spirit plane

From: styopa_at_iname.com
Date: Wed, 12 May 1999 21:25:58 -0500


Emmanuel Ponette poses a question about Spirit and Forest
>
>I still have some difficulties trying to imagine what a shaman sees in the
>'Spirit Plane'. And what kind of Living things he sees. In the 'physical
>plane', we see trees, bushes, birds, rabbits, rocks, earth,..., we feel the
>wind, the sun and/or the rain, we feel hot or cold, dry or wet, we smell
>the odour of a putrid dead body or the fine perfum of a rose.
>What about the spirit plane (SP)? Is a second sighted person only 'looking'
>at the plane (only the eye perception) or does he smell, feel the wind (is
>there odours, winds, rains,..)? I can remenber that somebody on the list
>said that the SP is a kind of mirror but greyish. Why so? When a Shaman
>looks in the spirit plane, does he see a different thing or is it simply a
>extra perception, like in the movies when there are Ghosts, and some can
>see them and others not.
>What about the 'life'? Except the occasional spirits trying to possess the
>shaman, does he see other 'bird' spirits, or 'rabbit'/tree/bushes/rocks...
>Does he see the day and the night (important if he needs to have some
>notion of the time while desincarnated), is there shadow/light? Could it be
>possible for a spirit to 'sneak'? to Hide?
>If the Shaman is in a dense forest, what is his visibility in the spirit
>plane?

I have played the spirit plane as a rough (in your words, greyish) analogue to the RW, but with the spatial dimensions totally messed up. What you see in the spirit world is just that - spirit analogues to their real world equivalent. But these are ANALOGUES, not simulations, and it's a very personal interpretation, so it's hard to come up with rules. So for example if you entered the spirit plane in a city, you might find yourself in a foggy forest, cluttered with trees (these are the overwhelming numbers of spirits of the people around you). If there was a festival in the market square, you might feel a refreshing breeze from a clearing in the forest. If there was someone dying of a pestilence in the next room, you might smell a vague odor of death and decay. Given this particular theme, if there was an elf that the party wanted to find in the city, they might stand out as an extremely healthy and vibrant plant or tree. I've also given my players a lot of synesthesia, which helps to highlight how weird it is, like telling them they see a loud noise, or hear something "purplish". Of course, IMG simple dreams are individuals' briefest brushes with the spirit plane. So it all flows from there. If it's not too rules-lite for you, I'd say just wing it. If your players call you on an inconsistancy, smile knowingly and ignore them. Hell, they'll spend hours coming up with a brilliant rationalization for your slip up and then you can just nod sagely and compliment them on their percipicacity. :)

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