vaelora/Rules/Magic Traditions/Spirit Binding – Chaincraft, The Yoke.md

"Spirits do not love you. They endure you. Every chain you tighten sings in their marrow."
— Varek the Sable-Masked, Last Grand Magister of the Black Citadel

Overview

Spirit Binding is the feared tradition of forcibly sealing Spirits into objects or living hosts and harnessing their dominions. Binders—also called Chainwrights or Hexlords—are both respected and reviled. Though their powers can protect entire communities or craft devastating weapons, they shatter the natural spirit ecology and invite dangerous spiritual backlash.

[!note] In the World:

• Binders are tolerated by rulers and military orders who benefit from their ability to neutralize hostile Spirits or create weapons of dominion.
• Rural Peoples and spirit-courts see them as slavers of the unseen and will curse or hunt them on sight.
• Few Spirits ever forgive a Binder. The act of Binding leaves scars in the Veil that other Spirits can sense.

Mechanics

1. Preparation

Proper preparation before a binding ritual can mean the difference between power and disaster. Binding a spirit requires more than generic wards—it demands insight into the nature of the spirit you are attempting to chain.

• Binding Circle: The design, sigils, and materials of the circle must reflect the spirit’s tier, type, and dominions. Carving runes or laying wards without understanding the spirit’s nature may leave openings the spirit can exploit. Preparation typically takes hours per spirit tier (Lesser, Simple, Complex, etc.).
• Offerings: Sacrifices or gifts (blood, relics, memories, oaths) should resonate with the spirit’s origin or dominions. Meaningful offerings can win moments of cooperation—or at least hesitation.
• Research: Studying the spirit’s true name, dominions, past bonds, and history makes the ritual more precise and harder for the spirit to escape.

Appropriateness Matters:
The GM is the final judge of whether preparation is appropriate, neutral, or harmful to the ritual. Each element of preparation (circles, offerings, wards, etc.) is evaluated based on how well it matches the spirit’s nature:

• Appropriate: Adds +1 die (or occasionally more) to the Binder’s pool and may impose penalties on the spirit’s resistance.
• Neutral: No modifier. The spirit is neither appeased nor offended.
• Inappropriate: –1 die and may give the spirit advantage or open flaws in the binding. Using contradictory symbols, insulting offerings, or poorly chosen materials can actively undermine the ritual.
• Skipping Preparation: Beginning without any preparation imposes –1 die per missing prepration (up to -3 if neither circle, nor offering nor research of the name are done).

[!hint] GM Note: Encourage players to think creatively and narratively about preparation. Knowing a fire spirit’s ancient nemesis, using sigils drawn from its ancestral enemy, or offering a binding vessel forged in its dominion all provide strong fictional grounding for mechanical bonuses. Likewise, insulting or generic preparations should heighten the spirit’s resistance.

2. The Binding Ritual

A binding ritual is treated as a social encounter against the spirit, not a static DC. The Binder is not simply rolling to overpower the spirit but engaging in a contest of wills, threats, bargains, and deception.

• The Binder rolls Spirit or Focus + Binding.
• The spirit resists with its own dice pool: Spirit Tier + Dominion Influence.
• Each round, the Binder chooses a tactic—coercion, trickery, persuasion, intimidation, or other means appropriate to the fiction.
• Successes reduce the spirit’s Resolve. When its Resolve is reduced to 0, the spirit is fully subdued and bound.
• The spirit may also take Actions each round to disrupt the circle, attack the Binder’s focus, manipulate the vessel, or bargain for release.

Failure:

• The spirit escapes the circle and may immediately retaliate, attempting to harm the Binder, curse them, or wreak havoc in the area. It may also bide its time and later make the Binder’s life miserable—spreading rumors among spirit courts, stalking their allies, or striking when they are vulnerable. Once the spirit used its powers to (try to) harm the Binder it usually vanishes again.
• The ritual site is spiritually scarred, leaving a lingering mark that other Spirits can sense and may be drawn to.

Success:

• The spirit is fully subdued and sealed into the chosen vessel.

[!hint] GM Note: A failed binding should have narrative weight. Spirits hold grudges, and some will pursue vengeance long after the circle has faded. Let the consequences ripple forward as ongoing complications.

3. The Vessel

A bound spirit must be anchored to a tangible vessel:

• Objects: Weapons, talismans, armor, structures. These are the safest and most common vessels.
• Living Beings: Animals or people can be used but always add 2 Corruption Dice and risk severe long-term consequences. Living vessels may resist and eventually break.

