Coroners are often advised by mediums or have one on staff--in murder cases, speaking with the victim's ghost is one of the primary means of determining cause of death. They can provide a first-hand account of events and identify suspects for investigators. Victim testimony is a powerful piece of evidence in any case, but is not enough on its own to convict someone. Even setting aside the possibility that the victim is mistaken or flat-out lying, ghosts very rarely linger long enough to be cross-examined during the trial, so defense attorneys often argue to get it thrown out. Even when it's allowed, juries are instructed not to make their determination based solely on victim testimony.
In addition to mediums (for respectful dealings with traumatized ghosts), coroners often employ or are trained as exorcists. Coroners' offices and morgues are notorious magnets for specters, who grow out of the buildup of negative psychic energy. On top of that, they occasionally come across victims of curses, corpses that have been possessed by a malevolent spirit, or victims of resurrectionist magic who have to be put to rest before they can be examined.
Cold cases are of particular interest on Sisig. Because victim interviews with the ghosts of murdered individuals are standard procedure, many killers will attempt to dispose of the body in a manner that prevents the formation of a ghost or in a location remote enough that the ghost cannot contact anyone to tell their story. Such efforts are not often successful, but most cold cases are ones in which a ghost was never found. Every effort is made to at least locate a body within a year of death--the longest a ghost can ordinarily survive. (And ghosts born of traumatic deaths are often strong enough to survive that long, especially if they're holding on in hopes of bringing their killer to justice.)
There are some "specialists" - something like psychics on Earth in that they're outside the usual investigative process and are frowned upon by a lot of conventional or skeptical minds. They claim to be able to speak with shades or read the psychic energies of a crime scene to glean information. There is no proof for any of this, except anecdotal evidence, but that doesn't stop bereaved families or desperate investigators from seeking out their help from time to time.
Items touched by Visitors and imbued with their power are known by many different names. Blessed items, holy relics, Talismans (not to be confused with talismans, which are man-made imitations of the genuine article.) Some famous Talismans are given their own names in legend, such as the holy sword Anzeil or the Signet of the Contract.
Attitudes surrounding Talismans, their use, and their inheritance also vary depending on cultural and religious perception of Visitors themselves. An artifact gifted to a chosen mortal by a god is miles away from a valuable item purchased, tricked, or bartered from a powerful spirit. Accordingly, the Talisman in question may be considered sacred, used only for sacred tasks and returned to the god who gave it when the quest is over or the chosen one dead. Or they may be possessions like any other, to be used, sold, traded, gifted, or thrown away at the sole discretion of the item's owner.
There is no one defining quality of hallowed items, except that they are more blessing to their owner than curse. They are usually created by a Visitor, but may occasionally be a gift from a phantom to a favorite human. (On very rare cases, wraiths may even create something more properly called a Talisman than a cursed item, on account of not causing direct harm, but public perception of wraiths being what it is, very few people would actually call these items Talismans.) Some are incredibly specific gifts; a number are even sentient (or appear to be), though they give off no psychic energy that would suggest a trapped spirits. Others are not independently aware but speak with the voice of the owner's deepest desires or allow communication with the Visitor or another guide.
Many Talismans come with a cost (a sword that vanquishes any spirit but also taxes the soul of the user) or they may not be inherently good or evil, only powerful (a ring that compels the wearer to speak only truth.) Talismans come in as many temperaments as the Visitors who make them, and if they are passed on or sold to another owner, they may develop a different relationship with the new owner.
Like most things in the world, the black market wears many faces. Sometimes it crops up in back rooms and private collections. Sometimes it parades in the open under the guise of mundane curiosities. More and more often, it's all done online with fake names and billed as legitimate goods.
There are, of course, black markets for any number of interests, but we'll focus on the trade of paranormal and occult goods. The largest portion of this market serves channelers, enchanters, and ordinary people with no training in necromancy. Many of the goods available are simply stolen, sold under the table so as not to leave a paper trail. Others are considerably more restricted.
“Bottled 'geists." (Sometimes actual poltergeists, stolen from honest businesses, but occasionally filled with the psychic energy of other spirits. Bottled shades and ghosts are the cheapest, but also rejected by the most people, even those who frequent the blak market. There's something unpleasant about using the stolen vital energy of actual people. Bottled specters, ghouls, and wraiths are also somewhat common, and increasingly expensive. They're not technically illegal, though they are more heavily regulated than bottled 'geists due to their violent nature. Bottled phantoms are more of a curiosity than a practical source of energy. Rarest of all are bottled Visitors--extremely illegal, almost unfailingly unethical, and nearly as unpredictable as bottled wraiths. But they pack a punch, so some people will pay anything to get a hold of one.)
Cursed objects/the service of cursing. (Every so often an exorcist will lose (or "lose") the vessel in which a violent spirit was sealed or an object otherwise touched by the occult. Such times might find their way to discrete distributors, who will pass them along to anonymous buyers at a cost, no questions asked. (Sometimes it even is just for research, as these buyers all claim.) But there are few truly cursed items in the world, and fewer still exorcists who can be bribed or duped into handing over the items under their protection. Sometimes you just have to do it yourself, and since the act of cursing an object (enchanting it so as to inflict deliberate harm) is illegal, practitioners turn to less-than-honest markets.)
Miscellaneous novelties, antiques, or aesthetic items. (Shade lamps--glass lamps made with captive shades that give off an otherworldly light--used to be the peak of fashion... right up until governments started shutting down the practice, decrying it as inhuman. Some still exist, and a handful of artisans will still make shade lamps or other esoterica on commission.)
Another large portion of the black market is aimed at and run by resurrectionists, a large number of whom flaunt the law in their day-to-day lives. (To be clear, there are resurrectionists who stay within the law and are licensed necromancers with honest careers. They're just in the minority.) Unlike other kinds of black markets, resurrectionist markets are very rarely digital. They exist in people's homes, and only trusted friends are welcomed inside. They might me small, dark, and cluttered, or meticulously organized with rare specimens on display. It really comes down to the temperament of the shop owner. Most of what they sell has to do with the practice of resurrectionist magic.
