living animals resisting the Embody ritual

[Plane]

T160

The body is constructed from whatever special materials the GM feels fit the tradition and setting: the bodies of animals or humans (living or dead)

Other "Path of Spirit" rituals have notes about resistance:

160 Banish "The spirit resists with Will."
161 Exorcise "the spirit resists with Will-5"
162 Spirit Trap "The spirit resists with the higher of Will or ST"
162 Summon "Reluctant ones – and most are – resist with Will-3."

as does Path of Cunning ones:

140 Cloud Memory "The target may attempt to resist normally"
140 Hallucination "If the target fails to resist,"
141 Hand of Glory "must try to resist the ritual, using Will-2"
141 Liar's Charm "Victims don’t get a resistance roll against the ritual"

I'm thinking this is probably resolved by T133 under Resisting Rituals:

A ritual’s target can usually resist – with Will, unless the ritual’s description indicates otherwise.

If you're using multiple animal ("body made of 100 kittens") or humans as your ritual components (trying to attach their bodies) while they are still alive, is this sort of an "all or nothing" where you'd roll separate contests against every component and if even 1 fails, the entire thing fails?

Or would it just mean a smaller end result ("body made of 50 kittens") ?

T130 "Multiple Targets" under "Group Defenses and Resistance" (top of right column) that "the target group makes a single resistance roll" which initially seems pretty all or nothing (0 kittens or 100 kittens). However "Number Effected" reveals this is only the case for 10 or less kittens: for 11+ your minimum is 10+MoS so barely-passed (MoS 0) only gets 10/11 kittens.

I think "success" instead of "victory" is critical here: if it said victory then you would also either add the MoF of the failed resistance roll or subtract the lower-than-attack's MoS of the resistance roll.

T135 for Energy Accumulating, "Multiple Targets" similarly mentions for groups of 11+ to consult T137 for "Effectiveness roll" to determine "Number effected" (T130)

I'm wondering how "Number Effected" would influence the stats of the body though. Presumably a 10-kitten body is less impressive than a 20-kitten body. T160 does say "The body’s abilities depend on what it’s made from"

"grant any advantages, disadvantages, or attribute modifiers that the GM agrees fit with the materials used" should perhaps have GMs assigning stat caps in relation to the components?

IE if kittens have 1 HP each, then you would need 1 kitten per 1 HP you wanted the body to have? No "I'm making a body out of just 2 kittens but it has 200 HP" for example?

It mentions "the body falls lifeless" when a possessing spirit crosses a barrier that stops it... I understand that for already-dead components (ie dead kittens, marble statues) but what about bodies made of living creatures which are still alive?

Wouldn't they just regain control and move under their own power, instead of moving under the spirit's guidance? Or does something about this actually paralyze living creatures and make them immobile until it ends?

If it didn't I'd assume you'd need to do something like physically tie the kittens together to prevent the body from just falling apart.

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as for non-living stuff, I'm guessing they count as having Will 0. I don't know if that should mean they don't resist at all, or just that they resist very badly (ie even the ideal roll of 3 is still MoF 3). There is no "fail by less" option to win a Quick Contest with rituals though (the initial "attack" must succeed) so it sounds like a resistance roll (which everyone can make) with an attribute of less than 3 (which allows MoS 0 to tie and defeat a barely-successful ritual) is pointless.

This note for example might not apply to inanimate targets:

If he isn’t aware that he’s the target of a ritual, then he’s normally assumed to sense the supernatural intrusion sub-
consciously and oppose it instinctively, whether or not it’s actually hostile.

You presumably need to have at least "Will 1" or "IQ 1" to have a "subconscious" or an "instinct", yes? Maybe living plants have something along those lines (Plant Empathy and all that) but dead stuff?

course that could depend on if a spirit is present inside a corpse (some ghosts are bound to it, and even possess the corpse, even if they can't actually do anything like move it around) and maybe kittens/tulips still have ghosts that might resist because since they possess the corpse, they resist using their will even if the corpse itself is now a distinct entity with Will 0?