Spirits, Ghosts and Genius Loci

[IamLEAM1983]

- as other guides show, afterlife is actually fairly complex
- Heaven, Hell (Pandemonium and the Pit), Limbo as interstitial and connective tissue between two worlds and mortal realm...
- ...and Shadowlands

- this is where souls who resist the Hereafter's pull successfully tend to end up. Not everyone is lich or ghoul material. See other guides
- Shadowlands is a pale reflection of the mortal realm. Ghosts living in it feel exactly the same as they did when they were mortal
- this is because their desire to *live* includes a desire to *exist*. Existence comes with certain predefined notions we tend to have
- said notions involve what is real and what isn't. Ergo, Shadowlands replicate the mortal world as we know almost perfectly. Almost.

- first, time doesn't apply. Again, desire to exist involves refusal of death. This involves a refusal or aging or injuries - or time itself
- so the Shadowlands simply *are*. Ghosts don't change over time not because they're immortal; because they don't exist in our perception of time
- if anything, ghosts change because they're freed of their mortal tethers and limitations, but haven't been "caught" and "reinjected" into the new realities of either side of the Hereafter
- Heaven and Hell are functionally close to the mortal plane, so they tend to restore and preserve a lost soul's sense of self. Except the Pit.
- without those tethers, though? Ghosts change. Slowly and steadily. Drift further and further away from the person they used to be
- old ghosts will barely look like anything recognizably native from Earth. Could be straight-up cartoonish, angelic, demonic, grotesque, etc.
- you could argue that ghosts run the risk of going insane over time.
- the only way for them to remain sane is to keep a close contact with the mortal world. Observing is fine and more than enough - interacting can be dangerous

- being a restless dead has its pros.
- you can see the world in a unique manner. The Shadowlands are like an ever-expanding set of layers on a tree's bark
- the deeper you dive, the further into the past you go. You can never reach the future, though, and the past you see isn't the "real" past. It's the world of the past as constructed by the ghosts of that era
- the deeper you go, the older the ghosts become, the more twisted the world becomes
- enables you to access old knowledge or talk to people who died long ago, if you're a ghost - but their madness could infect you if you spend too much time with them
- ghosts are highly malleable. Like weak and easily mutable and altered copies of the person they used to be in life
- the Shadowlands' replicated doors and walls affect you, but the mortal plane's don't. Within a certain limit, you're much more free to travel than mortals and immortals alike could ever be

- that limit is your Haunt. When you die and refuse to cross over and can't claim a new body or reclaim your old one in a timely fashion, you become tethered to the general spot where you died
- this can be fairly restrictive or rather generous. Depends on how powerful or traumatic your death was. The more it essentially scarred the place, the freeer you are to move about. Ex: Evangeline Buck.
- if you're just one death among several or your death isn't noteworthy, you can be excessively limited. Smallest Haunts ever can include cupboards, cabinets, the interior space of a car, etc.
- Haunts can also be other persons or animals. You can effectively be "chained" to someone who's still alive if you refused to leave and your death traumatized the person you're attached to.
- In this case, you're free to go wherever your Haunt goes - but nowhere else.

- unfortunately, it's excessively rare for peaceful deaths to produce ghosts. Energies needed aren't exactly of the soothing or joyful kind...
- you'll sometimes find ghostly grandmothers honestly wanting to watch over their grandkids, but digging a little reveals that unresolved trauma is really motivating them
- the more serious the trauma, the more likely the ghost is to deny its own state, to desperately try to interact with the living. Can seriously accelerate mental and self-image degradation

- to manifest in the mortal plane, ghosts have two options:
a) disrupt the environment
b) visually manifest. Can lead to being corporeal for a short while

- ghosts aren't in need of anything, but if they need to interact with mortals, they have to feed off empathic energies. Essentially supernatural byproducts of strong feelings and emotions
- positive emotions can be sufficient, but troubled ghosts will tend to choose negative outputs. It feels more familiar and powerful to them