Human remains. (Partial or intact. A bone fragment or mummified finger might be used in a ritual, while corpses and skeletons can be animated to act as servants. Such remains are, of course, hard to come by, which is why "collectors" can turn a good profit if they can secure a steady supply.)
Prefab servants. (Why deal with the messy business of buying corpses when you can just buy a few reanimated servants who are all ready to go? They're not as reliable as ones you make for yourself, but possession of a resurrectionist "abomination" warrants only a fine, while the creation of the same is a mandatory jail sentence.)
Wraiths. (A special category of the above. Not long after the first rush of wraiths came into being, people began to realize how dangerous they were if left unchecked. A few prominent necromancers with somewhat crooked moral compasses devised a way to transfer ownership and control of a wraith so that the death of the original master did not set it free to wreak havoc on the world. There are several famous wraiths still in circulation today, which go for large sums in the rare event that they come on the market. Of course, amateur transfers can severely weaken the control one has over the wraith, possibly allowing the wraith to break free. These transactions always come with a disclaimer--purchase at your own risk.)
Day 21: Can necromancy be performed on someone while they’re still living?
Certain types of necromancy can be performed on a living person. Channeling, specifically, is designed to have a wide variety of effects, though it still draws its power primarily from the energy of spirits. These kinds of spells can have a wide array of effects, from minor healing to protections to direct harm.
There are two different ways you could mean the question. First, a living person as a power source. It is theoretically possible to draw psychic energy from a living being to fuel channeling spells, but this is incredibly inefficient and not worth the serious charges that would be brought against you if you were caught. Siphoning off someone's psychic energy would have serious consequences for the victim--fatigue, weakened immune and spiritual defenses, potentially even death.
Second, a living being as a target. Exorcism is designed exclusively for use against spirits, and resurrectionism for use on corpses or other remains. This answer even more than the first is hypothetical, because standard spells as they are written simply would not work against an incompatible target. You would need someone who is talented enough to modify or entirely rewrite spells for use against living humans.
In theory, exorcism could be used to target the soul of a living person, weakening, destroying, trapping, or banishing that soul and leaving an empty, but still living, body behind.
I don't honestly even know what resurrectionism would do in this case. The only two potential end goals I can think of that might make someone try to rewrite those spells would be immortality or mind control, and I'm not sure that either one would actually work.
How Visitors come to the mortal plane is a topic of considerable interest to researchers of the paranormal. A great many of them seem to be ancient beings--they enter into religion and lore all across the world, and they persist to the modern day. Some Visitors have died, or faded, some have left (to return to the world beyond, or merely in search of new sights, no one can be sure.) Mostly, though, it seems that once a Visitor is here, they are here for good.
They arrive only very rarely, but often in response to disturbances in the most ancient jungle, in the ruins of [city], or on the [Isles]. Some theorize that, as with specters, it is tragedy and suffering that draws them, but this seems questionable at best, as on the whole Visitors neither enact destruction nor work to counter it.
Another theory is that disturbances, such as earthquakes, fires, tsunamis, and the like, weaken the barrier between our world and wherever it is that Visitors live. This could explain why some Visitors arrive at seemingly random times and places, while the major spikes occur in tandem with these events at arcane locations.
We've all heard the stories. Persistent spirits are either mindless destroyers or weirdly benevolent beings. There's no middle ground. It's not like with ghosts, who are basically regular people. Ghosts spend their time talking, hanging out, going for walks. They get their affairs in order and say their goodbyes. You don't get that with wraiths, though, do you?
Well, it's funny. A lot of persistent spirits are sort of stuck in a rut. 'Gests can last basically forever, specters can keep coming back, but both of them just sort of do their thing, you know? They wreak havoc, take out some of their pent-up aggression on the closes targets. Shades aren't really aware enough to do much other than reenact the past. And wraiths, I mean… They can do whatever they want, but their whole thing is wanting revenge, so… you know.
So most of your curious cases are going to show up in phantoms or Visitors, and the occasional ghoul. (Don't listen to people who say ghouls exist only to feed off of other spirits, okay? I mean, they're terrible people, sure. Same as any corporate bigwig or politician that thrives off of shitting all over the poor and powerless. That doesn't mean that's all they do everyday.)
Now, Jelene would tell you to take this all with a grain of salt, because most of it is hearsay, but with so many stories floating around, at least some of them have to be true, right? Anyway, a collection of spirits who are just trying to live their afterlives, same as everyone else:
**A Visitor who goes by the name of Edni--a fortune-teller by trade. She's an ultra-powerful spirit who probably legitimately can see the future, or at least aspects of the present that aren't obvious to mortals. But instead of setting up in some remote cave somewhere, testing travelers to see if they're worthy before she'll tell their fortune, she has a tent in a market somewhere (it moves around, or maybe just the story drifts depends on who's telling it.) She shows up every night in a kitchy robe with a crystal ball and whatever--like, not even actual medium stuff, just whatever. And she charges people five bucks to get their palm read or some shit. It's scary-accurate, so she makes a living, but what do you think she spends it on? Not like she has to eat. Maybe she rents a nice little apartment somewhere, you know? Just someplace quiet to call her own.
A whole troupe of Visitor-traders. I've seen them called the Caravan Extera, l'Arat Mirej, and the Midnight Market, depending on the source. Not sure if those are all the same group or if there are actually multiple groups that do this sort of thing. Regardless, they can move around easy, get to places that are too dangerous for most business-types to venture. So they'll go off and find rare spices, or old artifacts, or information from remote nations who don't care to bring in internet or whatever. And then they'll trade it to necromancers, enchanters, historians--whoever. Each individual trader has their own price--some want money, some want energy, some want information. A few trade in favors, like the old legends of the fae. Kinda makes you wonder if these spirits are the reason we have fairy tales in the first place.
Phantoms are kind of hit or miss with this. Some are more or less super-powered shades--not really conscious, just sort of repeating the past on endless loop. Others know exactly what they are, and what they are is lonely, or sad, or scared. There's a couple of old legends about phantom companions--spirits who would lend their power to a medium or necromancer (or, you know, the ancient equivalent) in exchange for their company, or even a soulbond. People say phantoms crave soulbonds like ghouls crave spirits to eat. No clue if that's true or not, but every now and then you'll hear someone online claiming that they have an arrangement with a phantom, or know someone who does. I'll be honest; it kind of weirds me out. But I guess that's between the people who are making those kinds of deals.
