092 - Potemkin

Unnatural Entity: Potemkin

Keeping up appearances is hardly a modern phenomenon, however social media and a shrinking global village exacerbates perception and drives neurosis in a way almost nobody would call healthy or precedented. Even as it is openly decried, curation of a public image has become the expectation in order to get ahead socially and professionally. At least that’s the usual explanation given for the rise in demons and demon-like entities obsessed with personal vanity.

Without access to their old lives and bodies most of them deteriorate quickly, unable to fulfil an obsession whose object is dead and buried. There are exceptions: those with access to magick and abilities that allow them to mimic their old selves or those famous enough to spawn cults of imitators (Elvis would be a good example, but no, he’s dead and gone). For the rest the unnaturally refined craving for the spotlight and validation turns in on itself and recursively twists into a bitter seed that cannot brook any but the brightest and most spotless of images.

Possession by a potemkin is more like having an astral parasite attached to you than a demon. To a certain extent they can be symbiotic by providing you with an illusionary social mien that projects success and desirability. Make an ass of yourself during a meeting? Nobody else sees that, the potemkin covers up your mistake with different words and no one hears you stealing Karen’s idea. You can’t negotiate with it (they don’t talk to their hosts, they don't talk at all except for overriding whatever boneheaded crap you might say or type) but it will do its best to steer your public image towards adulation.

Before you go rushing out to nab one, there is a darker aspect to the relationship that isn’t immediately apparent. Potemkin’s don’t actually care about their hosts. If you slip up and really need aid from someone then tough luck. No one will hear your cries for help behind the illusion. Rather than letting you tarnish their perfection a potemkin would rather its host suffer at the bottom of a gilded cage, even as people love them. Or say they do. So-and-so is probably fine, they're always sooo perfect.

Potemkin, Stepford Masking
Wound Threshold: Same value as their Everything’s Great/Fine identities. Potemkins are immaterial like regular demons and revenants, so you’ll need specific means to deal with them. Alternatively, some of the means for detaching or dealing with astral parasites work on potemkins (not all of them, have fun finding out).
Everything’s Great 20-80%: Substitutes for Connect, Substitutes for Status, Substitutes for Lie. Whenever someone hosting a potemkin fails a roll covered by this identity the potemkin may immediately roll to override the failure and wallpaper over the gaffe. What people see won’t necessarily be what was meant, especially if it would tarnish your image, but it’ll be better than a straight failure. Early in the relationship a potemkin’s Everything’s Great identity starts off towards the low-end (say 20-40%) but as they settle in it grows. 1d10% per week of heavy lifting is fairly standard.
Everything’s Fine 20-80%: This ability conceals anything that might be wrong with a person the potemkin is attached to. People won’t notice if you need medical attention, sobbing to your therapist about how your husband beats you will come across as a cheery facade of good mental health, unemployment and homelessness will be concealed behind a false veneer of respectability. Cue the Isolation, Unnatural and Helplessness checks (at least no one will (probably) see if you fail). A potemkin’s Everything’s Fine identity is equal to their Everything’s Great identity.