House Spirit
Background
House spirits are created when so much care and attention is lavished in the building and design of the house that it seems to take on a life of its own. The spirit may later change in form and attitude, depending on the subsequent history of the house. A residence that knows domestic warfare and spousal or child abuse may become an angry, bullying spirit, while a house governed by mutual love and respect among its inhabitants develops an aura of love and giving. Many house-spirits are mistaken for ghosts.
Description
These spirits are very large - house-sized as a matter of fact - and they manifest in several different ways. Essentially, a house-spirit looks like a house. The spirit never moves, able only to remain in its own neighborhood in the Shadow Realm. When the spirit has need of communicating with someone from the material world, it does so either through one of its resident spirits or else it forms a minor proxy from its own Essence to speak for it. These formed spirits are somewhat shapeless, missing significant parts. For example, the messenger may be nothing more than a face in a wisp of smoke or a mouth in a beam if sunlight falling through the window. Some houses only make these manifestations in their own "bodies," so that messengers appear to be people trapped within the walls or ghosts in the wiring. Facial features of these appendages of the house are usually blurry, as if the house doesn't really care to waste too much time on detail simply to create a messenger.
Storytelling Hints
These spirits are interested primarily in being admired and in having their interiors and exteriors maintained. They also have a need for companionship and often try to lure people from the material world into their clutches. If they choose to terrify someone, they can use a variety of phantasmal images to prey on the already vulnerable minds of anyone who has encountered these sentient houses.
Stats
Rank: 2
Attributes: Power 6, Finesse 2, Resistance 6
Willpower: 12
Essence: 10
Initiative: 8
Defense: 6
Speed: 0
Size: 10
Corpus: 16
Influence: Varies. The life of the house determines the spirit's Influences. Examples include Peace, Loneliness, Violence, Marriage and Fear. Many house-spirits, however, have the Influence "Home **," which they use to keep humans in residence despite great turmoil or danger.
Numina: Every house-spirit is different, but these Numina are common to house-spirits: Claim, Ghost Sign, Ghost Speech, Harrow, Living Fetter, Telekinesis, Terrify
Ban: A house-spirit cannot move.
References
- CofD: World of Darkness: Chicago, p. 310