Some Spirits

 System agnostic and/or FKR. Your pick. Even if I was making them for OSE, I wouldn't give them stats. Spirits aren't mortal, and you aren't going to be able to hit them hard enough to do anything permanent to them. You don't get that luxury.

(That isn't to say you can't physically punch a spirit. It might be possible, especially with those who have very material manifestations, but its not going to do much more than buy some time.)

CW for the "Skindog" entry. Body horror, mutilation, (both specifically around skin and eyes), desecration of the dead, and a fucked up fantasy disease (like hypothermia on sterioids).

The others are nicer I promise.

Great River Spirit

It is the spirit of the river that fuels all life at its banks, and the savannahs beyond it. A serpent covered in green fur, or perhaps river-algae, nine paces wide and of a length that cannot be estimated. Some say it winds forever, slithering through both the material and immaterial worlds.

Around its head, the "fur" forms a great mane, like that of a lions, though green as the rest. It has the face of a human, androgynous and breathtakingly beautiful, though its ears are pointed, furred and swivel like those of a deer. A bulls horns sprout from its head, a crown one is truly born with. It opens its mouth and there are great fangs as long as scimitars, rows and rows and rows that seem to open to eternity. Its eyes are like great black pearls set into its face, with rings of glowing gold set in as irises.

Though its manifestation is great, it is not a showy spirit. It manifests infrequently, more often as a mere premonition. Ripples in the river that go against its flow, impossibly. A glimpse of its fur, the glint of gold in the silt. These glimpses are held by the wise ones to be signs of its favor, or its displeasure. Though most often it alternates between passive disinterest and cautious curiosity.

It is a spirit that comes and goes as it pleases. Only the truly mighty and skilled could ever hope to summon, bind or exorcise it. And even then, it likely would not stick...

To channel a fraction of its power grants one a measure of control over the currents and flooding of its river, and a degree of influence over any river one may encounter, as their spirits would instinctively recognize the favor of their kin.

It is said to be able to teach one the arts of the serpents, to strike empty handed and yet leave venom in your foes blood, to twist and flex in impossible ways, and to take upon the very form of a serpent, but if so it has not shared this secret in generations.

Mushwisps

They dwell beneath the soil of forests of many kinds, though they favor those that grow the sacred mushrooms. They are spirits of connection, of mutualism and symbiosis, and so it is kindness and aid that can bring their favor.

Their appearance is preceded by the sprouting of sacred mushrooms, typically in circular, spiraled or networked patterns. This is a gift they give willingly and freely, as the mushrooms would have to sprout regardless.

They do not often manifest, but one can see them if they partake of the sacred substances. They look like glimmering cobwebs, dancing on winds that do not exist. The "cobwebs" flicker and glow with different colors, dancing between them all at once. Other sorts of spirits, unique or common, may dance among them, as they are an easy companion to make.

They often congregate in great numbers, for individually they are little more than a flicker of power. They are never alone, even when they are not congregating, and they will favor those that seek companionship and help, as well as those who give it, drawing them together.

All spirits are difficult to channel, but these ones require little in the way of convincing. However one cannot channel only one of them, and it is very difficult to convince only a few of them to, for they are reluctant to part individually.

If one succeeds, they find that they grow luckier in opportunities for mutualistic relationships, in forming relationships, and if they are learned in the Arts they will find that sympathetic magic gleefully springs to their fingertips. However, the host will come to find that perishables that remain in their presence for more than a day are prone to sprouting mushrooms. These will often be common ones, but occasionally rarer ones may emerge...

Lunar Owls

They are meddlers, and prefer to manifest, rather than simply observe. They are preceded by the sight of blood diffusing in waters that are illuminated by a full moon. This is a major component of rituals to summon them, which must be conducted under the full moon.

They sometimes simply take the form of an owl, albiet one in impossible shades and sizes. Like the owl, they fly silently and hunt with absolute precision, but this is not why they are summoned.

More often, they take a theriocephalic form. They appear as nude figures, of any gender or combination, albeit lacking genitalia and nipples. They have an owls head with eyes like the full moon, dextrous birds-feet with great talons for feet and hands, and either great wings with a wingspan of six times their considerable height, or a cloak of owl-feathers.

Their skin is extraordinarily smooth, like that of a baby, or like silk, and so pale as to almost be luminescent under the moonlight. This gives them their most common euphemism, "Ghost-Owls."

They deal in memories, blood and secrets, and they will exchange these with a subject. They are not hunters, despite their skill, they "partners" and "patrons." They will exchange much for blood, and when it is agreed to be given their beaks will open, and a long spiny tongue will emerge to swiftly swipe away their payment.

It is said that there are very few of these spirits who descend to the earth regularly. They are prideful and find the mortal world to be beneath their interest. Those that do offer arcane and sorcerous secrets in exchange for blood, but the blood required to learn such things is far to much for just one to bare. This concerns them little.

They can be warded with certain herbal smokes and ritual chants, protective circles, as well as by the coming of the dawn, and by lunar eclipse.