- a week or so of continuous absorption is ususally enough for small displays mortals won't notice. Smallest of efforts in the mortal world is highly strenuous for ghosts
- that can involve jerking items around on a flat surface, being able to temporarily influence floorboards and produce creaking noises

- scaring mortals or favoring uneasy conditions can bolster input. The more you cause mortals to worry, the more negative juices they put out, the more you can absorb
- displays of second order usually involve more classic "poltergeist" approaches, disembodied voices, shadows without a source, dark shapes in a corridor, etc.
- with some practice and skill, common household electronics can be tampered with for EVPs
- this usually applies to TVs and sound systems. Computers are too complex for most ghosts old enough to pull this off to easily grasp (only workaround: pushing a keyboard's keys or moving the mouse)
- even then, rising complexity of televisions is making classic EVPs difficult to perform.
- some spiritualists see an end to EVPs as we know them by 2030. Could be decades or centuries before ghosts learn to compensate

- then, if you have a few months of solid feedback stored away (and if your providers haven't just called for help by then), you might have enough to physically manifest
- this requires the most stored potential of all tricks you could do, and transgresses basic limitations of ghosts. This can further damage the spirit's mind and sense of self
- you have to BE. You need to construct an entire body for yourself out of nothing but leftover feelings, thoughts and emotions. Danger of becoming confused, of taking in aspects of your providers
- all this does is guarantee a base-level, bottom-line form of corporeal existence. Most senses will be missing except for sight and hearing, and you'll be unable to process food or engage in intimate contacts successfully
- your created shell is much more fragile than a corresponding live body. Get bruised on a doorframe and it's over.
- when that happens, you're knocked back to square one, in the Shadowlands. All of your stored energy will have burned away

- this is dangerous for surrounding mortals. Empathic energy draws on local ley lines and via emanations to construct a corporeal shell
- if an incarnated ghost is allowed to gradually disrupt, that's okay. Sudden and violent contacts, like a gunshot? More or less makes the shell "explode" with congealed arcane power
- can be lethal to surrounding mortals and especially dangerous for mages.

- anything more requires bucketfuls of power lying around, untapped, for generations - and almost guarantees that you're antediluvian and completely insane
- see Baron Samedi. He can eat, some friends of Aristide's claim he can engage in intercourse - he just can't procreate.
- on the other hand, he's lost all recognizable human traits and has forgotten everything about his mortal life or most of his time spent in the Shadowlands
- this explains part of History's wealth of pantheons. Some so-called gods have proven to be anything from angels to dragons to Fae - down to excessively powerful ghosts who had forgotten themselves

- banishing a ghost in a nonviolent manner becomes increasingly difficult the older the ghost is
- involves reminding the spirit of its actual state, and of where he needs to go (ideally Heaven. Most can't bring themselves to cross over and return to the Shadowlands)
- the older the ghost, the more likely it is to deny that fact. Denial can be punctuated by aggressive actions
- spirits a few centuries old SHOULD NOT be challenged on their state unless you seriously know what you're doing. Ex: Evangeline Buck.
- severely angered ghosts can stay enraged for very long periods of time. Can make houses or workplaces untenable or lethal
- this explains why some asylums have been abandoned in various spots in the country. Places fraught with spiritual pain can nurture anger of a fairly terrifying sort
- spirits seeking vengeance who can't get it because their abusers/murderers are themselves dead or gone? Really not a pretty sight...

- this can stir large amount of negative empathic energies fairly quickly. See Buck Mansion and its perpetual "bad vibes", no matter how many spiritualists and New Agers try their luck.
- Evangeline simply won't suffer their presence. She wrecks crystal cleansings, séances, Wiccan ceremonies and everything else apart.
- Evvie is EXTREMELY dangerous if provoked. If not, she's just fairly forlorn or sad. If forced into a more lucid and active state through confrontation, she'll reveal her plans for Zebediah
- ..if pushed, and if you survive her and the ghostly former staff's assault...
- she wants Zeb to make her permanently incarnate thanks to a fairly nasty ceremony. He's always refused, seeing as this ambition only pops up in her angriest moments

