Glossary

A

Angel

A vast intelligence wholly oriented toward the will of God. Angels are rare, dangerous, and do not receive stat blocks; their presence in a scene signals that events have escalated beyond ordinary intervention. Chapter Two and Chapter Eleven

Associated Organization

A smaller body linked to one of the eight primary factions, granting its own Charter Trait in place of the faction passive rather than a separate hard-gated authority skill. Active Associated Organizations: Sisters of Nursia, Lamed Vav, Neptic Brotherhood, and The Kept. Chapter Four

Awakened Blood

The quality shared by all player characters: the ability to perceive the supernatural without Merciful Dissonance rewriting it. It grants perception, not protection from fear, possession, or deception. Chapter Two and Chapter Three

B

Banishment

See Spirit Banishment.

Between-Spaces

The margins and thresholds produced by the Hollow since the original rift in creation, neither the afterlife nor the physical world. Spirits originate there; dybbuks and ibburim are human souls that should not be. Chapter Two and Chapter Eleven

Binding

A term with three distinct uses: Exorcism's Stage 3, the opposed check that immobilizes a possessing entity ( Chapter Eight); the Binding talent tree, covering the Magical restraint of supernatural entities (see Chapter Six); and curse binding, the attachment that fixes an effect to a cursed object (see Chapter Nine)

Black Market

A hard-gated authority skill available to Candleless characters, granting access to illegal relics, forged documents, unsanctioned ritual supplies, and curse-work materials through black-market supply chains. Chapter Four

Black Road, The

An informal network of monster hunters, survivor families, and trackers, bound by inherited knowledge rather than formal organization. Their faction passive, Kill It Right, lets a hunter act on a suspected monster weakness as though confirmed. Chapter Four and Chapter Eleven

Blessed Item / Holy Object

An item consecrated through theological procedure; anyone can use it against a supernatural threat, though certain effects (consecration, sacramental, command) require specific authorization or standing. Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight

Breach

Stage 5 of the Wound Escalation Scale: the Wound has ruptured and supernatural overflow is continuous and unchecked. Chapter Two

C

Candleless, The

A category rather than a conventional faction: excommunicated priests, disgraced theologians, hedge occultists, and relic brokers who kept working after institutional channels closed to them. Their faction passive is Ugly Solution, which eases forbidden-method solutions at the cost of a complication. Chapter Four

Case

The standard unit of play: begins with an anomaly, suspicious death, or strange report, and proceeds through investigation, identification, and intervention. Chapter Ten and Chapter Fourteen

Charter Trait

The single specific benefit defining Associated Organization membership. Narrower than a faction passive. Specific to the institution. The Charter Trait replaces the linked faction's passive for Associated Organization members. Chapter Four

Church, The

The Roman Catholic Church and its allied institutional bodies: a broadly positive, competent force against supernatural evil, though also a human one, slow, political, and sometimes more concerned with its own authority than the case at hand. Chapter Two

Claw Prayer, The

An occult attachment created through an extended grave rite, working iron nails into the fingertips to make the hands ritual instruments for ward work and spirit detection. Distinct from Grave Nails, which the body produces from corruption rather than deliberate ritual. Chapter Nine

Cold Shard

Stage 1 of the Wound Escalation Scale: dormant and effectively undetectable, requiring active feeding to wake. Chapter Two

Command Effects

Holy power that compels a supernatural entity to answer, withdraw, or be bound in the name of God; unavailable to characters with an active devil contract or Corruption 7 or higher. Chapter Eight

Composure Initiative (CI)

A character's Willpower + Composure total, used as the initiative pool for surprised or under-pressure characters (Readiness is renamed Composure here). Chapter Three and Chapter Seventeen

Concealment

An adversary-only stat measuring how well an entity hides what it is, rolled against Discernment, Monster Lore, and related skills; distinct from Stealth, which covers physical concealment. Player characters do not have a Concealment rating. Chapter Eleven

Congregation of the Opened Hand

A recurring human antagonist organization: an institutional predator wearing a charitable face, targeting the economically and socially disposable. A campaign construct rather than a full faction entry. Chapter Four

Consecration

Establishing the spiritual status of a space, object, or site through formal theological procedure. Creating a sustained consecrated perimeter requires Theology 1 or higher. Consecrated ground provides mechanical benefits to characters performing holy work within it and resists supernatural intrusion. Chapter Eight

