Spirits

Spirits are formless and ephemeral beings of imagination and change native to the Unseen. They are some of the oldest beings in existence, though they have little care for or concept of history and time. All mortal creatures have spirit-selves or **souls** which reside in a kind of sleep in the Unseen, awakening only when they die and pass onto that realm.

## Description

The first spirits were born at the beginning of time, in liminal moments where the Seen and Unseen touched. In dreams and nightmares, in dying moments and near-death experiences, in fugue states and fevers - it was in these crossings between the two Realms where the spirits were spun into being. Spirits reflect the dreams, thoughts and experiences of gods and mortals.

These primordial spirits were in time joined by the first mortal souls - spirit-twins of mortal beings from the lowliest microbe to the highest sage, which were reflected from Seen to Unseen to grow alongside their other selves. These spirits awaken when mortals die; they may also be awakened prematurely through powerful magics, with unpredictable consequences. Mortals that pass into the Unseen while they live merge with their spiritual counterparts for the duration of their visit.

Spirits range from tiny ephemeral motes to vast titans of dream and emotion. Lesser spirits are always in flux, flitting from form to form and experience to experience. Greater spirits also change without pause, but much more slowly. While spirits may take on and discard forms and identities as they please, but tend to revolve around certain themes and concepts born as reflections of the Seen.

In the Unseen, imagination is reality, and the spirits embody this by manifesting their thoughts and desires into the spiritual realm around them. Spirits can enforce their reality on the Seen. The stronger the spirit, the more 'real' their manifestations; most spirits can only affect the Seen in places where the borders between the two realms are weak. Spirits may conjure up images, objects, feelings, memories (false or real) and many other phenomena. They generally do so without much thought or intent - it is merely part of the existence as a spirit. This makes the Unseen a place of constant bewildering change.

Spirits have a close affinity to Lunar Magic, as liminal and changing as they are.

## Types of Spirit

### Lesser Spirits

#### Motes

Motes are the simplest and smallest type of spirit. They are generally formed of fleeting feelings, half-formed thoughts or moments of experience. Motes are also created from the souls of very simple lifeforms, such as bacteria. Motes drift aimlessly throughout the boundless Unseen. They can only influence the world around them very faintly. Motes generally resemble small lights flickering with flashes from whatever concepts, experiences or emotions they carry within themselves.

Motes are favored by practitioners of magics relating to spirits for their harmless nature and simplicity. They are used varyingly as objects of study and training and as fuel for rituals.

#### Ephemera

Ephemera are lesser spirits. They tend to reflect a certain being, moment, place, emotion or other simple concept, though they shift through variations on this 'theme' throughout their lives, with singular names or identities lasting only for a very short while - thus the name. Ephemera are the second-most common type of spirit in the Unseen, after souls. They can be difficult to tell apart, but ephemera are not born of mortals.

Ephemera are relentless wanderers and nomads. Many ephemera are drawn to the Seen and seek to influence it with the concept they embody. Though these impositions tend to mostly be just strange, ephemera of violent and harmful concepts can cause considerable damage as they push through.

#### Souls

Souls are spirits born of sentient mortals. While they retain the identity of their mortal self, this generally begins to break down over centuries as the chaotic influence of the Unseen takes hold. Souls tend to become much like other spirits over time, though reminders of their past can help bring them back to coherence once more.

Yggdrasil is the Goddess of Souls and their keeper. She protects them from harm and keeps them from returning to the Seen, though some slip past through the soft places and the ephemeral paths every now and then.

#### Tenders

*See also: Tenders*

Tenders are caretaker spirits created from the souls of deceased trees and plants. They exist to maintain the World-Tree and tend to Yggdrasil. Tenders work dutifully to heal the wounds the Tree suffers from those seeking passage between the Realms, though some end up wandering off for a time to explore the Unseen and the Worlds of the Tree.

