[Mythras] building an animist antagonist

[Kardinal Tabbe]

So my Mythras campaign has stayed away from the major magic systems so far. The pcs all use Folk Magic, but have neither used nor encountered anyone who use the other magic systems. I've kept it simple, but now they are about to tangled with an animist gang leader. The npc is a member of a group called the Seers of The Abyss, a group of black souled madmen that work with the powers of unreality for fun an profit. Your bog standard demented cult leader, I guess.

If you were to stat up such an person, that can threaten pcs with animist magic, what spirits would give them? I'm thinking incarnating a Shade could be a cool trick. Disease spirits maybe or perhaps undeath spirits? I'm looking for cool animist tricks that can make a npcs a cool, but not overwhelming opponent.

Any suggestions?

 

[Raleel]

Most spirits would be pretty potent against PCs with only folk magic, even with spirit shield.

can you talk about what the seers of the abyss beliefs are? What’s their goal? Black souled madmen covers a lot of spaces

 

[Baragei]

Animism is a slow burn. There's not a lot of flash - except for when there is, and then non-specialized people are likely to die horribly. A black-souled madman animist can line up all sorts of spirits just waiting to pounce on sweet man-stats, have characters covertly (or overtly) possessed or dragged into dream-realms, and rouse various nastyness to terrorize large swaths of land.

 

[Nick J]

A black-souled cult leader might be better represented by Mysticism. That could go hand-in-glove with the idea of a charismatic, mysterious figure able to bend reality to his will.

 

[Bilharzia]

You could treat the animist like a necromancer, so the way undeath spirits are used is to raise bodies to serve the cult (that is all undeath spirits can do). The creatures which are raised do not have to be all of the same type, so there could be undead dogs, or wolves, crocodiles, birds ... as well as humans. You could also give the spirits and the creatures they possess extra powers in addition to the standard undeath spirits and the Undead creature trait - such as Miasma, or one of the Passions, or use a Creature ability inherited from the living creature's ability, such as mesmerise from a serpent.

You could mix in a few Haunts if you want some spirits present which generally are not as deadly to non-animists compared to Wraiths or Death Spirits.

If you wanted to up the creepiness, the animist could raise someone the party knows, even a hireling who falls early, then rises during an encounter.