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"Few people ever mastered that discipline of magic. There were those who said it could never be mastered. Shudder himself was one such person."
— Narration, Across a Dark Plain
Gist
Gist
Magic Type Adept
Power Releasing a Gist
Notable User(s) Anton Shudder; Temper Fray

Gists are ferocious spectral entities created by certain Adept mages. Along with ghosts and Remnants, they are one of three known forms that a soul can take outside of the body.

Gist magic is very powerful and widely feared, but it is also difficult to control and dangerous to use. As such, practitioners are rare, and the only known Gist mages are Anton Shudder, Granton Bicker, Temper Fray, and Voracious Kurakin, the latter two of whom have been taken over by their Gists.

Mechanics[]

Magical discipline[]

Adept mages with sufficiently powerful souls are able to create a Gist. Gists are shaped and fuelled by the user's hatred, anger, and determination, and appear as a twisted version of the user, with longer hair, sharper teeth, and claws. They have no legs; instead, the lower part of their body is a stream of light and darkness that connects them to the user, and they move by flying. Gists emerge from the user's chest when they are released, and are pulled back into it by the stream when the user has finished using their magic.

Gists are fast and ferocious, capable of tearing humans to shreds in seconds, and very durable; they are resistant to fire and Wraiths, and it is unknown whether they can be damaged at all. Though Gists cannot be controlled directly, the mage seems to be able to direct their attacks towards specific targets.

Gists are draining for a mage to use, and not even Anton Shudder is capable of moving his body while his Gist is active. As such, the most effective way to counter a Gist is to attack the mage, though Gists seem to prioritise defending their mage over attacking their enemies. It is also possible to cut the stream connecting the Gist to the mage, which severs the connection between the mage and their soul, instantly killing both the mage and the Gist. Only Mevolent has been seen to do this, and so it is possible that it is only achievable by powerful sorcerers.

Possession[]

It requires considerable energy and concentration to withdraw a Gist, as the Gist will fiercely resist being withdrawn. Withdrawing a Gist becomes increasingly difficult the more times the Gist is released, though the Gist seems to be withdrawn automatically if the mage falls unconscious. If a mage cannot withdraw a Gist, then the Gist will take control of the mage's body.

If a Gist succeeds in taking control of a mage's body, then the body grows taller and twisted. Nevertheless, the Gist is still weaker in the user's body than in its spectral form, and Temper Fray's Gist is subdued by Dexter Vex after taking control of Temper's body. The Gist inherits the memories and feelings of the mage, and gains the ability to talk, but lacks a conscience entirely and remains as bloodthirsty as ever. For example, Temper's Gist retains Temper's love for Kierre, but this only fuels its desire to kill her, and it is unable to understand why she is not amenable to this idea. The Gist is also capable of trickery, such as giving advice to Omen Darkly until he lets his guard down.

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