Spirits of the World

The Spirits of the World

There are seven beings whose power is somewhat unique. They are exceptionally potent beings, and not too distant from the Powers That Be, but they are tied more strongly to the World itself – across all the dimensions, still, but ultimately this is their center, their core.

They are not reflected at all through the planes, they are not separate from any of it, as the Old Ones are, but also, they do not need to be worshipped, and they do not concern themselves with petty squabbles and challenges for followers.

Chicory

Chicory does have absolute power in the world itself– perhaps more so than the Powers That Be. It is said she feels mines as they are dug, feels trees as they are cut, has the will of the birds and the bees and the beasts fey and fell. That no matter what you are, when you set foot on Wyrlde, you are under her aegis, in her domain.

Some legends say that it was she who ended the God’s War, and she who helped the survivors during the long march and she who set up The Agency. Others say that she it was who brought magic to the world, that it was she who first found The Source and reached it to slake her thirst on power. Some whisper it was she who shattered the world and isolated the ancient land that it might not be found.

She is grumpy, grouchy, sometimes bitter, often caustic, and generally distracted. She does have one rule that she seems to follow until pushed to extremes: she avoids killing. Which is not to say that she won’t, or that she isn’t as capable of violence as other Powers, but rather that she has some strange rule about the taking of life.

It is notable that when she has killed, she has never done so in small numbers. The last known instance, reported by a Reeve caught up in some plot or plan of hers, she erased three entire families in a single night. A prior time, she erased an entire town, rendering it naught but dust.

It is said that as the spirit of the World, Chicory has a knowledge of all things upon this world, that unbidden she can feel and hear and see and taste the lives of all things, and so always knows what powerlessness feels like, what terror tastes of, what the sound of despair is.

It is also said that her greatest sadness lies in the fact that she cannot heal anything. She can make it older or make it younger, but she cannot heal. Lastly, it is said that everyone who has ever summoned Chicory has seen their dreams destroyed, and the Tale of the Black Emperor is true.

Chicory has six friends who are very secretive, each of them said to be some sort of a manifestation or personification of something in the world. Like her, they do not need to be worshipped, and actively avoid most engagements with the world openly.

Each of them has complete mastery of certain things within the world in a way that puzzles even the other Powers that be. It is said that the Old Ones were called into being, the Host was burned in the Eternal Flame, and that Chicory and her friends drank from the Well.

These individuals are more akin to personifications in terms of their powers and abilities but are still independent actors who do not gain or lose based on worship, and for whom all that is gives them their presence through its existence.

Acacia

She is Chicory’s best friend, and the wild woman of the world, the Lady of Sleep, the precipice between Dreams and Nightmares, the one that straddles the line between the Netherworlds and the Shadowlands.

Oremus

She is the hope in despair, the light in darkness, the faith among the faithless, and she is usually on the left side of Chicory. When she speaks, the whole situation just got a lot messier, for she is the prophetess and the planner.

Charon

Charon is the self-appointed guide for lost souls, the guardian of ghosts, and the one that sails the Voes and its tributaries in a boat that touches all the dimensions. Charon is the only one among all of them who can heal, but he can also harm with a glance, and all that is flesh and bone and blood is his to play with.

Erishu

Erishu is always either or; one time Erishu will appear as a woman and she will turn and then you will be dealing with Erishu as a man and he will turn and it will start over again. Erishu is always either/and, occupying a liminal space that only Chicory seems to fully understand.

Beauregard

Loud, boisterous, certain of his knowledge and his actions, unbound by consequence, Beau is the most enjoyable of all the folks in Chicory’s circle, and if you are ever of questionable fortune enough to be in a room with both Beau and Qetza, please do make sure that the cellars are stocked and that you have much of the stuff needed to repair and rebuild handy, for those two are like peas in a pod.

Baen

About the only way to describe Baen is to try and describe someone who personifies Dad Jokes and makes them real. He is like the uncle you dread to see at a family gathering, the overbearing hen of a mother that was born to feed others, the bratty younger sibling and the aloof but teasing older one. He is also the most comforting of all of the Powers of the World, for he is the hearth and the home, and where he sits is always warm, welcoming, and familial.