Claim

Claim or right refers to a person or entity's metaphysical ownership of something. Victories over someone, known as coup, can undermine or strengthen a claim over something by counting coup.<ref name=":0">Bristow: My dear, do you know the meaning of the idea of coup? Or of claim?

You’ll have to round out your education at this school, should you decide to return. Verona, these are concepts that apply to practices that would take. If you wanted to steal a body for yourself, wresting it from its prior occupant, you would want to do this with an eye to the supporting principles of coup and claim, or you would risk wasted effort or wounded karma.

We use coup in the sense of a ‘masterful or superior move’, understand? What you did here, that works fine for counting coup. Getting yourself a win, an advantage, or an edge. It is through counting coup that one can whittle away the claim of the owner. If it can be dramatic, then there are forces out there that appreciate that and will give it credit.

Verona: Mess with someone enough and you can possess them easier. Or take their things?

Bristow: Or take their things, yes.

Claim, then, is the principle of ownership. Birthright, ritual, or more mundane things like having something for longer give one an established claim. The implement ritual gives a very strong claim. You do know what an implement is?

If one’s claim is strong enough and their power established, then what is lost will be found again. An implement that is cast away will find its way back, as things find their way to Ms. Robertjon.

I’ll tell you now. I’m confident in my claim on my tenants. Contracts are signed. They are part of a bigger arrangement and that arrangement is mine to wield from beginning to end and thereafter.

Verona: Well, that’s creepy, Lawrence.

You’re telling me they’re your captives? No matter what I say or do, Sharon here is going to go slinking back to you? She’ll forgive you?

Bristow: She may not forgive me, or even like me.

Shellie most certainly will have her reservations. I can manage her. But they will come back. And the will find reasons or reasons will find them, for them to stay in the rooms I’ve assigned, unless you kill them.

Which I don’t believe you will. This is what I do. and it’s what I specialize in and have specialized in since I was ten. Taking and keeping. It used to be things and now it’s people. - transcript of Bonus Material: Outgoing Call</ref><ref name=":1">It’s petty, isn’t it?  Counting coup.  If you have a claim to something, it finds its way to you because you have more right to it.  In contested ownership, two or more people have a claim and they play their game of tug of war.  If you count coup against someone, you find those petty moments, or the subtle ways you can undermine their claim to something, and effectively increase your own claim.  Each win a tug in your direction.  Even if you simply attack their character, if you score any wins at all, well… life rewards winners. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref><ref name=17z/> Although the concept is primarily associated with matters of property, such as Magic Items and land, it is broadly applicable to almost anything<ref name=":6">"Let’s quickly go over the terms.  Coup, claim, ownership, inheritance, all things rooted in possessions.  If you took the possession class this morning, you’ll have heard some of this come up.  They matter if you care about keeping ownership of your body, and these are things you’ll use regularly, even if-" - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> and has some overlap with Connections.

Effects

Things tend to find their way to the person with the most claim to them.<ref name=":1" /> The strong claim over an Implement causes it to find its way back to its owner. Claim over a person will cause them to find reasons to stay with you.<ref name=":0" />

Claim also influences the effectiveness of magic. Claim over one's body is important in resisting possession or similar.<ref name=":6"/><ref name=":0" /><ref>I basically crawled on my belly through shallow ruins for months to get back to my body.  Found it occupied.  Had to evict the tenant.  Thankfully, only an echo.  Thankfully, I had more claim, I just needed one victory, while she had to fend me off every time- Exceprt from Let Slip 20.b</ref> Claim over a bound Other can make it difficult for magic to summon it.<ref name=":2">“If he’s claimed by another, a necromancer or an enemy of yours, Mrs. Casabien, Eloise will handle that as well.  If you’d attended this afternoon’s class on claim-”

“I didn’t fall asleep until six in the morning.  I thought I should sleep if I could and be sharp,” Jessica said.  “I slept through it.”

