[Magic]Arcane Puppetry

[Xerxes_XIII 2 200]

This is some lore I wrote a long time ago, and whilst I received a lot of positive feedback, it was never formally accepted or denied. Figured I'd post it once again. Note that it is in it's original form, and I've not edited a single word. Depending on how this version is received I may revise it in the future.

 

Disclaimer: Check the First 2 comments before comparing it to Soul Puppetry. They are nothing alike!

 

I give permission to anyone who wants to rework this lore to do so, as long as I'm credited for the original concept. This lore will not be revised by me any time soon.

 

 

The fabled puppeteer is comparable to a golemancer, necromancer, conjurer, or any other minion-related magic user.

 

However, to me a puppet master has always seemed the most foreboding, the most delicate and the most fascinating. And rightly so, as really what could hope to be more effective at instilling an emotion within you, than a puppet? They are sewn and carved to act, to amuse, their forms designed and twisted with the sole purpose of creating a reaction. Creatures of manipulation.

 

~Functions of Arcane Puppetry~

Arcane Puppetry seems rather similar to necromancy, conjuration, or golemancy. Although it functions as a combination of telekinesis and alteration. Allow me to break it down.

In order to begin, you first need a puppet. This puppet must be made of wood, and wood only (aside from joints and such), and its size must depend upon your level of skill. Lets look at this from the POV of a tier 5 Arcane Puppeteer Specializing in Combat. I think a demonstration will be the simplest way to explain.

 

-The Arcane Puppeteer slings his puppet from his back, his lips curling into a smile as the ebony-crafted doll flops to the ground. The man takes a deep breath as his fingers splay, threads of a shimmering, semi-translucent element or energy snapping into existence between his fingertips and the Puppet’s many joints.

His fingers move in expertly precise, quick motions. The puppet jolts to its feet, standing 5 feet tall, as it seems to slouch slightly. The puppet raises a hand, the stump of wood at the end of its arm shifting and contorting to take the form of a hand, new threads stringing from the nearest original connection to attach to each of its fingers. Its hands flex, each finger moving individually, before it makes two fists.

The Puppeteer gives a quiet huff, making a wide and fluid motion with his arms and fingers as the Puppet twists around to face him… and bows, its carved eyes shifting to be more expressive, glowing faintly.

“Good, you’ll do.” mutters the Puppeteer, smiling at his creation. With little warning he flicks his hands, fingers moving in a blur as the Puppet suddenly takes off, charging towards the ruins of a nearby church at an alarming speed. As it runs, its hand morphs, taking on a more resistant structure as the steel from its elbow joint dribbles down, coating its fist and coming to a point.

Its hand collides with the wall in a loud crash, obliterating the stone with ease. The wall crumbles, toppling atop the puppet and burying it.

Its Master smiles, giving another flick of his fingers as the puppet stands, bricks falling all around its scraped and battered form. It stomps out of the stone, the imperfections in its form sealing over, cracks and scraped gone in moments. The Puppeteer pants softly, letting his hands fall as the strings fade and the puppet collapses at his feet, all modifications previously made (Its hands, etc.) returning to their regular state.-

 

Now, a Manipulative Puppeteer at tier 5.

 

-The Puppeteer gives a soft smile, his 5’9” puppet laying on the ground before him. He splays his fingers as strings of shimmering mana snap into existence between him and his puppet. The Puppet stands, swaying slightly as he balances its plain birch wood form.

The Puppeteer makes minute, almost unnoticeable motions with his hands and fingers as the creature seems to breath, moving very faintly from side to side. Its posture shifts to mimic that of a normal human’s, and slowly its blank wooden form shifts and contorts, detailed facial features morphing into existence on its face, and the wood on its surface shifting in color and texture to mimic skin.

After a few moments, a flawless representation of a human man stands before the puppeteer, who tilts his head as hair grows from its head. Once complete, the puppet walks to a nearby chest and opens it with its newly formed hands, dressings itself in a plain black, concealing garb.

