Wraith Lore

Wraith Lore x1

You know that wraiths are the souls of those who have died with unfinished business, and that they cannot find peace until they accomplish whatever this business was.

You know that wraiths have no physical bodies in the same sense as the living, and that their bodies are made from a substance known as plasm.

You know that wraiths are creatures of emotion, and that they seek out feelings that are important to them individually.

You know that most wraiths you will encounter have artefacts connected to them known as fetters (items which were personally important to them in life), and that they treasure these things greatly. You know that whomever holds a fetter can carry a great deal of sway over a wraith.

You know that there is a barrier called the Shroud that separates the land of the dead from the land of the living, and that ghosts often have trouble employing all of their powers fully on people because of this. You know that the Shroud tends to be weaker in places permeated by death (graveyards, murder sites) and that interactions with wraiths may be less difficult there (on both sides).

You have heard of a variety of wraith powers that wraiths may employ, including visual manifestation to the living, poltergeist-like activity, and possession. You know these powers are called Arts.

You know that some wraiths are decidedly more malevolent than others, and that these are called spectres.

Wraith Lore x2

You know that only those people who died with a significant personal drive to cling to those things important to them can become wraiths, and that such people are not common. You know that not everyone who dies becomes a wraith.

You know that wraiths horde and prize raw emotion, referring to it as Pathos, and that they can derive this either from close proximity to their fetters, or from siphoning it from others (living or dead) who feel the emotion they desire.

You know about the existence of the Shadowlands, a mirror version of the material world which the dead inhabit. You know that the Shadowlands is a direct correspondence to the lands of the living, save that structures and objects which have been destroyed still remain there if they persist in human memory. You know that most major cities have analogues in the Shadowlands called Necropoli.

You know that wraiths can only frequent the Shadowlands if they still have fetters to hold them in close proximity to the land of the living.

You know that some wraiths appear such as that they have no sentience, and only re-enact their deaths repeatedly. These are called drones.

You know of the existence of relics, items that contained enough emotional resonance, that when they were destroyed, they appeared as physical items in the Shadowlands. You know that they are highly treasured in wraith society where materials are scarce.

You know that wraiths have a fairly diverse political and hierarchical structure, and you have heard of the Hierarchy - the body that governs over most wraiths you will encounter in European civilization, although you can glean very little about it.

You know that ghosts have an innate ability to discern the emotional resonance and the state of decay of things. Wraiths may be able to tell when a person is angry or sorrowful. They may also be able to tell if a person is close to death or if a building is near collapse.

You are familiar with some of the more common Arcanoi which wraiths use to interact with the skinlands as they are called. These include:

Embody - The ability to speak with or appear to the living
Outrage - The ability to manipulate and throw around physical objects
Pandemonium - The ability to cause surreal or strange effects - walls bleeding, time slowing down etc
Puppetry - The ability to possess and manipulate mortal hosts

You are aware that all wraiths possess a fractured personality which causes a darker counterpart to appear., known as the Shadow You know that the Shadow may occasionally attempt to overpower the wraith's actions against it's will. You know that if this happens to often the wraith may very well lose their mind.

You have heard of wraith bodies referred to as the corpus (pl. corpora), being a representation of the Psyche.

Wraith Lore x3

You know about the Tempest - a sprawling roiling sea of storms, nightmares, acid, burning plasm, and horrific beasts that underlies the Shadowlands. You know that it is particularly hazardous to travel, and that occasionally horrific storms known as Maelstroms sweep through the Underworld. You know that at times such as this it is best to be in a Haunt or a Citadel.

You know of Stygia, the great Necropolis that dwells within the Tempest, and the capital of the Hierarchy. You know that the Hierarchy was allegedly founded by an enigmatic figure known as Charon, and you have a rough idea as to what legions are.

You have heard of the Dictum Mortuum, the Code of the Dead, a Hierarchy legal code forbidding interaction between the living and the dead.

You have heard rumours of something that lies beneath Stygia - and it sounds to be something nightmarish. You know that whatever it is, it is connected with spectres.

You know of the two rough political categories that stand in opposition to the Hierarchy. These are:

Renegades - wraiths that claim no allegiance to the Hierarchy, or even actively seek to dismantle it
Heretics - wraiths that follow various religious or spiritual ideologies in the hopes of transcending from the Underworld

You have heard of the Guilds, organisations which formerly offered instruction in the arts of various Arcanoi in the past. You know some of the Breaking of the Guilds and you know they have been utterly destroyed as penalty for seeking to usurp the Iron Throne from Charon.

You are familiar with some of the less common Arcanoi which wraiths use to interact with the Skinlands, and even a few Arcanoi that have little use outside the lands of the dead. These include:

Argos - The ability to journey in the Tempest safely
Inhabit - The ability to possess and manipulate mechanical and electronic devices
Keening - The ability to invoke emotion through song
Moliate - The ability to change and mold plasm

You know that the two halves of the wraith mind are the Psyche and the Shadow, and that the Shadow forever wishes to corrupt it's host and have them become a Spectre. You have heard of the concept of Harrowings, in which a wraith is confronted by it's Shadow in a traumatic passion play during times of distress or physical suffering.

You are familiar with the concept of Oblivion - a destructive force which embodies the very essence of entropy. You know that it is this force that wraiths fear most, and that they believe that spectres are in direct service to it.

You have heard of the art of soulforging, in which a wraith's corpus (Plasm) is heated to malleability and they are shaped into an object. You know that aside from relics, this horrific process is one of the only ways to get material goods in the Underworld, and that this is generally a punishment reserved for criminals.

