Celestial Spirits

Beings based on legend, myth, stories, fairytales, folklore, or more who use celestial magic.

Anito: a wide variety of spirits living in the rain forests far to the south. They have been fighting colonial powers for millennia, and they cannot be enslaved. Any in imperial lands would be oppressed but not enslaved. Based on spirits and beings from the folklore and history of the Philippines. Click here for some ideas. Consult GM for more info.

Bannik: a bathhouse spirit appearing to be older, naked, and small, living in the liminal spaces of the bathhouses. They wear birch leaves left behind by brooms and cleanse the bathhouse, protecting those who use it. They can appear as other people they have seen if they are afraid. They can also hide among the stones or coals heating the bathhouse. The bathhouses in their area are often used for divination or giving birth, and they help with both. They like offerings of black hens buried under their thresholds, fir branches, water, and soap. At the end of the night, they always take the last bath. They favor the polite. They can predict the future if someone waits in the half-opened door of the bathhouse, scratching their back for danger and gently stroking it for good futures. They have strong hands and might hurl hot water or even strangle a foe trying to harm the bathhouse.

Lar: (pl. lares) extremely powerful guardian spirits who protect various locations. Each one has its own domain, ranging from roadways, seaways, farming communities, towns, cities, public buildings, forts, neighborhoods, and more. They are often honored by common folk, even slaves, and they protect them. Some confuse them for deities. Most appear to be common folk, but with an aura of power.

Nisse , Tomte , or Tonttu : house spirits wearing brimless red caps, grey clothing, short breeches, jackets, and ordinary shoes. Some have only one eye. They mostly appear human, but very small. Many wear beards. They age quickly and have wizened faces at maturity. They do chores around the house, stables, or farm. If they are not rewarded on yuletide with porridge with butter and beer, they will leave the house, and at other times of the year, they expect mittens, shoes, tobacco, wadmal (coarse wool), clods of dirt, and other odd offerings. Many in their culture are called Niels or Nicholas. They often give gifts to random oppressed families around yuletide. They often work on farms, live in mounds, cleared lots to build on, protect homes, grow trees, pull wagons and ploughs magically, play fun games with the family, help with carpentry, help plan sites for towns, help with chores, help breed animals, help with the harvest, restore the souls of the most exploited, help with pets or domesticated animals, fill in for those who have gone on a journey, and otherwise help and oppressed family cope with their unpaid labors. Some rare nisse will be able to turn into a goat, horse, or goose. They may compel those who mistreat them into engaging in dangerous activities, releasing animals into the wild, tripping or falling, giving fairylocks to livestock, sealing into parts of the house or farm, or otherwise exacting revenge. Mistreatment includes eating the offerings meant for them, mocking the work they do, ignoring them, or harming them directly.

Satyr: satyrs are all-male-assigned spirits who have the legs of goats or horses, animalistic faces, snub noses, and mane-like hair, often with baldspots. They usually wear beards. They are spirits of joy, music, pleasure, and performance, and they are known for making and drinking wine, playing music (on flutes, pipes, or auloses), performing plays, and dancing. They love a good lewd joke or annoying prank like knotting hair or stealing horses temporarily. They are often accused of being insatiable sexually, being sex pests, stealing children, committing bestiality, and other awful things, and many jokes are made about their genitalia by those who would mock them. They are not the monsters they are made out to be.

Celestial Fairies

Anjana: fairies who foil evil. They are 6" tall with translucent wings. Many wear blue capes and white tunics. Their hair is braided golden or black. They are known to waer flowers, bows, ribbons, and have shining eyes. They have many fairy charms, but some of them allow them to repel evil or imbue virtues in people. They are low-ranking in Faerie.

Brabarn: joyful fairies. They are 6" to 3' tall with purple hair and eyes. They have tiny bat wings. They have charms that cause happiness, joy, euphoria, or merriment, and they love to party, dance, and drink. They are middle-ranking in Faerie.

Brownie: fairies who do work around the house. Brownies range from 6" to 4' tall. They have brown skin and hairy bodies. They have many charms to help around the house, and there are consequences if they break these rules. They are low-ranking in Faerie.

Bugul Noz: 4' tall fairies who are supernaturally ugly. They are said to be so ugly to look upon that few can even do it. Even animals avoid looking at them. They have many charms to influence animals and sense danger. They wear bells to warn people they are near. They are low-ranking fairies. It is said that when one breaks or somehow ignores the curse on bugul nozes, their appearance does not change at all. They simply stop seeming ugly.

Donas de Fuera: 5' tall fairy women who ride goats and fly through the sky. They are wielders of powerful witchcraft, usually drawn from their matrilineal ancestry. They are known for teaching mortal women magicks to protect against abusers and rapists. They are greatly hated in imperial lands for this, but in Faerie they are feared and respected.

Ildaite Tire: people of the rainbows. They are colorful, 6' tall, powerful fairies. Their hair is rainbows, their skin is a solid color from the rainbow, and their eyes shine with magic. Their charms empower others. They are among the leaders of the celestial fey.

Jana: 3' tall fairies who weave anything you need out of golden looms. They are bringers of good luck and helpers of anyone in need. Their charms are about providing for others.

The Kith: fairies who are friends with all. 6' tall with purple and blue skin and dark hair. Their charms are charms of kithship, bonding, and love. They are leaders in Faerie, well loved and prolific.

Prowder: 4' tall, hunched fairies with hairy faces and bodies. They are very protective of those they care for and have charms to repel many powers. They are middle-ranking in Faerie, but often employed or sought out for their powers.

Trow: 4' tall, hunched fairies in common workman's clothing. They have charms for any common labor. They are the worker fairies, and they are very low-ranking in Faerie.

Xana: dark-skinned fairies, about 3' tall, with blonde or brown curly hair and a slight glow. They are bringers of inspiration and have charms of light, art, wonder, and awe. They are oft sought after in Faerie for their powers, but they are still middle-ranking.