Acquiring Haunts

If the surest way to strengthen one's Domain is to gain more Haunts, then the surest way to maintain dominance - if not equilibrium - in the Game of Houses is to constantly acquire them. This is why getting new Haunts is one of the primary activities that Concords engage in, even if they don't care to play the Game that often, or that well.

 

Taking control of Ghost Haunts

If members of a Concord find a Ghost Haunt on their own turf that doesn't have any obvious signs of someone else owning it, they will most often take it for themselves. Once someone's run back to the Citadel to make certain they aren't claim-jumping, they can then elect to keep it, or else offer to sell or lease it to other Wraiths who may want it.

If that Haunt happens to be in someone else's turf, however, the would-be owners have to be very careful. It's best to try to take control of Ghost Haunts that are right next to the boundary laid down by the Terms, so the Concord can send a large group of Wraiths into the Haunt to repel the inevitable attack.

If they can hold it for a lunar month, it's theirs, and the Terms can be repositioned accordingly. But 28 days can be a long, long time.

 

Membership Drives

If the Haunt is the Anchor of a Wraith, and the Wraith isn't a member of a Concord yet, then the best thing to do is to sign that Wraith up for membership. Once she joins, that Haunt becomes part of the Concord's holdings, which will be reflected in their overall Domain.

If a Wraith already belongs to another Concord, her Haunts transfer over to the new Concord if she switches sides. Needless to say, this can be very problematic for the losing Concord. This is why many Concords often go out of their way to make certain their members are at least satisfied - if not happy - with how things are going.

{This is also why some Concords bind their members through various means, so as to keep side-switching to a minimum.}

 

Outright Theft

If a rival Concord has a claim to a place that another group of Wraiths simply must have, for whatever reason, they can try to occupy it. This involves getting a large group of their people together, taking the Haunt by force, and holding onto it for a Lunar Month.

Between the fight to take the Haunt, and the fight to hold it, this maneuver can be a costly proposition. It's usually only done by the most powerful Concord in a Necropolis against the weakest, who may turn out to have hidden resources - or considerable allies - that the bigger Concord didn't count on.

 

D.I.Y.

So supposing a Wraith really needs to lay claim to a Haunt, but can't find an unclaimed one, and doesn't dare try to steal one? The answer is to actually make a Haunt on her own, which is about as labor-intensive as it sounds, but can pay off big dividends for all the effort.

Certain uses of the Anchorage allow a Wraith to make permanent Anchors, which can then become Haunts. Meanwhile, the Decay Numina can let Wraiths treat objects - and entire buildings - as Consorts; So long as the Wraith is willing to pay the upkeep, there's no reason the Haunt can't stay haunted for the near future.

 

You Keep What You Kill

There is another way to acquire a Haunt, but it's a very unethical proposition, not to mention risky on several levels. But if there's someplace a Wraith just has to have as a Haunt, then all that Wraith has to do is make certain a Ghost takes up residence there. And the surest way to do that is to actually make the Ghost in question - a practice the Haunters are notorious for doing.

There is no way to absolutely guarantee that someone will become a Ghost - much less a Wraith - after they die. That said, it has been observed that there is a close correlation between how much ghostly activity someone endured before they died, and their increased chances of becoming a Ghost, themselves. That's the reason why "haunted houses" tend to have multiple Ghosts at work.

So if a Wraith was to scare the living hell out of a mortal, and then do away with her after delivering the fright to end all frights, chances are good that the mortal would become a Ghost. And if the mortal was very attached to the house she died in, it would most likely become her Anchor. The house then becomes a Ghost Haunt, with all the promises and pitfalls thereof, and the Wraiths who created it can call it their own.

Until the Ghost Awakens, at any rate...

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