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Spirits
If an immortal has been slain, and his himsati remains in the corporeal world. His rainbow of halos are empty, depriving him of corporeal form. He cannot appear as a human shape except by creating illusions in the minds of living beings he encounters. He can, however, allocate his soul points into the other attribute slots, giving him the ability to "manifest" on the corporeal plane. Given that the most powerful soul is usually confined to a rating of 15, the strongest spirit still is weak in relation living being, including humans.
Walk-Ins: Spiritual Possession
Quicknote: Immortal spirits cannot use himsati natures, but they do gain the moon bonus. See Immortal: Shapeshifter, page 49. They can use serenades at a penalty of -5 on their rolls, but only if they stand within the area occupied by a vox that is not within 5 feet of a living being.
A spirit who decides to remain in the corporeal world is attuned to the place where he died. If he leaves the Blue Air, he is transported back to this particular place on the physical plane. If the place where he is slain is an open area, he is attuned to the area, usually within a 1000 square feet area. If the death occurs within a building, such as a museum or church, he is generally attuned to the entire interior of the building. This attunement to it’s place of death is known as it’s haunt. A spirit’s soul gains +5 soul while inside it’s haunt, and thus is more difficult to destroy there. If his vox remains in the haunt, his soul points are instead doubled.
There are three conditions under which spirits can manifest corporeally within the physical world. Two of these allows the spirit to remain immortal. The third option does not. Spirits can manifest at will within the confines of their haunts, allocating their soul energy to any other halo at will, from one round to the next. They cannot leave the area without withdrawing these points back into the soul. After leaving it’s haunt, a spirit can wander anywhere in the world, but is unable to effect it in any way except to be seen or heard by any other creature whose soul rating is equal or greater than the spirit’s. Once he has appeared before someone with a strong enough soul to perceive him, a spirit can bargain for his new acquaintance to give up some of his soul to the spirit. A living being must willingly give up this life-force to the spirit, it cannot be stolen. Unscrupulous mortals will often require the spirit to aid him in a certain goal before paying him off with life force. The service a spirit is required to render often entails joining his soul to that of the mortal, elevating his soul rating and allowing him a temporary boost of power. At the end of his service, the spirit may be awarded the life-force he seeks, or he may not. He is powerless to enforce his will on a human who reneges on his promise, but that doesn’t stop him from gaining future revenge once he’s returned to the land of the living. Soul points a spirit receives are anchored in one of his attributes. To be able to physically affect an object outside his haunt, a spirit must have at least 1 point in his orange (strength) halo. Collecting life-force in this way is a hard road of prostitution many immortals find discouraging and dangerous to members of their own kind, especially when they are used by mortals as weapons. The final means by which an immortal can manifest corporeally is to possess the body of a mortal, be that human being or animal, that has no soul. When the immortal finds a suitable vessel he enters it and becomes a corporeal being. If he does not have possession of his vox, he is merely an immortal soul trapped in a mortal body. The body will age and die normally, forcing the immortal’s spirit out. Characters who inhabit soulless mortal shells cannot play serenades unless he physically touches a vox. Spirits in possession of their voxes can actually become reborn as immortals in the body of a soul-less creature. During the possession, as long as the soulless creature is somehow touching the crystal reed, it enters into their body through blood (a wound must therefor also be present) and reconstructs itself in the throat. The immortal now has a different human appearance, although his true-form, which is spiritually grounded, remains the same.
Summoning a spirit requires the summoner to have possession of the spirit’s own vox. He must be within 5 feet of the vox when the summons is made, and must know the spirit’s name. He needs only call the spirit to draw it to the vox. The spirit must remain in the area for one round, after which he is free to depart. This round can give his summoner a chance to attack him. Harming a spirit is difficult, but it can be done. A spirit can, in fact, be permanently destroyed. To harm a spirit a character must possess a soul. The rating of this attribute is applied directly against the soul of the spirit. The more powerful the corporeal’s soul, the more damage he may inflict upon the spirit. Any weapon he possesses, if it is enchanted with soul energy, adds to the damage he inflicts. Only the soul energy in the weapon, it’s enchantment, can be applied against the spirit. The normal damage rating of the blade is not applied.
For example: A character with a soul attribute rating of 3 attacks a spirit using an enchanted quarterstaff. A normal quarterstaff usually inflicts a damage of 5 on those it strikes, but against spirits it would be useless. However, an example enchanted quarterstaff would have a damage rating of 9, five of which is normal damage and four of which is damage increased by infusing the staff with soul energy. Only the soul energy in the staff, in this case 4 is applied against a spirit since it transcends the physical world.
When a character strikes a spirit, he applies his soul and any enchantment of his weapon against the soul of the spirit. If he exceeds the spirit’s soul by at least 3, he deals a "wound" to the spirit. This wound takes the form of destroying 1 soul point in the spirit. When a spirit’s soul is reduced to 0, he is destroyed. Spirits can attack the souls of the living in the same manner, reducing their opponents soul to 0. This will not destroy a living being since he still retains his other attributes, and over time will regenerate the lost soul points. A spirit can, however, temporarily ensure it’s continued survival by eliminating soul points in others, soul points that could be used to harm itself. Any being who is within 5 feet of the spirit’s vox (including, of course, having it on their person) cannot be attacked in this way by a spirit. For this reason, a spirit will do most anything to transport his vox to a place of safety. Sometimes, finding an ignorant mortal to carry out this work is necessary.
Where mood is the primary concern of a player, creating a character who is alone, separated from her companions most of the time can be an interesting change of pace. Spirits have the advantage of moving mostly undetected among humans and as such make excellent agents. When they bond themselves to humans they can trust, an interesting dualistic existence can be achieved. They enter the spirit world at will, an endless ocean of energy not unlike space if it were filled with water, twinkling with lights of souls like stars on a clear night. Through their imaginations, spirits can create entire worlds in this world, solid and real to their own touch. In many ways, this godlike power allows immortals to contemplate, through their actions on a vast scale, their own humanity.
Walk-Ins: Spiritual Possession Spirits can only possess another being with a soul by that being’s permission. Such spirits are called walk-ins. A walk-in enters into and becomes part of the other being. His soul mingles with that of his host and the two become one. In mechanic terms, the soul rating of the host (which can only be a non-immortal) is raised by the current rating of the walk-in’s soul. Animals can serve as vessels for a walk-in only if they are soulless. No animal will willingly be possessed by a spirit. It is up to the narrator to decide how many of the soulless are wandering around in his particular world. Soulless entities, human or animal, can be possessed without their permission. The soul rating of the walk-in is added to the empty soul slot of the host and a normal character is created. If an immortal can regain his vox, he can bond it to a soulless creature and recreate himself as an immortal with a different human shape.
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