Wednesday 12 June 2024

Spell-spirit houses: small shrines to small gods

This post envisions how spirit houses could work in PARIAH (or your animist RPG of choice). Before I get into it I want to say a quick word about its provenance. I've previously written 3 posts on the topic of shrines but they crossed over into real life recently when I started to consider the act of building a birdhouse through an animist lens in this post. 

I've also begun watching SCAVENGERS REIGN (only a few episodes in so no spoilers, please): without giving too much away I am completely in love with it. So much resonates with the psychedelic animism I have made my life's mission to evoke (and there's a post percolating as we speak on this very topic) but it was a much more subtle moment that crept into the ultimate genesis of this post, which I will mention towards the end.   

But for now, spirit houses...

Spirits of the Here & Now, visiting the shrine I built to house them     

...instead of invoking and binding spell-spirits, why not provide them with a nice place to live?

Disclaimer!

The following is a description of the purpose and nature in the fictional setting of PARIAH. I thought about first attempting to summarise what spirit house describes in the real world, but it started to turn into an anthropology essay and that's not why any of us are here. Suffice it to say, the practice of dedicating miniature (or sometimes not so miniature) buildings to spirits has probably been practiced by every iteration of human culture at some point, though today it is only really a "mainstream" cultural practice in the countries of east and southeast Asia. There's probably at least as much variance as to the purpose and significance of the spirit house within the cultures of those countries than there are between the cultures of those countries, if not more, so please don't be surprised if the following text does not align with your understanding of the practice. 

Conversely, if this is all completely new to you, please don't assume that the description below gives any insight whatsoever into your friends'/neighbours'/colleagues' spiritual or religious practices.

Abandoned hokora/ hokura in Miyazaki's Spirited Away

A home for the spirits

Let's begin with what they're for: sure, they're a house for spirits, but pariahs build them so that they can gain magical allies. Unlike the coercive (not to mention complex and risky) sorcerous rituals of  invoking and binding, building a spirit house is about reciprocity. 

Anyone can can spend half a day creating a shrine of their own design out of locally sourced materials, but they should be clear about who or what their home is intended for and the design of the shrine should reflect this. Nonetheless, some general rules apply:
  1. It is not a shrine for a hearth spirit so it should not be placed inside a dwelling, though it could be situated just outside—by a doorway, for example, or the entrance to a cave. 
  2. Likewise, this should not form the basis of the band's ancestral altar, though it could be designed for a specific spirit of the dead or to propitiate a ghost (see below a future post I'm yet to write).  
  3. The structure should look and feel like a "home": at the very least, their should some way of getting in and out (whether its open on all sides or through a specific portal), and it should have a roof shrine
  4. The shrine needs at least one item associated with the spirit that might dwell there: this could be a specific food, material or piece of statuary.
  5. The shrine should be cleaned and inspected, made good and repaired regularly: its residents need to feel cared for.
Assuming all of these requirements are met, it is likely that the spirit house will gain an occupant. When the pariahs next visit the shrine allow them to make an offering. After a few minutes of silent contemplation, they will be able to tell if the shrine is occupied (roll D6). Deduct one from the roll if the shrine has not been visited in more than a month.

0
The shrine has been vandalised, dismantled or otherwise interfered with by forces unknown. It will take a few hours to restore to good order
1
Nothing happens, the shrine is bereft. Come back tomorrow and have another look.
2-3
There are hints of activity, but nothing is present. Come back tomorrow and have another look, adding "one" to your roll.
4-6
A sign indicates a spell-spirit is dwelling in the spirit house.

Spirit houses by realm 

The following are "serving suggestions" only, and correspond to the cosmology of Pariah's implied setting:

Here & Now: Animal shrines

A shrine to an animal should be large enough to accommodate that animal and be in an environment in which they are found. This could be a simple shelter for a fox to shelter in, a hibernacular for a lizard over-wintering in cooler climes, or a box for nesting birds.

Decoration might include effigies of the creature, but should be subtle. 

Signs of occupancy will include traces of the creature: feather, fur, tracks, shed skins, food scraps etc.

Offerings are most likely to be food that they enjoy, but also fresh water for washing and drinking

The builder or maintainer (the shrinekeeper) of an occupied shrine may call upon the occupant once a day, so longas they are within a few miles of it. The occupant will travel at normal speed towards the shrinekeeper. Animal spirits called in this way can temporarily bond with the spirit of the shrinekeeper, enabling them to see through its eyes, hear through its ears and even speak through its mouth, though any wounds sustained by the spirit are also inflicted upon the shrinekeeper.


Here & Now: Tree spirits

A tree may be honoured in many ways, but any structures erected should not impede its future growth. Small spirit houses to its tree sprites can be placed in its boughs or any exposed buttress roots.