The Puppeteer seats himself on his floor, closing his eyes and letting his consciousness shift, hands twitching and moving faintly.

“Perfect.” comes a voice from the puppet, its mouth moving flawlessly in time with this. It turns, and walks out of the home.-

 

What the puppeteer has done here is established a connection between himself and the Puppet, which is powered singularly by his mana. No soul, nothing but pure mana. The threads are the visualization of that connection. As you can see, at tier 5 the puppet is very powerful and very capable, however do note that in that scenario a small puppet was being used, meaning that modifications to its form are easier, it may move faster, and regenerate faster, but cannot hit quite as hard as a larger one.

 

~Specializations~

Puppetry is unique in that there are two forms of it within the same magic. The first, and the one demonstrated in the example above, is combat puppetry.

The second however, and the one that I would personally use, is manipulative puppetry.

Allow me to explain both.

Combat Puppetry: This specialization focuses on strength, speed, and power. Manipulations done to the puppet through this are crude and effective. They move fast, hit hard, and take unreasonable amounts of punishment. However, that’s mostly all they can do. This is the path of those who seek power and control, and is therefor not the true path of a Puppeteer.

Manipulative Puppetry: This specialization is much more geared towards utility. The puppets that these Puppeteers control are not very useful for fighting, they aren’t fast nor strong. However, a unique ability given to those who choose to specialize in this type of puppetry is that they may hear, see, and smell what their creation does. They are also able to make much much more detailed edits to their puppets, able to make them look almost entirely human- aside from the fact that they’re made of wood (concealing clothes are a necessity). Lastly, manipulative puppeteers do not need to see their puppet to control it. This is the true path of the Puppeteer.

 

~Tiers~

1 The Hobbiest: At tier one, after establishing a basic connection to the void, an Arcane Puppeteer may create a link with a puppet no more than half a pound in weight, and establishing this link may take upwards of half an hour. The puppeteer will be able to manipulate this puppet to walk, turn, and sit, but no more complicated actions may be done. The puppet must also stay within 3 feet of the caster. Nearing the end of this tier, they may be able to make their puppet run, or bow. No manipulation of its form is even remotely possible. They are also limited to human-shaped puppets.

 

2 The Dedicated Learner: The puppeteer is now capable of manipulating slightly larger puppets, to a greater extent. They may utilize puppets that weight up to 6kg pounds. They are not able to do very minor manipulation of the puppet’s form such as changing of its facial expression. No creation of limbs or even the changing of a limb is possible. They are now slightly more adept at connecting to their doll, it taking only 10 minutes now, and they are able to easily make their puppet run, walk, or punch. No complex actions such as dancing, kicking, fast turning, or any real fighting is feasible. They may now begin to specialize in their chosen path.

 

3 The Specialist Type A, Combat: A puppeteer who has newly chosen the path of combat is now able to manipulate any puppet under 35 kg. They have gained enough skill to manipulate their puppet’s form in combat, able to make crude changes quickly in a combat situation. No detailed work can be done under pressure, however. They are also now able to manipulate their puppet within a range of 35 feet. They experience a breakthrough at the end of tier 2, allowing them to make their puppet move faster, and hit harder. May now control 2 puppets.

3 the Specialist Type B, Manipulation: A puppeteer who has chosen the art of Manipulation as their specialty, will experience a slight breakthrough at the end of tier 2, where in they gain the ability to see, hear, and speak via their puppet. Note that all of these are muted, their voice sounding hollow and fake when coming from their creation, their hearing being about ½ the normal, and their sight being slightly worse than average, and in black and white. They may manipulate any puppet under 25 kg, but have found a particular aptitude with human puppets, gaining better control over their actions to make them seem almost human. Detailed manipulation of their puppets comes much easier than it does to a combat specialist, and they can make these changes quickly and somewhat easily. They no longer have to see their puppet to control it.

