Twice Dead

== The Twice Dead, usually simply called ghosts, are the souls of formerly living things that have been tainted by negative energies before or after death. ==
=== Becoming Twice Dead ===
Most people do not leave ghosts when they die. Those killed by necromancy or umbramancy, those who died in profound suffering or rage, and the utterly vicious are most likely to leave ghosts. Most souls lingering on the material plane are simply dead and lack the power to affect the world. Those endowed with negative energy, as they died or afterward by act of will, become ghosts and can affect the world. Most ghosts are malevolent and insane, though some are simply self-absorbed or melancholy. The rare ghosts of beings other than humanoids, such as those left by fey beings or certain demons, may behave differently than other ghosts and may lack the vulnerability to magic described below.
Moving On... Or Else
Ghosts are generally considered ill omens at best and evil spirits at worst. Priests and Shaman can open one-way gates into the outer planes for those ghosts who wish to leave the world. The process is painful, however, due to the umbral energies that infuse the ghost and that must be shed before leaving the world, and many refuse. Then the priest, shaman, or even powerful druid or necromancer, has another option: destruction. Ghosts have denied the natural order and cracked their own souls, which leaves a vulnerability that can be exploited by magic. Even a lucky warrior with a magical weapon can sometimes find it. This usually just discorporates the ghost, but those with the right knowledge and power can unmake them utterly. They do not move on at that point - they cease to exist. Ghosts of beings that were already spirits or otherwise not normal humanoids/sapients, such as the ghosts of the fey, are rare and somewhat different. They often lack the vulnerability to magic that other ghosts have, requiring specific rarely known spells, situations, or materials to destroy them.