Decoration coloured ribbon and string ensure the spirit house is visible to passing travellers wishing to honour it. These can also be used to decorate the tree itself.


Signs of occupancy of the spirit house are fleeting but unambiguous: tiny, luminous sprites climbing in and around the structure, fading in and out of existence, encouraging the branches, roots or suckers of the tree to grow through and around the spirit house

Offerings tree sprites are like the children of the tree, and appreciate small toys to play with. Otherwise, keeping the tree in good health and burning incense are sufficient to honour its inhabitants.

Shrinekeepers may summon 2d4 tree sprites by  placing their hand against a tree of the same species as the one they honour, as long as it is within 6 miles of the shrine. They arrive instantaneously, and can confuse, distract and terrorise with minor illusions if asked to do so. Five tree sprites acting together can inflict  a human with a minor curse or affliction. They disappear after an hour.     

Dawn spell-spirits

The source of life itself, flowing through the Here & Now, is the realm of dawn: an infinitely abundant, ever-shifting spirit realm sitting adjacent to our own. Dawn is closest to the kingdom of plants, animals and the earthly elements, and so the spirit houses are found deep in forests, by springs and waterfalls or sites otherwise rich in natural beauty. Different traditions associate them with particular trees, plants or mushrooms, too.

Spirit houses (and indeed any shrines to the dawn) should face the rising sun. 

Signs of occupancy offerings are re-crafted into new forms, they may be exchanged and in this way broken items can be repaired, embellished or improved. Occasionally spirits in the form of orbs might be seen within the vicinity, or even a fleeting glimpse of a diminutive animal-human hybrid.

Offerings dawn spirits have a great appreciation for human craftsmanship, especially where it imitates nature. Shiny objects reflecting natural hues are greatly appreciated, especially emerald (it is very bad luck to loot an emerald from a dawn spirit house). Sweet foods (especially fruit cut, peeled and presented beautifully) and the burning of sandalwood are also considered appropriate.

Shrinekeepers may summon a dawn spell-spirit once per day whenever they are in a similar environment to the location of their dawn shrine. The spirit manifests as a charm, illusion or minor curse.   

Dusk hive

With the proper encouragement, bees can be encouraged to build their hives in suitably appointed spirit-houses, as long as they are near a reliable, expansive source of pollen and nectar, as well as plentiful water. Once a hive has been established, the shrinekeeper may collect 2d4 pints of honey each week (except during winter, in temperate climates). With proper intent, however, the hive's consciousness will manifest as a minor dusk spirit  

In terms of structure and decoration, the spirit house need not resemble a contemporary beehive (though this would make honey collectible, I feel this was not something developed until much later). It needs somewhere to hold clean water. 


 

Signs of occupancy the hive is clearly visible upon inspection. Once the dusk spirit arises, the droning of the hive takes on a unusually high or low pitch, or follows a subtle melody (i.e. phasing between two or three tones over regular (though prolonged) intervals. The hive responds in a way that is... different. It subtly acknowledges that the shrinekeeper is a fellow intelligent being 

Offerings be sure to burn pine needles or mixed with slightly damp wood or leaves to make smoke. Approach the hive slowly. Refresh the dish of water. Place some fresh flowerheads, ideally from a location close to the hive not previously known to it.

Shrinekeepers can summon a swarm of bees once per day (and during daylight hours only), wherever they are. The bees will be travelling directly from their hive, however, so here may be significant delay before they show up. The swarm follows the commands of the shrinekeeper for one hour, before returning to the hive. If night has fallen they will build a temporary nest in the shrinekeepers hat or hair, remaining there until the following morning.

.Additionally, the hive offers the shrinekeeper the option of limiting the honey they harvest to a cup a week, a mere 8 servings. Each cup of honey is imbued with a random magical effect, as follows:

Magical honey effects

D12

Magical effect (roll once for each jar)

1. 

Antidote: cures (or at least significantly ameliorates the effects of) any poison. One dose also enables the imbiber to make saves against poison with favour (roll 2d20, keep highest score) for one hour.

2. 

Antiseptic: though initially sweet, the bitter aftertaste signals to the imbiber that they should use the remaining dosages for the treatment of wounds. If placed on any cuts or bruises it restores 1d6 HP (or STR or CON if relevant), and immediately halts any bleeding. Wounds infected with poison or spirits are immediately cleansed..

3. 

Beesight: A single portion of honey causes the imbiber’s eyes to swell up and glaze over, reducing all vision to the purple end of the colour spectrum. They are able to see invisible creatures in addition to electromagnetic fields. Enchanted items appear to glow with a turquoise aura. The effects wear off after 1d4 hours.

4. 

Bumblefight: one portion grants a limited form of flight to the imbiber. They may move at 10’ round in any direction, but only to a height of 30’ and for one turn only.

