The Big Book Of Spirits

Chapter 1: Desert Wind Spirits

Element(s): Speed (major), Music (minor).

Habitat(s): Large, dry deserts.

Size: 1-3 ft (30.48-91.44 cm) tall.

Social structure: Large Packs made up of multiple families, with the oldest and/or most respected as casual leaders.

Reproduction: Mating via retractable genitals that are usually non-visible. Females produce an egg after about a week, which takes a few weeks to hatch. Packs usually coordinate mating, as their continuous journey is paused during nesting.

Body Type: Solid, requires nutrients, incapable of levitation, can have open wounds that leak a yellow substance that resembles blood but is used to circulate nutrients throughout the body. Does not require oxygen, but sucks in air to pump through the headcrest and produce various sounds/music. Diurnal sleep patterns, on a daily cycle.

Diet: Solar energy makes up most of their diet, and they get some level of kinetic energy when they run. They have been known to eat desert plants such as cactus, either eating as they run or stopping briefly, and can eat a wide variety of things if given the opportunity. Their needle-like teeth are surprisingly sharp, allowing them to tear into most types of food.

Desert Winds are unique and fascinating Spirits. They are said to be the embodiment of their namesake, thanks partially to their speed and partially to the sounds they make most often, which resemble howling wind. They make these sounds and more musical ones by pushing air through their flexible headcrests, curling and straightening them to change the sound.

They are social Spirits, living in large packs. These pack are fiercely loyal and protective of one another, traveling only as fast as their slowest member. For a species that constantly craves speed, this is certainly saying something.

The longest recorded instance of a conscious Desert Wind willingly staying still without mental damage is ten minutes, which was achieved through regular meditation. Though rare, some seek out this form of meditation to increase willpower and discipline, which has been known to have positive affects on their emotional control.

There are a few scenarios in which a Desert Wind Spirit will willingly stay still. As mentioned before, meditation is one such scenario. Another is when eating, though they don't always actually stop running when they do so. Sleeping is another good example.

They occasionally hang upside from cliffs or branches, using their tails to hold on. They like twirling and spinning around whatever they're hanging onto. Some like to sleep hanging upside down, but this isn't exactly common given the flat deserts they prefer to live within.

They are down right after the sun is, huddling together partially to bond or for safety and partially due to a heavy dislike of cold. They sleep with their legs flat to either side of them, ready to spring up again at a moment's notice. They fall asleep quickly, every part of them slowing down until they barely resemble the hyperactive creatures they're known as. They've been known to occasionally intake air while unconscious, producing music as they dream — it is considered good luck to hear this unusual melody.

Another situation in which they lose their speed, though it isn't precisely willing, is when injured. Extreme injury, especially to their legs, can be worsened if they try to run — for a species where regular walking is physically difficult and stillness can bring insanity, this is a serious problem. They've evolved a special biological trigger to combat this issue, forcibly slowing them down in such a case. Even their minds slow down, making it difficult for them to think but protecting them from the mental strain of staying still. This can be a death sentence if they're on their own, making the loyalty of their pack absolutely vital.

New hatchlings can't run, and it takes up to a decade for them to be able to run all day like adults. A mated pair will carry their offspring on their backs. Though rare, they occasionally have more than two incapable of running at the same time, leading to the parents carrying them on their tails or chests, or just cradling them in their arms. Teenagers and adults without children or with older children will often help parents who can't carry all of their children or just need a break.

They are very nomadic, spending their days running across the deserts they call home, only setting up longer term camps to nest or if one is injured. They do not own much, with most owning nothing, carrying whatever they have in satchels secured around their waists or to their chests. Like most Spirits, they do not normally wear clothing, though tail decorations are becoming increasingly popular.

Desert Winds always have orange eyes as adults, though they range from red to blue as adolescents. It takes about two decades for them to reach sexual maturity. No-one's entirely sure if they have the typical Spirit immortality or not, being both hard to track and dying unfortunately easily if they're on their own, but they have a lifespan of at least a couple centuries.

The 'feathers' on their tails are made of the same material as their claws, capable of delivering vicious slashes when provoked. They are black on a male and yellow on a female.