Ghoul mercenaries. This one I'm 100% sure is true. I haven't seen them, but there's more than just hearsay to support it. There are actual police reports and everything. I mean, there's a whole black market to do with necromancy, resurrectionism in particular. Someone has to be supplying the kinds of things you get there. (Jelene just asked me what kinds of things you'd find on the black market, and I don't know. I've never been there. But like… human remains and cursed objects and ghosts' energy and whatever. Illegal stuff.) Anyway, ghouls who can't find enough shades and 'geists and isolated ghosts to feed on will go to the black market and hire themselves out--to fetch items, or just to work as paranormal bodyguards--in exchange for psychic energy.
(I don't have any specific stories about this one, but I can't help but to think that Visitors are especially suited to the entertainment life. They can probably do all sorts of weird, cool things that could make them famous. How many performers out there right now do you think are actually Visitors, or have a deal with them? I'm just saying…)
Most spirits are tied to a location (lesser spirits who are not bonded to a medium) or aren't tied to anything in particular (wraiths, Visitors, and certain phantoms.) Ghosts, ghouls, and shades are anchored to the place they died, or sometimes to other significant locations from their living life (a childhood home, a favorite park, ect.) Poltergeists, Specters, and some phantoms are tied to the focus of the psychic energy that creates them. (This could be a large range, but it is specific to the history of place.) Tragedies, violence, or intensive magic use leaves an impression on a place, and the latent psychic energy can give rise to spirits.
In some cases, however, it is not a location that's haunted, but rather an object that absorbs the psychic energy. Cursed objects come in two varieties:
First, man-made cursed objects. It would be more accurate to call these enchanted objects, just with a malicious intent behind their creation or a pre-existing malicious spirit contained within. In the first case, you're usually looking at shady necromancers or enchanters who use their gifts to create weapons that can be used not only against evil spirits but against other humans, as well. In the second case, you're more likely looking at the exorcism of an extremely powerful spirit. Exorcists are trained to seal away evil spirits that are too powerful to destroy outright, usually with the intention of destroying it later, when more resources are available.
Especially powerful spirits, however, cannot be fully contained. They can be bound to an object--usually a vessel of some sort, such as a box or a bottle or an amulet; something with a cap or a door that can be shut. Doing so will redirect their own energy into keeping them contained, but this leaves a fragment of their power free to affect the world around them. They can harm people who come into contact with the vessel (through illnesses, mental effects, or misfortune), they can communicate with nearby people or with sensitive mediums at a distance. Usually whatever they do is aimed at convincing someone to release them, which is why exorcists take precautions when transporting cursed objects and ensure their destruction promptly, usually through a group exorcism ritual.
The second type of cursed object is naturally occurring. In this case, fully conscious spirits are rarely behind the curse. They may have laid the curse on the object, or its creation may have been incidental, e.g. a murder weapon or contested trinket absorbing the psychic energies of an altercation, leading to the desecration of that object rather than the creation of a poltergeist or specter.
This type of cursed object is typically weaker and more subtle than a synthetic cursed object, but more difficult to recognize because of that. It often takes a powerful medium to identify an object cursed in this manner.
(The original prompt was: “Write about someone who accidentally loses their soul,” which intrigued me less for what it’s asking on the surface than because it reminded me of resurrectionism, wights, and stories about the gray areas at the border of life and death.)
What is death?
It’s a tricky question, despite there being a very cut-and-dry legal definition that lines up with at least one other medical definition. A person becoming a ghost generally corresponds with brain death, so there usually isn’t much question about whether or not someone is dead. (For what it’s worth, the existence of a ghost is primarily a legal definition for death, though its use among the general populace is at least as common as the absence of a pulse.)
Most times, you can actually witness the moment of death--the moment when the ghost separates from the body or materializes beside it. This virtually always coincides with medical definitions of death, so there’s not really a question here at all, right?
Well, there are stories. The most extreme adherents of the maladae superstition in particular rail against the presence of a ghost as proof of death. They claim that it's an imposter pretending to be their loved one and fight against the withdrawal of life support from brain dead patients who have become ghosts. They cite cases in which ghosts were sited at the bedside of similarly “dead” patience, but the patient woke up hours or days later.
Nearly all of these stories are unsubstantiated. The existence of ghosts and their identities as the soul of deceased humans are so well-supported as to be incontrovertible, and there has only been a single documented case of a body waking up after the birth of a ghost without magical intervention. (Even this case is debated, however, and many experts now believe this was an early attempt at true resurrection that met with only partial success, as the resurrected body lacked a soul.)
More often what is actually happening in cases of revival is an act of necromancy. Resurrectionists, perhaps inspired by the tales of people coming back to life, developed an advanced form of reanimation that forces a soul back into its body. (There are reports that a soul can be forced into someone else's body, but these remain unsubstantiated, and the act is illegal in every jurisdiction.) Usually this happens when the family of a legally and medically deceased person (recently dead or still on life support) hires a resurrectionist to revive them, leading to the creation of a being known as a wight.
Not much is known about the actual mechanics of this. Certainly it appears that the ghost is reabsorbed into the body, but some posit that the ghost is actually consumed in the ritual and a different consciousness takes possession of the vessel. Wights are known to be sentient and sapient, fully independent even from the influence of the necromancer who raised them. They possess all the memories of their former life (barring some amnesia surrounding their death), and retain all skills (both mundane and magical), and family members will usually testify that it is the same person.
However, wights are often described as haunted and withdrawn. Whether this is the aftereffects of dying or evidence that something fundamental about the person has changed is a matter of some debate. What is sure is that wights degrade over time as their soul tries to separate once more from their body. Aged wights are described as "thin" or "faded," both physically and existentially. They typically survive 2-5 years after resurrection before dying. Wights leave no ghosts behind.
