Animator

"But why a spider?" I asked.
"Every spirit has a preference," he said. "Only the most desperate will accept a form unlike their natural form."
I waited for him to continue, wondering what the natural form of a spirit even was. He looked at me and noticed the absence of understanding on my face.
"Okay, well... I'm not strong enough to control some supreme supernatural intelligence, right. So the entities I make contact with are natural spirits."
Again my blank face must have been obvious.
"A natural spirit is the spirit of an entity that once had a physical body." Then, when he saw my eyes light up in realization, he knew he could continue. "So when I try to make contact with a spirit I want to make contact with the most powerful spirit I can." He looked at me for confirmation to keep going. "If I can make contact with a spirit with the natural form of a spider, it might be a strong spirit. But if another spirit is out there desperate enough to possess the spider doll, it would have to be old enough or powerful enough to be able to shape its own identity to match the body of the spider puppet. That would have to be a strong spirit."
I nodded along with him. Understanding him so far, before asking, "So why not just make one shaped like a person, like us?"
"There are so many spirits of humanoids drifting about, the chances of getting one willing enough, let alone strong enough is not nearly as good. Don't get me wrong,"he added. "The chances of success are nearly a hundred percent with a humanoid, but the chances of getting a spirit that I want at the end of the day isn't nearly as good."
"So you chose a spider?"
"So I chose a spider. Spiders are cool."

---

Animators are a unique profession. They operate puppets that have been animated by spirits they've collected. For purposes of clarity, once a spirit has been collected and inhabits a puppet, we shall refer to it as an anima. Many animators are entertainers who's puppet shows are amazing yet uncanny. Others use their puppets to fight, like combat marionettes but without the strings.

Career

Qualifications

An animator isn't necessary psionic or arcane, although they can be. They instead practice an art form passed down from master to apprentice. The years it takes to learn the runes and achieve the force of will necessary to call and control spirits ensures only a selected few ever enter their ranks.
In game mechanics, an Animator's qualifications are the same as a Weird Scientist and must take the Weird Scientist background. While that background requires a minimum amount of smarts which denotes the amount of study and training required, it is the Animator's Spirit attribute that is most important to career success.

Career Progression

As a novice, an Animator can only wrangle the weakest spirits. As such, they will typically stick with humanoid puppets. And they will only be able to control one at a time.
A seasoned Animator can control a puppet with each hand, but will still only be able to do so with the weakest spirits.
By the time an Animator is considered a veteran, it can control stronger spirits. But only one of the controlled spirits can be strong.
There are stories of some of the most heroic Animators able to control two strong spirits simultaneously. They are nigh unstoppable.
There is even a legend of an Animator who was able to control more than two puppets the same time. How he did this is still unknown.

Payment & Reimbursement

An Animator performing puppet shows for entertainment will typically do so for donations. Only the best Animators work on contract.
Otherwise, an Animator's pay is negotiable

Other Benefits

Life in Rift's Earth is hard. Any entertaining distractions are welcome. Animators will therefore usually be well received wherever they go, often traveling with caravans and traveling shows and provided with free rooms when they arrive in communities.

Perception

Purpose

It is said that the first Animator was a puppet master from a distant world who was able to work with spirits to literally bring his dolls alive. The tradition of storyteller has since always been one kept by Animators.

Demographics

Nearly all animators use puppets of some kind as the medium for their art. For art it is. The strength of the spirit collected will determine how easily it can control the puppet. The stronger the spirit the more unlike its natural form it can possess. The strength of the spirit also has some bearing on the size of the puppet it can possess.
Most normal strength spirits can possess puppets up to half their natural size. This is because of the effort it takes to move joints and appendages by spirit power alone, without the aid of the biological systems they had in life. Very strong spirits can possess life-sized puppets. Spirits strong enough to possess larger puppets are usually stronger than the Animator, but it is not unheard of for an Animator to have enormous puppets. (especially if they use both hands to control it)
There is a small number of Animators who use corpses instead of puppets. Since corpses are naturally suited for housing spirits, Animators who use corpses suffer no size restrictions in the corpses they use so long as the collected spirits are of the same natural body type as the corpses. These animators may be called Necromancers, but their knowledge of magic is usually nonexistent. So while they lack the spell casting abilities most associated with necromancers, their corpse puppets are usually far more aware and capable than a necromancers' minions.

Operations

Tools

The primary tools of an animator are their control rings.