“Not to worry,” Alexander said.  “If you’d attended you’d know what I mean when I say Eloise will use this ritual to make a claim that is almost certainly stronger than what the person holding onto him is using.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> The Demesne ritual generally requires an effective claim to the space it is to be performed in (i.e. owning it.)<ref name=":3">“I was going to ask about the demesne.”

“What about it?”

“Any objections?  And do you know of any spaces that are in Kennet, but not already owned?”

“In the modern world, that gets tricky,” Matthew said.  “If it’s not the province of the city, it’s often Parks Canada.  That’s a hard one.  Normally a practitioner gets around it by owning the space they claim.”

“I don’t think we’d want to use our parents’ homes.”

“You’d need the permission of your parents, because their right to the space exceeds yours.”
[...]
“A lot depends on what we could get, in the way of property the government doesn’t have a claim to,” Matthew said. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.6</ref><ref>

What if it is in a high rise which gets demolished? Would fate prevent the demolishment of the building?

If you have a demesnes you generally want to actually have a claim to the territory. You don't claim a demesnes in an apartment high rise you don't own, because that leaves you without protections and generally fucks you when you get evicted and the spirits go, "Whelp, yeah, sucks, but poof, demesnes disintegrates, bye." Most rituals are just going to require ownership of the place (or for the place to be sufficiently neutral) as a matter of how they're enacted.

Outside of the mundane world, if you own the space, have claim to it, and everything else, it's generally pretty darn hard to actually demolish. It's an extension of the practitioner and it's a rare, rare case where you'll actually be able to do substantial damage to the demesnes without also defeating the practitioner who lays claim to it... and once you pick that fight you're fighting a practitioner on their home turf. Explosives aren't liable to work right, fire doesn't kindle, flooding does minimal damage, holes in walls self-repair, yadda yadda, and while you're trying to knock down a building that's resisting the effort, the practitioner gets a heads up and then suddenly appears behind you, having arrived faster than they should've. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref><ref>Once it’s taken, it’s taken, right?  You can’t have something for your demesnes if someone else has already claimed that ground. - Excerpt from Breach 3.2</ref> Magics that allow one to extend some of your Demesne outward are generally dependent on no other claim being present to oppose them.<ref name=":5">In any event, when these effects take hold, the claim one has over an area is exceedingly important.  Something as simple as an innocent with a deed to the property being impacted is a barrier to entry.  Nature has its own claimants, in beast and in the Others that may reside there.  Many of these effects, additional features of the Demesne, and the routes that may open up are often going to be rooted in lost, forgotten, and abandoned areas.  The nomad may well thread their way through the part of town where houses aren’t occupied and don’t sell, enter their Demesne, and then exit to a place so inhospitable that even the animals don’t dwell there. - excerpt from Demesnes, quoted in Bonus Material: Demesnes Text</ref><ref>Forced to deal with the problem, he deals with the ghouls as best as he can, gaining some added protections as he brings the fight closer to his Demesne, as its Sanctuary extends out for him.  This protection only lasts as long as a greater Self, power, or claim to the area doesn’t override it, and the arrival of the original ghoul does so. - excerpt from Demesnes, quoted in Bonus Material: Demesnes Text</ref><ref>His Demesne makes his movements more fluid and flexible; he has a means of accessing it, and with the right key and the right knock, any door without an active claim on it that isn’t being watched can be an entrypoint to his place of power, or an egress. - excerpt from Demesnes, quoted in Bonus Material: Demesnes Text</ref>

Acquiring Claim

Claim can be held by, and to, almost anything. It can be held by individuals, groups (although this can be problematic if the group is not united),<ref>“Why do they get counted together?”

“Why indeed?  Because groups can claim more easily than individuals can, if those groups are unified, and those three are,” Alexander said, looking like he was having too much fun. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> animals,<ref name=":5" /> even quasi-sentient concepts like The Abyss.<ref>“This demesne goes unclaimed, belonging to none by right or establishment…”
[...]
“The Abyss has a claim to all places left unowned.  As agent of the Abyss, I move to expedite this claim,” Rose said.

