Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows

Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows is a Spirit who leads the Court of Lost Hopes in The Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

Background

There are few spirits so feared in the Sonoran Desert as Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows, also called Shadow-Garbed. He leads the Court of Lost Hopes, which controls two of the pain-aspected loci along the border. Unlike many court leaders, who control their sworn spirits through guile and cunning, Shadow-Garbed controls them all through fear. None of his followers doubts for a second that he will cut the skin from their bodies and consume their innards whole if they disobey him; the many faces hanging in terror from his hunchbacked shoulders convince his followers all too easily. And they fear even more Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows' unnamed liege.

Shadow-Garbed was already well-known in the desert when word of the mighty pain loci raised a great cry among spirits. The news created something of a gold rush toward the border. Shadow-Garbed does not hurry, so he was certainly not the first to get there, but several members of his court rushed ahead to keep the little spirits in line and ensure that they did not drain too much Essence from the valuable loci. When he arrived, few dared argue with him about which loci were his; therefore, his are the most powerful. Only after he had claimed two of the loci did others, bound to other lords, bar him from taking the rest.

Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows added many pounds to his shirt that day, but the spirits were loyal to their masters and barred from those loci he remained. None in Shadow-Garbed's court believe that he could not have destroyed them all, but understand that he chose not to. At least, so they say. Expressing another opinion aloud is a fair way to become clothing.

Today, many spirits in the Court of Lost Hope and others are surprised that Shadow-Garbed hasn't made a move on the other loci. All he does is sip daily at those that are already his and enforce outrageous rules about when his followers may partake, which is depressingly infrequently. The braver (or less noticeable) spirits of his court are leaving, heading to places where there is greater potential for expansion and for fulfilling the spirits' hungers. As his court dwindles, it becomes easier for Shadow-Garbed to do as he wishes - but it also becomes harder for him to hold his loci. He confides in no one, so his plans are a mystery.

Werewolves seeking to control the Pipe Cactus territory may notice Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows' weakening control of his loci and use him as a launching point for their destruction of the negative loci on the border. Unfortunately, Shadow-Garbed is an incredibly able combatant, and he would like nothing more than to add the spirit-portions of a werewolf - or an entire pack - to his ever-growing shirt.

Left alone, Shadow-Garbed enacts his plan to increase the strength of his loci, until they are as mighty as any source of Essence can be. With that power at his disposal, he does what few expect of him: he uses subtlety. With the power of two such powerful loci at his disposal, he easily lures spirits to abandon their courts and join the Court of Lost Hopes. Many come, hoping for better access to the fount of Essence than their current liege gives them, and the ranks of Garbed-in-Flesh-of-Shadows' followers swell to thrice their original size. He is a viable threat to all the other spirit lords on the border, now, and he wants to take it all. And then he wants to add some wolfskins to his shirt.

Stats

Rank: 4
Attributes: Power 13, Finesse 11, Resistance 11
Willpower: 24
Essence: 10 (25 max)
Defense: 13
Speed: 34
Size: 6
Corpus: 17
Influences: Fear ****
Numina: Blast (Phantasmal Faces Twisted in Horror), Chorus, Claim, Fetter, Gauntlet Breach, Harrow, Materialize, Material Vision, Omen Gazing*, Wilds Sense
Ban: Unknown
*As the Gift, which Shadow-Garbed can also teach.

References

• WTF: Territories, p. 140-141