Spirits

The Clean and Unclean, The Pestilent and the Guardians

The spirits are the personification of illness and disease, of medicine and of places. They are beings without a form or body, though many bear a ghostly image; humans in the Shadowlands are unable to interact with spirits in a corporeal manner.

  • The Old Spirits
    • The Names Ones
    • The Quiet Ones
  • The Guardian Spirits
    • The Greater Guardian Spirits
    • The Lesser Guardian Spirits
    • The Sickly Ones
    • The Miscreated
  • The Psychopomps

The Old Spirits

The Named Ones

The Named Ones are extremely dangerous but ultimately beneficent spirits that seek to protect the Free Tribes from a host of dangers. They are ancient beings, created in the previous cycle during the last ten thousand years of darkness. They seek to protect the tribes rather than individuals, and so warriors should be wary of dealing with them. They will amputate the infected limb to save the body. And the tribe is the body.

They are divided into the Named of the Parliament, the Named of the Wild Glade, and the Named of the Guiding Dark.

The Named of the Parliament

The Spirits who guard against the Way of the Locust.

  • House Breaker: Revolution and Upheaval and Revenge. Linked to Tetanus. Favors Hematite, gamelan, aurochs and buffalo (non-domesticated).
  • Cipher Lake: Sower of discord and plots and Betrayal. Linked to Cholera. Favors Carnelian and Jet, bull roarers, doves and pigeons.
  • Wax Mouth: Domination and spiritual enslavement. Linked to Rabies. Favors Lapis Lazuli and Turquoise, trumpets and horns, Bears and badgers.
  • Bottle Shard: Deceit and Conspiracy and treason. Linked to Typhus. Favors Jasper and Topaz, flutes and ocarinas, grouse and pheasants.
  • Nightshade Oil: Pacts, Power, and Bargains. Linked to Influenza. Favors Lace Agate and Rose Quartz, harp and lyre, dogs

The Named of The Wild Glade

The Spirits who guard freedom

  • Dung Fire: Runaway Slaves, The Spurned, and The Ostracized. Linked to Pox, and Leprosy. Favors Malachite and Smoky Quartz, throat singing, Porcupines and Skunks and squirrels.
  • Falling Rot: Natural Selection, Swidden Gardening, and Hygiene. Linked to Typhoid Fever. Favors Pyrite and Pearl, Turkish crescent, cats (large and small).
  • Mold Marrow: Cannibalism, Food Gathering, and Food Preservation. Linked to Kuru. Favors Heliotrope and Snowflake Obsidian, wooden drums and xylophones, pig and peccary.
  • Paper Forest: Knowledge, and Memory, and Language. Linked to Botulism. Favors Jade and Emerald, banjo and sitar and Lute, Vultures and Condors.
  • Hunting Bones: The Hunt, Predators, and Prey. Linked to Malaria. Favors Tiger’s Eye, reed instruments, Deer and even toed ungulates

The Named of The Guiding Dark

The Spirits who guide and guard against Mental Illness

  • Red Chains : Hedonism, Debauchery, and Addiction. Linked to HIV/AIDS. Favors Ruby and Sapphire, bagpipes and tulum, rats and mice.
  • Glass Doorway: Depression, Mania, and Dementia. Linked to Measles, Mumps, Rubella. Favors Sugilite and Amethyst, violin and fiddles, catfish and lungfish.
  • Dark Ocean: Dreams, Nightmares, and Psychosis. Linked to Diptheria. Favors Moss Agate and Banded Agate, bells and gongs, cetaceans and cnidarians.
  • Crystal Cage: Order, Obsession, and Compulsion. Linked to Salmonella. Favors Quartz, hide drums, songbirds

The Quiet Ones

The Quiet Ones are household spirits. Long ago these spirits entered into agreements with the Free Tribes. The Quiet Ones reside in the homes of the Free Tribes and assist in the maintenance of the household. The Quiet Ones are typically the first spirits a child of the Free Tribes encounters.

They help crops grow. They help find water. They enrich the soil. They keep the home embers burning. They remember pacts and agreements. They act as a quiet glue that helps hold the Tribes together, and the Tribes take great pains to keep the Quiet One happy.

