Spirit lanterns

Nature spirits guarantee good health for their homestead, which is most interesting for plants and the people who care for those. A lantern is supposed to attract tiny spirits by burning incense; the then occupied lantern can, very carefully, be taken away and the spirit offered a new home in a plant of choice. Especially plants grown indoors or in greenhouses, or in otherwise inaccessible places, can lack a spirit which would normally turn up eventually.
Larger spirits are not as impressed by lanterns, unless there are many, but apparently they still notice them.

"Those blasted children stole my lanterns again. My crop of famkafeathers will be mediocre at best - but the wild rurgra trees ot the end of the street are just brimming with spirits. They will bear excellent fruit this year, I'm sure."
— Revchira, greenhouse owner

Lanterns are regionally different but often playfully designed to appeal to spirits, and are filled with carefully chosen incense, containing bits of the plant the lantern-owner wishes to become home to a spirit. Some also have windchimes, or are bird-shaped to glide down through hopefully spirit-inhabited spaces.


Artists' notes
These were a random bit in a drawing once, but the idea was pretty. Mostly spirits will just arrive one day, but in the middle of the desert or winter-dark lands, a little help is appreciated. Great Forest children conduct runs, snatching up an many lanterns as they can, and watch how many spirits come to see them. 

The Standing Stones of Vrebin

As any standing stones, nobody can say when they were erected or who did it, and if one falls, they stand up again. Vrebin in southeastern Lozir is a widely known and mighty place of power. Around a handful of tall rock spires lie some buildings and ritual places; it is particularly attuned to cleansings and whisperings, and so, many craftsmen and collectors come here to do their work. Like most, the stones stand on a power knot. The actual city Vrebin lies some distance away, but is named after the same speaker, who first established the standing stones as a ritual place.

"I am going to Vrebin to become a speaker. I have long dreamt of it, as many of my family are speakers too - now I will join them. It must be wonderful to finally feel the Fifth Power."
— Enmit Riumnin, villager

Many places of power are protected by speakers, but of only one tradition at a time. If both traditions send guardians however, they always fulfill their duties harmoniously. The wizard and mage in charge of the Vrebin stones are known to be reasonable and understanding, but still hard as nails - they will not tolerate any violation of the rules. Among their duties is the keeping of the peace, but they also are caretakers of several dangerous artifacts, the mightiest being the Bloodcollar - the infamous necklace that, despite its power, is undesirable to most, because it got all its wearers killed; several times even by placespirits.

"Five attempts to steal the Bloodcollar, like there's a war coming. Don't they understand how dangerous the cursed thing is? I will send listeners to smoke the raiders out."
— Guard Olripe, to Guard Vastumid

Artists' notes
Menhirs are really cool, and I like "nobody sees how it happens" a lot, and made them erect themselves, like grass growing. When I came up with artifacts, I asked myself, where would they put the really dangerous ones? The answer is of course, you'll put it in a place where people are so powerful they can defend it against virtually anything. And so, standing stone sites are vaults for the most dangerous artifacts.

Sabiré's Wall

Glaspia, a southern Gderan country, spent centuries pushing its border northwards. Its neighbours might have objected, if it hadn't been for the wall of Sabiré, growing in Glaspia's hinterlands for almost three millenia. During a speaker war in 3602EL, the spell relic was caused, and the wall that rose due to it didn't stop growing until two centuries ago. It is only a few hundred meters wide, but now over four thousand meters high and several hundred kilometers long. It influences local weather significantly and has created drylands on its western side.

"Ah, the mages around here never let you hear the end of it. A wizard appears, and they start whispering there's going to be another wall, as soon as we cast a spell. It might be interesting to the voiceless that most civilized regions were disrupted by mages' spell relics, not wizards'."
— Emketju, wizard

As all landmarks of importance, Sabirè's Height, as the wall is also called, is inhabited by a nature spirit. Ednini is very tall, and strange. He has not been at the wall for long, but his presence has caused local plantlife to improve greatly. Unlike other spirits, Ednini speaks a lot, is easily upset, and wants company. But since most people think the wall to be cursed, scary, or uncomfortable, he has little of it and jealously guards what few people he has.

