Devouring
From Summoner
When a demon comes into the World, it hungers. The Mirror is a place of raw thought and ideal, where that which might be, that which has been, and that which shall never be writhe and play against each other in a mockery of the World and other realms. When a demon enters the World, that roiling possibility is cut off, and they cannot remain even in Twilight indefinitely. They require sustenance, in the form of 'reality' or 'existential truth'. In essence, they need the spark that makes something truly real.
All things possess a touch of reality. Matter, animals, and more than anything else, humans are made in part of the idea that they exist: Ego. A demon can consume this truth as easily as a mortal can eat a leg of lamb, and most consider it as satisfying a meal, depending on the person. Demons seek out mortals that resonate with their own natures and desires, an ideal meal to sustain their own incomplete forms. As the mortal indulges or is urged onward, slowly but surely, he is Devoured.
The Feast
Roll: Power + Ego
The demon incites an emotion or truth that resonate with their being. If they are powerful or terrible things, merely inciting fear can be enough. Beings of love or lust require a bit more effort, or at least to influence existing romances. These emotions feel both more and less than normal. Fear is sharper and more frantic. Passion is hotter, sweeter, and more desperate. Beneath it all, however, a hollowness begins to set in as the demon starts to feast.
The Demon rolls Power + Ego, and each success allows that demon to consume a point of the subject's Willpower. Each point taken thus restores a point of Id to the demon. In rare cases, a demon will stave off taking too much, eating as the subject indulges a vice or bolsters a Virtue, to make sure they are not drained completely. More commonly, the demon's hunger is not sustained by a mortal's normal reserves. The demon can continue Devouring while the mortal goes on, tired but possibly unawares.
Once the mortal is completely drained of Willpower, the demon can start to dine on the subject's Willpower dots, much like it did with the earlier points. These dots can only be eaten at a rate of one dot per turn, and this level of Devouring is plainly visible to any being with an awakened Ego as life energy flowing from the subject towards some hungry source. Dots lost in this manner can be restored with Experience, or with the aid of certain Arts, and should be marked with a cross over the lost Willpower dots.
This process is devastating to the mortal mind, and they must immediately roll for a derangement, once for each lost dot. Instead of gaining a derangement, a minor one may evolve into something more severe. These derangements are not subject to the mortal's Morality, and are tied instead to the lost dots of Willpower. As long as the wounds from Devouring remain, the subject will be unstable. If a mortal is ever completely devoid of Willpower because of Devouring, they become a Shell: they lose their Morality track, cannot buy back lost Willpower dots, lack originality and unique motivation, and become highly suggestible to the influences of demons. Without being used in some manner, they are just as likely to sit and starve in their own filth. In a very real metaphysical sense, they no longer exist.