To channel their power, one must regularly offer blood. The source is irelevant, but they enjoy variety. Do this, and they will grant you their ability to see through illusions and lies, to move silently, and to move through the air impossibly. Please them especially well, or provide genuinely enthralling entertainment, and they may offer arcane secrets for very little or even no blood. However, to host their spirit is to take upon their thirst, and while normal food and drink will sustain you, nothing with match the rush of fresh blood.

Skindogs

Conjured by sorcerers of a darker disposition, these spirits make a dangerous, though valuable, reperitore of servants. Native to the darker pits of the Lands of the Dead, these spirits coagulate from bloodshed, venom, defilement and hatred that persists beyond death.

Their unmanifest presence can be ascertained by the clotting of blood, the unforeseen worsening of the effects of venoms and poisons, and the nervousness of animal life, which will become quiet as they move through the world.

They are horrifying when manifested. Imagine a dog that can walk upright as a man, imagine it can hold tools and weave delicately with its hands, imagine it stripped of all its skin, with its eyes left as pitch black pits in its skeletal face. Imagine it may laugh a pitched laugh and descend upon its victims with claws and fangs dripping with dark malice. Imagine what act must be performed to bring such a thing into this world.

Their claws and fangs are not venomous in the way a snakebite is. They carry a dark curse, rather than a physical venom. Victims will find themselves with a horrific fever, that slowly gives way to a dark chill. Unlike freezing to death, there is not the mercy of an eventual warmth as your body ceases to be able to recognize the cold. This curse will force the chill to grow impossibly deeper.

In the terminal stages, visions assail the victim. They can glimpse the world of the dead. Far more unfortunately, the Skindog will be able to track the victim so long as the curse exists in their veins.

Those unfortunate who fall victim to them will perish, but the Skindog may yet inhabit their corpse, driving it to further horrors. The spirit will tend to mutilate the body ritually, stripping away skin and eyes.

They are summoned by a defiling blood rite. A corpse must be ritually prepared, for the spirit to emerge from, and a bowl of blood must be mixed with a toxic substance of some kind. The resulting mixture must be poured over the body and its eyes and lips (at the very least) must be removed. If successful, the creature will inhabit the corpse, and may yet emerge from it.

If channeled, they allow you to infuse your weapons, bites and magic with their accursed venom, though you will suffer from constant pain that you will never, never grow completely used to.

Binding it is a different matter. Exorcisms involve salts, healing herbs, spices and incense, all of which drive the spirit to a destructive fury, yet force that fury inward. Though not guaranteed to succeed (unless an impressive amount of each substance is used), the spirit will likely appear to tear itself apart from sheer rage. The spirit has in fact, died. However the spirit was already dead, and may yet be summoned again. Similar treatments can purge its curse from its victims, and must be done so before or after its death, for if the victim does die in the later stages the spirit can use them as a way back into the land of the living.

The Thing That Fell

Of all the spirits presented thus far, this one is most associated with a physical location.

As you approach it, the rainforest grows more and more tangled, and more and more active, until you are fighting against actively coiling vines and swaying trees to get through. They hold no malice, they do not even realize you are there. Cutting through will only cause them to grow more tangled, as they supernaturally burst with yet more vitality. Move with the plants, and you will find passing through a simple (though drawn out), process.

Eventually you will emerge from the tangle, into the crater itself. The plant life refuses to move or grow into the crater itself, forming a wall of sorts.

The crater is enormous. A kilometer wide and half a kilometer deep, and there at its heart, that which fell from the heavens.

Once you come within a quarter of a kilometer of the great thing, the sky will change. Regardless of the time, it will be lit as if it were twilight, and stars will be visible. Strange stars you have never seen, in colors that stars never are.

It will be like the night sky completely unblemished by light that would interfere with you seeing it, yet alien. No milky way, but spirals and networks and contorted globular formations. All alien. All beautiful.

Reading this sky may reveal many things, but this is beyond the scope of this post.

The object at its heart is impossible. A glossy black geometric object of uncountable and ever-shifting sides and vertices, etched with constantly shifting glyphs and sigils. It is ten meters wide, and when coming within tens of meters of it, reality will seem to become more fluid. You will find inconsistencies in how you percieve the earth beneath you, the rainforest beyond and even the dimensions of space and time. The sky will remain unchanged, and the fallen things position and properties will be unchanged. All else will seem inconsistent.

Making contact with the object will allow you to channel its power if you possess the necessary skill, otherwise you will fall into a trance and find yourself outside of the crater, having lost several hours of time. If you succeed it will grant you some strange property or ability which defies the rules of creation. What you gain is not consistent. Perhaps you can find faster ways between two places than a straight line, or perhaps you can impose a bit of its destabilizing nature on the world around you, or perhaps you learn the secret to some strange new form of sorcery.

When you dream, you will dream of the Fallen Thing and the alien sky. You will dream of strange places that you've never been. You will dream of other skies as well, all alien, many with objects you do not have names for. When your mind wanders, the sky will seem to warp into these alien skies.

Perhaps there are spirits you will find in these dreams, in these alien lands and skies.

If the Fallen Thing can act, it never does. If it can think, it shows no signs.