Desert Winds have three claws on each hand, with the middle being very large and forming a sort of armor, strong enough to block even their own blows. Their feet have two claws capable of extending to over three times their usual length. They have extremely springy feet with fleshy pads on the bottom, making them speedy and capable of great jumps.

They are very agile and hard to hit, and are vicious when they attack. However, they are relatively weak, only able to land powerful hits with help from their speed. If struck in an unarmored spot, they go down easily — but you have to actually hit them, first.

Desert Winds are friendly, social, and playful. Despite this, they are symbols of war and military, especially to the Speargem Tribe of Spiripa. It is said that the first great leader of the Speargem fought side-by-side with a Desert Wind. Their loyalty, teamwork, and surprising viciousness in battle make them excellent warriors.

The exact top speed of a Desert Wind is debated, but it is probably somewhere around 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) an hour. There is a rumor of a Speargem Casted resembling a Desert Wind capable of going much faster, but it is unknown if it is true.

Chapter 2: Hypnos Spirits

Element(s): Hypnosis (Major)

Habitat(s): Populated areas.

Size: 1-2 ft (30.48-60.96 cm)

Social structure: By themselves or in small Gangs, they seek out a leader of another species. Different individuals have different requirements for a leader.

Reproduction: They spawn as an occasional side effect of some spells, and as the specific purpose of a certain enslavement spell. They are incapable of other types of mating, though can combine energies in some circumstances (this will create a random Spirit, rather than a Hypnos).

Body Type: More energy-based, yet weak. Requires regular food, water, sleep, and even oxygen. Can levitate, but is not good at it.

Diet: A wide variety of vegetation and minerals. Occasionally fish, if they're low on options. They have surprisingly sharp, retractable teeth with which to eat.

Neat-freak Spirits with a tendency to latch onto others, they aren't well thought of by most Spirits. Servants by nature and often enslaved, they struggle to balance between freedom and their overly helpful instincts.

Their hypnotic powers are consistent but weak. A full-grown Hypnos can hypnotize nearly anyone who isn't a strong Hypnosis or Dream Elemental, but what exactly they can make their targets do is limited. They can make a thief steal or a programmer hack, but they can't make someone do something they have no experience with, even if the Spirit themself knows how to do it.

Other issues with their powers include the fact that they usually cannot hypnotize more than maybe a few people, cannot keep it up for long, and can lose their abilities if overrun with fear or doubt. One excellent strength is that they can use bursts of strong emotion to create a brief illusion of a much bigger and more frightening version of themselves, sending out psychic pulses that fill others with terror. This is tiring but affective.

Hypnos typically match the magical color of whoever created them. Their creation as a side effect of a spell is rare, making their creation via *joint spell* even rarer — when it does happen, it can create beautifully multicolored or even color-changing Hypnos. Despite the rarity of their birth, they have a relatively large population, growing over tens of thousands of years with few deaths.

The spell to create them is illegal in many places, considered an enslavement spell due to the near-total control it affords the spellweaver. There are those that argue you cannot enslave a creature that instinctually desires someone to command it, but the Hypnos themselves would be the first to argue against this. They desire leaders, not Masters (most of them, anyways).

Hypnos are known for purring, cooing, rumbling, and chirping. Lesser-known sounds include hissing and screeching.

Some Hypnos have minor or even major secondary Elements. Usually Light, Emotion, or occasionally Dream.

Their eyes always glow brightly, but their skin only gives off soft light when its dark or they feel extreme joy/contentment.

They are protective of children and hateful towards dirt or mess. They find strange joy in busy work like cleaning, organizing, or even paperwork. They detest physical fighting but will if they must or to protect someone they like, though their physical weakness makes it difficult.

Their hypnosis only works if their target looks in their eyes, which pulse when using their powers. Sunglasses can interfere with their abilities, and blindness in the target (or in them, honestly) renders them powerless. However, they do not need to maintain eye contact once the target is hypnotized, and can get around this if aided by certain types of psychic.

Hypnos created via the Hypnotic Slave spell have a secret name used to control them. Even after gaining freedom (upon the death of their creator, release by their creator, or very rare circumstances), they can be controlled by someone saying their name, though every command must include their name to work if they're 'free'. Telling someone their Name is a sign of complete trust, and most never do it.

Chapter 3: Casted: Seagem

Note: The Spirit shown here is merely one example of a Seagem Casted and does not represent the wide variety of forms possible for this sort of Spirit.

