Types of Spirits
Terrestrial:
Terrestrial spirits are spirits of the land and world. They are characterized by complex internal and shifting ties, a closer relationship with humanity, and effects that are largely at an individual or small scale level. They can be appeased through labor that pursues the general health and harmony of the land. They are believed to be mortal, but arise from and multiply within themselves.
Example groupings: Forest spirits; Plains spirits; River spirits; Ocean spirits; Animal spirits; Material spirits; Elemental spirits.
Example specifics: The spirit of wheat, which dies to feed people and in turn gains protection for the next generation. The spirits of poisonous herbs which, if their ways are known and relationships to the spirits of rock and fire properly utilized, can have their negative aspects heightened against a target and averted from the wielder, or even turned into a positive.
Celestial:
Celestial spirits are spirits of the heavens, both stars and storms. They are characterized by a mix of complex internal order (stars) and occasional unpredictability (storms, drought, comet). Their effects are always on a wide scale and often severe in nature. It is unknown what can appease them, though some speculate that a human sacrifice might be one worthy of their attention. They are believed to be immortal.
Example groupings: Star spirits; Storm spirits; Comet spirits?; ???; see Chthonic heresy, ST internal schism.
Example specifics: The comet was either a star spirit or an emissary of a previously unknown classification of comet spirits. It's relatively significant malignity can mean either that it was corrupted by the demonic spirits, is part of a natural malice in this kind of spirit, or was part of an unpredictable nature.
Demonic:
Demonic spirits are the enemy of humanity and likely of spirits. More specifically, they are spirits of disorder, disease, illness, accident, and untimely death. They possess no internal order and rarely act in a concerted fashion, for all that the spells they cast upon humanity can be understood and managed. Their spells can be targeted at individuals, or made to affect populations. Because their effects are often severe, the scope of their spells is the main factor in determining how dangerous a particular spell is. It is unknown how many demons exist, where they come from, and the status of their mortality and immortality. The last is of particular note: even if new demons cannot arise, the continued opportunity to develop and refine their spells is a significant threat against the People. If they are immortal and new demons CAN arise, demons will likely eventually outnumber the terrestrial and celestial spirits.
Example Specifics: The demon of disease. The demon of accident.
Example Spells: Spell of Starpox - currently combated by a ritual invented by the Wisdom Bynwyn; possible future developments unknown. Spell of Mischance: possible cause of misread messages, broken legs, and from these, of war.
Other:
These spirits are a miscellaneous grouping of spirits unusual in power and characteristics.
Example groupings: Ascended humans; Humanized terrestrial spirits; Gods; Virtues.
Example specifics:
Crow: The Trickster, Devourer, Sage.
From a notable source on this entity:
Crow the Teacher - the outwardly friendliest of the aspects, this is Crow as the teacher of knowledge, which is related to the ideas of teaching Gwygoytha back in the day and how that story got passed on and morphed. The thing with Crow the Teacher is that this version is by far the hardest to understand, so can in fact be the least helpful
Crow the Trickster - fairly standard trickster archetype, this aspect is considered the best for humanity if not for humans. He's the guy who will wreck a rival, elevate a poor man to power, and then let his hubris have it all come crashing down on his head so that the community learns an important lesson. Dangerous but curiously benevolent, the stories about Crow the Trickster emphasise that while you simultaneously need to be cautious around him and assume he's made you a part of a trick he's playing and thus you shouldn't take things at face value, you also shouldn't actively defy him lest he play a worse prank on you.
Crow the Devourer - this is perhaps the most sophisticated piece of theology among the People, in that the use of Crow as a culture hero ran into problems with the introduction of strong taboos against the handling of corpses. Not just the fact that the actual birds are carrion eaters, but Gwygoytha also introduced the idea that the crows eating the dead could learn their secrets and tell them to those who could listen. Crow the Devourer is Crow at his most transgressive and yet is also strangely benevolent, a sort of psychopomp character that takes the souls of the dead away from the living. Crow the Devourer knows great and terrible secrets.
Gwygo: The spirit of joyful chaos; mischance; possible progenitor both of Demons and of Man.
Heroes of Ages: Potential ascended humans. Refer to other texts.
