Apparitions¶
"The shroud refers to the limited reality that apparitions are able to experience while existing in the in-between (partially on the material, shadow and astral planes)." — Spectromancy (S296)
Apparitions are the incorporeal undead: ghosts, spectres, wraiths, shadows and their kin, spirits without bodies that linger where they died or where a runecaster binds them. The Aether college of Spectromancy calls them the empyrean undead and names the half-world they inhabit the Shroud: "the limited reality that apparitions are able to experience while existing in the in-between (partially on the material, shadow and astral planes). It is the manipulation of this shroud that allows the caster to interact with and manipulate apparitions" (S296). A shrouded spirit sees only what its shroud allows: "a non-conscious spirit will be disoriented and depending on the environment and what it thinks is going on, hostile or friendly. A completely shrouded spirit will react based on the rest of the reality they perceive" (S296). The shades of the Shadow Realm are not undead and have their own page (Shades).
How apparitions arise¶
Two roads lead to the Shroud. The Restless Dead take the first on their own: a ghost "is the most common form when the corpse was destroyed by either fire or animals," while spectres and wraiths "are seen most commonly when the subject was evil or suffered particular cruelty or injustice at the end. These tend to rise faster as their spirits are more restless. Abyssal Spectres and Abyssal Wraiths, like their Ghoul & Wight counterparts seem to form when the dead have been tainted by the hollowing" (S318). This is why pyres are feared in Kalari lands: to destroy the body of someone "of questionable dominion … can result in a faster transition in to a haunting spirit: Ghost, Spectre or Wraith" (S318). Even a rite meant to free a soul can, "on particularly evil or troubled souls … evoke an undead spirit during the ritual (ghost, wraith, revenant, etc)" (S004).
The second road is made. Namakan runecasters bind souls over which they hold dominion and warp them: a Warped Shadow rune "creates a Shadow from a bound soul," and a Tormented Specter rune "creates a Specter or Wraith from a bound soul … The creature acts an an animal driven by pain and torment" and "will remain in the vicinity of the rune until the rune expires or unless it is commanded (driven by pain) to do otherwise" (S255). A soul imprisoned in an object and then released "will often form a Spectre or Wraith at the location within a few days," and one that was being devoured for power "will often form a Spectral Revenant at the location within a few days, targeting the creator of this Rune" (S254). The rules of these runes are kept under Mechanics (Death and Oblivion Forms); the practice is Namakan Runecasting. The Death Magic of the Earlier Ages did the same by consuming souls, and its wraith "must be given a purpose at creation time. It will only act to fulfill that purpose and cannot be commanded after it is created" (S414).
The kinds¶
Ghosts¶
Ghosts are the dead whose bodies are gone. They can be reasoned with, after a fashion: the Spectromancer's first art is to "allow brief communication with a dead spirit … by piercing the spirit's shroud" (S296). The ghost of one of the wizard Valtor's failed apprentices haunts a sitting room in Proturas, condemned to play the game that killed him; "the ghost will answer any question if they win" (S042). In the ruins of Anoth-Urulien "many Mages from the Moradrim were hastily buried here and their spirits have been corrupted by Teneb'Vari. These dark ghost mages now wander the ruins (esp at night) and will kill any living creatures they come across. Destroying them is only a temporary solution as they will respawn after a few days" (S056). A Death Mask of bone and leather lets its wearer "see the ghosts of the dead" and speak with them (S042).
Shadows¶
A Shadow made by rune is "an animal driven by pain and torment," which "deal[s] necrotic damage and can be hit by physical weapons" (S255). Its touch drains strength, and "if a mortal creature dies from this, a new Shadow will rise from the corpse after 1d4 hours" (S255). The mindless kind "will attack any living thing other than the caster. It will not attack other undead"; stronger bindings give it an animal's wit or a servant's (S255). Four shadows haunted a looted Kalari shrine in the Rift beside wraiths and spectres, and all "will reform after death unless remains are destroyed" (S008).
