Wraith: The Oblivion

The Shroud

     The Shroud is the veil of fear and misunderstanding that separates the Skinlands from the Shadowlands. It is invisible and intangible, yet it serves to keep the two worlds firmly apart. It is because of the Shroud that wraiths cannot be seen or heard by the living, save when the Restless exercise their wills and Arcanoi to pierce the Shroud.
     The thickness of the Shroud is hardly a constant. It varies from place to place, from time to time, and according to the sort of people in a given area at a given moment. A cemetary at midnight, populated by devotees of Edgar Allen Poe, would have a much thinner Shroud than the heart of Wall Street during lunch hour on a sunny day. The thinner the Shroud, the easier it is for wraiths to affect the Skinlands there; were there ever a place where the Shroud rating was zero, wraiths in that spot would be plainly visible to any mortals standing nearby. However, the Shroud rating of a place can never dip below 4, no matter what.
     Other awakened beings (vampires, werewolves, mages changelings, etc.) can thin the Shroud by their mere presence. The Shroud thickness is reduced by 2 in the presence of any other supernatural being, regardless of type, but it can never go below 4. So the Shroud around a vampire standing in a graveyard, or a sluagh in a dismal part of the sewers, regardless, will still be 4.
     The chart below details sample Shroud thickness:

Shroud Rating
A shopping mall on a sunny spring day	10
A clean subway station in the afternoon	9
A well-cared for home with no violent history	8
A crowded, dim club playing Top 40	7
A country crossroads on a moonless night	6
Old mansion where brutal murders were committed	5
Deserted cemetery at midnight on a full moon	4

The Fog

     The living simultaneously want and fear proof of life after death. While they want to know that there's something beyond the last breath, ghosts provide tanglible proof of death itself, and give the lie to the notion that everyone goes to Heaven. With that in mind, the human psyche protects itself by weaving a fog between itself and even the most blatant manifestation of ghostly activity. By virtue of the Fog, most of the Quick will find themselves rationalizing or simply forgetting any encounters they have with the Restless.
     Some are not affected by the Fog; innocent children, animals, the insane and certain of the other supernatural denizens of the World of Darkness. Any of these can see and hear the wraiths in their vicinity. Of course, this extra-perception doesn't extend to others in the vicinity of the person who sees the ghost; to them their child will be talking to an imaginary friend, and their cat will be hissing at nothing at all.
     Note: Not all supernatural beings can see past the Shroud in this manner. Giovanni and Samedi vampires, Euthanatos and Dreamspeaker mages, slaugh fae, and Silent Strider and Stargazer werewolves are among those most likely to be able to detect hovering wraiths. On the other hand, even most vampires are likely to be unaware of ghosts.

Fog Ratings
Willpower	% of Population	Reaction
1	10%	Catatonic Fear: Terrified into paralysis, mortals in this category will, at best, be able to grope about for a hiding place. Rational thoughts and complex actions are completely out of the question.
2	20%	Panic: Blind flight is the immediate response of this segment of the population to the presence of a wraith.
3	18%	Disbelief: This response is the classic over-rationalization; someone in this category who sees a ghost will put it down to anything but the presence of the supernatural.
4	15%	Berserk: A purely animalistic reaction, the berserk response causes mortals to throw whatever's handy at the intruding wraith, smash things and otherwise take out their fear by causing blind destruction.
5	13%	Terror: The mortal is afraid, but retains some self-control. She will quickly try to put as much distance as possible between herself and the wraith, but she won't run out the front door screaming, "Ghosts!"
6	10%	Conciliatory: The mortal is afraid, but is collected enough to attempt to bargain.
7	7%	Controlled Fear: While still afraid, a mortal in this category will still act rationally: refusing to go down to the basement by herself, putting her haunted house up for sale immediately, etc.
8	5%	Curiosity: Members of this category are more fascinated than afraid, though they may run immediately for their camcorders or the psychic hotline. WRaiths are likely to find their attentions overwhelming.
9	1.5%	Righteous Anger: More stubborn than death, this type of mortal will stand her ground against even the most sadistic Haunter. These mortals refuse to fear wraiths, seeing them as opponents instead of supernatural agents.
10	0.5%	No Reaction/Blase: This sort of mortal has no particular reaction to the presence of the Restless at all. Perhaps he's had a near-death experience, he might think the wraiths are messengers from his departed Uncle Harry or maybe he's just not too bright. Either way, he doesn't regard ghosts as anything special.

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