Sometimes (not always) there is a "moderator". His/her (usually his) function is to "arrange" the bodies in "compositions" (very much like old quadrille dances).

8. Overt and Covert

OVERT actions can be compared to tips of icebergs. They continue in a COVERT, latent, forms even more vigorously than they do above surface. Earthquakes are preceded by tectonic shifts. Volcanoes erupt after the bulk of the volcanic activity is actually over underground.

9. Oh, God

We are all hostages of a narcissist, a master of manipulation, an embodiment of the principle of evil.
Some of us prefer to embrace our captor and collaborate with Him, Vichy style.
They are the religious.
Others engage in a futile, life-long battle against Him.
They are the atheists.
He exploits the former and destroys the latter.
Narcissists like me - here lies His real and only challenge, the seed of His only and humiliating failure.
We simply ignore Him. Not because He matters to us - but because NO ONE and NOTHING really matters to us.
Sometimes WE use HIM to obtain narcissistic supply - and then discard him.
And there is nothing He can do about it.
Except eat His heart out.
Bon apetit.

PS: The third kind, mine, call themselves agnostics and are often called by others "The Devil". Scott Peck identified narcissists as evil incarnate, the People of the Lie. We are not par of any theology. We are simply narcissists ...
(strikes a match off left horn, arranges forked tail comfortably).

next: Excerpts from the Archives of the Narcissism List Part 19