BadMoon Animistic Spirit Research

Animistic Spirit Lore (Main Topic)

Skill: Occult

Animistic Spirit Lore, Basic

Obscurity: Occult •
Progress: Neona, 20 successes

• 2 successes: Animistic thought maintains that everything in creation has a spirit of some kind. Though each system has a different criteria for what possesses such a spirit, the animistic world is one highly populated by a wide variety of spiritual entities of differing power. These spirits are called hithim (or hith singular) in the First Tongue.
  • Spirit Ranks (•)
• 5 successes: Spirits subsist on Essence (ulal in the First Tongue), a type of spiritual energy that moves with a kind of behavior similar to water: flowing, pooling, collecting, evaporating and re-condensing elsewhere. This energy is called Essence by many, although individual cultures also have names for it. Essence also has a "flavor" referred to as its Resonance.
  • Resonance (•)
• 7 successes: Spirits can most often be found at Loci (nahdar in the First Tongue), well-springs of Essence that occur in the world. They gather here to consume the Essence in the same way animals might gather at watering holes in the wild.
  • Loci (•)
• 10 successes: Though naturally occurring, spirits are somewhat rarely found. They primarily interact with the world through different Manifestations, or methods to reach out to the world of flesh. Spirits are all hungry for this kind of interaction, pursuing it the way addicts pursue a fix. Spirits are native to another realm, an animistic spirit realm often called the Shadow (Hisil in the First Tongue).
  • Manifestations (•)
• 12 successes: Spirits are native to another realm, an animistic spirit realm often called the Shadow (Hisil in the First Tongue.
  • Shadow (••)
• 14 successes: Animistic spirits wield two kinds of distinct power. The first is through their connection to specific themes and/or phenomena in the world, a power called Influence. The second are outright manifestations of spiritual power, called Numina.
  • Influences (••)
  • Numina (••)
• 20 successes: Animistic spirits can be roughly divided into five distinct "families" of spirits (although some refer to them as "nations"). These say more about the concepts they are associated with than any actual social structure. Spirits can, however, and do organize into several different forms of local social groupings, referred to as Broods.
  • Spirit Broods (••)
  • Spirit Nations (••)

Obscurity • Topics

Spirit Ranks

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: •
Progress: Neona 12 successes

• 3 successes: Spirits have ranks of power that are apparently tied to their level of spiritual power, which in turn establishes their role within the spiritual ecosystem.
• 5 successes: There are three common ranks of spirits: spirits that simply exist without interaction of any sort, spirits that operate on an instinctual level only based on their "theme" and spirits that operate with human-like sentience.
• 7 successes: Spirits that operate without any real interaction at all are sometimes simply called Reflections or Emanations - they exist merely because of the influence of something in the physical world existing, and the Shadow needing to create a reflection of that. They are very weak, subsisting on lesser Essence flows. They fulfill the role in the spiritual ecosystem that many plants do. In fact, because of this, they often take on very plant-like traits. (Muthra in the First Tongue)
• 9 successes: Spirits that operate on a primarily instinctual level are referred to as Gafflings by some occultists, while others further divide them into lesser and greater, giving them the titles of Squires and Knights. Their instinctual nature grants them the ability to move and use their spiritual power, but they almost always do so in accord with their Essential nature and Resonance. They usually have animal-like forms, even those that are not associated with animals. (Hursihim in the First Tongue; divided into hursih and hursah.)
• 12 successes: Truly potent spirits operate with sentience the equal or even superior of humanity. As a result, they often take on humanoid forms, and while their central desires are still related to their Resonance, they can plan and scheme in very human ways. They are called Jagglings by some occultists, with others dividing them into two ranks of power: Barons and Counts, according to their power. (Ensihim in the First Tongue; divided into ensih and ensah.)

Obscurity •• Topics

Spirit Nations

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Neona 7 successes

• 2 successes: Spirits all have a specific theme, in accordance with their Essential nature. This is tied to their Resonance.
  • Resonance (•)
• 5 successes: These kinds of themes align spirits together in a set of five Nations - they are more like scientific taxonomies of species than social allegiances, although more powerful spirits do sometimes regard the Nations with such affiliation.
• 7 successes: Generally speaking, a spirit is of one of five types: a Natural spirit, an Elemental spirit, a Celestial spirit, a Conceptual spirit, or an Artificial spirit.
  • Natural Spirits (••)
  • Elemental Spirits (••)
  • Celestial Spirits (••)
  • Conceptual Spirits (••)
  • Artificial Spirits (••)

Research on Specific Spirits

Consuming Fire (Fire Elemental)

Skill: Occult
Obscurity: ••
Progress: Elaine x successes, x rolls

• x successes: Consuming Fire spirits are shapechangers, though they often take humanoid forms, with brick-red skin, golden hair and burning gold-white eyes. They are surrounded in a nimbus of wavering, super-hot air.
• x successes: Consuming Fire spirits are entities of rage and destruction. They are vindictive and given to bouts of great violence.
• x successes: Consuming Fire spirits wield Influence over Fire. They are capable of peering past the Gauntlet, and of manifesting bodies for themselves.
• x successes: Consuming Fire spirits are capable of projecting gouts of fire, and of controlling open flames (even from the other side of the Gauntlet).
• x successes: The ban of the Consuming Fire spirit is that it must consume an object (of at least Size 2) with its fire at least once per month. Its bane is fresh spring water.