Ghosts of Albion: Child Spirits

Child Spirits

It was nestled in the crook of an old oak tree, wrapped in filthy rags that barely covered its naked flesh. Its mewling caught my attention first, as I thought it was some animal injured and taking refuge from the cold. When I saw it was child my heart broke. It was dead. Of that there was never a doubt, but yet it clutched its tattered blanket and whimpered in tiny voice. "Please" was all it said. "Please, milady. Please help me."
- From The Journal of Tamara Swift

Addendum. 
We learned that the creature was called a Navky or an Utburd by the local immigrant population. Never had I seen such sorrow in Tamara, nor have I seen such rage in her when we learned the poor babe had been left out to die. The land itself reacted in violent fits to her mood. I fear to speculate what would have happened the woman who had murdered the child had I not been there to calm Tamara. After we had laid the spirit to rest Tamara sequestered herself to her rooms for three days, weeping.
- Additional comments by William Swift

Rarely is there a tragedy as the death of a child. To have such innocence lost long before its time or to have so much potential snuffed out like a candle stands as the strongest example that the world is a cold, uncaring place. The sad truth though is that hundreds of children die in the streets of London all the time. Plague, sickness, the elements or starving to death are not uncommon, but the tragedy remains.

When a child is murdered, then no clearer of example of true evil could be found.

That is why the ghosts of children are both horrifying and pitiful creatures. If a child dies before its time there is a chance that it can come back as a ghost. In addition to the types of ghosts described in the Ghosts of Albion Core Book children can also return as a Navky or an Utburd. Both types of ghosts are more common to Eastern Europe, but as England takes its rightful place as ruler of the world, other cultures will come to England.

While it is often difficult to discern one from the other by looks alone and even people from different countries call them by different names, some assumptions can be made.

A Navky results when a child dies before they are baptized. They radiate fear and sorrow from their inability to move on. An Utburd is much worse. When a child is killed by his own mother the restless spirit can come back to exact their vengeance. Both have their own forms of Unique Kill.

Navky
When child dies without being baptized its spirit can return as a navky (NAHv-kee). This spirit is more common among the Eastern European immigrants to London who have retained their Catholic upbringing. The navky does not harm anyone, at least not intentionally, but does radiate an aura of utter despair around it. The only way to grant the spirit babe rest is to disinter the body and have a Catholic Priest (a rare find in Anglican London) perform a baptism and a last rites. This counts as a Unique Kill and any other means, including exorcisms, will only displace the spirit.

Like all ghosts the navky can only be seen by the magically sensitive.

Name: Navky
Motivation: To seek their final rest
Creature Type: Ghost
Attributes: Str (0), Dex (0), Con (0), Int 1, Per 1, Will 4
Ability Scores: Muscle (NA), Combat (NA), Brains 10

Life Points: (NA)
Drama Points: 1

Special Abilities: Attractiveness 1, Cause Sorrow (like Fear, only Nerves of Steel is not applied), Ghost, Incorporeal, Telekinesis 1, Unique Kill

Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
 Telekinesis 8 Varies


The Sorrow caused by the Navky is the same as fear (even using a fear check) but there is no sense of horror or terror, but one of deep, profound saddness. Instead of running away in fright, a character might drop to their knees crying.
The Unique Kill for Navky differs, but most often one needs a preist (or some other religous offical of the same religion as the mother) to bless the child. Once that is done the child-ghost will move on.

Utburd
Where the navky is pitiful, the utburd (OOT-bird) is reviled, but still not removed from our pity. Like the revenants of Dickens famous tale, the utburd is locked to this realm to perform a task. The task is to get revenge on the mother who killed it.

Its name comes from an old Scandinavian word meaning the child who was carried outside, meaning many were originated from children left out to die from exposure. The utburd appears as it did at the time of death, so if the child was drowned, then it appears to be bloated and water-logged. Its only goal is to get justice on their mother and murderer. So killing the mother is not their goal, but rather to have her arrested and convicted on charges of the murder. The utburd will work through human agents when it can via possession, but once they no longer have use for them they will cast them aside of get them killed in order to move to another body. An exorcism will force them out, but they will only possess another body. When so possessed the person is capable of great feats of strength (add the utburds Willpower to the Strength of the person possessed. There is no corresponding increase in Life Points though.)

