One of my players in Nephilim’s Song selected Nephilim Magnet as one of his aspects, which led me to think a bit more about the Spirits of Place. It is an idea that I had playing around the back of my head for a while but never really used in game or wrote into any of the manuscripts.

The core of the idea is that is based on the nature of quanta. Quanta is essentially social energy and is the food of the nephilim. Imps require people to essentially hand feed them quanta, the higher orders of nephilim (Spirits or Lords) can harvest quanta more directly. They can’t form direct relationships, but they associate themselves with symbols and reap the benefits of the relationships which people form with those symbols.

By definition the big symbols have big spirits, possibly borderline lords, associated with them. Lords are not associated with symbols, they have transcended symbols and become a symbol in their own right. When a Spirit of Symbol has risen in power and influence such that people who aren’t associated with that symbol directly appeal to the spirit. When the Spirit becomes the symbol, it becomes a Lord. But for most Spirits of Symbol this never happens.

Spirits of Place are Spirits of Symbol whose symbol is an actually a location. They are by far the most common type of Spirits of Symbol which humans interact. Spirits can vary greatly in scale. The village well likely has a minor spirit as does ancestral homes and popular taverns. The more people and the deeper the feelings the more powerful the spirit will be. Civic symbols, such as palaces or court houses can have truly powerful spirits.

The power of these spirits is generally limited to the location of their home. If it a place which people form deep connections (i.e. an ancestral home) some of the more powerful spirits of place may be able to flow reality in small ways near one of the people who is deeply connected to their home.

Generally, a spirit will know about happens at their home, however it is from the nephilim’s particular perspective and the nephilim tend to be loyal to those who have a connection to their home. Strange spirit singers who come asking questions about the people who are important to the nephilim’s home may not get cooperative answers. The nephilim will generally seek to get the interloper to leave though they are unlikely to expend quanta on their own.

In the One Tribe era, they had the knowledge and skill to draw an imp to a place that generated relatively small amounts of quanta. There are also places that used to be important to people, but whose meaning has faded. Generally however only places which are very significant to a number or people or vaguely important to a large number of people will have Spirits of Place.

In order for a place to have a functioning One Tribe security system it needs a Spirit of Place for power. A One Tribe security system is why you can’t just teleport into King Darius’ private rooms or open a hole in the palace wall. Technically all that is needed is a Spirit of Place, but a security system is the only way maintain the security without the constant attention of a spirit singer.

The creation of a security system is considered high art and one of the more esoteric branches of the Binders Union. A complete security system represents months of work and is prohibitively expensive. However, limited security systems (just protects against teleports or physical breaches, etc) are feasible.