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. 

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. 

The Stairs of Grandrock

Gdera's northernmost country Grandrock is hard to reach because of its position high up its plateau, a series of cliffs and steep rocks making up its southern border, encompassing the entire land. This is not natural, however. Long ago, a placespirit - whose reason for existence is wildly debated - caused the plateau to rise, effectively cutting off Grandrock from the southern lands. Ages later, another placespirit enslaved anyone nearby to erect an elephantine staircase up the sheer cliffs. When the stairs were done, the remaining workers threw themselves off the cliff. Needless to say, the natives dislike the cliffs very much and won't even lead their flocks near it. To the unaware traveller though, the stairs are a blessing; their rise is perfect, and there are even niches to rest in on the long way up.

"Yes, we're safe from invasion. We were safe from Frullahan's insane expansions. Nobody enters the lands unnoticed, the cliffs are all but impossible to climb. As captain of the guard, I praise the stairs. As a being with a heart, I despise its memory."
— Quarin Tolmor, the queen's guard

The plateau is the most widespread relic known to remain of a placespirit, whose powers are normally restricted to their direct domain, which can still be very large, but not usually along an entire country's border. This has given rise to the belief the spirit was the result of a speaker exhausting herself to death with a spell, although there's no proof of that.
If the staircase itself is cursed is debated as well. There is an unusual amount of dead spirits around and on it, and the majority of those who die here become spirits. The Grandrockers take no chances and, while money doesn't stink, they much prefer traders arriving by boat or by Area over those that took the stairs.

"We have no friends. Our neighbours are scared, travellers are few, allies are too hard to reach because of the plateau. I hear some pity us, but they don't call either. We are quite alone."
— Penaka Ultor, citizen

Artists' notes
Every decent fantasy setting needs some monumental landmarks, doesn't it? There are a few in Genius Loci, but the stairs are among the useful ones, which I discovered while telling their story is worse to the natives than an entirely useless one. It's like employing knowledge gained through torture - you can't ignore it, but you feel dirty using it.

Radseri Spiritfriend

Radseri is the foremost expert on nature spirits. The Sawan elf has been studying them from early childhood and learned at the renowned School of Magic in Gamahan. Today, he travels to learn more about spirits; everyone agrees he has a special connection to spirits, but nobody can really say what that is.

"Radseri is known to us. He told the people of the town on my home mountain my wishes and made them understand when I could not. He is as good as a fleeter and wants less, we wish him well."
— Molmorur, the spirit of the Nonobur volcano

Radseri has human parentage and a quiet character, and is regarded as sitting in the ivory tower, but is undisputably a genius in his field. He can be seen playing with spirits all the time, splashing through rivers and running across meadows, but he is serene, well-spoken, and a good advisor to those seeking his counsel, and very undiscriminating. It is sometimes matter of concern to the same leaders who ask his help, that Radseri always hears both parties and may decide in favour of the spirits.

"And here we thought we understood our spirits just fine. The entire elven population of the city might have been killed by that unfortunate business with the collector's chest, had Radseri not intervened."
— Onitsor, councilman

Artists' notes
Radseri first appeared in a quote for a nature spirits concept where he said they made him become a mage, and he later received his own painting. I was long undecided if he was an elf or a human, but finally settled on elf because they are attuned to nature and spirits anyway.

Spirit of place - genius loci

"The city of Hammerfall only exists because of a spleen by the mountain spirits in the first place. More and more signs have arisen that it may, and soon, become the host of a placespirit - an event that, in regard of the city's size, must be averted at all costs."
— Counselor Tshiako Sagamiu

Where a mood becomes defining for a place, be it a festival place, city, or battlefield, a genius loci may come into existence. It is an entity of almost limitless power that borders on conscious intelligence - on which side of it is unknown. They rarely appear physically, but fill the horizon when they do, and almost never speak. If they do, they command.
The placespirit will possess anyone in its domain. The victims may dance until they drop dead, start erecting uninhabitable palaces, or dig a shaft. As unreasonable as all placespirits' commands seem, time and again the results have been part of turning points in history.

"It is the Violet Order's belief that the placespirits must be thoroughly researched, seeing as the survivors carry an uncanny wisdom out of their service to them."
— Headless Nakani, to Queen Jamora

An unchallenged genius loci can stay indefinitely, and must be driven out. This difficult task can only be performed by highly skilled speakers or collectors; there are very, very few who ever drove out a placespirit alone, among them the famous voice Asa and the collector Numkrichtahn.
The saved victims will, in any case, not be the same and may act irrationally on a whim years into the future, but to allow them the appearance of normality, they are often brought elsewhere to pick up their lives.

