemplified by their racial traits. Most fall under this sphere, though some find themselves instead with the power to harness wind, water, or nature magic as a by-product of the creation from the True Fey and their intention to safeguard the natural world they had created. Some of the particularly darker Wisps that dabble in fear or sorrow have found blood magic to be incredibly effective at eliciting their preferred emotion and have evolved in the use of the sphere as they slip from the Mad King.

As for other magical creatures, Will o’ Wisps do not seem particularly concerned about the magical aspect of them except for those few races they hold in contempt and those who have the power to reveal what they truly are by magical means, especially that of Witch Hunters. Revealing a Wisp creates a target on that creature, not only by Hunters but particularly for the other fey that seek to hunt them down and punish them for the treatment behind the Veil.

## Racial Abilities & Weaknesses

> **RPR Racial Bonuses:** Coming soon.
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### Weaknesses

> **Weakness to Fire**
> All Will o’ Wisps have aversion to fire, thus giving them a low natural resistance and fear of fire magic. Due to this, they are unable to take the Pyromancy sphere of magic.
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> > **RPR Effects:** -10 Resist Fire, -10 Pyro Resistance
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> **Weakness to Iron**
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> Iron burns to the touch for Will o’ Wisps. Often they wear gloves to protect themselves from such a tell, but if touched with iron, they immediately recoil from the pain and, if left along their skin for a period of time, burn marks are left as scars. Due to this, they are unable to wield Geomancy.
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> **Sphere Confinement**
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> Will o’ Wisps are limited to the following spheres of magic: Blood Magic, Mental Magic, Hydromancy, Nature Magic, and Wind Magic.
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> **Emotionally Needy**
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> Wisps are parasites that have fed off the True Fey and outside of the Otherlands, require feeding on a regular basis. If a Will o’ Wisp has not fed in a few days, they will require stronger emotion to satisfy their cravings and slowly be unable to keep up the Appeased Eye form to blend in around them. They themselves will be obsessive with finding their particular emotion to feed, possibly even inducing it in themselves and driving themselves mad in the process before succumbing to death. Each Wisp type (Fear, Sorrow, Desire, Happiness, Wrath) can only feed from the single emotional set they are associated with.
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> **Dip in the Dead**
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> Will o’ Wisps cannot feed off the dead given that they are parasitic spirits themselves. To feed upon the dead causes regurgitation and weakness for a period of time until having been properly fed. The Wisp is unable to defend itself until it feeds on a living creature, finding itself slower and weaker for the duration. Due to this, they are also unable to utilize Dark Magic. The considered dead: other Will o’ Wisps, The Returned, vampires
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> > **RPR Effects:** -4 to all attributes for 72 hours
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### **Abilities**

> **Winged Flight**
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> The ethereal set of wings often hidden by the Wispies enable them to fly, whether the wings are hidden or not. If their wings are removed, they lose this ability. *Gain Aspect:Fight in-game.*
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> **Appeased Eye**
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> Will o' Wisps have the ability to hide some of their characteristics to make them appear more human-like. They are always able to hide their tell-tale tripled wings, their ears, as well as their marked scarring and antenna via the illusive appeased eye traits granted by the True Fey. The slimy tongue-like tentacles cannot be hidden but easily retract back within the ears to remain hidden from sight until needed to feed. They cannot hide the color associated with the emotion they consume.
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> **Emotional Turbulence**
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> Sometimes, creatures are overly placid in their emotional field. Will O’ Wisps have the ability to call upon the most recent emotional outburst the individual had to pull those feelings forward suddenly to cause a display and a strong emotional response. (Which emotional outburst that might be and how they react to such will depend on the target of this ability). This creates a small intense outburst that can boost a Wisp’s mana.
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> **RPR Effects:** +6 to mana pool for 4 hours
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> **Feed the Mind**
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> During a particularly intense emotional moment, Will O’ Wisps can drain emotion from their victims - sending them into a feeling of numbness or into an opposing emotion suddenly, dependent on which emotional outburst is borrowed from. Those in a rage may find themselves suddenly calm, while those who were in a state of joy… may find their thoughts turned to sorrow.  The extraction of these emotions is often taken from the tentacles that slip from their ears and within that of their victims for a more immediate and instant meal. Lingering in the area, their antenna can soak up what lingers near for a more covert feeding. This will restore a Wisp to its normal state of being and clearing all effective status, as well restoring their health. This feeding is necessary for Will o’ Wisps to maintain their ‘Appeased Eye’ form and to survive outside the reach of the True Fey. The effects of this ability on the victim are temporary.
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> **RPR Effects:** Restores a Will' o Wisp to full health. Also clears any Status Effects and Injury Timers.
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> **Induce Madness (Racial Ritual)**
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> When draining the emotion of others, Wisps can take more than they need to boost themselves at the cost of the victim’s mind. With the use of ritual assistance, the Wisp must draw forth the emotion they focus on and consume it entirely, causing broken fragmented memory in the victim and an inability to return to the emotional state. The victim can be willing or unwilling, all gems must be placed over the victim’s chest. *OOC consent will be required for this.*
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> * **Ingredients:** Targeted Victim
> * **Gem Requirements:** 1 Chunk of Diamon, 1 Chunk of Onyx, 1 Chunk of Ruby
> * **Effects:** The targeted individual has their emotions drawn from them and their memories fragmented for a time and unable to feel the emotion feasted from them. For a Will o' Wisp, they gain +6 to all RPR attributes for 72 hours.
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## Attachment & Kit Items

The items listed in the kits below are made with the Season 6 modlist. They have been updated as of **14th December 2023**.

*Expand for Will o' Wisp Racial Kit*

## Lore Contribution

> **Credit for Lore Contribution:** Solacious
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