Some occult scholars say that the presence of an utburd can be detected by ravens and rooks and they constantly fly around them waiting for the carnage to come. The utburd radiates an aura of fear wherever it goes.

If the mother is killed after the utburd comes back, but before she can be charged with this crime they will go on a killing rampage till the first light of dawn, then their souls are released to the realms of the dead. If the mother is arrested and charged with the crime the utburd will simply and peacefully pass on.

Like all ghosts the utburd can only be seen by the magically sensitive, but its murderer and immediate family can see it as well.

Name: Utburd
Motivation: To get revenge on their murderer
Creature Type: Ghost
Attributes: Str (0), Dex (0), Con (0), Int 2, Per 3, Will 7
Ability Scores: Muscle (NA), Combat (NA), Brains 16

Life Points: (NA)
Drama Points: 1

Special Abilities: Attractiveness 2 (when visible), Cause Fear, Ghost, Incorporeal, Telekinesis 6, Unique Kill

Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
Telekinesis 16 Varies

Stats for Savage World / Gaslight / Rippers

Navky
Attributes: Agility -, Smarts d4, Spirit d8, Strength -, Vigor -
Skills: Intimidation d8
Charisma: +0, Pace: -; Perry: -; Toughness: -
Special Abilities:
* Aethereal: Only magical attacks can affect Navky, but only it's Unique Kill can actually kill it.
* Sorrow: Navky radiate sorrow, forcing anyone that sees it to make a Guts roll.
*Unique Kill: A Navky can only be put to rest by a priest giving it a blessing.

Utburd

Attributes: Agility -, Smarts d4, Spirit d12, Strength -, Vigor -

Skills: Intimidation d12

Charisma: +0, Pace: -; Perry: -; Toughness: -

Special Abilities:

* Aethereal: Only magical attacks can affect Utburd, but only it's Unique Kill can actually kill it.

* Fear: The Utburd radiates fear, forcing anyone that sees it to make a Guts roll.

*Unique Kill: An Utburd can only be put to rest once the parent that killed them is brought to justice.

Stats for Victoriana

Navky
Rank: 1
Physical Competence: -
Mental Competence: 3
Health: -
Signature Skills: -
Talents: Ageless; Fear (Flee); Rise Again
Combat: Telekinesis at Mental Competence.

Special: Must receive a blessing from a priest of the Aluminat Church to be killed.

Utburd
Rank: 3
Physical Competence: -
Mental Competence: 5
Health: -
Signature Skills: -
Talents: Ageless; Fear (Flee); Possession (like Demonic Possession, p. 279); Rise Again; Unstoppable
Combat: Telekinesis at Mental Competence.

Special: Must get murderer to justice to be killed.

Note: Both these creatures originally appeared in Apparitions a supplement for the 2ned Edition of the Chill RPG. These are not converted from those, but rather inspired by them (so they dont follow the rules I set out for converting between Chill and Unisystem).

Batgirl and Batwoman

So growing up my first super herione crush had to be Yvonne Craig's Batgirl.  Was it the red hair? The form-fitting purple body suit? Or that fact that she not only was ass-kicking heroine, but also smart as hell?  Maybe it was the motorcycle.  Either way Batgirl always had a place in my heart.

I was in college and remember reading "The Killing Joke", maybe one of the post pivotable comics in DC's history.  The Joker decided up his game and shoots Barbara Gordon, paralyzing her from the waist down.  One can argue the "Women in Refrigerators" angle here (Barbara is reduce to nothing more than a prop to get to Gordon and Batman), but the counterpoint is as Oracle, Barbara may be more powerful than she ever was as Batgirl.

