Psychopomp

A psychopomp is a guide. They show the souls of the dead where to go and how to get there after they die. They wield poarta in order to nudge, coerce, or otherwise send these souls onward. If a soul lingers in the Spirit Realm longer than it should, they send them along as well. They hate the undead and will seek them out to destroy them. While most psychopomps are beings who exist for this purpose, many mortals, especially those who worship Nbt-Hwt, Death Herself, also take up the work.

Nether Realm

The Nether Realm is where the dead go after they die. They all must traverse its strange wildernesses, temples, cities, and unexplainable phenomena in order to get to their final repose or their next cycle. Psychopomps assist the souls of the dead through the Nether Realm. Those beings who exist for the purpose of being psychopomps simply dwell in or around the Nether Realm, but mortals who take up the craft must use a method called beyonding. If a living mortal enters the Nether Realm physically, they will die very quickly without very potent protections.

Beyonding

In order for a mortal to safely enter the Nether Realm, they must send their soul through a form of metaphysical projection. This is called beyonding. To beyond, one must meditate upon one's own mortality for four straight days and nights, drinking nothing but water, eating nothing at all, and especially not killing anything. As they meditate, they will become conscious of their own soul, which will allow them to release it from its bonds and head, temporarily, into the Nether Realm.

This is, of course, extremely difficult, and it is usually only possible in special places, under guidance of an experienced psychopomp. Once someone is used to it, they can do it more easily. It is also very dangerous, for their body and their soul are exposed. As such, powerful protections are placed on the body. The soul must be trained to defend itself.

Grey Mists

In the Nether Realms, grey mists leak in from the Grey Lands, consuming souls and turning them into the undead. It is the most dangerous thing in the Nether Realm. Ankhs protect psychopomps from these mists.

Nether Waters

In the Nether Realm, there are vast seas, lakes, and rivers of nether waters that must be crossed. The waters will trap any soul that falls into them, and they can only be released if pure silver coins fall into their hands.

Ferrying

Psychopomps often station themselves on ferries to help the souls of the dead to cross these bodies of waters. These ferrymen are very powerful and combine other arts, including use of conflueverant and momentum in their work. They often charge silver to living psychopomps who wish to use their services, dropping the silver into the waters to release trapped souls.

Other Landscapes

The Nether Realm has deep, dangerous forests, vast white deserts, and ancient mountain ranges full of strange beings.

Guidance

Once a psychopomp is in the Nether Realm, they are free to go as they please. If they are part of a group, they will usually be given a territory to cover. They must search out wandering souls and offer them guidance. In order to do this, they must be able to sense souls, and they must know their way in the Nether Realm. This latter is attained through years and years of study.

The more souls they guide on to the next realm, the more poarta builds up within their souls. This gives them different powers as they gain poarta:

• First soul: soul-speech - allows communication with any soul
• Fourth soul: soothe afterlife trauma - alleviates the pain of being dead and lost
• Eighth soul: veil-making - makes it easier to craft nether veils.
• Sixteenth soul: key-making - makes it easier to make mictlanium keys.
• 32nd soul: direction sense - only works within the Nether Realm.
• 64th soul: soul-shield mark - mark an ankh on the souls of the dead in order to give them protections from the Nether Realm's dangers.
• 128th soul: commune with ancient dead - allows user to speak to the dead even if they have gone to their afterlife
• 256th soul: rally souls - calls souls to the user.

Other Powers

Other powers may be gained through other means of building up poarta:

• Soul-kill - permanently kills a soul.
• Nether-flame - a flame made from gates energy that can harm souls and things of the Nether Realm.
• Nether-lightning - a bolt of gates energy that can harm souls and things of the Nether Realm and can kill the living
• Soul dance - a communal dance with the dead within a many miles wide radius that calls them to the user and allows the user to wield their power
• Reaping - the power to be there at the moment of death and carry a soul Nether Realm, the power to kill with a touch of your blade, the power to command souls

Soul Sensing

To sense the souls of the dead within the Nether Realm, psychopomps use special veils made of nether cloth, which is cloth made from fibers from within the Nether Realm. These veils must be worn on their actual bodies, and thus will appear on their souls. Through these veils, they can see souls as if they give off a form of heat.

