Aoide's Phantasms

[Remu]

M.E.T.A. PUBLIC CRIMINAL DATABASE

LOCATION: SALEM, MA
CASE NO. 0083221
PRIORITY: RED


SUBJECT NAME: Aoide's Phantasm(s?)
KNOWN ALIASES: Phantasms


CRIMINAL CHARGES
NONE (Note: Subject officially classified as 'Act of Nature'.)

NOTABLE TRAITS: Subject is described creates pocket-dimensions and summons creations and objects to defend itself. Actual appearance is said to vary. All seem to have telepathic ability to project pain and visions of death(?) when physical contact is made.

RECENT SIGHTINGS: Subject leaves behind anomalous trails that appear as illuminated rips in solid objects, typically walls. [Attached photo.]

SUGGESTED ACTION: Avoid contact with individuals who appear to be under its influence unless they can be safely isolated. Do not approach "rips" or attempt to interact with them under any circumstances. Contact local META hotline.


[OOC] HISTORY & GENERAL INFORMATION:

The Spire of Aoide, named for the muse of voice & song, was a monolith that contained and granted others what came to be known as the power of the Music Maker. Presumed to have come from space, it started a line of succession involving individuals it “saved” by granting them unimaginable power at the price of their souls, and eventually their lives. The spire was destroyed along with the last person to take up the mantle of Music Maker. However, the power of Aoide’s Song could never truly be silenced, as every last chunk and shard of the spire contained at least a fragment of that power. Unfortunately, destroying the monolith released the “shadows” that had plagued the Music Maker’s minions, granting them the freedom to do with they did best -- feed.

Whereas they were once used to take over the bodies of others and control them to carry out the wishes of their master, the starving, long-isolated shades began operating as independent entities, invisibly feeding off of negative emotions until they were bloated like ticks. Most people are wholely unaware of the existence of such entities, as hiding with magic is part of what keeps them fat on hopeless, despairing people.

As they are today, Phantasms largely hide away, either invisibly draining the destitute and hopeless or drawing victims into the small rips in space where they “live” in order to feed. The more powerful they grow, the more impact they have on the world outside of their little “pockets of oblivion”.

Phantasms are no more evil than a hunting insect. They are driven by a primal instinct, all-encompassing hunger and the constant pain of all those tortured souls they’re responsible for destroying. The forms they take, the shapes of their mazelike pocket spaces and their “personalities” are a chaotic mix of the negative emotions they have absorbed and aspects of the lives of the people they have killed. Phantasms command smaller, weaker minions that subdue anything that wanders into their territory so it can be consumed. Salem, as one might imagine, as a ripe hunting ground with the constant human-other tensions and the magic the city holds.

The magic they command creates unknown possibilities within strict limitations -- while inside of their "spaces", they have complete control of everything around them, often forming elaborate deathtraps for their prey and creating an unexplainable atmosphere of utter chaos. More powerful Phantasms can actually manifest in the outside world, where their ability to create and change things is limited to their own person, resulting in direct attacks of dark magic and shadowy minions..

A Phantasm can usually be beaten via most traditional means, but they are capable of regenerating completely unless the magic that forms them is drained or purged, and as long as negative emotions and energy festers, a new one will always be born.