Ghosts

Zombies

### Description

Souls of the dead who have neglected to cross on to their afterlife, and have therefore been consigned to the Shadelands and the Underworld.

Ghosts are the spirits of the Restless Dead, those who died and refused to pass on due to some sort of unfinished business that they wished to remain to enact. Ghosts come in all manner of temperaments, ranging from benign to malevolent, and often wield powers dependent on the manner of their deaths.

## Animus Ranks

Main Article: Animus

Ghosts measure their power by their Animus, a broad measure of their force of personality, strength of will, and magical potency that they will have acquired throughout their existences. Ghosts are divided into four distinct classes based on the strength of their Animus, which, oftentimes correlates strongly with their age. From weakest to strongest, the four classes are Shade, Wraith, Specter, and Revenant.

## Appearance

Ghosts typically appear in a state identical to their corpse at the instant of death. For example, one who had their throat slit would have a gash on their throat, one who was immolated would be covered in burn marks, whilst one who was drowned would be dripping wet, a phenomenon which ghosts call their Deathmarks. However, those ghosts who master the Ghostly Praxis of Immaterium are able to alter their own appearances to suit their whims.

## Creation

Ghosts are made after a mortal being experiences death, is given the opportunity to cross over to the afterlife, and refuses to take it so that they may complete unfinished business on earth. After this is done, a ghost anchors their spirit to some sort of object, known as their Tether, to prevent them from being pulled off to the Underworld. The most common form of Tether is their mortal corpse, but other things of significance to them, such as their car, a watch, or even an entire house can also serve.

## Material Existence

Upon dying, the spirit of a ghost is disconnected from the physical body. What remains is a purely psychic form, crafted from a substance known as Plasm, a manifestation of the ghost's memories. Within the Ether, their Plasm functions similar to a physical body, and can be touched or interacted with by anything within the same plane as them. Many ghosts remain in the Shadelands, a realm of the Near Ether designed to contain ghosts. In order to remain within the Shadelands, most ghosts must have some sort of anchor in the Brightlands to hold them there, which usually takes the form of a Tether, a physical object infused with their essence. Without one, the majority of ghosts succumb to the pull of the Underworld, and are dragged there.

Should any ghost wish to interact with the Brightlands (the ghostly term for the physical world), or even be perceived by those within them, they must make use of one of the Ghostly Praxes in order to manifest power beyond the Veil, the force that separates the Shadelands from the Brightlands.

## Halcyons

Whenever a ghost's Plasm, the ethereal manifestation of their spiritual form, is sufficiently damaged, the ghost enters a state called a Halcyon. Halcyons function as a quiet slumber, where the ghost relives memories from their mortal life, and slowly healing whatever damage has been inflicted upon them. Ghosts can also voluntarily enter a Halcyon if they wish to recover from lesser damage, or simply if they wish to pass time or reminisce about their living days.

Halcyons only include memories from when ghosts were alive. Any deeds that they have engaged in as ghosts do not come up during a Halcyon.

## Powers and Abilities

### Innate Powers

These are abilities all ghosts instantly have access to, without any use of the Ghostly Praxes.

* **Intangibility:** While in the Shadelands, unless they specifically attempt to manifest, a ghost's incorporeal form cannot be affected by any mundane physical contact. As a result, they are also protected from mundane physical harm.
* **Invisibility:** When in the Shadelands, unless deliberately manifesting, ghosts cannot be perceived by mundane means. Those with the right magical senses can perceive them.

### Ghostly Praxes

Ghostly Praxes are powers that ghosts typically learn through experience, often through years of training. Elsewise, ghosts can also manifest certain powers in moments of extreme stress.

#### Corpus

Main Article: Corpus

The Praxis of Corpus is used by ghosts to enhance their abilities to manifest themselves within the physical world.

#### Extort

Main Article: Extort

The power to Extort their surroundings is one of the most potent tool's in a ghost's arsenal. This praxis allows them to enforce their will upon the landscape, creating bursts of telekinetic force, summoning Veilflame, manipulate temperatures, or distort the weather.

#### Immaterium

Main Article: Immaterium

The Praxis of Immaterium allows ghosts to touch, shape, and control Ethereal matter, such as that of other ghosts or demonic Shadowforms. The basic abilities of Immaterium are often manifested by ghosts who find their Plasm, or Ethereal form, damaged, as they allow for ghosts to heal injuries that have been inflicted on it. Another low level power of the Praxis is the ability to touch other ghosts or Ethereal entities, enabling them to be grabbed or beaten, though not harmed to any serious degree. More advanced uses allow for other Ethereal beings to actually be harmed by grabbing and rending their forms, as well as allowing ghosts to reshape their own Plasm to alter their appearance. Even higher level abilities enable ghosts to rip spirits right out of a possessed body or object, forgoing the need possess it themselves first, and forcibly reshape the Plasm of another ghost or Ethereal spirit, marring their physical forms or even reshaping them into a ghostly object.

#### Infuse

Main Article: Infuse

Infuse is the Praxis that allows a ghost to meld their essence into inanimate objects, which they can then control and manipulate. Every ghost makes at least one basic use of this ability the instant they form their Tethers.

#### Pervasion

Main Article: Pervasion

Pervasion is the power that ghosts use in order to inhabit and control the bodies of living beings, enabling them to crush their will and grasp at life using their flesh as a vehicle.

#### Reverie

Main Article: Reverie

A Praxis often wielded by ghosts who frequently Pervade mortals, Reverie builds on the fact that the thoughts of any creature a ghost possesses are open to them, as well as the potency of their own memories, which were potent enough for them to choose not to pass on to the afterlife. For themselves, it enables ghosts to master their own memories, dulling those that bring them pain, or sharpening those they wish to recall. In addition, however, it enables them to delve into the memories of other beings, including other spirits, and for those who are sufficiently skilled, to alter them to a ghost's whims. The more drastic the alterations, the more difficult they are to make, though simply suppressing is far easier, though such actions are harder to undo than to do. Advanced uses of Reverie allow for memories to be crafted from nothing, for multiple people to have their recollections reshaped at once, and for more powerful supernatural beings to also be affected.

## Weaknesses

* **Iron:** Ghosts, like all incorporeal beings, are harmed by iron, the exemplary substance of physical immutability. If an ghost is possessing a living creature, wounding it with pure iron will cause the ghost to be expelled. Likewise, any physical form that a ghost constructs for itself can be dispelled by bringing pure iron into contact with it.

* **Tether:** Each ghost is bound to the earth by a Tether, which holds a portion of their essence that gives them an anchor in the Shadelands and allows them to resist the pull of the Underworld. Ghosts lacking sufficient mastery of the Corpus Praxis cannot manifest very far from their Tethers, and if the their r Tethers are destroyed by fire, they will immediately be sent off ttohe Underwl.dd.

## Notable Ghosts

 Charon
 Gauis Julius Caesar
 Genghis Khan