Everything

So what kinds of creatures are Banes simply incapable of tackling at all? Quite a few things.

Among the Fera, both the Nagah and Corax cannot be possessed. The Nagah tricked the whole spirit world into thinking they are extinct, and this spirit-blindness helps them even now. The Rite of the Spirit Egg that creates a new Corax ends up with the wereraven’s spiritual half “possessing” the young shapeshifter, blocking further attempts at possession.

Wraiths, being incorporeal spirits themselves, can’t be possessed by Banes. Even those re-embodied spirits known as the Risen are immune to possession, as they are essentially corpses being driven around by a resident ghost. It seems the body doesn’t have room for a second possession.

The Kuei-Jin are immune to Bane possession as well, possibly for reasons similar to the Risen; indeed, the Kuei-Jin often make use of fomori as lieutenants, lackeys, and ceremonial guards. The same sort of protection also seems to apply to the hsien.

Those hunters known as the Imbued cannot be possessed. Presumably, this is another gift from their enigmatic patrons.

Mummies are completely impervious to Wyrmish possession, thanks to some mystic protection granted by the Spell of Life. There are persistent rumors of “Bane mummies” created thousands of years ago, but those appear to have been raised up through a corrupted version of the Spell of Life.

Finally, demons are entirely immune to possession of any kind.

shrug off the attentions of Banes without the changeling even being aware of the attempt. It is as though they are another order of being, indifferent to the wars of the Triat.

Yet, changelings are not purely fae. To survive in the magically barren modern world, most of the Earth’s remaining faeries have hidden themselves away in a guise of mortal flesh, and this flesh remains vulnerable to the attentions of the Wyrm’s minions. A changeling who has forgotten, temporarily or permanently, her fae nature is susceptible to Bane possession (though the difficulty to do so is still one higher than normal or two higher in the case of sidhe). A changeling who becomes a fomor in this fashion cannot recall her fae soul so long as the possessing Bane remains in residence. Her true nature remains trapped and slumbering, and in deadly peril. Generally speaking, barring miraculous treasures of the Dreaming, or the assistance of Fianna Theurges capable of driving out the Bane, a changeling fomor is doomed to live out the remainder of its days as an ignorant thrall of the Wyrm.

When a changeling fomor dies, its faerie soul is in terrible jeopardy, and may fall into the jaws of the Wyrm to be destroyed forever. Roll the fomor’s Glamour rating against difficulty 7. If the roll succeeds, the changeling’s soul passes on to its next incarnation as normal, if it fails, the soul is destroyed as surely as if struck down by cold iron.

What of the other odd residents of the World of Darkness? Generally, they’re out of luck.

Kinfolk are as susceptible to Bane possession as anyone else, to the lament and horror of their Garou relatives. Indeed, Pentex often specifically targets Kinfolk when able; who better to strike against the Garou than those closest to them?

Those blood-addicted servants that vampires know as ghouls are still fundamentally human, and thus similarly vulnerable. So too, might Banes possess those of the strange bloodlines of “ghoul families” known as revenants, and even —hypothetically — the rumored and possibly apocryphal children of mortals and thin-blooded vampires.

Mortals who dabble in the world of the supernatural generally have no special protection from becoming fomori, with the exception of the Imbued, “hunters” of all stripes, from the Society of Leopold and the Arcanum to Strike Force Zero and the Shih, are all vulnerable to possession.

Hedge mages, psychics, and mediums are also at risk of possession. Pentex has a specialized program known as Project Aeneid dedicated to experimenting with psychic fomori. Such individuals do not even enjoy the slight protection afforded to greater supernatural beings, due to the way their gifts require them to open themselves up to the world.

Finally, those fae-blooded individuals known as kinain are considered entirely mortal for the purposes of the possession Charm.

Each thing upon Gaia radiates out into the Umbra, announcing its nature and giving rise to spiritual rep-resentations. For each tree, river, and house, there is a spirit; for each moment of joy, bright ripples spreading out through the world of spirits and perhaps giving birth to an Epiphling.

But also, there is a spirit for the flash of murderous rage, the long, simmering, and life-draining depression; for the polluted creek, the rotten tree, and the broken home. Once, some Garou believe, these things were part of the natural cycle of the world, but if so, that was long ago. The Wyrm’s talons hold Gaia in an iron grip and its coils choke the cosmos, and all things that are destructive or corrupt come to dwell in its shadow. If they do not serve it today, then its minions will see to it that they join its ranks tomorrow.

Banes, then, are the revealed face of the Wyrm in the spirit world. They are a category of spirits bearing their patron’s hideous touch and the taint of its nature. It encom-passes both “born” children of the Wyrm, as well as formerly Gaian spirits that have fallen into corruption. Few Garou believe in the possibility of purifying a Bane, and indeed, in most cases, there exists no prior “pure” state for a Bane to return to. As a result, Banes are the most elemental enemies of Gaia’s warriors, a foe against whom no quarter can ever be asked or offered. The only answer is to move forward, claws and fangs bared. The enemy’s numbers are limitless; the Garou can only hope their determination is the same.