Technically, they're called psycho-spiritual bridges, but almost everyone in the modern day calls them soulbonds, and the people involved soulmates. This absolutely began as a meme somewhere, either in the vein of "still a better love story than Twilight" and appreciating the fact that mediums and bonded spirits have to have the utmost trust and respect for each other for it to work, or someone more maliciously was trying to insinuate that there was something """unnatural""" going on between a prominent medium and their bonded spirit. Certainly both attitudes crop up here and there.
Whatever the origin, mediums and bonded spirits have owned the title of soulmates. These relationships are almost always platonic or professional, though some, in fact, are romantic in nature.
Absolutely a modern term. First use was maybe 15-20 years ago. Reclaimed within the last 10 years and became steadily more common since then. The term "soulbond" or "bonded" is generally the preferred term; "soulmates" is a little less common. (Most people wouldn't introduce each other as, "this is my soulmate," but they might say, "I'm Jelene. This is Vere. We're bonded." It's also usually pretty obvious (by the end of the first week or so, especially), so introductions may not be necessary.
Soulbonds can be formed between a medium and any spirit--though upwards of 90% are with a ghost. (Shades are not uncommon, but usually temporary--bonding a shade will make them more present and will make it easier to communicate with them, so for instance a medium working with the police might bond the shade of a victim in a cold case to try to get more information. A handful of mediums will bond a phantom or Visitor in exchange for tremendous power or protection, but very few phantoms or Visitors will allow such a thing to happen. Any other spirit is incredibly risky to bond because of the vulnerability inherent to the bond.)
It's a simple process to forge a bond. The medium needs to be fairly well trained in their gifts in order to make the connection stick, but assuming you have the focus and are in close proximity to the spirit you're bonding, it's no more difficult than "tuning in" to the voice of a particular spirit. What the medium does is reach out, both mentally and physically, while opening up their own mind. For a brief moment, medium and spirit coexist, their energies/souls commingling. This creates a permanent bridge between the two along which their energies can flow.
For the medium, this means access to a kind of power most mortals can't touch. If they are studied in other spiritual arts, they can use the bonded spirit's energy as if it were their own (including boosting their own psychic gifts--soulbonds are responsible for most cases of clear premonition.) And holding that kind of energy at all gives them a measure of protection from spiritual attacks or influence.
For the spirit, the effects are even more drastic. In exchange for slightly diminished raw power, spirits become anchored to their bonded medium. This is a hindrance to phantoms and Visitors, but it's a very good thing for ghosts, who normally have a relatively small geographical range and cannot persist for more than a year. Bonded spirits persist until their medium dies, at which point they pass on (usually at the same moment, although some are able to persist for some time after, even to the point of forging another bond.)
One unique indicator of a soulbond is the soulmark--a mark on which the bond is concentrated. It frequently appears at the site of first contact, but it can appear anywhere on the body and as any symbol, which is usually significant to the soulmates in question. Unless the medium and spirit already know each other, the mark is hazy and unclear at first, growing sharper or even changing shape as they get to know each other. Soulmarks appear like birthmarks (dark brown, red-brown, or black) or unpigmented patches on the mediums' skin, while on ghosts they appear as faintly luminous patches. Marks are always identical in appearance and location on both halves of a bonded pair. If the bond is ever broken for any reason, both marks disappear.
Rez and Taiana's mark is a sword down their spines.
Jelene and Vere's mark is not yet clear, but is located over their hearts.
This one got long, because there’s a lot to dig into here. (And this is still just a surface-level look!) I’m just going to go ahead and put it under a cut to save your dash.
~50% of the world's population does not believe in or worship any particular deity or power. This includes:
Spiritualists - believe in respecting the dead and twice-dead, as well as other spirits. There are no specific worship practices, as there is no sense of divinity, but local sects may hold traditions with regard to death (e.g. burning incense, baking with certain spices, burial practices.) May believe (1) that there is nothing after the second death (mortal spiritualists), (2) that there is eternal life in another world after death (eternal spiritualists), or (3) that there is life after the second death, followed by a third and final death (Third Death spiritualists). Roughly 60% of the world's population identifies as spiritualist, though half of that number also identify with another group. Lay leaders of the spiritualism movement are called priests and function as death and grief counselors and community resources. They often consult with hunters on respectful practices.
Secularists - Believe spirits are simply a natural phenomenon. They deserve as much respect as people or animals, but no more. May hold some beliefs regarding life after the second death, but it is usually unrelated to their identity as secularists. ~15% of the population identifies this way or as "non-spiritual" and generally do not also identify with anything else on this list.
Ancestor veneration - as with spiritualism, following these practices is not mutually exclusive with other spiritual or religious practices. Hold ghosts, shades, and those who have passed on in higher regard than other spirits and most likely have a shrine to ancestors, but do not usually ascribe divinity to the deceased. Primarily a cultural system rather than a religious one, and people (especially younger generations) may follow the traditions more out of nostalgia or as a way to connect with living family than out of a genuine reverence for the twice-dead. Those who also identify as spiritualists most often identify as eternal spiritualists.
~50% of the world practices a religion that reveres a specific god, spirit, or force. Most deities are directly linked to an existing being, which secularists would term a Visitor (though the same may or may not be true of the doctrine of the religion in question.) Polytheism is considerably more widespread than monotheism, either because the religion holds some or all Visitors to be gods, regardless of whether that religion is focused on their worship, or because the religion has its own pantheon (under or separate from the umbrella of Visitors.)
15% of the world's population are adherents of a religion that defies one or more Visitors (acknowledged as such within the doctrine.) Highly localized due to the influence of local Visitors.
~15% deify one or more identifiable beings traditionally classified as Visitors or phantoms but not identified as such within the doctrine. Mostly monotheistic religions, but some polytheistic Highly localized.
