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The Ghosts of Supernaturals
So What Do I Do With This?
One More Thing...
With few exceptions, Kindred are creatures of massive egos, ruthless drive and undying passion. These qualities make them fine candidates for returning from Final Death, right? Yes... except for the unfortunate tendency of extinguished vampires to immediately plummet into Oblivion's clutches. The chances of this seems to be connected to the strength of the vampire's Beast. Many Kindred that become wraiths become murderous Mortwights, ravening Spectres that call to mind the behavior and drives of vampires in Wassail. The "lucky" few that manage to become true Restless are still stained by their Beasts, and find struggling with their Shadows to be tough going. And the Shadows of Kindred are, without exception, monstrous things, barely possessed of sentience, that drive the vampire-wraith to mindless rampages and acts of unimaginable violence during Catharsis. A Kindred might be mortified at having to struggle with her "Beast" even after Final Death, but will find it a familiar evil... until she realizes its new-found evil cunning, as well as its tendency to gibber madly in her mind.
While a Kindred that becomes a ghost has a lot going against her from the get-go, she may claim a few advantages. First, a vampire that was undead for a long time has the experience and wisdom of decades, even centuries, to draw upon. And while the Kindred's Disciplines and other hallmarks of the Curse of Caine are gone forever (even for those oddball vampire-wraiths that become Risen), she retains any mundane aptitudes she gained while undead. Such ancient creatures are far more powerful than other Enfants, and are likely to thrive in the Underworld. A tale is told of such a Restless attaining a high position in the Hierarchy within only a few years, using the political skills she learned in the centuries as a Kindred to climb her way up the chain of command and seize control of a citadel. On the vampire front, the wraith no longer needs to fear sunlight or fire. (However, a once-vampire is quite likely to retain a nocturnal activity cycle for some time after Final Death from force of habit or ignorance -- especially if she met her fate through the sun! Finally, no few Kindred reborn as wraiths find themselves able to gather all sorts of information secretly, able to pass unnoticed in the halls of power. Those with the knack for finding out information, and the Arcanoi to manifest to their former peers, can leverage some major favors if they play their cards just right.
It's perhaps fitting that those Kindred that are most likely to become wraiths (or Spectres) are Giovanni. Even for those that manage to avoid permanent Catharsis and retain their higher selves (such as they are), this is by no means a reprieve. When a Necromancer awakens on the other side of the Shroud, she finds herself quickly beset by enemies she made while undead... and her former necromantic might is lost. Assuming she survives these enemies' attentions, she will find herself in the exact same position as the wraiths that once served her, bound and compelled by selfish and callous necromancers. And most Giovanni aren't prone to showing favoritism to former relations; a tool is a tool, after all, even if you know its name and once called it a friend -- and especially if you know where all its fetters are and are familiar with the passions that drive it.
Worth mentioning are the Laibon, the vampires of the African continent, and their relation to life after Final Death. The Laibon are much less likely to become abambo or Sinkinda than Kindred are to become wraiths or Spectres, with those with strong Orun almost never remaining behind. This isn't due to any moral or supernatural superiority on the part of Laibon. Instead, it reflects the importance of family in the overarching cosmology of Africa. The Laibon are an extended family, as much united by this unseen bond as by blood, in the wider community of mortals, animals, spirits, gods, skin-changers and other beings. It seems that the gods, the laws of the land, or whatever grand principles that govern the Dark Continent have decreed that Laibon are to fulfill a different role than abombo, and thus one shall not become the other. This arrangement seems fine with everyone involved. For those odd Laibon that do stick around after Final Death, they find themselves in much the same boat as their Kindred relations, alone and likely to be dominated by their Shadows outright.
Cathayans can't become wraiths; upon Final Death, their souls are pulled straight back into Yomi. A Kuei-jin thwarts Hell once to take her Second Breath, and that's all the chances she'll get.
Shifters are full of life energy, reflecting their vital link to the spirit of the earth itself. This isn't to say they fear or loathe death; as a whole, the Shifting Breeds understand that death is an integral part of the natural order, another aspect of life, and a passing from one existence to another. They have little tolerance, and no respect, for any creature that subverts the cycle of life by means of its existence, namely vampires and other undead mockeries of life. However, ghosts don't fit very neatly into this framework. While they cling to pathetic half-lives in an imperfectly understood Dark Umbra, they resist easy classification in Gaian cosmology. Ghosts must be flukes, a sad symptom of cosmic imbalance rather than active contributors to it, and are largely unimportant in the grand scheme of things.
Then, what of those Shifters that remain behind as Restless Dead?
