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Its dominion is its heartbeat, its hunger, and its chain.”_ +> – _Liraen, Eldsinger of the Green Table_ + +## **What Are Dominions?** + +A dominion is the **soulprint** of a spirit—the fundamental force, idea, or natural phenomenon it embodies. It is more than a portfolio of powers; it is the reason the spirit exists, the lens through which it sees the world, and the tether that binds it to reality. + +- A spirit may embody **one, two, or three dominions**. +- A **single dominion** makes a spirit dangerously focused, its mastery deep and absolute. +- **Multiple dominions** grant versatility, but its strength in each is more diffuse. + + +Dominions are as varied as the world’s own truths. They may be: + +- **Elemental:** primal forces such as _Fire, Water,_ or _Stone_. +- **Conceptual:** intangible ideals like _Fear, Oaths,_ or _Memory_. +- **Natural:** living cycles such as _Growth, Hunger,_ or _Weather_. +- **Cultural:** shaped by mortal belief, like _Hospitality, Reverence,_ or _Grief_. + +To understand a spirit is to understand its dominion. It hungers to see that dominion expressed, preserved, or expanded—and when thwarted, it may lash out with the fury of an unfulfilled truth. + +## **Spirit Abilities** +A spirit’s dominions shape every power it can wield. These powers—its **abilities**—are the ways a spirit leaves its mark on the world. Some are deliberate acts of will; others are effortless ripples of its presence. + +### **Active Abilities** +Active abilities are the spirit’s chosen manifestations, the moments when it reaches out and imposes its dominion on the world. + +- **Environmental:** Shifting weather, warping emotions, or reshaping terrain. +- **Offensive:** Inflicting harm, laying curses, or seizing control through possession. +- **Defensive:** Healing wounds, shielding allies, or cloaking itself in illusions. +- **Utility:** Granting visions, unearthing hidden knowledge, or blessing objects and places. + +Active abilities consume the spirit’s strength (see _Manifestation Dice_). They are conscious actions, deliberate extensions of the spirit’s will. + +### **Passive Abilities** +Passive abilities are constant, woven into the spirit’s presence. They shape the scene even when the spirit remains silent. + +- A **Fear-spirit** might make mortals uneasy simply by drawing near. +- A **Forest-spirit** may cause the undergrowth around it to grow thick and tangled. +- A **Grief-spirit** might draw the sorrowful to its side, like moths to a flame. + +Passive abilities require no effort to maintain. They are the inescapable truths of the spirit’s existence—the world bends, subtly or dramatically, simply because the spirit is there. + +## **Ability Slots** + +A spirit’s potential is not limitless. Each has a number of **Ability Slots equal to its Power Rating (PR)**, and each slot holds one active or passive ability. These are the signature ways its dominion touches the world. + +- **PR 1–2:** Minor effects—subtle and local, often triggered by specific conditions. + +- **PR 3–4:** Significant effects—abilities capable of shaping communities, large areas, or groups of mortals. + +- **PR 5–6:** Mythic effects—manifestations that can alter fate, reshape entire regions, or permanently twist mortal minds and bodies. + + +A single Ability Slot may hold a **scaling ability**, growing in magnitude with the spirit’s PR. A PR 2 Fire-spirit’s _Flame Lash_ might scorch a single foe, while the same ability in the hands of a PR 5 Fire-spirit could immolate an entire battlefield. + +> **GM Note:** +> Ability Slots help define a spirit’s personality as much as its power. Consider how each ability reflects its dominion, and how the combination of abilities gives the spirit a distinct presence in play. + + +## **Manifestation Dice (MD)** +A spirit’s strength is a river of meaning made manifest, but even rivers run dry when forced through a narrow channel. This current is represented by the spirit’s **Manifestation Dice (MD)**—the finite wellspring it draws upon when it chooses to act. + +### **The Pool** +A spirit’s MD pool is equal to its **Power Rating (PR) × PR**. + +- PR 1 → 1 MD +- PR 2 → 4 MD +- PR 3 → 9 MD +- PR 4 → 16 MD +- PR 5 → 25 MD +- PR 6 → 36 MD + + +This pool **refreshes at the beginning of each scene**, ensuring that Greater Spirits can sustain their awe-inspiring displays of power as long as the story remains fixed upon them. Lesser Spirits, by contrast, burn through their strength quickly and must choose their manifestations carefully. + +Each active ability costs **1 MD** unless noted otherwise. Cataclysmic effects—calling down a hurricane, breaking a sacred geasa, tearing open the Veil—may cost 2 or even 3 MD at the GM’s discretion. Passive