LARES
(GUIDE ●●●)
Ghosts are spirits of the dead who can appear in the World only for limited periods of time and only in areas important to them in life. Despite what the stories would have you believe, most ghosts are not particularly threatening. Only a few have the power to interact with the World to the degree necessary to actually harm anyone directly. The kind of ghosts most commonly encountered by a Scion are loved ones who seek to help the Scion master her powers so that she, in turn, can defeat the Titans and restore the Underworld to its proper state. Scions who specialize in the Death Purview, on the other hand, make contacts among a wide variety of ghosts, especially the Scions of the Voodoo pantheon for whom ghosts, or ghede, are often representatives of the Loa. A few particularly selfish and evil ghosts, however, act as spies for the Titans in hopes of being rewarded with new living bodies.
A ghost cannot be perceived or affected absent magical means, such as appropriate Birthrights and Boons. Likewise, a ghost cannot affect the World unless it uses its own magical powers to do so. For the vast majority of ghosts, these powers are extremely limited, though some malevolent ghosts have established relationships with agents of the Titans whereby the ghost has access to more potent ghostly abilities in exchange for doing the Titan’s will.
When using a ghost as an antagonist, use a mortal template listed previously on pages 280-283 appropriate to what sort of mortal the ghost was in life. A ghost, however, typically has a Legend rating of 1 for every 250 years since his death. The ghost of an extremely famous (or infamous) mortal might have a Legend rating of 1 for every 50 years since his demise. Most ghosts do not have Virtues.
More importantly, whatever the ghost’s Attributes are, the ghost himself is normally intangible and invisible. Accordingly, absent special circumstances, a ghost fails all Strength-related rolls automatically and cannot initiate any social rolls against living beings who are unable to perceive him. A ghost can, however, temporarily overcome these limitations. First, a ghost can cause minor poltergeist-like phenomena. To use this power, the ghost must spend Legend points (up to a maximum equal to his Strength). For each point spent, he gains one effective point of Strength with which to affect the World as if he were solid. This effect lasts for the duration of the scene. Alternately, he can spend one permanent point of Legend to become material and visible, appearing as he did when alive, for the duration of one scene. However, a ghost who has permanently expended all of his permanent Legend points in this manner ceases to exist. A ghost may act as a three-dot guide.