Animators wear five rune-engraved rings, one between the first and second knuckle of each finger on one hand to control one animated puppet. This is why Animators can not control more than two puppets at any one time. Each ring makes an ethereal connection between the Animator and the anima of the puppet. Unlike a traditional marionette in which each string controls a part of the puppet's body. An Animator uses these control rings to manipulate the anima, and the anima uses its own independent will to manipulate the puppet's body as it sees fit.
The significance of the rings are as follows:

• Thumb: Rules the ego, self, will and logic. It establishes the identity of the anima and binds it to the Animator. The Ring ensures the anima obeys the will of the Animator
• Index Finger: Rules expansion and opportunity. This ring establishes the limits of the anima's reach beyond the confines of the puppet. It also allows the anima to maintain the puppet's integrity as a vessel even after the puppet suffers damage or dismemberment.
• Middle Finger: The teacher; it rules knowledge and learning. This ring allows the animated puppet to access skills and powers, and can be used to channel those of the Animator into the puppet.
• Ring Finger: Rules over how you are seen and what you show. It links to the authentic self. While the thumb may declare the anima's identity and bind it to the Animator, this ring establishes the spirit's identity as that of the puppet. In effect it erects a barrier between the anima's conscious knowledge of itself as the puppet and its knowledge of itself as a spirit. It basically convinces the spirit that it is the puppet. While this may seem restrictive, it actually enables the puppet greater efficiency of operation, less latency between thought and action, and greater performance under stress. Think of it in terms of an actor playing a part. The more the actor identifies with (get's into) the role, the better the performance will be.
• Pinky Finger: Rules ideas, communication and thought. This ring enables the animated puppet to understand and communicate. It is the key to free will and can help the anima bond with the animator but can also allow the anima leeway to rebel against the animator.

Another tool that Animators find useful is a spirit trap. Animators do not have to capture spirits directly into their puppets. It is possible for an Animator to collect a spirit into a jar like device called a spirit trap. Spirit traps are single-use items and must be destroyed to release the spirit contained within. It takes d6 hours to trap a spirit in a spirit trap, but the Animator does not need to maintain concentration during that time and any number of spirit traps can be set up simultaneously (roll separately for each). Once trapped, the Animator must make an opposed spirit roll versus the captured spirit to secure the trap or the spirit will escape. If performed on a ley line, reduce the time to d6 minutes. If performed in a ley line nexus, trapping a spirit is instantaneous.
Similar to a Spirit Trap is a Puppet Case or Puppet Box. When an Animator is not controlling a particular puppet, it can be placed in a specially constructed container that mimics the five control rings and keeps the anima sedate and the puppet confined. In this way, a true Puppet master can travel with dozens of puppets, bringing them out and controlling them to suit specific needs or fill specific roles.
Other tools beneficial to Animators are tools necessary to create their own puppets. Wood carving or clay sculpting tools are most useful for entertainment Animators. Combat Animators may want to contract for the services of puppet-making if they don't themselves possess the welding, machining, and other crafting talents necessary to make durable combat-ready puppets.

Materials

As weird scientists have the ability to jury-rig temporary powers in the field, so too do Animators have the ability to insert spirits temporarily into ad hoc constructs built on the fly. In order to accomplish this, they must have both spare disposable puppet bodies on hand and at least one collected spirit. Then, once the spirit has been placed into its temporary form, the Animator must engage it in a battle of wills to get it to do what the Animator desires. This naturally has a lower chance of success than a weird scientist's jury-rig ability, but it makes up for that with the flexibility that an independent articulated puppet can provide. An animator's jury-rigged puppet lasts as long as the Animator can succeed in the contest of wills. Every turn after the first, a single contest of wills occurs. If at any time the anima wins the contest it has the option of departing the puppet or acting on its own. Spirits will almost always depart the puppet, but the most powerful or vindictive will try to act out against the Animator. Note that such jury-rigged puppets are not under the specific control of the animator and do not count against the number of puppets an animator can control. Rather, each jury-rigged puppet acts independently to achive simple instructions the Animator gives it. Simple instructions are instructions that are not only clear but have no internal logic. "Carry this grenade to that person" is valid, but "Carry this grenade to that person and then pull the pin" is not.

Workplace

An Animator who makes a profession as a puppeteer will typically travel with a portable stage, complete with curtains and an assortment of doll characters.
Combat-oriented Animators who make no pretense about their profession will do without the stage and props and instead focus on portable containers for their special-purpose puppets.
The average adventuring Animator will typically keep the entertainment option as an alternate source of income or simply because they like it.

Provided Services

An Animator can always find receptive audiences for puppet shows wherever children are plentiful. Some of the most accomplished have conquered adult satire as well, and have performed before heads of state.
Besides entertainment, Animators have proven their ability to use combat dolls to fight monsters, bandits and sometimes the law. There is a famous bounty hunter named Marionette Mary who uses her dolls to hunt outlaws.

