Ghosts and Pneuma

Mechanics for Catching, Growing and Caring for the Newly Dead. Also 101 things to do with the immortal soul you just sniffed. Taken from the novels of Tim Powers and Clive barker.

The magic that affects ghosts (Or, in some cases, Demons) is ritual magic: you don't need to be an adept to do it, and it doesn't require charges. However, Adepts have remarkably more success using these effects. The expenditure of a charge turns what is otherwise a useful trick into a tool.

Section the First: Ghosts, Demons, and things that go 'bump' in the night. The last breath contains the soul. That's not news to anyone. So it should come as no surprise that, over time, people have come up with ways to take advantage of this fact. The soul, once free of the body, generally has a short life. Allusions to spiderwebs in the wind or dew evaporating in the sun populate the available literature on the subject. Certain souls, however (sources disagree on which and why) linger. By force of personality, by cannibalizing other souls, by virtue of their fame or the strength of the livings' faith in them, certain souls just last longer. Those souls, which can possess the living, animate corpses, move large objects, and generally do all sorts of scary things - those we'll call Demons. Ghosts become demons if they stick around long enough. They gain sustenance, as said, by eating other ghosts, but also from a variety of other sources. Blood, spit, semen, fresh meat, liquor... contact with these helps to make a spirit coalesce and gain a physical presence. Eventually, spirits learn to either assemble such things into a body, or to just forget about the assembly nonsense and animate a conveniently pre-assembled body, found at your local morgue, graveyard, or at certain particularly nasty traffic accidents. Demons who've been around for a while get fairly good at possessing people. They also need fresh spirits to eat. Those two facts, combined with the detail about how the possession happens after the victim inhales the Demon, should explain why it's an unusually good idea to hold your breath when you're driving past a graveyard. Not everyone who dies becomes a demon. Therefore, you have a sort of after-death food chain. The wispy cobwebs of the recently dead are plankton. And the chain pyramids up to those Demons who have consumed so much as to become like Gods. The Orisha of Nigeria, like Catholicism and the Haitian Voodoo which combined the two, generally deals with spirits of this magnitude. Historically, the Persians under Solomon had something of a knowledge of Genies, as well. The whole "Djinni in a bottle" thing. Just for the record, it's impossible to ascend if you're already dead, and spirits can't be avatars. Section the Second: Ghost: The other ectoplasmic meat Ghosts, before they approach Demon-level status, are pretty stupid things. People have, however, learned to catch, bottle, and consume them. Why? It's a refined taste - an elegant and forbidden drug, to some. It rejuvenates the consumer, granting immortality to someone who is willing to live an eternity of sucking on empty bottles that taste like dust and dried blood. And, of course, since a spirit is a breath, spirits are used to fuel the collection of tricks known, collectively, as pneuma. Catching a ghost is difficult in inverse proportion to the power of the Ghost, as you may imagine. For those on the 'Plankton' level of the pyramid, shiny objects, palindromes, or puzzles will do. A handful of change left out in a haunted area will invariably invite passing spirits to stack the coins by date, denomination, or any other bizarre ranking system the departed soul may be obsessed with. The traps can be baited – candies and rum, cocaine or cigarettes, baseball cards, or Yoohoo. Since its humble beginnings being sold by Natale Olivieri out of New Jersey, the fat-free chocolate beverage has been spreading throughout the underworld of spirit chasers. An opened bottle at the scene of a haunting is almost certain to draw the attention of spirits. Strange but true, and if there's a reason behind this phenomenon, Natale isn't talking. So. You've found a haunted area, or you've made one. It isn't hard - start in a place where lots of people die nearby. I.E., pretty much any city, anywhere. There are specific minor rituals to make a place more palatable to spirits, and significant rituals to specify the spirits attracted, but at base just leaving stuff out for them seems to work well enough. What people disagree on, mostly, is what to leave out. Anyway, you've got a room with some spirits in it. How do you catch them? In general terms they must be coaxed or coerced into a vessel. Specifics vary and there are any number of rituals available in the Occult Underworld for doing this. Again, the difficulty varies inversely with the power of the spirit, and involves beating the spirit in a Soul contest. Spirits must be kept in glass, and the glass must be kept under fresh (in the sense of running) water. Salt water is fine - many spirit chasers keep their stores in the holds of boats. Others just keep