Maple Shade Spirit Lore Research

Spirit Lore (Main Topic)

Skill: Occult
This topic concerns the very basic information about all manner of spirits.

Spirit Lore, Basic

Obscurity: Occult 0 (General Knowledge Test applies)
Progress: 1 success • 0 rolls

• 1 success: Simple awareness of the notion of supernatural entities of all kinds without natural physical bodies. The most commonly known are ghosts.
  • Ghost Lore (0)

Obscurity •

Bans & Banes

Obscurity: Occult 1
Lore concerning the occult prohibitions and spiritual requirements many spiritual entities are afflicted with.
Progress: 8 successes • 2 rolls

• 3 successes: Spirits have two forms of limitation: Bans and Banes. Bans are injunctions that either force them to perform some kind of action, inflicting harm or other limitation if they fail to do so, or that forbid them from performing some kind of action, inflicting harm if they do. Some kinds of forbiddances just make it literally impossible for the spirit to perform that sort of action. Banes are symbolically connected items or substances of the world of flesh that harm or otherwise limit a spirit.
• 7 successes: The more potent the spirit, the rarer the Ban or Bane. By the same token, however, the rarer the Ban or Bane, the more potent its effect on the spirit in question.

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Manifestations

Obscurity: Occult 1
Lore concerning the myriad states of being that ephemera pass through as part of their natural cycles.
Progress: 8 successes • 1 roll

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• 2 successes: Spirits are referred to as "ephemera" because it is what they are made of with regards to their existence in the physical world. When within the bounds of this world, they typically exist in a state called "twilight," which is not a place, but a state of being: they exist without bodies, and utterly invisible, with the ability to pass through physical structures. Their "bodies" are constructed of pure spiritual essence, in a form referred to as "corpus." A spirit that for some reason has its corpus torn apart may be destroyed, but just as often reforms elsewhere, depending on the situation.
  • (Twilight Manifestation)
  • Twilight (•)
• 5 successes: While in this state, some spirits can dissolve their corpus willingly as a means of escaping a situation; this is referred to as "discorporating." Some spirits may also sharpen their corpus with spiritual power, causing it to become visible to those with physical eyes.
  • (Discorporate Manifestation, Image Manifestation)
• 7 successes: Spirits in the physical world lose their spiritual essence as a consequence of simply existing there, as the physical world erodes their existence. In order to combat this, many spirits form what are called "fetters," or connections to people, places, or things that match up with a spirit's resonance. This forces the ephemera to remain nearby whatever they're fettered to, although some can unfetter themselves for short periods to undertake other tasks before fleeing back to their fetters.
  • (Fetter Manifestation, Unfetter Manifestation)

Twilight

Obscurity: Occult 1
Lore concerning the ephemeral state of spirit bodies.
Progress: –

Obscurity ••

Influence

Obscurity: Occult 2
Lore concerning the powers of spirits of strengthen, weaken, and control worldly manifestations of occult principles to which they are tied.
Progress: –