Restive Sprites Myth in Kelunbar Forest | World Anvil
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Restive Sprites

I accidentally dug up some bones while planting some gooseberries and I swear that they came together on their own and climbed out of the dirt. The eye sockets glowed for a moment before the bones just came apart and collapsed again. Nothing has been the same around here since. I can't go a day without something mysterious knocking the supports out of my storage or my breakfast going missing. It's like bad luck but worse. I know it's one of those sprites you hear about in children's stories.
-Kil Biat Tifentot, Skee Villager
Kelunbar is rife with stories about mysterious spirits that haunt the forest throughout all the races. These stories take on many forms, but one thing seems to be consistent: they awaken when disturbed and haunt their victim indefinitely. Unlike most legends in the forest, every race has some sort of iteration of these otherworldly beings, lending them a grain of truth.   Legends also seem to mostly agree that these are not the souls of the deceased, but instead a spirit form that somehow became trapped on the mortal realm. Hauntings are generally considered an attempt by the disturbed sprite to return back to their plane.

Possession

There are two significant legends that suggest that a restive sprite may be able to possess a body. One is told by the mysums of a young bolet that was killed by a rabid fox, but then returned to life. The bolet was never quite the same. Its memories were all but gone, and it seemed preoccupied with finding something, but never seemed to be able to articulate what that something was. This is often told by mysums not as a legend, but as history.   The second is told by the skee, and is a commonly told tale by bards and roamers of a skee that that stepped through a mysterious rock and was whisked away for three days. When the skee returned, they had lost their memories and talked of being lost. The skee's village believed that she had been possessed and pushed her back and forth through the hole in the rock three times, one for each day she was missing. On the third pass, she disappeared, and was never seen again.

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Comments

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Dec 24, 2020 20:30 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

I've missed reading your stuff! :D   I love the two different variations of the myth you have in the side bar, and the quote really brings it to life. <3

Emy x   Etrea | Vazdimet
Jan 2, 2021 20:32 by Char Mulder

Thank you! I meant to do world ember but I actually ended up starting a campaign instead, on top of having a pretty busy month. This is an article for one of my players.

Dec 25, 2020 11:22

Lovely and a tad spooky!   Throughout the text, sprite and spirit are seemingly (?) used interchangeably, is that on purpose?

Jan 2, 2021 20:34 by Char Mulder

I didn't proofread it so there's probably some accidental interchanges, lol. They are a sort of spirit, but they're called sprites.