~20% worship one or more deity that does not directly correspond to an identifiable being. Almost entirely polytheistic (most have, at minimum, a god of death/spirits and a god of life.) A disproportionate number of indigenous religions fall into this category, but that may be because indigenous gods (be they Visitors or otherwise) do not show themselves to outsiders and so cannot be corroborated. Tend to be more wide-spread, geographically speaking, than the other two categories, though there are still many examples of localized religions
Above and beyond religious distinctions, there are a number of major superstitia -- worldviews or philosophies that describe one's approach first and foremost to the paranormal and spiritual aspects of life, but which also influence how you view and interact with the mortal world. One's superstition is more likely to be familiar to someone from across the world than one’s religion, but also is more likely to cause friction. Aside from secularism and spiritualism, religion is highly localized--and as such, what disputes have arisen tend to be limited in scope. In the absence of historical grudges, religious differences mostly boil down to different ways to interact with spirits, particularly Visitors, and most people are content to mind their own business. There are disagreements, of course, and some amount of "religious people are ignorant for putting so much stock in an ordinary spirit," or "secularists are rude and crass." But on the whole, religion is not a major divide.
There are far more, and more vehement, disagreements between adherents of different superstitia, which may go by different names in different countries but tend to fall into similar categories, especially in the last ten years or so as they’ve become much more popular and globalized
Prominent superstitia (an incomplete list):
Credulity - the belief that we know too little about what comes after death to consider ourselves experts on even the mortal world. Values an open mind. Contrary to what critics say, credulists acknowledge that not every tale and legend is true, but they scorn the kind of mind that dismisses anything outside of personal or conventional experience. They are often thought of as gullible and naive, and there are an abundance of jokes about the things a credulist will believe. Outside of spirits, other people are assumed to be basically truthful and well-intentioned. New experiences are valued, but so are second-hand experiences. The story is tantamount, and credulists have a tendency to believe in a cosmic authorship that causes things to happen in the way that is the most interesting, ironic, fitting, ect. "True until proven false."
Skepticism - the attitude that popular lore grossly inflates most accounts of spiritual activity. Seeks personal or scientific proof of all claims. Very rarely believe in life after the second death. Skeptics tend to be secularist or spiritualist rather than religious, and they clash with Credulists on every front. Skeptics are also cynical of other people and their intentions. They have a reputation as unpleasant people who will assume the worst of you. Supremely scientifically minded, with an emphasis on study and research and a distrust toward trusting unproven sources. "False until proven true."
Universal Mediumship - the belief that all humanity has an innate inclination toward the psychic talents associated with mediums. Not everyone has the gifts to such a degree that it would allow for conscious, directed use, but we all have an otherworldly instinct that should be trusted. A highly individualistic philosophy despite its argument that all beings, both living and dead, are interconnected. Make reference to a universal mind that all people can access and which will help them judge truth, intent, and the best course of action, and discourages anyone from criticizing other people's decisions. Adherents are colloquially referred to as universalists.
Maladae - the belief that the dead do not return as ghosts at all, but imposters take their place. More broadly, the belief that all spirits are malevolent and deceitful and their influence is felt throughout the world, even down to personal experience. Adherents (often referred to as "maladies.") are skeptical even of established evidence and personal experience and frequently report that a spirit has messed with their memory or perception. Tend toward cynicism bordering on paranoia with a particular dislike for ghosts and Visitors.
Fae d'vi - Literally "the path of life;" the belief that there is some guiding force in the universe, be it destiny, gods, or some spirit greater than what mere mortals can perceive. Everyone's life path is already set out for them. Some people take a nihilistic approach to this philosophy, while others draw inspiration to attempt great things. Adherents are "fae" or "the fated."
Accidentalism - a minor philosophy that developed as a direct rebuttal to fae d'vi, and which postures that not only is there no guiding force in the universe, but there is a force that actively seeks to disrupt plans. Plans and goals are meaningless, so one should seek to live each day for itself. Accidentalists are at least as likely to identify as such ironically or for the sake of excusing their bullshit as they are to genuinely hold to the tennants of the worldview.
Spiritism - Not to be confused with spiritualism, spiritism holds that the world itself is a single massive spirit, and that we are all just different expressions of it. (Note that this is sometimes meant literally, but more often is metaphorical.) Since everyone in the world is interconnected in this way, the highest goal is to take care of one another and of the planet itself.
Almost everyone is aware of at least some of the major philosophies--the ones listed above can be considered general knowledge, though the average person would only have a surface-level understanding of most, even the one(s) with which they identify. Students of the humanities (particularly philosophy and sociology) may have studied the superstitia in more detail. There's all sorts of internet quizzes about "Which superstition best describes you?" and some people will list theirs on social media/dating site profiles. Most people realize that most people aren't strictly one superstita, but that doesn't stop people trying to peg people as one type.
Jelene: Spiritualist, comes from a family that worships a Visitor without identifying it as such (Jelene recognizes that it’s a Visitor but still holds it as somewhat sacred); identifies with elements of credulity and skepticism. Often accused by Sendra of being a malady
Sendra: Spiritualist, ancestor veneration; credulist and fae with spots of universal mediumship
Vere: Secularist; accidentalist with a touch of maladae
Len: Secularist; skeptic and credulist (doesn't put much stock in the superstitia, though)
Remi: Comes from a monotheistic family but is mainly a spiritualist himself; not big into philosophies, but thinks maladae has a point in moderation. Agrees with quite a bit of spiritism though he doesn't understand it well enough for him to say so.
Rez: Secularist; universalist, spiritist, and a little bit of an accidentalist
Taiana: Spiritualist; philosophy agnostic (believes that all are useful or could be useful in certain circumstances, but doesn't subscribe to any one in particular.)
So Day 14 is supposed to be another history-based prompt. Cool. I started building a timeline for the world of The Second Death. I got about five minutes into it before realizing that the majority of it is/implies spoilers. It’s super helpful for me, but it’s not going up here.
Instead, I’ll leave you with these little tidbits:
Sisig’s modern era is referred to as the Nedorian Era, named for Lez Nedor, a woman who was long believed to be the first medium. (There were actually practicing mediums for about 50 years before she arrived on the scene, but most kept their gifts secret or only served a small local community and so only made it into a few scattered records.) For purposes of date notation, the abbreviation is “N.” (e.g. The year the story takes place is 2020 N.) Earlier times are referred to as ante-Nedorian (A.N.)
