Whispers through the Black Gate

With this potent ritual, a ghost can be raised ... and, occasionally, other things.

Rules

Performing the Ritual

Performing this ritual takes at least 10 minutes of roleplaying. During the ritual the casters must be in a strong Winter regio. This ritual can only be cast at sunset.

Effects

During the ritual, the ritualists must name a single character. At the completion of the ritual, a spirit is summoned. The spirit will be:

• the spirit of the dead character, who may be questioned for up to ten minutes. They know whatever they knew while they were alive.
• the spirit of one of the dead character's past lives, who may be questioned for up to ten minutes.
• the spirit of someone else, usually with a connection of some sort to the deceased (however tenuous), who may likewise be questioned for up to ten minutes.
• a dangerous spirit.

The casters cannot predict in advance with absolute certainty which will appear. The longer it has been since the named character died, the more likely it is that something other than that character's spirit will appear.

Spirits summoned by this ritual are only aware of the ritualists who performed the ritual.

Additional Targets

You may call an additional spirit by increasing the magnitude of the spell by 15 for each additional spirits. All spirits appear simultaneously and depart simultaneously.

Option

The ritualists may consume up to 5 measures of liao as part of the ritual. Every measure consumed in this way reduces the magnitude of the ritual by 2.

OOC Elements

If you plan to perform this ritual, you will need to let PD know at least an hour in advance, or longer if we need to track the player of the dead character down ourselves. If we are unable to obtain the physrep, then one of the second two possibilities will occur. If we are able to obtain the physrep then the first option will almost certainly occur.

Dusk usually runs from half an hour before sunset, to half an hour after. If players wish to physrep their dead characters, they should report to Monster half an hour before this period: an hour before sunset.

The player of a character who died while part of a sect bonded to a Litany of the Labyrinth will receive a slightly different briefing when playing their ghost. It is important that the player make sure the person briefing them knows this special circumstance exists.

Description

This powerful ritual eases open the door of death for a short time, raising the spirit of a recently deceased person. In some ways, this ritual represents little more than a more than an advanced form of Voice for the dead; in other ways it is a profound alteration of the natural order. Priests and magicians alike are fascinated by the magic this ritual represents.

The spirit summoned with this ritual can be questioned about anything it knew when it was alive; it seems to possess all the memories and the personality of the deceased individual. Sometimes the spirit is unaware that it has died, especially if that death took place very suddenly or happened while the target was asleep. More often though, the spirit knows it has died and under what circumstances. Regardless, the spirit cannot speak about anything that has happened to it since it died. Attempts to learn more about the Labyrinth of Ages or the Howling Abyss have simply served to frustrate arcanists and theologians alike.

The spirit is only aware of the ritualists who performed the ritual; when it comes to questioning the dead, it is the magicians who must take the lead. Being able to see a departed loved-one, but unable to reach them, can be a profoundly upsetting experience for the living, and for the spirit once it realises a beloved spouse or child is present, but they they cannot see or hear them.

A conjured spirit appears to be at least slightly corporeal; it seems to possess a pseudo-body and if it is struck firmly it can be dispelled back to wherever it came from. Most spirits cannot physically interact with the living; only in the case of the rare malignant spirit have there been any reports of attacks and wounds on ritualists.

It is possible for a priest to use the exorcism ceremony to dismiss a spirit prematurely. In the case of most spirits called by this ritual, a single does of liao is usually sufficient; more malign or dangerous spirits may require a more potent exorcism however.

The most common use for this ritual is to call up the spirit of a murder victim to question them about the circumstances of their deaths. In such circumstances a magistrate is often present, but the ritualists must perform any interrogation themselves. The majority of magistrates treat the witness statements of the dead much as they would the living; they know there is no requirement that the conjured spirit tell the truth about what happened, and even though departed the spirit is likely to share the same motivations and prejudices it had when alive.

The ritual is expensive, and a little risky, but has also been used in the past to allow the living one final chance to speak to a departed loved one - or enemy - before the black gate closes forever. Likewise, it has been used on occasion to attempt to gather intelligence about a distant event or the plans of enemies, although such uses are frowned upon in general. During the Freedom Heresy the ruthless League general Sagio de Temeschwar had the spirit of a deceased briar warrior called up and proceeded to torment the spirit by describing in intense detail the tortures he was inflicting on the briar's still-living wife. While the general did not in fact have the woman present, so effective was his performance that the weeping spirit disclosed several key facts about the secessionist's plans. In a final act of cruelty for which he was widely criticised, Sagio let the spirit depart in the belief that his wife was still suffering unspeakable agony. His acts also reignited discussion of whether the ritual calls an actual spirit from the Labyrinth, or simply an echo of the target.

On rare occasions this spirit calls up a malign spiritual presence that is a threat to the ritualists. Recorded incidents have included a mass possession by spirits that tried to drive a coven of landskeepers to acts of monstrous hatred, a horrible shadowy spectre that killed two of the magicians responsible for raising it before it could be dismissed; and a band of restless spirits whose anguished cries inflicted crippling weakness on the coven.

On very rare occasions, the spirit that appears seems entirely unconnected to the target spirit. These events were recorded as enigmatic anomalies until a Highborn steward of the dead named Esther of Highcastle drew parallels between two incidents and public records of liao visions. Her theory that these spirits were echoes of past lives is generally accepted, although the precise details of how and why this can occur given the temporal limitations of Whispers through the Black Gate is still not understood.

It is also possible that the deceased spirit is that of someone else who has some sort of connection to the deceased. For example, there has been one incident where it appears that the dead individual's father answered the call of the ritual, and another where a member of the target's coven appeared rather than the dead person themselves.

Common Elements

This ritual is usually accompanied by solemn music, incense and chants recounting as much detail as possible the life of the target spirit. It is usually accompanied by a design laid out on the ground, often with braziers or candles. at key points of the design.

Fire and light often play a key role, serving as a beacon for the dead spirit to 'find the way' back to the mortal realm. Similarly, some ritualists like to have things that belonged to the target in life, or people important to them Imperial orc shaman ideally want to have someone from the same legion, while Freeborn ritualists prefer the presence of someone of the same family, especially a child or parent. Likewise, many Navarr include small amounts of blood in this ritual, the smell of which help attract the attention of the spirit and remind it of its life; Marcher spirits might include an offering of food or drink, an action that leads to the ritual sometimes being referred to as The Feast for the Dead..

It is important to realise that the ritual is not technically complete when the spirit appears. Many ritualists consider it to be only half-way through at this point. The spirit must still be addressed, and agreeing in advance how this will happen can save time and prevent confusion. Some ritualists include an hourglass to track the amount of time available before the spirit must depart,

At the end of the ritual, the spirit should be formally dismissed - sent back into the Labyrinth or the Abyss - and some ritualists believe that if the spirit is not treated well it is more likely to become one of the restless dead. The end of the ritual is often marked by the mournful tolling of bells, as the spirit departs.

The rune Irremais and the constellation of The Door are often evoked with this ritual.