abilities cost nothing; they are the inevitable truths of the spirit’s existence and continue even when the spirit has nothing left to give. + +> [!hint] **GM Advice: Narrative Feel** +> With this system, Lesser Spirits feel skittish and brittle, their reserves small enough that clever mortals can exhaust them. Greater Spirits and Archspirits, by contrast, can dominate entire scenes without fear of depletion, their strength cycling endlessly like the seasons they often embody. + +### **Recovery Beyond the Scene** +A spirit’s MD pool **refreshes fully at the start of the next scene**, but depletion carries weight beyond the moment. A spirit that ends a scene with its pool entirely spent enters a state of **Dormancy**—a period of withdrawal where it must gather the threads of its essence before it can act again. + +#### **Dormancy** +Dormancy is a time of silence. A dormant spirit cannot use active abilities, respond to summoning, or leave the place to which it is anchored. It exists only as a dim echo of itself, its presence faint but not gone. + +- **Lesser Spirits (PR 1–2):** Dormant for **2d6 days**, their fragile forms needing long stretches of belief and memory to reform. +- **Simple & Complex Spirits (PR 3–4):** Dormant for **1d6 days**, tethered between forgetting and renewal. +- **Greater Spirits (PR 5–6):** Dormant for only **1d6 hours**, their dominion too vast to remain diminished for long. + +#### **Resonance and Renewal** +Not all spirits linger in weakness. Some are so deeply rooted in their dominion that they drink in strength the moment it is offered. + +- **Fed by Dominion:** A spirit nourished by the world around it—fire spreading through a forest, a city gripped by terror—**skips Dormancy entirely**, restoring its full MD pool at once. +- **Cut Off from Dominion:** Conversely, a spirit severed from its essence takes far longer to heal. Double its Dormancy duration if the land or circumstance denies it access to what it is. +- **Offerings and Rituals:** Mortals may rouse a dormant spirit immediately with acts of reverence, sacrifice, or powerful rites tied to its dominion. + +#### **Striking While Weak** +Dormancy is both a blessing and a danger. A dormant spirit is far easier to bind, banish, or destroy, yet its locus may remain perilous. Passive abilities do not fade, and the land itself often moves to defend what sleeps within it. + +>[!hint] **GM Guidance:** +> Dormancy should feel like a rare window of opportunity. Use it to reward clever players who push a spirit to the brink—but never make the victory trivial. Even a Greater Spirit slumbering in its sanctum should feel like an act of myth to confront. + +### **Overreach** + +A spirit whose MD pool is empty is hollowed out, yet mortals can be relentless. Binders, pact-mages, or those who hold a spirit’s true name may force it to act despite its exhaustion. + +This is called **Overreach**, and it is as dangerous for the summoner as it is for the spirit. + +- Each forced act beyond the spirit’s MD adds **one Corruption Die**. +- If the spirit is in Dormancy, each act also **extends its Dormancy by one step**: + - Lesser Spirits: +1d6 days. + - Simple & Complex Spirits: +1d6 days. + - Greater Spirits: +1d6 hours. +- Corruption may manifest immediately—bindings rupture, void-taint floods the area—or fester until the spirit’s dominion warps into something darker. +- Greater Spirits rarely endure Overreach in silence. Many turn their full fury on those who dared to exploit them, unleashing devastation that can mark the world for generations. + +>[!hint] **GM Guidance:** +> Overreach is the lever mortals pull when they crave power _now_, heedless of the cost. Make the consequences visible: void-tainted abilities, flickers of the spirit’s true form breaking through, the land warping around it. Overreach should feel like playing with a live wire. + +### **Corruption of Dominion** +When a spirit is forced beyond its limits, its essence can fracture. This phenomenon—called **Corruption of Dominion**—is the slow or sudden twisting of the spirit’s nature. + +Each time a spirit is compelled to act through **Overreach**, add a **Corruption Die**. When any Corruption Die rolls a **1**, the spirit’s dominion becomes tainted: + +1. **Visual and Narrative Signs:** The dominion shows unnatural manifestations. + - Fire burns black and cold. + - Oaths sour into curses. + - A harvest-spirit’s fields sprout blight instead of grain. +2. **Mechanical Shift:** Choose one: + - **Passive Abilities:** Gain a void-tainted edge (GM chooses a new effect). + - **Active Abilities:** One ability now has a darker, more destructive variant. + - **Resonance:** The spirit now feeds on fear, pain, or despair rather than its original sources. + +Corruption effects are permanent