them in bathtubs with the water running. Contact with the land decays the strength of the spirit. Burial practices may have something to do with this. Or it might be that crazy so-called hygiene explanation they want you to believe. Whichever. Spirit's soul stats decay while they drift over land. Therefore, most spirits, still on the ‘Plankton’ level, have soul stats ranging from five to fifteen. At this level, they barely have personality or memories. So don't feel too bad about eating them. Cows are smarter. When you drink the Ghost, whether it's bottled or fresh, the Ghost gets a chance to possess you. A minor charge lets you flip flop either your roll, or the Ghost's, whichever favors you. Section the Third: Pneuma. Pneuma, as a term, describes a variety of tricks passed down through the Occult Underworld: superstitions and habits which, fueled by the power of the spirits of the departed, give a little edge to people here and there. Pneuma refers to both the singular and the plural. Pedants and scholars may use pnuemon as the singular. They are ritual spells, and don't require adepthood or anything beyond just knowing about them to use. Well… that, and having recently inhaled a spirit. When using a pneuma, the spirit consumed is exhaled during the pneuma's use. The Soul stat of the spirit determines the power of the pneuma. Being exhaled and being used as fuel for a magical feat destroys the spirit's personality. One spirit, one breath, one pneuma. Sources refer to Dukes of the past who could work pneuma without the bother of eating ghost. It's right. A charge works instead of a spirit. A minor charge lets the Adept use their magical school skill instead of the soul stat of the spirit. The effects of significant and major charges are discretionary. So, here's a (partial) list of pneuma in circulation. The names are descriptive - the source from which the PC learns the Pneuma will undoubtedly have a funnier and more interesting and appropriate name for each. Concuss: Exhale the spirit into a cupped fist. The spirit's soul stat adds to the damage of your next punch, provided you strike open handed, with the heel of the hand. Elbow Grease: Spit the spirit into the palm of one hand. Rub both hands together. The spirit's soul stat is now a bonus on your next skill involving tool use with both hands. Anything from playing the piano to using a shovel. Spit Ball: Hold your fist to your mouth, thumb towards you. Exhale sharply. The spirit is now a projectile weapon that uses its soul stat for any relevant rolls. (Nota Bene: This is, in essence, a ritual  blast. It is not playtested. Be wary.  An alternate effect would be to have the spirit attempt possession.)  Shhh: Touch one finger to your lips as you exhale the spirit. The target will have to beat the spirit in a Soul contest to be able to speak. Sticks and Stones: Mention someone, by name. Turn your head to the left and spit the spirit onto the ground. The spirit will travel to the target and wreak whatever misfortunes it can. Common wreakings include the soul stat of the spirit as a negative shift on one roll, on all rolls until sunset or sunrise, or attempted possession. Eeny Meeny Miney Moe: When faced with a choice between a small number of alternatives, close your eyes and hold your breath. Recite a rhyme without breathing out. Open your breath and exhale the spirit as you point to one of the choices. The Spirit's Soul stat adds to the chance that you have just picked the right choice. There are also very specific Ghost-based rituals. Inhaling a ghost, if you don't use it for a pneuma, prevents aging for as long as the ghost is in your system. That's in general. The following ritual makes the spirit last longer (Remember the bit about spirits decaying when they're on land.  This is true even if they're in a body) Elixir of Life ("Retro" Version): In a vessel made of clay mixed with the blood of the caster, mix one egg, fertilized by a black rooster, with unrefined cane sugar and blood from the first menstruation of a twin. Pour this into the bottle containing the spirit of a man unjustly executed. This must be done out of sight of land on a night when there is some kind of rare astrological phenomenon. Drink the potion and your life will be extended until the next time the phenomenon happens. Coke is Life ("Modern Rock" Version): Take one bottle Coca Cola bottled before 1920 (Or whenever they stopped putting Cocaine in). Chew a piece of bubblegum while reciting the Toys’R’Us song until the flavor has left the gum. Spit the gum, along with the spirit of a woman who died while pregnant, into the bottle. Bury it in an anthill under a swing set until the ants have eaten the gum. Dump the ants out into a pestle. Grind them up, cook the paste up with Holy Water, and inject the solution. Eighty year old bottles of Coca Cola are rare. If someone in the OU goes looking for one, there's only one reason to do so, and there are lots of people interested in making sure that whoever it is, he doesn't get the ritual finished.

Copyright Gaston Phillips, posted on the official UA website July 17, 2002