Creatures: Elemental Specter:

As stated previously, anytime a soul passes through ectoplasmic waves of The Aether, an echo of that soul follows their route, typically back to its origin, as in the case of a soul leaving the body after death.  Souls exist within any sentient species from the moment of initial self-awareness in that species and carries on down through all of its line, no matter the origin of said species.  The formation of spectral echos typically appears as the most common varieties which are the guide or guardian Ghost and the sinister and revenging Phantom.  On initial formation there are many other forms as well, which will be discussed later, and additional forms that arise as one form or another attempts to remain separated from The Aether for as long as they possibly can.  There is, however, another type of specter that warrants observation due to reference being made to one already with regard to the origins of the Naiad species: The Elementals.

Elemental specters are formed from the proto-soul, or Cor, of one of non-sapient species that has passed on in an area due to a classical element danger within it overwhelming it in a fashion that drives it through intense pain almost to self-awareness.  Elemental specters always start small, drawing on the power of other Cor fading away, as well as any source of magical power, elemental power or other source of power in the area that is not shielded from specters.  At first an elemental specter tries to warn any of its kin about the danger that killed it, taking a form similar to what they had in life but made out of pure elemental power and ectoplasm.  Next, it tries to protect the former body of what its Cor came from and warn other species, even those that were predatory to it, away from the danger as well.  However, at this point it will deviate into one of four paths: The Haint, The Harth, The Hollow, and The Husk.

The Haint is a simple enough elemental specter, focusing heavily on channeling the elemental danger that created it to drive any out of its territory, most relegating anything outside of it to non-existance in their perspective.  Most Haints are fairly stagnant unless otherwise provoked by territorial disturbances, but some of a more migrant origin species may feel their territory is not a mere radius, but a radius along a path they consider the route of their journey.  As such, that kind can be very dangerous to those not expecting them.  Haints do not care about sharing territory with other elemental specters, and will only fight them if provoked.

The Harth is drawn from their body after it has decomposed to wander the area they consider their territory, starting to lose a sense of self-identity, not fading away, but actually expanding beyond what would have been possible for them as their former species.  They watch and learn from other species in the area they consider their territory, steadily taking on more and more traits they considered to show great power, growing more intelligent and sapient.  They still protect their territory, but more out of continued concern for other species, and may feel relief when the danger is gone, or a profound sense of melancholy, wondering why they wasted so much time guarding it.  Some will fade away, now that they have nothing to protect, while others will seek out other elemental dangers to guard against, and others still may subsume with an individual of another species that wishes to merge with them, would perish without such a merger, or has recently passed on while the harth has grown attached to another individual in that same species.  It is in this last manner that the undine harth and pixie king came to have the Naiads as their offspring.  Harths will share territory with other harths, and will typically leave other elemental specters alone, but if one should attack a living being they will do all in their power to eliminate that individual elemental specter or group of them as appropriate.

The Hollow is one that decides to reanimate its own corpse despite the decomposition already starting on the body, and are slow, but still able to give the illusion of life to blend in with their own species (if it is not a species that easily senses specters such as felines) or that of another that was in their territory long enough for them to study.  However, once they feel threatened, or feel that their territory or kin (whether original or new) are in danger, they will swell in size from an additional fifty to two hundred percent increase in size and reveal their true elemental specter nature as they wield their power to attack their foes.  They will share territory with each other, but will not share it with husks.

The Husk is similar in many ways to the hollow in that it reanimates corpses, however, it does not merely raise its own.  A husk will draw itself into its former outer-most layer while the rest rots away, filling it with elemental power, and surging that into connected extensions of itself into other corpses that it can reanimate in a similar fashion.  Each is connected by a thread of ectoplasm in its shadow, and one husk will not share its territory with another husk or hollow.

For each classical element, there is an individual haint, harth, hollow and husk, but all four share the same overarching label tied to their elemental source.  The ignis is a fire elemental.  The undine is a water elemental specter.  The slyph is a wind elemental.  The murnod is a plant/soil elemental.  The midiac is a metal elemental.  The ellernan is an ice elemental.  The raijesh is a lightning elemental.  The rotane is a stone/mineral elemental.  The lismu is an ink/slime elemental.  The bahn is a bone/shell elemental.  The cruor is a blood/organ elemental.  The toesem is a sand/dust elemental.  The solel is a rot/fungus elemental.  The tevemo is a toxin/poison elemental.  The texla is a fabric elemental.  The phaena is a specter element typed elemental specter, which may seem strange as its elemental is already part of its being, but phaena are only formed in areas where non-elemental specters have slaughtered a non-sapient species in such a way as to drive their cor to become an elemental specter, feeding off of the fading spectral echos of more sapient species as they fragment further due to their nature...  Or by actively fighting them with instinctual ferocity unmatched by any living creature due to a lingering awareness that they are too dead to care that their cor could be fragmented or otherwise attacked like the specters whom they prey upon.  Phaena, when properly entreated or dominated, are fierce protection for any wishing to keep specters at bay, or to keep them in line for fear of becoming a phaena's next ectoplasmic meal.

