The Beast Fears Fire - Specters

Specters [Malevolence 2+]
Impulse - To draw in.  In some ways, it doesn't make a lot of sense to group specters together at all.  They are the most ideosyncratic of the evil dead.  Their capabilities and manifestations are unique from entity to entity, and the only thing that they can truly be said to share is a pattern.  The pattern itself is consistent enough to justify the grouping, but even (especially) in this, there is wide variation.

A specter endures by rules.  It is a spirit that persists through very strict and legalistic adherence to a set of behaviors by which it must abide, if it wishes to continue.  However, within the context and confines of those rules, it is quite powerful.  The following are the rules that make up a specter's pattern.

Territory - A specter claims a certain territory, whether it is a geographical location, an object, a specific activity, or a group of people (however they are grouped).  A specter can only act on those who come into contact with its territory.
Prohibition - Simply interacting with the territory is not always necessary to warrant the specter's attention.  There is usually something a prospective victim must do in order to rouse the specter.  That's not to say, for instance, entering a specter's geographic territory isn't enough.  Usually, though, there is a little more to it than that.  There may be multiple levels of prohibition, and a person who violates multiple prohibitions strengthen's the hold that the specter can have on that person.  In mechanical terms, each prohibition that a person violates raises the Threshold for any Moves made against the Specter by 1 for each.  (Entering the house - Specter is Threshold 2, Reading the Diary - Specter gets Threshold 3, Being Male - Specter gets another +1, Being Male and the Age of the Guy who Jilted the Specter - Specter gets another +1).  This applies differently for each person, depending on the prohibitions they violated.
Manifestation - The specter has to kill everyone who interacts with their territory.  Failing to do so violates its pattern and causes it to truly die.  In order to kill someone, they have to convince their intended victim that a) they have the power to do so, and b) their claim is, to some extent, based on legitmate causes.  In order to do this, the specter manifests certain conditions, and these can vary pretty widely, in order to get to the person.  Stigmata, supernaturally transmitted threats and classic haunting phenomena are pretty common.
Escape Clause - There is usually a thing that the victim can do in order to "escape" the scenario that the specter creates, which can sometimes include apparently "killing" the specter, though this does not actually happen, it is simply a way to satisfy the manifestation and survive.  This allows the specter to not kill the victim in question, but also allows it to retain power over that victim, essentially, to make that person territory.  Clues as to what to do in order to trigger the escape clause will be part of the manifestations (if they exist.  They usually do, but some specters need to kill everyone, no exceptions).  Folk wisdom indicates that it helps to be an attractive but shy and sexually inexperienced young woman.

Harm 2+, Injury.  The injuries that specters inflict upon those who fall within their territory can be physical or psychic, depending on the nature of the specter, and are equal in mechanical severity to the Threshold of the Specter for a given victim.  Specters will try and manifest for people when they are alone, or in pairs, and when they do, they will try to separate their victims (this will be most of the Soft Moves they get on misses for their manifestation move below).

See the Ring
When a Specter manifests for you, face Malevolence.
On a Hit, you suffer only 1 Harm and are set up to find a clue to the escape clause.
On a Hard Hit, you see through the game the Specter has set up and can engage the thing normally any time it shows up.
On a Miss, suffer Harm as stated and the Moderator gets a Soft move.

Some specters have the ability to show the true horror of their existence and use the Behold my True Form and Despair move as written in the Barghest entry.


She never sleeps.
A specter "defeated" with its escape clause can use their previous victims to expand their territory, but most, thankfully, aren't that clever.  They tend to rise up after a period of dormancy and kill their escapees.  Some, however...

The escape clause for a specter, whether active, "defeated" or truly gone, is a secret that some witches and magicians can work into some powerful things, though the danger for one that is active or dormant is pretty much what you would expect.

Two prohibitions tend to be just short of universal with specters: anyone who witnesses a specter manifestation is fair game (though if too many people do, it means the specter often can't kill them all in time to maintain its existence, so they shy away from crowds).  Likewise, anyone who specifically sets out to find the specter is also in violation.

If a specter gets distroyed, it often manifests a fair amount of eldracite, but no one has ever proposed a method of farming these entities for the crystal.