TEXT: What happens to dead PCs? Those who are killed by adventuring too recklessly or who have 
  been merely unlucky in the pursuit of a grand aspirations. The few who prevail to dominate the 
  world of time & of flesh are far fewer than those who are killed, who must continue their 
  adventures in the next life – in the Afterworld. This 
  is a campaign setting for dead adventurers, it helps to tell the tale of those who have died & are no 
  more, of their ongoing struggles & their new aspirations in the timeless, endless twilight that 
  follows the brief flicker of color called life. The Afterworld is a realm of shadows – here the 
  echoes & umbras of those things that live, and once lived create the terrain & the atmosphere- 
  they are two dimensional, strangely rippling & difficult to approach from angles, they are flat & 
  unchanging – static visions of things now gone. In the Afterworld the great cities of antiquity 
  remain – silhouettes against the undifferentiated gray. The remnant spirits of these cities’ ancient 
  force in the living world is cast like a shadow into the Afterworld. Time does not diminish their 
  antique glory, rather, every iteration of these fallen places accrete – forming a vast labyrinthine 
  megalopolis. In the same way – dead & forgotten forests, jungles – all of these form together into 
  a vast amalgam of unchanging remnants. Thus – the afterworld is a strange patchwork of chaotic 
  but distinct realms. The region of dead forests has within it forgotten groves of Cambrian fern 
  stalks as well as massive petrified sequoia groves & quite a few patches of unknown forests from 
  the distant future. Because time is not time in the Afterworld. All time has ceased there – what 
  may be the future or the past in the World of Light- the living world- has no meaning in the 
  Afterworld where all times are one.  
  The Afterworld comes after. After life. And so a player must ask – what happens to my character 
  after death? Some of these things are determined by their religions – a soul may ascend to some 
  heaven, or may be reincarnated. Not everyone who has lived goes on to the Afterworld – some 
  ascend or cease to exist altogether.  Some continue- in a strange, broken form and they awaken in 
  the broad forgotten plains of the Afterworld – a dead plane that is the shadow of the ancient earth 
  and the earth to come – a cratered, desolate landscape without horizons. Here, desolate & alone 
  1
  
  the voyager-ghost of the heroic dead seek to 
  continue. Their will, their drive & devotion 
  to adventure causes them to reconstitute 
  themselves – such is their vitality that death 
  alone is insufficient to dull the edge of their 
  passions. This is the character creation 
  aspect of the Afterworld Campaign Setting 
  – here you begin to reconstitute your
  former character while taking on the new 
  traits that define you in afterlife. Those who 
  enter the Afterworld prepared are 
  sometimes equipped with tools & a certain 
  rudimentary knowledge – but most awaken 
  with dim awareness at all of the new reality 
  confronting them. The Afterworld contains 
  the shadow, the dim reflection of all things 
  that have been & will be – all those who are 
  and who have been & will be exist in The 
  Afterworld already – it is only in death and 
  perhaps in dreams that consciousness shifts 
  and awareness is drawn to this place. In the 
  Afterworld there is no physical reality, in 
  the living world, the material world, a body 
  is comprised of elements, of humors, of 
  physical aspects – in the Afterworld such 
  things cannot exist, only their shadows, and 
  the ideas of them can exist here. And so it 
  goes that the dead – those whose paradigm 
  is linked to the material – must discover 
  anew how to exist at all. In life the self if 
  created over the course of a lifetime, 
  physiology & mentality, persona, career, race, language – all of these come into existence slowly 
  over the course of childhood, adolescence and adulthood. The dead do not grow, are not born. 
  They exist in an infantile state only barely aware of what they can become. The jump from this 
  infancy to a fully realized ghost is brief & intense, nothing at all like growing up, more akin to 
  being cast from molten metal. A ghost PC develops statistics that loosely correspond to their 
  physical statistics. These qualities are not distinct to the ghosts of PCs, but the ghost of a PC does 
  have 
  a more potent force of will – which allows them to form themselves using the echoes of their lost 
  physicality. All ghostly beings have these statistics – parameters of their Afterworld existence.  
  2
  
   This corresponds to the real-world’s Constitution 
  statistic – it determines how impermeable the ghostly 
  shadow-self is to exterior forces. A high level of 
  Coherence means that the ghost is more distinct, 
  easier to discern in the dusky shadows of the 
  Afterworld. A low level of Coherence means that the 
  ghost has a misty, indistinct quality – easily dissipated 
  by umbral winds & quakes in the shadow medium. 
   Corresponding to Strength in the real-world, 
  Emanation is the mirror of Coherence – it represents 
  how powerfully the ghost can influence the 
  Afterworld. A high Emanation means that the ghost 
  can affect larger areas, pushing & pulling, 
  manipulating space around them. Having a low 
  Emanation relegates the ghost to having a narrower, 
  less potent influence – preventing them from affecting 
  large bodies or significantly altering the world around 
  them.  
  Velocity is a character’s capacity for movement in the 
  Afterworld corresponding to Dexterity in the physical 
  world. A high velocity means that the character can act 
  with great speed, cover distance quickly and 
  manipulate umbral matter more deftly. A low Velocity 
  indicates an inability to will oneself through the ghost-
  plane with ease, while a high Velocity means that the 
  character is able to propel themselves through the 
  formed void with grace, approaching matter from 
  many angles at once & thus granting greater skill.  
  3
  
  A mirror to Intelligence in the Real world – 
  Awareness is a liminal form of Coherence – it 
  indicates how resilient a character is to the force of 
  ideas, language & thought which prevail throughout 
  the Afterworld. A high level of Awareness indicates 
  that the character is able to regard themselves as 
  distinct from the rest of the world around them – 
  while a character with poor Awareness is easily 
  moved by different ideas & manipulated by words & 
  thoughts. 
  A shadow of the earthly Wisdom statistic – Devotion 
  is parallel to Emanation – it gives the ghost the power 
  to influence minds & consciousness around it. A high 
  Devotion can profoundly influence the mental 
  medium of the Afterworld- regardless of it being part 
  of a Ghost – a ghost – or any thought with a low 
  Devotion is incapable of strongly altering the cognitive 
  space of the Afterworld. 
   Knowledge of Self is essential in the flesh world as well as 
  the Afterworld. It is the power of will, of intention & the 
  force that those things carry in all worlds. In the real world 
  this is Charisma, the confidence & charm required to 
  function in a society – in the Afterworld it is the ability to 
  remain oneself in the alienating solitude of a world in which 
  no innate niches exist for Selves. One’s ability to avoid 
  depersonalization is defined by Identity. A good Identity 
  statistic helps the Ghost to retain its links to what it cares for, 
  and to deny those things that it dislikes – Identity is the 
  ghost’s capacity for preference, love & for hate. 
  4
  
  In part to reflect the altered dynamics at work in the Afterworld and in part to emphasize the 
  weakness of characters who are freshly submerged into this layer of conscious existence this 
  setting uses a heavily modified rule-set. 
  Rolls are made on d100 targeting 
  low numbers.  A successful check 
  of one of the six Afterworld 
  statistics requires that the PC roll 
  under the stat.  Stats are inherited 
  from life-  so a PC who in life had a 
  CON of 14 has a COH of 14.  
  Where before they had to roll 
  under 14 on a d20, they must now 
  do so on a d100 roll. 
  This may seem insurmountably 
  difficult, and it in fact is. 
  Fortunately for PCs there are 
  mitigating factors that allow them 
  re-orient and assimilate into the 
  shadow-world quickly.   
  The infant shade- the newly 
  discovered ghost-self of the PC is 
  very fragile, barely extant in this 
  realm – the evolution into a fully-
  fledged Ghost is highly personal & 
  distinct – no two PCs come to their 
  ghost-selves the same way & this 
  aspect of character re-creation 
  occurs between a PC and a Referee 
  in sidebar session.   
  A character’s nature in the 
  Afterworld is determined 
  specifically by the order in which 
  their new selves form in an experience called Reconstituting.  The exact methods employed will 
  vary from player to player as this scene plays out between the Referee and the PC.  It is intended 
  to be somewhat loose & highly subjective – though there are a few guidelines to help guide players 
  to a final form. 
   
