Bound Soul

“Most terrible is a ghost’s mien, and people say that they are marred by their death wounds and walk around with their head cut off, or with a noose around their neck. You can avoid becoming a ghost if you live your life pleasing unto the gods and pray to Praios thrice in your dying hour. However, if you commit murder, or die during the Nameless Days, or blaspheme against the temples of the Twelve, you will find no rest in Boron’s Halls until a mortal ends your curse out of pity.”
–Dame Gilda of Honingen-Salpertin, Almanac of Folklore, Honigen, 921 FB

Ghosts, or bound souls, take many shapes, and different ghosts rarely look alike. Some appear exactly as children imagine they might (that is, similar to their former bodies, but translucent). Some appear surrounded by fog, darkness, or smoke, though mortal eyes can be fooled in many ways. Some ghosts can only be perceived as disquieting shadows at the edge of sight, while others peer out from the shadows, or wear bizarre, twisted facial expressions that mirror their wounded souls. Many are disfigured and openly bear their death wounds, while some, with bodies that are only partially visible, appear as little more than floating grimaces or wear long robes that fade away into nothingness.

Ghosts might appear by surprise or announce themselves suddenly with cold gusts of air, the extinguishing of lights, or by wailing or other frightening sounds. Sometimes whole rooms change to resemble the time the ghost still lived, or walls and corners might warp in impossible ways. Bound souls are created when a curse or a dark power prevents the spirit of the deceased from entering the realm of the dead. Sometimes an unfinished task is so important that a soul becomes bound to the realm of the living after death. There are also stories of certain constellations or magical, demonic, or even divine intervention having the same effect.

Distribution

Many cultures on Dere tell stories of souls that failed to reach the realm of the dead. You can meet spirit beings from different times and different cultures, even though their fate is rare. The one thing they share is that something from the realm of the living binds them to the Third Sphere. It might be a special place, often the place of their death or some great importance in their life, such as a house or castle, a marsh, a stretch of a road, or a ship. It might also be an item that played a role in their fate, such as a cursed artifact or talisman. Bound souls might haunt a hated (or even beloved) person, willingly or unwillingly. Other, much more uncommon bindings are possible. Most are connected to a task the person could not finish while alive, or even a curse that prevents them from finding eternal rest.

The appearance of bound souls is usually limited by time. Some of them can appear as they wish every night, others only when there is a full moon, new moon, or on a certain date, like their day of death or during the Nameless Days. Bound souls can even appear on other continents, even though there they are usually called by different names.

Way of (un)Life

Bound souls need no food and exist as long as their curse remains in effect or as long as a task binds them to the Third Sphere, unless exorcised. Their personality is close to the one they had while alive, but is often marked by madness, reduced to certain traits, or suffering other changes. They might eternally relive certain moments, like their own death or the hours leading up to it, they might not perceive living people, or they might not even know what they are. What consciousness they do possess might focus only on fulfilling their final task.

Many bound souls have a dark relationship with the living and feel envy and hatred toward them. They frighten mortals just by their appearance, which often reflects their tormented soul, but their actions aren’t always accompanied by evil intentions. Ghosts sometimes wish only to deliver messages or warn loved ones of impending tragedy. A few can influence when and to whom they appear, and know how to use this to full effect.

Bound souls are not necessarily solitary, and couples, families, groups of adventurers, or even armies might share this fate.

In many regions of the lands of the Twelvegods, it is considered a service to Boron to release bound souls, whether by helping them fulfill their final task or by exorcising them with liturgical chants or magic.