This page will be used to notify everyone about changes in Afterrealm continuity.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW! October 2012

Important note on how Afterrealmers speak: they will NOT under any circumstances use bigoted language referring to gender, sexual orientation, or race; in fact, they find such terms very confusing. This includes cracks about who's wearing the pants in a relationship, and calling things considered insufficient "girly" or "gay". Just don't do it. It wasn't funny in the first place, anyway.

The concept is under construction, but illnesses may now be possible in the Afterrealm due to fluctuations and disruptions in structural energy. Think of it as how there can be a temporary glitch in a computer program that might be fixed simply by letting the system rest and then turning it back on (well, in some cases). Yes, this means that Harbingers have a legitimate reason for sick days now.

There are still no true animals in the Afterrealm, but there is now a concept in place regarding ghostly little wisps hanging around the 'Realm, a tad eerie but (allegedly) harmless. No word on what exactly these are yet, but rumor has it that they're animal spirits that had a close connection with a human spirit and so followed it into the Afterrealm. They are known as Spectria (singular term is Spectrus), and they're said to be elusive and shy, but with a curious, playful side.


May 2012

Just so we're clear, guys-- I have NOT approved the use of diseases/bacteria in the Afterrealm, as I still haven't figured out how exactly they might work in a spirit-based world. I will let everyone know what the official stance is once I figure it out. But for now, no sicknesses, viruses or infections please. I suspect that there might be some equivalent versions somewhere, but I haven't found them.

And on that note: plants in the 'Realm are all created, not brought in from the Mortal Realm. It is impossible to get any living thing into the world, so everything has to be rendered artificially out of Expanse energies.

Which brings me to the subject of animal spirits. As of now, I am rendering null all concepts of animal spirits appearing as dogs, cats, etc. in the Afterrealm. I need to work with this concept some more, as there are a lot of snags in it that must be fixed. So, sorry folks. No pets. For now.

Make sure to check the updated versions of the Afterrealm glossary and the list of Death Angel powers. There is new information available that you may want to look at, along with modifications to some existing concepts.


August 2011

Paradis's representative era has been changed once again (for the last time, I hope); it will now resemble France, particularly Paris, during World War I. Harbinger uniforms will bear some resemblance to military uniforms of that time period.

And on that note, each era represented in the Afterrealm marks when the city broke away from the culture of the corresponding Living world area and went off on its own.

Structural Energy

Lingering ghosts on the mortal plane are composed of a special type of spiritual energy, self-sustaining and extremely low, which accounts for their intangibility and invisibility to most mortals' senses. For lack of a better term, we'll use "structural energy" when describing it.

    Aberrant Apparitions (Aberrations), being mutations of normal ghosts, are also composed of this same material, but in a far more unstable manner. By essentially absorbing life energy present in living things (plants, and even animals at higher levels), they can convert it into structural energy and consequently grow in size and power. However, said growth is somewhat akin to cancer tissue in that it gets more deformed and dangerous the longer it is left unattended. In other words, the older an Aberration is, the bigger and more powerful it is likely to be, and the less it will likely look like its original self.

This structural energy also is a component of Afterrealm spirits, but unlike ghosts, the energy only composes the physical body of the person. Note that structural energy is indefinitely regenerative; lost appendages can literally grow back with time and care assuming that the main body is still working.

Life Force

What an Afterrealmer will use to move and function is an entirely different set of energy from structural; we will call this “life force”. Life force is obtained by consuming energy, most prominently from the Expanse which serves as the main source in the Afterrealm the same way the sun is the primary source of energy for Earth. Raw Expanse material is not edible, but it can be converted into foods. (While in the Mortal Realm, human food will also work in replenishing a 'Realmer's energy levels if he or she is capable of assuming a tangible form). If the person does not consume energy to keep functional, after a while he or she will fall into a coma-like state with no visible life signs. This does not mean that they are dead; putting energy back into the system will allow him or her to wake up and resume function.

Dissipation, on the other hand, is permanently destroying the structure and rendering the energy unstable. Without anything to conform to, the energy will scatter in all directions and then gather loosely where it "died", appearing like a glowing blue mist. This can happen to ghosts, Afterrealmers, and Aberrations.

In more relatable terms: think of an Afterrealmer's system as an electronic device, like a computer or an iPod. Structural energy is what composes its body: the wires and plastic and metal that make up its structure. Life force is the electrical energy that's in the battery. It can run out, but if it does, reintroducing energy into its system will get it back up and running. The only way to permanently render it non-functional (Dissipation) is to destroy the structure; pretty much like taking a sledgehammer to the abovementioned computer.

Aura

The third category in this spirit energy holy trinity, Aura, is the field of protective energy surrounding a soul. Aura can be consciously manipulated by its owner; in fact, some persistent mortals have developed ways to channel their personal auras (often called ch’i) to a limited degree, enhancing their speed, strength, and stamina through intensive training and deep meditation.

The people of the Afterrealm, of course, have a distinct advantage over mortals in that their aura is not confined to their bodies. As a result, aura manipulation is considerably more advanced. Its most common use is the conversion to a tangible form as soulborn weaponry for Death Angels, but also can extend to enhancing physical strength up to ten times the person’s original ability, temporary adherence to walls, and even creating invisible pathways over materials not dense enough to normally support a person’s weight, like water.

Aura is inexhaustible in that it is constant and is not used up when being manipulated. However, coaxing aura into a new shape taxes on its owner the way physical exertion might (maintaining a shape takes no effort as long as the person keeps physical contact with it). Overreaching with aura manipulation can result in physical exhaustion, and like with physical activity, rest is the best remedy.

