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?

HEARTH SPIRITS: Neolithic House Ghosts

Discussing the etymology of hobgoblin on the discord server was a reminder that the idea of a "kitchen ghost" or "hearth spirit" is common to many cultures across the globe. Hob is used by a lot of British people to describe their stovetop, an evolution of the hot plate that once kept pots simmering on traditional stoves. Goblin, of course, was a type of fey creature rather than a rat-faced runt with green (or orange) skin and a selection of  pointy sticks. The hobgoblin was thus a kitchen-based domestic spirit and not the larger kinds [of orc], as suggested by Gandalf.

They used to be fun, now they're just another "proud warrior race" trope.

In protestant Europe (and in many of the lands the countries of that cultural sphere once occupied) belief in this spirit and the practice of honouring it has largely died out over the last few centuries along with many of that culture's folk traditions. The guilty party in this case being the religiosity of the reformation and the "rationalism" of the later enlightenment period. 

Altar of the Ancestral Spirits

Neolithic temple in Malta

 This post addresses three elements within the PARIAH game that weren't fully explored in PARIAH VOLUME ONE:

• The "ancestral relic" mentioned in the "creating the band" section.
• This piece of text from the kickstarter blurb: "lay down your lie for the good of your allies, knowing that your spirit can assist the fledgling band from the beyond!"
• The application of the "true name" in the game.

These Spirits Are Thought To Live Far Out At Sea And Are Usually Malevolent

Monster generation inspired by the procedures illustrated in HANTU by the incomparable Zedeck Siew. Buy it now through itch.io https://athousandthousandislands.itch.io/hantu.

This post was also been inspired by the ongoing quest to make all the monsters you'll ever need:

https://shutteredroom.blogspot.com/2020/09/all-monsters-youll-ever-need.html

By Jef Cox, from PARIAH

Taking Zedeck's procedure as a prompt, I've made my own series for weird spirits that might inhabit the world of PARIAH...

CONTEN WARNING: body horror, genital references, scatology...