If the vessel is destroyed, the spirit escapes violently unless safeguarded.

4. Activating Spirit Powers

Once bound, the spirit grants access to a portion of its dominions.

• Dominion Abilities: Upon binding, choose which dominion abilities you unlock (1 for Lesser Spirits, 2 for Simple/Complex, 3 for Greater Spirits).
• Activation:
  • To activate a dominion ability, the Binder—or anyone holding the vessel—must physically carry or touch the item and roll Binding.
  • This takes 2 Actions in Rules/archive/Combat or social encounters.
  • A single success is enough to trigger the ability’s effect.

[!note] Example: Firesword A sword containing a fire spirit allows the wielder to call down a burst of flame (Fire Level 2) if they touch it and succeed on a Binding roll.

Ongoing Costs

Spirit Binding carries persistent costs that grow heavier the longer a spirit remains chained:

• Carrying Spirit-Bound Items: Those who keep a vessel housing a spirit close to them for extended periods gradually invite Corruption. The exact rate depends on the spirit’s tier:
  • Lesser or Simple Spirits: Add 1 Corruption Die every week.
  • Complex or Greater Spirits: Add 1 Corruption Die every day the vessel is carried.
  • Archspirits corrupt simply by proximity; the GM decides how quickly.
• Using Spirit Powers: When activating a dominion ability, the Binder rolls any accumulated Corruption Dice alongside their Binding check. If the spirit senses weakness, it may use this opportunity to briefly seize control:
  • Spirit Seizure: The GM may declare the spirit acts through the vessel for a moment—often in ways that sabotage, harm, or otherwise twist the Binder’s intent.

Duration of Binding

A binding does not last forever. The spirit is tethered only as long as the vessel remains intact and the Binder’s will holds firm:

• Base Duration: A spirit remains bound until released, the vessel is destroyed, or the spirit breaks its chains.
• Erosion of Control: Over time, especially with greater-tier Spirits, the binding weakens. Every month (less for powerful Spirits), the Binder must succeed on a Binding test to reinforce the vessel’s seals.
  • Failure: The spirit may escape or begin to manipulate the vessel, leaking its will into the world.
• Release: A Binder may willingly unbind the spirit through a ritual of release. Some Spirits will strike at their captor during this moment of freedom.

[!hint] GM Guidance: Treat bindings as temporary by default. Even if reinforced, powerful Spirits should eventually find cracks to exploit, ensuring spirit-bound vessels remain dangerous to depend on.

Limits of Simultaneous Bindings

A Binder can maintain as many bound Spirits at a time. as their Focus is. This represents the focus and willpower needed to keep a spirit chained.

• Attempting to bind a second spirit without the proper ability automatically releases the first spirit.

• Some cultures might enforce this limit narratively: trying to hold more than one spirit without training is spiritually dangerous.

Ability Tree

![[Spiritbinding]]

Roleplaying Spirit Binding

• Bound Spirits leave their mark. Weapons may hum with unnatural resonance, armor may weep condensation or blood, and living vessels often grow restless or subtly warped—eyes too bright, voices carrying echoes, shadows that move wrong.
• Spirit courts and shamans regard Binding as a grievous violation. Lesser Spirits whisper warnings; Greater Spirits may send emissaries or hunters to punish those who dare chain their kind.
• Long-term use of spirit-bound vessels slowly erodes the will. The spirit’s desires and personality begin to bleed into the Binder’s own thoughts, creating intrusive urges or cravings. Players should reflect this growing influence in their roleplay: a fire spirit might make them quick-tempered, a loyalty spirit overly protective or possessive, a void spirit coldly detached.

GM Guidance

• Encourage thorough preparation. Knowledge of a spirit’s true name, origin, or dominions should offer tangible advantages—more dice, narrative leverage, or weakening the spirit’s Resolve.
• Treat the Binding Ritual as a tense negotiation or duel, not just a dice check. Spirits will exploit weaknesses, lie, bargain, and use their dominions to destabilize the Binder or break the vessel.
• Let the cost of Corruption Dice feel heavy. When they trigger backlash, show it in the world: reality buckling, allies turning on the Binder, dominion-driven outbursts that fracture relationships or cause lasting harm.
• Consider Spirits as ongoing characters. Failed bindings or escaped Spirits should return to complicate the Binder’s life—seeking vengeance, rallying other Spirits, or undermining their reputation among spirit courts.