   
  5
  
  A PC has died – a vital spark has left the world & the spirit of the PC has refocused on its shadow-
  self, a timeless persona that has always existed in the Netherworld.  Now the shadow self is the 
  primary identity of the PC and is formed according to the essential aspects of their living selves. 
  You find yourself in the formless void – a plain with indistinct horizons, you are 
  under the shadow of some ancient creature and in the distance are the shadows of 
  things that have not yet come into existence in your lifetime.  You are a thought, a 
  structure, a self without a form.  What do you do? 
  Characters who begin by speaking – who call out or attempt to use language form their 
  Awareness first.  They are the Banshee – and they gain the ability to speak the language of the 
  dead Serenee.  They can likewise read & write, but in all languages at once.  Facility with language 
  & reason is the Banshee’s blessing, their curse is separation. 
  Characters who begin by searching – who wander in a direction in search of something form 
  their Velocity first and become Poltergeist.  Poltergeists gain the ability to move through all the 
  Afterworld’s media – some more quickly than others.  They are gifted with motion & ease, their 
  curse is disturbance.   
  Characters who begin by wanting – who look for their possessions & lost wealth have caused 
  their Emanation first & become Revenant.  Revenants gain the malleability of form notorious to 
  the dead.  They transform themselves into shapes & textures at will.  They are gifted with the skill 
  of inhabiting & becoming – they are cursed with the flaw of forgetting.   
  Characters who begin by inspecting their own form – who check their body for wounds & 
  struggle to understand what has killed them form their Coherence first & become Shades.  
  Shades have the ability to solidify themselves & peer into the material world.  They can touch & 
  even influence that world & others.  Their gift is access, their curse is knowledge.   
  Characters who begin by praying or calling out for their allies – who show concern for 
  others or a belief in a world beyond their mortal lives form their Devotion first & they become 
  Phantom.  Phantoms have the gift of cause, they can seek and even find a path through the 
  Afterworld and may gain access to its secret places.   In turn they are cursed by regrets.   
  Characters who do none of these things – Who do the unexpected who make novel choices 
  form their Identity first (else they form it last, if they try everything else presented here).  Ghosts 
  whose first manifestation is Identity are Specter.  Specters are gifted with continuity – they gain 
  memory & knowledge of their prior lives, the lives & deaths of their ancestors.  They are cursed 
  in turn with freedom.   
  As a PC is reconstituted their ghostly statistics are populated based on their correspondence to 
  their physical statistics.  If the character had experienced some harm that diminished, or some 
  boon that increased their statistics – these are ignored – the raw, unmodified stats are used & 
  matched to their corresponding ghost stats as they attempt to understand their situation using 
  any variant of the above developmental sequences.   
  6
  
  The Referee must emphasize the function of these changing statistics & the role that the ghostly 
  statistics play in the Afterworld.  They are distinct (if related) to the physical statistics of the 
  material world – and they differ in use a great deal.   
  Once the PC has been formed & their ghostly class decided they will likely begin to make some 
  tests – attacks, attempts at persuasion or to query their own memories – each of these is an 
  example of a roll that will be used as a test.  To perform the test, they must roll under the 
  Statistic using a d% roll.   
  This emphasizes the incredible weakness of a newly formed ghost in the largely unforgiving 
  Afterworld.  It is possible for a character in this state to struggle in perpetuity, though it is 
  unlikely.  Attempts to perform tasks with skill must continue until the PC actually passes a test.  
  This grueling experience is a winnowing – it separates PC ghosts from simple wandering spirits.   
  The test that succeeds first has a bearing on the PC Ghost’s abilities & roll in the Afterworld.   
   
     
  Your arduous struggle has borne fruit, you have taken your first steps in a new world, 
  no longer an infant, you have become aware of your limits & the limits of the 
  surrounding Afterworld.   
   
  A character who first succeeds with their Coherence Ability – A roll of this type is 
  made for survival & endurance.  If the poor infant-shade would take damage or needs 
  to resist harm – this is done with a Coherence check – success on this roll ahead of 
  any other statistic check indicates that the character is a good candidate to become a 
  Waste-Lander.  Waste-Landers are those who make their home in the unending 
  Netherworld & are best at navigating it & surviving its perils.   
  A Character who first succeeds with their Emanation Ability – Emanation is used to 
  move & attack objects within the Afterworld.  Any kind of exertion of force on the 
  seemingly physical medium of the Afterworld is accomplished with Emanation.  
  Those who pass an Emanation check first are likely Juggernauts.  Juggernauts wend 
  through the Afterworld with a will, causing it to bend to them.   
  When the Velocity Ability is the first success – Velocity is used for movement, 
  running, swimming – any sort of motion in the indistinct shadow medium.  Those 
  who pass this test first are suited to be Voyagers.  Voyagers are ghosts who can span 
  the different Netherworlds that make the Afterworld & access the dream-dimensions 
  that are the shadows of earthly thought.   
  7
  
  Ghosts who succeed their Devotion first – Devotion is used when trying to access the 
  mind of a god-  through prayer or penitence, or when trying to influence the minds of 
  beings that they encounter within the Afterworld. Those who pass this test before all 
  others become The Elect, who are aware of & capable of manipulating the powers of 
  the great minds that cast shadows into the Netherworlds - the Gods & Demons that 
  influence all worlds at once.   
  Ghosts who pass an Awareness test – Awareness is used for discerning patterns & 
  anticipating events in the Afterworld – it is used to avoid harm & to understand the 
  weird physics of the Afterworld.  Those ghosts who succeed at Awareness before 
  other tests will become Talents.  Talents have facility with the ebb & flow of the 
  energies within these worlds – they are granted skill at manipulating the echo of 
  otherworldly energy.   
  When A PC passes an Identity test – Identity is used in accessing former powers & 
  abilities – it can be used to recall a spell or a combat ability from any of the soul’s 
  prior incarnations.  Success with this ability before all others tends to promote the PC 
  into the ranks of the Mendicant.  Mendicants are knowledgeable about matters of 
  timelessness that prevail in the Afterworld – they are able to call into umbral 
  existence – the forms of forgotten & future objects.   
  Statistic Ghost Attiribute Ghost Tribes Ghost Cohorts
  CHA
  Identity (ID)
  Specter
  Mendicant
  CON
  Coherence (CO)
  Shade
  Waste-Lander
  DEX
  Velocity (VY)
  Poltergeist
  Voyager
  INT
  Awareness (AW)
  Banshee
  Talent
  STR
  Emantion (EM)
  Revenant
  Juggernaut
  WIS
  Devotion (DE)
  Phantom
  Elect
  8
  