The Barber’s head snapped up, looking at her.

“Johannes is finished, and with him go all ties that anchor this demesne to this world.” - Excerpt from Judgement 16.2</ref>

Even minor, petty victories can help in a contest over ownership,<ref name=":1" /> although the spirits appreciate dramatic shifts.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Yes, when you emerge from hiding or when you want to use what you’ve claimed, that may be the pivotal moment that claim matters.  Everything can slip from your grasp at once.  The spirits do like their drama. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> Examples of coup can include almost anything - gainsaying, physical violence, verbal jousting, undermining reputation, family, or finances, etc.<ref name=":4">“Tell me, what are some fundamental ways one could count coup?” Alexander asked, holding the slip.  “Yes, Tymon?”

“Gainsaying,” Tymon said.

“Good,” Alexander said, pointing the slip of paper at him.

Lucy’s hand went up.  Alexander pointed the slip at her.

“Forswearing,” Lucy said.

“That, Ms. Ellingson, is a winner take all situation.  But the unwary can just as easily lose it all,” Alexander said, maintaining a slight smile.  “Be very careful.”

Avery held back from saying ‘drop a demesne on it’.  Which would have been really unwise.

As if he was reading her mind, he smiled, a bit lopsided, in a way that almost made a wink, waving the ticket their way.

Like he was saying ‘good, point for staying silent’.

“Punch them in the nose?” Hadley Hennigar called out.

“Do raise your hand, but yes.”

“And punching them in the throat?”

“I’m only going to count the one case of physical violence.  Anyone else?”

A hand went up.  “You said undercutting them verbally.”

“Yes.  Verbal attacks as well as physical.  Attacks on reputation, finances, family, connections,” Alexander said. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> Tactics such as the Rule of Three or openly declaring your intentions can cause the spirits to pay more attention to your coup, making them more impactful.<ref>“But these things can be subtle.  You may be left wondering how much of a difference it really made.  So tell me, how can you secure it, or better tie them together?”
Hands were going up all over the room, now.

“Rule of three,” Verona said.  “Driving it in three times.”

“Good.”

“Declare your intentions.”

“Very good, yes.  Swear you’ll get something and the spirits will be watching closer for each punch in the throat, verbal retort, and gainsaying.  Each will land with more emphasis.  Of course, there’s a risk there." - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> Even a failed attempt at something can be worth more than doing nothing, reminding the spirits of your attempts to claim the thing if nothing else.<ref>Any guesses?  Phrase it as a question if you’re not sure, but even a wrong answer is worth some credit.  To try and to fail is worth more than not trying at all.  If nothing else, it reminds the spirits you exist and you’re relevant. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.5</ref> The Demesne ritual centers around establishing a claim against all who might contest it, a claim so strong that even the spirits can only enter your property given your permission,<ref>The ritual places a heavy emphasis on claiming one space, to a degree above and beyond even the influence of common spirits, who must be given permission to enter.  The ritual, explained in some depth in a future chapter, requires a challenge to establish this claim against all who would take it. - excerpt from Demesnes, quoted in Demesnes Text</ref> and this claim extends to influencing mundane contests over ownership of the space.<ref name=":4" /><ref>To better allow for these private moments, and to help freeze the escalating rent in an expensive city, she claims her apartment. - excerpt from Demesnes, quoted in Demesnes Text</ref>

In addition to taking, claim can also be generated by more abstract things like rituals,<ref name=":2" /> inheritance, how long you've owned something, etc.<ref name=":0" /> Legal ownership generates a claim, which means in the modern world most "wild" spaces are claimed by the government.<ref name=":3" /> A familiar has some automatic claim to their master's Demesne.<ref>The biggest and most obvious issue is when the familiar enters the picture.  As an extension of the practitioner, they have a claim to some of the place of power. - Excerpt from Demesnes, quoted in Interlude 2.x</ref> The Abyss and by extension it's Scourges have a claim to all unowned things.<ref name=":0" />