Tenders usually resemble walking trees and plants, shuffling tirelessly from branch to branch and root to root as they tend to the Tree. Like all spirits, their forms are mutable and everchanging, but they always include something of their original mortal self.

#### Muses

*See also: Muses*

Muses are spirits of artistic creation and imagination. They seek out mortal artists and whisper to them from across the Veil, inspiring them to great works and granting them abilities allowing for extraordinary feats of performance and creation. Once such an inspired creation is completed in the Seen, its reflection takes shape in the Unseen and becomes the home of the Muse. New Muses are born from these reflected works to ever seek out creators in the other world. When perceived directly, Muses appear as embodiments of all that the watcher finds fair and beautiful - leading to no end of longing and obsession by mortals for them.

The power of Muses is limited by the barrier between the two Realms. They might grant even greater blessings if they manifested bodily in the Seen - a feat made difficult by the barrier of the World-Tree's roots ever blocking their passage. As such, desperate artists sometimes end up seeking magical power to create openings in the roots in order to bring their Muses to them in 'the flesh' - for better or worse.

Five ancient muses dwell with the transformed Outer God Vadhu in the Truth of Betrayal, guiding the crippled deity's efforts in creation.

#### Clayborn

*See also: Clayborn*

Clayborn are spirits born from the misshapen and discarded clay of Vadhu's failed creations. They serve their master loyally despite its near-total indifference to their presence. Clayborn resemble strange amalgations of pottery and raw clay, their insides burning with the black flame of Vadhu. While most Clayborn serve Vadhu within the Truth of Betrayal, some wander the wider Unseen singing the praises and promises of their master. They are often found at World-Song Stones and other places where the barriers between realms are weak, whispering knowledge of Vadhu and what he might do for them to the mortal races.

#### Monument Makers

*See also: Monument Makers*

Monument Makers are canine spirits, kin to the Dream Canidae. They share the Dream Canidae's ease for crossing between the Seen and Unseen. They are similar in appearance to the Canidae, though smaller in size and with generally calmer and more thoughtful personalities. Nevertheless, they are tricksters at heart.

The Monument Makers are devoted to the building of strange monuments and structures. Each dreams of raising something that will truly baffle the minds of mortals for aeons to come. Every full moon, packs of Monument Makers descend upon the Seen to build their monuments - the closer to intelligent observers, the better. Mortals may awaken in the morning to find themselves surrounded by imposing canine statues and hear the howling laughter of departing Monument Makers.

### Greater Spirits

#### **Incarnates**

Incarnates are complex spirits embodying a certain concept of great meaning. Incarnates include spirits of justice, kingship, vengeance, freedom, wisdom, death, sickness, lust, shame, artistry and much more. They take their identity and power from values and ideas with a great weight of emotion and thought behind them - concepts important to mortal cultures and civilizations, noble or banal. As new movements or values take hold, new Incarnates come to be, but their predecessors still remain.

Incarnates form entire Realms in the twisting roots of the World-Tree, attracting many lesser spirits to dwell within them and be transformed accordingly. These realms reflect the Incarnate and indeed are on some level part of it. They reflect the central narratives of their creators and draw visitors to participate in those narratives. Incarnates are bound to carry out their driving narratives and concepts in full, though they may know very well it is leading them towards ruin or defeat.

#### Vestiges

Vestiges are powerful and enigmatic spirits thought to have been born from the demise of the Makers and the end of the Time of Creation. They rarely make their presence known in the Unseen and have not been known to venture beyond it. They are titanic entities dwelling in the deep Unseen, dangerous to even approach. Vestiges play out the acts and final moments of the Makers within themselves. Some believe that communing with a Vestige is a way to uncover the secrets of Creation and gain a glimpse of the chaotic genius of the Makers. Most beings do not survive proximity to a Vestige, however. Even the Gods are thought to leave them be, either from respect or fear.

## Notable Spirits

* Vanti of the Rainbow Dream: An ancient great spirit turned Young God. Creator of Vanti's Web and the Truth of Betrayal.