  The Afterworld is a bizarre amalgam of everything.  Ideas, futures, histories.  In the 
  Afterworld there exist not only the souls of dead kings but the historical records of 
  those kings and the dreamlike ideas that those ideas create.  You may meet a king 
  named Arthur as well as a mythic variant of Arthur based upon Mallory’s 
  interpretation as well as some future dream version of Arthur that informs the faith of 
  a star-faring knighthood.   
  This supremely confusing mélange of notions, dreams & spirits can barely be 
  navigated at all since it is so unfocused & variable.  One important distinction is the 
  ghostly form that the ghosts of the Afterworld take on.  The species of ghost – the 
  Tribes – are extremely distinctive & instantly recognizable to all other Ghosts.  No 
  Banshee mistakes a Phantom for a Revenant.   
  But everything is a type of ghost.  The dream-image of a forgotten god is either a 
  Specter or a Shade.  The ghostly shadow of an extinct fish or a fallen empire are also 
  members of one of the 6 tribes of ghosts.  This seemingly arbitrary distinction 
  between the tribes is a matter of real significance in the Afterworld.  Each tribe is a 
  Tribe, in an explicit sense.  Banshees recognize kinship with one another, band 
  together in their own neighborhoods or kingdoms.  Phantoms congregate at their 
  shrines & arrange worship in their great temples – the temples themselves being 
  phantoms as well.   
  9
  
  In practice these distinctions have only as much bearing as Players & Referees want to 
  invest – but the different sorts of ghost are different.
  10
  
  The tribe of the banshee are known for their sensitivity, their knowledge & the 
  terrible results of the two of these combined.  Banshee are frequently considered 
  mad in the quarters of the Afterworld – but they are never considered foolish.  Deep 
  awareness feeds the banshee information from across multiple dimensions – leading 
  frequently to innovative & surprising new ideas.  Banshee are the most skillful of the 
  ghost-tribes of the Afterworld & are able to build & administer ghost-societies.  
  Hence the not infrequent circumstance encountered in the Afterworld of a mad ruler 
  tyrannizing a frightful populace.  Banshee are sometimes notional – they lack the 
  solidity of many ghost people – and often appear as a featured mist or apparition.   
  Abilities of the Banshee 
  Languages 
  Tongues 
  Voices From Afar 
  New Machines 
  Old Ways 
  Wailing Song 
  Blessed By Knowledge – The Banshee learns quickly – gaining Xp faster than others. 
  Cursed By Separation – The Banshee has difficulty using physical objects taking a 
  penalty on any such rolls.   
   
  Cohort
  AW
  CO
  DE
  EM
  ID
  VY
  Elect
  +20
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Juggernaut
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  Mendicant
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  Talent
  +30
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Voyager
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  Waste-Lander
  +20
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Banshee Statistical Modifiers
  11
  
  The Revenant tribes are nomads in the shadowscape of the Afterworld.  All places 
  accommodate them and all places are theirs.  They do not travel to a destination, 
  they merely travel.  The Revenant tribes often mime the habits of life – they seem to 
  eat, they mime hunts & pretend to drink – these are the rites by which they bond 
  themselves to their tribe but also by which they become more a part of the landscapes 
  they traverse.  The Revenant tribes can go undetected in the Waste-Lands of the 
  Netherworlds they pass though.  More than any other among the dead, Revenants 
  wear the appearance of life – they resemble living creatures where others do not.   
  Abilities of the Revenant 
  Consumption 
  Pursuit 
  Concealment 
  Eternal Paths 
  Hunting Ground 
  Shape Changing 
  Blessed by Becoming – The Revenant can modify their form to replicate any useful 
  object.   
  Cursed by Forgetting – The Revenant has no native shape & has a difficult time 
  learning – taking a penalty on Xp earned. 
  Cohort
  AW
  CO
  DE
  EM
  ID
  VY
  Elect
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +20
  +10
  +10
  Juggernaut
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +30
  +10
  +10
  Mendicant
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +20
  +10
  Talent
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  Voyager
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +20
  Waste-Lander
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  Revenant Statistical Modifiers
  12
  
  The Poltergeist tribe is barely a tribe at all.  Poltergeists have little affinity for one 
  another – they are solitary, or more so, than other ghosts.  Poltergeists are able to 
  traverse any distance and move through the Afterworld’s skies & seas with equal ease 
  and thus empowered have no real cause to linger in one place among their fellows.  
  Poltergeists are found everywhere, in particular they are notable for inhabiting places 
  no other ghosts go.  They can fit within small spaces & exist for a span of eternity in 
  the middle of the sky – as such they turn up unlooked for & depart in a flurry of 
  disjointed activity.   
   
  Abilities of the Poltergeist 
  Beyond all Boundaries 
  Contained Within Confines 
  Knife Juggling 
  Capricious Techniques 
  Worlds Beyond & Within 
  Far Traveling   
  Blessed by Motion & Ease – Poltergeists move at the same (quick) speed through any 
  media – water, air, even the earth & rock of the Netherworld. 
  Cursed by Disturbance – The Poltergeist is always detectable when it is nearby, they 
  cause all objects & untended material to pirouette in air, to fly apart & clash together.    
  Cohort
  AW
  CO
  DE
  EM
  ID
  VY
  Elect
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +20
  Juggernaut
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +20
  Mendicant
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +20
  Talent
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  Voyager
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +30
  Waste-Lander
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  Poltergeist Statistical Modifiers
  13
  
  Specter tribes are easily recognizable as they tend to form together into civilizations.  Ghost-
  World empires, cities & colonies are almost to the one the work of collaborating Specters.  
  Specters use currency & tools which are fashioned with the help & assistance of the other ghosts 
  who join their timeless settlements – for Specters are generally at the center of their own works – 
  they build all of these things in parodic memory of what once was.  In these shadow villages & 
  umbral metropolises the Specters cobble together memorial versions of their once & future lives.  
  Those of a similar stripe, whose memories coincide will band together or stand opposed – it is 
  the Specters who have made the contentious warring mirror empires at the center of the 
  Afterworld’s political conflict.   
   
  Abilities of the Specter 
  What Was 
  What Will Be 
  The Now & Always 
  Dreams & Inspirations 
  Paradises & Perditions 
  Foundation 
  Blessed by Continuity – Specters can bring about the existence of things from their 
  former lives 
  Cursed by Freedom – Specters cannot be bound & may not long pursue a path or 
  gain the benefit of doing so.   
  Cohort
  AW
  CO
  DE
  EM
  ID
  VY
  Elect
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +20
  +10
  Juggernaut
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +20
  +10
  Mendicant
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +30
  +10
  Talent
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  Voyager
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +20
  Waste-Lander
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  Specter Statistical Modifiers
  14
  
  Phantom Tribes are those that follow the will of the undying – the powers from 
  beyond mortal & immortal existence.  They seek, in the Afterworld, a reconciliation 
  with their deities, their patrons & their familiars.  Phantoms were bound by affiliation 
  with powers greater than themselves in life & they are left to the afterworld to seek 
  those powers anew.  This ongoing search for the absent uncanny informs them.  
  Phantoms inhabit great temples & construct & haunt immense shrines.  Their rites 
  are polyglot & universalist, but all of them share in common one thing – they go 
  unanswered.  The eyes of the immortals do not turn to the Afterworld, though their 
  powers echo here still.   
   
  Abilities of the Phantom 
  Without Wavering  
  The Force of Passions 
  What Lies Within 
  The Corresponding Chord 
  By Secret Roads 
  The Power in All Things 
  Blessing of Cause – Phantoms have the blessing of cause – which gives them 
  direction & a course of action in the Afterworld – with the promise of reward. 
  Curse of Regret – Phantoms are hindered by their failures & fears they are dogged by 
  the events of their prior existences. 
  Cohort
  AW
  CO
  DE
  EM
  ID
  VY
  Elect
  +10
  +10
  +30
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Juggernaut
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +20
  +10
  +10
  Mendicant
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +20
  +10
  Talent
  +20
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Voyager
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +20
  Waste-Lander
  +10
  +20
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Phantom Statistical Modifiers
  15
  
  Shades are almost lifelike – that is the nature of their enhanced coherence.  They are, in the 
  Afterworld, seemingly inviolate – they stand out in contrast, sharp against the dusklight of the 
  world that comes after.  Shade tribes are often found lingering near the physical entries to the 
  Real World – they long for the consolation of human speech & touch.  Of all the ghosts they are 
  able to interact with the living and at these points in the continuum of life & death they gather to 
  make their faint voices heard in the world.  Those Shades who’s languages are forgotten, who’s 
  lines have died out in the world, who no longer wish to feel the breath of the living are wanderers 
  in the Afterworld – lost & conflicted – they seek out those who they knew in life.   
   