 

4 The Offensive Puppeteer: Now able to make detailed changes to their creation under pressure, the Offensive Puppeteer has gained enough mastery for their puppet to be quite able in a battle, it is reasonable for them to be able to take on 2 fully armored knights, or 5 lightly armored bandits. they may now manipulate a puppet that is up to 70kg. in weight. Their puppet merely needs to be in sight for it to be manipulated. The Puppeteer themselves is now able to take a small amount of punishment without losing concentration. May now control 3 puppets.

4 The Manipulative Puppeteer: Their control of the Puppet has risen to a point where they are able to simulate breathing, and other unconscious human motions. Their sight is now in color, hearing is the same as normal, and voices sound more human. Not perfect however. Expressions can now be manipulated. Their puppet must weigh only up to 60kg.

 

5 Puppet Warfare Master: May use any puppet up to 250kg in weight, and is able now to manipulate the non-wooden parts of their creation, using metal in joints to create temporary armor, etc. Their Puppet is able to move strikingly fast, hit incredibly hard, and recover from injuries quickly. The Puppeteer is now able to take considerable punishment before losing concentration. A tier 5 Puppet Warfare Master can take on many opponents. May now control 4 puppets.

5 Puppet Acting Superstar: The epitome of perfection. A puppeteer of this tier and specialty can flawlessly manipulate even the smallest, most detailed of actions on their puppet, can hear, see, smell, and feel if they so choose, all that their puppet can with average sensitivity. Their voice when spoken from the Puppet sounds natural. They are able to make incredibly detailed edits to their puppets, such as creating entirely human seeming expressions. They gain the ability to change the shade of their puppet’s wood, and texture it to appear like skin. The puppet is now fully capable of seeming entirely human. They must weigh no more than 150kg.

 

~The Culminating Achievement~

This is a gift granted only to the most experienced of Manipulative Puppeteers. Only after reaching tier 5, and utilizing the same puppet for 4 elven weeks, may it be done.

This ritual is essentially the ending point for a Manipulative Puppeteer, the point where they have reached absolute mastery of their art, and needless to say, if attempted before one is ready, death is imminent.

Firstly, meditation. As the Puppeteer has done countless times before, they must connect to their puppet. However, this time they must pour as much of their mana, of their consciousness itself into their creation, their companion. 36 hours must pass, and at no point may they lose concentration, lest the ritual fail.

Once this time has passed, the Puppeteer may feel as if they have become the Puppet itself, but not yet… The ritual is nearly complete, but the hard part is yet to come. The final step in this ritual… Is to destroy their mortal form. Servant must destroy Master, and the roles must be reversed. In an act that is both agonizing, horrifying, and indescribably difficult, they must have their Puppet execute their own mortal form.

If this is completed successfully, and if the puppet is not destroyed before the process has ended, the culmination of their lifetime’s work is complete. As their soul begins to leave their corpse, it will be entangled in the invisible strings of their mana, dragged with the current into the puppet, and sealed there. Perfection has been reached, and the Puppet Master has become the Puppet.

 

Notes for the Puppet Form

As time passes, the Puppet Master will lose touch with what it is to be human, and will therefor begin to lose their sense of touch, and their emotion. Of course emotion can be faked flawlessly.

The Puppet Form does grant eternal life, and negates any sort of need to eat or need to sleep, however it also renders you unable to learn any evocation, clerical, or dark arts magic, and much like becoming a lich removes any possibility of an afterlife, as when the form that houses your soul is eventually destroyed, your soul will be unable to make another transition to the afterlife, or indeed, may have faded away over time as you slowly become the servant you once controlled.

Note: A puppeteer who has achieved the Puppet Form, is still able to create and control their own puppets. The limits for this remain the same as regular tier 5 puppetry.

 

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Puppet Form.

 

Weaknesses.

