Character Rules - Death Affiliated

Character Rules - Death-Affiliated: Necromancers, Animators, Ghosts, Ghouls, Zombies and Mediums

These rules will cover those that are affiliated with the dead, both after death (ghosts, ghouls, and zombies) and before death (mediums, necromancers, and animators). It should be understood from the start that these rules are meant to be generic enough to help characters create death-affiliated characters without covering all aspects. This will allow a writer to create a character that is unique within the framework.

There are many examples of death-affiliated characters in popular culture. Some notable examples are found within the Anita Blake novels, Nancy Collins' Sonja Blue cycle, The Ghost Pirates by William Hope Hodgson, Hell House by Richard Matheson, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead Trilogy, Ghost or various episodes of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Angel.

The dead and those affiliated with death are all around us so it should come as no surprise that they are also in Sanctuary. It should be remembered that this is a writing list, so the limits here are determined by the writer and the admin in character creation. Limits exist to stay within the Sanctuary philosophy that there are always limitations and disadvantages to counter advantages.

Definitions:

The Living

Mediums

Those with the ability to communicate with the dead or have an awareness of the dead.

Mediums are people who see, hear, or feel the presence of the dead and are able to communicate with them. The extent that they are able to do this depends on their affinity with the dead. Those with a weak affinity may never get more than goose bumps or a feeling that there is something that they can't quite put their finger on, but the dead could seem almost life-like to those with a stronger affinity.

Unlike an animator or a necromancer, a medium cannot control the dead in any way. It is up to the dead to choose whether they wish to interact with the medium. A medium may be more influenced by the ghosts, than the other way around.

Mediums are unable to turn off their ability. At most, they can learn to accept their gift. Mediums are often at the mercy of ghosts that wish to use a medium for their own ends.

Animators

Those that have an awareness of the dead, have some ability to control the dead, and some immunity to the abilities of the walking dead (typically vampires). The walking dead can often sense an animator that isn't shielded.

An animator is sensitive to death and the dead. With the proper raising of energy, typically through blood sacrifices, they can bring the dead back to the semblance of life. This is called animation or raising the dead.

In some cultures (such as in the US), there is a stigma associated with being able to raise the dead and laws against this practice. Often, the animator or necromancer is bonded when raising the dead legally and waivers are filled out by the next of kin for the corpse to be raised so that everyone is indemnified. Raising the dead to clarify wills or in cases of people died in testate (without a will) was first used in the mid 1800s in Louisiana. It has since become a part of the American legal system, though not used on all areas of the country. Typically, the animator/necromancer must fill out an affidavit as an expert witness and in certain cases there are multiple animator/necromancers present as the body is raised to test for tampering by the raising animator, each for a different client in a probate case.

In much the same way that vampires are usually only awake at night, animators can only raise the dead at night. The amount of energy needed to raise the dead depends on the age of the corpse and the cycle of the moon. The farther from the new moon or the older the corpse, the more energy isrequired for the raising.

An animator's ability to raise the dead depends on their personal power and the animator's control over the dead through the force of the animator's will. Their personal power controls how much energy they can control. Some ghosts or spirits will fight being animated back into their dead flesh or fight against the animator that is controlling them. The spirits of animators or necromancers are much harder to control than others.

Often energies are raised through ritual and tools based upon the training and tradition that the animator follows. (i.e.; a voodoun practitioner would follow different traditions and use different rituals than a catholic priest.) The effort of manipulating these energies is fatiguing and as the will of an animator is integral to their control, few animators will raise the dead several times in a row without adequate rest due to the potentially dire consequences of failure.

A note about blood sacrifices: the more intelligent the sacrifice, the more energy is raised by its death. The more pure the sacrifice, the more energy is raised by its death (i.e.; a chicken would be less powerful than a dog, or even a dolphin, and a child would be more powerful than a typical adult.) Some animators will find certain sacrifices to be morally repugnant, such as human sacrifice. Some animators sacrifice some of their own blood to tighten their control on the dead that they've raised.

Energy raised through blood sacrifice that is beyond what the animator can control can find its own use.

Example: Art Animator isn't all that powerful and didn't cast a protective circle before he started to work. A goat is about all he can safely control, but when trying to raise a 100-year-old body he sacrifices a bull. Most of that energy is beyond his control. That uncontrolled energy spills out and turns a freshly dead corpse into a ghoul.

Necromancers

Those with a greater awareness of the dead, far greater control of the dead (both the normal dead and to a lesser extent to vampires), a stronger immunity to the abilities of the walking dead (typically vampires), and often the abilities of a medium. Necromancers are extremely rare.

Unlike the Webster definition c. 1522, necromancer does not refer to one who tries to divine the future from the dead. In this case, the word refers to a necromancer's greater affinity and control of the dead. Their ability often grows large enough that they are able to raise the dead during the day, though it is often prohibitively expensive in terms of the energy needed to do it.

The greater affinity with the dead comes at a cost: a necromancer's ability to raise the dead must be used, either consciously or unconsciously. This means that a necromancer does not have the luxury of hiding from their abilities as the animator does. They typically find out about their abilities when they begin to manifest, often during the first blush of puberty.

