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Intro to Wraith: the Oblivion lore

Wraith: the Oblivion is a tabletop role-playing game that is part of the Old World of Darkness setting. OWoD is a series of TTRPGs that share a setting but can be played independently of each other. Each one focuses on a different type of supernatural being and Wraith is about ghosts. This is an introduction to the lore of Wraith for someone who may be interested in the setting or in spooky ghost lore. Before I start, a content warning. This game is about death, so there will be talk of murder, suicide, and other forms of dying. It is also about depression and mental illness. There's a reason this is sometimes called depression: the role-playing game.

Wraith: the Oblivion starts when you die. You will quickly find out that while the World of Darkness is a pretty awful place to live, it may be a worse place to be dead, at least for the unlucky few like you. You see, you didn't end up passing on correctly. The majority of those who die have come to terms with their life and death and Transcend. You, however, died with unfinished business or a fear of death and ended up in the Underworld instead. The Underworld (commonly called the Shadowlands, though this also refers to a part of the Underworld) isn't the afterlife, it's more of a purgatory, a place where Wraiths like you can work on resolving your Fetters (that which binds you to the living) and Transcend to whatever comes next. Nobody knows what happens to Wraiths that Transcend, though lore from some of the other games indicate it may be reincarnation. It is likely that the Underworld was originally a place of healing and contemplation. However, millennia of corruption have turned it into a virtual hell where Transcendence is all but impossible and Wraiths are slowly ground down under crushing bureaucracy and the temptations of Oblivion.

A Wraith is a ghost, a soul trapped in the Underworld. Wraiths have bodies (called a Corpus) made of a substance called Plasm which is the matter of the Underworld. The Corpus takes the shape of the person at the time of their death, which can be quite gruesome, though time in the Underworld will gradually change it. To survive, Wraiths need Pathos, the energy of emotion. Each Wraith has goals and desires called Passions. By working toward or in accordance with their Passions, Wraiths can generate Pathos, which can be stored and used to heal, to power the abilities known as Arcanoi, and to fight back against the Shadow. Each Wraith's mind is divided into two parts: the Psyche and the Shadow. The Psyche is the regular mind while the Shadow is composed of all the negative emotions, self-doubts, and defeatism and it actively works against the Wraith. The Shadow is the voice in the back of your head that tells you to give up, that you aren't good enough, that you wasted your life and now it's too late to ever improve. The Shadow is a malevolent entity that works constantly to drag you down, reinforce your trauma, and go against your Passions. Just as the Psyche is powered by Pathos, the Shadow is powered by its antithesis: Angst. If the Shadow is ever able to overpower the Psyche, the Wraith will become a Spectre. These monstrous ghosts work to tear down the Underworld and drag everything screaming into the maw of Oblivion. However, just as the Shadow works to undo a Wraith, the Psyche remains within a Spectre, constantly trying to get it to return to hope and progress. It is possible, though rare, for a Spectre to turn back into a Wraith. For the players playing Wraith, the Shadow is an important part of gameplay. Each player will control their Wraith character and the Shadow of another player's Wraith.

The Underworld is a strange place that laughs at normal ideas of geography and physics. It has several layers and can be thought of as being like an ocean. The air above the ocean would be the analogous to the Skinlands, better known as the world of the living. The worlds of the living and the dead are separated by a metaphysical barrier called the Shroud. The surface of the ocean is the Shadowlands. While this term is also used for the Underworld as a whole, it is also used for the part of the underworld where most Wraiths live in. The Shadowlands are a dreary reflection of the Skinlands made of the memories of the living and the dead. The locations the most people are familiar with are the most strongly represented in the Shadowlands. Countrysides and truly wild areas mostly devoid of people are largely not present in the Shadowlands. The locations most prominent in the Shadowlands are the reflections of cities due to the sheer number of people living in them and remembering them. These reflections of cities are called Necropoli and they are where the majority of Wraiths live. The geography of a Necropolis is almost never a one to one reflection of the city. Memories are tangible in the Underworld and so peoples memories and cultural ideas of the cities take shape in the Necropoli. For example, places like the Twin Towers in the New York City Necropolis or the Colossus in the Rhodes Necropolis will still be present even though they have been destroyed in the Skinlands.