Necromancy wasn’t practiced for another 1500 years, beginning with exorcism in 1501 N. Channeling followed in the early 1800s, resurrectionism split off from exorcism in 1986, and modern enchantment gained steam in the 1990s.
(A brief overview of magic used by spirit hunting teams, by type.)
Mediums
Most hunter teams have at least one medium on the payroll. They may be actively involved in the hunt, or only in canvassing the location, but their sensitivity to all things spiritual is invaluable to anyone whose job puts them in direct contact with spirits. Trained mediums can sense the presence of spirits, along with their type, temperament, and location. They can communicate with spirits even when ordinary humans cannot, and some can intuit additional details about a haunting--the history that gave rise to a specter, the powers ascribed to a visitor, ect. Some mediums even receive limited visions of the future.
In addition to heightened psychic senses, mediums are also able to forge soulbonds with spirits. Typically, these bonds are only forged with trusted ghosts or, temporarily, with shades. The bond strengthens the spirit and also opens a connection that would allow for the spirit to posses the medium's body. In exchange, the medium's own talents are heightened, and they receive some measure of mental defenses against other spirits and against necromantic magic.
Psychic talents are genetic, and most prestigious mediums come from an established family of mediums, but every now and then one crops up in a family without a history of such talents.
(Jelene is a medium from a line well-known within their community but with little ambition to rise to higher stations.)
Necromancy
Exorcism: Direct attacks against spirits, including destroying spirits, relocating them/blocking them from a certain location, inhibiting their powers, or binding them inside a ward or an enchanted object. Historically the core of all spirit hunting, though modern advances in both magic and technology have made it possible to hunt spirits without a complement of exorcists. (Resurrectionism, for instance, began as an offshoot of exorcism in which, rather than destroying a violent spirit, the necromancer dominates it, binding it within an organic vessel (usually a corpse or skeleton, but sometimes an artificial construction made to look humanoid.) Such vessels can then be used by the resurrectionist in hunting other spirits or in whatever way the necromancer needs.)
(Remi is planning on becoming an exorcist.)
Channeling: The most widely-practiced subtype of necromancy, channeling utilizes the psychic energy of spirits to attain a variety of effects. Some can be used offensively against spirits, but the true strength of channeling lies in defense… or in attacking other necromancers and countering their magic. Channelers can draw on the psychic energy of the spirits they hunt, which may weaken them, but proceed with caution: draw on the essence of too powerful a spirit and you may find yourself killed before you can finish the hunt.
(Sendra hasn't officially chosen her discipline within necromancy, but she's leaning toward channeling.)
Enchanters
Enchanters are a special case--not quite necromancy, but not entirely separate from it, either. The art of enchantment began with channelers who mostly used their magic to imbue inanimate objects, particularly weapons, with magical effects. Even today, many channelers enchant their own equipment. Dedicated enchanters, however, rarely have access to enough psychic energy to fuel a business--and struggle to make a living off the wasteful, time-consuming process of enchantment.
Instead, they have devised new techniques and developed them into small businesses that thrive throughout the world. How an enchanted object is created varies from enchanter to enchanter. Some take objects within which an exorcist has trapped a spirit and augment it with runes or magical-mechanical devices. Some have devised special containers that can absorb psychic energy with which the enchanter can work. They will contract with hunters--a vial of energy in exchange for a piece of equipment. Still others build items that will draw on and expend the ambient psychic energy, like a channeler that only does one thing.
Enchanted weapons typically allow the user to attack and injure spirits directly, while talismans proved protection against spiritual attacks, but either can be enchanted with another purpose in mind, such as containing a spirit.
(Len has very little skill with magic, but loves spiritualist lore and trivia. He’s planning on becoming an enchanter, and has already made Remi promise to supply him with psychic energy.)
(Not responding in-universe for once, because I think the most useful way to do this is to compare/contrast with the kinds of ghost hunting tech you'd see in use in our word.)
Audio recorders: Sometimes helpful, but not necessary. EVPs are not a common occurrence on Sisig. They do happen with certain kinds of spirits (mostly shades and specters.) Most spirits, however, are present enough that you can simply talk to them and they'll talk back (if they feel like it.) Digital recorders are useful if you're gathering information on a specter of unknown origin. They're less likely to pick up ambient noise, and shades almost exclusively interact with analog recorders. With a specter, the ambient psychic energy can interact with a digital recorder such that you'll pick up sounds from whatever traumatic event(s) created the spirit. (Most evidence suggests this is a psychic echo, much like shades themselves are echoes, but many a spirit hunter still believes that spectral EVPs are the product of temporal displacement--actually, literally recording sounds in the past.)
Film/digital cameras: Not helpful. Digital cameras are unable to capture images of any type of spirit. Special kinds of film can capture low-quality images, but during an active hunt this is of minimal use. Researchers will use psychic film cameras (PFCs) to capture images of spirits for the sake of identification, instruction, and record-keeping. Specters, poltergeists, and shades do not have a definitive form and so will appear as orbs, streaks, shadows, or other amorphous anomalies when captured on film. Ghosts, ghouls, wraiths, Visitors, and most phantoms will appear as distinctly humanoid.
Video cameras: Of minimal use. (Again, more of a research tool than a hunter's tool.) As with photographs, you need specially-prepared film to capture images of spirits at all (though digital video can capture the effects of a poltergeist's tantrum, for instance.)
Spirit boxes (devices that rapidly scroll through radio frequencies, with the intention of allowing ghosts to harness the white noise in order to communicate): Do not exist on Sisig. If they did, they wouldn't be any use. Most spirits have more direct means of communication, shades are put off by the relative complexity of the device, and specters aren't sapient enough to construct a message out of random words and sounds; they'd rather just repeat sounds from the past through an ordinary EVP.
Thermal imagers, digital thermometers, infrared cameras, night vision goggles, and other heat-based sensors/imagers: Vital tools for any hunter. All spirits are intangible. Specters and poltergeists have no visual aspect, and wraiths and most ghouls can turn invisible at will. All spirits, however, affect the temperature in the air around them. The stronger the psychic energy, the more drastic the temperature fluctuations. Some way to monitor temperature is essential for hunters who will need to locate a spirit before they can deal with it.
