Tramp Souls & Disincarnate Entities
Spiritualism states that we live on after physical death, as conscious but discarnate
entities. Any amount of concrete laid over or marble mausoleums built on our dead bodies, will not curtail our spirits, neither will cremation - or burying our remains at crossroads.
When a Spiritualist medium tunes in to the higher vibration frequencies of the realms in which those who have discarded their physical overcoats, they are merely opening up a channel for communication, in the same way that a radio or television is switched on and tuned to a pre-set wavelength and frequency to receive transmissions. If the radio or TV station did not send out specifically directed signals, the listener or viewer could not access the program, however much they wanted to.
This is the same principle that operates when mediums pick up messages from spirit regions.
But all spirits in the astral (non-physical) world are not necessarily benevolent souls. Many are prone to mischief and may even cause harm through wicked actions. Most of such souls are the 'earth-bound spirits', which linger long after death and cannot keep hunting for a material body to satisfy their strong earthly desires. These are the 'Tramp Souls'.
And they normally manifest themselves during séances and channeling sessions as 'ectoplasm' (ethereal matter appearing like a living body) with multi-coloured miasma.
There are at least four separate and distinct classes of Tramp Souls. These classes are the:
Animated Dead
Bound Spirits
Restless Spirits and
Transformed Spirits
Animated Dead
Where some magicians seek to create constructs and golems from wood, clay, or metal, the necromancer seeks to reanimate the very corpse of his foe. The corpse is no longer alive, nor is it inherently capable of individual thought or action; it is quite simply automation. The Will and the Magic of the Necromancer animate it, and it will only act when the necromancer exerts his will. Tramp souls who are graduating to higher realms may cast off their astral shells whose energy may be used by the occultist or necromancer to infuse 'life' into the inert object.
Bound Spirits
If a necromancer can be present at the moment of death, he can bind the spirit of the dying person to a preserved body. Some necromancers have been known to even bind part of their own spirits within a construct formed from their blood and the necromantic arts. The process to create such a Soul Shadow is a long and complex one, but grants the successful necromancer a dedicated and highly intelligent spirit entity ... that can be further used to do nefarious or troublesome tasks on earthly, living entities. However, certain binding rituals leave the tramp spirit craving contact with living beings because it is hungry for their life essences.
Restless Spirits
These are the disembodied souls or spirits of once-living beings, bound to a place or item through emotional ties. Often, such spirits are the victims of a violent or terrifying death, which left such a mark on them that they were unable to break their emotional and mental ties to the physical world, and so remain bound within this plane of existence. Very often they will haunt the locations where they died, but they may feel bound to a person or item instead, either out of a desire for revenge or because they feel protective of that person or thing. Unfortunately for those who encounter them, these spirits almost universally drain life essence, because the ties that bind them to this world do not serve to succour or feed them.
The Transformed
The Transformed are those tramp souls who have made the ultimate sacrifice-life itself-in return for the power, which they crave. By purging themselves of all traces of the Essence and embracing the dark tendrils of the spirit realm, they are
All these tramp souls, are given a purpose, normally guarding an object or the assassination of a specific individual. They are not wanton, and are highly intelligent-they will do whatever they deem necessary to ensure that their mission is completed, removing any and all obstacles in their path.
Some examples of tramp souls:
Fire Phantoms:
A death by fire is a horrific way to go, and can lead to the persons spirit being unable to find its way to the Spirit Plane. Such tramp souls (also called 'Fire Phantoms appear as an immaterial form, motioning and writhing within a patina of roaring, spectral fire that smells of burning flesh and brimstone. Often not cognizant of their true status, they will rush towards the living, pleading for succor.
Powers, Limitations & Destruction: In addition to the life essence that they drain from their victims, Fire Phantoms can burn them; their mere presence acts as a 20 Fireball, with them as the centre. Water will quench the fires that bind them to this plane, and release them to the Spirit Plane
Ghosts & Phantoms:
The remnants of dead beings cling to this plane of existence with a supernatural stubbornness, forming an insubstantial body from ethereal matter (ectoplasm) that resembles the body they wore while living. Weaker (Minor or Lesser) Ghosts may be hazy, blurred, or translucent for the most part, but as the Ghost gets more powerful, its form becomes progressively more difficult to distinguish from a normal physical body by sight alone.
The Headless variety is normally recognizable because it tends to carry its head around tucked under its arm.
A Phantom is an insubstantial spirit, whose pale, translucent face shows a contorted image of pain, expressing its death agonies. The misty image of the diseased or dismembered body sometimes accompanies the horror of the face. The horrors that killed the being have shattered the phantom's psyche, so it wanders, seeking surcease from the pain that racks it.
The Phantom Steed:
It is the tramp soul that is bound by its master at the moment of its death, so that it may continue to serve its master from beyond the grave. It can draw upon the ethereal to form spectral body, allowing it to become visible at will, although it is always non-corporeal.
Wights:
Wights are dark, shadowy human forms with eyes akin to faint lights. Pale white limbs appear now and again, but are immaterial and quickly hidden again beneath their shadowy raiment. When observed with the aid of magic or ethereal sight, they take on the tattered forms of great lords and ladies with cold, cruel, gleaming eyes. Barrow-wights roam the narrow halls and low tunnels of the barrow-tombs, while the more mundane wights haunt the sacrilegious graveyards and cemeteries no longer protected by the wards and charms against the intrusion of the Undead. Often it is the influence of the Unlife, spreading its Taint across the land, which awakens these dread spirits from their endless slumbers. When this unclean influence saturates the final resting-place of a once-noble lord or lady, laid low by mortality, the spirits of the dead are disturbed and drawn back to the place where their mortal bodies lie.
Zombies
These are spirits of the dead . Often foul groans, sighs, and mutterings stream from these creatures' mouths in a continuous babble of hatred and loathing. Visually, it can be nigh on impossible to distinguish between Zombies and regular Animated Corpses, but as one watches their actions, the differences become obvious-Animated Corpses are mindless automations, obeying whatever instructions they have been given to the letter. Zombies are avenging spirits, normally corrupted by the Unlife, seeking to destroy all living beings they come across . The more powerful of the Zombies, those that have retained at least 'Average' level intelligence, may even possess the capability to cast spells. One obvious difference between Zombies and Animated Corpses is that Zombies will continue to rot.
Most tramp souls masquerade as the living, often completely unaware of their true status, still continuing a travesty of life in and around the location where they died.
They are almost always tied to a focus of some sort that prevents their spirit from departing this earthly wayfaring. These foci can take can forms-a person, a weapon, a treasure or a place-that are somehow tied to their deaths.
Due to their ethereal forms, normal weaponry is useless against these spirits, and they may choose to become invisible at will. This makes them dangerous enemies that will ruthlessly destroy any who trespass upon their territory.
If a tramp soul's focus is identified, it can be resolved or destroyed, allowing the ghost to rest. Otherwise, the tramp soul can only be temporarily driven away.
For instance, a Phantom's focus is its own pain; so the only way to free it from its desperate condition is to banish it (the Repulsion spell)-any favourable result will break the bonds that tie the phantom to this plane, and return its shattered psyche to the Spirit Plane.