The underworld possesses a strange sort of gravity that pulls things and Wraiths down. In the ocean metaphor, the water beneath the surface is the Tempest. This part of the Underworld doesn't conform to any location in the Skinlands and appears differently in different locations. In most of the Underworld, the Tempest looks like an ocean, but in some places it could resemble a desert, a polar ice cap, or a field of magma. The Tempest is caught in an endless storm that will rip unprotected Wraiths apart. Travel through the Tempest is done through protected paths called Byways and only a few very brave or very foolish Wraiths will travel beyond them and into the Tempest proper. If the storm doesn't get you, the monsters living out there, called Whistimmu, probably will. However, there are great riches to be found in the Tempest, as the memories of objects, called Relics, often end up there. Normal manufacturing is impossible in the Underworld, so Relics are extremely valuable.

Continuing the ocean metaphor, the memories from the Skinlands fall through the Tempest and accumulate on the ocean floor like marine snow. These accumulations form islands known as Dark Kingdoms and Far Shores. These islands are separated by the Tempest, requiring Byways to move between them or from them to the Shadowlands and back. The Dark Kingdoms roughly correspond to continents or major cultural groups in the Skinlands. They don't directly match any Skinlands location, being jumbles of memories taking the form of chaotic jumbles of random architecture and landscapes that scoff at the idea of forming a consistent geography. The inhabitants of the Dark Kingdoms form the major political power bases of the Underworld. The Far Shores are smaller islands controlled by independent Wraiths or Whistimmu. They used to function as spiritual healing retreats helping Wraiths achieve Transcendence. Now, most of them have been corrupted by Spectres or regular old greed and cruelty and are now miniature hells where Wraiths are forced into slavery or Soulforged into objects. There are still some good Far Shores out there, but most Wraiths don't consider it worth the risk to go try to find them.

Below the ocean floor resides the Labyrinth, the interface between the Underworld and Oblivion. It is both a place and a concept, defying all meaning and rationality. If the rest of the Underworld is liek an Escher painting in terms of geography, the Labyrinth is like the worst kind of hallucinogen-induced trip. Meaning and sanity is actively destroyed in this place. Very few Wraiths would every willingly enter the Labyrinth and there is very little reason to ever go there. Unfortunately there are portals throughout the Underworld called Nihils that act as doors to the Labyrinth, allowing the horrors within access to the Necropoli and Dark Kingdoms. The inhabitants of the Labyrinth are Spectres and monstrous creations of Oblivion called Malfeans that exist to corrupt and destroy.

Finally, below even the Labyrinth, is Oblivion itself. Oblivion is nothing but the endless void of pure entropy the lies beneath the universe and is slowly dragging it in. Oblivion is not a malevolent force of destruction like the spirit known to werewolves as the Wyrm (though the two are likely two sides of the same coin), it is simply the inevitable end of all things that will one day consume the universe entirely. Some believe that Oblivion is embodied in a being known as Grandmother, but most think it has no real mind of its own. However, the creatures that spawn from Oblivion, the Malfeans, certainly have minds and they are dedicated to dragging reality down into it, starting with the Underworld. The Shadow is a little piece of Oblivion within the mind of every Wraith that urges them to give up and give themselves to Oblivion. Anything that enters Oblivion is gone forever and it will eventually claim all.

Wraith: the Oblivion primarily takes place with the Empire of Stygia, the nation of Wraiths that rules over the dead of the western world. The empire is headquartered in the Dark Kingdom of Iron (also called Stygia) and claims dominance over the Necropoli of Europe, parts of the Middle East, North, Central, and parts of South America, and parts of Australia. The Empire was founded by a powerful Wraith named Charon. In life, he was from the Mycenae culture of ancient Greece. Upon his death, he was contacted by a mysterious entity known as the Lady of Fate (who is hinted to be the biblical Eve), who directed him to found Stygia (which at that time was just the Underworld reflection of Greece) as a place for Wraiths to resolve their Fetters and achieve Transcendence. To do this, he founded the Empire of Stygia and set up its government, the Styigian Hierarchy. Under his leadership, Stygia grew and merged with the Dark Kingdoms representing the rest of Europe. However, Charon was not around forever. He eventually vanished, leaving the Hierarchy to take command of Stygia. Nobody is sure where he is, but in his absence, the Hierarchy has grown to be an immensely corrupt and inhuman Bureaucracy. The original goal of Stygia as a place for Wraiths to work on Transcending has long been abandoned. Now, it is a crushing system of oppression and slavery where Transcendence is all but unheard of and cruel and indifferent Wraiths vie for power, all while Oblivion grows fat on the despair and hopelessness of the countless dead and their ever more powerful Shadows.