EMF Meters, REM-pods, ect: Debatable. It's proven fact on Sisig that powerful spirits generate fluctuations in the electromagnetic field. However, no one has yet figured out a reliable way to distinguish spirit-generated EMF readings from mundane. It's usually far simpler and clearer to rely on temperature fluctuations, which are considerably less likely to be caused by electronics and old wiring. Nevertheless, some people still swear by EMF meters.
Geiger Counters, Ion Counters, ect: Useless. Spirits don't generate a significant amount of radiation, ionization, ect.
Motion Sensors: Depends on the type, but largely useless. Active motion sensors (radar-based) and photo sensors (light based) won't be triggered by spirits themselves. Some spirits are capable of moving physical objects (poltergeists in particular), but when they do, it's hard to miss. Passive infrared sensors will detect temperature fluctuations caused by a spirit entering the sensor's range, but the format of many hunts means that stationary sensors aren't much use.
Jelene once shadowed an eviction team. It was a strange experience, start to finish. Everyone on the team was a qualified hunter, but they didn't do much in the way of actual hunting. The big spooks--wraiths and specters and such--rarely content themselves to a single building, especially an empty one, so when a place gets condemned you're not usually looking at the deadly kinds of hauntings.
Mostly what it was was clearing out shades, honestly, which was way more mundane than Jelene was expecting when she signed up for it. She thought she'd be sneaking in some hunting practice before the academy assigned its teams. Instead, she spent most of the day feeling vaguely uncomfortable with everything she was seeing.
Shades aren't sentient; almost everyone agrees on that front. They aren't like ghosts, who are real, thinking, feeling people, just dead. Shades are just the echoes they leave behind. There's no reason not to clean them up like you'd clean up old cobwebs gathering in the corner of a spare bedroom.
Jelene knew that going in, but once she actually had to watch it happen, it was different. There was something incredibly sad about watching the wispy little lights go out one by one as the evictors spread special powders made of salt and herbs and whatever else. (She'd been too busy feeling sorry for the shades to remember the whole formula.)
At least when they ran across a pair of ghosts living in one of the houses they had a conversation with them before unceremoniously shooing them out. Jelene didn't know why there were ghosts living in an empty house, though they'd recently talked about ghosts in their spiritualism class and how modern ghosts' tendencies to roam the city might actually be draining their psychic energy faster and causing them to pass on sooner than they would if they stayed in the place where they'd died. She wondered how old those two ghosts were, and whether they'd even survive being evicted.
The whole experience left such a sour taste in her mouth that by the end of the day, when they offered to let her stay late to come along to a house that was host to a poltergeist, she declined without a second thought. She'd be dealing with poltergeists personally in a year or two, and she doubted she'd gain anything from watching these people treat it like a clogged toilet rather than a sentient, if mischievous, being.
Not my original intent when choosing this prompt, but: School holidays. Most primary and secondary schools are on a trimester schedule--three 12-week terms. (Colleges and universities sometimes run on a trimester schedule, but more frequently use semesters.) There is a 3-week break between the spring/summer terms and between the summer/fall terms, and a 6-week break between the fall and spring terms. (This 6-week break is sometimes called the winter term, though it's very rare for students to make up work or classes during the winter break.) In addition to the term breaks, there is also a one-week midterm break in the middle of each trimester.
Day of Balance - biannual holiday (Spring and Autumn Equinox.) Falls early in the spring term/late in the summer term. Traditionally regarded as the day when the energy of the living and the dead are perfectly balanced, and as such is celebrated by living humans and ghosts in equal measures. Shades and phantoms are frequently included in the festitivties, and some people will even make an attempt to include poltergeists.
Several ancient cultures ascribe the day/night or sun/moon dichotomy to a direct struggle between life and death. The Leneans, for example associate daytime and the sun with Revola the Undying, the goddess who breathed life into all creatures. The moon was Roand, the ghost of Revola's twin brother, who kept trying to pull people into the Kingdom Beyond. The two siblings were at constant war with each other, Roand frequently sneaking into his sister's domain to secret people away. During the day, Revola actively watched over the living world, and at night when she slumbered and Roand grew more bold. Similarly, the seasons represented the cyclical shifting of their positions. When the day was longer than the night, Revola reigned--this meant that plants would grow, blossom, and bear fruit, young would be born, fields would abound with crops. After the fall equinox, Roand would become more powerful than his sister, and the world would see a period of dying off.
In the modern age, much of this sacred context has faded, but the Day of Balance still serves as a reminder that life cannot exist without death, nor death without life. It is a time for the living to prepare for their own eventual death--through private reflection or by gathering with family, according to individual preference. If a loved one has recently died, it's considered proper to dedicate the day to them--to celebrating their life, to embracing their death. There are small rituals usually performed in the week leading up to the Day of Balance, and a special kind of incense that is to be burned on the day. The savory buns that are a classic Balance Day dish are said to be strong enough in spices that even spirits can enjoy them.
Traditionalists would say that all spirit hunts must be postponed for the week centered on the Day of Balance, out of respect for the dead, but a large number of people ignore this stipulation. (It's inconvenient at best and more often outright dangerous to have to suffer a poltergeist or specter because of a one-sided respect, after all.) It's a federal holiday, so many businesses are closed (though not restaurants, grocery stores, and the like.)
The Longest Night of the Year - Falls late in the autumn term. Celebrated almost exclusively by spirits as the day they are most present. Living humans may be aware of a different atmosphere on that day, though most don't know the true significance. See Day 5 for more details.
The Spectral Hunt - early-mid autumn, typically just after harvest. Falls during the first week of the term break between summer/fall terms. Celebrated strictly by living humans. (Ghosts may or may not be comfortable enough with family traditions to go along with some of it, but all other spirits loathe the Spectral Hunt and its roots.)
Historically, the biggest spirit hunting week of the year. In farming communities, all labor had to go to the harvest in the weeks prior, meaning that the town by and large had to just put up with hauntings. Particularly bad ones (imminent threat of death) might interrupt the harvest, but people had to learn to work through some of them. After the harvest, the entire town would get together and systematically put down any troublesome spirits that had moved in. This fused with the harvest celebration, leading to the characteristic blend of cornucopias and looming specters.
