Geist: The Sin-Eaters

Geist: The Sin-Eaters is a tabletop roleplaying game and setting for White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness line released in August 2009. In the setting, a Geist is a spirit bound to a once-dead human resulting in a Sin-Eater.
A Geist is a kind of spirit that was once a ghost but has given up their mortal identity. Instead they have become an embodiment of the ideas and imagery of their own deaths.
Players portray Sin Eaters who have died and returned to the world of the living. Unlike vampires, however, Sin Eaters (also called the Bound) are not undead, but rather living beings bound to fundamental forces of death. Upon the first death, every Sin Eater is approached by a Geist, an embodiment of an aspect or personification of death. In exchange for being returned to life, Sin Eaters allow the Geist to accompany them, effectively merging into each other in a symbiotic relation with the "human" in control. Upon this return to life, the Bound discover that they can see and interact with the restless shades of the dead, and must choose what to do with their second chance at life. In all instances, Sin Eaters are forced to deal with the dead, whether through altruism, greed, or just the plain fact that the dead will not leave them alone.
Every Sin Eater has a Threshold, relating to the way in which they died. Thresholds can be somewhat fluid, depending on what aspect of death the Sin Eater-to-be focused on at the moment of death. For example, someone who drowns could be either one of the Prey, who are killed by nature, or one of the Silent, who die from deprivation (a lack of oxygen), or even one of the Torn, if they are held under water. There are five Thresholds.
A sin-eater's archetype refers to their personal views on what has happened to them and how they are going to deal with it.
Psyche is the power trait of this venue, and it is a measure of the combined will of the sin-eater and their geist, and the strength of the bond between them. As with other power traits, it can be added to contested rolls against supernatural powers. Psyche is increased by constant work with the dead, resolving fetters, and traveling to the Underworld. High psyche sin-eaters require anchors to tie them into the mortal world, and regular visits to the Underworld to maintain their connection to the dead.
Plasm is what sin-eaters use to fuel their powers. It can be collected at Haunts, cenotes ("low places" with a connection to death, such as a graveyard), and Avernian Gates. It can also be gained by eating the corpus of a ghost, but few sin-eaters will ever resort to this. Death masks are a type of memento that naturally collects Plasm, and wearing one allows the sin-eater to access that plasm. Acting in resonance with one's threshold to the point of jeopardizing one's health or synergy can generate plasm. Finally, releasing a ghost from its anchors and helping it move on will completely refill a sin-eater's plasm bank. The amount of Plasm a sin-eater can hold and spend in a turn is determined by their Psyche rating.
Synergy takes the place of morality for the sin-eater, and measures how well a sin-eater and geist work together. The higher the synergy, the more united the two are in pursuing a goal. This is not always a good thing, as geists don't usually care about right and wrong, so acting in accordance with their wishes may be harmful. In this way, a sin-eater could be a serial killer and still have high synergy. Synergy goes down when a sin-eater causes discord with their geist.
Keys are what a sin-eater uses to "unlock" a manifestation. The type of key used determines how the manifestation works. Two sin-eaters using the same manifestation but different keys will have different results. Each key has an associated skill for making activation rolls, though the skill may change depending on which manifestation is used. A sin-eater starts with two keys, one of which must be associated their threshold, and both of which must reflect their death or their geist in some way. More keys may be purchased later with experience points.
A sin-eater is able to access their geist's power through manifestations. They are rated 1-5. Each manifestation is associated with a specific attribute. The properties of the manifestation are determined by the key used. The roll to activate is (associated attribute)+(associated skill)+(manifestation rating). Unless otherwise stated, the manifestation lasts for a scene.
Ceremonies are rituals to achieve specific effects. All ceremonies are extended actions, and all have a target number of successes equal to 2+ ceremony rating, unless otherwise stated. Purchase of this merit, however, is only important at character creation. The number of dots in this merit are equal to the total number of dots for ceremonies a starting character can have. For example, a starting character with 3 dots in the ceremony merit may have one 3-dot ceremony, three 1-dot ceremonies, or one 1-dot and one 2-dot ceremony. After this, ceremonies may be purchased at 2 xp per dot. The number of dots in the ceremony merit does not indicate a cap on how high a level ceremony you may purchase, and the new ceremonies are not treated as an expansion of the merit.
A Haunt is a place with a strong connection to the Underworld. Sin-eaters may use such places to harvest plasm or to open an Avernian Gate. Any place with strong death energy can become a haunt. Haunts have three factors, each of which is treated as a separate merit. Utility is the size, security, accessibility, and mundane usefulness. Fluidity represents how strong the connection to the Underworld is and how easily an Avernian Gate can be opened at the Haunt. A modifier of +1 per dot in fluidity is added to all attempts to open an Avernian Gate at the location. Residue represents how well the Haunt collects plasm. each dot in residue represents a dot of plasm per week. Because of how well connected the haunt is to the Underworld, sleeping in a Haunt will not allow the sin-eater to regain spent Willpower or being well rested due to nightmares.
