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[PiggiesGoMoo]

I was playing the new Masterwork for the first time, having played the old one for many hours. Something very strange started to happen. By the second migrant wave, many dwarves were experiencing blood loss or death, as if I had a vampire. I checked the backgrounds and stats of my dwarves, and none appeared to have the typical hints of being a vampire.

I also noticed that there was an insect called a "preta" that was "possessing" my dew beetles, making them attack (messages were popping up literally saying that my beetles were being possessed by these "pretas"). It got to the point where my beetles were mostly wiped out.

The bloodsucking also continued. I was baffled, because none of my dwarves had the typical vampire hints. So, I used dfhack to reveal the vampires, and... THERE WERE 17 VAMPIRES, 4 OF WHICH WERE ANIMALS. I had a vampire cat, a vampire bull, a vampire yak, and 13 vampire dwarves (out of 30 total dwarves).

The only explanation I can come up with is that the pretas were also possessing my dwarves and animals, making them vampiric.

I never saw anything like this in the old mod. Is this part of the new masterwork mod???

[Meph]

Its a new creature from IndigoFenix Mythical Monsters Mod, which should be a rare ghost that possesses creatures. It jumps from target to target.

Apparently they are super overpowered, appear almost everyhwere, and destroy fortresses. ^^

I'll have a look at the balancing, but so far you can open the GUI, go to the mods tab, and disable the  "Hungry Ghosts" option.

[PiggiesGoMoo]

Its a new creature from IndigoFenix Mythical Monsters Mod, which should be a rare ghost that possesses creatures. It jumps from target to target.

Apparently they are super overpowered, appear almost everyhwere, and destroy fortresses. ^^

I'll have a look at the balancing, but so far you can open the GUI, go to the mods tab, and disable the  "Hungry Ghosts" option.

Ok, thanks for the tip. I guess the insect that was "possessing" my beetles was coincidentally occurring while I had a hungry ghost. The beetles weren't vampiric, they just became hostile.

[IndigoFenix]

They are both caused by the pretas; right before jumping to a new host they turn the old host berserk, then turn them back to normal after jumping.  What must have happened is that you had so many possessed creatures that they were unable to find an available host, so they stayed berserk instead.

They can be a fun challenge when you're only dealing with one or two (basically a vampire without the telltale signs and that changes bodies every few months, so is harder to identify) but I accidentally made them way too common.  You can either lower their frequency in the raws or just turn them off until the next version.

[Meph]

They are both caused by the pretas; right before jumping to a new host they turn the old host berserk, then turn them back to normal after jumping.  What must have happened is that you had so many possessed creatures that they were unable to find an available host, so they stayed berserk instead.

They can be a fun challenge when you're only dealing with one or two (basically a vampire without the telltale signs and that changes bodies every few months, so is harder to identify) but I accidentally made them way too common.  You can either lower their frequency in the raws or just turn them off until the next version.

but how do you kill them? Because they dont just jump once a month, they jump as soon as the former host is killed. I saw it in a save, pet 1 berserk, killed, pet 2 berserk, killed, pet 3 berserk...

Maybe they should only target dwarves, too. (and kobolds, succubi, etc), not all the pets.

[Urlance Woolsbane]

I'd also advise getting rid of the host's ability to raise the dead. I'm all for rampant !!FUN!!, but I want to at least have a fighting chance.

[Golbolco]

I'd also advise getting rid of the host's ability to raise the dead. I'm all for rampant !!FUN!!, but I want to at least have a fighting chance.

This must have been my problem; I noticed shortly after pretas started appearing that my savage good biome was getting skeletons rising everywhere.

[IndigoFenix]

They are both caused by the pretas; right before jumping to a new host they turn the old host berserk, then turn them back to normal after jumping.  What must have happened is that you had so many possessed creatures that they were unable to find an available host, so they stayed berserk instead.

They can be a fun challenge when you're only dealing with one or two (basically a vampire without the telltale signs and that changes bodies every few months, so is harder to identify) but I accidentally made them way too common.  You can either lower their frequency in the raws or just turn them off until the next version.

but how do you kill them? Because they dont just jump once a month, they jump as soon as the former host is killed. I saw it in a save, pet 1 berserk, killed, pet 2 berserk, killed, pet 3 berserk...

Maybe they should only target dwarves, too. (and kobolds, succubi, etc), not all the pets.

That's odd, they sometimes jump rapidly after the initial infection in order to shuffle themselves into the population, but that shouldn't result in the hosts getting killed, since the berserking only lasts until they jump and doesn't start up again for a short while... Hm, maybe if there are a bunch of pets pastured together they might end up killing them all, but this should scare them so they don't remain in their pasture.

You are supposed to deal with them by either killing them (when they are not in the rapid jumping phase) or isolating them until the second berserking phase wears off.

At any rate, I think they are working basically as intended except for being way too common.  A single preta possession should be about as uncommon and as potentially dangerous as a megabeast or a siege, their purpose is to be that "unavoidable fun" that can attack you even if you seal off the fort.