(Spoiler Warning)
Possession — somewhat inevitably — became the standard term for those inhabited by the lost souls of the Beyond — the dimension where the souls of many dead sentients end up. The Ly-cilph accidentally opened a link between the Beyond and normal space, allowing the possession of the Aberdale ivets.
The Possessed, as a spill-over from the beyond, gained fantastic — although limited — abilities (energistic powers), including an energy projection capability and quick heal. The possessed were unable to use any form of advanced electronics, causing tell-tale glitches.
It is clear from the evidence that a possessed has to submit to the Possession, which was generally acomplished by hurting the victim until submission. Once they surrendered, a soul would travel down the link created by a possessed. Once inhabiting the body, it became very difficult for the possessor to be removed:
- Putting a possessed in zero tau would expel it from the host body, some times taking as long as many days; in zero tau the possessor soul would feel the passing of time and feel sensorial deprivation worse than that of the beyond. (This method was discovered when Gerald Skibbow was brought from Lalonde to Guyana, and extensively used afterwards i.a. during the Mortonridge Liberation campaign.)
- Devout possessor souls may abandon a host body if properly exorcised. (This was successfully attempted by Father Horst in the savanna homestead against the possessor of one of the children; Joshua tried to do the same in Ayacucho based on Kelly’s report but without success against a non-Christian possessor.)
On the other hand, it was dicovered that some weapons can harm, disable or even kill possessed, either by utter destruction of the host body (which releases both souls) or exploiting the possessed’s vulnerability to electrical currents. These weapons must however not depend on electronics, which can be easy glitched or crashed by possessed:
(Note: This list consists only of items mentioned in the sources. It may be very incomplete.)
Hellhawks are possessed blackhawks.
Notable Posessed
(Note: This list consists only of items mentioned in the sources. It may be very incomplete.)