Such an event isn't at all common; in fact, something has to go terribly wrong for this to occur. Normally, the souls of Shifters pass on to Gaia, to be born anew later. But a few Shifters have a special affinity for death, and possess Gifts and rites that allow contact with the realm of the dead and its denizens. If an individual makes frequent contact with the Shadowlands and dies a violent death (especially while in that realm), there's a very small chance that the natural pathways that departed souls travel will be subverted; should this happen, the dead Shifter winds up in the Dark Umbra as a permanent resident. In no case (save the Bunyip, below) has such a reported Shifter-wraith not had some connection with the lands of the dead in life; however, it seems that even infrequent contact is sufficient to create a spiritual link to that unhealthy realm, and avoidance of it is sufficient to ensure a proper death. However, this isn't common knowledge, and Shifters that divine this secret usually do so posthumously.
Due to this requirement for a link to death, the tribes and Breeds most likely to produce wraiths are Silent Striders, Uktena, Bubasti, and the Gurahl. (While the last possibility might not seem likely, the werebears perform a great many death rites which can create an unnatural link to the Shadowlands.) However, there are several unique cases. One noteworthy ghost is Glint-On-Moonsilver, a Silver Fang hero and Theurge of the Ivory Priesthood camp; her spirit was recently, and forcibly, laid to rest by members of her former tribe. Also, rumors persist of a centuries-old departed Korean Kitsune that leads wraiths against the jade-hungry vampires of his homeland.
The greatest concentration of Shifter-wraiths exist in Australia and Tasmania, the remnants of the Bunyip tribe. Due to the extreme violence and unnatural nature of the tribe's death, quite a few of these aboriginal Garou became Restless. Most became Spectres, and have been consumed by Oblivion, though a few remain to wreck havoc where they can. Even those ghostly Bunyip that retain their Psyches are almost always hellbent on vengeance against other Garou, with a marked hatred for Spirals and Red Talons above all others. These tormented spirits are greatly feared, as the rites and Gifts that werewolves use to ward or wound spirits are ineffective against denizens of Karta (the Dark Umbra of Australia). Silent Striders have had some limited success in countering these Restless Bunyip. Unbeknown to the Garou of Australia, the combined efforts of Karta's wraith population and a dreadful Dark Umbral beast called the Wulguru keep the number of Bunyip-ghosts in check. Only about a dozen of these Garou remnants exist in Karta, now, with perhaps a quarter of them not completely consumed by their Shadows. These survivors are strong and resourceful enough to survive anything the Garou, wraiths and Wulguru have yet thrown at them.
Among those Shifters that find themselves in the Shadowlands, almost a full quarter of them immediately fall victim to their Shadows. The greater an individual's Rage in life, the greater the chance he'll end up as a Mortwight afterward. However, unlike vampires, Shifter wraiths don't retain their righteous anger; instead, what's left is a hollow ache where their Rage and connection to Gaia used to be, an apathy that drives them to Harano-like fits of depression and suicidal behavior when they enter Catharsis. Even those Shifters with low Rage or none at all must contend with their Shadows, though their burdens are no worse than other Restless.
Even for those that remain lucid, existence is tough and thankless. Shifters lose a great many of the blessings they once had, and are burdened with new curses and find old ones augmented. No matter his station, Rank or spiritual wisdom in life, a wraith-Shifter starts out at square one. His Gifts are gone, as they're incompatible with his new spiritual nature; the spirits are unable to hear him perform rites, much less answer them (assuming they would, anyway). He can still shapeshift, but it drains him emotionally to do so, and it strengthens his Shadow. His regenerative ability is gone. Another peculiarity of Shifter nature ensures that while they're now forever denied access to the true Umbra, they never lose their connection with it completely. Thus, they're still subject to being bound into fetishes, answering rites, and contacted and controlled through Gifts. In effect, they shoulder the burdens of being a Gaian spirit, but reap none of the benefits.
As with all ghosts, returning to his old life is out of the question for a wraith-Shifter (and unless he's smart enough to keep his origins secret, he isn't welcome in the Underworld, either). There's no place in the society of any Changing Breed for those that refuse to die a proper death, even if they stayed behind for a noble reason or somehow ended up in the Dark Umbra without wanting to be there. Most of a Shifter's former peers will shun him and beseech him to meet a more seemly fate if he's lucky, or actively seek his destruction if he's not. Part of this reaction is fear not of the ghost himself, but what he represents: the possibility, however remote, they will meet the same fate. A Shifter found to be clinging to existence as a ghost will lose Renown posthumously, and his tales and deeds are no longer told; this hurts the wraith considerably, cutting him off from a needed source of Pathos. A Restless Shifter that possessed a connection to ancestral spirits still does, even after death. However, the ancestors are decidedly unhappy with the wretched existence of the individual in question, and they let him know this in no uncertain terms. While they grudgingly grant him aid, they too encourage (or angrily demand) that he end his false life and rejoin the Great Cycle, often unbidden and at unexpected times... mimicking the whisperings of a certain other voice in his head. What the living and honorably departed Shifters fail to understand is that upon destruction, the wraith may well fall into the maw of Oblivion -- a cosmic force of destruction analogous (and possibly synonymous with) the Wyrm -- rather than joining his ancestors after dying again. Thus, most Restless Shifters pursue Transcendence with fervor, unwilling to risk being consumed by Oblivion and being forever barred from the cycle of life.
