There are four parts to a living man. The body,which shields and sustains the wraith, which is life, also the shade, the outer self which remembers, and the soul, the true self, that is eternal
The Elemental Correspondences are :
The Body - Earth, solidity, strength, resistance.
The Wraith - Fire, energy and life itself. As we grow older the fire burns low and, then goes out.
The Shade - Air, knowing, memory
The Soul - Water, depth and eternity.
Of course, each part embodies all four elements after it's nature, one must always beware of reading too much into such simple analyses.
A man and a woman make a body and kindle a wraith from the life that is in them. The Wheel turns and a soul is sent. The soul grows a shade around itself as armour and a mask, shielding itself from the dangers a naked soul is prey to. To truly know a soul is to master it and enslave it.
On death, the wraith flickers out. The soul and shade are freed and journey to the Lands of the Dead. The body deprived of it's animating force and controlling spirits returns to lifeless clay.
In the Lands of the Dead shade and soul dwell together for a time. Then they separate and the soul returns to the Wheel for rebirth. The shade grows weaker and slowly fades away.
Spirits lack a body, but their wraith is strong enough to survive without one. Most spirits have ways of feeding their wraith so it does not burn out, and thus they are immortal.
Rarely it happens that a man or woman learns to strengthen their wraith so it can survive without a body. Such live on as spirits. Some spirits grow strong, and are worshipped as godlings.
Ghosts lack a body and often the soul. When the body is destroyed some wraiths burn on for a time. The shade stays with the wraith, but the soul departs. As the ghost ages, wraith and shade decay. While new ghosts are capable of thought and independent action, older ghosts lose such abilities. The oldest can do no more than reenact their memories.
A soul can be trapped in a ghost if it has a great need which binds it to the lands of the living. The soul can only be freed if the need is resolved. Such ghosts often have powers and resolve lacking in the more common kind, and can be very dangerous.
The undead are all who once lived, but have lost some part other than the body. Zombies have no soul and only a fragment of a shade, but most undead have lost their wraith and animate their bodies by stealing life from others - often by drinking blood. Shades, brought back from the lands of the dead also thirst for blood. Apparently, they too, may gain strength from it.
Whether the undead retain their souls or not is unclear. It is said that some consume their souls if no other life can be found, and then eat the souls of others. Absolvers may be of this fearsome kind. The Order of the Silver Nail is undecided - although most maintain that the undead do indeed have souls and that their greatest crime is keeping their souls from the Wheel.
It is possible that a reborn soul may meet the shade of a past life - as a ghost or by visiting the Lands of the Dead. If this happens the old shade is drawn to the soul. A soul may only accommodate one shade, and so the shades conflict - sometimes the younger wins, sometimes the older. Sometimes neither wins and the shades merge - such is extremely dangerous, the combined shade is weak and confused and cannot guard the soul.
It is said that some great mages have deliberately engineered meetings of soul and shade to recreate one they loved.
True Immortals have Immortality of the Body and Immortality of the Spirit.
Immortality of Body combines wraith and body, and tightly binds soul and shade. Those with Immortality of Body only die if the body is destroyed. They do not age, nor do they die of any natural cause.
Immortality of Spirit combines shade and soul. Their soul is strong and well-guarded. If they can find a new body, through the Wheel or other means they live again with all memories intact.
The ancient Dragons were True Immortals, although many have been slain and the Loyal Dragon has forfeited the Immortality of the Spirit to ride the Wheel. The souls of slain dragons wait in the Lands of the Dead in a prison made for them by the Gods. Pray that they never escape !
Although this contradicts the original rules on the subject of ghosts, I think it adds some interesting possibilities, and provides a framework for dealing with necromancy.
The idea of multiple souls is not new, and it is found in Egyptian, Chinese and some Native American beliefs. The shades are inspired by Classical Greek belief.
Everway is copyright Rubicon Games 1996. Everway and Spherewalker are trademarks of Rubicon games. This document is not intended as a challenge to those rights.
This document is copyright Paul King 1997.