  Abilities of the Shade 
  Symbols & Signs 
  Warrior Angel 
  Singer of Songs 
  Words & Scripture 
  Transcendence  
  Sublimation  
  Blessing of Access – Shades can interact in a limited way with the world of the living.  
  When the living call to the dead they can communicate or even summon shades.   
  Curse of Knowledge – A Shade knows exactly what killed them, they have an 
  awareness of the fate of their living allies & kin, and know the futility of their own 
  works in life.   
  Cohort
  AW
  CO
  DE
  EM
  ID
  VY
  Elect
  +10
  +20
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Juggernaut
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  Mendicant
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +20
  +10
  Talent
  +20
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Voyager
  +10
  +20
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +20
  Waste-Lander
  +10
  +30
  +10
  +10
  +10
  +10
  Shade Statistical Modifiers
  16
  
  The different Tribes of ghost all tend toward different appearances, different 
  functions & so on – not very dissimilar to the adventurer races that are common to 
  the physical.  Each tribe has morphological distinctions & behavioral cues, as well as 
  certain cultural distinctions – for the cultures of the Afterworld are ancient beyond 
  comprehension and incorporate not only everything that has happened but what will 
  happen, even those things that transpire in dreams & imagination.  It’s this 
  correspondence to the mind, to impressions & ideas that governs the forms & 
  functions within the Afterworld.   
  If you’ve died and found yourself in the Afterworld with strange new statistics, new 
  systems & are uncertain – that is the nature of your afterlife.  What follows is 
  intended to help you understand who you will be through eternity.  At the beginning 
  is You, the PC – 
  what do you 
  look like, what 
  do you need & 
  what will you do 
  with your 
  eternity.  Details 
  follow.   
  The relative 
  proportion of 
  your statistics 
  has a strong 
  bearing on your 
  ghostly form & 
  abilities.  These 
  are considered 
  as ranges and 
  the exact nature 
  of your ghostly 
  form, as is dictated by your statistics is presented here.  
  17
  
  Coherence – The greater your coherence, the more real you are 
  in the afterworld.  There are trillions of entities throughout the 
  afterworld, phantasmic presences that resemble nothing so much as 
  barely heard music or the sound of a name on the wind.  The 
  more coherent an idea – a self – the more substance & form that 
  self possesses.   
  The range of your Coherence largely alters your presence in the Afterworld – only 
  ghosts within the Adept range can be detected by all the normal senses – especially 
  incoherent spirits are undetectable, or can only be experienced by one or two of the 
  traditional senses.  Some spirits exist only as a scent or a patch of cold – for example.  
  Strongly Coherent ghosts are able to not only absorb objects, but to take on their 
  traits or qualities – a ghost with sufficient CO for example could absorb a Sword-  and 
  thereafter either manifest a sword-like limb or else produce a sword edge to their 
  hand – allowing them to use the sword, though they may be unarmed.   
  The absorption of objects to compose a ghostly form is a primary aspect of this game. 
  Coherence 
  (CO) Range
  Static Effects
  0-10
  You lack any physical manfiestation and can only barely be discerned.
  11-20
  Flickering & Indistinct only a few words are heard, you must make 
  Coherence rolls to interact with anything
  21-40
  Neophyte Range - You can interact with objects that you have attuned 
  or created, you can be sensed normally.
  41-60
  Adept Range - You are present to all senses, interact with all objects & 
  may absorb objects to gain their use
  61-80
  Master Range - You can absorb many objects, adding them to your 
  appearance & gaining their power.  You needn't roll to interact with 
  anything less Coherent than yourself
  81-100
  Superlative Range - You are able to become any object you have 
  sensed.  You can alter your own form considerably and stretch out of 
  the Afterworld into the Physical.  
  18
  
  Emanation – The greater the Emanation the larger a space the 
  character occupies or is able to occupy.  Most objects & beings 
  barely exists within the afterworld – their Emanation is very low 
  and they seem to always appear as from a great distance – ghosts 
  with a high Emanation are in sharp focus, seeming to occupy 
  the whole field of view – they are likewise capable of 
  manipulating a larger sphere.   
   
  Your Emanation dictates how much space you occupy & tangentially how far you can 
  reach within the Afterworld.  Characters with a high level of Emanation are able to 
  project their strength as Ectoplasm – a formless physical projection that that you 
  extrude from your own form.  Ghosts with a very high Emanation are wreathed in 
  ectoplasm and seem to be immense, house-sized titans striding the Afterworld. 
  This capacity to emanate & occupy space is empowering without being limiting – the 
  Afterworld is composed of impressions – and your relative size is not a boundary, it 
  works only in your favor not against it – you have authority over the area you occupy.   
  Emanation 
  (EM) Range
  Static Effects
  0-10
  You occupy a single point, you can interact within only a very small 
  area & are effectively miniature, the size of a bug
  11-20
  Able to focus your power & presence in a narrow field, you are the 
  size of a cat, able to overpower objects of the same size only through 
  concerted effort
  21-40
  Neophyte Range - You emanate to fill a modest area, the size of a 
  person.  With concentration you can focus yourself beyond your 
  form's bounds.
  41-60
  Adept Range - A substantial space is needed to accommodate you.  
  You can express your own force through your limbs as well as 
  project an amount of ectoplasm
  61-80
  Master Range - You exude ectoplasm and occupy a very large area.  
  You are a giant in the Afterworld & able to project ectoplasm at 
  distance.
  81-100
  Superlative Range - You are truly immense & your ectoplasm can 
  emanate out of the Afterworld itself into other times & dimensions.
  19
  
  Velocity – Motion in the Afterworld is complicated.  
  Everything exists within it in a shadowy form all at once – 
  motion within this morass is difficult & it’s only relative velocity 
  that differentiates your own ghostly form from everything else 
  surrounding you.  Any object in the Afterworld that is distinct 
  from everything else has a high velocity – it exists distinctly 
  accelerating from everything else.   
   
  The speed of your ghostly form relative to the rest of the Afterworld determines how 
  distinct you are from your surroundings – objects with a low velocity don’t have 
  autonomous motion and move with the background – they are fixed in place 
  effectively – and seem to be comprised of the place they occupy.   
  A very high velocity allows you to effectively teleport and to seemingly exist in 
  multiple locations simultaneously.  
  Velocity 
  (VY) Range
  Static Effects
  0-10
  The Afterworld shines through you - you are transparent & seem 
  to be a hazy outline.  The Afterworld moves you, you have no 
  autonomous motion.
  11-20
  You are vividly separate from your surroundings yet they still shine 
  through in texture & color.  You are able to move through the 
  Afterworld at a slow pace
  21-40
  Neophyte Range - You can move through the Afterworld & are 
  distinct within it.  With focus you can levitate or swim or run.  
  41-60
  Adept Range - You move with exceptional speed & can rise & 
  descend at will.  With concentration you can even fly.  You are 
  obvious & distinctly separate from the world around you.  
  61-80
  Master Range - Your superior speed allows you to submerge 
  yourself into your surroundings, you can move through any object 
  with concentration & your range of motion is not limited.
  81-100
  Superlative Range - Your speed is sufficient to occupy more than 
  one place at a time.  You can submerge behind any other object & 
  pass through any medium.
  20
  
  Awareness – Ghost senses are peculiar in the extreme.  While 
  the senses of the living require organs that receive & interpret 
  information, Ghost senses are not receptive, they are searching & 
  grasping, all Ghost senses are somewhat analogous to touch in 
  this respect since they are received by the single ‘organ’ of ghost 
  perception The Aura.  Awareness measures the Aura’s strength. 
   