Element(s): Wide range, though Water, Light, and Air are rather common.

Habitat(s): Seagem Ships.

Size: Wide Range

Social structure: They live and work as part of Seagem crews, naturally living lives at sea. Like most types of Casted, they mostly judge others authority via their Casters, listening to whichever captain their Caster does.

Reproduction: Created via a piece of their Caster's soul traveling through their Soulet. Casted can usually reproduce, but methods vary and the resulting child will not be Casted even if both parents are.

Body Type: Wide range.

Diet: Wide range.

Seagem Casted are known for optimism, curiousity, and love of travel. Like most Casted, they are good at languages. Setting off fireworks/light shows, swimming, and dancing are preferred hobbies.

Their color palette is typically made up of blues, whites, greens, teals, purples, and blacks. Glowing markings are not uncommon. They tend to resemble one or more sea creatures, though many look closer to birds.

Love for jewelry, music, and exotic food are all common, but is most likely cultural rather than instinctual. Almost all can levitate, and very few require oxygen. A few are incapable of or at least harmed by leaving the water, and are often healed by/can heal with water.

Most Seagem Casted do not get very large, the ones that do having trouble living onboard their ships. Some, however, get very big — some even get big enough to serve as a ship or at least to carry one. Some Casted spend most or all of their time in the water around their ship, rather than on it.

Chapter 4: Spell Spirits

Element(s): Light (Major), Magic (Minor)

Habitat(s): Do Magi live there? Yes? Then they definitely live there. No? Then they still might live there. Honestly, they're one of the single most wide-spread species.

Size: (excluding tail) 6-12 inches (15.24-30.48 cm) long.

Social structure: The Symbol is their leader and their only form of hierarchy, otherwise being entirely equal and not even having family structures. Spells are incredibly loyal to each other, and getting shunned by literally the entire species for wronging one of them is most certainly a possibility.

Reproduction: The main population were created a VERY long time ago, in the same event that separated Koraz into a pocket dimension, though none can remember how or why. Recently, baby Spells have begun to show up in magic-rich areas, but no-one knows the reason. Whether they are capable of any type of mating or reproduction is unknown.

Body Type: Highly energy-based, but incapable of intangibility. Levitation is its main method of transportation. Rarely sleep and even more rarely require it. Do not need oxygen and don't feel temperature.

Diet: Ambient energy and light, unless absolutely starved.

An incredibly helpful species of Spirit, they get their name from their important place in Magish society. Healing, guarding, transportation, mail delivery, construction — they have their claws in every pie, to be honest. They're happiest when helping others, but Magi know better than to treat them as sycophants or servants; being rude to or harming a Spell is a good way to be shunned by the whole until you make amends, rendering you nearly incapable of functioning in Mage society.

A Spell's most impressive ability is the power to create Copies. A Spell's main body is called the Core, where its mind and soul reside, but they can create identical copies of themselves. At any given time, a Spell will have dozens of bodies doing a wide variety of tasks, its single mind experiencing it all at the same time — enough to drive most species insane, but a Spell handles it easily, with staying in one body too long being enough to traumatize them and break their minds.

If a Copy gets destroyed, it's painful, but does not harm the Core. If the Core is knocked out or deprived of energy, the Copies will disappear. Every body can absorb light and energy, so a Spell will usually leave at least one in an area where they can absorb a lot, letting them maintain more Copies at once. The record for most Copies active is several hundred, though that was with access to an unusually high amount of radiation.

Spells often have many different jobs, needing more mental stimulation than most species, and rarely take a day off from every single job at once. They are multitaskers and love a challenge.

Another interesting ability of Spells is their ability to create Portals — swirling vortexes the same color as their body — between different bodies, which is one of many reasons for them to spread their Copies far apart from each other. These Portals can get pretty big depending on how much energy is available to the Spell, and can be used to transport others as well as themselves. Being Light-based, these Portals are highly dangerous for Shadow beings, but are otherwise safe. They're as well good at maintaining Portals they didn't create, though they have a little trouble with Shadow Portals, making them a top choice for staffing Portal Stations.

The final ability of note is the harnessing of energy or light around them to create small blasts. They aren't very powerful, usually, but can cause fires.