The Hierarchy is divided into 8 Legions, each of which is led by a Wraith called a Deathlord who was personally appointed by Charon. The Hierarchy controls most aspects of life in the Empire, though there is a significant criminal element that operates in the shadows. The Legions could crush the criminal underworld, but don't because they do prove very useful to the Legions on occasion. Each Legion fulfills a certain purpose in the Underworld, though they spend most of their time playing politics and vying for power. Every Wraith in the Empire is officially a member of one of the Legions and which Legion you end up in is determined by your cause of death. There is quite a bit of overlap in causes of death and when a case is ambiguous, usually the Legion that has the most power in whatever Necropolis the Wraith appears in will get them, unless the Legion decides to trade them for political favors. The only one who doesn't get a say in which Legion you end up in is you. Unlife in the Hierarchy is one of crushing and uncaring bureaucracy where Wraiths are not regarded as people but as assets. You are assigned to a task and expected to complete it on threat of enslavement or Soulforging. Occasionally one of your superiors will become a Spectre, get demoted due to failure, or fall into Oblivion, in which case you have a chance to move up. It's an existence of monotony and inhuman grinding that is completely antithetical to Transcendence. This is in part by design. The Legions' power comes mostly from the number of Wraiths under their control and having your employees Transcend loses you power. Therefore, the Deathlords have ended up discouraging Transcendence, even making trying it illegal in a lot of cases. The Legions disagree about almost everything, but one rule they all follow is the Dictum Mortuum, a complicated legal code laid down by Charon that can be summarized as "don't mess with the world of the living". Of course, since the Underworld is directly affected by the living, all of the Legions will end up breaking the Dictum Mortuum eventually, they'll just try to keep it a secret.

The Iron Legion is charged with keeping up the infrastructure of Styigia and the Necropolii. They build up the fortifications to protect them from particularly powerful storms in the Tempest and from Whistimmu and Spectres. The Iron Legion also maintains the Byways and looks for new methods of travel through the Tempest. Their militant branch is charged with hunting down and destroying Spectres. The Wraiths who are assigned to the Iron Legion are those who died of old age. They tend to respect accomplishments over titles and are known for minimal political infighting. The Deathlord of the Iron Legion is the Ashen Lady. She was said to be the chieftain of a Celtic tribe in pre-Roman Great Britain in life. In death she is an accomplished spymaster with her fingers in every pie and ears everywhere.

The Skeletal Legion is responsible for day to day bureaucracy that keeps Stygia running, making them effectively the civil services of the dead. The Legion is a vast hive of clerks, managers, and bureaucrats that seems incomprehensible to all but the most skilled of the higher-ups. While Skeletal Legion members are often considered little more than desk workers and paper pushers, they do also control the police force of Stygia. Wraiths assigned to the Skeletal Legion are those who died of disease. Members tend to form cliques based on the disease that killed them. So for example, the Wraiths who dies of tuberculosis tend to like hanging out with each other more than those who died of smallpox. The Skeletal Legion is facing something of a recruitment problem as of the last century or so as medical science has vastly reduced the number of people who die of disease in the western world. The Deathlord of the Skeletal Legion is the Skeletal Lord. He was probably a Canaanite record keeper in life and is now very insane and unpredictable. There are rumors that he has Wraiths working to create new diseases to be released among the living to bolster his recruitment numbers.

The Grim Legion is the military of Stygia. They are tasked with quelling rebellion among the necropoli, fighting renegades and heretics, dealing with powerful Malfeans and other monsters, and waging war against other Dark Kingdoms. The Grim Legion was a major factor in Stygia's expansion to cover all of the western world and they still battle for power amongst the Dark Kingdoms. Stygia has an on and off war that has been raging for millennia with the Dark Kingdom of Jade, the underworld of most of Asia. The Dark Kingdom of Jade, also known as the Yellow Springs, is a highly expansionist power that may actually be a worse place to be dead than Stygia. Wraiths who are assigned to the Grim Legion are those who died of violence. This means a lot of warriors end up here, but also a lot of murder victims. While the warriors end up joining the armed forces, those without skill in combat are tasked with the logistical and bureaucratic backbone of the military. The Deathlord of the Grim Legion is the Smiling Lord. Not much is known about him, but it is known that the current Smiling Lord is not the original. The first Smiling Lord once attempted a military coup of the Hierarchy that was thwarted when Charon showed up to stop him. Charon replaced the Smiling Lord and nobody knows what happened to the original. The Smiling Lord promises each Wraith who enters his service the chance to get revenge against the one who killed them. This tends to involve a lot of violations of the Dictum Mortuum. On the off chance that someone who killed a member of the Legion ends up as a Wraith under the Legion, the Skeletal Lord will chuck them into a moat of burning water where the Wraith will burn forever.