You have heard of Barghests - wraiths whose corpus has been altered into the shape of a dog-like creature that they might be used as a tracking animal.

Wraith Lore x4

You have heard that Stygia and the Hierarchy are merely the powers that govern the Western lands of the dead (referred to as the Dark Kingdom of Iron) - and have heard rumours that other cultures possess different forms of rulership.

You have heard of the Labyrinth - a hive of spectres that lies beneath the Tempest, and no doubt heard horrible horrible loathsome bad stories about it. You know that it is in this metaphysical nightmare landscape that Harrowings allegedly take place, and that Oblivion (rather than being a simple abstract concept) is said to lie directly beneath the Labyrinth. You also know that all spectres are connected to some sort of hive-mind and serve Oblivion in startling unity.

You know that Charon no longer rules Stygia (having disappeared in the early 20th century), and that the closest thing to a government that the Hierarchy still possesses are the Deathlords who rule the various legions. You know a little more about the legions now, and know that each one of them is comprised of wraiths who died deaths by a similar cause (war, disease, suicide etc..).

You know of the Ferrymen, an organisation separate from the Hierarchy that Charon allegedly founded. You know that they provide some of the safest passage across the Tempest, and that they are said to be very powerful.

You know of Far Shores - islands within the Tempest where heretic cults hold sway, and where one can allegedly find all manner of heavens and hells waiting for those who seek them.

You know that the Guilds were declared illegal in times past, but that a handful still survive to this day. You know that most of the Guilds specialising in Arcanoi that break the Dictum Mortuum have either been disbanded permanently or gone deep underground. You have heard of most of the more prominent guilds which still publicly remain in Stygia, even if their legality is occasionally questioned. These include:

Artificers - masters of Inhabit and the art of soulforging
Chanteurs - masters of the arts of Keening
Harbingers - masters of the arts of Argos
Masquers - masters of the art of Moliate
Oracles - masters of the art of Fatalism
Pardoners - masters of the art of Castigation
Sandmen - masters of the art of Phantasm
Usurers - masters of the art Usury

You know that the primary reason for friction between the Hierarchy and the Heretics is that the Hierarchy has formally disavowed the concept of Transcendence (a state reached when a wraith finishes whatever it remained behind to do and "passes on").

You are familiar with most of the legal Arcanoi. In addition to what you knew about before, you now know of the following:

Castigate - the ability to confront and tame the Shadow of another wraith
Fatalism - The ability to foretell the future and find patterns in current events
Lifeweb - The ability to find and manipulate the connections between a wraith and it's fetters
Usury - The ability to exchange Pathos or Plasm between wraiths

You have also heard that spectres possess their own dark arts different from normal wraiths and that there are some obscure Arcanoi that are forbidden by Stygian law.

Wraith Lore x5

You may have heard rumours of other kingdoms or realms, depending on your focus and geographical region. You may also know that some of the wraiths of other lands possess strange and different powers from Western Arcanoi. (See an ST for details). You have heard of the following Dark Kingdom:

Dark Kingdom of Jade - the lands that govern the souls of the Asian dead
Dark Kingdom of Ivory - the Lands that govern the African dead
Dark Kingdom of Clay - the lands that govern the Australian dead
Dark Kingdom of Obsidian - which formerly governed the lands of the Americas until Stygian invasion
Swar - the City of the Indian dead)

You have heard of the Great Maelstroms which have swept the underworld historically, you know that they wreak vast destruction and that they often occur in conjunction with great and traumatic upheavals in the Skinlands (ex: The Black Plague, the World Wars, etc...).

You are familiar with all eight legions. These include:

The Iron Legion - the victims of Age
The Skeletal Legion - the victims of disease
The Grim Legion - the victims of violence
The Penitent Legion - the victims of Madness
The Emerald Legion - the victims of happenstance
The Silent Legion - the victims of despair
The Legion of Paupers - the victims of mystery
The Legion of Fate - victims marked by fortune for this legion

You have a rough idea of the civil and military ranks within each legion.

You know of the three forbidden Arcanoi of Stygia. These include:

Flux - the ability to engender decay in the lands of the living
Mnemosynis - the ability to read and trace memories
Intimation - the ability to implant suggestions or commands

You know of all fifteen of the Guilds, including those which are illegal or forbidden. These include:

Alchemists - masters of Flux
Haunters - masters of Pandemonium
Mnemoi - masters of Mnemosynis
Monitors - masters of Lifeweb
Proctors - masters of Embody
Puppeteers - masters of Puppetry
Solicitors - masters of Intimation
Spooks - masters of Outrage

You have heard of the Malfeans, who are either old spectres of immense power and malevolence, or great and terrible beings of nothingness spawned by Oblivion itself. You know that these beings are the masters of the Labyrinth, and that they occasionally build cults of mortal followers in the lands of the living.

You have some idea of Spectre social structure and know of some of the varying types of spectres, including:

Dopplegangers - recently shadow-eaten spectres who can attempt to pass themselves off as normal wraiths
Shades - spectres whose Psyche was destroyed in a Maelstrom or Harrowing
Nephwracks - more powerful spectres who serve as Lieutenants of the Malfeans
Mortwrights - wraiths who died in such violent and traumatic ways that they entered the Shadowlands as spectres

Wraith Lore

Contents

Wraith Lore x1

Wraith Lore x2

Wraith Lore x3

Wraith Lore x4

Wraith Lore x5

Navigation menu

Search