Commission for Sutiban, on FA, signaling my fall into the undefined mits of the pooltoy characters.

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nomenclature
Spellfluxed = A proper person turned magical being.

Manifestation = Manifested idea or concept, but not a person.

Mana Tear survival guide - Inflatables.
Introduced to the Mana Tear in the last couple decades, the inflatable, is a strange addition to the land's fauna. An inflatable is an additive state that can be inflected on any creature layering on top of their base form.

Inflatables tend to be airheaded and can space out easily in a low stimulus spaces. They weigh very little when compared to their base creature for their size and have very little strength to act on their surroundings.

Typical feral inflatables are low threat when encountered in the wild, even in large colonies that can support large floats, because of the speed of their transformation vector and the inability for the inflatables to catch and then detain traveler. Neglect is the largest threat, should you ever be camping out near a body water be sure to check first if it is inhabited by an inflatable colony as the vector will work over night on you.

However there is a rare inflatable type that must be considered and actively evaded by non-professionals. The Pool Toy. The Pool Toy is always a spellfluxed, never just a manifestation, who has been wholly consumed by the role of a Pool Toy.

Pool Toys are distinguished by their more extreme inanimate shape, having grips and a completely smooth face where their facial features are instead printed onto, They can still emote but cannot speak in anything but squeaks.

They lay in wait, posing as mundane toys even if there are no totally inanimate mundane pooltoy inflatables on the entire landmass, hoping that someone unsuspecting will interact with them in the water. Should someone interact with them in the water the victim is overwhelmed and set into a state of hypnotic annulled thought. While they are in this state the victim quickly transforms into another full Pooltoy in less than a minute.

After the victim is transformed they assume the same predatory wait for another unlucky victim. Pool Toys are typically passive threats but do initiate the effect on those who are not suspecting by intentionally pushing themselves towards victims.

In addition to the very powerful active vector their passive vector is much stronger than the typical inflatable. From a fair distance they instill images of sunbathing all day on top of the waterbed and beckon the unwary into the water to engage them. They do have a stronger passive transformation effect by being near them and it will eventually whittle down on the traveler's fortitude.

The worse element of the Pooltoy is the contagious nature with manifested Inflatables, should a Pool Toy contaminate a colony of typical inflatables they will all take on the more extreme toy like traits, behaviors and take on the Pool Toy's passive vector, which when multiplied across the colony becomes more dangerous than the original Pool Toy. Once a inflatable colony is contaminated but the Pool Toy is removed from the colony it takes about a week of quarantine before they will revert to normal Inflatables. But should a traveler fall victim to the contaminated Inflatables they will be able to turn the victim into a full fledged Pool Toy that will maintain the contamination.

When a Pool Toy is removed from the water they feign an inanimate state, hoping to influence someone with their passive vector to carry them into water and then use their active vector on them.

Once a Pool Toy has been out of the water for over a day they become mostly inert and a non-threat as they continue to pose as inanimate. Should they get wet their passive vector will reactivate. Extended exposure to the passive vector can trigger a inflatable transformation, but that is in the scale of days.

To restore a Pool Toy to their normal state they must be quarantined from water of all sorts for multiple days, the time of recovery is related to how long they were a Pool Toy, which then they will eventually revert to a typical Inflatable who has proper agency once more. Recovery is indicated by the loss of handles and the recovery of complexity of the face such as the mouth and eyelids.

Should more than 5 inert Pool Toys be stored in a space they do generate a weaker passive vector to influence people to carry them to water, or after longer exposure eventually trigger an inflatable transformation.

Spellflux Inflatables are not any or less susceptible to Pool Toys but are more likely to be near water themselves.