The Penitent Legion's purpose is unclear. They are heavily associated with exploring the Tempest and the labyrinth but nobody is entirely sure what they do or if they even remember their original purpose. This is not helped by the fact that none of the other Legions like the Penitent Legion and prefer to keep them as far away as possible. The Legion is known for its creativity and for being incredibly skilled at fighting the monsters that lurk the Tempest and the Labyrinth. Members of the Penitent Legion are those who died of madness. While this does include people who were killed by the mentally ill, they are the minority. The people the mentally ill are the most dangerous to are themselves and the mad are often targeted and killed out of hate and fear by other people. The reason the legion is called penitent and why the other Legions don't like them is because of a belief in the underworld that Oblivion is strengthened by the madness of the living. Thus the Penitent Legion is paying penance for strengthening Oblivion while alive. Whether or not this belief is actually true is questionable at best. The Deathlord of the Penitent Legion is the Laughing Lady, so called because her laughing or weeping (it's hard to tell) can be heard through her entire palace. She is a recluse that only a very few have ever seen, so not much is known about her. Many believe she is a child.

The Emerald Legion is in charge of running the economic and non-governmental aspects of daily unlife in Stygia. They are probably the most popular Legion amongst the citizens, as being very approachable and friendly is a key tenet of their culture. Unlike the other Legions, which are very hidebound and inflexible, the Emerald Legion encourages dissent and innovation, for new ideas are valuable in shaping Stygian society and improving it. Business owners, inventors, even philosophers are all found among the Emerald Legion and they are encouraged to try new things and compete with each other. In many ways, the culture of diversity of thought is a necessity in the Legion as they are one of the most diverse in terms of membership. Wraiths assigned to the Emeral Legion are those who died by accident. Whether that means something you did went wrong, a failed medical procedure, or you just got hit by a bus, you'll end up in the Emerald Legion. The Deathlord of the Emerald Legion is the Emerald Lord, and the current one is not the original one. When the original Smiling Lord attempted his coup, the Emerald Lord sided with him and was replaced by Charon when the coup was foiled.

The Silent Legion is charged with helping defend Stygia from Oblivion. While this involves a lot of military action against Spectres and Malfeans, it also involves keeping track of and defending Nihils and helping other Wraiths resist the temptations of their Shadows. Every Wraith who falls and becomes a Spectre is a victory for Oblivion and thus the Silent Legion opposes that by providing what are essentially therapists to help each other remain strong in opposition of their Shadows. Unfortunately, the Silent Legion is one of the smallest and a large part of that is because both the Grim Legion and the Penitent Legion claim the right to any would-be members. Wraiths assigned to the Silent Legion are those whose death was self-inflicted. This means those who died of suicide should end up here, but the Grim Legion claims that suicide is a form of violence and the Penitent Legion claims it is a form of madness and thus they snatch up many Wraiths that should have gone to the Silent Legion. The Silent Legion also includes martyrs who died for a cause and those who put themselves in danger to save others, meaning an activist who died of a hunger strike and a firefighter who died getting people out of a burning building would also end up in the Silent Legion. The Deathlord of the Silent Legion is the Quiet Lord, who is incredibly secretive and the least ambitious of the Deathlords. He does do his best to help new members with their Shadows for pragmatic reasons. Many Wraiths who died of suicide are very vulnerable to falling to their Shadows and becoming Spectres for the same reasons they couldn't bear life anymore, and the Quiet Lord does not want his new recruits turning Spectre constantly.