• -Still highly flammable. Pyromancers will be your downfall.
• -Floats indefinitely, cannot dive underwater.
• -Relatively fragile, axes and large swords will be a severe inconvenience.
• -You lose your sense of humanity, therefor losing the ability to feel enjoyment.
• -Ultimately, this is both the final success, and the final sacrifice.
• -Whilst it is very hard to kill a Puppeteer who has achieved the Puppet form, any death that they suffer is a perma kill.

 

Strengths.

• -Think of this form like a tier 6, it allows they a god-like amount of control over their own form. They can change their entire appearance in just seconds, and are able to simulate the texture and feeling of skin,down to the amount of give it has. They may truly appear entirely human. If they so choose.
• -Cannot feel pain.
• -Do not bleed, cannot die from anything less than being turned to ash or being disassembled. And even then, if enough of their form is left in tact, they may morph what is left into a smaller puppet, or piece together what is left. 
• -Ageless.
• -Don’t need to sleep / eat.

~Weaknesses / Strengths~

Weaknesses for Combat Puppeteers

• -Cannot make their puppets seem at all human.
• -Must be able to see their puppets, or at least have an understanding of their positioning. if blinded they lose their connection.
• -The Puppets are obviously flammable.
• -Puppets cannot do any particularly detailed tasks.
• -Have smaller mana pools than Manipulative Puppeteers.
• -All puppeteers need to be able to make their own puppets.
• -May only manipulate one puppet at a time.

Strengths for Combat Puppeteers

• -Their Puppets are very resilient, and can recover from damage quickly.
• -Their puppets can do risky things that they cannot. Such as lighting themselves on fire and hugging someone until they burn to death.
• -Their puppets are overall quite strong, this varying depending on the size of the puppet.
• -They have an easier time keeping concentration under pressure.
• -Puppets are disposable.
• -May use up to 4, puppets (at tier 5), but reaction time and strength of each puppet halves for each addition.

 

Weaknesses for Manipulative Puppeteers

• -Can easily be broken from their concentration at all tiers by being interrupted.
• -Cannot use their Puppets to fight very effectively, a tier 5 having possibly the ability to take on 1 fully armored knight. Perhaps 3 bandits.
• -Puppets are less resilient, cannot regenerate as fast.
• -Puppet if human can be no taller than the Puppeteer.
• -Even a tier 5 puppeteer cannot change the fact that if touched, the Puppet feels very rigid and wooden, no matter how much detailing and coloring is done to the outer wood.
• -Still flammable.

Strengths for Manipulative Puppeteers

• -Puppets can seem quite human. Tier 5 seeming flawlessly so.
• -Are able to hear, see, and smell (feel at tier 5) that which the puppet does.
• -Puppets are incredibly versatile. Able to do very very complex motions at higher tiers, and can be used effectively for espionage and other such acts.
• -Puppets are disposable.
• -Are able to reach the Culminating Achievement.

 

~Red Lines / Limitations~

• No puppet master can edit the form of ANYTHING OTHER THAN THEIR PUPPET.
• This technique can only be used on puppets that are made of mostly wood (Metal being allowed for joints.) You CANNOT control a stone puppet. (Note: Elderwood is also not a viable option.)
• Puppets can be sculpted, not expanded. You may not create more mass than is already there, but you are able to remove mass or repurpose it.
• Learning to control any non-humanoid puppet is the equivalent of learning to move in a new body. This being more literal for Manipulative Puppeteers.
• You cannot make your puppets fly, even if they take the form of a bird, as wood is heavy and not particularly aerodynamic.

 

 

TO DO:

-Edits according to Community Feedback.

[Treshure 5579]

Didn't this get a lot of heat for being similar, if not equivalent, to Soul Puppetry?

[Xerxes_XIII 2 200]

Didn't this get a lot of heat for being similar, if not equivalent, to Soul Puppetry?

It was compared a lot due to the name, but in practice the two are completely different. Arcane Puppetry is essentially a very specialized mix of:

• Golemancy
• Transmogrification
• Telekinesis

[SodaiKamikaze 651]

I remember seeing this a while back, and I loved it..

