Couple of Questions about Containing the Host (theorizing welcome)

Mostly asking for the sake of a strange villain I've been concocting, I've been wondering if anyone can clarify or theorize with me some definitions and boundaries for a Host wielder like The Idolater/The Seer (I find the notes for the Podcasts to be too scant and anxiety prevents me from being comfortable with listening to the podcasts.)

1. In the case of obtaining/creating a Relic with a Host Spirit encased inside, I understand the idea that frankly the item could take the form of any shape and I remember that it's hard to gain a Spirit to begin with.  Do/Would the Spirits affect the human wielding the Relic or are they bottled up and can't affect the owner?
2. Would it be safe to assume that there are other Spirits besides Apostate that could help a human in capturing one?
3. On the note of Relics - would it be too overpowered to consider a mage that has captured multiple Spirits?
4. And is no, would s/he need to use multiple Relics or would it be safe to consider them only holding the Spirit in one Relic?  I'm assuming the Spirits can't be sealed inside the wielder for whatever reason.

If anyone can give some good boundaries for me, it'd be appreciated.  If I should explain why I need these questions, I can but quite a lot of my players frequent this fourm, so I'd have to be loose.

This might not be the kind of answer you are looking for, but let’s give this a shot.

"Do/Would the Spirits affect the human wielding the Relic or are they bottled up and can't affect the owner?"  Do you want them too? If yes, then yes. If not, then no.

Lorewise this will likely have to do with how the relic has been made. Idolater does not seem to have been effected by the Spirt of Faith, he did not grow more faithful. But you could have your character have a faulty relic, or a relic that creates a more powerful effect by allowing the connection at the cost of one's own emotions being effected.

"Would it be safe to assume that there are other Spirits besides Apostate that could help a human in capturing one?"  Do you want there to be one? Then yes.

"On the note of Relics - would it be too overpowered to consider a mage that has captured multiple Spirits"  A proper villain should be overpowered, though depending on the rules system you are using the connection between number of Spirits captured and power may well be arbitrary and up to you. It could also be that not all Spirits are created equal. The Spirit of Frustration and the Spirt of Rage, for example, are similar but not to the same scale.

I would personally have it so that a mage drawing power form various Host Spirits was very erratic in his emotions. Going between extremes depending on which ones he is drawing on. This might best be served by having the mage having captured very different Spirits so his emotions flicker back and forth between, say, Rage and Terror if you want a bit of fight or flight going on. Or Lust and Disgust.

"And is no, would s/he need to use multiple Relics or would it be safe to consider them only holding the Spirit in one Relic?  I'm assuming the Spirits can't be sealed inside the wielder for whatever reason" They certainly can be sealed inside the wielder if you wanted them too. Or multiple relics. Or one relic.

Depends on how close to Christopher and Adam's cannon you want to stick, IIRC the Host Spirits inhabit things that most closely resemble their own being. Judgement, Possessing? the little girl who became Fanatic, the Idolator's was imprisoned in an object of faith, and so forth. Similar to the way old D&D gods could only be imprisoned within their own element. I would think it would be difficult to imprison one within a person long term because of how much we change, and prisons that change all the time don't work well.

In theory there are other spirits you could consult but we have evidence of other people doing this willfully, that knowledge has to come from somewhere, maybe a spell tome, or maybe your person is the originator of that knowledge,

I don't think it would be too OP for multiple spirits, depending on how they work it, 

I also think that the more differentiated the spirits are the less likely they are to Coexist within one object, 

Limits on the person depend on how you want him to work, Is he releasing the spirits temporarily from the object to do a job, (IE it's does an action on it's own leaving him free to also act.) Or are they unwilling/resistant participants where he has to direct &/or force their action.

W/E you decide i would set some in universe rules for Hostmancy & stick to them, some examples could be

If the spirit is bound to an object it can have a passive/persistant effect

If that is negative the Hostmancer has to have another relic to insulate himself from the effects.

If the spirit is bound to the Hostmancer's Will rather than an object he can direct it telepathically giving him more power, but exposing him to it's effects

These types of rules would also let you set up some intrigue for your players as they try to learn more about Hostmancy as the go along so that they can defeat him, like, if he's using an object to direct the spirits, hwat happens if they get it away from him. if it's a persistant hinder going around, & they get his insulation away then it effects the mage as well making them easier to deal with, 

Just suggestions, but as Christopher would probably say, it's your table. Any cannon or rules you need to change to keep it fun are fair game.

Yeah, basically what they said.  There's very little concrete information about how the Host works as a "system," so it's largely up to you.  The Idolater seems to be in complete control of his trapped spirit (although he can only make use of it in a very limited fashion).  On the other end of the spectrum is Apostate in the Miststorm universe--he's also contained in an object but clearly isn't restricted by that fact at all.  If you wanted to create an artifact that has a Host spirit that grants more power but also exerts more influence over its owner, go for it.

And sure, you could have a "spirit collector" that has multiple trapped Host spirits--as long as the method they use doesn't grant them a whole lot of power from any given one.  Could be like Argent Adept, where each one is the equivalent of one song.

As for how they're trapped and where they could be trapped, that's even more vague.  There could be other free-roaming Hosts that could help.  Other powerful beings, like Gloomweaver, could probably manage it if they really wanted to.  Certainly singular entities could, again if they had the motivation to do so.

And trapping them inside another living being?  Sure, why not?  You'd need something powerful to keep them suppressed, though--I'm thinking of Dr. Medico and Gloomweaver, and I imagine this scenario would be similar.