Place Spirits

Place- or item-spirits are an elemental nature spirit native to our world of Gaia. They are called Haltija in Finland, and in other places they are known as brownies, house elves, sprites, kami, tomte, and certain kinds of vættir. Some gnomes are considered to be place-spirits. They are also found among some American cultures and all across Asia and Africa under their own regional names.

These spirits are the physical manifestation of the essence of a thing, whether a mountain, forest, tree, rock, river, farm, storm cloud, house, a sauna, or even a sword. As manifestations of nature, they usually protect a place, but sometimes are the spirit of objects, groups of people, or even an intangible concept (such as sleep or death).

## Place Spirits

### **Creation**

As manifestations of nature, these creatures come into being over time as the magics of a landscape coalesce into a sentient form. Because their lifespan is dependent on the life/object it guards, they do not have a biological lifecycle. Instead, it is believed to be “recycled” rather than killed or born. For example, if a tree is cut down to make a house, then the spirit of that tree might become a spirit of that house. As energy is never really created or destroyed, this cycle has withstood, and will continue to withstand, the test of time.

While all objects and places have their own magic, it is unknown what specifically sparks the creation of a sentient form of that spirit essence. It is theorized to be related to leylines of magical energy or even born of the collective dreams of those folk and animals who live in the area (via the Astral realm), but thus far, it remains an absolute mystery.

### **Appearance**

The place-spirit's features vary wildly from place to place and type to type. Some appear as animal spirits, who tend to go about life in the wilderness. Others appear humanoid and thus are more willing to interact with humanoid species. However, it is rare that a place-spirit does not have some fantastical feature, such as eye, hair, lip color, teeth, ear shape, stature, skin texture, or an unnatural skin tone. Some will even change their appearance at will, or by accident as a manifestation of their emotions.

### **Types of Place-Spirits**

This is what the spirit is manifested of, and thus what it protects and some of what its powers are. In Finland, this is called the Haltija's "Väki" and roughly translates to "magical-power folk." The same concept is common across many other cultures around the world.

Some of the most common types include:

* **House**: a type of house elf or **brownie** who takes care of a house. They are manifestations of the house itself, and usually prefer order, peace, and cleanliness.
	+ **Land plots**: (includes Scandinavian tonttu or tomte), they are manifestations of that particular plot of land and thus all that is farmed or built upon it.
* **Forest** (metsän väki): manifested of a grove, treestand, or large area of forest. Some are humanoid, while others are plant or animal-based, or even a mix. Many are confused for woodland Fae creatures, especially with their fantastical features, but they are wholly of Gaia.
	+ **Wood** (puun väki): manifested of individual trees, they embody that wood even after it is cut and turned into another item, such as a wagon, table, house, or even a baseball bat.
* **Water** (veden väki): whether the sea, a river, a lake, or even a spring or well. As water can both sicken and heal, these spirits often have powers of both healing and illness.
* **Fire** (tulen väki): campfires, ovens, hearths, wildfires, volcanic fire, fireworks, the sun, comets, a warm breeze, and even the warmth of a sauna. They might embody both the destructive forces of flame, and/or the healing power of warm air.
* **Mountain** (vuoren väki): cliffs, canyons, mountains, hills, and large stones. They often have earth magic, and have sometimes been mistaken for kobolds, gnomes, and dwarves.
* **Iron** (raudan väki): of metal mines and what is crafted from them, whether armor, scissors, or utensils. They are often known to be the spirit of a bladed weapon (sword, axe) and can heal wounds their item inflicts. They are invaluable in hospitals for surgery.
* **People**: whether protecting a certain lineage, family, or an entire village, these act as guardian spirits. While some are humanoid, others are in the form of animals or magical creatures, and look out for the safety and well-being of the whole community.
	+ **Death** (kalman väki): locational spirits of graveyards, barrows, crypts, but also ghosts, ancestors, and illness. They have a physical form, though are often mistaken for ghouls, ghosts, goblins, and other creatures.

### **Food**

It is unnecessary for a place-spirit to eat, but they enjoy offerings left to them by humans on occasion. Some do need hydration.

### **Interactions with Magical Society**

Place-spirits are usually afforded respect and gratitude, but are largely overlooked in day to day life. They tend to be uninvolved and unseen, simply existing as the spirit of the object or place, until angered or something directly threatens what they protect. While some nonmagical cultures revere them and honor them for the powers they have, those powers are no different than what a mage can do, so they are usually just manifestation that mothers tell their children to be respectful to. This is especially common in animist cultures, including but not limited to Celtic, Germanic, Norse, Native American, Chinese, and Japanese traditions.