Spells start off completely white and barely glowing. They gain a color when they reach maturity, based on which Caste they are. Every Caste has additional abilities.

🔴 Red — Cooking Spells, capable of speeding up food growth and telling the freshness of ingredients. They burn up energy faster than most Spells, but can as well create hotter fires.

🟠 Orange — Building Spells, they have a small level of conjuring ability. They're stockier and stronger than most Spells.

🟡 Yellow/tan — Sandstorm Spells, they're unusual among Spells, able to move around sand in big bursts but unable to anything constructive with it. They can destroy and distract, but can't create.

🟢 Green — Healing Spells, who, well, heal. They can't heal Shadows, though, due to their Light. They are the only Spells who will ignore a Shun.

🔵 Blue — Seeking Spells, capable of tracking most things and portaling to them even if they don't have a Copy there, provided they have something or someone connected to the object near them. They are faster than most Spells.

🌸 Pink — Helping Spells, known for bonding with specific people and creating a psychic connection. They can read the emotions of their chosen person, meaning they always know what they need.

⚫ Black — Extremely rare and only come about accidentally, rather than by choice. Their inner Light is replaced by Shadows, leading them to being the only Spells capable of creating Shadow Portals, healing Shadows, and shooting off bursts of darkness rather than fire. They crave Shadow Energy and can't handle the Light Energy of their fellow Spells, leading them to usually banish themselves to the Shaderelm.

Then there's The Symbol, Kimilil. She stayed white, with swirling markings over her body. She was their leader until she was lost and presumed dead, reappearing thousands of years later with amnesia. Kimi is capable of calming her fellow Spells, and is the only Spell to desire leadership. Her fellow Spells have a strong instinct to listen to her, but she doesn't actually have any ability to force them to do anything. She can absorb energy more efficiently than most Spells, and can share her energy, but is bad at utilizing it.

Spells have an unusual connection to a Nisprit (non Spirit) species known as Stone Guardians. They don't actually have any relation, but look identical, except their skin resembles stone. Their abilities and social structures are entirely different, and the reasoning behind their superficial similarities is still unknown.

Chapter 5: Special Mention: Spirit Whales

They aren't Spirits, but they are from Spritrelm (a Realm populated almost entirely by Spirits, said to be the birthplace of most Spirit species). They are the only known natural predator of Spirits, and most have an instinctual terror of these beasts (as do Spirikin).

They live in deep valleys between tall mountains, floating quietly along while they wait for their only prey. They are extremely resistant to just about all forms of energy, including magic, and are physically resilient as well. They have three extremely long, prehensile tongues that they shoot out at prey, sprouting hooks to grasp and pull them towards the cavernous mouths of these monsters.

Plants sprout and grow along their backs as they age. They live solely in the Spirit Realm, but occasionally get into other Realms, either by accident or through some evil person's design.

If seen in Mênrelm, it should immediately be reported so the area can be quarantined and a team can be sent out to force the Spirit Whale back to Spritrelm or a special holding facility. Do not engage, especially if you are a Spirit.

Despite the name, they are in no way related to regular whales. No living relative has been discovered, but several used to exist — thank Stars they're now extinct...

They tend to live in familial groups, which can get fairly large. They might seem easy to avoid with their size and large groupings, but often blend in with the floating islands that are common between mountains, luring tired Spirits into trying to land for a rest.

Chapter 6: Shadows & Lights

The Shaderelm is filled with more Shadow Energy than any other location. This abundance of energy occasionally creates Spirits who are technically speciesless but all share similar traits.

They are dark black, made from shadows, with blood-red flames for eyes. They are tricky and sneaky, with a propensity towards pranks and mischief. They are mostly loners but usually friendly, almost always with some level of conjuring ability.

Technically, Casted with a Major Shadow Element are considered Shadow Spirits, making them one of the only kinds of Casted to have a 'species'. The current Spirit Of Tricks, Pranks, And Deception In All Its Forms is such a Spirit.

They tend to dislike intense heat, but have no problem with or even love the cold.

The Briterelm is filled with a deadly level of Light Energy. This abundance of energy occasionally creates Spirits who are technically speciesless but all share similar traits.

They are lizard-light with brightly glowing skin and eyes. They are capable of healing, energy absorption, and shooting off big bursts of Light Energy. They are playful, stubborn, and sociable.

