Spirits are created from the souls of those who meet an untimely death. Whether this be by violent means or an unfortunate accident, the individual returns to unlife through sheer willpower or ritualistically against their will to continue their life's story where it otherwise would have ended.
Newly returned Spirits generally retain most or all of their memories. While they may be content to try to continue where their life left off, Spirits are often ostracized and expelled from their families and communities, with many viewing them as bad omens or inherently evil. While this may not be the case, there are situations where Spirits return with grudges that they are compelled to enact - or even develop a hatred for the living who have now shunned them. Others may even be bound to servitude by those who brought them back to the mortal realm.
Becoming a Spirit
To become a Spirit, players must either retire a character at level 19 or 20 and make a new character with the Spirit stigma (you cannot Ascend and come back as the same character's spirit), have an Immortal bestow a Blessing on a willing follower who has died and is waiting at the tree, or die with at least 500 character experience points and choose to bring their character back as a Spirit with all of the restrictions listed in the "Starting Over" section of the "The End" article. You cannot respend your character with Karma to take the Spirit stigma.
Costuming for Spirit Characters
Spirits must wear a blank white face mask, similar to a masquerade blank. These come in many styles and could represent the race the spirit would have been in life. Additionally, the spirit must wear any costuming for whatever race they were prior to their demise. The mask may be decorated for any facial racial costuming, and must cover at least half of the player's face.
Spirit Manifestations
Spirits manifest in several known varieties. It is unknown what circumstances are necessary to create certain manifestations, but there are three commonly reported types of spectre with distinct characteristics.
- Orb- Orbs are commonly seen in Vostour and northern Nastal. These Spirits tend to take the appearance of small floating orbs or flames of various colors. Some are fallen warriors who returned to life from their sense of duty to a lord, while others are merely the shapeless form of wayward souls. Regardless of the origin, Orbs can transform into representations of their appearance from their previous life.
- Visage- The most difficult type of Spirit to identify, Visages look exactly as they did in life. The only true way to determine if someone is a Visage is to be well versed in the art of esprice to reveal the Spirit's true nature.
- Mist- Having a very nebulous form, Mists tend to have rather undefined features and are mostly ethereal. These Spirits are either ancient and have begun to forget who they were or what their purpose is, or are formed from multiple weaker spirits through ritualistic binding after an occurrence of mass death. While they may coalesce to look more like their previous selves, it is a difficult task that can only be held for brief moments of time.