Receiving permission from the owner of a thing can grant one claim over it, or at least prevent their claim from conflicting with your attempt to use it.<ref name=":3" /><ref>The words ‘come inside me’ took a different meaning for Teresa on a spring break away from University.  Her lover was a foreigner with an amazing French accent, slender and gorgeous, the kind of guy she could bring home to her mom and shut the impossible-to-please woman up.  Turns out he was a faerie of the dark summer court, and an exchange of words that might be heard in any bedroom was the petition and invitation that let him slide beneath her skin. - Pact Dice: Hosts</ref>

Eating food while in certain realms is a known way for that place or that places owner to have claim over you, if Hospitality wasn't invoked of course.

Collectors(dealing with items) and associated practices such as cartographers(dealing with realms) or Turnkeys (dealing with people) manage claim over their various foci on multiple levels,<ref name="PD">In terms of related schools, there are those who hold onto the visceral elements of claim, manipulation of form and function, and the arrangement of those things that have been claimed. The Bookbinder has a book of monsters or a deck of cards that trap visceral entities in a format that lets them be pulled out of thin air, unleashing them from pages of the book or a card. The Ritual Killer murders specific and karmically important individuals and takes trophies, with the idea of fulfilling patterns and gaining supernatural benefits from that pattern. The Cartographer collects worlds, often of a particular stripe, and arranges them together with an atlas or globe they craft. The Turnkey collects key people, into a working group, workplace, jail, or other arrangement, and draws power from the links while empowering those she has and confounding those she doesn't. The Excavator seeks artifacts, papers, and tracts with associated lore, to build a key picture that unveils more about the world, even to the point of creating new history or rewriting reality by finding fundamental truths. Finally, the Armatura seeks out armor, skins, and special wards that each confer immunities, with the intent of warding themselves against multiple kinds of harm.

Those who keep the tools aspect of things will dwell on the items and how to bring out the best in those items, often with an assortment of items. The Unsheathed will transform an object into another object with a possible translation in function, often creating weapons or handling short-term crises. The Hatcher draws out the spirits of items into immaterial or physical forms and lets personifications of the item walk around. The Heartforger seeks out or fabricates spiritually, echoic, or incarnate-relevant scenarios and events and crystallizes that event into objects they keep with them, and Chosen are gifted items by a higher power, often with less items but swiftly escalating and shifting power as they pass trials and represent their power. - Wildbow on Discord</ref> as do the various rapacious practices over what they're taking.

Notable Practitioners

• The Musser Family<ref>The Mussers - A large family with a lot of money, members are scattered internationally. They’re a loose sorcerer (dabbles but well established in their niche) family emphasizing war practices, coup, claim, and items. - 15.6 Spoilers, Keeping Tabs, Thunder Bay</ref><ref name=17z>“My family is a premier practitioner family studying the art of claim, of possession, taking, collecting, and of rituals like this very one we’re within right now.  When it comes to these contests, there can be a vast weight of claim on one side.  Such an individual could unilaterally decide on a fight to the death, or a game of chess.  Closer to the middle, the individual with more claim could suggest multiple options, leaving the other party to decide one.  At the middle, they must negotiate.  This is how things are.”
  
  “And I’m arguing we have you beat, sorry.”
  
  “Would you argue it before a judge?  I know you think they’re biased in your favor.  But at the end of this, they will rule in my favor, even if they don’t want to.  Because the metaphorical jigsaw puzzle needs its last pieces, and because I’m from a family that’s studied, masterered, and firmly established the weight of claim.  They have made all that information available to me, and I am an exceptionally good student.” - Excerpt from Gone and Done It 17.z</ref>
  • Abraham Musser
  • Reid Musser

Notable Others

• the Beorgmann
• Contes

References

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