Technically, Casted with a Major Light Element are considered Light Spirits, making them one of the only kinds of Casted to have a 'species'. Shadows and Lights are dangerous to each other by nature, straining the relationship between them.

They tend to love and sometimes produce heat, often not noticing the cold.

Chapter 7: Concept: The Spirit Of Knowledge

Name: Booksmarts Rucroeheim

Element(s): Knowledge (Major)

The immortal Spirit Of Knowledge, born to embody intelligence and learning. He is also the longest-lasting Guardian of Bukrelm (The Realm Of Stories), and generally considered its best.

Untold eons ago, a young Booksmarts felt the urge to gather and share information, often rambling for hours without physically being able to stop himself. While he's gotten such urges under control nowadays, he is still known to be quite a chatterbox... Well, within his own realm, anyways; outside it his reputation is a little more complicated.

As both the Spirit Of Knowledge and Guardian Of The Realm Of Stories, he has near unlimited power within Bukrelm — but he's as well trapped there, bound by his own powers to the place he's sworn himself to protecting and managing. He happily spent his life in his own Realm, unthinking to his technical imprisonment, until one day when he stumbled upon a window into another of the Realms.

Overcome by curiousity, as was his nature, he grew unsatisfied with what he could see through the window; he wanted to visit those other Realms, to experience them instead of simply watching. But he was bound to his Realm, unable to leave.

This was during a time of great peace in Bukrelm, as the Nightmare Queen was spending a few centuries holed up in her castle to attend her eggs and the other rulers were wisely not risking disturbing her. With very little duties to attend to as peacemaker and guardian, Booksmarts was quite free to dive into his new obsession, studying all he could about interrealm travel.

It was unheard of for a Guardian to leave the Bukrelm, that was the price they paid for their power, but Booksmarts found a way. He turned his power from an imaginary chain to an almost-real one, binding himself to his Realm in a rather counterintuitive bid for freedom. Leaving his power behind as an anchor, he managed to push his body through the window.

A window that turned out to be a Spellbook, nowadays known as Booksmarts' Book, The Book Of Knowledge, and The Book Of The Rucroes; this last is for who first owned the Spellbook, a witch by the name Elena Rucroe.

Elena felt charmed by the clumsy, mute creature that had fallen out of her book, ignorant to the powerful chatterbox he normally was. In Bukrelm, Booksmarts could speak and write with his magic, abilities he lost when he came to Mênrelm.

More powerless than even the weakest Spirits, Booksmarts almost regretted his decision. This regret was deepened as he struggled to get around without his levitation and communicate without words spoken nor written (at least his status as Spirit Of Knowledge let him still read things, or he might've lost his mind). He nearly decided to go back and forget the whole thing when he discovered he had accidentally bound himself to the Spellbook, unable to go far from it and potentially able to be manipulated by it.

The reason he stayed, besides his unending curiousity, was Elena Rucroe. A polite and patient woman with a love of mysteries, it is said she quickly became the Spirit's closest friend in any world, helping him adjust and guarding his book whenever he went back to Bookrelm.

Elena and her familiar — whose name has unfortunately been lost to history — were on a very important quest, one that Booksmarts proved invaluable in. They suspected that a series of powerful magical objects being sold by a group of Magi were actually being powered by enslaved Spirits imprisoned in the items, thousands of them.

But Spirits and Nisprit didn't interact much back then, and they had no way to prove it without knowing how to identify an imprisoned Spirit. Years of work between the three of them led to the Unbinding, when those bound Spirits were finally freed and their slavers captured.

The Spirits were not bitter towards Magi as a whole, however, growing fond of those that had unknowingly used their power for so long. This tragic enslavement and subsequent freeing was one of the things that brought about the beginning of the (more-or-less) easy relationship between Spirits and Nisprit nowadays. Gone were the days when most believed Spirits to be a myth, and mostly gone were the days when Spirits preferred it that way.

But Booksmarts' journeys in Mênrelm didn't end with Elena's quest. He journeyed far and wide with her, eventually finding a way to bring her to visit Bukrelm, watching as she went from a young woman to a someone a bit more mature.

