Binds What Answers to Its Name
You work with named things: spirits, entities, forces that have sufficient presence to be called and held. Your skill is knowing names, learning names, and using names in ways that carry real weight. A name is not merely a label; it is a handle on something’s nature, and you have learned to grip it. You can summon, compel, bargain with, and bind the named. The named know you can do this, and some of them find it interesting in ways you would prefer they did not.
The obligation is structural and ongoing. What you bind must eventually be released or maintained. The ledger of improperly closed bindings accumulates, and nothing you have bound and abandoned is simply gone.
Connection: Choose one of the following.
- Pick one other PC. You spoke their name once in a working and have not been able to fully explain the effect it had. Something noticed.
- Pick one other PC. They carry a name — not the one they use publicly — that you have been careful not to learn. You are not sure how much longer that discipline will hold.
- Pick one other PC. A bound entity of yours has taken an unsolicited interest in them. You have not been able to explain to it why that interest is unwelcome.
- Pick one other PC. They were present at a binding that almost did not hold. They know what almost got loose.
Additional Equipment: A record of names you have gathered: a notebook, a bound text, a set of inscribed cards, or another format suited to your practice. The GM may treat the names in your record as a resource or a liability at their discretion.
GM Intrusion: The name was not quite right. The entity obeys the letter of the binding but not its spirit. Something you bound has been patient, and its patience has ended. A name you used in a working is now being used to find you.
Geas: Every binding made is a promise that it will be properly maintained or properly released. A bound entity that degrades without formal release does not simply disappear — it accumulates grievance, and the GM may introduce complications tied to improperly closed bindings at any time. You also cannot fully conceal your activities from the things you have named: entities whose names you have spoken in a working are aware of you in return, and that awareness persists. You have an inability on tasks involving escaping, concealing yourself from, or ignoring an entity whose name you have used in a working.
Minor Effect Suggestion: The entity provides one piece of information it was not asked for — something it has been holding because no one thought to ask.
Major Effect Suggestion: The binding holds so completely that the entity is not merely compelled but briefly cooperative, performing one additional service beyond what was required before the working closes.
Tier 1
Call by Name (2 Intellect points): You call a spirit, entity, or supernatural presence by name, summoning it to your location. The entity must be one whose name you have learned; the difficulty is based on the entity’s level. On a success, it arrives and must remain present for at least one minute before it can depart. Calling an entity does not compel it to cooperate. Action.
Learn the Name (2 Intellect points): You spend one minute attending closely to a spirit or supernatural entity you can perceive and attempt to discern its name. The difficulty is set by the entity’s level; higher-level entities have more obscured or guarded names. On a success, you learn the name and may record it. Action.
Named Sense: You can sense the presence of any entity whose name you know within long range, even through walls or concealment. The GM confirms whether a known entity is present and indicates a general direction, though not an exact location. Enabler.
Tier 2
Hold by Name (3 Intellect points): You compel a named entity within short range to remain present and unable to depart or become insubstantial for one minute. During this time it may still act and speak but cannot leave the immediate area. Action.
Tier 3
Ability Choice. Choose either Bind to Service or Warding Name as your tier 3 ability.
Bind to Service (4 Intellect points): You place a binding on a named entity of up to level 5 within short range. A bound entity must carry out one specific, clearly stated instruction within the limits of its abilities. The binding holds until the instruction is completed, you release it, or the entity’s level exceeds your Intellect Edge plus three. A binding that is neither completed nor released within a week begins to decay and may generate complications at the GM’s discretion. Action.
Warding Name (3 Intellect points): You speak a name into the boundary of a space you occupy, preventing entry by any entity whose name you know. Any such entity must succeed on a task of difficulty equal to your tier to cross the boundary. The ward lasts for one hour. Action to place; enabler once established.
Tier 4
True Name: Through extended practice, research, or insight, you have learned to identify the true names of entities — the names that carry full weight, rather than the names they commonly present. When you call or bind an entity using its true name, all tasks are eased by one additional step. Enabler.
Tier 5
Greater Binding (5 Intellect points): You place a binding on a named entity of up to level 7 that compels it to serve you for up to 24 hours. The entity must follow your general instructions, though it will interpret ambiguous wording literally if given the opportunity. At the end of the binding it departs; how you treated it has been noted. Action.
Tier 6
Ability Choice. Choose either Unmake the Name or Loose the Binding as your tier 6 ability.
Unmake the Name (7 Intellect points): You speak a working of unmaking that dissolves the name of an entity of level 8 or lower, erasing it from the world. The entity ceases to exist. This is permanent. The workings required are extensive, the cost is real, and the GM will introduce a significant consequence within 24 hours of the working’s completion. Action.
Loose the Binding: You can dissolve any binding on any entity or creature, regardless of who placed it or the power of the original working. The dissolution is complete and immediate. When you dissolve a binding placed by someone else, that practitioner knows instantly that it is gone and may be able to trace the dissolution back to you. Enabler.