"I almost pitied him, being so alone, if he hadn't been so creepy. There are almost no mid-sized spirits around the wall, only Ednini and the tiny ones in the plants he helps growing, and in some rocks. Maybe spirits, too, go mad when left alone?"
— Wenemmes, traveller

Artists' notes
This is one of those places where the things you hear about it are almost all wrong, over the top or way too harmless, and most things you can't learn at all. Nature spirits had personalities before, but with Ednini I discovered they could be influenced by supernatural affairs as well. 

Collector's tools

Spirit collectors can work entirely without tools if needed, but prefer using them. They're usually made by pendulors, and totems and tubes need to be of certain quality - broken totems release their spirits.

The wooden totems are for trapping dead spirits. They are blue at first, turning brown when inhabited, and are painted with spirit-bonding patterns. The figure is sitting with folded arms, and must be of the appropriate species; a rope can be pulled through for hanging them up. In the cleansing rituals to unite the dead with the Great Spirit, the totem is destroyed.

"It was custom for collectors on their way to the cleansing to wear blue as a warning. Crowds parted around them, but more than once, the rebels shot them to release all spirits in the masses, causing great turmoils."
— Benerare Pikale, historian

Spirits are reflected like light and cannot escape rings, going in circles forever. Echo tubes are therefore made from mirroring materials. They can be glass tubes that are screwed shut or crystals closed with clasps, while metal tubes are not commonly used - since there is no light inside, there's also no reflection, and supposedly this makes them less useful.

"And when they had reached the clifftops, they started throwing down items we took for bottles, that shattered on the ground, but we soon realized in horror that they were echo tubes releasing their spirits among us."
— Ratirra Merruh, listener

The collectors' rings also use the ring principle. Young collectors start with them on arms and legs, moving them outwards gradually. A collector's body is a vessel, every inch makes room for more and greater spirits, and the rings are like stoppers. Seasoned collectors wear their rings on toes and fingers.


Artists' notes
Needless to say, there are also legendary collectors' rings or echo tubes that supposedly work better than the average. I always liked all the precautions you are supposed to take when interacting with the supernatural - turning mirrors to the wall, guarding thresholds with brick dust or salt, and so on. With equipment, there's also the storytelling element of precautions gone wrong, to add danger and difficulty to the task. 

Pendulors

Pendulum makers create many items used in supernatural affairs; pendulums for mappers and travellers to find their way, or totems and echo tubes for spirit collectors in which they trap the deads' spirits. The items themselves aren't enchanted in any way, or at least don't need to be, but the tiny details can make a speaker's or collector's life much easier, like the proper colour and quality.

"Buy from Trenan in Southern Third Street, his totems are reasonably strong. Those from the fourth floor pendulors are too difficult to burn in cleansings."
— Gajikar, to a fellow collector

Pendulums can be used to find all sorts of things related to what they're made of, and can be surprisingly precise. The craftsmanship doesn't really matter, a clam on a string will do, but will find too many things. This is the real art of pendulum-making; to create a pendulum that will find only what is sought.

Artists' notes
When I invented totems, it was clear that not just every idiot could make good ones, and I doubted all collectors had the time to make them themselves, and so "Pendelmacher" were invented. I always liked the idea of holding pendulums over maps to find a specific site or item. And because many gems and metals have certain esoteric properties, there would be someone who makes special pendulums for finding water or Area thresholds or whatever. 

Art on deviantArt: Tribal shankeh, Northeastern Blades, Plasmats

More speedpaintings of different subjects are published on deviantArt now: a portrait of a tribal shankeh, the Northeastern Blades - a powerful set of artifacts -, and the plasmat concept. You can also learn more about them in their respective blog articles about shankeh, artifacts, and the plasmats.