5. 

Entheogen: effects as cactus buttons, each portion represents one dose.

6.

Healing: one dose restores 1d6 HP, or 1d4 to CON/DEX/INT

7.

Honey maker: the honey tastes normal and has no obvious effect, though the first person to eat it will strongly desire to finish the rest of the jar. Doing so immediately induces nausea, causing them to regurgitate the honey back into the jar. It is pure, clean and of exceptional quality, though possesses no enchantment.

For the next 24 hours, the imbiber will be thoroughly sick and unable to keep any food down. Indeed, for every pound of food eaten, they will vomit up a pint of pure, delicious, highly valued honey. Each subsequent jar has a 1-in-6 chance of possessing any of the magical abilities listed on this table. There is no limit on how many times they can do this, though each time incurs 1d2-1 HP damage. They may not heal or recover hit dice during this period.

8.

Mutagenic: eating one portion induces a random mutation. It manifests immediately and painfully: roll 1d6 damage. The mutation vanishes after a night’s sleep. Imbibing additional doses leads to further mutations.

9.

Pass hive: within a minute of eating one spoonful of honey, the imbiber is entirely consumed by a swarm of bees. However, their spirit is then transported to the nearest beehive to their location of choice. Bees within that hive are then able to reconstruct the imbiber’s body, thus teleporting them. They will be naked and itemless, however.

10.

Pheromones: a portion of this honey grants +2 to all reaction rolls from humans, insects and other animals.

11.

Sting-in-the-tail: this honey tastes sharp and acrid, signalling to the imbiber that it should be spread on a weapon. The weapon’s next successful hit inflicts maximum damage against its target, and is treated as enchanted for the purposes of this strike. If the target is the same size or smaller than the wielder, they must also make a save vs poison or die immediately. However, the wielder must also make a save: if they fail, the too incur the weapon’s maximum damage. The effect is one use per portion of honey.

12.

Summon killer bees: imbibing one portion of this honey enables whoever does so to conjure 1d4 giant bees, who follow the imbiber’s commands (to the best of their bee brain) for the rest of the day.


Spirit Houses in game

I got a little carried away there so I will need to deal with The Moon, The Sun, Death and the Beyond in future posts! But I think there's plenty there to drop into a pariah (or other animist) campaign.

Beyond worldbuilding, I think spirit houses can be bring a number of interesting elements to the game:
  1. They can operate as a kind of "living spellbook", albeit one that PCs will need to monitor and maintain over time, tied (to varying degrees) to the landscape. This sits alongside the relationships the pariahs build with the spirits of place and settled human communities 
  2. It can create a space for the two improvised magic systems to coexist: the hit dice based sorcery of pariah volume 1 and the gentler reciprocity of anima.
  3. It adds another layer to the activities of the pariah band: as they build and maintain these spirit houses across the landscape, how do other human communities respond to them? What communities emerge around them as they start to grow in significance?
Hopefully I'll be able to get a PARIAH game up and running again (the sandbox is still ostensibly on for tomorrow but I may well end up back in Titan City rather than the City of Ghosts!), we shall see.

Coda


So what of Scavengers Reign, mentioned at the start of this post?

It was episode two and  my post about birdhouses was already posted. I'd tried to express how animism did not preclude a materialist ontology: in short, one could engage with a connected, panpsychic world while also believing that everything within it was entirely understandable in terms of physics. But just as I'm failing to really pin down the point, I didn't quite nail it. Then there was this exchange between Sam and Ursula, with the former describing his friend witnessing what he believed to be an omen. 

(very mild spoilers follow)

On an apparently deserted and lifeless moon Sam and his friend go for a short walk, only to return to find the skull of "some creature" "staring at us". Sam's friend is unable to shake off his unease, dying exactly one year later....

URSULA:
I guess it doesn't matter how that skull got there: there's always a million rational explanations for why anything happens. I think we just can't help the instinct to give meaning to things we don't understand.

SAM:
But it was like he manifested his own death from something that wasn't even real.

URSULA:
Well it was real to him and I guess that's all that matters.

SAM:
I just couldn't imagine giving up that kind of control over my own life. 
  
Decoupled from the context and the beautiful art it's a seemingly vacuous exchange, but at its heart lies something profound I think. I could, of course, be entirely wrong. The meaning we apply to material reality affects material reality, whether that's self-fulfilling prophesy, placebo, genuine magic or all of the above, somehow.

~

As mentioned at the VERY start of this post, I use Substack to run the blog's mailing list and occasionally post extra pieces that don't fit on here or Psychocartography. I've also migrated all my old podcast episodes to that platform, with half a mind to revive it at some point in the near future. You can subscribe for free at the following link, but there's also a paid option if you would like to support my creative endeavours financially.

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