  Your Awareness indicates how much you can sense in the Afterworld & your senses 
  govern aspects of your appearance.  Ghosts with a very high Awareness may have 
  multiple eyes or extra ears or fingers.  Ghosts with a low Awareness may seem to have 
  no sense organs or may be conspicuously missing some.   
  Awareness manifests as an aura- a halo that surrounds you and emanates into all 
  worlds that you can perceive.  This Aura is detectable by other ghosts who’s Aura is 
  in the Adept Range or higher.   Auras are subconsciously controlled at this level & 
  can indicate things like mood or intent.   
  Awareness 
  (AW) Range
  Static Effects
  0-10
  You are insensate - the Afterworld is invisible to you.  Beings at this level 
  of Awareness simply go about their repetetive tasks unaware that they are 
  in the Afterworld.
  11-20
  Your Aura is weak & indistinct, the afterworld around you is difficult to 
  discern.  With focus you can mimic one of your normal senses. Your 
  ghost form develops an eye, an ear a nose - something to indicate that you 
  are sensing.
  21-40
  Neophyte Range - You have a few reliable senses and your Aura is visible 
  as translucent film surrounding you.  Atrophied or unused senses are 
  marked by a lack of a feature - eyless or noseless ghosts are common.
  41-60
  Adept Range -Your Aura is substantial - a halo surrounding you & you are 
  more aware than you may have been in life.  You can embrace & sense the 
  power of other objects & forms.
  61-80
  Master Range - Your aura is potent & seems to be a curtain of ghostly 
  sense-organs surrounding you.  You sense in all directions at great range 
  on even a microscopic scale & can hear or see into the Real World
  81-100
  Superlative Range - Your Aura extends into the Real & you can sense the 
  future & the past, you detect everything around you in the Afterworld & 
  have advanced, precognitive knowledge. 
  21
  
  Devotion – Bonds to outside ideals & innate principles are 
  supremely important in the Afterworld.  They determine in no 
  small way the course of one’s Afterlife.  Devotion can influence 
  every part of a Ghost’s existence, but also very little of it – 
  depending on the course the Ghost follows.  Devotion alters 
  appearance for ghosts as it relates to symbols & signs.   
   
  Devotion strongly relates to your character’s goals & their beliefs.  Religious or 
  metaphysically aligned ghosts will tend to display signs of their religion or adopt 
  traditional forms relating to their religion’s view of the Afterworld.  Some ghosts 
  become or seem to become Angles & Devils.   
  Devotion also governs your proximity to exterior planes – the dimensions of the gods 
  – which grant you access to the divine – you can hear & understand the will of the 
  divine within the Afterworld – if your Devotion is sufficient.   
  Low devotion reflects a lack of motivation & belonging as well as a mutable form.   
  Devotion 
  (DE) Range
  Static Effects
  0-10
  You are chaos - standing for nothing, believing in nothing, your form fluctuates 
  uncontrollably, you are constantly at the whim of other ideas & may parrot 
  phrases or words you have heard.
  11-20
  With only a weak grasp of any ideals you have only a few vain hopes to guide 
  you.  Ghosts in this range periodically display a minor sign of their intention - a 
  bloody weapon, a fanged & drooling mouth.
  21-40
  Neophyte Range - You can occasionally sense the golden-path ahead of you, a 
  Way forward that can bring you to your intended destination.  You always bear 
  at least one sign of your goal.
  41-60
  Adept Range - You manifest many articles of your faith - symbols of your 
  conviction are part of your form.  Wings, Scales, Swords, Flames & Light are 
  all just examples.  Your sense of what should be done is potent.
  61-80
  Master Range - You can see beyond horizons, where the golden path leads - 
  toward the plane where your creed holds sway.  You are powerfully influenced 
  by your religious or ideological mission in terms of appearance.
  81-100
  Superlative Range - You are near to the dimensions of your devotions.  Your 
  trappings & signs are prominent & you become an angelic or demonic avatar of 
  some god or principle.  At this range you are guided by the true arc & can not 
  be led astray.
  22
  
  Identity – A ghostly soul inhabits flesh, and then inhabits and 
  afterworldly existence, and may go on to inhabit other forms, 
  transcend other dimensions.  It is an eternal & immortal core of 
  self.  Identity reflects how much knowledge & how much 
  understanding one has of their soul.  A powerful Identity is like a 
  beacon in the Afterworld – a presence that transcends sense.   
   
  Identity specifically determines how distinct your character is through the eternal 
  twilight of the Afterworld.  Objects & ghosts with minimal identity statistics are vague 
  & unrecognizable from others of even vaguely similar type.   
  Those who are especially secure & authoritative over their identities are able to mold 
  their appearance to match their soul-self & this appearance & presence becomes 
  knowable & potent – something remembered with clarity by even those whom they 
  have yet to meet. 
   
  Identity  
  (ID) Range
  Static Effects
  0-10
  You lack any sense of self, a husk- you are a faceless blank.  You neither 
  follow or lead & are easily entraped into obedience.  
  11-20
  Having an insignificant sense of Identity you lack distinctive features of any 
  kind, are unrecognizable from others & easily forgotten.  You are able to 
  focus & project a Name for yourself, but nothing more.
  21-40
  Neophyte Range - You have a name & a face.  At this level your autonomy 
  allows you to interact with other ghosts effectively, they can recall who you are 
  and what you have said.
  41-60
  Adept Range - You are not only a name & a voice or thoughts - you are part 
  of another continuity.  You can belong to a clan or find the dead who knew 
  you in life.  You can join & even lead other ghosts.
  61-80
  Master Range - Your identity solidifies your appearance in all minds - you 
  are known even to those who have never met or seen you.  You exist in the 
  Afterworld as a known power & can lead cities & nations.
  81-100
  Superlative Range - Your force of self approaches apotheosis.  You attract & 
  guide the devotion of other ghosts & even the Real World is able to perceive 
  you through prayer or invocation.  
  23
  
  Interpreting Your Ghost Form - It’s difficult to play the role of a character in an 
  almost purely surreal setting & having only a vague notion of what your PC avatar 
  looks like can strongly limit your enjoyment of the game.  It’s important to recall that 
  your imagination provides the bounds of what is possible in the Afterworld and that 
  the statistical guides presented are meant to help you create a satisfying version of 
  your ghostly self.   
  To that end some examples: 
  Malphas the Doom Cultist – Killed by the other PCs due to his irredeemably evil 
  nature, Malphas enters the afterworld.  In life he followed the blasphemous religion 
  of the demons & was both physically & mentally formidable.  In death Malphas form 
  is changed.  His Devotion is quite high & he evolves the appearance of the devils he 
  worshipped in life – he has three bat-wings and three horns as well as a third eye and 
  is always equipped with a pitchfork.  His Identity is somewhat less impressive though 
  & so he is anonymous – just another of the devilish ghosts that flock to the infernal 
  planes.  He is not sure about his name & he is indistinct from the others who wear 
  what amounts to a uniform.  He was strong in life & in death his Emanation is 
  likewise pronounced & because of this he appears to be a giant.  Because of the 
  nature of his ghostly awakening Malphas is a Phantom – yet another of the uniformed 
  cohorts of hell that exist in the Burning Cities that cluster near Hell’s gate.   
  Iono’Ine the Barbarian Wizard – Killed in action against a mysterious conspiracy 
  Iono’Ine was known in life for his impressive acuity of mind & his questioning ways.  
  Entering the Afterworld he attempts to summon his spellbook & is bound to it as he 
  becomes a Revenant.  Iono’Ine’s Emanation is quite high & he has the appearance of 
  a giant within the afterworld, but is no more gigantic than the other nomadic 
  Revenants that he joins.  Unlike the others though Iono’Ine has a very pronounced 
  Awareness as well and so his aura of eyes & probing fingers can focus and penetrate 
  back into the real world.  Coupled with his Emanation’s ectoplasmic potency he is 
  able to perceive & reach into the Real World – effectively haunting those who killed 
  him.  Because his Identity is rather low, and his Velocity is likewise insignificant 
  though Iono’Ine has a mutable, chaotic appearance – he is like an immense shifting 
  mass of senses & ectoplasm that is never quite distinct from the background – he is – 
  in effect a shadowy blob of power & sense that is not easily discerned or recognized.   
  24
  
