Traits

Most Lockettes have standard saura.  This saura is generally sheer or even invisible, and tends to coalesce closely together with no stray wisps escaping unless there has been a recent serious injury or the keyhole is temporarily emitting some to remove excess from the shell.  This saura has no negative associations or effects in Lockette society.  It’s fully possible for a Lockette with standard saura to be a horrible individual, but it is not expected.

Occasionally, Lockettes may have something… attached to their saura when they manifest.  This saura is possessed by something, and that possession appears to be little smoky clouds, which are generally sheer to opaque and colored enough to be noticeable.  These bits of myst can often be seen escaping from keyholes and fragmentation, and are also sometimes found on charms.  Myst can affect the mental state of the Lockette it is attached to, but do not always do so.

An infested myst possession is overall quite similar to a myst possession.  However, an infested myst is distinguishable by eyes in the myst that escape the shell or fragmentation or by additional eyes growing on the shell.  An infested myst possession is liable to drive a Lockette with it to seek power and wealth, and sometimes to behave violently towards others and seek to consume their life essence or saura.  It is unknown if this is due to the nature of the myst, or if it is simply an instinctive way to seek safety.  Infested Myst Possessions often have the capability to transfer hosts, although this will usually result in the death of their former host.  Infested Myst Possession is sometimes seen alongside a Frenzied Myst Possession - sometimes they seem to be part of the same possession, while other times they appear to be in some level of conflict.  The details on this are poorly understood.

A frenzied myst possession is overall quite similar to a myst possession.  However, a frenzied myst is distinguishable by teeth in the myst that escape from the shell or by additional teeth and mouths growing on the shell.  A frenzied myst possession is liable to drive a Lockette to behave violently towards others, and sometimes to seek to consume their life essence or saura.  This is believed to be because the Frenzied possessions are capable of speech heard only by their host.  This is generally believed to be the most dangerous type of possession.  Frenzied Myst Possessions rarely have the capability to transfer hosts, although this will usually result in the death of their former host.  Frenzied Myst Possession is sometimes seen alongside an Infested Myst Possession - sometimes they seem to be part of the same possession, while other times they appear to be in some level of conflict.  The details on this are poorly understood.

Originally believed to be a form of possession, Inky saura has come to be understood as simply a different form of saura in most cases.  It is unknown what this saura type originally comes from, but these sauras typically prefer to manifest in darker and colder places.  This saura forms Lockettes who are incredibly heavy and are slow-moving.  Many use mobility aids, as inky saura is not always as adept at maneuvering shells.  Inky saura leaks through orifices, fragmentation, and keyholes alike quite noticeably, and on Lockettes with BJD shells, it will leak through the joints as well.

While inky saura is its own type of saura, it is not immune to becoming possessed.  However, unlike normal saura, inked saura can occasionally overtake a myst possession and transform it.  These inked possessions lack the ability to change hosts, and often wind up taking their own shape and appearing as though a companion to the Lockette they have possessed.  (For example, a pair of wings or a swarm of bees would retain those forms).  These possessions appear inklike in nature, typically leaving stains around themselves.  Some will have their own opinions, feelings, and desires that they act upon, which may wind up harmful or helpful to the host, and can usually communicate in some fashion not only with the host but with others around them, and vary in how far they can travel from their host, though the maximum possible distance known seems to be under a mile/1.6 kilometers.

Malformed saura is a less understood form of saura, but has come to be considered as more dangerous than even a Frenzied Myst Possession.  Malformed saura is most commonly distinguished by skeletal tails, however there are some other common signs such as charms that appear heavily broken (and especially charms that are each broken in different ways!), ears that appear heavily torn, and bodies that are fragmented beyond the normal 50% that is possible for a typical Lockette to survive.  Malformed saura is unable to be replenished in the ways that a standard saura or inked saura can be - eating and drinking do nothing for them, they have to remove it from their shell as waste as their saura will not dissolve it.  Use and presence of their summons does not build additional saura for them either.  These Lockettes have one resort to survive - consumption of the life energy or saura of others.  Saura of another Lockette will feed them for longer than the life energy of a non-Lockette, but it can be more dangerous to take…  They can become even more dangerous when possessed.

An inked Lockette who is also malformed is typically very unlikely to survive long, as their saura will have more difficulty in consuming the less tangible saura or life energy of others and normal inked are already rare enough to find.  However, it is not completely impossible for a malformed ink Lockette to manage long-term survival…