Ghost

The restless walk the earth while the restful sail the seas.

— Old Suungkee proverb

All living things consist of a body and a soul. While what happens to a body after death can vary, ranging from being eaten to buried, what happens to the soul appears to be universal - it becomes the nucleus for a shimmering ghost.  

Appearance

The exact form of a ghost will vary between individuals, but there are shared truths. The soul, a glowing orb, will anchor itself where the heart would be, and strands of light will expand to wrap around it, creating a flickering and floating approximation of the person as they were in life.   In colouration, a ghost will often be monochromatic, appearing in pale whites tinged with hues that match the soul. These hues are specific to the individual, and don't seem to follow any patterns or conventions in family lines or location. The lack of variation within a given ghost will often make them seem dull and washed out, as distinguishing features like hair and eye colour fade out. Intensity of colour and how shimmery a ghost appears seems to be individual as well, though can also be impacted by the strength of the magic used to perceive them.   Though the appearance of ghosts is well known, they are not naturally visible except to a rare few, or in rare areas. Ghosts are usually made visible by the use of Necromancy, either to an individual or to all witnesses.  

Existence

A ghost is naturally formed once a soul is separated from a body. This occurs whenever someone dies, though typically with a delay of hours or days, but can also occur by forcibly severing the connection through necromancy, a process which does kill the body but can cause the ghost to manifest far more quickly.   It is a known fact that ghosts are a temporary phenomenon, though how temporary is impossible to judge. Some ghosts have been known to linger for decades after their death, a fact relied upon for the Wūlséd'ok tradition of seeking Ancestral Blessings, which expects a handful of one's ancestors to still be present. However other Wūlséd'ok traditions, such as their Elders conferring with their predecessors, also suggest that ghosts should move on after a number of generations to prevent them obstructing progress and change, which makes it difficult to determine when a ghost naturally vanishes.   Most mortals believe that the disappearance of ghosts is due to the influence of The Mother willing them to return, whereupon their souls will be taken and reincarnated elsewhere across the universe. This likely also allows for ghosts to return to Her prematurely, explaining some of the difference between spirits.  

Abilities

Without the use of magic by living persons, ghosts are unable to impact the living world in any way, capable of floating through objects and flying great distances. However, some necromantic spells can impart limited physicality to the ephemeral, where interactions with ghosts reportedly feel "jelly-like" - there is resistance, but enough force can still push right through them.   Regardless of an individual's magic proficiency when alive, no ghost has been witnessed successfully casting a spell. This can be somewhat subverted by placing a ghost's soul within a (typically dead) body, allowing them the interaction with the physical world that enables magic. Such pseudo-dead mages are reportedly less powerful than they were when they were alive, and the imperfect mimicry of a soul's natural connection to the body imparts many additional challenges, such as the inability to stave off natural decay.