There is a story out there, I guess from Paul Dini (who I am a fan of), about reviving Batgirl with a new red-on-black outfit. But that idea was rejected in favor of keeping Babs as Oracle.  I have to admit, I support that choice.  It keeps Barbara in a place where she can do some serious damage to the criminal element and it gave us a new Batwoman.

The Batwoman

In "52" when Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman were away, other super heroes stepped up to take their places. One, was a figure patrolling the streets of Gotham protecting her from Intergang.

I won't get into too much detail here, but check out her Wikipedia page for more information if you like, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batwoman.  She is also playing a major role in the on-going "Batman R.I.P./Battle for the Cowl" storyline going on currently.
Like the nearly resurrected Batgirl, Batwoman wears a red on black(dark blue?) motif that is similar to both Batman Beyond and a bit like the Alex Ross Batgirl.

The Batwoman "Kate Kane"
"I think she likes you." The Quesion to Rene Montoya

Experienced Heroine
Type: Human
Life Points: 54
Drama Points: 25

Attributes
Strength 4
Dexterity 6
Constitution 4
Intelligence 4
Perception 5
Willpower 5

Qualities
Athlete (Kate has a black belt in Karate), Attractiveness +2, Contacts (Criminal) 2, Contacts (Financial) 3,
Hard to Kill, Fast Reaction Time, Nerves of Steel, Pain Resistance, Resources +6, Situational Awareness

Drawbacks
Adversary 4 (Intergang, Cult of Crime), Emotional Problems (Fear of Commitment) 1, Mental Problems (Cruelty, minor) 1, Mental Problems (Obsession, stop crime in Gotham) 1, Minority (lesbian, Jewish), Obligation (Gotham) 1, Secret (is the Batwoman, closeted), Tragic Love (Renee, it can never really work between them)

Skills
Acrobatics 6
Art 2
Computers 4
Crime 4
Doctor 2
Driving 3
Getting Medieval 5
Gun Fu 3 (mostly CO2 propelled grapples)
Influence 2
Knowledge 5
Kung Fu 7
Languages 2 (English, Spanish)
Mr. Fix-It 3
Notice 6
Occultism 1 (she knows about magic and fought a werewolf)
Science 3
Sports 5

Combat
Maneuver; Bonus; Base Damage; Notes
Punch; 13; 8; Bash
- Knock out; 11; ; Bash
- Disarm; 10; na; -
Throw Weapon (Batarangs); 10; varies; bash or slash depending on type
- Catch Weapon; 8; na; -
- Aim (batarang or grapple); 8; na; -
- Grapple Gun; 9; na; -
Kick; 12; 10; bash
- Jump Kick; 10; 15; (add dex+acro SL to damage)
- Double Jump Kick; 9; 15;
Dodge; 13; na; Defense action
Grapple; 15; na;
- Wrestling hold; 11; na; must grapple first
Feint; 11; na; add SLs to next action
Parry; 13; na; Defense action
Wall Flip; 10; na;

Batwoman is like Batman without all the angst. We don't know why she fights crime yet, but she has the tacit approval of Batman (Robin gave her a "real" Batarang).

Katherine "Kate" Kane on the other hand is the rich heiress of the Kane real estate empire. No one, for now knows her two secrets. That she is Batwoman and lesbian, save for Rene Montoya.

Some links
Another (older) blog post covering some of the same ground. http://thewastebasket.blogspot.com/2006_06_01_archive.html

Adventures in Nerdliness named Yvonne Craig as their #1 Nerd Girl of Note.

Going (Up) to Hell? Cosmology

I was reading a very interesting post by Mike Mearls the other day about dropping the structure of the planes in favor of something more local. Read his post here, http://kotgl.blogspot.com/2010/01/kill-planes-abyss.html.

Ok? good.

