There are famously five ways to kill a man. For an Embodiment, however, there are four ways, each becoming steadily more difficult.
After several centuries of hunting and tracking down Embodiments, the conclusion drawn was simple: Embodiments did not always start as corrupted and twisted versions of fairy tales, but instead a person seeking to replace what had been lost. This can include anything from a precious toy, to their children, to their loved ones, or simply to fulfill a deep desire within. It is this desire and the yearning to replace and find that precious something that draws Yarn-Givers to potential Embodiments, and the lure for these victims to accept the Yarn the Givers bring.
Logically, then, the easiest way to “cure” the Embodiment would be to “cure” their source of grief, by bringing back to them what they have lost or to help them do what they were trying to do. In some cases, this means bringing back a child to them, or showing them a memory that will sate their grief. In some cases, it involves locating a volunteer who is willing to see past the harm an Embodiment has done and accept and forgive them. These, however, while easy on paper, may not always be achievable: the child they have sought may be dead; the forgiveness may not come; sometimes, the grief cannot be so simply cured.
A second way was developed in order to neutralise an Embodiment: the forcible purification of the Embodiment themselves, by means of a cleansing ritual that was developed. These are most effective on the “newer” Embodiments, the ones that have had the least history in operation. The older the Embodiment, the more difficult it will be to cleanse them, and the riskier it will be. However, this is by far more preferable than simply killing the Embodiment altogether, for reasons that will be made known later in this passage.
The third way and the most difficult way to “cure” an Embodiment is to confront them with their crimes and make them see sense. A less charitable description that is sometimes given is “guilt-tripping”, but it remains an unfortunately apt method of causing an Embodiment to be “cured”. Presented with enough evidence of the harm they’ve done, the Embodiment can be induced to break it themselves. The Yarn cannot simply be “handed over”, as the Yarn will always return to the Embodiment in this situation.
This is where the difficulty lies: this method of attack will bring the Sisters and the Wolves - as well as the Embodiment - in direct conflict with the Penitents, who then swarm the Yarn and the Embodiment to prevent this from happening. The common theory is that they are summoned by either the Yarn of the Yarn-Giver who is responsible for the Yarn, to prevent the hold of the Yarn’s power from breaking. This also has a high chance of reducing an Embodiment into just another Penitent, disintegrating into a mess of Tembu-ka and turning the Embodiment beyond curing. Done correctly, however, the Embodiment having broken the Yarn will return to their original selves with no memories of what they have done, and their afflicted victims will be subsequently cured.
The final method is simply known as Elimination, wherein the Embodiment is killed. This is to be used only in the most dire of circumstances, with appropriate mages and healers nearby to shield both the Sisters and the Wolves, as killing an embodiment will release a more powerful and concentrated dose of Tembu-ka into the surrounding environment, poisoning all those in its radius. This can render both Sisters and Wolves in a coma-like state, wherein their life force is slowly sapped away. This is called “The Fading”, and can have lethal consequences for those affected.
After several centuries of hunting and tracking down Embodiments, the conclusion drawn was simple: Embodiments did not always start as corrupted and twisted versions of fairy tales, but instead a person seeking to replace what had been lost. This can include anything from a precious toy, to their children, to their loved ones, or simply to fulfill a deep desire within. It is this desire and the yearning to replace and find that precious something that draws Yarn-Givers to potential Embodiments, and the lure for these victims to accept the Yarn the Givers bring.
Logically, then, the easiest way to “cure” the Embodiment would be to “cure” their source of grief, by bringing back to them what they have lost or to help them do what they were trying to do. In some cases, this means bringing back a child to them, or showing them a memory that will sate their grief. In some cases, it involves locating a volunteer who is willing to see past the harm an Embodiment has done and accept and forgive them. These, however, while easy on paper, may not always be achievable: the child they have sought may be dead; the forgiveness may not come; sometimes, the grief cannot be so simply cured.
A second way was developed in order to neutralise an Embodiment: the forcible purification of the Embodiment themselves, by means of a cleansing ritual that was developed. These are most effective on the “newer” Embodiments, the ones that have had the least history in operation. The older the Embodiment, the more difficult it will be to cleanse them, and the riskier it will be. However, this is by far more preferable than simply killing the Embodiment altogether, for reasons that will be made known later in this passage.
The third way and the most difficult way to “cure” an Embodiment is to confront them with their crimes and make them see sense. A less charitable description that is sometimes given is “guilt-tripping”, but it remains an unfortunately apt method of causing an Embodiment to be “cured”. Presented with enough evidence of the harm they’ve done, the Embodiment can be induced to break it themselves. The Yarn cannot simply be “handed over”, as the Yarn will always return to the Embodiment in this situation.
This is where the difficulty lies: this method of attack will bring the Sisters and the Wolves - as well as the Embodiment - in direct conflict with the Penitents, who then swarm the Yarn and the Embodiment to prevent this from happening. The common theory is that they are summoned by either the Yarn of the Yarn-Giver who is responsible for the Yarn, to prevent the hold of the Yarn’s power from breaking. This also has a high chance of reducing an Embodiment into just another Penitent, disintegrating into a mess of Tembu-ka and turning the Embodiment beyond curing. Done correctly, however, the Embodiment having broken the Yarn will return to their original selves with no memories of what they have done, and their afflicted victims will be subsequently cured.
The final method is simply known as Elimination, wherein the Embodiment is killed. This is to be used only in the most dire of circumstances, with appropriate mages and healers nearby to shield both the Sisters and the Wolves, as killing an embodiment will release a more powerful and concentrated dose of Tembu-ka into the surrounding environment, poisoning all those in its radius. This can render both Sisters and Wolves in a coma-like state, wherein their life force is slowly sapped away. This is called “The Fading”, and can have lethal consequences for those affected.