Dangers & Hazards

The threads connecting the Animator to the spirit inhabiting the puppet work both ways. The only thing keeping the spirit inhabiting the puppet from being the puppet master of the Animator are the runes in the puppet itself. Powerful enough spirits can overpower the runes and reverse the roles.
This is why an Animator does not wear the control rings when first summoning a spirit into a doll. In case the spirit is too strong, there is no direct connection between them and the Animator can destroy the doll and release the spirit.
Also note that an Animator's use of the fourth ring (ring finger) causes the anima to believe it is the puppet and forget its identity as a spirit. Depending on the nature of the spirit and how forceful or lenient the Animator is with the fourth ring's use, relationships often develop between Animators and their puppets. These relationships can be anything from confrontational to affectionate to conspiratorial or anything in between. GMs are encouraged to work with players who wish to establish a long-term relationship between their Animator characters and their puppets.
One final hazard associated with Animators is not necessarily a hazard to the Animator, but a hazard to others. If an Animator dies, there is a chance the wrangled spirits will remain in the puppets as anima. Some might continue with the puppet's persona while others might recover or remember their lost identity, some of whom might still pretend to be the puppet all while with the full knowledge of their spiritual identity. Lastly, some might think they are their natural living self, not acknowledging they ever were a spirit or a puppet's anima. As mentioned above, if an Animator establishes a relationship with their anima-infused puppet, they may want to emancipate their puppet, cutting it off from the Animator's control rings permanently. Such emancipated puppets would then either have the choice of departing the puppet or remaining in the puppet and becoming one of the "surviving" types of puppet mentioned above. The possibility of a suviving or emancipated anima remaining in the puppet is directly related to how long that anima has resided in the puppet.

The following image shows Yanshi, an heroic Animator mercenary who has forgone two strong puppets in favor of a single large puppet controlled by both hands.

Alternative Names

Puppet Master, Puppeteer, Spirit Wrangler

Legality

The Coalition has declared animation of puppets with spirits to be illegal. This hasn't prevented Animators from plying their trade in the Coalition States, but they do so clandestinely; using strings and all the other trappings of non-spiritual puppeteers.
Biomancers, and Cultures which revere the sanctity of life and the passing of the spirit to an afterlife will not look kindly on Animators. Such people look upon Animators as akin to slavers of souls. Even if an Animator works with willing spirits who have never been coerced, it would be a hard argument to make.
Armillaria does not view Animators kindly. According to its view of the world, Animators prevent spirits from entering into the unity of the greater existence. Followers of Armillaria will therefore attempt to release the spirits back into the world where they can eventually join their greater purpose. Interestingly, however, Armillaria would accept that a willing spirit would want to inhabit a puppet in order to accomplish something it could not in life. That is, after all, much in keeping with Armillaria's theme of death serving a greater purpose. Such spirits and the Animators who collect them would be acceptable to Armillaria.

---

Mechanics

Spirits come in basically three strengths:
Weak - have an attribute roll of 4 for opposing the Animator's control
Strong - have an attribute roll of 6 for opposing the Animator's control
Exceptional - have an attribute of 8 for opposing the Animator's control
(the GM may substitute the spirit's natural spirit attribute as an alternative to this, classifying them as appropriate for the rules that follow)
The strength of the anima also detrmines the size and form of the puppet, and vice versa. Weak anima can only inhabit puppets that share their natural body type and up to half their natural body size. Strong anima can inhabit any body type up to their natural body size. Exceptional anima may inhabit any body type up to twice their natural body size. If the anima's natural body type is dissimilar to the body type of the puppet, a -2 modifier is placed upon the Animator's spirit roll to control the anima. The GM must determine the body type of the spirit collected. Random encounter tables are a good source of information for this purpose, especially if the encounter table is based upon the local geographic region.
Some body types are:

serpentine

avian

four-legged

humanoid (four limbs with articulated digits)

arthropod (six or more limbs, regardless of posture)
If the Animator presents multiple puppets of different body types, spirits will go to the body type that most closely resembles their natural body type. Consider the above list as an organization of body types in order of similarity. It is possible for an Animator to transfer an anima from one puppet to another. The only prerequisite for swapping bodies is the ability to control more than one puppet. Otherwise the process is simple and quick. If the body type of the receiving puppet is different form the body time of the puppet being departed, the Animator must assert dominance again to force/coax the anima to fit into the new form.
Once under the animator's control, actions taken by an Animator's puppets must be made using the animator's spirit roll Instead of the anima's Fighting, Parry, Shooting, Spellcasting or other skills or traits. But just because the Animator uses his or her own spirit attribute does not mean the Animator needs to have line of sight to the target. The Animator gives instructions to the puppet, but the anima is the one who actually makes the attack, the puppet just uses the Animator's spirit attribute for the chance of success.
Damage incurred by a puppet's attack are dependent upon the weapons incorporated into the puppet.
If an Animator dies or decides to emancipate a puppet, the chance of the anima remaining in the puppet is directly related to how long that anima has been in the puppet. If the anima been in the puppet for less than four of the Animator's advances, there is no chance. If the anima has been with the Animator for four to seven advances, there is a 33% chance (roll 1 or 2 on a d6). If the Anima has been with the Animator for eight to eleven advances, there is a 66% chance (roll 1 through 4 on a d6). If the anima has been with the Animator for twelve or more advances, there is a 90% chance (anything but 0 on a d10). An emancipated puppet becomes an NPC with its own attributes, but the GM may allow it to be a companion run by the Animator or even a player character run by another player if both players agree.