Containment

A restricted Discipline skill available to Latchkey Archive characters. The skill for safely moving, securing, sealing, and transporting dangerous objects and sites according to formal Archive protocols. The Latchkey Archive's Do Not Touch That passive depends on successful Containment or Relic Lore checks. Chapter Four and Chapter Five

Corrupt Body Manifestation

A physical mark, deformity, or capability that surfaces when a character crosses a Corruption threshold, takes a Corruption Talent, or accepts a body-altering devil deal. Distinct from Occult Attachments, which are deliberately grafted. Chapter Eight

Corruption

The 0-to-10 track measuring accumulated spiritual compromise, such as devil deals, forbidden rites, and dark rituals: an index of exposure with escalating effects at set thresholds, not a measure of evil. It persists between sessions but can be reduced through Confession, restitution, and spiritual retreat. Chapter Eight

Corruption Talent

A talent available once a character's Corruption reaches Threshold 2, costing 1 Corruption per talent and sometimes triggering a Corrupt Body Manifestation. Chapter Six and Chapter Eight

Cursed Object

An object carrying supernatural charge from a specific binding, ritual, or spiritual event; the charge is applied rather than intrinsic, distinguishing it from a Relic. Chapter Nine

D

Dead Languages

A skill covering extinct, suppressed, liturgical, or specialized languages relevant to supernatural investigation: Aramaic, Classical Hebrew, ecclesiastical Latin, Enochian transcription, and equivalent systems. Required for Tzror preparation, certain bindings, and reading texts the other factions cannot access. Chapter Five

Deliverance

A restricted Discipline skill representing training in confronting supernatural entities through direct spiritual engagement. Required for performing the Exorcism procedure at Stage 3 and Stage 5. Characters with Deliverance 1+ may substitute Deliverance for Composure in initial possession resistance. Chapter Five and Chapter Eight

Demon

A fallen angel that has taken possession of a person, place, or object as its mode of operating in the physical world; prolonged possession increasingly displaces the host. Addressed through Exorcism. Distinct from Devils (who bargain rather than possess), Ghosts, and Spirits. Chapter Two and Chapter Eleven

Deniable Assets

A hard-gated authority skill available to Directorate Vesper characters. Grants access to off-book cash, safehouses, cutouts, forged documents, unofficial transport, and hidden equipment. Chapter Four

Devil

A fallen angel that retained or twisted the powers of its original station; where a demon possesses, a devil bargains, operating under Infernal Law and requiring an invitation, an offer, and consent before any claim becomes binding. Chapter Two and Chapter Eight

Devil Bargain / Devil Deal

A formal exchange made with a devil under Infernal Law, paid in Corruption, spiritual standing, and future vulnerability. Accepting any bargain costs +2 Corruption; revoking an established contract requires a specific, escalating-difficulty procedure. Chapter Eight

Directorate Vesper

An intelligence program tracking supernatural threats that intersect with foreign intelligence priorities, operating with no acknowledged official existence. Faction passive: Deniable Operation. Chapter Four

Discernment

A skill for detecting and reading supernatural presences and distinguishing them from psychological disturbance; confirms that something supernatural is present but does not alone identify entity type. Chapter Five, Chapter Eight, and Chapter Eleven

Discipline Skill

One of the four skill access categories. Specialized professional or hidden-world skills, usually granted by a Career. Available to any character who can justify the training, at normal cost. Distinct from Restricted Discipline Skills, which are gated by risk, and Hard-Gated Authority Skills, which are gated by institution. Chapter Five

Dual Possession

A possession case where a demonic entity and a human soul occupy the same host simultaneously, contesting control through opposed checks. Chapter Eight

E

Evidence Chain

A hard-gated authority skill available to Lyncean Office characters. Covers labs, evidence lockup, official records, chain of custody procedures, and forensic reporting, the infrastructure for making impossible evidence survive the paperwork it must survive to remain legally usable. Chapter Four

Exorcism

The formal, five-stage procedure for confronting and expelling a demonic entity possessing, oppressing, or infesting a person, place, or object. It works only on demonic entities; applying it to a dybbuk, ibbur, ghost, or spirit causes harm rather than resolution. Chapter Eight

Exorcism Mandate

A formal sanction of exorcism granted by appropriate ecclesial authority to a designated exorcist. In The Hollow, an Order of Mercy exorcism conducted under a valid mandate receives the full bonus from the Rite of Office passive. Without the mandate, the procedure is valid but the institutional backing is absent. Chapter Four and Chapter Eight

F

Faction Expertise Matrix

The summary table in Chapter Four defining each faction's primary expertise and the areas where they are not at their best. No faction covers everything. Cases that require one faction's specialty will almost always require another's before they are finished. Chapter Four

