The nature of spirits Spirits are astral entities, composed of mana and posessing sentience and will. The most powerful spirit(s) on this plane, by far, is/are the Elder God(s), who created and comprise the cosmos and their natural laws. The Elder(s) banned the other astral entities from freely entering this world millenia ago, and so no other spirit is native to this world or can exist here freely. However, the nature of mana is to be sensitive to the mental and spiritual power of living things, and so it is with spirits, who are of mana. Thus, spirits can influence the world by utilizing the spiritual and mental energies of the mortal races through worship, sacrifices, certain spells and rituals, and sheer force of will; however, it is always the mortal races who must initiate this transfer of energies. There are many kinds of spirits, and they are commonly known by different names: elementals, dryads, nymphs, sprites, demons, devils, angels, gods, demigods, and so on and so forth. What they all have in common is their general interest in the affairs of the mortal world (many spirits are uninterested in the affairs of mortals, in which case they are never known to mortals and we can ignore them), their inability to act on the physical world, and their reliance on the energies of mortals. Spirits are generally divided into 4 classes: Divine spirits - these are gods, who are supremely powerful, and their servants. In general, gods are highly constrained in terms of their behavior, unable to interfere too obviously or intensely in the actions of mortals even if invoked, and so they send their servants. There are 11 kinds of divine spirits, though not every god commands all kinds. See Religions for more information. Infernal spirits - these are demons and devils, less powerful than gods but still extremely powerful, and their servants. In general, demons and devils arrange to buy souls and encourage their servants to arrange for possessions rather than attempt to encourage worship. Infernal servants are generally arranged in a heirarchy of type, with each type smarter and stronger than that below it. Nature spirits - these are generally lesser spirits, though many are of great power. They are attuned to animals, plants, natural formations, weather patterns and/or living things in general. They are generally suspicious of mortals, but willing to aid those who would protect their lands; otherwise they mostly wish to be left alone. Elemental spirits - these are greater spirits and their servants, generally easier to command and manipulate than other kinds of spirits but also in general fairly dumb. Spirits may be powerful, but their powers on the physical plane are severely limited. They do not exist here unless summoned or contacted, and even then, they are powerless unless empowered by the spiritual energies of a mortal. See Spiritualists for more details. Building a spirit Guidelines for the creation of spirits: A spirit can have any powers, but certain things are true of all spirits. 1) Spirits have no END or REC. 2) Spirits may never buy Reduced END on their powers. 3) Spirits must expend 1 END per point of BODY per day. Spirits who can make pacts with mortals to take their spiritual energies should purchase Buy Soul, usable only on willing target. This is a Major Transform that gives the target the following limitations: Distinctive Features: Soulless (concealable, major reaction) -15 Susceptible to being on holy ground (3d6/phase, uncommon) -25 and the following power: Aid to END and REC, lose 5 points per season (+2), 1 charge, not recoverable (-2) (5 points/d6). The transform is usually built to grant other powers as well, such as immortality, invulnerability, immunity to magic, the power to seduce women, phenomenal wealth, summon demonic servants, or some other payment for the soul. Most powerful spirits who bargain in this way have a VPP for Buy Soul, allowing multiple different bargains. Spirits who can grant powers to their servants should purchase an appropriate form of Aid. High-powered spirits generally have numerous spiritual servants they can dispatch, purchased as followers, and generally have strong goals they wish to accomplish and spend nearly all of their time working on. When a spirit is reduced to 0 BODY, it is unable to move or operate under its own initiative. It loses 1 BODY per turn until it reaches -10, at which point it leaves the plane completely. ---- SOME SAMPLE SPIRITS STR CON BOD DEX INT EGO PRE COM STUN SPD PD/r ED/r OCV DCV Malach - Desolid always on, 5d6 images, 3d6 projective t-path, universal translator, oratory 14-. Divine spirit. 0 10 1 10 13 12 25 10 5 2 0 2 3 3 Nymph - Life support (breathe water), +5" swimming, seduction 15-, 8d6 mindcontrol (only on seduced men). Nature spirit. 5 13 9 14 14 13 19 19 19 3 1 3 5 5 Fire Elemental - Desolid (cold/water and wind attacks), 3" flight, 6d6 AofE line, 8d6 AofE 1hex, 6d6 damage shield Eblast affects the real world. Elemental spirit. 0 23 15 10 3 7 10 5 40 2 0 5 3 3