• About: A type of afterlife. Not in the same vein as Heaven/Hell/Higher/Lower being deal
• This is simply: What would happen if the energy that is left behind after you die retains your consciousness
• In other words: This is an rpg about ghosts.
• This is not an rpg about hunting ghosts or where ghosts ambiently happen
• You are ghosts. You are people who have factually died.
• But to your immense surprise: No pearly gates or firey pits or blankness - you wake up exactly where you died.
• Except everything is grayscale and you can see things that you really shouldn't see walkin' around
• First thing is first: Ghosts in the classical sense cannot interact with the living worlds unless they are very powerful. This is still true.
• Don't touch living things. That's not a good idea.
• Since you're made out of energy, you will probably wind up dispersing into the person you walked through.
• Accidental hauntings.
• All ghosts tend to be aware of a sort of...beacon.
• Nobody knows where the fuck it is, it's just there.
• The goal is to fucking find the end of that rainbow.
• Now, right out of the gate: The Others are either like "woohoo starborn" or "[confused screeching kill them all]"
• The rumor is that this beacon is "life" or "rebirth"
• It is also said that in order to actually find the beacon, you have to be pretty fucking powerful.
• You gotta be able to manifest physically.
• Not easy,.
• Meanwhile, you are stuck in the "Pale Realm".
• It is not just a place for human ghosts - it's a place for everything that human's can't comprehend.
• All of these things - or at least most of them - are also made of energy.
• Dealing with them can increase your energy. Wee ghost osmosis.
• The most interesting thing here is that easiest way for any of these entities to travel is electricity.
• Yes, you can travel through the internet. The phone lines. Radio signals.
• Most of the existing ghost are known as "Shades"
• Not very powerful, not all the way there in the head.
• Some of the ghosts that have been around a while longer have significantly more of their energy intact.
• These are called "Chosen" by the Shades or by the Others: "Snacks"
• But we're not going to talk about that.
• They hold more energy than Shades but they can't manifest or anything.
• That's not something you can do unless you're fucking ripped.
• With all of this bullshit between Others and ghosts and what not: Nobody has figured out how to stop the loop anyway.
• Eventually ghosts disperse if they don't have enough power.
• It is thought that if someone activated the beacon it would affect everyone.
• To everyone's knowledge: No one has successfully beaconed.
SHADES: Majority. Not all the way there in the head. Not very powerful either. They know that they're looking for something but fuck if they know what or where it is.
CHOSEN: Way more energy than Shades, but can't manifest. No haunting for you bitch. The Shades call them "Chosen", the Others call them "Snacks."
MANIFESTATION: They can manifest. That's like Chosen Level 2
POLTERGEIST: Wow you're fucked.
OTHERS: They can't directly hurt you, but that does not go for the things they've given their power to. Along with the "ghosts" there are also intelligent entities that aren't even slightly human. These things are often known as "The Others". They are by and large extremely powerful beings that almost unanimously are trying to get back into the regular world by tearing a hole in reality. They can share energy. And they're quite keen to do so. However what they don't tell you is that when they do that, they are literally planting a part of their being in you. This makes you a fucking conduit. "Darklings" for lack of a less stupid name. Generally try to appear human. They aren't very good at it, but they tried. They could look significantly worse, okay?
DARKLINGS: They come in a number of shapes, sizes, and power levels. Depends on how favored they are. Some of them are literally little creepy crawlies. Some of them are like "oh shit" and those are Conduits.
CONDUITS: A serious fucking issue. They will literally be able to eat you and they might even barbecue your non-body first. This is what happens when a Darkling is super-favored.
FENRIR: The only Other to have fully dumped himself into one hell of a meatsuit.
By the way: Gods have to come from somewhere. And those are our antagonists!
Dr. G: Seldom seen and seldom escaped. He didn't bother with a different appearance. He works through
Dr. J: The defacto terror of the Pale. The muscle behind the terrifying thing that is Dr. G.
Very recently, certain dead folk have - instead of coming in as Shades and working their way up - They're already extremely energy-rich. They don't know how to use that, so they aren't very effective yet but...Wow this is causing one hell of a stir.
A lot of folks believe this has something to do with the last time they thought someone reached the beacon. According to common myth, these people might be Astrum Prognatus - a.k.a. Starborn.
A group of Poltergeists are officially going after the beacon. They've taken up sponsorship of Dr. J. They aren't stupid enough to become Darklings, but they're working with him. This is generally considered a bad thing. Most Poltergeists don't give a fuck anymore, they've been there long enough to just want out goddammit.
Also: There are literal ethereal doors in places. Almost nobody wants to even go near them because the Others go in and out of them a lot so why would they do that. It's a thing that's happening.
THE PALE:
• "Walls" don't matter. Not because Ghosts can walk through walls, but because they literally aren't on the same wavelength.
• The Pale is plastered over/under the human plane - depending on how you look at it.
• There's still a structure to it, it's just very...unique.
• A gigantic inter-connected web of buildings and spires going way higher than human physics even fucking allow - and below ground it's just eternal void you get nothing.
• Don't step into the nothing, there are noises and bad feels emanating from the Void.
• It's not even void okay, it's just an inkblot over a part of this story you don't want to read.
• Rain isn't a problem, but running water will directly sap your energy. Were you a pro-swimmer? WELL NOW YOU'RE NOT UNLESS YOU WANT TO BECOME A HOLLOW SHELL OF A SHADE WITH AN INFINITE APPETITE.
• Think of like a thousand cities stitched together by pale towers and completely ignoring human structures.
• If you get to the top and you don't snuff out frm looking directly into the face of the universe, it's one hell of an experience.
10/10 would totally recommend.