[Elad™ 550]

I remember seeing this a while back, and I loved it..

[loakmendbe 62]

To me, this seems like a fantastic idea. Has a charm to it that I think could be used in tons of different ways.

[Ilikefooddude 414]

 

 

Mmmhmm.

[Pandan 1448]

 

 

[Evilbanana5757 153]

 

 

I also would love to work as a traveling circus man and have my very own puppet show with this ;)

[Jistuma 1995]

As I remember this lore has a few lot of lore breaking and powergaming parts.

Example is able to see and hear and feel what the puppet sees, hears and feels. This is a no in all arcane magics.

Also contradictions:

Weaknesses for Combat Puppeteers:

-May only manipulate one puppet at a time.

-The Puppets are obviously flammable.

Strengths for Combat Puppeteers:

-May use up to 4, puppets (at tier 5), but reaction time and strength of each puppet halves for each addition.

-Their puppets can do risky things that they cannot. Such as lighting themselves on fire and hugging someone until they burn to death.

It then breaks lore by becoming an immortal puppet without a curse in the puppet form.

It breaks other rules such as not losing memory if killed when using the puppet that can hear and see and etc.

Breaks mechanical standard since the puppet is not really there. Also breaks mech standard by floating over water.

So right now you can not roleplay this magic IG, thought there are ways to fix the magic to make it able to be played. For that you would have to fix all the PG and lore/rule breaking aspects of the magic.

Lore masters don't accept or deny lore anymore, but we can help and point out where there are things wrong with a lore. Sorry, and I hope my post helps.

[susitsu 870]

[Xerxes_XIII 2 200]

As I remember this lore has a few lot of lore breaking and powergaming parts.

Example is able to see and hear and feel what the puppet sees, hears and feels. This is a no in all arcane magics.

Also contradictions:

Weaknesses for Combat Puppeteers:

-May only manipulate one puppet at a time.

-The Puppets are obviously flammable.

Strengths for Combat Puppeteers:

-May use up to 4, puppets (at tier 5), but reaction time and strength of each puppet halves for each addition.

-Their puppets can do risky things that they cannot. Such as lighting themselves on fire and hugging someone until they burn to death.

It then breaks lore by becoming an immortal puppet without a curse in the puppet form.

It breaks other rules such as not losing memory if killed when using the puppet that can hear and see and etc.

Breaks mechanical standard since the puppet is not really there. Also breaks mech standard by floating over water.

So right now you can not roleplay this magic IG, thought there are ways to fix the magic to make it able to be played. For that you would have to fix all the PG and lore/rule breaking aspects of the magic.

Lore masters don't accept or deny lore anymore, but we can help and point out where there are things wrong with a lore. Sorry, and I hope my post helps.

Wow, I'm a bit surprised I overlooked so much when I originally wrote this. Only real correction I have was that the comment on hugging someone whilst burning to death was more of a kamikaze idea, sacrificing the puppet to do it.

I'll look into changing the lore, but odds are I won't bother since I don't particularly want to use this magic myself anymore.

[hex37 734]

I've actually been working off of a personal version of Arcane puppetry on an older character, to much success and the ire of the LMs.

 

Do you mind if I have a go at it, Kalehart?

 

 

Breaks mechanical standard since the puppet is not really there. Also breaks mech standard by floating over water.

 

Oh I can /so/ work around that.

[Mouse 324]

I remember seeing a feature like this in an MMO I once played. I really like the idea of it, and the way it's presented makes me want it even more. Im gonna' +1 this.

[Xerxes_XIII 2 200]

I've actually been working off of a personal version of Arcane puppetry on an older character, to much success and the ire of the LMs.

 

Do you mind if I have a go at it, Kalehart?

 

 

 

Oh I can /so/ work around that.

You go right ahead! If you can turn this lore into something implementable, then by all means do so.