Skip to content

Binding

Expression: Binding

AX.GHW.08.05.02

An agreement, once made, has weight. This tradition applies that principle directly.

Binding is the expression of the Hollow Pact that most directly reflects what a compact actually is: a thing with real force, a structure that constrains behavior because the structure itself is real. The compact tradition does not generate these bindings from nothing. It extends the logic of the practitioner's own compact into the world, using the compact as both model and power source.

A Bound target is not compelled through power alone. They are constrained through compact logic — one they did not necessarily consent to in advance, but that the cold weight of the agreement enforces on the same principle that the Hollow entity's original terms are enforced. Practitioners who have thought about this tend to have strong opinions about when Binding is appropriate. The ones who haven't thought about it use it more freely and eventually learn why the ones who've thought about it are careful.

Binding — Applications

Hollow's Hold (Primary Action, Threshold 2)

The practitioner establishes a binding constraint on a target within Near range — a cold stillness with the force of compact logic behind it. The target cannot voluntarily move from their current location for the duration of the scene. They can still act, attack, and use abilities that don't require movement. They can break the Hold with a Body Save vs Threshold 3 (their action to attempt).

The constraint has no visible form, though targets with supernatural awareness feel it immediately as a cold pressure at the edges of their movement — the sense of a boundary. Targets without supernatural awareness may simply find that they cannot make themselves move and don't know why.

Scaling: Excess successes increase the Body Save Threshold to break the Hold by 1 per excess (maximum Threshold 5).

Compact Compulsion (Primary Action, Threshold 3, contested)

The practitioner imposes a compact obligation on a target — a specific narrow behavioral constraint that operates like a contract term. The target must succeed on a Wit + Resolve Save vs Threshold 3 (contested against the practitioner's roll) or be compelled to comply with the stated term for the scene's duration. The term must be specific: "you will not call for help," "you will leave this building," "you will answer questions truthfully" — not "you will obey me" or anything similarly open-ended.

This application is ethically significant in the hidden world. Using compact logic to compel behavior without consent is the kind of thing that entities with shadow affiliation notice and have opinions about. It also means the practitioner's compact source has facilitated the binding.

Scaling: Excess successes extend duration (1 excess = until Long Rest) or reduce the target's Save Threshold by 1 (allowing the roll to contest a more resistant target).

Backlash:

  • Minor: The binding inverts — the practitioner themselves is briefly subject to the stated term. For the remainder of the scene, the practitioner cannot violate the condition they were attempting to impose. This is inconvenient or harmless depending on the term chosen.
  • Moderate: The compact's source claims the binding's energy. The practitioner becomes aware of a new minor obligation to the Hollow entity — something small, specific, and due in the near future. The GM establishes what the obligation is. It is not dangerous, but it is real and must be honored.
  • Severe: The binding shatters outward. Every sapient creature within Near range must make a Wit Save vs Threshold 3 or become Shaken until end of their next Turn, as the compact energy from the failed binding discharges. The practitioner themselves is Stunned for one Turn as the backlash passes through them.