Motif · Book 4, The Gate of the Feral Gods

Samantha's body

Half of a goddess in a sex doll's head: Psamathe's first escape from the Nothing split her, and half her essence took refuge in the nearest unoccupied naiad vessel, a Lika doll. Mordecai: the halves of a split soul 'will always try to reunite', but only in 'a proper vessel' — and when the reunion goes wrong the result is a withering spirit, not alive, not dead, haunting the object with very little power.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 21 — Ghazi
• Chapter 22 — Mrs. Ghazi
• Chapter 24 — Samantha
• Chapter 28 — Emberus
• Chapter 34 — Seeding the pond

Progression

A decapitated Lika sex doll head, chin chipped, possessed by the Withering Spirit of Psamathe: her first escape from the Nothing split her, and half her essence took refuge in the closest unoccupied naiad vessel (ch. 24). Mordecai: the halves of a split soul 'will always try to reunite', but 'in a proper vessel' — and when that goes wrong, a withering spirit, not alive, not dead, haunting the object with very little power (ch. 24). It was a trap: had the castle stood and the glass spell been cancelled, she would have woken 'a full-powered minor deity' (ch. 24). A withering spirit's head can be thrown five hundred metres per point of strength (ch. 34).