until cleansed by a powerful ritual or act of meaning aligned with the dominion. Each subsequent instance of corruption worsens the transformation. + +>[!hint] **GM Guidance:** +> Use corruption to make Overreach feel dangerous for everyone. A tainted dominion should warp the spirit’s relationship with mortals and the world around it. Over time, the corrupted spirit may become a true voidspawn—alien, predatory, and nearly impossible to reason with. + +### **Player Knowledge** +Whether players know a spirit’s MD pool is up to you. + +- **Visible:** If the pool is open information, players can plan their strategy around exhausting the spirit. +- **Hidden:** If the pool is secret, the spirit’s dwindling strength must be conveyed through description—its voice faltering, its form dimming, its abilities weaker or more frantic. + +Both approaches work; choose whichever best fits the tension of your story. + +### **Example** +A PR 2 **Grief-spirit** begins the scene with **4 MD**. + +1. It uses _Wail of Mourning_ (1 MD) to cripple mortals with despair, draining one die from its pool. +2. It follows with _Grave Fog_ (1 MD), cloaking the battlefield in thick, choking mist. 2 MD remain. +3. A desperate binder orders it to intensify the fog, blotting out the last light from the campfires. The spirit obeys, spending 2 MD in a single overwhelming surge—its pool now empty. + +Drained, the Grief-spirit staggers. Its passive aura of sorrow lingers, but it can no longer act. If left alone, it will enter **Dormancy** at the end of the scene, retreating to its locus to reweave itself over the coming **2d6 days**. + +But the binder pushes further. One more command, forcing the spirit to strike at a fleeing foe. The GM allows it—but **adds a Corruption Die**. + +The spirit’s voice distorts into a jagged void-screech as it lashes out, its mist seething with an unnatural chill. When the scene ends, the Grief-spirit collapses entirely, its Dormancy extended even longer by the violation. Its dominion may not be the same when it wakes. + +## **How Mortals Leverage Dominions** +Most mortals cannot bind, bargain, or meld with spirits. Yet they are not powerless. Through ritual and offering, they can appeal to a spirit’s dominion—though the results are rarely guaranteed. + +### **Ritual and Offering** +Dominions respond most strongly to **acts of meaning**. Common folk may attempt to sway a spirit through offerings or rituals that resonate with its essence: + +- A **Harvest-spirit** may be honored with the first sheaf of grain. +- A **Fear-spirit** may be driven away with loud celebrations and masks. +- A **Memory-spirit** might be nourished by a vigil of stories and song. + +**Making an Appeal:** + +- A mortal may spend at least **an hour preparing and performing a ritual** or offering. +- The GM sets a **Difficulty equal to the spirit’s Power Rating (PR)**. +- The player rolls a suitable skill (often _Attune_, _Spirit_, or _Ritual_) with modifiers if the offering is especially fitting (+1 die) or insulting (–1 die). + +**Outcomes:** +- **Success:** The spirit grants a minor boon or refrains from harm. + - Examples: fair weather for a journey, a vision of safe passage, silence from a haunting. +- **Failure:** The spirit is unmoved, or worse, angered. It may retaliate with its passive abilities or a small display of power. +- **Critical Success:** The spirit takes notice. It may grant a significant favor, such as guiding the community for a season, or mark the mortal as one who has earned its respect. + +> [!hint] **GM Guidance:** +> These interactions should feel consequential. A successful ritual might set a tone of safety or abundance for a village, while a failure could sour relationships with the unseen for years. + +### **The Role of Traditions** +Magical traditions such as Binding, Pact Magic, and Melding can influence spirits more directly, shaping their will and wielding their power. These paths are detailed in their own chapters. + +## **How to Use This Almanach** +The entries in this Almanach are designed as a complete toolkit for understanding and presenting each dominion at the table. Each entry offers both narrative depth and mechanical clarity: + +1. **Themes:** What the dominion embodies and how it manifests in the world. This sets the tone for spirits tied to it—their personality, presence, and purpose. +2. **Resonance:** What strengthens or weakens spirits of this dominion. Resonance reflects the conditions, places, and emotions that feed the dominion—or starve it. +3. **Corruption:** How the dominion twists when touched by void-taint or prolonged overreach. Corruption reveals the dark mirror of the dominion, the signs that it has been perverted into something more dangerous and unstable. +4. **Active & Passive