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Mind Feeder

Mind Feeder

AX.GHW.13.02.04

Type: Aberration, Elite

Power Package: Elite (8D)

Veil Risk: Moderate-High, leaves living victims in catatonic states; patterns of catatonia cluster around a location and do attract medical and investigative attention

Size: Medium (appears roughly humanoid at first glance; on closer examination, features are incorrect, too smooth, too symmetric, eyes positioned wrong)
Attributes: Body 2D · Speed 3D · Wit 4D
Talents: Athletics 1D · Deceive 2D · Notice 2D · Resonance 3D (feeding resonance)
Health: 37 (20 + 2 + 15)
Defense: 2 (1 + (3+0)÷3)
Saves: Body 3D · Speed 5D · Wit 7D

Attacks

  • Cognitive Drain (Primary Action): Wit + Resonance vs Wit Save, 5 damage; target also takes 2 persistent Wit damage (Veil Fracture). This is the Mind Feeder's feeding mechanism.
  • False Familiarity (Primary Action): Wit + Deceive vs Wit Save, target believes they recognize the Mind Feeder as a trusted person (friend, colleague, family member, the Feeder borrows from the target's accessible memories). Effect lasts until the target takes damage from the Feeder or succeeds on a Wit Save at the start of their turn. While the effect holds, the target cannot make attack rolls against the Feeder.
  • Psychic Scream (Primary Action, 1×/scene): Wit + Resonance vs Wit Save, all targets in Near range take 4 damage and 1 persistent Wit damage. Targets who fail the save by 2+ successes are Stunned for 1 round (lose all actions).

Special Abilities

  • Memory Harvest: The Mind Feeder feeds on cognitive content, memories, knowledge, personality architecture. After successfully using Cognitive Drain on a target, it has access to the surface content of that target's recent memory (last 24 hours). A second successful Drain in the same scene allows access to deeper memory (significant events, relationships, professional knowledge). This information is used to power False Familiarity and to navigate social environments.
  • Sensory Camouflage: The Mind Feeder does not appear alien to casual observation; it appears as a normal human. The wrongness only registers on close examination or with appropriate tradition sensing (Mediumship Liminal Sight, Faeborn True Seeing). Characters without these abilities must succeed on a Wit + Notice roll (Threshold 4) to detect that something is wrong with this person.
  • Veil Fracture Accumulation: Characters who have been successfully Cognitively Drained by the same Mind Feeder more than once accumulate Veil Fracture faster, each subsequent Drain deals +1 persistent Wit damage (so: 2 on second successful Drain, 3 on third, etc.).
  • Feeding Coma: If a target is reduced to 0 Wit (total, including Veil Fracture accumulation) by a Mind Feeder, they enter a catatonic state rather than dying. They are alive but unresponsive. A Mediumship practitioner can attempt restoration (Wit + Mediumship vs Threshold 3), taking 10 minutes. Without treatment, the coma persists indefinitely, the victim is alive but not present.

Tactics

Mind Feeders prefer isolation over confrontation. They use Sensory Camouflage to integrate into a social environment (workplace, residential building, community center), identify vulnerable targets, and feed gradually, multiple small Cognitive Drains over days or weeks rather than one dramatic attack. They are discovered when the pattern of catatonia becomes noticeable.

In a direct confrontation, they use False Familiarity to neutralize the most dangerous character, then feed on the others. Psychic Scream is used when cornered or to buy escape time. They will flee from a Mediumship practitioner who has identified them; they cannot maintain Sensory Camouflage against Liminal Sight and they know it.

Destruction/Banishment

The Mind Feeder is a physical entity; it can be killed. Its Body is low and it is not a combat specialist. The challenge is reaching it through False Familiarity and its social camouflage. Mediumship attacks bypass its Sensory Camouflage and deal full damage. Force tradition attacks are at -1D effectiveness (per category overview). Restoring Veil-Fractured victims requires Mediumship treatment after the Feeder is destroyed.

Scene Materials

Investigation: cluster of catatonia cases in a specific area, all cases involving otherwise-healthy individuals with no medical cause, a new person who arrived in the affected community around when the catatonia began. The Mind Feeder has integrated; it may be the building superintendent, a new coworker, a neighbor who moved in recently.