Despite the Afterrealm’s civilizations being primarily influenced by mortal design and goings-on, there are plenty of local writers, actors, poets, composers, artists and playwrights inhabiting the assorted city-states on the Black Wastes, who offer their own contributions to their world’s culture.

Just like in the world of the living, there are good and bad artists, iconic personalities, masterful, evocative works of art (and the art critics that fawn over them) celebrities that don’t really deserve the attention, crackpots who REALLY don’t deserve the attention, public meltdowns, drama, withering criticism, and generally a booming art culture full of high and low-class elements, beauty, ugliness, subjective interpretation, and no end of controversy. Whether the results produced in it are better or worse than creations in the Mortal Realm, however, is subject to much questioning.

A few of the people prominent in the Afterrealm’s culture are listed below:

<sub>--

Joshua Salvador is a well-respected theater actor and director hailing from Edensborough. A friendly, unassuming man with unmatched devotion to the theatrical arts, he is considered one of the highest practitioners of his craft, to the point that he serves as an occasional guest lecturer at the Edensborough School of Theatre. Having recently completed a three-year run of the highly successful A Light in the Tunnel, in which he played the lead to rave reviews, Mr. Salvador has now decided to take a break from acting to try his hand at writing plays himself, excited at the prospect of dabbling in what he sees as an under-appreciated art.

His first play, a short sketch exercise released to favorable reviews and much enthusiasm, has led some of his supporters to claim that an artist of his caliber could only be the direct reincarnation of mortal playwright William Shakespeare. This theory is laughed off by most, including Salvador himself.

--

Actress, singer and violinist Adriana Keller makes her home in Haven’s filmmaking district, charming the hearts out of cinemagoers everywhere with her beautiful, strong voice and stunning looks. Early on in her career, she gained a reputation for playing starry-eyed girls in large-scale musicals, but after she broke the typecast by starring in a wrenching drama (for which she won several awards), she never looked back. Nowadays, she is not only one of the best-loved actors in Haven, but one of the best-paid. She puts much of her earnings into supporting the arts in universities.

Like a lot of people in the movie business, she is also an ardent philanthropist, putting huge amounts of money towards helping newcomers to the Afterrealm find homes and jobs.

--

Prominent novelist Harold Mast, formerly from Edensborough but now currently living in Paradis, has made a living on writing what he calls “fantasy romances”, that are really nothing more than elaborately-dressed smut stories with an occasional Aberration thrown in for good measure. His plots regularly involve Afterrealm citizens who visit the (invariably 19th-century) living world only to fall madly in love with attractive, well-endowed ghosts lingering near where they tragically died.

His obsession with love triangles (in The Unbound Spirit, for example, the third party was a living human), lacy petticoats, and the number 18 is prominent in most of his works, but none quite so egregiously as in his most famous novel, Phoenix Rising, where its protagonist is the ghost of a young woman whose lover commits suicide to be with her, only to find that she is being already courted by a charming and fiery-spirited Courier. Much drama (and gratuitous sleeping around) ensues, ending with the ghost girl entering Edensborough and becoming a Harbinger, the jilted lover turning into an Aberration in a jealous rage and tearing his rival apart, and a new lover conveniently showing up in the final pages.

Mr. Mast’s writing, despite its popularity amongst the more salacious (and probably lonely) members of the populace, is often criticized for its unrealistic and one-sided portrayal of romantic relationships, and is regarded by most other professional writers as being tasteless hackwork designed for the sole purpose of making a profit.

--

Animation director and story artist Andre Keener has fought for years to have his studio’s medium be recognized in the movie business as a legitimate form of cinematic art. For this reason, he expects nothing but the highest standards that he and his team of artists can deliver, and the results are spectacular, with beautiful, detailed backgrounds, entertaining stories, and sympathetic, interesting characters. Keener’s studio in Haven is never entirely in the clear financially, but proponents of animation all agree that his movies are some of the most-beloved in the Afterrealm.

--

Joan Marriott of Haven, once an Elite Harbinger of that city and now a full-time painter, is well-known for her unorthodox collage/cubism artwork, which ranges in size from three inches across to the span of an entire room (a mural of her earlier, more accessible work, portraying an old folk tale about the first Death Angels, adorns one wall in a hallway at the Harbinger headquarters). Her colorful paintings are generally interpreted by critics as speaking to the human condition and how decisions in life can drastically change the eventual outcomes of destiny, and generally interpreted by everyone else as “kind of interesting, but anyone could paint this.”

--

Mystery writer Maxwell Harper was, like Marriott, once in Haven's Harbinger force, working as an Investigator until post-traumatic stress disorder forced him to end his service. Turning to writing about two years into his retirement, he, at the encouragement of his wife Tara, sold his first serials to a local magazine, and within the decade had become a full-time novelist.

His writing is generally well-received, gaining considerable attention for the sharply-drawn characters and suspenseful, twist-filled plots, his most famous creation being the charming-but-flawed Abel Waterson, a Harbinger detective partially based off of Harper's former partner in the force. Besides Waterson, several other characters and stories are derived from real-life sources Harper encountered during his long and decorated career, and several key locations in Haven show up in his books. His prose has been described as rough and heartfelt, raw in its portrayal of the darker crevices of human nature yet darkly hopeful.

Currently residing in the northern part of Haven with Tara, Harper is notoriously low-key, refusing most interviews and preferring to let his books speak for themselves.</sub>