A necromancer's influence over a vampire is not absolute; a vampire can fight against it by using his or her will and vampiric energies, though typically this is painful for the vampire. A master vampire typically has stronger resources to defend himself than the average vampire. With the expenditure of a great deal of energy, again usually raised through blood sacrifice, a necromancer may raise a vampire during the day and would have the same level of control that he would over any other animated corpse. A necromancer's control over a raised vampire is broken when that vampire arises naturally. (Please see the vampire rules for clarification, but typically this occurs at dusk.)

Example: Nicole Necromancer. She's fairly powerful and has a couple of decades of experience. She can spot a vampire, as all animators and necromancers can do. She can use her energy to push a vampire toward a simple goal (telling the truth) without raising her energies with a blood sacrifice. With sacrifices, Nicole can raise a vampire during the day. The stronger the vampire, the more it is able to fight her control.

Because of their rarity and various societal stigmas associated with them (in some areas), it is difficult for a necromancer to grow to his or her full potential. Much about their abilities hasn't been studied and codified. Teachers are rare and useful information is hidden among large amounts of speculation and idle thoughts.

The Dead

Ghouls

The raised dead that aren't under the conscious control of an animator or necromancer.

They sustain their existence by eating human flesh. In some cases, they are raised by an animator or necromancer that loses control of them, but in other cases they are spontaneously raised. It is not clear what causes this.

They are as strong or stronger than humans, do not feel pain, and are less intelligent than when they were alive. They often hunt in packs and are inactive during the day. They favor dark places.

An animator or necromancer can take control of ghoul, laying them to rest or using them as a zombie. They can be killed by decapitation or fire.

Zombies

The raised dead under the conscious control of an animator or necromancer.

Their existence is sustained by the power of the animator or necromancer and must be laid back to rest by them.

Ghosts

Wandering spirits of the dead.

For the scope of these rules, we will be discussing human ghosts, though animal spirits, ghost ships and the other specters exist. Emotional residues and telekinetic poltergeists are under the purview of the human admin and psychic powers.

A ghost is someone who has died and either doesn't know that they are dead, or believe that they have unfinished business. They are tied to a focus on Earth.

This focus can be a place, an object or more rarely a person or persons. The focus gives them the energy needed to continue their existence, but this is not open-ended. If their link to their focus is severed through magic or the destruction of the focus, the ghost will fade and their existence will be over.

Magicians, necromancers, powerful psychics and in some cases, their living foci can help a ghost leave the earthly plane and continue their spiritual journey. It is neither common, nor easy, but it is possible.

Ghosts have limited abilities to affect the physical world at a cost, depending on their will and their emotional strength. While it is easier for them to affect their focus, it still comes at a cost: the energy that they need to continue their existence. Typically, they are unable to affect the physical world for a period of time until they've regathered their energy.

Any special abilities that a ghost had in life are lost. An animator wouldn't be able to raise the dead, the ghost of an alpha would not be able to influence living weres using the were energy that they no longer have, the ghost of a sorcerer wouldn't be able to cast spells, the ghost of a psychic wouldn't be able to read minds, etc.... This is separate from a ghost's ability to influence their focus.

Example: Gus Ghost is a guardian spirit. He's tied to his family and takes his ability to protect them seriously. He can influence his family and in some cases control their bodies when they are asleep and unable to protest, but he wouldn't be able to do that with a burglar that breaks into their home.

Powerful ghosts are rare and truly destructive ghosts tend to expend their energies rapidly and fade. Over time, it is common for a ghost to become more befuddled and weaker as they forget more and more of their former life and their link to their focus becomes more defused. A necromancer can use their abilities to strengthen a ghost.

Various Examples:

Emotional Imprint

While common, these are typically not sentient spirits. All that is left of them is a strong feeling or emotion. More powerful ghosts can be felt by normal people, but usually they are only noticed by psychics or those attuned with the dead.

Poltergeist

Noisy ghosts. These are the most violent form of ghosts. Usually focused around an adolescent, this type of ghost is rarely seen directly. Instead they are seen through their actions. They move objects and depending on their emotional strength can either move things randomly or with intent, either beneficial or detrimental.

Repeaters

These are semi-sentient ghosts that appear on a schedule (the anniversary of their death is common) and repeat events important to them in life.

Example: Roy Repeater, who appears at the ruins of the old Sanctuary Sisters of Mercy hospital on March 4th of every year. He can be seen moving through the ruins acting out the happiest day of his life: the birth of his son.

Example: Regina Repeater, who appears in the park where she was killed every night at 11:13pm and runs from her attacker until she's caught and killed.

Shadow Man

These ghosts are seen, but not heard. In some cases, they can only be seen in mirrors, on the edge of someone's vision, by a psychic or those attuned with the dead.

Guardian

These are ghosts deeply connected to a focus, this connection keeps their will strong over the years. In the most extreme cases, they cannot travel far from their focus.

Examples of ghosts in popular culture would include The Haunting of Hill House, Ghost, Poltergeist, Hell House, Heart and Souls, Beetlejuice, The Sixth Sense, and High Spirits.

Employment opportunities for death-affiliated characters: There are as many ways for these characters to make a living as their writers can think up. An animator or necromancer could raise the dead for legal firms, work as a bodyguard or private detective. A medium might also become a private detective, counselor or heir finder. There are also plenty of opportunities for those that would use raised dead as muscle to further extralegal opportunities.

Thanks to those that have helped with these rules and have given me their concerns and issues.

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