The Phantom Gate
The Phantom Gate is the 2nd in a series of books featuring Thomas Book as the main Character.
1. Dr. Phantom has built the Phantom Gate (it looks like the St. Louris Arch). This gate is a portal through which the living can see and speak with their dead loved ones. The gate is something like a fly trap in that it does attract the spirits of the dead to it so that they can communicate with the living. They can appear and communicate once but then they are trapped within the gate itself.
2. Dr. Phantom has made a deal with something on the Other Side to return the soul of his young daughter in exchange for one thousand souls. He builds the Phantom Gate to get his daughter and collect the fee he must pay the 'thing'.
3. The 'Thing' says that for the soul of his daughter to cross back through the Phantom Gate, he must give of his own soul. Dr. Phantom tries to cheat the 'Thing' by giving not of his soul but of another. This screws up the transference once the Thing realizes that he's been cheated.
4. When the girl materializes on this side of the Phantom Gate, she is part-wraith and her touch can suck the life (or the soul) right out of someone. Not knowing that her touch is harmful, she runs to her father, the Doctor, and hugs him. The touch sucks the life from his body and Thomas tries to pull her off of him.
5. Even touching her dress knocks Thomas back like he's touched a live wire and he lays on the ground with his soul partially detached from his body. The girl, freaked that she's just killed her father, runs off into the night leaving Thomas partially dead.
===
This book introduces the following concepts:
1. The Shadowlands
2. Wraiths
3. The House of Blackwell
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Thomas Book: Wraith
Wraith are vengeful spirits of the dead that inhabit the Shadowlands.
They appear as humanoid figures that are draped in tattered shrounds that grow longer the more potent the Wraith is.
Wraith travel in swarms and flocks and will attack anything within the Shadowlands that has a life spark. They are constantly hungry for energy and will drain the life force of a living being with their touch.
A younger, weaker wraith might take a few moments of touch to completely drain the average person. An elder wraith could drain and drop a person in their tracks with a single touch.
A common tactic to avoid wraiths is to plant a magical 'thumper' or heart in one location while you work in another so that they are drawn away from where you are doing whatever it is that brought you to the Shadowlands.
Wraith and Ghosts alike will attempt to feed from the magical 'spark' of the spell and can be kept busy for a while but not forever.The magical 'heart' appears as a large glowing ball of energy that will attrack wraiths and ghosts alike for miles.
The spell mimics the life-spark of a living being and will pulse, sending out wave after wave of light-energy as though it were a heart beating steadily. Though ghosts would not be able to drain much energy from it, wraiths will swarm around it in a large spiral column to pull energy from the spell until it's exhausted.
Thomas Book: Shadowlands
The Shadowlands is the spiritual world of the Thomas Book series. The shadowlands is the land of the dead, a place of spirits and echoes of old buildings and memories of the past and present.
The Shadowlands is full of ghosts but is held perpetually in a state near midnight where the only light source is that of the moon.
Ghosts will commonly stand near the echoes of their homes or the places where they are drawn until something gets their attention.
The most common source of attraction for a ghost is that of a life spark. Any living being that crosses into the Shadowlands will eventually draw ghosts. Thankfully, the ghosts aren't too quick so you have a while when you're moving around in the Shadowlands. The problem is that the arrival of a life spark will draw every ghost for miles given enough time. They become the moaning mass of zombie-like entities that are drawn to the energy of the living being, who will also give off a faint, almost lunar glow - rather like someone wearing white under a black light.
Ghosts have been known to attack in mass and pull the living apart to just get a taste of the living energies that they once held.
They are not, however, the worst things out there.
Wraith are flying, vengeful ghosts that can suck the life energy out of someone with a touch.
When entering the shadowlands - a common tactic is to cast a spell that will mimic the life spark in another location to distract the mobs of ghosts and the wraith that attack in swarms. They are the equivalent to a 'Thumper' as they mimic the thump-thump of a heart beat.
Entering the shadowlands is dangerous but it is also very useful. A mage's magic is stronger in the shadowlands. They are able to create gateways and bridges to connect various points in the Shadowlands thus allowing them to travel at great speeds in the mortal world.
By the creation of a gate and a bridge, a mage would be able to travel 1 mile with each step, or 10, or even a hundred depending on the strength of the gate.
The creation of a gate and a bridge takes some time, approximately ten minutes for a quick bridge, longer for a stronger version.
Entrances into the Shadowlands are not too difficult to come by if you know where to look. Learning how to make a slit in the membrane that separates the real world from the Shadowlands does take some effort of will. You also have to be careful where you cross over. The doors to the Shadowlands are known because they're usually the safest places to enter - the place where the membrane is the thinnest and easiest to step through.
Making a door, even a temporary door, is dangerous because while it's open things can come and go both ways. Normally, the membrane will seal itself over almost like a cut healing. Given a few moments the 'injury' will start to close on its own. It would take effort to keep it open.
It is not impossible to make other doors or even, if the Cabal were strong enough, punch your way into the Shadowlands - though the door would have to be watched.
The Shadowlands is full of ghosts but is held perpetually in a state near midnight where the only light source is that of the moon.
Ghosts will commonly stand near the echoes of their homes or the places where they are drawn until something gets their attention.
The most common source of attraction for a ghost is that of a life spark. Any living being that crosses into the Shadowlands will eventually draw ghosts. Thankfully, the ghosts aren't too quick so you have a while when you're moving around in the Shadowlands. The problem is that the arrival of a life spark will draw every ghost for miles given enough time. They become the moaning mass of zombie-like entities that are drawn to the energy of the living being, who will also give off a faint, almost lunar glow - rather like someone wearing white under a black light.
Ghosts have been known to attack in mass and pull the living apart to just get a taste of the living energies that they once held.
They are not, however, the worst things out there.
Wraith are flying, vengeful ghosts that can suck the life energy out of someone with a touch.
When entering the shadowlands - a common tactic is to cast a spell that will mimic the life spark in another location to distract the mobs of ghosts and the wraith that attack in swarms. They are the equivalent to a 'Thumper' as they mimic the thump-thump of a heart beat.
Entering the shadowlands is dangerous but it is also very useful. A mage's magic is stronger in the shadowlands. They are able to create gateways and bridges to connect various points in the Shadowlands thus allowing them to travel at great speeds in the mortal world.
By the creation of a gate and a bridge, a mage would be able to travel 1 mile with each step, or 10, or even a hundred depending on the strength of the gate.
The creation of a gate and a bridge takes some time, approximately ten minutes for a quick bridge, longer for a stronger version.
Entrances into the Shadowlands are not too difficult to come by if you know where to look. Learning how to make a slit in the membrane that separates the real world from the Shadowlands does take some effort of will. You also have to be careful where you cross over. The doors to the Shadowlands are known because they're usually the safest places to enter - the place where the membrane is the thinnest and easiest to step through.
Making a door, even a temporary door, is dangerous because while it's open things can come and go both ways. Normally, the membrane will seal itself over almost like a cut healing. Given a few moments the 'injury' will start to close on its own. It would take effort to keep it open.
It is not impossible to make other doors or even, if the Cabal were strong enough, punch your way into the Shadowlands - though the door would have to be watched.
Friday, February 24, 2012
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