Bugge

A Bugge, also known as a Storied Spirit, is something akin to a story that has taken physical form. They are among the Others that can be called Imaginary Friends or Urban Legends.<ref name="ccbeck">“Mr. Rudbeck is a Fancy, an old version of a Bugge or Buggane, or an old version of an Urban Legend, though I despise how imprecise that particular term is. In an era before the printing press, certain ideas or glyphs would take hold, recur in the public consciousness, and find something to latch onto or manifest within. The recurring story or idea feeds the Fancy, and the Fancy can, on rare occasion, become crafty enough to perpetuate the story that feeds it. Mr. Rudbeck is one such Fancy, and attained a level of influence approaching that of a lesser divinity.” - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.1</ref><ref name="bestiary1">BUGGE: Also Storied Spirit, ‘A Fancy’ (In a slightly different context), Imaginary Friend (not to be confused with some other interpretations or cases), Urban Legend (again, not to be confused) - Bestiary: Bugge</ref>

Nature

Abilities/Behavior

A Bugge's most distinctive trait is their ability to feed (usually passively) off a particular story or idea in the Innocent public consciousness.<ref name="ccbeck"/>

Reactive<ref name = "bestiary">Bestiary: Bugge</ref>

Weaknesses

Most Bugges only manifest once, usually for less than 10 minutes. Less than one in a hundred last for more than a day.<ref name = "bestiary4">Background: The insistent voice of an innocent can strike the same chords or guide the spirits in the same fashion that a practitioner might, and a story told enough times in enough voices can, if a vessel is available, lead to the formation of a Bugge. Some loose example cases could include a child that regularly and consistently draws their imaginary friend for some time, with others joining in or adding to the mythology, or a graffiti artist might stop mid-word after hearing a car hit someone, running to the body, with photos capturing the scene and word in close association, the half-written word becoming a ‘remember her’ kind of motif. Most Bugge are fleeting, and most will manifest as semi-corporeal spirits for a single event only, so briefly lived that it is hard to catalogue or track them to any degree of accuracy.

Because of this, though the word ‘Bugge’ comes from Middle-English, it can be used as a way of referring to spirit-specific, non-practitioner-derived ‘bugs’ in the metaphorical system, with some saying they append the ‘ge’ to the end of ‘bug’ to mark it as practitioner specific. For every Bugge that becomes something more, at least one hundred last for less than a day, and the vast majority of those one hundred last for less than ten minutes. Further, some Bugges do find traction, but do not exist as more than a repeating glyph with obscure origin and sometimes no human source for a given appearance, with the ‘super S stussy’ being a commonly cited example. If such a glyph is ‘raised up’, such as by association with a murder, a greater conspiracy theory, or by a celebrity getting it tattooed on them, and if this raising is enough to elevate it beyond its casual use, it may become active. Otherwise it is the equivalent of Spirit-world wildlife that encroaches on the real world, and is considered inactive.

Much of this text will focus on the active Bugge who lasts beyond twenty-four hours, as other Bugges aren’t of any consequence, nor do they require any attention or offer much use. In the briefest summation, the Bugge arises as a story, imagination or symbol that finds something material to latch on to, then if given an excuse, the story feeds the Bugge, and the Bugge feeds the story, sometimes to disastrous effect.
- Bestiary: Bugge</ref>

They are not usually self-aware enough to deliberately perpetuate the story that feeds them (although the rare few that do can become quite powerful.)<ref name="ccbeck"/>

Alien structure can work against them.

Formation

Bugges form from repeated Patterns among Innocents being picked up by the Spirits.<ref name = "bestiary4"/>

Use By Practitioners

Most frequently encountered by Sympaths and other Deals-focused Practices. Shamans also intract with them, but with some risk.<ref name="bestiary2">Relevant Schools: Sympath, to a lesser degree any Deals school. Shamanism, with caveats (runaway danger). - Bestiary: Bugge</ref> Technomancers have their own terms and classifications for Technomancy-specific Bugges.<ref>Technomancy maintains a glossary of specific terms and roles for Technomancy-specific Bugge. - Bestiary: Bugge</ref>

Hard to use as a Familiar but is possible as is all things.

Variants

Buggane

More "advanced" and powerful Bugges, typically centered around a narrative of impending doom, building up power and then acting decisively.<ref name=bestiary3">Buggane - Advanced Bugge, the Buggane tend to build around a narrative, such as impending doom or grim prophecy. It can represent an impending winter or disaster. May serve a role as punishers, stand in contrast to Bugge as being very strong, even brutish. Everything builds up to a conclusion where they act. - Bestiary: Bugge</ref>

Boggarts

Focused more on fears.

Fancy

Bugges from before the western implementation of the printing press.<ref name="ccbeck"/>

Notable Examples

Mr. Rudbeck
That stylized S you see everywhere<ref name = "bestiary4"/><ref>Wikipedia - Cool S</ref>

References