Thinking-Engine spirits are Weaver-aligned spirits of particularly 'important' computers and similar forms of mechanical information-processing.
Overview[]

Comparative newcomers to the spiritual cosmology (at least on the scale at which they’re now present), Thinking-Engine Spirits represent the spiritual resonance of computers, electronic technology, and other systems that can be said to make decisions. At least, that’s how the theurges and Glass Walkers most familiar with them describe these beings.
A Thinking-Engine Spirit might be the spirit of the computer on which resides a particularly important file, or it might be the program that keeps a missile from firing. It might be a security code guarding a door, as distinct from the Machine Spirit of the locking mechanism itself. It might be a spreadsheet listing virtual assets, or it might be a complicated AI on the verge of self-awareness, discovering the limitations of not having a physical body but existing (at least theoretically) in the physical world as a property of the physical media that contain it. Thinking-Engine Spirits are more tied to information than physical devices, akin to dimly self-aware computer programs. They feed on data, and any pact made with them usually involves providing access to information they otherwise are unable to sink their spiritual teeth into.
Almost all Thinking-Machine Spirits are gafflings, with a few jagglings representing decision-making processes of outsized importance or even modern physical computers. It makes theurges’ blood run cold to imagine what a Thinking-Engine Spirit Incarna might represent, but surely at least one is out there, somewhere, or will be eventually.
Image[]
Not surprisingly, Thinking-Engine Spirits appear in an enormous variety of Umbral forms, which may or may not relate to their physical-world counterparts. Often, Thinking-Engine Spirits are represented by visual metaphors. For example, the asset-spirit might appear as a chunk of gold, as a text-like dollar sign, or even as a miniature model of a superyacht (depending on how crass the assets are and what sort of person possesses them in the physical world). As with Machine Spirits, Thinking-Engine Spirits don’t generally possess things or people in the physical world outside manifesting within their own physical incarnations — though it’s possible, as with a predictive medical data model exerting control over certain lab computers or devices, or a data-security subroutine possessing a surveillance drone or even spending a very weird few minutes in a human security-guard host.
Thinking-Engine Spirits can provide information on a single subject, by using their Skill, or they can add their Power to another subject’s dice pool if they collaborate on a digital endeavor. Thinking-Engine Spirits are fickle, however, and it is rare that a spirit-talker manages to bind one into their service for long.
Stats[]
- Power: 2–4
- Exceptional Dice Pools: A single Mental Skill at +4
References[]
- W5: 5th Edition Core Book, p. 256
World of Darkness spirit types | |
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Aapilu · Ancestor ·Animal spirit · Chimerling· City Parent · Curiosi · Elemental · Engling · Epiphling · Fallen · Glade Child · Lune · Moon · Naturae · Paradox · Plant Spirits · Rock Spirits · Spirit Broods · Spirit Courts · Plasmic · Wraith | |
Ranks | Aeon · Umbrood Lord · Preceptor · Minion · Gaffling · Jaggling · Incarna · Celestine · Triat |
Banes | Abliphet · Anger Swarm · Asklepian · Bioweapon · Bitter Rage · Blight Child · Blood Bane · Blood Currency · Breeder · Calibarra · Consciousness · Crimson Pestilent · Dark Trinity · Dissonant Gestalt · Drattosi · Dream Bane · Dream Maker · Flame War · Furmling · Gray Mass · Halassh · Harpies · Hogling · Howling Insanity · H'ruggling · Kalus · Mall Walker · Meat Puppet · Mind Feeder · Nexus Crawler · Nihilach · Nocturna · Oases · Obscenity · Ooralath · Phantasmi · Psychomachia · Raptor · Reroute · Rot Walker · Rust Spider · Scavenger Pack · Scrag · Scryer · Seeder · Serpent Father · Shade Spider · Shattered Hart · Souleater · Tempestoro · Thinbone · Trendy Hat · Typhon's Brood · Wakshaani · Whisperer · Witch Hunt · Wyrmhole |
Weaver-spirits | Automata · Geomid · Machine-spirit · Net-Spider · Pattern Spider · Spider · Thinking-Engine spirit |
Wyld-spirits (Wyldlings) | Anonymous · Beleben · Chatterer · Children of the Muses · Chimera · Chirurgeon · Color Cloud · Color String · Creepypasta · Echo · Faerie · Farm-to-Table · Howler · GMO · Gyre · Lesser Wyldling · Made-Me-Do-It Devil · Malleon · Nameless · Nebulae · Origami · Passion · Pocket · Reject · Sands of Time · Scofflaw · Serpentine · Spark · Stood Ground · Superhero · Twister · Unraveler · Urban Art · Vector · Vortex · Wyld Elemental · Wyldstorm · You-Only-Live-Once |