Fetishes

The Tycoon's Shaft

A fetish is an object, word or phrase, area, or in rare instances, a being that has been converted through group belief, gnostic trauma, the inertia of history, or sheer will into a gnostic or accursed implement. Gnosis is the primary technology of Hearth, and advances in the gnostic and in fetching increasingly complex machinery have helped build the empires upon its surface. In Hel, all gnostic arts are illegal except prayer using the Ratios, Yellow Priest hexes, and sanctioned fetishwork.

Natural fetishes come about through chance occurrence or the gradual accumulation of gnostic energy over time, but a fetch witch may curse, bless, or enchant any object and forge an gnostic weapon, tool, or conduit. Common examples include temples, wands, staffs, axes, swords, stones or jewels, but truly anything can become a fetish on its own if it survives long enough for sentiment, belief, or faith to attach to it, or for people to grow attached themselves. When this happens to a being, it is called apotheosis, and cannot be done through fetching. It can still be manmade, but only through the manipulation of others' Agnosis.