What are Apocrypha Spirits?
Apocrypha Spirits are Spirits designed by Eric Reuss, but not part of the formal Spirit Island canon. You can think of them kind of like "fan-made Spirits made by the game's creator" - perhaps they resonate with the established lore a touch more simply due to being created by the same person.
The following things are generally true about Apocrypha Spirits:
- They've had vastly less design / development / playtesting than published Spirits, so are apt to be substantially rougher, be over- / under-powered, have parts that just don't work, etc. This is especially true for Apocrypha Spirits designed in real-time with fans at an event, and for those with novel mechanics.
- They are permitted to have more thematic and mechanical overlap with canon Spirits than canon Spirits generally have with each other.
- They are not "in playtesting". Reactions to / stories about playing them are just as welcome as for any Spirit, but playtesting data is not desired, and there's no specific plan to develop them any further.
- They do not restrict future design: small or large portions of them could make their way into canon Spirit designs someday.
- Nothing mentioned in their lore - including the fact of the Spirit's existence - is necessarily true in canon.
- In some cases, it's plausible that there might be stories of these Spirits in canon - maybe fanciful knowingly-false tales, maybe serious stories that are uncertain or poorly-informed. But even if such stories exist, that doesn't necessarily mean the Spirit does.
- Unless someone chooses to commission/donate artwork for a Spirit, they are likely to either have no art, or whatever public-domain / creative-commons art I can scrounge up. (Which may mean imagery that's only tangentially relevant, or doesn't have much stylistic consistency.)
The back of the Spirit panel should list the circumstances of its creation, and whether/when it's okay to spread them around. The norm for Spirits created in collaboration with fans at an event is to be first given to those fans, then a bit later to the Spirit Island community at large - many thanks to the publisher (Greater Than Games) for allowing this!
PS: Yes, "Apocrypha" is a plural noun; technically it should be "apocryphal" or "Apocryphon". Call it poetic license, with a side order of "easier to say".
(Discussion elsewhere) Tags: Apocrypha Spirits
