The Hearth Spirit: the loving, compassionate guardian of home. Of all the Spirits of Man Hearth Spirits have the strongest connection to humanity. They live where ever metahumans reside and can be called up by Shamans in times of need. Some even appear to defend their adopted families spontaneously, without summoning.

But like all sprirts, the hearth spirit can become corrupted by the residue of human vitriol. Of all corrupted spirits, the corrupted hearth spirits are the most dangerous, the most sadistic, the most violent. Their love for metahumanity has mangled and twisted by unbearable levels of anger, hatred, and violence between those who should love each other unconditionally. No longer recognizable as the loving hearth spirits they once were, these are our nightmares given form. Rarely seen, unless summoned, few adults believe they exist. But children know. They see the tell-tale signs and recognize them for what they are. Children know when a boogyman is living in their house, and you'd be wise to heed their warnings.


Boogyman
(Abuse Aspected Spirit of Man)
*A Boogyman in a abuse aspected domain adds the rating of the domain to its Force for all purposes.

Stats
(Same as Spirit of Man)

Skills
(Same as Spirit of Man) + Intimidation, Shadowing, Infiltration,

Powers
(Same as Spirit of Man) -Guard*, +Fear, Noxious Breath, Natural Weapon [(F)P AP0]
*Being aspected toward the infliction of suffering, Boogymen cannot use the Guard power.

Optional Powers
(Same as Spirit of Man)+ Innate Spell: Silence, Innate Spell: Agony, Paralyzing Touch (Touch Range Paralyzing Howl), Shadow Cloak
Weakness
Mild Allergy: light, Mild Addiction: The terror of a Child

Boogymen are born when a guardian abuses a child, physically, mentally, emotionally, or sexually over a long period of time such that a background count is created.

Any Spirit of Man summoned in an Abuse Aspected Domain will have the taint of the Boogyman; but real Boogymen appear spontaneously without being summoned, usually in a closet or under a bed. A Boogyman usually doesn't appear until after the abuse has ended, often after the home is sold to another family.

Once a boogyman has settled into a home, it will single out a child and begin to subtly terrorize him or her, basking in the helpless child's fear. It will use all means at its disposal to hide from adults and will not leave any unexplainable marks or signatures on the child. In these early stages, a little bit of light will keep it away. But, as time progresses, its need for terror will become stronger and it will brave the discomfort of a nightlight. The campaign of abuse will only continue to escalate from this point.

If a Boogyman's chosen child is moved out of the house its obsession will compel it to find the child using the Search power and continue its terror campaign. Once a Boogyman has chosen a child, there is no place on Earth where that child can hide.
Over time, the campaign of terror will escalate to a physical confrontation. Weaker, stupider Boogyman will turn to physical abuse their their natural weapons, which presents obvious signs of abuse. If it goes overboard and kills the child (and it will) it will fly into a rage, killing anyone nearby and anyone in its home at the time.
Boogymen who are powerful enough to have optional powers will use the Silence Spell to quietly terrorize the child without risking any screams. Combined with the Fear Power and Paralyzing Touch to prevent escape, it can produce unimaginable heights of terror.

Some Boogymen, those whose domains were aspected by sexual abuse, add sexual aspects to their own repertoires of terror.

Boogymen with the Possession power are thought to be extremely rare, but they are undoubtedly the most dangerous. Without a thorough investigation by expert magicians, their crimes are indistinguishable from mundane child abuse.


Most Boogymen, eventually tire of their games and slaughter the entire family. Those lucky die in their sleep from respiratory failure. Those who are unlucky get torn limb from limb while they are awake. After killing its victim, the Boogyman waits patiently for another family to move into the home and will only leave if the Backgrount Count is permanently removed or its aspect is changed.

Hmm. I can imagine a Shadowrun campaign heavily influenced by White Wolf's "Orpheus" RPG and Ghostbusters, with the PCs as exorcists for hire.

this is really good stuff. the rationale and power selection make it really, really scary. i'm seriously a bit creeped out just reading it.

Toxic Guardian spirit might also work with a similar rationale. But I like what you've presented here, too!

Very awesome. The write-up is as creepy as it should be, and the powers compliment what the spirit does.

This is also the sort of thing that makes me hope "The Boo Scary Book of Shadowrun Night" (working title) gets revived at some point. A horror (little h!) themed book for Shadowrun would be so much fun.

...also could make the Banishing skill a little more useful.

Of course a good counter would be something like an Exorcist but it would take someone with more magic savvy than I to write that one up.

The problem I see is that this doesn't explain what happens when kids are no longer afraid of the dark.

Everyone is always at least a little afraid of the dark. It's a primal thing.

Chris

Oh well, just burn down the house (gives some good fertilizer) and plant some trees
Boogyman won't like Elve hugging

Of course, since homeowner's insurance doesn't cover Boogymen, most families will just sell the house to other unsuspecting families.

I like the flavor, but it seems too extreme. By these rules, every child in an long-term abusive environment dies violently, usually taking the entire family down with them. Not only that, but every house that's ever had a long term abuser in it becomes 'cursed' and violently kills every family to subsequently occupy the house. Seems too dramatic to go unnoticed by the public, and I'd like this to remain something that the general public doesn't generally know about or believe in.

[edit] Was this inspired by the movie 'The Entity'?

I think that in the Sixth World, home inspections required when you sell your house will probably include an Astral inspection...And disclosure rules for precisely this sort of thing.

I'm in my 20s, and this thing makes me scared of going to sleep.

On the other hand, if it's from boogyman folklore, maybe it should be defendable against with teddy bears! When the monster comes out, your bear will protect you!:P

"Baseball bat"?

Oh man oh man! Thanks you for writing this. This is some serious twisted stuff. I believe I'm going to integrate it into one of my plots this weekend. I would totally go for a horror themed Shadowrun supplement.

echoes of Lulu.

Yup. One of my players is going to run a mage with MPD (Sybil) with a similar trad, complete with possessed teddy bear, in our next campaign. She got the idea from Lulu (who she's going to be cosplaying as for Halloween btw).

Care Bear Stare?

...drop bear wins