The Fetish Rite is a complex and subtle ritual with untold thousands of variations, but the intended result is always the same — the creation of an object empowered
by a spirit bound within. A properly created fetish can call on strange powers that no mundane object can emulate, but only if the spirit within is properly appeased.
The Fetish Rite requires a peaceful and at least marginally cooperative spirit to be on hand. That spirit might have been summoned with Call Gaffling or a similar ritual, it might have been captured by werewolves in an ambush, or it might simply have been persuaded to participate. If the spirit is a captive, it must be bound with the Bind Spirit rite.
The particular sort of spirit that must be bound in a given fetish is determined by the fetish’s description.
A hostile spirit bound into a fetish is likely to slowly corrupt that object, perverting its function and powers to match the spirit’s anger over its imprisonment. In most cases, if the fetish item is broken, the spirit is freed. Most spirits do their best to remain free after a stint within a fetish, though some acquiesce to being bound again if properly appeased.
Performing the Rite
The object to become a fetish is placed at the center of a ritual circle. If the spirit is a hostile, bound spirit, the fetish focus had better be within the spirit’s binding circle before the rite begins or the binding is broken when the object enters. A small amount of chiminage appropriate to the spirit is burned as appeasement. The ritualist expends some Essence to bind the spirit in place as he describes the fetish’s purpose and powers in the First Tongue, and he walks an ever-shrinking circle around the spirit and the fetish. Over the course of the ritual, the spirit’s substance decays and is visibly pulled into the item. When the rite is complete, the spirit is wholly bound.
As a general rule, the spirit bound in a given fetish must be of similar Rank to the fetish level. A one-dot fetish can be created with a Gaffling, while a three-dot fetish requires a Jaggling. The exception is five-dot fetishes, which require particularly powerful Jagglings (Incarnae cannot be bound by this rite).