Spectres and wraiths¶
Spectres and wraiths "are incorporeal creatures and are immune to all non-magical physical damage. Specters and Wraiths deal damage to max health (life drain)" (S255). The wraith is the greater: "any creature that dies due to life drain is immediately raised as a Specter … In addition, the Wraith can raise any recent corpse (< 1 day) as a Specter," and a wraith may command up to seven (S255). A summoned wraith "is given an obsessive task at construction which it will do its best to fulfill until destroyed. Wraiths cannot leave the vicinity of their death" (S296). A rune's wraith "cannot end its turn inside a solid material" though it moves through walls at will (S255). Wraiths grow strange in strange places: the Druagr-Ghast of the Vileryth Demonblight, when its body dies, hunts "for a new one in Druagr-Ghost form," and the Shriek-Wraith there is "an incorporeal wraith especially known for its psionic scream which can incapacitate enemies," beside the half-solid Rot-Wraith (S050). A Drow Wraith was met in the Sancturi campaign (S165). In the Fourth Age Demonlands the demonlord Cuoridaz, "Arch-wraith," leads "the Pale Host of wraith soldiers" under "a wraith-knight with a spectral glaive," with "a towering matron-wraith who whispers despair into armies" at the head of her Choir of Lament, and three "wraith judges" keeping order in the Silent Citadel (S336).
The Hungering Dark¶
A rare Oblivion rune "creates Hungering Darkness from a bound soul over which the runecaster has dominion. When the rune expires, the soul is released into the afterlife. The Hungering Dark searches out and destroys light and deals damage by its presence" (S231).
Spectral revenants¶
The spectral revenant is the vengeance of a devoured soul: freed from a rune that fed on it, it forms "within a few days, targeting the creator" (S254). Its corporeal cousin, animated "fueled by hate and revenge," is on Undead.
Banshees and others¶
The register names Banshees among the apparitions, but they appear in the sources only in a table of Hollow life beside the Mistwraith (S132, S156), and so belong to Hollow Creatures; the Will-o-wisps of the marshes and the Scourged are likewise theirs and the Scourged page's. The Spectral Projection of a living adept, who "is a Spectre" while projecting and "can fly and pass through non-magical physical objects" (S294), is not an undead at all but a trick of the Aether colleges (Arcane Colleges).
Gap
The sources give no description of a banshee, no account of how a ghost differs from a spectre in appearance, and no word on what, besides destroying the remains, lays an apparition to rest.
Dealing with apparitions¶
The Spectromancer works through the Shroud rather than against the spirit. A spirit may be confused "by disrupting their shroud," so that "they may flee until they can regain their familiar perception"; it may be controlled by altering what it perceives, "the simpler the 'illusion' required, the greater chance at control," the simplest being that "all living things appear as something the undead fear and hate (they will attack everything living)," and the hardest that "the caster is a trusted & loved person from their past experience here to guide the spirit to absolution and heaven"; and at the summit of the art the caster appears "to all empyrean spirits as the being they are most devoted to" (S296). A runecaster's soul vessel can collect "the spirits from incorporeal Restless Dead" that fail a contest of wills (S254). For everyone else there are blessed weapons and the destruction of remains (S008).
Earlier accounts¶
The Spectromancy and Projection lore is itself the oldest Fifth Age material on the subject; the Death Magic of the Earlier Ages added only that its shadows and wraiths were made by consuming souls and bound to a single purpose (S414, S371). The Namakan rune-lore's partially sentient undead, "Wights, Ghouls, Spectres & Wraiths," can resist a lure where mindless dead cannot (S253).
In Play¶
A haunted place is a place where the dead were burned or wronged. Apparitions keep to the vicinity of their death (S296), reform unless the remains are found and destroyed (S008, S056), and feed on life itself (S255). A wraith met alone is a wraith about to have company: every victim it drains rises as a spectre under its command (S255).