System Mechanics: Item Parts and Crafting Items:

When crafting items one may attempt substitutions from any recipe to try alternate methods of creating similar enough items, or completely experiment when not yet having a recipe.  Most items are made from multiple smaller item parts, which are in turn made from materials.  An example would be the common sword, which is made from 1) A Pommel, 2) A Grip, 3) A Guard, and 4) A Blade.  Certainly, a sword could be made completely out of the same material, even wood, but a variety of different materials alters the potential benefits an item may have from each of its parts.  Each item part may have an permanent or conditional effect applied to it during its creation, but doing so requires knowing how to create said effect, or knowing the prerequisites of said effect experimentation.  Continuing from the common sword, 1) one might put an effect on the pommel to boost the finesse of the wielder for an amount of time/number of turns after it is first drawn from its scabbard, 2) one might put an effect on the grip to boost the strength of the wielder to make carrying it during battle easier, 3) one might put an effect on the guard to surge electric damage back at those whose attacks the sword blocks, and 4) one might put an effect on the sword to drain life from those it bleed in order to heal the wielder.  Each part of a crafted item may only have one effect on it, and removal of an effect from an item removes all effects from the item, unless the player had knowledge to be able to repair and create all effects upon the various parts.  Below are a list of common parts and examples of uses:


Barrel: Pistols, Rifles, Shotguns, etc.
Blade: Axes, Daggers, Knives, Spears, Swords, etc.
Blunted: Bat, Staffs, etc.
Container: Bags, Chests, Luggage, etc.
Fastener: Clothing, etc.
Grip: Axes, Guns, Luggage, Spears, Staffs, Swords, Wands, etc.
Guard: Swords primarily.
Hinge: Chests, Doors, Luggage, etc.
Pommel: Daggers, Knives, Swords primarily.
Surface: Books, Doors, Monitors, Shields, Tablets, etc.

Obviously more types of parts are needed for the variety of different craft-able items the system will allow, but the basic mechanic is modifiable by any GM to allow a player to craft any item they wish if they can explain its construction or it is self-evident, and have the prerequisite knowledge to attempt creating it.

System Mechanics: Item Recipes:

Any time that a character wishes to build something, they can either try to improvise something, or study from instructions.  Below are the chances of crafting a simple item, with each progressive stage of specialization adding an additional 1d10 added to the sum chance of difficulty per level of understanding of its natures that one is below it per nature the item has.  Those that have a greater understanding of an item's natures than is needed to wield it have 1d10 removed from the sum chance of difficulty per level of understanding they have in that nature, with zero or negative difficulty values allowing one to improvise creation of said item with any suitable materials and equipment, and sometimes even those that are not typically considered suitable by the general public.

Those that improvise have a 3d10 (sum) chance of crafting an item properly if they have the proper materials and equipment for each step and have a knowledge of the equipment and materials but not the crafting of the item itself.  Those that have a knowledge of the equipment but not the materials have a 4d10 (sum) chance of crafting the item properly per step, if they at least have the proper materials and equipment.  Those that have no knowledge of the equipment or materials but have the proper equipment and materials have a 5d10 (sum) chance of crafting the item properly per step.  Those have have neither knowledge of the equipment or materials and have the proper equipment but wrong materials have a 6d10 (sum) chance of crafting the item properly per step.  Those that have neither knowledge of the equipment or materials and have the wrong equipment and materials have a 7d10 (sum) chance of crafting the item properly per step.  Those that attempt to improvise crafting an item without even having an idea of what they are creating during a particular step have a 8d10 (sum) chance of crafting the item properly per step.

On the other hand, those that use instructions (or recipes, as they are called collectively) have 1d10 chance of crafting an item properly the first time if they have already created one item previously of each of its natures, and 2d10 (sum) chance of crafting an item properly the first time that they create an item without already having created one with all its natures already.