   
  A ghost’s cohort largely describes its location in the Afterworld – the place that they 
  occupy.  Ideas evolve a form in the afterworld and though the substance of those 
  forms is outside mortal understanding – it can be seen & found by ghosts all the 
  same.  This liminal landscape is comprised of dead things, ideas & fallen places, 
  notional dream-worlds that will one day exist & die out or never exist.  Given the 
  infinities at play in the Afterworld it is perhaps best to focus on a specific instance, a 
  world within this infinity of worlds to create an image of the ghostly cohorts inhabiting 
  it. 
  Gyre is the drowned city of lost transit.  A ship, sunk to the ocean floor, lost 
  irrevocably in space, dashed upon the rocks – any of the great conveyance that perish 
  with all hands aboard whether in fact, future or fiction, is amalgamated in Gyre – the 
  city of drowned wrecks.  Vast in its scope & yet manageably sized, Gyre is composed 
  25
  
  of tiered & stacked vessels, all surrounded by an impassable watery void – it is a 
  lonely galaxy of lost ships in the midst of a depthless ocean.  Whole ghostly colonies 
  dwell in the guts of the Edmund Fitzgerald while ghostly cotillions are staged in the 
  Lusitania & Titanic.  Ships with names are the valued regions of the city & those with 
  smaller & fewer designations are the dwellings of the ghostly underclasses.   
   
  In the unspeakably vast ocean surrounding Gyre the Waste-Landers go.  They gather 
  resources that fall into the realm, lost rings, discarded coins, caskets & so on – all the 
  memories of possessions lost to the waters.  They arrive in Gyre sometimes aboard a 
  nameless ship – one gone missing in some age of the world to trade their flotsam for 
  bits of knowledge, scraps of entertainment & some moments of companionship in 
  the light.     
  The tribes among the Waste-Landers are distinct but not strict.  The sodalities 
  amongst the Waste-Landers contain members of every tribe, but each tribe 
  dominates one of the Sodalities – what amounts to nations in the ghost ocean.   
  Banshees of the Waste-Lands are gleaners, seeking the upper edge of the endless sea, 
  finding the falling treasures from above as they cascade down.  Incapable of snatching 
  these things from the waters they note their downward motion and name the many 
  caches in the depths.  
  Phantoms in the Waste-Land of open ocean are those sacrificed to the deep-ocean 
  gods, the things dreamed of in the depths.  They corral & hunt the Leviathan, the 
  Kraken & others – imagined dream-world horrors that duly inhabit the dream world 
  sea.   
  Waste-Landers have emphatic Coherence – they are able to comprehend an outside 
  of things, a land beyond because they can discern & experience boundaries.  Within 
  the Waste-Land Sea there are fleets of fishers all following together in pursuit of the 
  ghosts of living creatures, extinct & never-will be dream fish – these fleets of lost 
  fishing vessels are manned by the Specters among the Waste-Landers. 
  Poltergeist Waste-Landers of the Gyre are messengers & drifters within the depths.  
  They move quickly & easily the drowned world & travel beyond.  Often they appear 
  26
  
  in bottles, corked & waiting to deliver messages to the further corners of the 
  Afterworld. 
  Waste-Lander Shades are the drowned, those who recollect vividly their death in the 
  uncharted depths.  They bob alone in the sea, still enraptured by the sight of the sun 
  just at the edge of other Ghost’s perception, the sky and its salvation, just out of 
  reach.  They are consulted, like oracles, for their ability to speak to those still living, 
  lost & cast away, drowning at the edge of life.   
  Amorphous horrors of the deeps, the uncanny Revenant Waste-Landers are 
  themselves the great beasts hunted by the shades.  They are the waters, and a motion 
  in the waters, they are the landscapes of the Waste-Land & the anima of the 
  despoiled unpopulated margins surrounding the Gyre.   
   
  The Gyre’s Juggernauts are its 
  navy, an armada of sunken, 
  destroyed warships from 
  every conceivable era.  These 
  ply the waters around the 
  core of Gyre in a constant 
  protective vigil.  These ships 
  & their crews of ghosts are 
  relentless  undaunted, 
  warriors all, who continue 
  their wars – battling against 
  one another in needless, 
  uneventful conflict.  For 
  them, war will not end, the shriek of bursting shells & the crash of shattered masts 
  persists forever.   
  Banshee Juggernauts are captains in these navies, masters of lonely ships that prey 
  upon others or admirals of great fleets all with their own byzantine command 
  structures, all in contention.  Their motives & goals are peculiar, their ambitions 
  immense & their will to master one another overwhelming.   
  Juggernaut Phantoms of Gyre are sailors & marines, the rank & file of the navies, 
  always watchful of the animosity of the ocean-deep’s monstrous dwellers, the 
  27
  
  antediluvian dream-creatures, the horrors of the hungry deep that once were merely 
  the tensed synapses of dinosaurs.  
  Specters of the Juggernaut navies of Gyre are the crews, servants, passengers & 
  sometimes the ships themselves of the Juggernaut navies.  These are the 
  organizational backbones of these fleets, beings committed to the hierarchy & 
  structure of a navy to the point of inhabiting titles, cannon & sails, of becoming the 
  ships & their officers.   
  Juggernaut Poltergeists of Gyre are the signals between the fleets, the flying 
  cannonballs, the semaphore flags, they are as well the swift swimmers, the 
  commandos of the navies, who board he ships in secret & stealth.   
  Shades of the Juggernaut navies are the dead men those who recollect vividly their 
  demise in the course of conflict, who have been put to the sword in recent memory, 
  slaughtered by pirates or bombed by fighters, exploded by the mass drivers.  These 
  instigate & lead the fight between Gyre’s navies.  They seek to continue those wars 
  that killed them, trying go ensure that their deaths retain any amount of meaning. 
  Among the Juggernauts, Revenants are the sharks & birds, the predators at the edge 
  of the battle who come in for the kill after the action, whose own wars are fought with 
  28
  
  teeth & who gain sustenance from the flesh of the drowning.  They are cruel without 
  malice, furious without anger.   
  The city at Gyre’s 
  center – a lively 
  place & densely 
  populated.  The 
  ghost here are all 
  drawn from the 
  oceans of every 
  world in which 
  people have 
  drowned & ships 
  have been lost.  
  They have acted 
  collectively to 
  construct a city of 
  shattered hulls & cracked bulkheads, an island of ships, rafts & bridges peopled by 
  the dead.   
  Banshee among Gyre’s Mendicants are its patrons, the spirits of the intersections, the 
  kami of the neighborhoods.  They are ephemeral & indistinct but as well, they are 
  presences, strong centers of emotion & feeling, a binding force in the boroughs of 
  Gyre. 
  Shade Mendicants of Gyre are its features, its parks & statues.  They are sleeping 
  elements within the city, waking & growing alert and doing so, changing its landscape.  
  They become its places.   
  Revenant Mendicants of Gyre are its keepers, its organizers & shapers, the 
  groundskeepers & maintenance people, its architects & constructors.  They shape the 
  phantom world into the city.   
  Mendicant Specters are the mass of the city’s residents.  They have their comings & 
  goings they carry out their afterlives and manage the functions of civilization.  They 
  carry on trade with the Waste-Landers, demand the protection of the Juggernauts & 
  serve the will of the Elect.   
  29
  