- near-future science hasn't developed a lot of ghostbusting tools yet. None, actually.
- developing ordnance that operates on a supernatural level is an arcane pipe dream. You can't make a physical object exist in the Shadowlands in real time
- you couldn't make "ghost bullets", as a result.
- the next best thing involves trapping the ghost in a pentacle or circle and "grounding" all of its sustaining power.
- the drained ghost is essentially knocked back to the Shadowlands

- the one exception to this fairly negative portrait is the Genius Loci concept
- "Local Spirit" in Latin.
- this is something that can happen even with residual animal spirits, even. It just takes more time than with an already sapient soul
- ghosts with a large Haunt will more or less spider into it, over time. Instead of becoming incarnate, they can choose to use the building they're in as their "body".
- over time, this manifests as a sort of "micro-godliness".
- a Genius Loci knows *everything* about the space it evolves in. It knows everything about the people living in that space, and everything about the objects in it
- this is a fairly transformative act for most ghosts. Are essentially freed from the Shadowlands, but become closer and closer to their source of knowledge...
-...while getting farther away from who they used to be

- old House Spirits are basically nothing *but* local knowledge. They become dispassionate, lose the ability to care about their past lives or to display anger
- most forget themselves entirely in the task of *becoming* that house or building.

- up until 1875, no known way to interact with House Spirits
- Etheric Vocalizer is invented just before the Transference Unit (see Clanks).
- modern units look like ordinary intercom panels and have a central display screen. Can be a simple HDTV, seeing as modules can allow the Loci to interact with HDMI signal emitters

- this usually forces to Loci to construct some sort of new sense of self so its occupants have something to interact with. Most are a little annoyed, but too detached to be seriously displeased.
- time is usually enough for them to get used to having a face or an identity again. This can re-stabilize the Loci into a more congenial state without the drawbacks and volatile nature of ghost-dom
- old office buildings can now come with a set of information terminals, for instance, if a Loci has been determined to exist there. You can literally ask the office itself where you left your car keys.
- with the right hardware connections, a Genius Loci can set music according to your mood, access your computer and use it to complete clerical tasks, set your gas fireplace to go off at predetermined hours, etc.
- allows for a house that's practically entirely automated, as Loci can eventually open and close doors and windows.
- they could cook your food, but you'd have to put it in the oven for them first. Genius Loci have no hands and can't Poltergeist their way through a kitchen's routine, unfortunately.

- rare, but potential drawbacks, however. The more a Loci is given leave to experience the full range of what's inside the house, the older and more emotional it's allowed to become...
- the more it might want to be perceptible as an individual once again. Bagley, Holden Manor's Loci, is old enough to philosophise on his own state and to sometimes miss being alive.
- he, however, passes psych tests every year. Has always proven to be sane - just a little frustrated with his lot.

- a stimulated House Spirit usually exudes correspondingly "good" vibes. This makes Bagley something like Evangeline's antithesis
- you feel watched while in Holden Manor - but not in a creepy way. Looked after, more like. As if you were allowed to leave your stuff on whatever table and someone would remind you where it is without fail
- considering, Bagley has control over the alarm system. He calls the cops if needed, or the fire department.
- forced entry is where he shows what little teeth he has. Nobody has ever been able to steal anything from the premises.
- he's been known to lock would-be burglars in and to give them a fairly stern talking-to.
- worst thing he's ever done is lock a would-be thief in a broom closet until the cops came in. :)

- Holden Manor has been modernized over the years, despite Archie's dormant nature
- Bagley is connected to a sort of computerized "brain", a relatively small server that handles data from a property-wide set of cameras and discreetly placed microphones and speakers
- Manor's windows were swapped for period-appropriate electrochromic screens.
- the windowpanes stay translucent, but Bagley can essentially appear as a set of composite images in the panes
- the two drawing rooms each contain a 360-degree camera/projector combined system that allows for a holographic Bagley to appear as needed

- extremely rare cases of Genius Loci reverting to the expected volatile dynamic of standard ghosts. One known instance in South Korea where owners were cooked alive inside their forcibly locked house.