In most places, only the final day of the Hunt is formally recognized as a holiday (Huntday), but celebrations crop up for at least two weeks leading up to Huntday. In some places, and among some groups (especially drunk college kids) the old tradition of public hunts persists, leading to a few fatalities every year. Drunk kids and wraiths do not mix, let me tell you. Fake hunts are far more common, ranging from children's games to "haunted houses" (designed to scare) to "hunt rooms" (puzzles for groups of people to solve in a limited time.) There's also usually a huge meal (traditionally heavy on vegetables and carbs) shared with friends or family.
Festival of Gates - Mid-late winter. The Festival of Gates is a celebration of transitions: birth, death (both first and second), marriage, graduation, new jobs, retirement, ect. It falls a few weeks after the calendar new year, but is a much more prominent celebration. It's also a major cultural marker. The Festival of Gates falls at the beginning of winter break and lasts for four of the six weeks of break. Graduations are held in this time frame, as are most college orientations.
Though the gates referenced in the name of this festival are primarily symbolic, literal gates feature heavily in the decorations, merchandise, and parties that occur during this time period. Many families have a tradition of building (or at least decorating) a gate on their property, but as the population shifted more and more toward urban centers with their apartment buildings and row houses, many people no longer had anywhere to put a gate. They may improvise (e.g. by decorating the front door or the fireplace, if they have one) or may simply build (or more commonly, buy) a miniature gate to put on display for the month. Gifts and notes may be left on the gates of friends and family, or may be sent to digital message board "gates" that social media sites design for the celebration.
It's considered a good omen to have any major life changes occur during this month--particularly births and deaths, as those are more difficult to plan. It's the most popular month for weddings and proposals, and many people quit their job or start a new one as the spirit of the season encourages them to take the plunge. (As such, there are also an abundance of "employee appreciation" events aimed at dissuading unhappy employees from leaving, but also a number of job fairs and hiring events to entice people who have left other jobs.)
Sendra works part time as a server at cafe near campus, so she knows a thing or two about working a minimum wage job in the service industry. Scattered across her social media pages are a collection of relatable anecdotes. This is a small sampling of what she’s come across.
Sometimes I feel bad for the medium who comes into the store, clearly in the middle of a trance or something, buys $50 worth of junk food, and leaves. Like, should I say something? I don’t think management would appreciate me down-selling a customer, but this is a little more than shopping when you’ve got he munchies. And it happens at least once a week. A coworker once tried to talk her around.
She went through self-check, and we had to call in a work order after she jammed a quarter in the card reader.
That one ghost customer. You know the one--every store has them. I'm not sure if they've forgotten that they died, or if it's just comforting to go through the motions of their old life, but you can always find them debating which kind of cereal to get or going through the checklane without any products in their order. You just go along with it, because no one wants to be the asshole who goes around reminding people they're dead.
I'm pretty sure one of my regulars is a wight.
You might think this is because he's "creepy" or he smells funny or he acts weird or something like that, but no, it's not that.
Cause, like, he's still a total sweetheart--feeds the stray cat that lives in the alley outside (he says he's going to try to adopt it, but he hasn't quite earned its trust enough to pick it up). He smiles when he comes in and makes small talk with anyone who strikes up a conversation, but mostly he sits in the corner and reads--except that he has some sort of a sixth sense for creeps and always butts in just when one of the girls who works the counter starts to get uncomfortable with a customer who's getting a little too familiar.
Like I said, he's great. But I don't think he's totally human. The mediums all give him a wide berth, and I don't think they're doing it consciously. Cats love him, but dogs hate him, and I once saw a sparrow literally land on top of his head when he switched up his routine and ate his scone at one of the sidewalk tables.
And, also, I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually breathe. (I may or may not have stared at him the entire time he was in the cafe yesterday.)
I mean, hey, I'm not gonna pry. I've heard that wights get shit just for being wights, when from where I'm standing they're better people than 90% of the planet. I’m just saying.
A poltergeist recently took up residence in the kitchen at the restaurant where I work. I’m sure it’s some kind of health or public safety violation, but we've all just accepted our fate at this point, cause management sure as he'll ain't gonna shut the place down and pay for a team of hunters to come in and deal with the 'geist. Mostly it just wants to make a mess, so the cooks have set up the designated mess corner and filled it up with the 'geist's favorite toys (at the moment, that would be uncooked rice, flour, and silverware.) He's not that bad, honestly. I've gotten good at dancing around chairs that lurch out in front of me when I'm carrying a full tray.
I think we may have worked out a truce, though, so that’s good. He doesn’t try too hard to get us fired, and we don’t stop him when he goes after the nightmare customers.
We named him Fred, by the way.
Tonight’s mood: Customers who come in five minutes before closing dressed in a floor-length black cloak and a necklace that appears to be made of human bones. It's the university district, so you know, probably someone cosplaying, or someone doing it on a dare. Whatever. Not my problem. Until a skeleton in a pink feather boa comes sauntering up with its arms full of hot glue sticks, metallic sharpies, rhinestones, and approximately 120 packs of stickers. I stare at the skeleton--which isn't technically permitted in the store, but I'm too busy trying to process the thing's selections to remember that. (I’ve thought about this for an hour, okay, and the only answer I can come up with is that that dorky little skeleton wanted to bedazzle themself.)
Anyway, after about ten seconds of me not ringing up his purchase, Resurrectionist Joe turns to see what has me gaping like a nutcracker. He lets out the most quintessential exasperated parent sigh I've ever heard and goes to help the skeleton with its load, which looks to be on the verge of spilling all over the floor. They engage in a short, heated debate carried out entirely through gesture, but which I imagine went something like,
“Put that back.”
“But I want it.”
“We’re not getting stickers right now.”
“But I want it.”
“No.”
“Pleeeeeeease?”
And then the guy turns back to me, plasters a smile on his face, and asks me to add the skeleton's hoard to his order. They left before I remembered how to speak, but now every time I work a closing shift you can bet your ass I’ll be keeping my eye out for a skeleton cosplaying as a disco ball.
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