Wraiths
Deep down inside, most of us believe in ghosts. Many of us want to believe that death isn't just the end, that our personalities -- our souls -- don't vanish forever with the last breath or heartbeat. So we believe in ghosts in order to reassure ourselves that death isn't the end after all.
In Wraith, death isnt the end. It's just the beginning. Most souls, upon death, pass on to Transcendence or Oblivion, but a few take up residence in the Shadowlands as wraiths. These souls are special, bringing with them unfulfilled desires and drives, emotions and needs that are so powerful that they are stronger than death itself. Anger, love, fear, hatred -- these are shadows of the mortal world. Driven by Passions and anchored by Fetters, wraiths are caught between this life and the next.
Dwelling in the Underworld, between the memories of the lands of the living and the utter horror of the Tempest, wraiths walk a fine line between the worlds. They can affect the mortal world, but only rarely manifest in it; they can travel through the Tempest, but never call it home. Illuminated by passion and shadowed by fear, a wraith's existence can be bliss or terror.
Most wraiths pass quickly through the Shadowlands to their final destinations. Bound only by weak Fetters and driven by half-hearted Passions, they soon resolve the issues from life that held them back. Player-character wraiths, on the other hand, have potent Fetters and Passions indeed, making them stand out even in the community of the dead. Tied so fiercely to the lands of the living, they are likely to dwell in the Underworld for decades or more -- if Fate permits.
The Underworld
Tempest, Stygia, and Shadowlands: these, combined with the Far Shores, make up the realms of the Restless Dead. Collectively known as the Deadlands or Underworld, these define the boundaries of most wraith's existence.
The Far Shores are the furthest removed from the lands of the living. Existing across the Sunless Sea from Stygia's iron towers, they offer a buffet of heavens and hells to any wraith brave and cunning enough to reach them. Shaitans and saviors a-plenty can be found there, as well as cunningly constructed replicas of every afterlife imagined. All are shams, though, according to the monolithic Hierarchy of Stygia, which has forbidden organized traffic across the Sunless Sea.
Beneath the nighted oceans boil the endless storm of the Tempest, in which Spectres roam hungrily. There are islands of safety in this howling eternal Maelstrom; Stygia, capital of the empire of the dead, rests in one such oasis. At the heart of the storm exists a titanic Labryinth, gnawed from the stuff of Oblivion itself, the maw of entropy. Few wraiths, if any, have gazed upon that and returned to tell of it. Even Spectres fear it, though it is their master.
There are safe pathways through the storm as well, By-ways leading from Stygia to the ruined granduer of the Shadowlands. Superimposed on the lands of the living (also known as the Skinlands), the Shadowlands are full of memories and echoes given form. A Shroud born of disbelief seperates the Shadowlands from the Skinlands, but wraiths can still see through it, dimly, to the living world they've left behind.
Obviously, this geography doesn't correspond to Heaven, Hell or any afterlife with which the masses of the living are familiar, and most wraiths find their arrival in the Deadlands to be something of a disappointment. The fact that a vast majority of mortals who die never appear in the Underworld lends credence to the notion that the Deadlands are a sort of Purgatory, a way station on the way to something better -- or worse. More wraiths hold this view than any others, believing that they are 'doing time' in the Underworld until they're ready for the next step. Of course, this doesn't say much for those wraiths who have dwelt in the Underworld for hundreds or even thousands of years, and if queried privately, most wraiths would admit to preferring this 'Purgatory' to whatever lies beyond. After all, here they can at least touch the lives and loved ones they knew...almost.
The Shadow
Each wraith carries her own worst enemy with her, and it dwells in the back of her mind. Upon crossing the Shroud, a soul's darker side takes on a seperate identity and seeks every opportunity to exercise its malevolent will. While part of the same mind and soul, the Shadow (as this sentient malice is called) maintains an independent, malign existence within the wraith's head. Selfish and sadistic, the Shadow will wheedle and cajole, bribe and threaten its better half. It can offer power, or use its unique gifts (called Thorns) to make its other side (called the Psyche) more pliable to its seductive suggestions.
No matter how pleasant the Shadow's offers are, however, they all lead toward one goal: the wraith's ultimate destruction. The Shadow is the self-centered, self-destructive side of every wraith's personality, the death wish given a voice and a will. The Shadow is all about taking the easy way out, doing what feels good at the moment and to hell with the consequences. To the Shadow's way of thinking, utter annihilation is preferable to paying the piper, and the screams of the Psyche on that last long downhill slide are the sweetest music imaginable.
Of all the conflicts that a wraith faces, her struggle with her own Shadow is the most vicious and terrible. There is no respite from the voice whispering in her ear, no cessation of hostilities possible. The greatest triumphs a wraith achieves and the worst defeats that she suffer will come on the battlefield of her own soul.
Lexicon
Arcanoi
Shroud and Fog
Fetters and Passions
� White Wolf Publications 1997