Spirit

Spirits are things firmamental and fundamental to the Otherverse. Following the theory of animism everything housed spirits, even an object as simple as a pencil could have a host of spirits inside it, representations of the purposes the object had, its nature, its elemental makeup, ownership, and many, many other qualities.

Spirits can gain power from being paid respects, or from having rituals or ceremonies dedicated to them. A lack of spiritual superstition will also cause spirits to weaken over time. This power can also seemingly come from people seeing events, and believing that they were caused by spirits or supernatural forces.<ref>“Can we ask the spirits directly?” Lucy asked.

“No.  Some places ye can, but they’re tha places where men pay heed to tha spirits and spiritual, ta superstition, ta symbols and meanings in tea leaves, aye?  They put a peedie amount of tharselves in the spirit, an’ the spirit gets a peedie bit of humanity.”

“Enough humanity to talk?” Verona asked.

Alpeana nodded.

“I would have thought we were more spiritual than that,” Lucy said.  “We have churches.  A lot of people put stock in religion, in Kennet.”

“Aye, but not in tha way that counts, see?  Not many who see tha heavens crack, flash, and rumble, cleaving a tree in twain, and think there might be somethin’ to it.” - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.6</ref>

Types

There exist innumerable spirits, ranging from nature spirits like those that dwell in the air to those that dwell in stones, elemental spirits that embody elements like fire or water, or ones that embody concepts such as predators, body parts, objects,<ref>Procession of spirits files through…
(Doodles of spirits moving along the page, many with ‘ghost’ tails: bearded spirit, burning spirit, walking spirit, small spirit, serious face spirit, wobbly wang spirit, boob spirit, dog spirit, spirit holding stop sign, buff spirit).
…and get sent off to the edges of Kennet. - 3.3 Spoilers – Timelines</ref> time, and even countries.<ref name=R1>

Going off of incarnations, could a country be a incarnation? Would these incarnations engage in battle to save their own hide, or were they powerless to do anything?

A country could not be an incarnation, as an incarnation is generally an idea. Death, war, famine, faith, conquest, dream, desire, destruction, etc.

A country does have a spirit, however. Powerful city mages & nomads sometimes commune with these spirits. These spirits don't tend to go to war any more than a city will uproot itself and fight. It will negotiate, bargain, threaten more nebulous consequences, and do so in reflection of the spirit of the people. It can be swayed and it can be broken or occupied by foreign sentiments. - Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

If placed on a hierarchy ambient spirits are the 'lowest' tier, though they make up everything.<ref>“A family, brought together by tragic and sudden loss?” the spirit asked, like she was negotiating.  “A powerful moment.”

“I dunno,” Verona said.  “That’s a shitty thing network dramas do in the second to last or last episode of a season where they’re running out of ideas.” - Excerpt from Dash to Pieces 11.11</ref> When spirits become more complex, such as prescriptive, they become more powerful, and can become changed from their original pattern, and will likely draw in other spirits too.<ref>Some practitioners theorize that when a spirit becomes prescriptive rather than descriptive is when it's most prone to corruption.  This obviously includes any time a spirit is utilized with practice to alter events.  As spirits become aggressive (often stemming from the fact they relate to aggressive things) they start to impose their ideas elsewhere, usually by latching onto key people, things, and events.  A spirit of accusation latches onto an abusive partner, causing events to escalate, exaggerate, and if left completely unmanaged, distort reality.  Most annoying to practitioners handling these events, one proscriptive spirit tends to open the doors for others.  As one gets to the middle stage of its aggressive development, another three or four might spring up in the general area.  Areas with high spiritual activity or close connections to spirits will similarly cause more prescriptive spirits to spring up.

Prescriptive/aggressive spirits have the most free rein when they affect those who are distanced and detached from reality.  That isn't to say they won't affect those in public areas, but when they do so, they'll keep things close to the vest.  One might think of this as a red flag, or a warning sign.  That same accusatory spirit will not really change events, but will be visible to those so old, young, or infirm that their perception could be doubted - and to practitioners.  To others, it appears as an ordinary event.

Spotting such an aggressive spirit is often a groanworthy moment for practitioners, as it essentially necessitates that they take time out of their day to handle the spirit and investigate to see if there's another, stronger spirit that opened the way to that spirit springing forth.  Ignored, they are like weeds in a garden.  Thankfully, at least, all but the strongest aggressive spirits are very manageable with basic practice.  A good task for new practitioners and apprentices. - Wildbow on Discord</ref>

Spirits can grow and evolve over time. Complex spirits are those that have absorbed multiple different spirits, and possibly related things like echoes, becoming less singleminded and possibly more human (although still usually with a "theme".)<ref>“I bring up the shamanism because I noticed a disturbance and I found the Girl by Candlelight. A complex spirit. Remember how Edith just said you can have all those individual things in a twig? Those things can fall away or separate, and attach to something else. An echo, or a ghost if you prefer to call it that, or whatever event shook them loose shook enough free that the stray spirits were able to clump together. They form into something coherent, and the complex spirit that results can be a fleeting existence or a concrete one that gets its rougher edges sanded off by time.”

“Were you more concrete?” Verona asked.

“I was and am fleeting,” Edith said. “Practitioners have a responsibility to tidy up messes and keep ordinary people from being inconvenienced. Matthew followed a trail of small fires and sightings to me. The ghost of a girl who suffocated on smoke in a house fire. The emotions and spirits shed in a roadside, candlelit vigil for a teenage girl who died in a car accident. A child’s pyromania, manifested in anxiety and confusion, cast away as the child grew up. These things and other, smaller things found each other and were bound together.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.3</ref> when they aren't created whole cloth by some Deity.<ref>“Can you practice?” Verona asked. “Matthew mentioned it. It’s been sort of vague.”