  Poltergeists of the Mendicant cohort are the city’s messengers & undergirding 
  infrastructure – they are the systems of communication, the providers of 
  entertainment, they connect the thoughts of the others.   
  Mendicant Phantoms master the city’s temples, they are the worshippers, the creators 
  of the crude shrines to deep-sea gods.  They lead exultant rites in the hopes of 
  keeping off the final judgments of these horrific deities for another season in the 
  Afterworld.   
  Gyre’s talents are its wizards, its weather workers & its sages.  They can see & know 
  the hurricane & tsunami that crush & reform the city over and over again.   
  Talent Phantoms are the priests of the Afterworld’s elements – they divide the seas & 
  winds & make the city to float & the air to form above it.   
  Specter Talents of Gyre are the city’s areopagus, the senate & elders, they are those 
  who’s power over the Afterworld itself is sufficient to control the tempers of the dead.  
  They prevail against the passions that stir among the dead & hold dominion, keeping 
  the city peaceful in the wake of relentless disturbance. 
  Poltergeist Talents are the spies of Gyre – the secret police that answer to the 
  areopagus.  They are behind every column and lurking at the eaves of every room, 
  waiting to hear the dissent that the Elect & the Juggernauts will respond to.   
  Talent Banshees of Gyre are the city’s accountants, the bookkeepers who tabulate 
  what is owed & what has been rendered, who exact the taxes & determine with 
  precision how the strange ghost economy will flow.   
  Shade Talents of Gyre are the hidden, hiding mages of the city.  Those with power 
  and the capacity to master the elements that harass & support the city.  They are 
  hunted and wanted – for their power combined with autonomy is too dangerous for 
  the city to bear.   
  30
  
  Revenant Talents of 
  Gyre reform into the 
  city’s wildlife – they 
  are its rat swarms & 
  pigeon flocks.  A 
  cloud of midges that 
  clings to a window is a 
  Revenant, and these 
  beasts of the ghost 
  realm give the city its 
  seasons.  
   
  Gyre’s elect are its faithful, gods-fearing folk who await the redemption that has 
  eluded so many ghosts for all of time.  They create & curate the temples & shrines of 
  the city, and they peer ever toward the edge of distance, in search of word from their 
  faith.   
  Shades of Gyre who are among the Elect are the parishioners, the faithful & devout, 
  who offer prayers, lead cults and execute what they imagine to be the will of the gods.   
  Elect Banshees of Gyre are the church’s priests & prophets.  They issue the 
  proclamations & the bulls that guide so much of the city’s life.  Their power is turned, 
  most often against the other faiths of the city – but should they unite their force would 
  be beyond that of all other cohorts.   
  Revenant Elect of Gyre take on the forms of the devils & angels of their faiths, they 
  are the scourges of their churches & the terror of the heretics.  Some among them 
  lead their own heresies, functioning as a sinister mirror of their hopeless faiths.   
  Phantom Elect in Gyre are avatars of their deities – in most cases they congeal 
  together, the more the merrier, into beings of greater & greater power – the voices of 
  the divine, and whether they are the authentic mouthpieces of distant gods is a 
  question few dare to speculate upon – their power is supreme and their animosity is 
  for the others.   
  31
  
  Poltergeist Elect in Gyre transmit their messages to the world of the living – they are 
  ghostly voices that manifest in the Real – echoes of the deep dark of the Afterworld.  
  Those yet living who hear the voices of living gods of ocean & death are all too often 
  listening to the voices of the Poltergeists of Gyre.  
  Gyre’s Voyagers are its 
  ferrymen & pilots – who 
  connect the city’s many districts 
  by their efforts.   
  Poltergeist Voyagers are the 
  city’s streets & canals, they 
  becom these flowing 
  thoroughfares & guide traffic & 
  commerce within the city’s 
  bounds. 
  Revenant Voyagers of Gyre are 
  the menacing predators of the 
  city – the criminal underground 
  that threatens those who enter the wrong alley, the black market for illicit goods & the 
  secret society of the city’s nefarious operators.  
  Voyager Shades are those merely passing through – the wanderers & visitors, 
  perennial guests who go from house to house offering visions of the real world in 
  exchange for their room & board.   
  Banshee Voyagers of Gyre are the city’s maps, and the describing bounds of the city 
  itself, they are guides & the ephemeral distance that lies between structures – making 
  them bounded & distinct.   
  Phantom Voyagers of Gyre are few, for most attempt the deep migration, the 
  meditative exploration that transcends the afterworld.  These are monks who turn 
  their thoughts inward in search of the voice, the true voice, of the divine that will 
  speak back to them, and guide them from perdition. 
  32
  
  Specter Voyagers are the ferrymen, the gondoliers & hostlers, those who navigate the 
  city’s many decks & hulls & canals, carrying everything that can be carried between 
  them, navigating the ways of the city in service of their own masters.  
  Ghostly cohorts function largely in concert with 
  the ghostly world around them.  Each of the 
  Cohorts is, effectively, a social caste for the 
  Afterworld, and these castes have a fluidity – in 
  some realms a Voyager may rule but in another 
  a Waste-Lander may have dominion.  These 
  states depend upon the state of the surrounding 
  Afterworld.  Cores of forgotten, deceased 
  knowledge hold these places together, making 
  them solid in the Afterworld.   
  While the Cohorts have a status, significant to the Afterworld at large, a PC is a 
  special sort of ghost – one who is guided through the Afterworld, with a sense of a 
  destination – an escape or a salvation.  Because of this PC ghosts gain certain abilities 
  based upon their cohort. 
  Waste-Lander PCs can Provide – The Providence ability allows the Waste-Lander to 
  gather an ectoplasmic sustenance – a varied, yet universally wholesome substance that 
  ghosts may feed upon.  This may take the form of fallen debris or lost mementos, as 
  in Gyre.  Each instance in which the Waste-Lander provides, by making a successful 
  Coherence check, causes all the ghosts that the Waste-Lander aids to have their 
  ghostly statistics increased by 1 each.  This ability only works once per session at 
  most.  It requires a goodly amount of time.  It requires an Emanation check.   
  Juggernaut PCs can Break  - The Breaking ability gives the Juggernaut the capacity to 
  destroy a location, the size of which is based upon its Emanation score.  A huge 
  juggernaut may break, utterly shatter & smash a whole neighborhood of a city like 
  Gyre, while the Juggernaut navies of Gyre have the ability to break objects the size of 
  a ship.  This ability can be used at most once per session. 
  33
  
  Mendicant PCs can Make – The Making ability is the opposite of the Juggernauts’ 
  breaking ability.  A Mendicant can bring an object of the real world into the 
  Afterworld, they can snatch ideas & memories from the living worlds & make them 
  real in the Afterworld.  Nothing destroyed in the Afterworld is repaired, only new 
  things are brought through.  This saps the vitality of the object in the real world, 
  causing it to begin its ruin and senescence into entropy.  This ability is useful only 
  once per session & it requires an Identity check. 
  Voyager PCs can Slide – the Sliding ability is the ability to move to a location without 
  crossing the intervening space.  A Voyager may slide all the members of a party but 
  only once per session.  It requires a Velocity check.   
  Talent PCs have the ability to exude power.  They can change the statistics of one 
  other ghost by modulating their forces.  A Talent PC can, once per session with a 
  successful Awareness check know the statistics of any ghost & swap two of the 
  statistic’s values, 
  permanently.   
  Elect PCs are 
  able to hear the 
  words of the 
  gods & act with 
  devotion to that 
  will.  Once per 
  session with a 
  successful 
  devotion check 
  an Elect PC can 
  temporarily 
  increase all the 
  statistics of a 
  ghost by 10 or of all ghosts in their party by 5.  
   