Artists' notes
The name-giving spirit of place (Latin: genius loci, German: Ortsgeist) is an important part of the setting, of course. It's more or less my remedy for not having dragons or orcs handy to devastate a land - instead the population will be mentally enslaved by a terrible willpower... uh-oh.
Since they are so hard to research, many strange folk have obsessed over them, and suffered horrible fates - different every time, there just seems to be no rule to placespirits.

Spirits: Echoes

"My grandmother left an echo when she fell sick that comforted me until I grew up. I later met the echo of Genaleonder Blue Hands at the battlefield of Tix; she taught me the sword."
— Awanek Graystrider, general

Echoes are the third kind of natural spirits after nature spirits and dead spirits. They come into existence in a moment of utmost importance to someone - the signing of a treaty, finding one's love, the birth of a child, to name a few. It is always very individual.
Most echoes fade over time, but some linger for centuries or millenia, often left by great people, and are popular teachers. The person siring an echo doesn't need to be dead, and echoes aren't dangerous per se.

"A bug fairy's echo - I laughed the first time I heard. But when I met it, the purity of its happiness about having saved the child was truly heartwarming. As was the grace with which it declined the sweets I offered, as if it knew it wasn't corporeal; a knowledge many echos lack."
— Voypa, mage

Not all echoes are aware they're ghosts, and are repetetive, stuck in the moment they came into existence. But they're eager to spread their knowledge; a few of the most powerful even retain the ability to cast spells. Some people have left several echoes, and some parts of the world are filled with them as people leave echoes on any occasion.

Artist's notes
After making the dead spirits very dangerous, I also wanted nice ghosts. It must be interesting to meet oneself as a ghost; echoes do not develop, and by kitaian cosmological philosophy, you aren't the same person at any moment as you were in any other moment, therefore you and the echo are not the same.

Spirit collectors

"It is said that Baqimba of the East was a collector before he turned evil and caused so much death and destruction. He is held as the example of ultimate failure that could befall any collector."
— Wennikim Olikaa, historian

The spirits of the dead are dangerous. They can only cause harm, and should be unified with the Great Spirit. That's done by spirit collectors, who entrap spirits within themselves or totems, carry them to ritual places, and cleanse them out. However, dead spirits constantly struggle for control, and so collectors are always at battle with them. Possessed collectors harness the power of all other spirits trapped within their bodies and are a force not to be trifled with.

"Within the turmoil, the court's collector was cut deeply. I'll never forget his expression as he held the wound closed and swallowed the deadly poison capsule from his necklace, taking the spirits trapped within him into death - else, none would have walked out of the court alive."
— Nuwanor, palace guard

Every inch of a collector's body is room for more spirits. Spirits can escape through openings and ends of the body - mouth, hands, feet, etc. To make the collector's life easier, they are sealed with rings which also mark the extent to which the collector uses his body. Young collectors wear rings on the upper arms and forelegs, moving them further out with more experience.

Artist's notes
Collectors have great potential for being tragic figures. When they loose their concentration, all hell breaks loose. I wanted a profession that's instantly recognisable and causes both fear and awe in the general public. Plus, the shaman-inspired costumes are fun to design. I imagine there are lots of collectors in the world, trying to keep up with death as spirits pop up all over the place, trying to sort out the more dangerous first, and grouping together for larger rituals. There's a bit of exorcist/vampire hunter flair to them.

Dead spirits

"The lonely dead know only anger, and vengeance, and their own will. They are not some romantic idea that obeys logic and society, their goals are often enough inachievable, and they cannot be reasoned with. I will teach you how to capture and unite them with the Great Spirit, and that is the only way we have of dealing with them." — Collector Novi Blue Seas, to her apprentice

Among the several kinds of spirits on Kitas, dead spirits are the most common "artificial" ones. Dead spirits come into being from people dying under bad circumstances - murder, intense pain of mind or body, while obsessed with one thought, from incorrect or missing burial rituals - or simply because they believe they must become spirits. Dead spirits are wrathful and insane. They are obsessed with getting justice and will leave when they get it - which may be as easy as setting up a tombstone. In harder cases, spirit collectors are called. Dead spirits have the general shape of their former self, but strangely dislocated in places, with bones shining through and a clearly visible dark heart. Only powerful spirits can attack, but their presence always causes discomfort or damage - from headaches to heart attacks. All dead spirits will attempt possession.


Artist's notes
Ghosts and haunted places were among my favourite stories as a child, from poltergeists to banshees, Wiedergänger, Aufsitzer... the dead spirits of Genius Loci have many of those powers. They are not helpful at all, not to be trifled with, and can be encountered anywhere, which should be a lot of fun in stories to come. Darkhearts are powerful enemies of freedom, and therefore the dark heart suited the dead very well (I am very glad I had this idea).