Bindweaver's Curse

A curse often placed on rare books to protect them... by stealing the thief that tried to take the book!

Author’s note: Hoist the Colors is a setting for both fiction and a role-playing game with what I hope is an interesting take and look at an “Alternate History” of Earth. It isn’t really “steampunk”, though I can see how someone would get that impression. For me, it’s more a “flintlock fantasy” set on Earth of 1722 in all it’s historical mess… that I’ve stirred up even more!

Speaking of stirring up the past, when Otherworld crashed to Earth in 1712, it brought a lot of things with it. People, animals, plants, magic… and curses!

This is one of those curses. A nasty little thing invented to keep sticky fingers off restricted books in libraries. Delightfully dire, it’s now far more insidious let loose from the world where it was made. This little insidious magical malady could show up in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors, and does show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Bindweaver's Curse

I never meant to keep the book, just… borrow it for a bit. But the moment I took it from the shelf and stepped into the alley, I felt it. Invisible cord or ropes that I couldn’t see latched onto me like iron manacles. That’s when I knew the curse had me. I stole the book, but then the book stole me.

- Alain McMorissey, former art thief and unwilling guardian of the Blackvault Journal

Knowledge is power, as the saying goes. Some bargain for it, or even trade with it like currency, which leads to those who steal for it. But then there are those who believe knowledge has a higher price than that - a person’s life. The Bindweaver’s Curse is one of the more subtle, and feared, curses of Etherwave enchantments. A subtle use of the Etherwave Arcana that can trap thieves in spectral chains, forcing them to protect what they set out to steal in the first place.

Origins of the Curse

The Bindweaver Curse remains one of the more severe mystical deterrents used to protect valuable books, rare journals, and more. It’s rumored that the curse was invented by one Folco Lightweaver, a Silvashar thayan wavebinder, over a thousand years before Otherworld shattered. An accomplished wavebinder, he was known for innovative manipulation of the Etherwave Arcana, including its use with alchemy. All of which made him a regular target by thieves sent by rivals.

To combat this, Folco devised a curse that allowed a book, grimoire, or journal to defend itself. Once triggered, the Bindweaver’s Curse weaves an almost unbreakable tether between the book and a would-be thief. The unsuspecting soul becomes an unwilling protector, compelled to remain within twenty paces of the curse book they guard at all times. No matter how much they might want to, they aren’t allowed to destroy, deface, or abandon the book. The magic of the curse compels the guardian to return the book to the location where it came from.

This magic also sustains anyone caught by the curse, which means they don’t have a need for food or water during the time they’re bound to the book. Guardians can sleep, but will instantly wake if the book is threatened in any way. Anyone bound to a book with this curse remains a guardian for thirty days, or until the book’s rightful owner releases the guardian from the curse.

A Spectral Leash

To the untrained eye, this curse is a silent horror. An invisible affliction without chains or shackles, but one that’s still a firm cage. But, to any trained Wavebinder, those bonds are quite visible. They are ghostly, silver threads, delicate but almost unbreakable, that twist between the cursed and their captor. Wavebinders can see them at any time, but the bonds are most easily seen during twilight, when the flow of the Etherwave Arcana is supposed to be most active.

The curse is considered ‘Spectral Alchemy’, in what most wavebinders call a ‘gold binding’ manipulation of the Etherwave. Spectral Alchemy is a philosophy and practice associated with necromancy and necromantic aspects of Ethewave Arcana magic. It isn’t forbidden, but the use is often frowned upon because of side effects. For the thief, it affects both mind and body as they are bound to the book. It’s rumored this deep binding leaves a mark that haunts the thief’s dreams, and nightmares, for years to come.

But there’s a danger for the book owner as well. Binding a book with this curse requires rare and costly materials such as powdered silver shavings, fresh spiderweb silk, and ground bone. The most important ingredient, is the one that ties it all together, which is a piece of the owner’s essence or vitality, that is extracted through the ritual.

It’s a deadly sacrifice that taxes the book owner. This reason is why this curse is used only with the most dangerous, or valuable, books. Above all, no wavebinder would dare risk handing out a fragment of themselves, or anyone else, so freely.

A Curse That Protects Its Own

As mentioned, for the cursed, the experience is like wearing invisible chains. The pull is steady and relentless. If they wander too far, a gnawing pain drives them back to their charge. The cursed book forces itself to become a mild obsession for the guardian. An intrusive and persistent compulsion to protect the book from any harm. But this doesn’t mean the guardian is always mesmerized or controlled. Instead, the reality is far from it.

Those caught in this curse keep most of their free will. They can converse and carry on what semblance of their life they can, so long as the book stays protected and where the owner left it. But no matter what a cursed victim is doing or wants to do, the book will always come first. Also, any attempt to sell, trade, or even give away the book is impossible. The curse won’t allow it. If the thief tries, their body will lock up, preventing them from acting against the curse’s will.

Last, the curse protects the book’s true owner as well from being attacked by the trapped victim. Many thieves, driven to desperation by the curse, have been known to try to murder a book’s owner. The attempt always fails, as the curse prevents the trapped thief from doing more than planning the murder, not committing it. But while the curse protects the book’s true owner, and the book itself, it provides no protection to its guardian. The only defense the trapped thief has is their own ingenuity, skills, and ability to protect themselves.

For centuries, any library that used this curse, like the Library of Lësarilis, always displayed a warning in multiple languages. A sternly worded sign explaining that theft didn’t lead to imprisonment or death, it lead to cursed service. But when Crossing’s Fall ravaged Otherworld, crashing it into Earth, many of those signs were lost.

Rare, But Feared

Because of the cost of materials and the connection created between book and owner, the Bindweaver’s Curse was uncommon in Otherworld. Now, it’s more of an unexpected hazard since Otherworld crashed to Earth. But there are a rare few among the refugees from Otherworld that know how to enchant this curse. Specifically, thayan or morasu wavebinders who studied the practice in depth before the Crossing’s Fall disaster.

The curse is still used today, but only for the most rare and valuable books. Irreplaceable antiques often held in private collections or nestled in secluded ruins, violently cut away from Otherworld. These latter are the most dangerous, since any treasure hunter, pirate, or Privateer caught by the curse is doomed to thirty days in a lost ruin. At least, provided they survive the experience.

They say the curse lasts a month. They’ve also said it breaks when the book owner dies. ‘They’ say… a lot of things. But I met a man in Kingston, Jamaica, whose is supposedly still bound after five years. The book’s owner? Died four years ago…

- Cassandra Fairbain, Wheelhunter of the Navigator’s Guild

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- Kummer Wolfe