Chris, one of my players in the upcoming BE campaign, A Line in the Sand , came up with something really neat regarding the Veps and the fetishist trait.
I’ll quote it whole cloth:
Weapons and armor, like all created things, have a purpose. Thus, they have a spirit. Anyone who believes they don’t must then also believe that Kerrn have no spirits, since they too were fabricated.
The Veps’ need to fetishise is an extension of this belief. A level of identification with weapons, armor and other fabricated things and the need to give those spirits form. He looks at these things as brothers, not tools. To assault this belief is to assault the Kerrn’s belief in their own souls.
Therefore, the fetishising of items should in some way reflect the items’ purpose and the Kerrn’s identification with it.
Given enough time, an item left with a Kerrn with this belief will eventually become unrecognizable as they carve and craft a shell to match the spirit within.
More short term versions of this would include tying things to an item (like hair or ropes with things handing on them), notching, or mixing blood (the wielder’s blood is mixed with fluids used to clean a gun before cleaning, similar to the “blood brothers” games kids used to play).
Given the option, a fetishist would never use an item without first doing something to show respect.
Now check out some of the work he’s done on his technology here, here, hereand here.
There isn’t really a lot written about the Kerrn in the book. I mean, the Fetishist trait is partially a joke! I really like how the player took the trait and made it his own.
I’m thinking that when he wants to burn technology up and throw in his fetishist die trait, he’d need to come up with an entertaining write up, similar in nature to what he’s put together thus far.
Does that, in your opinion, satisfy the requirement of disturbing the other players? Do you find it somewhat disturbing? I’d appreciate the feedback!