Dis, Mictlan, Gehenna and the other dark afterlives in Sleeper mythology are aspects of the Underworld, where ghosts go when they can’t find peace.
Mages know that ghosts aren’t really dead souls, but reflections generated by passions that persist after souls pass to unknown kingdoms.
Some believe that a ghost is part of the original soul, separated by traumatic death, and others hold that it contains the person’s actual personality: everything that can be defined as “them.” Therefore, ghosts must be laid to rest. The dead should be honoured.
As for the soul itself, Moros say that all souls once went to Stygia to be purified and reborn, but nobody knows if this still happens, or even if it was ever true.
Some ghosts wander from their haunts into the Autochthonous Depths: strange caves, or constructed passages that stretch beyond the efforts of human builders.
They lead to secret mazes where ghosts and chthonian monsters (the never-alive, inhuman natives of the Underworld) lair. Descending deeper, the maze gives way to enormous underground vaults, sunless valleys, or great tunnels. Eventually, the traveller encounters one of the rivers of the dead. Each river possesses a special supernatural property, and is often patrolled by strong ghosts and chthonian.
The Lower Mysteries of the Underworld possesses many such rivers. These separate various Deep Dominions, each of which is ruled by one or more lords called Kerberoi. Each realm is a world unto itself, made of unique legends and metaphysical laws, though not always ones that match known mythology.
Certain Old Laws constrain native and visitor alike. An Old Law may make speech impossible, or turn all sustenance into ashes. But one rule binds all living visitors: They’re not welcome. Canny old ghosts and corrupt chthonian tolerate the living under mutually beneficial relationships, but most beings are coldly indifferent, or try to rectify any problem by killing intruders.
System
The Death Arcanum and rules for ghosts cover the relevant systems for dealing with the Underworld.
In the Underworld, spells that use the Death Arcanum benefit from a –2 die penalty to Paradox rolls. Finally, the Underworld has a curious effect on the psyches of the living: Their Virtues and Vices are reversed, such that fulfilling the Vice provides a full Willpower refresh while fulfilling the Virtue grants only a single point.
Chthonians use the same rules as ghosts, but don’t possess Anchors or an Integrity trait and may be any Size and appearance. They usually have disgusting, unsettling appearances, merging vaguely human characteristics with other traits like maggot-like bodies or insectile legs.
The Ranks of the Dead
Western Grimoires assign ghosts the following names. There used to be a different hierarchy for chthonians — texts describe “Nephwracks” and other forms — but over the centuries a common set of terms has grown to describe ghost and chthonian alike.
Plasms
This is a catch-all term for Rank 0 ghosts and generic chthonic phenomena such as mysterious handprints and streams of ectoplasm.
Manes
Rank 1 ghosts. Most Manes are not truly intelligent, but can speak and act according to patterns complex enough to fake it. When confronted with something beyond their obsessions, their limitations become clear.
Lemures
These Rank 2 or 3 ghosts are typically intelligent, though still focused on unfinished business with the world of the living.
Lares
Rank 4 or 5 ghosts balance their obsessions with other motivations, centered on their existence beyond life. All Lares are aware that they’re no longer living. Many are figures of worship in ancestor cults, and enjoy certain powers as a result.
Kerberoi
Ghosts and chthonians of Rank 6 or greater always reside deep in the Underworld, and have evolved beyond easy understanding — Awakened theories that the dead are mere echoes fail to understand these beings’ powers and motivations.
Geists
A subset of Lares called Geists (a neologism) sometimes possess humans on a semi-permanent basis, sharing other aspects of the host’s soul. The strongest of these bonds produce the un-Awakened necromancers called Sin-Eaters.
This process and the Geists themselves are poorly understood.