Eskatie

Eskatie are one of the most widely known and easiest to watch out for. They also take longer than the others to take control of someone, but they cause the most damage as well. Eskatie will come to enter your dreams like a trick mirror, and play on your insecurities, your sense of self and identity. They bury themselves in your dreams to make you despise your outward image. Someone under duress from an Eskatie will start making uncharacteristic physical changes, they might get strange tattoos or piercings, start over or under eating, or start putting on large amounts of muscle. This is a sign of the Eskatie preparing the body through manipulation, for its own entry. The victim will also act as if nothing has changed, they will act as if everything they are doing is completely natural and their own choice. They believe this because of how much shame and disgust they feel toward themselves, because of the nightmare. It turns the victims attentions elsewhere and blinds them to the truth, so they blame anything except the obvious answer. They are no longer in control. This nightmare is the most obvious yes, because it establishes a pattern over a long period of time that can be spotted. But the difficulty lies in the people. Sometimes people truly do change and become almost like another person. How are people to truly know if someone is being attacked or their just different? There are 3 options. All of them are dangerous to the person they're performed on if they don't get it right. If the person who is suspected or someone else believes that others are mistaken, a ritual is performed to prove the suspect is not under any influence. They are put to sleep and drenched in liquid, and their mind is ceremoniously called to. If they simply wake up, they're perfectly fine; if the liquid begins steaming, then the Eskatie will rush to take over the body immediately and they will have to be killed. If everyone believes the person is a victim then a different ritual is performed to banish it, but if this ritual is performed and the victim is not under attack, they will die. The third option is not to take any chances and just kill the person for acting strange.