Mementos, also called memento mori, are items that contain a connection to death and act as a focal point of power. All sin-eaters have at least one memento, their keystone, which is given to them by their geist. The Keystone grants access to one threshold and two keys. This memento is free at character creation, and is typically kept in the Twilight. All other mementos must be purchased as separate merits. A memento cannot be improved—it is what it is. There are 5 other kinds of mementos:
Ghosts are what remains of a person who refused to move on after death because of some unfinished business. If they exist in the mortal realm, then they are found in the Twilight state unless manifesting. These ghosts have anchors which tie them to the mortal realm. An anchor can be any person, place, or thing that held great significance to the ghost in life. A ghost can have many anchors or only one. When the last of these are gone, either from being destroyed or simply disappearing with time, and the ghost has not resolved their unfinished business, they are sent to the Underworld. Sin-eaters can attempt to help a ghost move on, either from the Twilight or from the Underworld, by resolving whatever business the ghost has left. Most ghosts do not understand their own condition, many are far less than coherent, and some simply don't want to move on, so they often try to fight any sin-eaters that are trying to help them.
No one is quite certain where geists come from, or what makes a geist, though there are several theories. Many believe that they were ghosts who, having lost all of their anchors and found themselves in the Underworld, latched on to some archetype of death and created an anchor with it. Others believe that they traveled through the Underworld to the Avernian Gates that open into the Shadow, and devoured a spirit. Whatever they are, and wherever they come from, they are most certainly not human anymore. For mechanical purposes, they are treated as a ghost-spirit hybrid. It is important to note that the geist does not control the sin-eater. The geist may tempt, threaten and otherwise attempt to get the sin-eater to go along with its desires, but the choice is ultimately up to the sin-eater. Unfettered geists do not typically present a problem, and most sin-eaters will never deal with them. However, some who have been without a bargain for a long time may become desperate to gain one, and will go to drastic lengths to get one, often leaving a trail of deaths in their wake.
Take any two krewes (groups of sin-eaters) and you will usually find very different philosophies run each group. Usually krewes stay out of each other's way, except when there are disputes about territory, or when philosophical difference are so great that conflict cannot be avoided. For the most part, however, the krewes are content to ignore each other as long as they keep to their own sides. This is not the case for Sacrosanct. Sacrosanct krewes are fanatical believers, seeing their way as the only way, and viewing other krewes as dangerous cults that must be stopped. They will even hunt down and kill krewes with beliefs similar to their own, because they believe theirs is the true channel, and the other is being influenced by demons in disguise.
Abmortals can be made from any number of means, most of which are unknown. An abmortal is a person who, either by accident or through some dark ritual, has become immortal and lost its humanity. Most sustain this status by killing others in their place. Some have even been known to make slaves out of the ghosts of their victims. Each abmortal kills its victims in a different way, according to the ritual that grants it immortality. Most abmortals can be killed by interference with their ritual. However, other times a quicker way to deal with the abmortal must be found to stop the deaths. Coming into the world as they do, most abmortals are ignorant of the supernatural world in general.
The Wretched are sin-eaters who have reached synergy 0. This means that they can no longer work or communicate with their geist. This does not sever the original bargain, however. Wretched end up suffering from a form of multiple personality disorder, as two souls are sharing one body. Eventually, the geist will completely overpower the human soul, gaining full and total control of the body. For obvious reasons, this is a fate to be avoided. Surprisingly enough, most geists wish to avoid this as well, as such a state ultimately fails to last, and the geist will soon have to seek a new merger if it is not destroyed by angry sin-eaters. It is important to note that synergy can be restored through serious attention by the sin-eater and their krewe or neighboring sin-eaters.
The Vacant are sin-eaters who have either destroyed their own geist or had their geist destroyed by another. Because of how deep the bond between sin-eater and geist goes, this leaves the sin-eater with a gaping hole in their soul, which they are driven to fill through any means possible. They often try to force unfettered geists (those who are in between mergers) into a bargain. This rarely works out, either because the geist doesn't want anything to do with someone who's already destroyed their geist, or because the synergy of such a bond begins as 0, with little hope for increasing it. Their other method is to attempt to steal a geist from another sin-eater, usually killing them in the process.
The Underworld has many layers and dominions, and each of these dominions has a Kerberos attached to it. Kerberoi are the guardians of the Underworld and enforcers of the "old laws", the rules that govern each dominion. Many times, the old laws are hidden, confusing, and arbitrary, meaning that many trips end with fleeing a Kerberos. They often take vaguely humanoid forms, but could never be mistaken for a human. They are extremely powerful, and rarely communicate with sin-eaters except to inform them of a broken law and the penalty for breaking it. Most Kerberoi are hesitant to kill except for the most serious crimes against the laws. Most prefer to give the transgressors a type of quest (Return an object other transgressors have stolen, get information about a certain thing, etc.). It's possible to defeat a Kerberos, but their power is so great that attempts to do so are discouraged.
Chthonians are strange and alien inhabitants of the Underworld. No one knows where they come from; some think they are ancient ghosts who have lost all vestiges of humanity, some say that they are the result of killing the Kerberoi, and some think they are the ghosts of pre-human races. Chthonians are completely inhuman and hideous. Even their actions seem to only vaguely follow the needs of survival, and their behavior is illogical and unpredictable. It is possible to communicate with a chthonian after they have recently devoured a ghost, but even then the communication is haphazard at best.