Faction Passive

The always-active mechanical benefit granted by faction membership. Faction passives: Rite of Office (Order of Mercy), Passion (Watchfires), Deniable Operation (Directorate Vesper), Impossible Evidence (Lyncean Office), Do Not Touch That (Latchkey Archive), Kill It Right (Black Road), The Older Version (Lantern Index), Ugly Solution (Candleless), Free Association (Independent). Chapter Four

Fallen, The

The collective term for beings who have fallen from their original divine station: demons, devils, and the infernal hierarchy, all bound by Infernal Law as much as those who deal with them. Chapter Two

Federal Jurisdiction

A hard-gated authority skill available to Lyncean Office characters. Warrants, subpoenas, crime-scene control, federal access, interagency cooperation, and the authority to make local officials treat a case as a federal matter. Chapter Four

Fieldcraft

A skill covering outdoor survival, wilderness navigation, maintaining a field position, reading terrain, and operating without institutional support or infrastructure. Core competence for Black Road hunters. Chapter Five

Focus Object

A relic or charged object that assists a specific kind of working. Focus objects do not replace talents and do not grant capability a character lacks; they make a trained practitioner better at something they can already do. Distinct from an Operational Relic, which supplies a function in its own right. Chapter Nine

Forbidden Rites

A restricted Discipline skill for practical occult procedures outside sanctioned institutional boundaries: summoning, compulsion-binding, and calling on infernal power. Each use beyond the first costs +1 Corruption, more on a Calamity. Chapter Five, Chapter Eight, and Chapter Nine

Forbidden Working

Any ritual action invoking power through infernal or occult channels outside sanctioned holy procedure; its scope and cost are governed by the Sacrifice Scale. Chapter Eight, Chapter Nine, and Chapter Twelve

Forensics

A skill covering physical evidence collection, analysis, reading cause of death, documenting crime scenes, and interpreting physical anomalies in ways that survive legal scrutiny. Core competence for Lyncean Office investigators. Chapter Five

Forsaken, The

A human being who has voluntarily crossed a spiritual threshold and cannot return: Corruption 7 or higher, legible to infernal entities as kin and partly invisible to holy defenses. Not possessed; Exorcism does not apply. Chapter Eleven

Free-Floating

The state of a dybbuk expelled from a host but not captured in a Tzror, remaining able to enter a new host for a period set by its tier: about 24 hours (Tier 1), 2–4 days (Tier 2), or up to a week (Tier 3). Chapter Eight

G

Ghost

A human spirit that has not passed on, held by unresolved circumstances such as unfinished business or unacknowledged injustice. Addressed through Spirit Banishment; Exorcism does not work on ghosts. Chapter Two, Chapter Eight, and Chapter Eleven

Grave Nails

A Corrupt Body Manifestation produced by sustained spiritual compromise: iron-dark deposits that grow under the fingernails and sharpen to a point, functioning as a concealed unarmed weapon dealing 1 WD. Not chosen, but produced by the body from what has been done to it. Distinct from The Claw Prayer, which is a ritual instrument deliberately built into the hands; the two do not stack. Chapter Eight and Chapter Nine

Gripping Demon

A Minor (Tier 1) demon, the most commonly encountered demonic presence in field work, capable of oppression and partial possession. Chapter Eleven

H

Hanged Man's Grip, The

An occult attachment made from the hand of a person who died by hanging, prepared through a rite built around a broken vow. It grants a Boon-spend demand for a binding truthful answer from a supernatural entity. Chapter Nine

Hard-Gated Authority Skill

A skill available only to members of a specific faction, representing institutional access or sanctioned capability that cannot be purchased through experience alone. Hard-gated skills may not be taken by characters outside the faction without specific story justification approved by the GM. Examples: Sacraments (Order of Mercy), Righteous Fire (Watchfires), Black Clearance (Directorate Vesper), Federal Jurisdiction (Lyncean Office). Chapter Four and Chapter Five

Hidden World, The

The collective term for the supernatural reality operating behind the mundane world: the Hollow's influence, the entities that press through it, and the factions organized to address it. Chapter Two

Hollow Walker

A non-human entity native to the Between-Spaces: one of the presences that the Hollow has produced over centuries since the original rift, neither demonic nor angelic, operating by its own rules and pursuing its own purposes. Addressed through Spirit Banishment rather than Exorcism. Full taxonomy in Chapter Eleven.

