Quote: <<Move on, MAN, this is not your world.>>
Background: Relict animals are those few creatures
that are the last of their lines, such as the coelacanth. Relict spirits are the reflections of things that once were: extinct animals, long dead cities, abandoned values and such that still populate the Shadow. Some who have studied the reclusive Relict Men believe that they are mere anthropomorphic nature-spirits — spirit amalgams of man’s desires and nature’s forms. Others believe that these are the reflections of humans’ earli- est ancestors, before our world was split into spirit and physical, when humans were much closer to the spirit world — perhaps before humans had human souls.
Many Relict Men have attached themselves to powerful broods associated with a particular stretch of forest, mountain range or swamp, becoming one of its protectors.
Description: Relict Men appear as primitive hu-
manoids covered in coarse hair, with ape-like features
and clawed hands. While large, they move through the forests on either side of the Gauntlet with surprising grace and speed.
Storytelling Hints: Relict Men rarely speak with
mortal men, even such once-men as vampires and mages. When Relict Men choose to talk, their words come out slowly and gruffly, but they can be quite pas- sionate, even profound when speaking of their natural homes. Relict Men often feed upon the spirits within the bound of their home, and like most spirits, find no irony in this. They sometimes venture into the physical world, both to experience its pleasures and to protect their Shadow homes.
Rank: 2
Attributes: Power 5, Finesse 5, Resistance 4 Willpower: 9 Essence: 15 Initiative: 9 Defense: 5 Speed: 15 Size: 8 Corpus: 12
Influences: [the environment they protect] •• Numina: Commune, Howl, Materialize, Path-
finder, Speed
Bans: Many of these sad creatures fear and hate
their own image. Some even flee from someone who takes a picture, or even possesses a true description of them.
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Spearfinger (Utlunta, Granny Death)
Quote: << Uwe la na tsiku Su sa sai. (Liver, I eat it. Yum, yum)>>
Background: The spirit known as Spearfinger
isn’t quite accepted by the dark emotional broods or by the elemental courts, though her progenitor was probably an elemental or a spirit of cannibalism. What she is now is mixture of these, plus perhaps something darker.
During formation of the Cherokee peoples in North America, Spearfinger learned to enjoy feeding upon the fear generated by her attacks and growing power of her own legend. She liked to hide among them, appearing as a lost old woman, or wait by the forest trials for lost children. They always came close enough to her unassuming form to allow her to kill them. She always left her mark by removing their hearts or livers. Soon she was the great boogeyman of the forest, and this pleased her.
Unfortunately for Spearfinger, Cherokee shamans managed to discover her ban with the help of a chicka- dee-spirit that saw Spearfinger’s heart beating beneath her palm while perched on her stony finger. Though she had predominately haunted the Shadow of the Smoky Mountains, the exploitation of her weakness drove her away from that land for many decades. She still preferred the Shadow of ancient mountains and continued her hunts, as the many legends of murderous hags can attest to. Now most people have forgotten her weakness, and so Spearfinger will likely return to pay back the descendants of those who drove her away from the lands of her birth.
Description: Spearfinger’s true form is that of a
stooped, old woman dressed in tattered clothes — and from a distance or through the fog or woodsmoke that often obscures her, the disguise is convincing. Closer still, one can see that her lanky hair seems much more like tangles of moss and that her skin is grotesquely warty, stony even. Usually the last thing her victim sees is that her entire body is made of various minerals cobbled together, and that the forefinger of her right hand is three times as long as it should be and tipped with an obsidian claw. She speaks with the sound of the thunderous roar of an avalanche mixed with the cackle of a crone.
Storytelling Hints: Spearfinger is quite a powerful
enemy but resist throwing her headlong at anyone. She enjoys playing with her food, and the terror generated
before and after she feeds is more important than the
death. But she also cannot help herself; she will often repeat her little Cherokee song (see the quote above) before feeding, which can be a vital clue for those trying to stop her murderous ways.
Spearfinger has learned the hard way that feeding for too long in the same place is dangerous. She will feed long enough for her calling card to really begin pumping out the terror; the modern press’s love for serial killers makes this even easier. When things get too hot, she will normally move to a new territory and Hibernate for a while, waking up famished, but safe and ready to begin her games again.
Rank: 3
Attributes: Power 6, Finesse 6, Resistance 9 Willpower: 15 Essence: 20 Initiative: 15 Defense: 6 Speed: 22 Size: 5 Corpus: 14
Influences: Fear ••, Stone •
Numina: Concealment (fog or smoke), Cam-
ouflage, Gauntlet Breach, Hibernate, Manipulate (Stone), Mortal Mask, Pathfinder
Bans: Spearfinger possesses a classic chink in her
armor, the palm of her left hand where her spiritual heart resides. Attacks directed there suffer a –5, but ignore Spearfinger’s normal Defense and may Stun her (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 167). Lethal damage directed there causes her aggravated damage.
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Chapter Four-Denizens of Shadow