The Oddities

There are a few factors that make Penwick Gorge unique.

The first is the mists that swirl around the horizon line; some of the eldest in the village have spent years practicing, and can with relative ease coax a tendril of it into scratching their backs (or, more typically, dragging a reluctant grandchild out of bed and off to school). This art, called nebulism, has been refined into a potent tool for self-defense, as the mists can touch even the most well-guarded of spirits.

The second is that in Penwick Gorge, Ghosts aren’t just real - they’re a part of life. Everyone has a Ghost, the manifestation of their own spirit; for the vast majority of people, it tends to broadly overlap their body, at most leaving a hazy afterimage behind if they do something particularly quickly. These spirits are even more reticent than the people to enter the mists, and without proper preparation, the recoiling of your ghost will pull you firmly back from the fog.

Speaking of preparation, the third oddity of the village is the knowledge of rites, means by which villagers can sharpen their Ghosts. Taking advantage of the strange and otherworldly Pigments mixed by some of the village’s elders, and the Rite-Papers that can occasionally be found tucked away in particularly cobwebbed corners, a rite modifies the spirit by subtraction, removing and pruning parts to produce incredible effects. The elders tell tales of rites to call down lightning, grant telepathic abilities, and even reanimate the dead - though they are never sober when these stories come out.

The fourth oddity of the village is the indigenous population of Poisons: cute, round, and occasionally corrosive creatures that have been herded around the low hills since time immemorial. They are picky eaters, and with good reason: what a Poison eats is quickly incorporated into its goopy interior, reinforcing or changing its nature entirely. If threatened (or squeezed too hard), a Poison will release its inner goop through its mouth, a process which - once started - can typically not be stopped, leading the poor thing to perish. Those who’ve seen it say it’s none too pleasant to be on the receiving end, either.

The fifth and final oddity of Penwick Gorge is its peculiar relationship to family, most commonly dealt with via Haruspicy. Villagers’ parentage, ancestry, and even which family they belong to can be changed freely, and the bonds people choose to keep often strengthen over time, providing tangible benefits. Anyone who can claim a relationship to Polly Jones, for example, is welcome to any snacks she has when she goes visiting - a fact which has an astonishingly large number of people calling her Auntie Polly.