“I can’t Awaken because Awakening presumes some measure of innocence, and I am far from that. I’m Other. The full omnibus of spirits don’t answer me, new practices would rebuke me or fail to respond, gods don’t draw particular power from my worship so much as they would create things like me in exchange for the worship of people. At best, I can use practice-like behavior to do things I can already do, better. Burning, fire, light, smoke, and things related to that.” - Excerpt from Out on a Limb 3.5</ref> The self is arguably a Complex Spirit.<ref name=":18">“The part of you that connects to the Sight isn’t physical.  It’s your Self, your soul, your ‘you’.  The complex spirit or fingerprint that makes up all the parts of you that are distinct and unique when put together as a whole.  It adheres to patterns, adjusting and adapting by scales that have nothing to do with muscles or physical health.” - Excerpt from Lost for Words 1.7</ref>

Spirit King

Also known as Lord or High Spirits, among many other titles, spirits that reach this level are comparable to fully substantiated incarnations though covering a much broader concept.<ref>The color of a lemon could be represented in a tiny lemon-shaped smear of yellow with legs, while a lordly spirit could be the spirit of all art and culture in a greater geographical region.
[...]
Lord Spirits or High spirits with Incarnation-like say over major aspects of things. - PACT DICE: Spirits</ref>

Petitioner

Main article: Petitioner

Indweller

An animating spirit which can animate anything.<ref>But an indweller spirit was something that had come up in a class with Graubard. Verona figured it might’ve been her first enchanting class, actually. Indwellers were spirits who took on roles as animating forces. Such as a spirit animating a doll, which was vital for Graubard, the big dollmaker in the region. Or a suit of armor.

Or, in this case, a corpse.Excerpt from Hard Pass 22.1</ref> Used by Dollmakers, Necromancers and other practices.

Uses

Spirits were the most basic and oldest option when it came to manipulating the physical world through the esoteric and act as connections and mediums for intentions and power. Because of the different types of spirits they are used in many arts and a variety of ways, making Shamanism, which utilizes spirits, the root of arts such as Pyromancy and Chronomancy.

Simple spirits aren’t that smart, generally speaking, and are more like small animals, in terms of their capacity to understand things  as they view things as a web of connections. Like animals, you can train or bait them, and they can have many uses. They can divert the attention of non-practitioners or be utilized to manipulate connections, often through the use of sigils and runes. They can also possess people if a set of sigils are inked onto them or items.

Spirits judge all existence and right the wrongs, so they also act as witnesses to vows and oaths, capable of Forswearing people for breaking them. They are the arbiters of everything and prefer it when things are simple and easy, which can earn their favor. Shamans utilize them to this end by contracting more powerful or useful spirits into their service.

Let it be known though that spirits listen to those who utilize them and fulfill their request through sacrifices of a power source, so if there's more than one person calling upon them then their loyalty may be divided or subverted if they are familiar with a practitioner they may take sides.

Weaknesses

Like many immaterial things, if a spirit grows too weak it may be pulled into The Ruins and digested, and the Ruins are extremely hazardous for them.

If the thing a spirit represents is altered, the spirit may be harmed as well. For example a shop spirit might be blinded if the shop windows were broken.<ref>His eyes, as he looks up, look more like glass than actual eyes, and that glass is broken, the cuts bleeding freely. [...] "I'm the store," the man answers Jojo. "I'm this building. I'm afraid I'm blinded- they broke the upstairs windows. But I think I can help you..." - Mile End: Session 1</ref>

Notable Spirits

• Alabasters
  • Alabaster Doe of the Ontario region
• Laird's Zeitgeist - A spirit of time that dwells inside Laird's pocket watch and serves as his familiar.
• Predator Spirit - A Nature spirit described as the hawk, the wolf, the fox, the wild cat, all bundled up into one thing. When leashed to a person it made them stronger and faster, but it became too deeply bound to them and turned them into something Other.<ref>the familiar mention in pact</ref>
• Animal Spirits
  • Tortoise Spirits
  • Elephant Spirits
  • Kappas?
  • Snowdrop, Lost Opossum Spirit
  • Unidentified Squirrel Spirit<ref> - [Another angle, another realm by which she could get closer to the House on Half Street. The Spirit World unfolded around her, cloudy, every detail slightly detached, littered with little living representations of concepts that would be left to labels and ideas otherwise. Writing appeared on many trees, and figures stood here and there that were, much like Snowdrop, representative of the local wildlife. A chubby kid with a cartoon squirrel on his shirt watched from a high branch. Excerpt] from Gone and Done It 17.13</ref>
• Spirit of Patriotism<ref name="R1" /> - Mentioned as the patron of the Queen's Man<ref>Judgment 16.3</ref>
• Girl by Candlelight - complex fire spirit possessing Edith James
• Spirit of Montreal - a powerful spirit that has ascended to become a Lord and minor Deity.<ref>The Spirit of Montréal was a spirit of trade, then a spirit of the city, then a lesser god, among other things.  An ever-changing spirit that has settled down for now. - Mile End: Awakening</ref>
• Kennet perimeter spirits
• Exult Wrought in Abundance - A Spirit Lord

References

<references/>