Abilities:** A menu of abilities tied to the dominion, scaled by Power Rating. Each ability is framed for both mechanical impact and narrative weight. +5. **Interaction Notes:** How mortals typically engage with this dominion. This includes the influence of rituals and offerings by common folk, as well as how magical traditions (Binding, Pact Magic, Melding) may manipulate or exploit it. +6. **Example Spirits:** Ready-to-use spirits at PR 2–4, complete with personalities, goals, and ability sets. + +> [!hint] **GM Guidance:** +> When in doubt, let the dominion lead. Its themes and resonance should color every interaction, every ability, and every consequence. A well-realized dominion makes a spirit feel inevitable—a living truth of the world, not just a stat block. \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/Rules/Spirits & Dominion/_Spirits and Their Power.md b/Rules/Spirits & Dominion/_Spirits and Their Power.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d425e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/Rules/Spirits & Dominion/_Spirits and Their Power.md @@ -0,0 +1,169 @@ + +> _“Every place, oath, and heartbeat whispers into the Veil. Some whispers are loud enough to answer back.”_ +> – _Creed of the Veil, Fifth Psalm_ + +## **What Are Spirits?** + +Spirits are living echoes of meaning. They arise where belief, memory, natural forces, or emotion saturate the world so deeply that they take shape. Spirits are not gods or ghosts, though they may be mistaken for either; they are **concepts made animate**. + +- A battlefield soaked in grief might birth a **spirit of mourning**. + +- A long-tended hearth might house a **spirit of warmth and welcome**. + +- An ancient forest could be guarded by a **spirit of growth and decay**. + + +Because the **Veil** seals Vaelora from the outer cosmos, all spirits are trapped in the mortal world. They cannot reincarnate or ascend, and this makes them both desperate and dangerous. + +--- + +## **Tiers of Spirit Power** + +Spirits vary wildly in power and scope. For clarity, we use **Power Rating (PR)**, a scale from 1–6. + +|**Tier**|**Power Rating (PR)**|**Scope & Behavior**| +|---|---|---| +|**Imprint**|1|Barely conscious echoes. Affect only atmosphere and subtle impressions. Cannot act intentionally.| +|**Lesser Spirit**|2|Narrow influence. Can manifest small effects or interact with mortals through ritual or strong emotion.| +|**Simple Spirit**|3|Self-aware and mobile. Can influence its environment and interact with mortals regularly.| +|**Complex Spirit**|4|Broad influence over its dominions. Can impact communities or whole regions.| +|**Greater Spirit**|5|Mythic entities tied to vast concepts or ecosystems. Can rewrite reality within their dominions.| +|**Archspirit**|6|Legends given form. Shape nations and spirit-ecologies; rarely interact with mortals directly.| + +> [!hint] **GM Note:** +> Most spirits encountered by player characters will be **PR 1–4**. PR 5–6 spirits are rare, narrative-defining forces. + +## **Dominions: What Spirits Control** + +Every spirit is tied to **1–3 dominions**, which define the forces, ideas, or elements it embodies. + +- **Dominions are not territory.** They are the metaphysical “roots” of the spirit’s existence. + +- Examples: _Fire, Memory, Oaths, Weather, Hunger, Growth, Grief, Stone, Ambition, Rot_. + +- A narrow focus (one dominion) makes a spirit exceptionally strong in that domain. Multiple dominions give versatility but dilute potency. + + +Dominions determine: + +1. **What abilities the spirit can use.** + +2. **What offerings or rituals resonate with it.** + +3. **How magical traditions (binding, pacts, melding) can interact with it.** + + +> _Example:_ A PR 3 **Spirit of Storms** might command _Weather_ and _Fear_. It can call lightning or terrify enemies, but it struggles to harm those who do not fear it. + +## **Spirit Abilities** + +Each spirit can manifest abilities tied to its dominions. These are active expressions of its power. + +### **Ability Slots** + +- A spirit has a number of **Ability Slots** equal to its PR. + +- Each slot is filled by one ability. Abilities scale in potency with PR. + + +### **Manifestation Dice (MD)** + +- A spirit has a pool of **MD = PR**. + +- Each use of an ability spends one MD. Spirits regain MD through: + + - Time and rest. + + - Feeding on belief, offerings, or emotional resonance. + + - Achieving their goals. + + +### **Ability Types** + +- **Environmental:** Alter terrain, weather, or emotional atmosphere. + +- **Offensive:** Direct harm, curses, possession attempts. + +- **Defensive:** Wards, concealment, bolstering bonded mortals. + +- **Utility:** Healing, visions, blessings, information gathering. + + +We’ll define **dominions and their ability