Re: theist ghosts

From: Henrix <henrix_at_...>
Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 14:14:44 +0200

On Fri, 01 Sep 2000, David Dunham wrote:
> In my games I plan to ignore all this, unless it happens to be
> dramatically useful. We've heard several times in the past that the
> Heortlings are sort of a mixed tradition, combining theism and
> animism, so I'm going to mix them too.

That is of course the sensible answer, although not entirely satisfactory. It is probably, in the end, how I will end up doing as well.

> The whole thing really boils down to national origin, as it were.
> Theistic ancestors go to the same place their gods live, so they are
> daimones by definition. Animist ancestors go to the same place their
> great spirits live, so they are spirits by definition. Is there
> really a difference between the two? I suspect not, other than that
> one speak daimonish and the other spiritish.

Ah, well, according to AR all daimones have permanent bodies, and of course they have no Might rating, which makes them hard for a shaman to deal with. I think a shaman would try to exorcize a ghost by spirit combat, which I do not know how to run if the "ghost" has no Might.

On Fri, 01 Sep 2000, t.s.baguley_at_... wrote:
> You become a ghost when your spirit is ripped from your body but can't
> (fully) leave the physical world for some reason. Initiation to a deity
> provides a link from the person to the godplane and IMO helps you find your
> way to the appropriate place (some Gods send daimones or deities to
> fetch/guide you). Think link could be severed by being out of your god's
> reach (e.g. in a chaos temple, on the spirit plane), being out of your mind
> (insane, posessed, in the throws of extreme emotion), or by being
> sufficiently impious. The correct burial rites IMO help break the barriers
> holding the spirit in the world and guide it where it belongs.

Yes, this seems like the reasonable explanation. The spirit of a dead theist only becomes a daimon when it has reached the god plane. If it does not, it is still a spirit.

But this leaves us with the "ghosts" of your ancestors that sometimes haunt you in KoDP, berating you for not following the ancient ways. Tecnically I suppose they are not really ghosts, but some sort of daimones... But I think they should be discorporate, and that one should be able to exorcize them (even though great grandpa might take offense).

-- 
Henrix