Hollow, The

The absence left in creation when humanity was severed from the Garden: not a location or dimension, but a wound that bleeds influence into the world through thin places, the source of all supernatural activity in this book. Chapter Two

Holy Ground

A site formally consecrated and maintained as spiritually protected. Holy ground provides mechanical benefits to those working holy power within it and resists supernatural intrusion and Wound escalation. Desecration of holy ground is among the most efficient methods for feeding a Shard and escalating a Wound Site. Chapter Two and Chapter Eight

Holy Power

The mechanical expression of sanctioned spiritual authority: not a depletable resource, but a function of a character's presence, office, and integrity, diminished by Corruption and moral compromise. Chapter Eight

I

Independent

A character with no faction affiliation, receiving Free Association (Boon dice when lack of allegiance enables cooperation between groups that would otherwise refuse each other) and a Point of Contact instead of a faction passive, hard-gated authority skills, or faction profession skills. Chapter Four

Infernal Contacts

A hard-gated authority skill available to Candleless characters, granting access to brokers, intermediaries, cursed informants, and devil-touched negotiators. Chapter Four

Infernal Law

The system of binding agreements, debts, and procedural rules governing devil bargains; see Devil for how it operates. Because Infernal Law is contested with the tools of law, the Order of Mercy maintains lawyers alongside exorcists. Chapter Two and Chapter Eight

Infestation

A form of demonic presence in which the entity is in a location or object rather than possessing a person. May manifest through environmental effects: cold spots, physical phenomena, spiritual distortion. Addressed through Exorcism targeted at the location rather than a host. Chapter Eight and Chapter Eleven

Inquiry

A skill covering structured questioning of witnesses, suspects, and sources in both formal and informal settings. Interpersonal information extraction without the coercive dimension of interrogation. Core competence for investigators and Directorate Vesper operatives. Chapter Five

K

Kept, The

An Associated Organization linked to the Black Road: a community of possession survivors and families touched by Wound escalations. Their Charter Trait is Survivor's Read, direct experiential knowledge of a threat type that research alone could not reveal. Chapter Four

Kill Ledger

A hard-gated authority skill available to Black Road characters. Accumulated monster-kill records, weakness notes, family journals, and field reports from generations of hunters, the Black Road's distributed oral archive. Chapter Four

L

Lantern Index, The

A private academic research society devoted to collecting, translating, and studying everything the hidden world has produced in written form. Faction passive: The Older Version. Chapter Four

Last Rites / Anointing of the Sick

A Sacrament. When performed on a living person who is dying or in spiritual crisis, reduces Corruption by 1 if the recipient consents. Requires Theology 2 and ordained status. Chapter Eight

Latchkey Archive, The

An organization devoted to retrieving, cataloging, and containing dangerous objects and sites. Their faction passive is Do Not Touch That, which reveals a handling danger before anyone interacts with an unidentified object. Chapter Four

Lyncean Office

A domestic federal investigative unit operating in a bureaucratic gap between Justice, Homeland Security, and two other agencies, tasked with making supernatural evidence survive official legal procedure. Their faction passive is Impossible Evidence. Chapter Four

M

Magical Tier Access

The system by which characters access supernatural talents: each of five tiers must be unlocked in order, at the permanent cost of 1 Wound Point per tier. Accessible tiers appear on the Quick Reference chart in Chapter Seventeen. Chapter Three, Chapter Six, and Chapter Seventeen

Merciful Dissonance

The cognitive mechanism by which ordinary minds protect themselves from the supernatural, filing impossible events under the nearest mundane explanation. It can break under prolonged high-stage Wound exposure, direct possession or infernal contact, or Awakened Blood. Chapter Two and Chapter Twelve

Monster Lore

A skill covering the practical knowledge of supernatural threats: what they are, how they behave, what kills them, which folklore is accurate and which was invented to get hunters killed. Required for confirming weaknesses, activating the Black Road's Kill It Right passive, and identifying entity types in the field. Chapter Five and Chapter Eleven

N

Neptic Brotherhood, The

An Associated Organization linked to the Order of Mercy: an Orthodox monastic community that conducts exorcism by its own rite, independent of Vatican oversight. Their Charter Trait is The Elder Rite. Chapter Four

O

Occult Attachment

A supernatural modification deliberately grafted into a character's body through occult procedure, unlike Corrupt Body Manifestations, which arise from spiritual compromise rather than choice. Examples: The Hanged Man's Grip, The Claw Prayer. Chapter Nine