Being a wraith isn't very pleasant for anybody. Sure, it's not all angst (or Angst); being dead has its perks, but no Restless hasn't regretted her existence and wished she wasn't dead at some point or another. Even Spectres, on some level, want all the suffering to just stop. But perhaps it's not unfair to say that the personal impact of death is worst for mages and sorcerers than most, who lose their magic upon death. Though dead Willworkers retain their knowledge and memories, death shatters one's Avatar (just ask any vampire that was Embraced), and Numina are similarly dependent on the character's life energy to function. Sure, dead Willworkers aren't brimming over with violent Angst like your typical vampire-ghost, or saddled with other dark, mystic legacies; in fact, the ghosts that once commanded magic are, for all intents and purposes, normal. However, going from someone that once molded reality through will alone to a mewling Enfant -- something she once could once shred with a few chants and handful of ashes -- is a very long way to fall.
But maybe wraiths that were Willworkers don't deserve too much sympathy. After all, their bemoaning of their wraithly condition is born of hubris and entitlement, the crying of a fallen prince now forced to beg for his food. Not all magic-users (and their ghosts) are so arrogant, of course, and even those that are typically discover humility when faced with enough adversity. But the stereotype of the disgraced would-be archmage bemoaning her unjust fate is accurate enough to stick, especially considering those individuals with the drive to attain power at any cost are exactly those that are the most likely to stick around as ghosts. It's especially damning when a mage's passion to pursue magic was the very reason she stuck around, only now to find those secrets forever lost to her.
While wraiths that were once mages are rare (greatly due to the rarity of mages), some Traditions are more likely to produce wraiths than others. The most well-represented Tradition among the Restless are the Euthanatos. Some might consider this appropriate, but only those that fail to see past the simple stereotype of "death-mages". Chakravanti themselves consider this an ironic and cruel fate, for they believe fervently in rejoining the Karmic Wheel after shunting this mortal coil. The underlying reason for this phenomenon is Jhor, the Entropic Resonance that taints mages overly focused on death. The more Jhor a mage has, the greater her chances of being drawn to the Shadowlands after death. It's still an uncommon event, thankfully, and Johr is no sure indication of such a fate; Willworkers absolutely brimming with Jhor pass on normally, while others only touched by such dark Resonance find themselves waking from death on the other side of the Shroud; clearly, there is much more yet to be understood. A good many mages-cum-ghosts are Dreamspeakers that made frequent contact with the Shadowlands; they, too, generate their own form of death-Resonance that pulls them into the Underworld. Between them, these Traditions form more than half all ex-mage Restless; members of the other Traditions are more-or-less evenly distributed among the wraithly population. (Despite what many assume, Hollow Ones seem no more likely to become ghosts than any other Willworkers. This makes sense, when one considers their flirting associations with death have little spiritual gravity.) Several Etherites and a couple of Void Engineers have found themselves on the wrong side of the Shroud after an unfortunate malfunction, failed experiment, or similar mishap of (Enlightened) Science. While any fatal event can potentially result in a ghost, more often than not experiments that directly involve ectoplasmic entities and their home dimension are the most likely to produce wraiths.
No matter the paradigm a mage followed in life, and regardless the trappings of her linear magic, all Restless they all find themselves in pretty much the same boat. Whether one's worldview admitted this sort of existence or not, the ghost is now forced to get by without those skills that set her apart from and above other people. Some individuals adapt better to this situation than others -- an African Dreamspeaker that was on good terms with his tribal ancestors may consider it a privilege to join their ranks and protect his village as an ibambo, for instance. Other once-Willworkers fail to appreciate their wraithly senses and specialized abilities, and seek to restore their mortality and power at all costs; others bemoan what they lost and cave in to hopelessness. Such malcontents are soon claimed by Oblivion, either worn down by repeated failures or wasting away from despair. Ex-Awakened mages are somewhat more prone to mania and/or depression than ex-sorcerers. The Willworkers that manage to make it as ghosts (the majority of them) find their discipline and unique understanding serve them well as Restless. Ex-sorcerers especially, used to linear magics, adopt and master Arcanoi quickly. They aren't saddled with special weaknesses or unusual capabilities (unlike those vampires and Shifters that become ghosts), and find it very easy to fit in among other Restless Dead.
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