I think his reasons of course are sound and fit nicely with something I have wanted to do forever. When I first picked up that 1^st Ed copy of Deities and Demigods I loved the Planes. It had so many interesting places and so many things to do. I got very attached to the Great Wheel cosmology that I began to evaluate fantasy and later horror on how closely it fit that model. Then I began to get lazy. Not in the sense that would not write, quite the opposite, I would come up with elaborate schemes to make things fit the model or not. Whether it needed to or not. Even in my AD&D Grand Opus Adventure the characters went to Hell to confront the evils that invaded their world there was still the Great Wheel. It worked, then, but now I feel it's limitations. Well along came 3^rd Edition and suddenly the planes are mutable, changing and even expected to be different depending on how you look at them; 4E changes this even more.

Mike Mearls mentions in his blog that one of the issues of the planes being "out there" that they lose some of their value. History tells us that demons, devils and other bad things came from under-ground, or beyond that mountain or from across the sea; here there be monsters. Monsters come from "beyond the sky" in Lovecraft related fiction, which is fine for tentacle horrors, but devils at least are concerned with the same things humans are. Devils need to be close. They need to be something the common man, woman and child fears. Not just because they are evil, but because they are nearby.

Mike says move the Abyss to your world, I say move Hell.

Hell in 4e now seems to be a planet floating somewhere in the Astral Sea. This puts it on par with everything else, even Heaven. Now I am not a religious person, but doesn't Hell lose some of what makes it Hell if it just a planet with bad environmental conditions? They describe it as planet some 7,000 miles in diameter with the "layers" lower and lower subterranean continent sized caverns. Like Mearls, I say take all that and shove it inside your world. Drill down a few hundred miles and there is the entry way to Hell. Just like Dante described. What keeps the devils in? Same thing that keeps them there now, gates. Like the roach motel it is, it is easy to get, impossible to get out. Or nearly such. Of course the point between the Underdark and Abyss sharing a nature is sound, I think I can get the same thing with the Nine Hells really. In fact I might even make Lolth more like a devil (she is more devil like than demon like anyway) given her status as former Goddess, cast out and down. Sound familiar? It certainly fits with what Hell is supposed to be better, an underground dungeon for the damned. The Abyss is a maelstrom of evil and chaos, it fits better in the planes.
Of course this is not without issues. First, and the one that concerns multi-versal games the most, is that Hell inside a planet means that for every copy/twin/multiverse that planet is in there is a corresponding Hell. This might be fine really. I don't care for some of the changes made to some of the Arch Dukes in the last few books (3 & 4), but I can write that off as that is just the way things are in that universe. Which is something we all do anyway, I am just making it explicit. Of course the new 4e cosmology also gives us the Shadowfell and the Feywild, which I like, but if they are dark and twisted reflections of our own world then what about the Hell for those worlds? I say that their Hells are ours. That if you drill down in the Shadowfell you end up in the same Hell as if you did it in the Feywild or the campaign world.
Back in the day there was a great series of Dragon articles about the various Arch Dukes and Dukes of Hell. The article began with a bit of fiction about a Paladin (a holy warrior for good) marching on to Hell to defeat evil at the source. This scene works better today than it even did then with Devils now generally evil rather than exclusively "Lawful Evil". And it works better if the Paladin is marching to Hell, not paying a wizard for an Astral Projection spell.

Sure *where* it is physically located might mean little to PCs and DMs with access to magical means of travel, but the world should make sense to normal people too. What is there to fear about a creature, evil and immortal or not, if it takes a great amount of magic to get them here.

Gygax was a reader of Dante, Milton and of Ovid. These authors, as much as anything and maybe more so, shaped what we think of when we think of Hell. "Planet Hell" inside the Earth/World then fits very well with all these writers. More than a plane "out there" somewhere. Which does bring up an interesting point. Here is a quote from Milton's "Paradise Lost",

"Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name Of Demogorgon."

— John Milton, Paradise Lost II. 966.