Learn more about The Quiet Ones

The Guardian Spirits

Scorchback watched as her mentor, Carrion Hand stepped onto the glowing road of hot coals that stretched before them both. Carrion Hand moved smoothly across the crackling floor of burned wood. Scorchback shivered as the Forge Fire spirit arrived, its presence washing across her like a hot wind.

Carrion Hand finished her trek across the coals and stepped through a pool of cool water before sitting down, and closing her eyes. Scorchback knew that the Forge Fire spirit would protect her, but she did not relish the task ahead of her. She braced herself and stepped onto the coals.

The Major Guardian Spirits are the protective Spirits which guard the Last Tribes.

  • The Hearth Ember (Guardian of the Northern Mystics):
  • The Old Man of the Mountain (Guardian of the Mountain Stronghold):
  • The Forge Fire (Guardian Spirit of Strongiron Village):
  • The Twilight Sky (Guardian Spirit of the Peasant War Camp):
  • The Ghostly Twins (Guardian Spirits of the Abandoned Harvest):
  • The Walking Oak (Guardian Spirit of Displaced Horde)

Learn more about the Guardian Spirits

Lesser Guardian Spirits: The Purification Sprites

The Lesser Guardian Spirits are spirits which grant protection against microbes and illness, primarily in food.

The Kitchen Sprites teach food preservation and protect foods against spoilage. The Hearth Sprites teach home hygiene and personal hygiene and protect the home against mold, fungi, and spores. The Harvest Sprites teach pest management in the garden, and protect gardens against invasive species and pests.

The Free Tribes great prize the favor of the Lesser Guardian Spirits.

The Kitchen Sprites

The Kitchen Sprites teach to preserve food: in salt, vinegar, and alcohol. The Kitchen Sprites teach how to purify water for drinking: boiling in the cauldron. They teach how to improve the body’s immune system: turmeric and garlic.

  • Salt Sprite
  • Vinegar Sprite
  • Vodka Sprite
  • Cauldron Sprite
  • Turmeric Sprite
  • Garlic Sprite

The Hearth Sprites

The Hearth Sprites teach the tribes how to keep the home clean and sanitary. They teach how to purify: with fire. They teach how to clean: water and soap. They teach how to disinfect: sunlight and air circulation. And they teach how to preserve food and put microbes to sleep to slow the spread: refrigeration.

  • Fire Sprite
  • Water Sprite
  • Soap Sprite
  • Sunbeam Sprite
  • Breeze Sprite
  • Chill Sprite

The Harvest Sprites

  • The Root Sprites: (Root Vegetables)
  • The Berry Sprites (Berry Bushes)
  • The Orchard Sprites (Orchard Fruit Trees)
  • The Herb Sprites (Perennial Leafy Greens)
  • The Bean Sprites (Legumes and Pulses)

The Sickly Ones

Learn more about The Sickly Ones

  • The Wasting Sprite
  • The Hooded Boatman
  • The Plague Shades
  • The Cancer Shades
  • The Red Faced Banshee

The Miscreated

The Miscreated are the broken reflections of the Seven Siblings. Spirits built out of the Locust King’s abuse of the tenets defended and supported by the seven siblings in their role within the tribe. They are the corrupting influence of the Grey spread across the core practices of the Freepath tribe. 

Learn more about The Miscreated

The Psychopomps

  • The Iron Horses: The Iron Horses travel between the Major Realms of the Shadowlands. The Iron Horse are massive looming spirits who travel along trails of rust. They are willing to carry passengers between realms, but they do not take requests. They travel on their schedules.
  • The Rust Vultures: The Rust Vultures are the carriages of the dead. The Major Realms are filled with both the living and the dead. The Vultures take the newly dead to the appropriate realm. They are willing to carry avatars to the sites of dead beings. 
  • Ghost Bears: The Ghost Bears are the Bouncers of the Shadowlands. These mighty spirits eject broken avatars from the Shadowlands. They do not carry willing passengers.
  • Stone Turtles: The Stone Turtles stand large as islands. They lumber across the landscape of individual major realms. They move far more swiftly than they appear to based upon their gate. And they will carry passengers, picking them up at watchtowers.
  • Stellar Jays: The Stellar Jays are harbingers of noble battle, and are willing to carry avatars to significant battles. They also warn of imminent battle in the lands where they appear.