The Legion of Paupers is in charge of investigating and uncovering mysteries. A large part of this is figuring out how other Wraiths died so they can be sorted into the right Legion, but they also investigate conspiracies in the underworld, the multitude of bizarre phenomena that occurs in Stygia, and they are very skilled spies and information brokers. The Legion is also the dumping ground for all the Wraiths that the other Legions don't want. Officially, the Legion takes in Wraiths whose cause of death is unknown. Not every Wraith can remember how they dies and their Corpus doesn't always have the answers, so if nobody can figure it out, they go to the Legion of Paupers. This makes the Legion small as it has few natural recruits. The Deathlord of the Legion of Paupers is the Beggar Lord, a bitter and paranoid person who was given the job because someone had to do it. He is tired of unlife and just wants it to end, but is too much of a coward to throw himself into Oblivion and too stubborn to become a Spectre. He has quite a bit of political power by acting as the deciding vote when the Deathlords debate on what to do. The other Deathlords will send his Legion Wraiths to curry favor. However, they never send their best and brightest Wraiths to the Legion of Paupers, those ones are too valuable to lose. The other Legions send the Wraiths they consider the least useful and thus the Beggar Lord has to make do with misfits that don't have any particularly valuable skills.

The Legion of Fate is tasked with protecting the existence of the Hierarchy itself. They are the smallest Legion, a tiny but elite group that doesn't act the the other Legions and only springs into action when Stygia itself is threatened. There is no type of death that inducts one into the Legion of Fate. Instead, some Wraiths enter the underworld with marking on their Corpus that indicate they are touched by fate itself. The Legion is secretive and does not often interfere with the politics and daily activities of the Empire. Instead of a single Deathlord, the Legion is commanded by the Ladies of Fate, a group of mysterious, identical Wraiths. They may have been chose by and act as the representatives of the mysterious Lady of Fate, but nobody outside the Legion really knows.

Also holding a lot of political power in Stygia are the Guilds. Officially, the guilds do not exist anymore. They used to be official organizations that acted alongside the Legions until they all teamed up to overthrow the Hierarchy and take control of Stygia. This failed and the Guilds were officially dissolved. However, many of the important members just kept on acting like they were still official. Nowadays, the Guilds are loose organizations that each specialize in using one of the Arcanoi. Arcanoi are the powers that Wraiths have and the Guilds specialize in providing training in their use and using those powers to get profit and political favor. Any Wraith can learn any Arcanos and most will try to learn some skills from multiple Arcanoi. The Legions ultimately use all Arcanoi, though each legion will value some over others. Gaining sufficient skill in an Arcanos will lead to the Wraith's corpus gaining a special marking that cannot be removed. You don't have to be a member of a Guild to use its Arcanos, but it is very beneficial to do so as the Guilds have vast amounts of knowledge and resources. Not all the Arcanoi are treated as equal by the empire. Some are absolutely vital for keeping Stygia running and are therefore highly praised. Others are more neutral or outright illegal.

Inhabit is the Arcanos that allows Wraiths to inhabit inanimate objects. When inhabiting an object, the Wraith can use it for its intended purpose or (if they are very skilled) use it for purposes it was not intended to do. Inhabit is very useful for those looking to violate the Dictum Mortuum as it is very hard for a wraith to exist in and interact with the Skinlands without inhabiting an object. You might think this means Inhabit would be a banned Arcanos, but it's actually the most important and highly valued of them all. Inhabit is valued not for it's regular use but for a side use known as soulforging. This is the craft of changing one type of plasmic object into another. Objects are rare in the underworld. Only very significant items are memorable enough to gain a reflection in the Shadowlands known as a Relic. Relics are usually too valuable to melt down into everyday goods, so the majority of soulforged objects are made out of Wraiths. Mostly they use Drones, which are mindless Wraiths, but criminals, undesirables, rebels, or just about anyone who the Legions don't consider useful or who is in the wrong place at the wring time could be soulforged into paper or tools or weapons or anything else that other Wraiths need and are willing to pay for. Practitioners of Inhabit are known as Artificers and they claim that soulforging destroys the mind of the Wraith. Most are willing to accept that and ignore the occasional sound of weeping that soulforged objects emit. Skilled practitioners of inhabit will develop markings on their Corpi that resemble the kinds of devices they frequently inhabit.