He watched as she grew and had her first crush. He comforted her through her first break up. He taught her spells from ancient times and far off places, pulling them from Knowledge itself. He watched her fall in love and get married. The first Magish child he'd ever seen, much less held, was hers. He helped her and her husband as they raised the small ones, delighting and panicking over each new mortal need he'd never known babies had. And he still did his duties as Guardian, stumbling a bit but managing to balance his two lives.

Elena never stopped chasing mysteries and secrets, never stopped bringing justice to those that needed it. The day came when a problem too big too ignore was also much too dangerous to risk — but Elena wouldn't turn away.

When she went off, unsure to her survival, Elena took with her an unexpected promise from her dear friend: no matter what happened, Booksmarts would guard her children every bit as fiercely as he guarded his Realm. Tears and hugs were had, between spouses and friends and other such people, before she left.

It took a while, but Elena returned to her overjoyed family and their protector. A protector who didn't consider his promise void, and maybe had a bit of a different definition of 'children' than most.

For generations, the family Rucroe, known far and wide as one of the most powerful families of Magi, has guarded the Book Of Knowledge. For generations, Booksmarts has cared for, taught, and protected the descendents of his dear friend. A magical bond has formed over time, marking Booksmarts as the Spirit Of House Rucroe, letting him channel bits of his power into them to fuel their spells and magic.

A Korazian Concept, a Realm Guardian, and a House Spirit — Booksmarts is unique among all three for being all three, his loyalty between his Realm and his family occasionally at odds, but never enough to make him give up either.

Outside his own Realm, Booksmarts' abilities are very limited. He can extend his limbs and neck to multiple times their normal length (his base height is 7ft), activate certain types of pre-set spells, spin his head, and control his Book. His book is capable of levitation, size expansion, and power absorption, making both a way to carry things and a way to deflect attacks (a long with being his portal between Bukrelm and Mênrelm). Going too far from his book causes a white rope to appear around him, which is intangible to everyone but him. His book glows bright white, its contents changing and blanking at his or a Rucroe's whims.

Booksmarts doesn't need to breath or drink, and is flat-out incapable of eating. His brain will translate any language he hears or reads, and the magic of the Bukrelm allows anything he speaks or writes within it to be understood — hence his inability to write in most Realms, and his difficulty learning to do so, despite being the Spirit Of Knowledge.

He is gay but has had relatively few relationships in his long life. It's not that he has trouble getting with people, it's just that he usually doesn't have much interest in it, being more concerned with other things; his family, his friends, his Realm, his hobbies, etc.

Over the centuries, Booksmarts has become less clumsy, but still isn't exactly graceful. He has however become quite good at cooking, first aid, and sewing. He is somewhat obsessed with safety and proper sleep/nutrition, though obviously not in himself.

He has sensitive hands and feet, leading to him wearing soft shoes and gloves. His inability to communicate and original ignorance to the fact he could bring others to his realm led to him first being known to Elena as 'Book' and 'Booky', which are still sometimes used as nicknames for him.

He communicates through a rather unique form of sign language he's developed over time, involving everything from extreme facial expression to spinning his head at different speeds to pointing to hand puppets. The Rucroe family has developed an almost instinctual understanding of what he means. He thought it was really funny to not learn actual sign languages at first, but has recently caved in and started learning multiple.

He has imprisoned the two-headed Spirits Of War in his Realm multiple times in retaliation for attacks against his family, leading to a very antagonistic relationship between them. He gets a long better with many other Concepts, even having a regular poker game with the most ancient of them (plus the young Spirit Of Tricks, whom he's a mentor figure to).

His biggest secret is that he's almost never lost a Rucroe. A rather forbidden and difficult spell has led Elena and her descendants to be reborn in the Realm Of Stories, trapped there but alive. The Rucroe family keep this secret close to their chests.

He has often been told that his 'silent laughter' is creepy. His second biggest secret is that he will just soundlessly laugh harder when he knows someone is freaked out by it, out of spite.

In a time lost to the mist of history, two children were good friends. The Spirit Of Knowledge and little Merry Night. The Guardian Of The Realm Of Stories must remain impartial between the leaders of his realm, and The Nightmare Queen has no friends; but sometimes they are just Booksmarts and Mary, for a moment or two, when the world is just quiet enough to let them or so loud that they can't be anything else.