[Adonthell-general] Ghosts and other undead

[Andrew Michael Phillips]

This is related to a thread running on the plot list, but I'm posting here 
because this topic relates more to general design than to the specifics of 
the current demo.
I mentioned something called a blade spectre, so I shall start there. A 
blade spectre is the ghost of a warrior who has been bound somehow to the 
weapons or armour the warrior owned at the time of his death. They can be 
dealt with in various ways. The most direct - if short-lived approached - 
is to disarm the spectre by breaking or snatching away his arms and 
armour. This will drive the spectre underground until it can regain its 
power, at which time it will reclaim its arms no matter where they might 
be. Thus, they are sometimes called the thief's nightmare. It's much more 
efficient to either cure them into true death or to help them find rest. 
In "modern" times, i.e., the setting of Waste's Edge, blade spectres and 
shield spectres are rare unless you find an ancient battleground. They 
have names, resting places, and reasons for remaining among the living. 
For the purposes of translation in German, a good word to start with might 
be wehrgeist. I'm not even sure that word is in the dictionary, but 
Germans seem rather fond of coinage by concatention, so it should pass 
muster.
Other kinds of ghosts are more common. All sorts of undead are more common 
in earlier ages of the world, nearer to the Marring.
Two other kinds of noteworthy spectres are ghostmages - Elvish 
necromancers who managed to die and go on working - and wraiths. Wraiths 
are usually at least partially demonic, if not entirely demonic. They 
aren't very common, but they can be tricky, as dispatching them requires 
the help of a priest or shaman of the same 'race' as the wraith. Even 
entirely demonic wraiths have a race attribute. Every demonic or divine 
spirit has attributes of every race, but each is more like one race than 
any of the others. 
These, however, are just ideas. Comments are welcome. Must go do dishes 
now.
guten abend
-- 
Andrew Phillips
God Bless Our Troops
cptlogic at endor dot hsutx dot edu
"Let the Prince win his spurs" 
-C.S.Lewis: The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe