A new circle: Circles of Soul Transference

The two had the mountain's librarian (a sphinx diabolist with knowledge of circle magic) createthe Circles of Soul Transference, so they could both have their wishes.

Circles of Soul Transference

Cost: 300 P.P.E.

Discription: Two touching circles, sharing mystic seals on the sides that touch. Sort of like this.....

 @       @       @
  \ *** / \ *** /  
  * \a/ * * \b/ * 
 * c X d * d X c *
  * /b\ * * /a\ *
  / *** \ / *** \
 @       @       @

The symbols in the circle quadrants are as follows:

a: Butterfly (representing the soul)
b: Knowledge
c: Directed Power
d: The two subjects' true names (both, in each circle, written in runes)

The circles themselves must be drawn with green pigments, while symbols a.-c. must be done in silver (making them permanent). The true names must be drawn using a pint of blood taken from each recipient (if possible), mixed together. If one of or both the subjects lack blood of their own, then blood of a dragon (must be given willingly by the dragon) kept in a talisman silver jar for 1 week, with the jar in personal contact (no more than 1 meter separation at any time whatsoever) with the subject, may be substituted. It is not understood why that blood taken by force does not work, but it may be that in giving the blood willingly, the dragon charges it slightly with its own magical essence.

Using the "dragon blood" method, interesting interchanges can occur that would not otherwise be possible. Entities (including fully AI robots, and machine entities like the machine people, Archie Three, my Haydonite race for Robotech), rune weapons, and beings with no analogue to blood can be affected this way. Other strange interactions have been noted when at least one subject is a demigod (or higher), vampire, or other supernatural being, or if the two subjects are closely related (parent/child or siblings).

The effects of the circle are permanent, and have only a 5% chance of ever being reversed by this method, or any other, barring intervention by a full "god", alien intelligence or similar being (Gods: 70% [90% if the god is Thoth], intelligences[including vampire intelligences, but not Zyllphan or splugorth]: 30%). Both the swap and any reversal must be of both subject's own free will.

Items/persons with no developed consciousness (such as a clone not yet programmed with thought patterns, or someone who has been completely, utterly mind wiped) are considered automatically to give their free will. However, there is ALWAYS a chance that using a mind wiped victim as a subject will cause immediate insanity (20%), and the victim's memories will (incredibly) begin to resurface, despite further attempts to mind wipe, and cause 1D4 new insanities per year in ALL such cases (whether immediate insanity occurred or not).

Odd types of transfer ("X" = any legal transfer; these can be combined)

• "X" / Artificial Intelligence: The recipient AI (including otherwise blank AI systems) is treated as a "Transferred Intelligence" Robot, and even retains psychic and learned magic powers.
• "X" / Psychic/Tattooed/Super Powered person: If only one subject was a psychic or super powered being (or had innate magic, not learned magic; tattoos count as innate, as long as the tattoo that prevents transformation is not possessed), the body's new resident can learn to use those powers (ONLY) at a rate of 1D4 psychic powers/tattoos or one super power per month.
• Living Being / Vampire: a change occurs in both bodies, as the connection to the vampire intelligence is severed, and both bodies become Wampyrs(Nightbane R.C.C.)! A Wampyr/Vampire transfer also creates two Wampyr. A Wampyr/other swap will restore the Wampyr body to a normal existence, but most choose not to do so (they feel an obligation to fight the vampire menace, and will only agree to a change back to humanity for such ephemeral causes as love of a mortal).
• "X" / Psi-Stalker: Neither person is now a psi-stalker; the former psi-stalker can retain major psionics, and begin a new O.C.C., or take 3 months to train, and become any other type of Master psionic.
• "X" / Rune Weapon!: Cannot be done with a "Blank" other (as a soul must go into the vacated weapon), and cannot be used to create analogues of such weapons. The weapon will retain all its existing powers, but its alignment will change to match its new resident soul; the soul only has a 1% chance per psychic power or spell possessed (roll seperately for magic and psi chances; two rolls total) to retain psionics or his own personal magic ability while part of the weapon. The soul previously bound in the weapon will (if possible) regain all its previous mental attributes, knowledge and powers (including spellcasting and psionics), but will have to restart its O.C.C. at first level. If its new body is nothing like its old (a dragon soul going into a human body, for example), a new O.C.C. must be chosen. The soul will also lose the abilities it had in the weapon, but will gain any psychic or super powers the living body previously possessed, and if a spellcaster, can learn to replicate its non-spell magic powers from its days in the weapon, at a cost of 1 P.E. point and 40 P.P.E. points PERMANENTLY (such as the breath or lightning weapons, limited to 1 use per level per day).

