[Eberron] Can an Empty Vessel manage to mind-control its possessor?

[Segev]

In Eberron, we're introduced to the Kalashtar, and their mortal enemies which make up an empire ruled by "enlightened" people who are actually possessed by otherworldly horrors. My lore is a bit weak, here, so part of this thread is an invitation to those who know mroe about it to fill in any blanks or correct any mistakes I'm making.

But the core is that there are a specially-bred subrace of humans who are designed to be ideal hosts for these horrors. The Kalashtar are closer to what the horrors claim happens (a blending of two spirits, one of which is the human host's), but the horrors take these "empty vessels" and just displace/crush/remove the human mind. Of course, the Vessels don't know this, and think they're going to become enlightened and are excited to be chosen.

But what if an Empty Vessel, fervent in his zeal, clung to the ideal too hard? Could the creature that tried to inhabit him find his host's mind not only too powerful to overwhelm, but overwhelming to the point that it swallows the creature and takes back over their joint self?

What really got me to post this thread on this idle thought I've had since I first read about these guys years ago is the realization that Thrallherds have Thralls and Believers. Could an Empty Vessel Thrallherd take a (weak) one of these creatures as his Thrall and have that be the one that's "possessing" him?

[Falontani]

Anything is possible. It would definitely be rare and there is a feat that allows just that. In faiths of Eberron is the feat Wrest Possession. You take over the possesser and gain some of their abilities. Taking one as a thrall would be highly dependant on your dm, however if your dm instead of basing thrallherd's ability off of the phb's leadership, bases it off of minions and lackeys from Exemplar's of Evil then as long as the cr of the Quori was at least 1 below the thrallherd then it could easily become a thrall.

As to the lore, your pretty much en pointe, another way this type of thing could happen is if the empty one's eyes were opened before possession.

[Scrollreader]

I've run a game with a 'rebel' inspired. They took Shape Soulmeld as a feat to be immune to possession. Otherwise it's quite difficult /not/ to get pwned by a Quori. The rules are definitely not in your favor. Still, it is theoretically possible for someone to be ignored for long enough for some shenanigans (there's an example NPC in Secrets of Sarlona who has been ignored long enough for an ogre mage to hoodwink her).
The real problem is /staying/ free, once your secret is out. No save means it's pretty tricky to deal with. Wrest Possession and some way to automatically succeed might work, or the Planar Chasuble. However, make sure your GM and ALL YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS are ok with you being the focal point of the campaign, because the Dreaming Dark will not stop until you have been dealt with. Free inspired are pretty much their worst case scenario, especially if you feel like spreading the secret to others.

Alternatively, for some of the same flavor, read the section on Elan in Eberron. They are the permanent imprisonment of a Quori in a host, where the Quori is basically just trapped and used as fuel for the Elan, forever. There's a possibility that Il Lavashtar trapped a good Quori in your head (giving you a reason to feel your way out of Riedra). There's also the possibility that the Quori you host has committed crimes too horrific for the society of evil nightmares, and is just trying to convince you they're good and trapped. Sweet Dreams.

[magic9mushroom]

In Eberron, we're introduced to the Kalashtar, and their mortal enemies which make up an empire ruled by "enlightened" people who are actually possessed by otherworldly horrors. My lore is a bit weak, here, so part of this thread is an invitation to those who know mroe about it to fill in any blanks or correct any mistakes I'm making.

But the core is that there are a specially-bred subrace of humans who are designed to be ideal hosts for these horrors. The Kalashtar are closer to what the horrors claim happens (a blending of two spirits, one of which is the human host's), but the horrors take these "empty vessels" and just displace/crush/remove the human mind. Of course, the Vessels don't know this, and think they're going to become enlightened and are excited to be chosen.

But what if an Empty Vessel, fervent in his zeal, clung to the ideal too hard? Could the creature that tried to inhabit him find his host's mind not only too powerful to overwhelm, but overwhelming to the point that it swallows the creature and takes back over their joint self?

What really got me to post this thread on this idle thought I've had since I first read about these guys years ago is the realization that Thrallherds have Thralls and Believers. Could an Empty Vessel Thrallherd take a (weak) one of these creatures as his Thrall and have that be the one that's "possessing" him?

"Every Chosen family is bound to a specific quori spirit. That spirit can possess any Chosen of its line at will. There is no warning, no saving throw, no chance to resist."
- Secrets of Sarlona p.107

Wrest Possession is useless because it triggers off making your save, and the Chosen/Empty Vessels don't get to do that. An Empty Vessel who doesn't want to get hijacked by quori needs Protection from Evil or some other magic. A more permanent solution, of course, is to kill the quori that they're bound to.

[Scrollreader]

Killing a Quori might work ... Or it might not. A dead Quori reforms (as a new individual, but with the same essence) from the heart of Dal Quor; a somewhat interesting trick for the GM to consider (We have absolutely no evidence if it would or would not maintain the link to the Inspired line it 'owns'). A line tied to a trapped Quori (lingering Giant magic in Xendrik, the aforementioned Elan, or even something like Imprisonment could work. But if you are the one responsible for the entrapment of the Quori, you still have the issue of being enemy number one for the Quori.

This ties in to the original poster's question. You can have your Quori as a thrall, if the DM chooses it to be your next thrall. You can have your Quori domitor already dead or trapped, or just bored and elsewhere, if your DM permits it. Overall, however, the Inspired are difficult PCs without serious GM buy-in, and you should probably just play an Eberron Elan or a Kalashtar, unless your DM wants to either handwave the Quori situation, or else make it a big part of the campaign.