Moliate is the Arcanos that allows for altering a Wraith's Corpus. It's essentially plastic surgery for ghosts, but it can do things no mortal surgeon could accomplish. Moliate can give a wraith skin made of steel, mighty claws for rending foes, wings, or just turn someone into a dragon. Since a Wraith's Corpus looks like how their body looked at the time of death, a lot of them are very messed up and would pay a lot to get ride of the constantly bleeding wounds and missing limbs that so many of them have. Moliate is also invaluable for disguises. Practitioners of Moliate are known as Maskers. Skilled practitioners of Moliate will find some aspect of their appearance they cannot change no matter how hard they try. Moliate is one of the Arcanoi that is essential for Stygia.

Castigate is the Arcanos that subdues and pacifies the Shadow. Since the Shadow is constantly trying to take control of every Wraith, users of Castigate are invaluable for keeping them under control. They act as therapists for the underworld, helping Wraiths subdue their Shadows and work towards Transcendence. And in the Underworld, battling your inner demons is often quite literal. Unfortunately, there are far more Wraiths in need of the help of a Castigate user than there are users of Castigate. There is also a combat application of Castigate, as the skills are highly damaging to Spectres. Practitioners of Castigate are known as Pardoners. Use of Castigate will turn the practitioner's fingers black. Castigate is one of the Arcanoi that is essential to Stygia.

Usury is the Arcanos that allows for the manipulation of emotional energy in the form of Pathos. Pathos is the most useful resource a Wraith has access to as it is used to heal their Corpus, fuel their Arcanoi, and resist their Shadows. Through Usury, Pathos can be altered, exchanged, given, and taken away, though no Usurer can create Pathos where none exists. Though Usury is one of the essential Arcanoi, it often has a bad reputation as there are many Usurers who have used their powers to harm rather than heal and they fact that Usurers act as the bankers of the underworld. Practitioners of Usury are called Usurers. Use of Usury will make mathematical symbols appear on the Corpus that record the transactions the Usurer has made.

Keening is the Arcanos that allows the user to alter the emotions of others through song. Since Pathos and Angst are produced through emotions, Keening is quite powerful as a way to create new resources and help resist the Shadow. Powerful practitioners can use the Arcanos extremely subtly, altering the emotions of the people around them to serve their own ends. After all, someone is much more likely to help you out if they're in a good mood and have a sense of trust toward you. The Hierarchy also employs practitioners to help Wraiths experience the things they would normally have to go to the Skinlands for without having to violate the Dictum Mortuum. Practitioners of Keening are known as Chanteurs. Use of Keening will cause a barely-audible melody to emanate from the user's body.

Argos is the Arcanos that allows for navigating the Tempest. The Tempest holds innumerable treasures, but navigating it is extremely dangerous due to how unpredictable it is. Argos allows users to find safe passageways through the storm. Users of Argos often act as messengers, guides, and explorers. Practitioners of Argos are known as Harbingers. Use of Argos manifests as a black sheen over the eyes that grows darker as the user becomes more experienced.

Fatalism is the Arcanos that allows one to observe the web of fate. Fate is not a single inevitable path to the future, it is a vast web that connects everyone and is constantly shifting. Users of Fatalism can discern possible futures by observing the patterns of the web, though their visions are rarely straightforward. Extremely skilled practitioners of Fatalism can even alter the web of fate, moving strands to alter the destinies of others. Practitioners of Fatalism are known as Oracles. Nobody trusts them, but they are connected to the Legion of Fate and the Lady of Fate, which is why the Arcanos hasn't been outlawed. Use of Fatalism results in symbols appearing on the Corpus that reflect the rituals the Oracle uses to peer into the future.

Phantasm is the Arcanos that allows for the manipulation of dreams. The underworld runs on emotions and dreams are a powerful source of emotions. What causes problems with the Heirarchy is that Phantasm can manipulate the dreams of the living just as easily as those of the dead. Not only does this violate the Dictum Mortuum, manipulating the dreams of the living can directly affect the memories that make up the underworld, giving skilled users of Phantasm immense power. Practitioners of Phantasm are known as Sandmen. Use of Phantasm causes images to appear on the Corpus that reflect the user's thoughts and dreams.

Pandemonium is an illegal Arcanos that allows users to create surreal phenomena in the Skinlands. These effects are usually frightening and violate the laws of physics, such as making walls bleed or hallways lead on forever. Particularly skilled users of Pandemonium can make the Shroud between the underworld and the Skinlands grow weak, turning locations in the mortal world into nightmarish horrors that defy reality. Practitioners of Pandemonium are called Haunters, and they are hunted by the Hierarchy without mercy. Some claim that the Arcanos was developed with noble goals, trying to weaken the Shroud so the living would be able to understand and come to terms with death and fear it less. Use of Pandemonium manifests as a black cloak the Haunter must carry everywhere.

