The Fleshy Vessel

Hermetic magi know that ghosts can be bound to places, things, events, and passions, each somehow providing a supernatural tether connected to the spirit. The common magic of spell binding (The Mysteries Revised Edition, page 27), requires that the magus use an "inanimate physical" container as a vessel to imprison the ghost, but this is an anchor for a second spell as well as the spirit, whose bound essence empowers the spell indefinitely. The Rego Mentem spell Imprison a Ghost in a Vessel is more relaxed concerning the actual container housing the bound ghost. The container does not have to be a hollow vessel: a book, rock, or corpse all count as containers.

Like spell binding, however, if this container is broken, the spirit is released. A magus creating a living corpse therefore selects a specific part within the corpse to house the ghost. If he chooses the entire corpse, any scratch, wound, or puncture counts as breaking the vessel. A clever magus binds the ghost to the corpse's liver, stomach, heart, or skull. This ensures that the corpse can sustain considerable damage without releasing the ghost, as long as the specified container remains whole.

If the magus chooses a body part as the vessel, that part needs to be available for the spirit-binding, either by sight or by touch, depending on the Range of the spell or spell-like effect. It is impossible to enchant a spleen to bind a ghost, if the spleen remains hidden in the body. This can be difficult if the necromancer decides he wants to self-transform into a living corpse.