Pacts and Spirits: Giving Up Your Self for Power

 I'd been thinking about how I wanted to go about adding warlocks to Destination:Nowhere for a little while, because I wanted to base it on the kinds of pacts made in ChainsawMan, which doesn't lend itself to a four template class format very well.

And so, in favour of flavour, I've decided to go about it in a different way. Every game needs a way to get neat powers outside classes anyways, right?

First we need to reestablish some things about the world, and how spirits operate.

Spirits

Souls are the most common kinds of spirits, they drift around, doing whatever souls do, mostly invisible to humans. They are the spark that sets a forest ablaze, or the mote of wind whistling through the crags. By inhabiting a flesh sack, a soul can grant it sentience, it's own will and determination. It is through a common ritual imbuing that gibbering babies learn to form words. Humans, of course, are not the only species able to gain this sentience, but they most commonly possess it. It is also possible to lose your soul, and in turn lose what makes you unique, this is how men are driven to become like wild beasts, relinquishing their self.

In contrast, it is also possible to tether additional souls to your own, by doing this, you can send out these other souls to perform feats of magic. However, if you're not careful, you may allow another soul to domineer it's will over your body, altering your self along with it.

Artist

Guardians are the more rare spirits. They're more powerful, and choose to inhabit parts of the world, such as mountains, forest groves, or rivers. They manifest themselves from the land they inhabit, and gain followers from nearby souls. The will of a guardian spirit can manifest through the wills of their followers; thus, by garnering a large enough following, guardians can increase their power, influence, and domain, sometimes even putting themselves over other guardian spirits.

By choosing to imprint a larger part of a guardian spirit's will on your self, you can manifest aspects of that spirit. This is known as a pact. Any person may choose to accept a pact, though it is just as easy to be coerced or forced into taking one. If any person goes against the will established in a pact however, the consequences are often quite severe, often result in death or the loss of your soul.

Artist

There's one more class of spirits, known as angels. Angels inhabit celestial bodies, and thus rarely affect the goings on of those on Maamilla, both the name of the planet as well as the common name of it's angel. Angels imprint their will on entire celestial bodies, and thus it can be said that anything which comes from the earth, or rather all life, is a part of Maamilla. The natural instincts of this life are how Maamilla's will expresses itself, in order to keep its dwelling alive.

Pacts

A pact can be made with a guardian spirit or, more rarely, an angel. By letting the more powerful entity in on your Self, it influences aspects of your outward and inward appearance. Those imprinted by a spirit often show some physical trait of the spirit that controls them, and have parts of their personality affected by that spirits Will.

It is not uncommon to see entire villages which are under the influence of a guardian spirit, who may help protect them from attacks, as well as helping their livelihoods.

Cencayohtli

Domains: Cultivation, Burials, Vines.

Mark: shows as a hole peering into a hollow cavity in the forehead, looking inside it will show a weirdly distant rattling skull.

Gift: You don't require water to survive however, the longer you go without it, the more dried up you appear.
If you go a month without drinking water, you gain a permanently dried up appearance, and look not unalike to a hollow dried gourd in the shape of a man.

Imprint: You hate animals and they hate you. They'll either be violent towards you or give you a wide berth. If interrogated they will state that you smell like oppression, this is true and you are at least a little more tyrannical than you were before making this deal.

Atoyaatl-Cihuapille

Domains: Flowing Water, Smooth Stones, Farewells.

Mark: bright blue eyes which glow mildly in darkness.

Gift: You are incapable of drowning in water so long as it isn't stagnant.

Imprint: You forgo your name and Important belongings, no bond is permanent, and you can stay in no land forever.

Temazatl

Domains: Obsidian, Slumber, Dying Flames

Mark: Forearms that appear blackened and charred beginning from about halfway down the arm.

Gift: You are not harmed by reaching your arms into fire. The rest of your body and possessions are more than capable of burning up.

Imprint: After a significant achievement or victory, you must surrender an object of value to the fire. Apathy and inactivity is against your nature now.