  These are the abilities of the Cohorts & a guide, if slight, of the post-living world.   
    
   
  34
  
  The abilities listed here are available to Ghosts based upon their Tribe.  All ghosts of 
  a tribe have all of the relevant powers – however, these powers, when used, require 
  the successful application of a statistical roll.  None of these works without a 
  successful roll & the roll to be used is determined by the Referee.   
  Beyond all Boundaries 
  You can 
  move through one class of object or 
  one type of medium - e.g.:  Steel, 
  Water, Sky, Wood 
  By Secret Roads 
  Inspiration 
  from deities give you knowledge of a 
  golden path that allows you to access 
  wisdom, you an reroll a failed check 
  once per session 
  Capricious Techniques 
  Juggling 
  your forces & the substance of objects 
  around you allows you to make attacks 
  against another ghost, but the statistic 
  you attack is determined randomly. 
  Concealment 
  You 
  cannot be detected by other ghosts 
  when you wish to hide barring the use 
  of an opposed ability, in which case 
  there is a statistical conflict to 
  determine success. 
  Consumption 
  You can 
  consume other ghosts with a successful 
  check of Emanation against their 
  coherence- you increase your statistics 
  by 1 each when you do so.   
  Contained Within Confines You can 
  exist easily within any object & can't be 
  consumed or otherwise imprisoned or 
  contained, anything you are forced into 
  becomes your new body. 
  Dreams & Inspirations 
  You can 
  call upon the echoed voice of your 
  deity to improve your attempts - you 
  can switch the high & low dice on a roll 
  once per session. 
  Eternal Paths 
  There are 
  routes out of the Afterworld, paths back 
  to the real world - you know of them & 
  where they lie. 
  Far Traveling   
  You can go 
  where you wish at the speed that you 
  desire - you can arrive anywhere in the 
  setting at once and depart just as 
  quickly but only once per session. 
  Foundation 
  You can 
  create a society of the dead.  Founding 
  a new world & creating a new 
  necropolis in the Afterworld.  Ghosts 
  will come, should you found such a 
  city. 
  35
  
  Hunting Ground 
  You can 
  declare a place in the Afterworld your 
  own hunting ground, and you may 
  reverse the order of your own dice 
  when hunting in that area.   
  Knife Juggling 
  You can 
  influence the real world & cause 
  weapons to strike there.  You may leave 
  the game and act in the real world in a 
  combat scene. 
  Languages 
  You gain 
  understanding of all languages & can 
  hear the words whispered in the 
  dreams of others. 
  New Machines 
  You can 
  see into the future & have at your 
  disposal the ghostly emanations of 
  futuristic weapons & conveyances. 
  Old Ways 
  You can 
  see into th past & gain knowledge of 
  any skill or ability that has been lost 
  from the past. 
  Paradises & Perditions 
  You can 
  change the Afterworld around you, 
  making it a place of punishments or 
  rewards - you increase or decrease the 
  statistics of ghosts in the area by 5 based 
  upon your preference for reward or 
  punishment. 
  Pursuit 
  You hunt 
  another ghost and follow it, no matter 
  where it goes.  You follow without err 
  once per session. 
  Shape Changing 
  You can 
  become any other thing - any creature 
  of your preference.   
  Singer of Songs 
  You know 
  the words of the great performers, you 
  sing & tell the tales & all who hear must 
  relent in their conflict, they are pacified 
  & made peaceful once per session. 
  Sublimation  
  You can 
  consume the anger & emotions of 
  another ghost, stealing from one of 
  their statistics and adding the amount to 
  your own.  You snatch away up to 10 
  points per session. 
  Symbols & Signs 
  You make 
  markings & speak in codes & 
  understand the meanings of symbols - 
  symbols in the real-world can be 
  manipulated by you, and you can 
  manifest within them. 
  The Corresponding Chord You can 
  experience the worship of your deities 
  from the real-world, your own voice 
  added to the chorus that sings in the 
  real makes the power of their prayers 
  more. 
  The Force of Passions 
  You 
  appear alongside those living souls who 
  fight in your own wars, your hand 
  guides them & they strike more true & 
  hit much harder for your aid. 
  The Now & Always 
  You may 
  create objects in the Afterworld in 
  replica of your real-world possessions.  
  36
  
  They exist forever & cannot be 
  destroyed. 
  The Power in All Things 
  You 
  experience the divine and the divine 
  enters the Afterworld - you are restored 
  & your statistics are made correct & 
  healed.   
  Tongues 
  You can 
  communicate in all languages and be 
  heard by those in the real world who 
  are mad, sleeping or drugged. 
  Transcendence  
  You can 
  manifest as a pure image of your 
  ghostly self in the world, no longer your 
  living self, your ghost persona appears 
  in the world & becomes real for a time. 
  Voices From Afar 
  You can 
  listen to the words of the many & the 
  living, your ear discerns all sounds from 
  throughout the real world & you gan all 
  knowledge of what has been spoken. 
  Wailing Song 
  You can 
  speak to the secret terrors of others and 
  sing a song of humiliation & shame, it 
  cripples those who hear it in life, and 
  shames those who hear it in the 
  afterworld. 
  Warrior Angel 
  You cause 
  a figure from the real world to manifest 
  in the Afterworld - all the more solid 
  and luminous this figure appears in the 
  afterworld like a brilliant, powerful god 
  & it is powerful against your foes. 
  What Lies Within 
  You 
  discern the core lie of your divinity & 
  understand that there is no great power 
  outside of the mind & the self, and you 
  gain strength from this knowledge. 
  What Was 
  You can 
  draw into ghostly existence any object 
  or place you have once seen.   
  What Will Be 
  You can 
  reach into dreams of the future & make 
  manifest in the Afterworld places & 
  objects that will one day be. 
  Without Wavering  
  You 
  reaffirm your faith & become insensible 
  to all & immune from any effects in the 
  Afterworld. 
  Words & Scripture 
  You can 
  recite the words of deities, the holy 
  texts & thus command their faithful in 
  the afterworld. 
  Worlds Beyond & Within You can 
  enter into a ghost & find within their 
  identity a new city, the city of their own 
  dead dreams.  You can do as much 
  with anyone and take anyone to this 
  place.   
   
   
   
  37
  
  The rules & conventions presented here are intended to provide you with 
  some tools for managing the death & afterlife of Player Characters in any 
  game.  It is meant to be agnostic of systems & settings – but it does refer, in 
  some ways to The Game of the North – and other OSR style RPGs.  It is 
  hoped you will give those games a chance. 
  Setting the bounds of your own Afterworld, deciding how to reward & guide 
  your players through this world of ghosts is left to you as an exercise in 
  imagination.  Offered here as pure confection, a toy more than a true tool – 
  I’m not opposed to developing further aspects of this system & setting, 
  should it prove well received or popular, which is to say – if you like this 
  work, please tell your friends.   
  And as always, thank you.  
  -
  Jeremiah Methuselah
  38
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Game of the North/The Afterworld a Guide to the Worlds Beyond Death (GotN).pdf