"We are such stuff
As dreams are made on and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep..."
~ The Tempest ACT IV, Scene 1.

Many things dwell in the human heart: love and hate, anger and compassion, desire and repulsion, fear and courage. Our first group of creatures seems to be born of such things, or perhaps they are the source of them. The most powerful of these rarely take up permanent residence in the Nexus. Some speculate that their extreme nature would make such interaction painful, others suggest that they simply are most comfortable in their own domains, and another theory is that their presence would draw the attention of a powerful member of a contrary nature.

Still, great outpourings of emotion seem to attract the powerful ones. During World War II, many mundanes reported seeing horrific creatures circling battlefields and, later, concentration camps. A typical description is of an enormous black, worm like creature with three circular rows of sharp teeth and a long, forked tongue flying above or bursting through the ground while screaming in agony. Spirit mages should avoid these creatures if possible, as they seemed to be wracked by constant pain and lash out at all living creatures they encounter.

[Sketch of a ‘Pain Worm’]

Far friendlier are the Luck Dragons, or Joy Worms, that Spirit mages have seen during joyful events. Here Marcela Esperanza describes her experience during Marti Gras:

[The dragon] was huge. It hovered over the crowd like one of the balloons and slithered through the air. Its blue, red, orange, and green scales looked like the tiles of a mosaic and bright yellow whiskers swept from its jowls. George and I stood on the roof. When it passed by the air became buoyant like warm bath water. I found myself floating and I giggled despite myself. I felt warm and tipsy, as though I had been drinking.

It saw that we noticed it and circled back. Its large opalescent fixed on us in an expression of gentle curiosity. It passed by so closely I could reach my hand out and touch it. Its skin was like a dolphin’s and I felt a robust thrumming from within it that seemed to echo the rhythm of the boisterous crowds below. It could have knocked us off the building with a flick of its tail yet I couldn't have felt more cheerful.

Part 2.