[Eddren]

So I was thinking about anti-inhabitation countermeasures (I plan on running a campaign where the players are all employees of a budding corp, with the eventual twist being that the owner had started the corp in order to fund R&D into countering the coming horror scourge--Which she predicted would hit as much as one hundred years before the peak of the mana-cycle, well before metahumanity was prepared to handle it) and was thinking of something possession related, where there'd be a special focus designed to allow a spirit to burn a service pre-emptively to automatically possess the subject should they come under attack from an inhabitation spirit.

Then I thought for a second later and realized I had no clue if possession stops an inhabitation spirit. I have no clue if possession could be done before the inhabitation occurred. I just generally have no clue how the two would interact.
For that matter, can a flesh-inhabited person become afflicted with CFD? Could...A flesh-inhabited spirit *detect* the CFD, or counter it? What would the most reasonable prevention mcguffin even be?

[Streetsam_Crunch]

That... is a very interesting question, and I don't think I've ever seen it brought up before (though I'm fairly new to these forums as well, I've never seen it come up in discussions at Con and at other tables/forums over the years).

Without anything hard written, I'd say that would fall to the individual GM (and probably should remain so, unless it becomes a major plot point for the overall story). Even then, no a case by case basis... particularly if the 'coming horror scourge' is involved.

Personally, I think IF something is attempting to inhabit a host, the possessing spirit would have to already be with the host, otherwise relenting to one spirit would probably also allow the other, and that would be... messy. Presuming the possessing spirit was already there, it could still be 'messy' as the two spirits clash inside the arena of the host.

That said, if the possessing spirit and the host were working together (spirit fighting, host resisting/banishing the other) I think it could be possible, and make for some good storytelling visuals, win or lose.

As for the CFD, *that* I did explore.

During my campaign, I did allow the Shaman in the group to 'speak' temporarily with the nanites possessing a host through a spirit of man. Though their brushes with it were the overall plot, their interactions throughout the story were limited, so they didn't get to experiment with it too much. (I was still learning about it as the story was being written, myself)

I do think a spirit of man would be required for anything really helpful, since it's technology-based (anything else could possibly fight it if they knew what to look for, but on their terms it probably wouldn't end up well for the host- aka a fire spirit burning the nanites out of someone's system, for example).

So, *could* possession protect one from inhabitation? If the players were clever about it, and really thought it out and used the appropriate spirits? I'd probably allow it. Again, on a case by case basis.

I kind of hope that something like this is left out of the rulebooks for GM calls if you ask me. Disallowing it would stifle player creativity in those instances, and specifically allowing it would require rules and conditions that would probably fill a book by itself, or do the idea a disservice.

But that may just be me.

Crunch~

[Nephilim]

Definitely no hard rules I'm aware of. I'd say a possessed target can't be inhabited. Generally Astral Space is like normal space, only one thing can occupy a metaphysical space at a time. It'd be up to you if you wanted to have a competative test between the two spirits for control of the vessel (Maybe opposed magic+willpower?) However, being inhabited by a spirit isn't really something that can happen very easily to a character.  Inhabitation is a slow process.

 Here's the rules for inhabitation (SG, pg. 196) for reference(Emphasis mine.):

To inhabit a vessel, a spirit requires a prepared vessel (p. 135) in a magical lodge with a Force at least equal to the spirit’s Force. Once the vessel has been enchanted, the spirit may use Inhabitation on it. The Inhabitation process takes a number of days equal to the spirit’s Force.

As for CFD, my guess is given that magic's gimick is that it can ignore physics/technology I'd say that while CFD can overwrite the brain (potentially even while the vessel is possessed/inhabited) the mind of the spirit isn't in the brain of the vessel and would be unaffected. Further it would control the vessel for as long as it was inside of it, superseding the CFD.

All of this (except the quote from SG, natch) is my opinion however. This is very much GM fiat territory, and if you want it to work different/find a way it works better in your game, do that.

[Eddren]

Alright, so I very much want the...Liberal use of the background for plot devices to reflect the flavor of the world as much as possible. So I'm probably going to toss a 40F availability onto the CFD-related countermeasure and not even bother with a price, citing that the 40F rating isn't even for the implanting of the countermeasure itself, but rather the acquisition of all the related equipment and the hiring of the appropriate personnel. The rest of it has to be roleplayed, it's probably going to require a run with no pay just to find a secure location to perform such an implant if horrors aren't already there, and if not done properly, it'll probably either kill the subject or trigger an HTR for extraction. This is messing with CFD and, depending on your philosophy, is literally murdering a person and replacing them with an E-ghost of themselves.

But the idea will be simple--An inhabitation spirit eats the vessel. It's able to bypass the limitations of the technology by inhabiting the meat, instead. As long as there's a person attached that can control itself, no amount of technological usurping can stop the inhabitation spirit from manifesting.
However, nanotechnology can render the body it's in inert and take over. In order to do so, it must first be primed with hard nanohives--note the plural--That are in direct contact at all times with the user's brain. They are broadcasting all the information through the matrix, in the hopes that the constant connection will allow for the formation of an E-Ghost. Due to this, this person is literally always an icon and is unable to disconnect from the Matrix. In addition, their entire skeletal structure is coated in nanites that are lying dormant, waiting for the uploaded E-Ghost to take over the nanohives. This is to prevent the subject from dying of essence-loss. The final implantation is a sophisticated sensor suite taking the place of one eye, which monitors the subject's vitals. Among the many sensors included is a quicksilver camera, able to take a snap-shot twenty-four hours after the incapacitation of the subject. Should it find an anomoly within the subject's aura similar to an inhabitation spirit, it will trigger the E-ghost extraction.
At this point, the subject will do an Edge + Essence[3] test to see whether or not it's even generated an E-Ghost(The chances are substantially higher due to their heightened presence within the Matrix,) and if it has succeeded, the E-Ghost will be called into the Nanohives. Once within the Nanohives, they are pre-programmed to immediately transmit orders to the nanomachines to replace the skeletal system with nanomachines, permanently fusing them together to create a controllable system for the E-Ghost to override the inhabitation spirit with, while simultaneous removing from it the ability for it to rely on the skeletal system for its' own purposes.
From there, the E-Ghost begins a Contested Roll with the Inhabitation spirit for control of the body, as the E-Ghost kills the inhabited body and the Inhabitation Spirit attempts to regain control by killing controlled portions. Not sure what that test is. Is that okay for a pseudo-CFD style inhabitation prevention method? Are there any rules that might come into play that I'd want to be aware of?
I know that the actual rules on it are kind of nonexistent, but I'd at least like something that's rules-friendly, since it's basically allowing mundanes to fight a certain type of spirit.