What is transferred:

IQ, ME, MA: Stays with soul

PS, PP, PE, PB, Spd, Hit Points/SDC/MDC: Stay with body (but may be modified by special circumstances above, or the ones below)

Perception: Depending on version used, average the two scores (Protoculture Addicts or my variant on it), or restart both bodies's bonuses as if the characters were first level (Nightbane version).

Skills: Stay with soul, but see notes for physical skills below.

Physical skills the old resident soul knew come easier to a body's new inhabitant (can be learned at 1/2 cost; at the end of skill purchases, if a 1/2 slot left over, it can be used to acquire literacy in language currently only spoken by the character, or for a civilian ground vehicle piloting skill, including basic Horsemanship or Teamster).

Bonuses to attributes from physical skills: If only one person involved in the switch possessed a particular skill (such as boxing, wrestling, gymnastics, etc.), the possessor must practice for 4D6 weeks to regain the skill's bonuses in the new body, and the other person must take that skill within the next 6 months after the switch in order to keep from losing the bonuses (determined as normal, but subtracted instead of added; this could result in some retention of attribute bonuses, but the former maximums are the best a later taking of the skill can raise them).

Psychic Powers: Usually transfer with soul. If both were psychic, and had different non-R.C.C.-specific powers, the powers that the previous resident had can be acquired at half-cost with level advancement, provided new powers are learnable with said adancement. This can result in a psychic having more than the standard number of powers for his/her/its level.

Magic: Stays with soul, if a learned or granted type. Innate types (from race), Tattoo magic and line/rune magic placed permanently on a body stay with the body. Note: If a body has a tattoo that prevents transformations, it cannot use this circle, unless Thoth is the drawer and invoker of it (after all, as Xy he created shit that even HE was subject to!).

More sophisticated interactions:

• Switches between close blood relatives (siblings or parent & child): Strange resonances occur when the life forces are actually tied together like this. Generally, the O.C.C. and O.C.C.-related skills bleed over from one to the other (can be accessed as if first level, -20%, with no O.C.C. or IQ bonuses). If one of these as yet does not have an O.C.C., they can learn the O.C.C. of the other after the switch in much less than normal time. Furthermore, the mingling of the two's auras causes all psionics possessed by one to become available to the other, even if one was not a psychic before. ISP for both character is rerolled as if first level, regardless of true level of either.

• Supernatural swaps: If one has supernatural attributes, the other gets them as well. This includes M.D.C., PS, PE, Speed and wingless flight. Formerly non-supernatural body will have these as follows:

  If attributes (including comparing totalled SDC+HP to MDC) are close (within 20% either way), the attributes remain the same, but both bodies have it as supernatural.

  If widely different, with the supernatural attribute vastly superior, add the two scores (converting to the same denomination, if necessary), and assign 2/3 the total to the supernatural body, and the weaker body gets 1/3. This is effectively a factor of the life force transfer fortifying the new host body with some of the strengths of the old. If the post-swap results with the weaker being in the thousands of S.D.C., then it is treated as M.D.C. if the S.D.C. / 100 is less than the P.E. of the body. For example, someone with 30 M.D.C. swaps with someone with normal (under 100 total SDC & HP) stats, the old body would drop to 20 M.D.C. and the new one would be 1000 S.D.C. (if PE 10 or less), or 10 M.D.C. (P.E. 11 or more)

  If the weaker body had the higher (but non-supernatural) total, the supernatural body retains its old attribute, and the other body's attribute is reduced to that number, but is now supernatural in that attribute as well.

• IF BOTH ARE TRUE (this is normally true only of demigod/mortal switches, for obvious reasons): The weaker gains all the powers of the stronger, as well as the bonuses, penalties and vunerabilities. The penalty is that the XP progression for each is tripled after the switch. In addition, doing this sort of switch without permission from the higher-ups in the pantheon can be deadly.