So. Lucifer is cast out of Heaven and down into Hell, he meets up with these demons in some…what, ante-chamber of Hell, a place where Chaos rules with Night. Sounds like the Abyss, but where is that again? I have often wanted to merge Hell and they Abyss into one place where demons are the masses of creatures and devil are the upper-class. If I put Hell inside my world (or the Abyss like Mearls) then do I have room for both? Do I need both? Are they the same thing with different names? Then there are other issues I have avoided because of the aforementioned laziness. Tiamat is described in myth as "chaos" and her body is destroyed to make the firmament of the Earth. But then she gets tossed into Hell? Sure, it fits the outcast god model, but Tiamat is chaos. Lilith is also cast out, but she wants order, her own order, but order all the same; at least that is how I read it. Grazzt looks like a Devil, but is a Demon or maybe he is not. And there is the bit from Milton. So what is a world builder to do? And where is this antechamber of Hell were Demogorgon and Orcus act as the Welcome Wagon for Lucifer and the cast out Angels, now Devils? Hell has the River Styx, where the souls of the dead are ferried across, but now the souls of the dead move through the Shadowfell. This makes me want to break out the WitchCraft RPG seprioths and see if I can't make it all work.

Well here is my stab at it. The Antechamber is of course the Underdark. It is hundreds of miles below the surface of the planet. Here in the deepest pit was where the fallen angels were cast. It is here that they meet the demons. There is a great battle, Orcus (then a dark god) is killed only to come back from the dead, Demogorgon has his head cleaved in half (to regrow as two heads) and Ades…well that was the last anyone heard of him. The devils (as they are now known) take the realm once controlled by demons. Once there though the devils discover that Hell is not the home of the demons, it was only the realm they could control this close to the world. The devils seal the opening to the Abyss, place Tiamat there to guard against demonic entry and the devils themselves descend lower into Hell. Physically the Abyss and Hell (and Tarterus and Pluton and Gehenna) are all the same place locked deep within the Earth in a area were the Prime Material, Shadowfell and Feywild all intersect. The nine layers controlled by the Arch Dukes and Devils is known as Hell. Everything else is simply "The Underworld". The conditions are, well Hellish, it is inside a planet afterall, but great and powerful magics keep the denizens alive, though it warps other magic and prevents them from escaping. The areas known as the Abyss are open and there is much fighting, the area known as Hell is gated. It is supposed to be a prison after all.

At the bottom there is a dark chasm who feeds into the elemental chaos. I like the description of the Abyss in the new Manual of the Planes, it makes it sound like a black hole in the Astral.

It needs some work to be sure. Demons, like Demogorgon, Orcus, Pazuzu and others have more interest in human affairs than the mindless hoards of demons because they are more devil like, and thus, more human like. Older demons such as Dagon are more elemental chaos. Even Tiamat now is more demonic than diabolic. This helps explain the Bloodwar a bit better, explains the similarity between demons and devils and why in popular parlance (in the world) they are often confused. It also helps explain why some seem to switch sides every now and then. Or simply put, devils are the cast out immortals of good that betrayed or otherwise became evil. Demons always were evil.

Of course I could keep the Abyss as is in 4^th Ed. There are plenty of good reasons to keep it in the elemental chaos in the Astral. Demons are more elemental, more chaotic obviously and more alien. Of "demon" can just be a term to refer to anything that is evil that is not a devil. If I go that route then "Devils" would refer only to the Fallen and things like Ice Devils, Malebranche and the like are demons, just a different kind. After all, Succubi were demons and now they are devils, so it's not like there isn't precedent.
What does removing the demons and devils from the "outer planes" rob us of in D&D? Well, Planescape to a large degree would need to be rethought. To a lesser extent the nature of Tieflings will need to be changed, though maybe not. Typically to get to those outer planes takes characters of some power, so there is the build up to go to their home turf and fight that is now gone; ie. anyone can find the opening to Hell and stumble in.

OR maybe demons come the "Hells" of the Shadowfell and Feywild.

Of course there is one huge advantage of reshaping the planes. I can shape them in a way to work with either my 4^th Ed game or my OSR/Basic game or even something like Ghosts of Albion.

That is the fun thing about fantasy cosmology, it can be a mutable as I need it to be.