Uncanny Minion

An uncanny minion is a communal brain symbiont, a colony of small multi-planar creatures that dwell inside an entity as part of a mutually beneficial relationship. Little is known about them, as their hosts are usually not cooperative with intrusive or invasive investigations. Reports indicate:

• The uncanny minions share many of the aspects of their host, including their WP and MA. They can also imitate the college and magical abilities of their hosts, once they have seen them used.
• The minion does not count as a separate entity for the purposes of targeting of (most) spells. Any damage will (also) affect the host entity. It is unknown whether killing the host entity can kill the minion, but they are known to have survived the death of at least some of their previous hosts.
• Mind Speech, ESP, and Telepathy will pick up the minions as an echo, shadow, or second copy of their host entity. However targeting either copy will count as targeting both the host and the minion. Thus, single-target spells or effects will fail, and multi-target effects like Mind Speech will use two targets per host/minion symbiosis.
• The uncanny minions seem to be cunning rather than smart. They may use the mental structures and mindset of their hosts, but at least initially, do not appear to use the existing structures as well as their hosts. That is, they are a little stupider than their hosts, but cunning. They also seem to reflect the personality of their hosts.
• The uncanny minion will have exactly the same language skills as their hosts. In addition, they are in Mind Speech contact with other nearby Minions.
• The minions have infiltrated Spiders (giants and normal), Moths, Elms, Humans, and Satyrs, amongst other forms. They take the shape of the creatures they infiltrate, although it appears to take some time for them to lose all the characteristics of a previous shape.
• The uncanny minions work for The Lieutenant of the Nothing, as spies and infiltrators, merging with various enemies and allies for generations. They claim to provide information for her, but perhaps she just wants them out of her hair.

Abilities

The Host of an Uncanny Minion gains the following abilities:

• Permanent Mind Speech with their uncanny symbiont.
• Talent of Seeing The-Thing-In-Itself. This allows the Host to see extra aspects of reality, such as evil, power, truth, justice, inherent weaknesses, and interesting snippets. All these aspects are from the minion's perspective, and need not relate to standard human scales. e.g., a demon need not show as evil, but someone who the minion is afraid of might.
• Talent of Sense Danger to Symbiont. This allows the Host to be aware of the exact location of any significant threats to the symbionts within 15 feet/Rank.
• Talent of Empathic Digestion. The Host gains additional benefit from consuming meat which is still living, gaining one Fatigue for every two Endurance or Fatigue consumed, as well as being able to sense the emotions and physical sensations of the meal as per G-3 of Mind. As a side effect they slowly lose the ability to digest vegetative matter.
• Talent of Spiritual Digestion. The Host can recover lost Willpower, Magical Aptitude, and knowledge by feasting on the still-living flesh of a manavore or creature of Mana. They recover 1 WP or MA for each 4 WP/MA that they rend from the creature by ripping off chunks of the creature with their teeth, or drinking its vital fluids. Consuming whatever is analogous to vital or sensory organs is the most effective way to damage the creature and thus heal themselves.
• Talent of Extracting Mana. The Host can cast magic by drawing Fatigue directly from a creature of mana that they are touching with a hand, rather than from the surrounding environment. The target loses a Willpower for each point of Fatigue that the Host would have otherwise used in casting the magic. Mere contact, in the form of an unarmed strike check, is insufficient; the Host's hand must remain in contact for the full prepare-and-cast period.
  • Most Demons and Angels are creatures of mana; their avatars, not so much. Phantasms, Spectral Warriors, and Nightmares are also 'creatures' of mana. Many of the insubstantial Greater Undead are partially constructs of mana. GM call in each case.
• more to come

Uncanny Minions caused Much Ado About Nothing.