Lifeweb is an illegal Arcanos that manipulates the Fetters that keep Wraiths from Transcending. Lefeweb allows practitioners to weaken the downsides of Fetters while strengthen the benefits (or vice-versa), learn information about them, and even help Wraiths let go of them to move toward Transcendence. On the other hand, they can corrupt Fetters, leading Wraiths closer to their Shadows. The Arcanos was made illegal as many users would abuse it to gain incredible influence over very important members of the Hierarchy. Users of Lifeweb are known as Monitors. Use of Lifeweb manifests as an inability to close your eyes.

Outrage is an illegal Arcanos that allows users to transform emotional energy into kinetic force. This is the Arcanos that allows Wraiths to act as poltergeists, moving objects in the Skinlands. Excessive use of Outrage can damage the Shroud, causing the underworld and the Skinlands to belled together in unnatural ways. This would require lots of users working together, which is why the Hierarchy invests a lot of resources into hunting them down and keeping them divided into multiple squabbling factions. Users of Outrage are known as Spooks. Use of Outrage causes the user to become more muscular.

Embody is an illegal Arcanos that allows the practitioner to manifest a physical form in the Skinlands. This is of course a blatant violation of the Dictum Mortuum, but it is also highly sought out as pretty much all Wraiths want to experience what's it's like to alive again, even for a second. Directly interacting with the Skinlands is also very useful for Wraiths seeking to resolve their Fetters and Transcend. Sometimes, all it takes is saying goodbye to a loved one you never got the change to before you died or getting revenge on the one who killed you for a Wraith to come to terms with their death and pass on. While the Arcanos is extremely illegal, the Hierarchy still maintains top secret alliances with users as they know just how useful they are. Practitioners of Embody are known as Proctors. Use of Embody manifests as a type of stimulus that the user wishes to experience in the Skinlands, such as a phantom taste or hair being blown around by the wind. These manifestations are never quite enough to satisfy the user's desires, however.

Puppetry is an illegal Arcanos that allows users to control the bodies of the living. This usually means humans, but powerful practitioners can control animals or other supernatural beings like vampires. They may also learn to control the body in ways the actual mortal cannot, such as bending joints the wrong way or healing faster. Very skilled practitioners can even destroy a mortal's soul and take over their body, though only temporarily. Unlike Embody, many of the sensations of the Skinlands are still dulled to users, making Puppetry less popular. It is, however, easier to learn. The Deathlords do secretly keep users of Puppetry on call in case quick damage control is needed for something happening in the Skinlands. Practitioners of Puppetry are called Puppeteers. Use of Puppetry causes the user to develop features of the people they possess.

Many of the previous Arcanoi were illegal, but the Hierarchy recognizes how useful they are and will call upon those skills on occasion. The three forbidden Arcanoi are not that. They are so bad and dangerous that the Hierarchy seeks to destroy them outright. Practitioners of the illegal guilds may get off with normal punishment. Getting caught practicing one of the forbidden Arcanoi means a one-way ticket to the soul forges.

Flux is the forbidden Arcanos that allows for manipulating the properties of matter. It can be used to alter the properties of just about any object, both Relic and physical. The primary use of the Arcanos and one of the reasons it was made forbidden is taking things from the Skinlands and transforming them into Relics, alllowing them to properly exist in the underworld. The main reason the Arcanos is forbidden, however, is politics. Most of the abilities of Flux are also covered by the other Arcanoi. Back when the Guilds still officially existed, this meant any user of Flux threatened the monopolies of almost all the Guilds singlehandedly. This led to the guilds banding together and using their influence over the Hierarchy to get Flux forbidden. Practitioners of Flux are known as Alchemists. Use of Flux causes the user's Corpus to begin to look artificial.

