Passions and Fetters
Two different explanations are available. The following is from Static.
Passions: (10)
* Passions are the primary emotional ties that keep wraiths connected to the physical world. Everything to a wraith is colored by strong emotions, and they leech off the emotions of the living in order to regain pathos.
Most wraiths have between 4 and 6 passions. Each passion consists of two parts: (1) a specific goal or ambition that the wraith feels compelled to complete. (eg - protect my son). (2) the emotion that drives the goal (eg - protect my son (love)).
Pick your emotions carefully. Oftentimes, the most obvious choice is not the most interesting. 'Protect my son (love)' is very different from 'Protect my son (guilt)' or 'Protect my son (greed)'.
Fetters: (10)
* Fetters are physical objects, places, or people that the wraith has an emotional attachment to. These can range from places and objects associated with major life altering events (eg - the only surviving photo album from a house fire), to the small and personal (eg- Wire fence at the school playground, where Billy Johnson used to steal my lunch money).
The associations do not have to be positive, and the wraith does not necessarily need to know why they are important to him/her.
The following is from Tylorva.
This part has been adapted from text in Wraith 2nd Ed, with a bit of my own...
Passions and fetters are essential to any wraith character. While they don't strictly come into play until a character becomes a wraith, they are such an integral part of the character and background that it generally works out best to design them at the same time as character concepts.
PASSIONS
Not every mortal who dies in the World of Darkness becomes a wraith as such... Most simply don't have the desire. Wraiths exist because they have very powerful reasons to do continue to exist. This is part reflected in 'Passions'.
Passions are goals and tasks that the wraith goes on existing to complete. By seeking to fulfil these desires the wraith might someday transcend - go onto to another existance, although certain elements of the Dead community scoff at such notions. Nonetheless passions are very important to all wraiths.
Passions can vary immensely, but all are very personal to the wraith. Some can be of clear and obvious importance to all and sundry, others can be downright obscure, trivial or just plain obsessive.
A few examples of passions are:
- Find my murderer (fear)
- Protect my husband (love)
- Ensure my daughter marries a good Jewish boy (pride)
- Gain material wealth (greed)
- Find out what is in the locked filing cabinet in Police Precinct 47 (duty)
- Publicise my boss's adultery (hate)
- Finish reading Lord of the Rings (obsession)
- Find out the answer to the local radio's Secret Sound competition for the day I died (curiosity)
Passions are very emotional things and hence every passion is tied to a particular emotion (as shown above). Be careful though, because different emotions can have drastic effects on the nature of a passion.
For instance "Find my murderer (fear)" is very different to "find my murderer (hate)".
In many cases the obvious emotion for a particular passion may not always be the best one. "Protect my husband" could very easily go with 'love'. But how about "protect my husband (greed)", where the wife wants to ensure he remains around for her... always. Or maybe "protect my husband (jealousy)".
FETTERS
There is much that tries to tear a wraith away from everything that is important to them. But some things are just too important to stray away from.
Fetters are items, people or places that are of such great importance to the wraith that they bind him or her to the world of the living (generally this is a good thing).
Like passions, some fetters can be obvious and some can be downright obscure.
A few examples are:
- My mother's gravestone
- My infant son
- My desk at work
- Floppy-Ears, my childhood teddybear
- My painting in the gallery
- A tree in Central Park under which I lost my virginity
- My ex-wife's engagement ring
- The gun which fired the bullet that killed me
- Sergeant Briggs, whose bullying resulted in my discharge from the army
Again, fetters are very personal to the wraith concerned, although the significance of a particular fetter may not always be clear to the wraith in question. A waith might have the fetter of an unlabeled key. He may have no idea as to why this is important to him, but perhsps someday he will finds out. Who knows... perhaps whatever the key unlocks will result in the solving of his murder. Or the discovery of a previously unknown about son. Or hidden treasure. Or maybe just some stale pizza.
GENERAL
During the development of character backgrounds, it will be helpful if you could start thinking about what passions and fetters your character might have if he became a wraith. Most wraiths have 4-6 passions and 4-6 fetters.