After creating an item correctly the first time, regardless of method, the character has a chance of remembering how they created it.  If it was in a combat situation or in an altered mental state, then they will have a WIL Check and/or Sanity Check needed to determine if their respective statistic and/or attribute is strong enough to recover that information properly.  If it was in a normal mental state out of combat, or if they have passed their checks, then their chance is the sum of their INT, WIL and WIS compared to a 2d10 (sum) roll by the GM for that specific recipe to become part of their knowledge.  Those that have low INT scores may later have difficulty pulling up that recipe without it being written down for reference, but the information would still be in their mind somewhere, waiting to be called upon when needed.  It is, however, recommended that characters do write it down for the benefit of other characters, especially those in their party, so that should anything happen to them later to make it difficult or impossible for them to pull up the information later, the recipe would still be known to someone else.

System Mechanics: Item Nature Properties:

As mentioned previously, items have a specific format for listing them:

     Item: Item Name (Weight) (Rarity) (Quality) (Value) (Toughness) (EP) (Aspects): Description.

While that format does aid in calculating out the item's value, it does not help with categorization in and of itself.  As such, the format is being updated with the inclusion of an additional modifier which does not change its value, the item nature property.

Item Nature Properties:

     Item: Item Name (Weight) (Rarity) (Quality) (Value) (Toughness) (EP) (Aspects): Description. [Item Natures].

All items are categorized by their nature, into one of three groups:

Archetype: If the items do not require any specialization to reuse beyond knowledge of that type of item. A claymore, for example, despite needing knowledge of longer and heavier weaponry, does not require knowledge of magic, technology, psionics or any other domain grouping, being as easy to use as a stick of similar weight and length accordingly, though knowledge of bladed weaponry would remove a damage reduction on not tilting the blade at a foe and hitting with the flat piece instead.

Refueled: If the items require a source of energy in order to function properly. When not fueled, said items could still be used for their other properties, such as being blunt or bladed, but will not be able to perform the chief purpose of their design.

Reloaded: If the items require another item in order to function properly. When not reloaded, said items could still be used for their other properties, such as being blunt or bladed, but will not be able to perform the chief purpose of their design. Some items may be both refueled and reloaded, while others may require merely one or the other. An oven would need refueling to function (be it by electricity or other fuel sources), whereas with a simple gun the fuel is itself in the bullets and thus it would need only to be reloaded. Older guns may need refueling as well, as might more futuristic ones.

All items are also one of the following categories:

Simple: Any that knows the category to which the item belongs may use it without penalty, even if they do not know the item or have knowledge other than recognition of its categorization.

Basic: Any that knows the category to which the item belongs and at least the first level in that category may use it without penalty, even if they do not know the item.

Complex: Any that knows the category to which the item belongs and at least the first and second level in that category may use it without penalty, even if they do not know the item.

Advanced: Any that knows the category to which the item belongs to and at least the first, second and third level in that category may use it without penalty, even they do not know the item.

Specialized: Any that knows the item itself may use it, as long as they know the first, second, third and fourth level in the category it belongs to and know of the item itself.

All refueled items are one of the following categories:

Psionic: If they require mental energy and force of will to operate. Out of sheer determination to survive the special ability effect clause would be triggered on first use most times due to the boost of will when close to death, but if one uses the item before then they might waste it if it does not have such a clause by using it when their will is not as strong.

Arcane: If it uses wild magic, and does not have another special ability effect clause, the first use will cause it to use its special effect. If it uses foci magic, and has enough magical energy stored in it, then it will cause it to use its special effect. If it uses leech magic, then it will use its special ability after dealing damage to a foe. If it uses soul magic, then it will use its special ability when the user entreats, prays, pleads, or begs the appropriate higher powered being for aid, or cries out for any to assist and have either no favor with them yet (but are not in favor with their hated foe) or are in their favor, if the item is blessed by a higher powered being. If the item is cursed by one, then it will enact its affect the moment one of its special effect clauses are triggered, or if needed, all of them are.

Physical: If it uses physical items to fuel its refueling which it consumes in the process, producing exhaust or pollution typically.

Electric: If it uses electricity to fuel its refueling.

Energized: If it uses a power-source other than electricity to fuel its refueling.

All reloaded items are one of the following categories:

Mundane: If the items used for reloading have no fuel within themselves, and do not draw energy from an external source other than the item they are loaded into.

Charged: If the items used for reloading have fuel within themselves, and do not draw energy from an external source other than the item they are loaded into.

Sapping: If the items used for reloading attempt to use energy from their point of contact to initiate their special effect clauses.

Draining: If the items used for reloading attempt to use energy from the one wielding the item they are loaded into in order to initiate their special effect clauses.

Linking: If the items used for reloading attempt to reduce the energy costs of the item they are loaded into by spreading the cost to nearby appropriate sources of energy in order to initiate their special effect clauses.

Additionally, items may have further properties in various categorizations, such as Offensive Properties, Defensive Properties, Utility Properties, and General Properties, all of which are broken down into sub-categories.