Veils

Veils are made from nether cloth, made into a fine gauze, crafted by the psychopomps themselves. They do not let anyone else touch it once they have started making the veil, as it connects to their souls.

Ankhs

Many psychopomps, especially akhs, wear or carry ankhs, which are powerful symbols of protection against esoteric energies.

White

All psychopomps wear white while they are working, for it is a powerful color of protection in the Nether Realm. It is known to distract the great nether worms that devour lost souls.

Masks

In the Nether Realm, the beings that dwell there have very good memories. If they remember your face, they will assume you are one of the lost dead, and they will prey upon you. If they do not recognize your face, they will be more likely to believe you are alive. One must change masks frequently in order to not be recognized.

Keys

Psychopomps carry large, white keys made of mictlanium. These keys allow them to open special gates in thin air that will draw the dead through to closer to their destinations. In the mortal realm, these keys will open portals to the Nether Realm that will act as blackholes, sucking in the souls of the dead and any undead.

Spirit-Talking

Spirits are commonly found in the Nether Realm and are often helpful or at least sympathetic. Psychopomps develop the skill of speaking their language in order to be better guides.

Undead Hunting

Any psychopomp will destroy any undead they come across, but some psychopomps specialize in hunting the undead. There are several kinds of specialist: undead hunter (generalized), sender (phantasmal undead hunters), vampire hunter, montu (corporeal undead), pitati (corporeal undead), cercetas (explores dead places), sfidator (greater undead), and anubian (jackal keepers).

Sending

Sending is the act of driving the undead into the afterlife. It is usually done by directing poarta at them or opening portals with keys. To direct poarta, a psychopomp must have a special weapon.

Weaponry

There are some cultural variations on what weapons a psychopomp may use in fighting the undead, and of course, many undead have specific weaknesses. But the commonest weapons are as follows:

• Bow: used by pitati mostly.
• Crossbow: favored by certain kinds of vampire hunters and sfidators.
• Dagger: often used as a simple, easy weapon to use.
• Flail: used by montu.
• Hammer: used by montu.
• Scythe: used by senders.
• Whip: used by vampire hunters, cercetasi, and anubians.

Metallic weapons should be made of mictlanium or any kind of silver. Wooden weapons should be made of ash. Stone weapons should be made of ????. Other materials include rook feathers and jackal fangs.

Notable Locations

Certain places in the Spirit Realm are important to psychopomps.

Graveyards

In the mortal realm, psychopomps often spend time in graveyards in order to make sure the dead are moving on from them. Graveyards and all burial grounds are sacred to them, and they will fight to the death to protect them from desecration. Pyramids and other great tombs are especially potent.

Funerals

If a psychopomp attends a funeral, they will perform a ceremony in order to make sure the soul moves on. Their own funerals are complex and often obscure due to the rituals they request ot protect their souls.

Dying

When a mortal psychopomp dies, their death is attended by Death Herself in order to make sure the enemies they made in life do not seek to harm them after death. Thus, a psychopomp may seek to defeat an undead enemy of great power by killing themself. This is, however, a last resort, and it does not always work - sometimes Death Herself will not deign to involve herself in the conflict, merely sending the soul on. Life is sacred to psychopomps, as it is what defines the souls they protect.

Variations

There are many cultural variations on psychopomps. Some major ones include

• Cheie Factator: one who uses poarta to craft the keys used by psychopomps.
• Ihyept: a psychopomp who uses reed instruments in place of keys or other devices.
• Sender: an asssassin-psychopomp who targets phantasms to send them to the afterlife.
• Thothian: one who archives and studies the lives and stories of the dead and researches funeral practices.

Thanatology

Thanatology is the science of studying death and the afterlife. Thanatologer s are special kinds of psychopomps.

Stats

The typical psychopomp will have the following variations from the base stats of their nation/species:

PRO +3
ATH +3
STR +1
AWA +4
WIL +6
STH +4
PRS -1