Inhabit

Inhabit
Guild	Artificers
Status	Allowed
Marking	(1st/2nd edition) Red welts or burned-in traces of circuit board patterns (WTO20) Markings from Inhabited objects. Soulforgers are marked by the forges

Inhabit is one of the primary thirteen Arcanoi from Wraith: The Oblivion. Wraiths gifted with Inhabit can manipulate and control inanimate objects.

Inhabit is one of the oldest Arcanoi, and also the one that has changed the most with time. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Inhabit as it exists now was a different art and was known as Kinesis. As technology continues to improve and evolve, the Artificers are there along with it, always ready to take advantage of the new benefits it offers. In addition, Artificers are very good at changing existing objects, imbuing them with new powers, creating relics and artifacts, or even making them come "alive".

Despite the fact that Artificers frequently skirt the line of the Dictum Mortuum, they are among the more accepted and welcomed wraiths in Stygian society. They are valued not for their abilities in the living world, but because many of them become accomplished Soulforgers. As the only thing that exists in the Shadowlands is plasm, those who can melt it down and shape it into useful items are valued above almost anything else. The Hierarchy in particular makes use of several Artificers to melt down wraiths that are troublesome, criminal, or otherwise unwanted or not useful to the society of the Shadowlands.

Inhabit is highly hazardous, however, when it goes wrong. Becoming trapped and unable to manipulate an item, breaking it or shorting it out, or becoming overwhelmed by its power source are all potential problems when things don’t go as planned for an Artificer.

Basic Abilities

• Sense Gremlin: An Artificer may determine if any wraiths are currently hiding in or possessing an object.
• Shellride: An Artificer may hide themselves in a machine without having to control it.

Standard Powers

First / Second Edition

• Surge: An Artificer may manipulate the power source of an electronic device.
• Ride the Electron Highway: An Artificer can travel through phone lines, modems, or other communication networks.
• Gremlinize: An Artificer can possess and control a machine.
• Claim: An Artificer may use a machine or object as a temporary body.
• Empower: An Artificer can imbue an object or relic with Arcanoi.

20th Anniversary Edition

Basic abilities were dropped in the 20th anniversary edition.

The standard powers of Inhabit are the same as previous editions, with the following exceptions, which replace the skills of the same level or where noted.

• Assume the Shell: This is essentially the same as Shellride.
• Misfire: An Artificer may cause a mechanical or electronic device to malfunction.
• Claim the Shell: An Artificer can possess and control a relic or Skinlands object, using it as a temporary body.
• Empower: An Artificer can imbue a relic with one of his Arcanoi, create a temporary Artifact.
• Wire Rider: This is an updated version of Ride the Electron Highway, allowing an Artificer to travel through the global communication network.

Alternate Powers

Ancient Arts

• Lightning's Bite: An Artificer can charge a small metal object with electricity that will discharge into the next (successes) people who touch it.
• Flawsight: An Artificer can detect flaws in an object and when they will manifest; a precursor to Flux.
• Sympathy: An Artificer can Gremlinize a number of similar simple machines at once.
• Creeping Rot: An Artificer can cause a device to begin slowly falling apart.
• Kinesis: An Artificer can manipulate individual molecules' vibratory rates to warm or cool them.

New Arts

• Command Line: An Artificer can send simple commands directly to a computer's CPU.
• Reconstruction: An Artificer can retrieve erased data.
• Wipe Me: An Artificer can erase magnetic storage media.
• Hi, Mom!: An Artificer can project his image onto a video monitor and use any associated speakers to make his voice heard by the Quick.
• Horizontal & Vertical Control: An Artificer can cause a video monitor to show any image she desires.

Wraith: The Great War

See Kinesis

20th Anniversary Edition

The 20th anniversary edition introduces the initiate arts, a set of Inhabit abilities available to members of the Artificers' Guild with sufficient status.

• Reveal Rider: An Artificer can see whether an object is, or has been, Inhabited by a wraith.
• Forge Affinity: An Artificer's soulforging is permanently improved.
• Smith's Tenacity: An Artificer can make themselves more resistant to damage.
• The Tool Knows Its Master: An Artificer can infuse an object with part of their own essence, allowing them to use their Arcanoi on anyone or anything touching it. If the object would damage them, they can minimise the damage it would cause.
• Compel the Soulsteel: An Artificer can draw information from the soul used in a soulforged item.

Other Books

• Shadow Weapon: An Artificer can force their Shadow into a regular melee weapon.
• Impress: An Artificer may place the memories and personality of a wraith into a non-living item.

References

• WTO: Wraith: The Oblivion Second Edition, p. 144-145
• WTO/cMET: Oblivion, p. 111-113
• WTGW: Wraith: The Great War Rulebook, p. 121
• WTO: Guildbook: Artificers
• WTO: The Hierarchy, p. 106
• WTO20: Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition, p. 172-175