Place-spirits are usually kind, proud, and fiercely loyal. They usually prefer to work unnoticed, but that does not mean some simple respect and gratitude will go amiss. They are hardworking and have a strong sense of responsibility to their stewardship of whatever they protect, and can be spiteful or violent if disrespected. These retributions may come in the form of malicious pranks, accidents, theft, illness, or telekinetic attack, as though done by a ghost, goblin, or kobold, or even as a kitsune.

Occasionally, fights between different place-spirits have resulted in natural disasters such as wildfires (fire vs forest spirits) and tsunamis (water vs land spirits), though such disasters can also occur due to other reasons such as rifts between realms and a magical mishap among humankind or other species.

### **Abilities**

Place-spirits' powers are roughly based on that which they have manifested from. In addition to these elemental or item-related powers, all place-spirits have a knack for invisibility and stealth, preferring to operate unnoticed, as well as an ability to shapeshift or change their appearance. Telekinesis is a relatively common ability, though not all place-spirits are skilled in it. Rarely, some are able to communicate with people through dreams.

#### **Suggested combat spells**

Select spells that seem in line for your chosen type.

* Elemental attacks and control spells to match the type (such as water whip for a water spirit)
* Healing abilities for those of water, fire, or iron
* Protective spells (ex: deflection or buddy shield) for those who protect a person
	+ Large-area protective spells for those who protect a landscape or community (ex: mass shield)
* Kinetic spells: Knockback (2), Telekinetic Slam (3), Telekinetic Weapon (4) as needed
* Battle Pet for those that protect farms, forests, gardens, or wildlife habitats
* Invisibility type spells: Blur (2), Sanctuary (4)
* Shapeshifting, particularly for heavily elemental spirits (such as a fire spirit turning into actual fire)

## Spirit-Descendant

Extremely rare but not impossible, as most place-spirits view intimate relationships to be an ethical failure and a lapse in their duty as guardian. However, some have theorized that magic was born into the human race due to such relationships, though others suggest that place-spirits only exist because of magekind.

### **Appearance**

The descendant of a place-spirit tends to exhibit more characteristics of their non-spirit parent. However, minor aspects of their spirit lineage can reveal themselves as they age, usually in the eyes, voice, hair, fingernails, teeth or lips. These aspects depend of the type of place-spirit, and thus vary wildly from person to person.

### **Diet**

Part-spirits eat the same food as their human/humanoid kin.

### **In Magical Society**

Depending upon the culture, they may face some discrimination for any physical differences, but their lineage will largely be ignored unless they cause trouble. Unfortunately, in many cases, those directly descended from a place-spirit are magically unstable, and as they grow up, the mishaps, confusion, and fear of being different can cause emotional instability as well. This is especially common to those born among nonmages, who try to get a part-spirit child to hide their magic or neglect to teach or even tell them about their lineage! Some governments view them as potentially dangerous and susceptible to violence. The Ministry in particular seeks to contain or control them, but it is unclear whether this is out of fear, or a political choice.

### **Abilities**

The powers of a part-spirit depend largely on the abilities of its parents, especially that of its human parent. If the human parent is nonmagical, the hybrid might exhibit no signs at all of magical abilities, regardless of the powers of its place-spirit parent. Others may manifest magic by surprise over the course of childhood or as a teenager.

If the human (or other humanoid) parent is a mage, the hybrid has always proven to be magical as well, and usually inherits the elemental talents of their spirit parent. These magics are often unstable, like that of an Arcane, and these children particularly struggle to gain control of their magics, with emotional outbursts resulting in often destructive consequences.

It is theoretically possible for a spirit-descended to learn to control their powers, but it takes time, reassurance, and a safe place where the emotional toil of any accidents does not destroy them psychologically and cause them to become violently aggressive.

#### **Suggested Combat Spells**

Most have an affinity matching their place-spirit lineage, but not always. If you choose to follow the type, select spells that seem in line for that element.

* Elemental attacks and control spells to match the type (such as water whip for a water spirit)
* Healing abilities for those of water, fire, or iron
* Protective spells (ex: deflection or buddy shield) for those who protected a person
	+ Large-area protective spells for those who protected a landscape or community (ex: mass shield)
* Kinetic spells: Knockback (2), Telekinetic Slam (3), Telekinetic Weapon (4)
* Battle Pet for those that protected farms, gardens, or wildlife habitats
* Invisibility type spells: Blur (2), Sanctuary (4)
* Shapeshifting, particularly for heavily elemental spirits (such as turning into a literal ball of fire)