Changeling

Pathologic 2=

Clara — also known as the Changeling — is a mysterious young girl who claims to know how to create miracles. She is to be one of three playable characters, alongside the Bachelor and the Haruspex.

Description
"The Changeling is skin, this is about contact and caress, kinesthetic things... ...The Changeling’s overarching idea is contact as a means to create meaning, develop the world and bring peace to it... ...The Changeling talks... ...The Changeling: vapor + sideways vector."

- [from the game’s design documents]

Clara is a mysterious girl that can either heal or kill with her bare hands. For this power she is both revered and shunned, existing in a constant balancing act.

Background
It is unclear where exactly Clara came from. She appears to many as a thief, slipping in and out of places with ease. This is to be due to her self proclaimed sainthood, as she is said to be able to open any door as easily as she would cure the sick. Not all believe this, however, as the Bachelor openly wonders why a saintly girl would need a pocket full of lockpicks. Some claim she is something more sinister - that she is the Sand Plague itself, walking around on borrowed feet. To many it appears as if there are two girls who call themselves Clara as she often appears in two places at once, or moves much too quickly for one lone girl.

Clara did appear to have a childhood, at least, as she claims in a pantomime that when she was six years old she fell in love with a kind boy named Matvey, though the Bachelor calls her a liar.

Haruspex Route
Clara is first found in Lara's Shelter hungry and looking for bread to steal. As she is caught by the Haruspex she will tell him that he is prophesied to "spill rivers of blood" and urges him not to act, as anything he does would only cause harm. The Haruspex shoos her away and reports back to Lara Ravel. Lara insists on letting her be, eager to help a girl in need.

Prior to the Haruspex's arrival to Isidor Burakh's funeral Clara, alongside Grace, watches as the Earth rejects Isidor's body. She watches Grace grow distressed about the burial and, upon his arrival, informs the Haruspex that she suspects Grace would take Isidor's place if she could. She theorizes to the Haruspex that the Earth may be rejecting his father because though he tore the Town apart in order to heal it, he never got to stitch the wound he made closed. She disapproves of Isidor's surgical methods - and, by extension, the Haruspex's - claiming that she would have done it differently, claiming that she works not with meat, but with souls; feelings.

Though she did not personally know Isidor Burakh (as he was already dead by the time she arrived in the Town) she still comes to Isidor Burakh's House to pay her respects to the man. While inside she is confronted by the Haruspex who demands to know why she is in his father's home. She reveals that through talking to a number of Townsfolk she has come to find that Isidor was quite beloved by the Town, and she wishes to understand why people thought of him so highly. She asks the Haruspex is he is going to live in his fathers house to which the Haruspex responds that no, he will not. He doesn't want to live in the home where his father was murdered.

Clara is involved with the tidings of the Mistresses, claiming that one day maybe she will be one too. She is also involved with the games of children, appearing in Notkin's Soul-and-a-Half Fortress when Patches falls ill. If the Haruspex has a Shmowder on his person she will urge him not to use it as to those who are already weak it can kill them rather than heal them.

She is temporarily adopted by the Saburov's, becoming the powerful daughter the pair had always wished for. Her stay in the Saburov household is short-lived as she leaves to protect them from crowds gathered around the Rod that believe she is the cause of the Plague. She appears to love and care for the two, asking the Haruspex to keep an eye on them - particularly Katerina Saburova.

Following the outbreak, Capella becomes obsessed with searching for her mother's memory. In some houses she hears a melody she says only her and her mother could known. She tells Clara of this. Though Clara searches she comes to the ultimate conclusion that it is not the spirit of the White Mistress and that there is no life after death - at least not in the way Capella hoped.

Following the arrival of the Military to the Town Clara's powers disappear. She does not know why she cannot heal anymore and is distressed by the occurrence, having promised Alexander Block that she was capable of miracles. She will beg the Haruspex to lie on her behalf, urging that he cure a patient of the Sand Plague so that she does not seem untrustworthy. On the final day she has failed to heal once more, having become caught up in a shootout between the two bands of the Military. She can be found at their camp with her hands stained red with blood. Clara claims that she has healed 300 people during the epidemic before her powers disappeared.

In the Diurnal Ending Clara can be found in both the Termitary and by the Cape. The Changeling in the Termitary will lament that her legs are failing, and berate the Haruspex for not realizing the scope of what he has done. The Clara in the Cape will have grown into her role, and is planning her future as a Mistress.

In the Nocturnal Ending one Clara takes her place as a Mistress atop the Polyhedron joining Grace, the Mistress of the Dead, and Taya Tycheek, the Mistress of Bulls. The other resides in the Abattoir, by the heart Chamber.

Pathologic: The Marble Nest
The Changeling does not appear in the Marble Nest, though she is noted as being alive.

Spoken Dialogue

 * → See Changeling/Spoken Dialogue

Description
"Clara had a dream. A foggy morning; having passed a wicket gate, she is now dawdling somewhere, piles of dry leaves rustling in her wake. A familiar voice calls out to her. She lifts her eyes and sees her own twin sister point at an old man convulsing and weeping in unbearable agony. Clara darts for the man to save him with her healing touch—but so does her sister! The girls exchange confused glances. This is the story of a thief girl who has chosen her own past, ceased to be the instrument of blind fate, and refashioned herself into a free miracle-worker."

Background
"Clara wakes up. Could the dream have been prophetic? She has prophetic dreams often, she's no longer surprised by them—she knows they are sent by the powers that want to warn the herald of what the future holds for her. There were a lot of clues hinting at the veracity of the message.

She does indeed know how to treat those in pain with her miraculous hands. She is indeed willing to ease their suffering. She truly strives to do the right thing! She loves her fellow beings. The girl is eager to do good deeds even if that requires her to go through pain and hardships...

Changeling wakes up at the edge of a pit in the ground. Sleep hasn't brought her comfort. Her back and her legs ache as though she has walked many miles. Her hands are covered in mud, there are traces of dried blood on her bare knees. It's dark. The dawn is a few hours away."

- "The Path of Logic" Route Introduction

While the other playable characters arrive through conventional means, the Changeling quite literally appears from nowhere: she is found at the bottom of a hole in the ground, which is—according to Grace—a freshly dug grave. Clara is the most ambiguous of the characters. She is believed to be either a thief or a miracle worker; either the Plague itself or a saint. In many respects, the aura of mystery around her is caused by the way she appears in the Town.

Throughout the course of the story, Clara reveals details of her past. Some details are true and some are false: in some dialogue options, the Changeling can lie intentionally.

Gameplay Abilities
The Changeling, unlike the other playable characters, is unable to use most of the weaponry found throughout the town, nor may she fight in the Circle of Suok. Instead, she has access to a unique gun known as the Derringer.

She has access to magical powers which are used in place of the normal unarmed combat: she can damage enemies within a short range and can also cure the Infected. Additionally, Clara can gather herbs and gamble on rat racing.

Changeling Route

 * → See The Changeling's Route

After waking up, Clara is taken in by Katerina and Alexander Saburov, and fulfills tasks on their behalf. At Katerina's urging, Clara's goal becomes to banish the plague by maintaining the Law.

Clara seems to rely upon "a Miracle" in saving The Town, and the belief that people can really change the world by repenting for their sins and making amends for them.

Spoken Dialogue

 * → See Changeling/Spoken Dialogue