menus** in the following section (Almanach). + +## **Interacting with Spirits** +Most mortals live with spirits through small rites and superstitions: offerings at boundary stones, whispered prayers at hearthfires, silence in the misted woods. These gestures keep the unseen at ease. + +**Common folk cannot command spirits,** but they can sway them: + +- **Offerings** or respectful acts may grant a single minor favor (GM discretion): calm weather, safe passage, hidden knowledge. +- **Offense or neglect** can provoke small curses or hauntings: milk sours, nets tear, whispers stalk them in dreams. + +Those who wish for more than this must turn to one of the magical traditions—**binding**, **pacts**, or **melding**—each with its own methods and costs. These are described in their respective chapters. + +## **Corruption and Overreach** +Most spirits are volatile when pushed beyond their limits. + +- Each time a mortal forces a spirit to use an ability **against its will** or **beyond its MD pool**, add a **Corruption Die**. +- Corruption Dice (see [[Corruption]]) can: + - Backlash against the mortal (injury, possession, dominion contamination). + - Warp the spirit, twisting its dominions into void-tainted expressions. + +This danger is why even seasoned binders and pact-mages treat spirits with fear and reverence. + +## **Using Spirits as the GM** +Spirits are not monsters to be fought until dead (though that can happen). They are **narrative forces**. + +- Tie spirits to **local meaning**: history, oaths, natural cycles, places of power. +- Let their dominions color every scene: weather, dreams, whispers, allies and enemies. +- Reward players who discover **what the spirit wants** and how to satisfy or subvert it. + +### **Building Spirits** + +When you create a spirit for your story or encounter, think of it as building a living piece of the setting. Spirits are not just stat blocks—they are embodiments of meaning. + +1. **Pick Power Rating (1–6)** + - This determines the spirit’s strength, influence, and durability. + - _PR 1–2:_ Ambient or minor spirits, encountered often. + - _PR 3–4:_ Significant threats or allies with clear goals. + - _PR 5–6:_ Greater Spirits or Archspirits—narrative forces, not regular encounters. + +2. **Choose 1–3 Dominions** + - Dominions define the spirit’s essence. They can be elemental (_Fire, Stone_), conceptual (_Oaths, Fear_), natural (_Hunger, Growth_), or cultural (_Hospitality, Memory_). + - Narrow dominion focus = deeper mastery; multiple dominions = versatility but weaker in each. + +3. **Fill Ability Slots** + - A spirit has **Ability Slots equal to its PR**. Each slot should be filled with a dominion-based effect: + - _Environmental_: change weather, warp emotions, reshape terrain. + - _Offensive_: deal harm, curse, possess. + - _Defensive_: heal, protect allies, obscure itself. + - _Utility_: grant visions, reveal secrets, bless objects. + - Scale abilities with PR: + - _PR 2–3_: small, immediate effects. + - _PR 4–5_: large-scale or ongoing effects. + - _PR 6_: mythic influence, reshaping regions or fate itself. + +4. **Define Personality, Goals, and Behavior** + - Spirits are driven by their dominions: an **Oath-spirit** lives to see promises fulfilled, a **Fire-spirit** to burn or purify. + - Give each spirit a **personality quirk** or **goal** that makes it unique. + - What does it want? (_To be remembered? To spread fear? To guard a place?_) + - How does it react to mortals? (_Curious? Hostile? Transactional?_) + - Decide how it escalates: does it lash out, retreat, negotiate, or call for aid from its dominion network? + +### **Tips for the GM** +- **Tie the spirit to its environment.** A Forest-Spirit should warp the woods around it; a Spirit of Sorrow might linger at battlefields or ruins. +- **Give mortals hooks.** Spirits respond to meaning: songs, offerings, true names, sacred items. Players should be able to interact beyond combat. +- **Let dominions shape the scene.** When the spirit is present, its dominion colors everything: weather, sounds, NPC behavior. + +### **Quick Example: Lesser Spirit of Oaths (PR 2)** +- **Dominions:** Oaths, Memory +- **Abilities:** + 1. **Seal Pact:** Imposes a binding geasa on an oath; breaking it causes 1 Injury. + 2. **Recall Guilt:** Target relives a past betrayal, suffering –1 die on social rolls for the scene. +- **Personality:** Stern and silent. Lives to ensure promises are kept. +- **Behavior:** Seeks mortals willing to swear oaths; punishes betrayal. +- **Interaction Hooks:** + - _Spirit Binding:_ requires etched names of those swearing an oath. + - _Pact Magic:_ willing to bless a sworn vow in exchange for a drop of blood. + - _Melded Souls:_ the host becomes unnervingly obsessed with loyalty. \ No newline at end of file