Setefö

The **setefö** ("SEH-teh-foy") is a kind of ghost in Heronoi mythology.

Heronoi often translate the ghost's name to a "**banshee**".

In Terran languages in Bujan, the word was transcribed as **setefoy**, a "banshee in a beautiful dress".

## Characteristics

Setefömai resemble women who wear neat dresses.

They come from the otherworldly realm of Sufáriba, a land of neat houses and soulless people. Some legends depict it as a monarchy like Heronoja, while others depict it as a dysfunctional republic or a mindless corporate state. This realm was located to the northeast of the icy wastes of Keratönö and Nandaruki, as among the regions of Adejoro, or Hell. Therefore, setefömai are considered by some to be a sort of demon.

The setefö walks or floats above the ground. Either way, she tries to catch people, especially young girls and boys. Those who are touched by a setefö lose their souls and become mindless slaves. It is part of an idiom and a life lesson: "To be a setefö is a worse fate than being a maikogo". It means "To lose your dreams in life is a fate worse than death."

The fear of being erased by ghosts could be derived from the past, when the ancestors of the Heronoi were reduced to puppets by their abusive creators.

Male setefömai were either pixefasse or simply male setefömai. The pixefasse were evil kings who murdered innocents to create the setefömai, and male setefömai were unfortunate men who suffered the same fate as their fellow women in being reduced to soulless slaves.

## History

While the Heronoi fear of becoming a puppet already existed since Vigefionian rule, the setefö were derived from the Earthling Invasions, when armies from other universes invaded Heronoja and other parts of Jerde. Those armies regarded Heronoja as the "most pathetic and weakest of all countries", whether due to their lack of militarism or their doll-like appearance.

Among those civilisations were several nations and armies that were remembered simply as "Merisa" or "Merikai". And among the myths of the Merikai were a folktale about a village where people (especially women) were murdered and rebuilt as robots: its similarity with the horrors of Vigefionian rule and the robots' orderly behaviour and "perfect" appearance made the folktale more notorious. Throughout history, the Heronoi used that account as a warning of what happens if they ever lose their individuality.

Originally, the setefömai were a sort of robot. But as they became more representative of a dystopia, they were later interpreted as witches and ghosts. They were similar to the stefaari from Ardeschen mythology, banshees who prey on weak-minded people by stealing their souls.

In later times, the setefö were used in satire, where they represent a country that had lost its own soul and happiness by imitating foreign cultures. Many Heronoi women and girls also wore setefö costumes on festivals to scare their friends: for some people, it backfired, as they considered their improvised costumes to make them look even more beautiful!

### The Lay of the Two Ghosts

In some works, a setefö falls in love with a paitejo: and in the process regains her own person. The paitejo runs from her, but eventually he falls in love with her. They hug, and the paitejo melts into water. Although the setefö had been freed from her ghost-curse, now that she was alone as her crush was gone, and so she wept.

* It was not the paitejo who caused the setefö to regain her humanity, but her desire to break away from her ghost-curse. As a goal formed within her mind, she slowly regained her humanity, becoming a sort of fairy or a wight.
* A later subplot was added to the folktale, in which a tree wight princess follows the setefö. Having known that setefömai were once humans that were turned into ghosts, she wanted to help the setefö restore her own humanity. One scene was about the tree princess asking the setefö several questions, where she slowly regains memories of her past life. After she loses her crush, the tree princess reappears and offers to teach her to paint murals and shape trees: in the process, she becomes into a tree fairy, enjoying the newfound gift of her immortality and magic to make the forest a beautiful place.
* In one alternate ending, the setefö dies together with the paitejo, having vanished into a burst of light or crumbled into a swarm of butterflies. Touched by their dedication, the gods remake the two ghostly lovers into celestials.
* In a more popular version, the setefö and the paitejo kiss and hug. The warmth of their intimate love causes them to melt into a puddle of water. Additional scenes add that a baby or several children emerged from the puddle, raised by the forest wight as her adopted offspring; and that the gods raised the two lovers out of the puddle and turned them into forest fairies. The fairies then lived with their sons and daughters, together with the forest wight who saved them, in her blessed woods with the other fairies. In modern times, this is the official version.
* In another ending, their love causes them to turn into humans. They marry and start a family far away from the ghosts. The two lovers never forgot the tree fairy who freed them from unlife, so every year they leave a gift to her.

### Setefomai in Bujan

During the Bujanski Revolution, some Heronoi slaves in the north formed their own army to join the revolution. They themed themselves after the setefomai, naming themselves as the Banshees. Many of them were women, who wanted to stop being mistreated for not being purely human.

Ultimately, the Banshees were a mockery of a Satanist cult that dressed themselves in 1950's dresses, to reclaim the fashion from demon-worshippers and murderers. It may had led to the popularity of 1950's fashion in modern Bujan.

## Trivia

* The setefö were largely based on the Stepford Wives, a satirical novel adapted into an American film.
* Sufáriba is derived from "suburb"; setefö from "Stepford [wives]", and pixefasse from "picket fence".
* The setefömai were also influenced by Barbie dolls, and the characters Jen and Daniel from Camp Camp.