Inner Devils Unchained

Cost: 20m, 1wp; Mins: Essence 3; Type: Simple (Speed 7, DV -4)
Keywords: Combo-OK, Desecration, Obvious, Shaping, Sorcerous
Duration: Five days
Prerequisite Charms: Loom-Snarling Deception, Witness to Darkness

Monsters lurk in the hearts of men, and not all of them are figurative. This Charm transforms valid targets into members of a First Circle demon race selected when the Infernal purchased this Charm. It may be expanded to include other races if she has spent at least one scene interacting with a member; each species added costs one experience point. Valid targets include any mortal, plus any natural animal that is morphologically similar to the demon race in question (monkeys for Erymanthoi, cats becoming Teodozjia). The target can be no further away than the Infernal's (Essence rating) yards. The Exalt gestures toward the target and lifts her hand, as if bidding a groveling inferior to rise from genuflection.

The first thing to change is the target's shadow, which looks as though the victim had already become a demon. Roll (Manipulation + Lore) against the target's Dodge MDV. On a failure, the victim recoils against the monstrosity stirred in his heart by regaining one spent Virtue channel of his choice, and his shadow returns to normal. On a success, the victim screams in agony as bones crack and viscera burst from his skin, tearing him asunder and inside out until his shadow properly reflects him. The new demon keeps any superior traits but otherwise has the usual statistics for its race and begins its new existence materialized with an empty Essence pool. It also keeps its memories, Motivation and Intimacies. The Infernal does not control this creature, though it cannot voluntarily attack him in any way until the scene has ended. The demon undergoes a similarly agonizing transformation back to normal when this Charm ends and gains the Creature of Darkness deformity as a permanent Desecration effect.

When an Infernal with Essence 4 uses this Charm, the resulting demon doesn't change back to its original state until the Infernal desires, up to the beginning of the next Calibration. At Essence 5+, she may use Inner Devils Unchained to spawn a demon from the raw materials of the victim's Essence and memories instead of changing her. In such uses, the duration shortens to Instant since the change is a one-time event rather than an ongoing alteration. The metamorphosis is tantamount to the death of the victim's original form and can't be reversed, since doing so would qualify as resurrection.