Occult Lore

A skill covering general knowledge of occult traditions, forbidden practices, infernal customs, and the operational patterns of supernatural entities across traditions. Distinct from Theology (which operates within Christian framework) and Monster Lore (which is practical field knowledge). Chapter Five

Open Wound

Stage 3 of the Wound Escalation Scale: the Shard is fully open, supernatural entities can enter, and most investigations begin at this stage. Chapter Two

Operational Relic

A relic or cursed object that can be carried, activated, or invoked to enhance a character's capabilities in the field; it enters play through recovery, faction loan, theft, or inheritance rather than purchase. Distinct from a Focus Object, which only improves a working the character can already perform. Chapter Nine

Oppression

A form of demonic presence in which the entity influences a person from outside without fully possessing them. The affected person may show psychological distress or physical symptoms but retains full agency. Exorcism addresses oppression. Chapter Eight and Chapter Eleven

Order of Mercy

The Roman Catholic Church's hidden supernatural intelligence and intervention arm, handling impossible incidents within Church jurisdiction, conducting formal exorcisms, and authenticating relics. Faction passive: Rite of Office. Chapter Four

P

Passion

A Watchfires character's specific, personal, compulsion-level driving force, written in first person. Acting in its service lets a character spend Strain to add successes; ignoring or acting against it carries mechanical penalties. Chapter Four

Penance

The process that clears a Passion violation's mechanical penalties through an act combining restitution and repentance, attemptable once per in-fiction day. Chapter Four

Possession

The state in which a supernatural entity resides inside a living human: Demonic Possession (Exorcism), Dybbuk (Spirit Banishment), or Ibbur (Reconciliation or Spirit Banishment). Correct identification before procedure is mandatory, since the wrong one causes harm. Chapter Eight

Profession Skill

A skill on a character's Background or Career list, costing less XP per rank than out-of-profession skills. In The Hollow, Hard-Gated Authority Skills are faction-exclusive and cannot be purchased as profession skills by characters outside that faction regardless of XP available. Chapter Three and Chapter Five

Purgatory

An intermediate space between the physical world and the afterlife, with exits to both heaven and hell locked from both sides; inaccessible to angels, demons, and the living by normal means. The Lamed Vav's rare mass-passage events release captured souls here at significant spiritual cost. Chapter Eight

R

Reconciliation

The procedure for releasing a dybbuk or ibbur that is genuinely working toward redemption, requiring confirmation of the soul's identity and intent before release. Performing it on a soul that does not qualify costs 1 Corruption. Chapter Eight

Relic

An object with supernatural properties through sanctified association, accidental spiritual charging, or deliberate occult alteration, ranging from beneficial to dangerous. Authentication and safe handling are the Latchkey Archive's primary function. Chapter Seven and Chapter Nine

Relic Lore

A skill covering the identification, authentication, history, and safe handling of supernaturally charged objects. Required for many Latchkey Archive procedures and for Tzror preparation by non-Lamed Vav characters. Chapter Five and Chapter Seven

Resistance

Damage reduction applied before Wounds are calculated: half Might rounded up, plus armor. Unaffected by permanent WP spent on Magical Tier Access, since Resistance derives from Might, not WP. Chapter Three

Restricted Discipline Skill

One of the four skill access categories: dangerous or specialized skills, such as Deliverance, Containment, and Forbidden Rites, that require a Background, Career, or Faction grant or GM approval, and carry a higher XP cost plus a Bane die penalty when used out of profession. Chapter Five

Righteous Fire

A hard-gated authority skill available to Watchfires characters: the direct application of passionate faith as spiritual force, using the Passion Strain-spend mechanic. Not Exorcism, and cannot drive out an established possession alone. Chapter Four

Rite

A structured supernatural action with formal components, materials, and procedure, producing a spiritual effect when performed correctly by an authorized practitioner. An informal prayer or scripture reading does not qualify as a rite. Chapter Eight

S

Sacrament

A category of rite available only to ordained clergy or those under delegated sacramental authority, each producing a specific mechanical effect (Last Rites, Confession and Absolution, Eucharist, and others). Laypersons may attempt one in extremis at increased difficulty. Chapter Eight

Sacrifice Scale

A GM-facing tool calibrating the scope and power of Forbidden Workings against their cost, scaled by operational scope from single-scene (minor bloodletting) to campaign-scope (human sacrifice). Chapter Twelve

Sanctity

The quality that makes holy power effective: not a tracked stat, but a relationship status between a character and the authority they represent, degraded by Corruption. Chapter Eight for the specific penalty thresholds