Mnemosynis is the forbidden Arcanos that allows users to read and alter the memories of others, both mortal and Wraith. Not only does this allow users unfettered aces to the minds of others, they can affect the very makeup of the underworld itself. The underworld is made of memories, after all, so users of Mnemosynis can chance the underworld itself by changing how other people remember it. A skilled user of Mnemosynis can make someone or something cease to exist or alter it on a fundamental level by changing the memories of everyone who knows about that person or thing. Back when the Guild of Mnemosynis was official, they managed to gain control over virtually the entire Empire and it took a very, very long time to excise them. There are also rumors that there are still some users of Mnemosynis within the Hierarchy, manipulating the whole empire to their ends. There is a very good reason why this Arcanos is feared above all others. Users of Mnemosynis are called Mnemoi. Use of Mnemosynis causes the Corpus to crystallize, while still remaining fully functional.

Intimation is the forbidden Arcanos that allows users to read and control the emotions of anything that has a mind to think. Emotion defines a Wraith's existence, meaning that users of Intimation can effectively change another Wraith on a fundamental level if they chose to do so. To alter a Wraith's desires is to change who they are. Keening has similar functions to Intimation, but is much less effective as changing the fundamental aspirations and needs that make a Wraith themselves. Despite being forbidden, many still seek out users of Intimation. After all, wanting to change is a very important part of Transcendence. You have to want to let go of your Fetters and accept that your life has ended, and many Wraiths can't even get past that first step. Intimation can be an extremely useful tool on the path to Transcendence. Users of Intimation are called Solicitors. Use of Intimation causes the left eye to glow green.

An elephant in the room when discussing Wraith: the Oblivion is the Sixth Great Maelstrom. You see, Wraith was one of the less popular Old World of Darkness games, so eventually the writers decided to end the gameline with a bang. The Tempest is a constant storm, but sometimes it gets whipped up into a truly massive storm called a Maelstrom. Stygia has gotten quite good at weathering Maelstroms, but sometimes one happens that is so big there's nothing that can be done about it. These are the Great Maelstroms, and they are usually caused by events in the Skinlands causing mass amounts of death and emotional turmoil is a short span of time. The Fifth Great Maelstrom was triggered by World War II, for example. The Sixth and worst Great Maelstrom was different. It happened in 1999 as the culmination of events across the supernatural world. First was the Week of Nightmares (which you can read about in my Vampire: the Masquerade post) where a godlike vampire arose from slumber and ate a good chunk of India before being killed by the Technocracy (a group of science mages you can read about in my Mage: the Ascension post) with spirit nukes and satellites. This on its own caused a minor Maelstrom, but that wasn't all. At the same time, Anubis (who rules the Egyptian underworld and may be an actual god) called in a favor with the Smiling Lord. He wanted the city of Enoch destroyed. Enoch is the First City controlled by the first vampire Caine which was eventually destroyed by the flood of Noah. It was then transported to the Underworld and was inhabited and controlled by a group of immensely powerful vampires and mages who managed to keep the city safe from the Hierarchy. The Smiling Lord used the Relic versions of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to destroy Enoch and everyone living there. At the same time, a Technocracy mage was conducting an experiment that involved detonating a magic bomb in the mouth of Oblivion. All of this stuff happening at the same time triggered the Sixth Great Maelstrom.

The Sixth Great Maelstrom proceeded to ravage the underworld, washing away Stygia and devastating the Necropoli. The Hierarchy was destroyed and a Malfean Godzilla attacked the remnants. Charon himself had to return to defeat the Malfean and Transcended immediately after. Countless Wraiths were destroyed utterly, their very souls ripped asunder. Countless more were hurled into the Skinlands and trapped there. In the end, nothing remained of the Stygian Hierarchy or the civilization of the western underworld. A limited run sequal game was launched called Orpheus which involves the aftermath of the Sixth Great Maelstrom from the point of view of humans using machines to astrally project into Stygia. A few years later in real life, the Old World of Darkness as a franchise was ended, with all of the games receiving their own personal apocalypse. And then 2011 happened, and the Old World of Darkness was revived, with most of the games receiving a 20th anniversary edition. This included Wraith. The rulebook takes a hand-off approach to saying how the Sixth Great Maelstrom played out in this new timeline. It's ultimately left up to the players to decide how they want to run things in their games. You can run a game where the Sixth Great Maelstrom never happened, or one where the Stygian Hierarchy managed to hold on and survive, or one where the Hierarchy was destroyed and you make up your own ideas of what replaced it. It's left entirely up to you and what kind of game you want to run.

Previous World of Darkness lore overviews: Vampire, Werewolf, Mage.