Shard

A fragment of the original cosmological Wound: a place where the membrane between the natural order and the Hollow has been thin since before recorded history, usually dormant and invisible. Chapter Two

Sisters of Nursia

An Associated Organization linked to the Order of Mercy: a fourteenth-century religious community of women operating outside the Church's formal authority structure, taking the cases institutional criteria filter out. Their Charter Trait is Individual Authority, full holy authority with no traceable institutional connection. Chapter Four

Spirit

A non-human entity native to the Between-Spaces, including Threshold Watchers, Hollow Walkers, and other presences, addressed through Spirit Banishment rather than Exorcism. Distinct from Ghosts, Dybbuks, and Ibburim, which are human. Chapter Two and Chapter Eleven

Spirit Banishment

The three-phase procedure (Research, Communication, Banishment/Release) for addressing ghosts, spirits, and other non-demonic presences; where Exorcism expels, Banishment releases. Applied to a demonic entity, it may catastrophically open a gap toward purgatory instead of working. Chapter Eight

Spiritual Warfare

The framing that holy power, Corruption, devil bargains, and the Wound Escalation Scale are all expressions of an ongoing conflict investigators are inside, not neutral observers of. Chapter Two and Chapter Eight

T

Theology

A skill covering the systematic study of God, sacred texts, ecclesiastical tradition, the structure of the spiritual world, the nature of supernatural entities, and the doctrinal frameworks that govern holy authority. Required for Exorcism diagnosis, Wound assessment, identifying possession type, and performing or understanding all formal holy rites. Functions differently from faith: a character can have high Theology and uncertain faith, or deep faith and limited formal Theology. Chapter Five

Threshold

A boundary between spaces: a doorway, window frame, property line, cave mouth, or other liminal crossing that carries additional spiritual weight in the Hollow's world. Certain entities are constrained by thresholds. Certain rites operate on thresholds. The Claw Prayer's scratch-mark detection mechanic functions specifically on thresholds. Chapter Nine and Chapter Eleven

Threshold Watcher

A non-human entity from the Between-Spaces that occupies or monitors liminal spaces: doorways, boundary markers, crossings. One of the spirit categories addressed through Banishment rather than Exorcism. Full profile in Chapter Eleven.

Tracking

A skill covering the physical and practical pursuit of a target across terrain: reading signs, following a trail, identifying what made the marks, and predicting where the quarry is going. Essential Black Road competence. Chapter Five

U

Universal Skill

One of the four skill access categories. Broad human capabilities available to every character regardless of Background, Career, or Faction. A Background may make a Universal Skill a profession skill. Chapter Five

W

Waking Shard

Stage 2 of the Wound Escalation Scale: something has touched the Shard, and nearby awakened characters feel the wrongness clearly, though nothing yet forces confrontation. Chapter Two

Watchfires, The

Protestant deliverance workers across denominations and none, with no central office or official membership process. Faction passive: Passion. Chapter Four

Weapon Damage (WD)

The damage a weapon deals on a successful hit; Resistance is subtracted before the remainder is applied to the target's Wound Points. Distinct from Wound Points and from the permanent WP-cap cost of Magical Tier Access. Chapter Seven

Weeping Wound

Stage 4 of the Wound Escalation Scale: the site is bleeding hard, supernatural events are continuous, and Merciful Dissonance is straining. Chapter Two

Wound (cosmological)

The Hollow's original form before Noah's Flood shattered it into the thousands of Shards scattered across the world today. Chapter Two

Wound (escalation site)

A Shard that has been fed enough to open, actively bleeding influence into the world; escalation is self-reinforcing unless sealed, reduced, or fed no further. Chapter Two

Wound Escalation Scale

The five-stage system for assessing active supernatural sites: Cold Shard (1), Waking Shard (2), Open Wound (3), Weeping Wound (4), Breach (5). The scale moves in both directions: continued feeding escalates a site, while consecration, sealing, and removal of the source reduce it. Chapter Two and Chapter Twelve

Wound Points (WP)

A character's physical damage capacity (10 + Might), also the currency for Magical Tier Access: each tier unlocked permanently reduces the WP cap by 1. Distinct from Weapon Damage (WD). Chapter Three and Chapter Seventeen

Wrong-Tool Consequence

The harm caused by applying an incorrect supernatural procedure to the wrong entity type: Exorcism on a dybbuk or ibbur displaces the soul and costs the exorcist Corruption, while Spirit Banishment on a demon risks opening a gap into purgatory. Chapter Eight