L.E.Modesitt, Jr., wrote three novels based on the premise that ghosts
exist, and can be detected and studied scientifically. (The three novels
are _Of Tangible Ghosts_, _Ghost of the Revelator_, and _Ghosts of the
White Nights_. The first two are available in an omnibus volume called
_Ghosts of Columbia_.)

Like any good author, Modesitt's worldbuilding tells us what we need to
know, and leaves any other speculation to the reader. The three novels
provide us with quite a bit of information.

My purpose in posting this is to solicit, specifically for the September/
October issue of Freelance Traveller, articles involving ghosts (and/or
zombies) as outlined in those novels (and summarized below, for those who
don't have them). Any type of article is fair game for this, from rules for
using ghosts and zombies in a campaign (as NPCs; they're not suitable as
PCs), to Up Close and Personal profiles of a ghost (and the person they
used to be), to adventures involving ghost or zombie encounters, to ...
whatever.

Modesitt's ghosts have the following characteristics:

 1. When visible, they are white, and often somewhat indistinct.
 2. They are created when a self-aware being dies violently, quickly, and
    knowing that they are dying. The definition of 'violence' does not
    automatically include malevolence; automobile accidents can and often
    do leave ghosts, and where medical care is pre-modern, women who die in
    childbirth tend to leave ghosts. Lingering deaths do not leave ghosts,
    and in general, preadolescent children do not leave ghosts, not being
    fully aware of the implications of 'death'. Some societies - such as
    Modesitt's Columbia - may consider a child leaving a ghost as probable
    cause to open an investigation into child abuse.
 3. Ghosts remain where they died. The limits of "where they died" are not
    clearly defined; there are examples showing a fair amount of variance -
    from a single hotel room or small area of public sidewalk to an entire
    suburban house.
 4. They dissipate over time, but how much time varies depending on each
    ghost. Neither minimum nor maximum durations are given, but example are
    seen where the identified ghosts persist for many years, and in one
    case, over a century.
 5. A ghost's volition and ability to interact with the living is variable:
    some ghosts never do anything but re-enact the actions leading to their
    deaths; others are able to act in limited ways to interact with others.
    There is evidence within the books that suggests that the actions of
    the living with respect to interaction with the ghost can affect how
    the ghost interacts with the living of its own volition.
 6. They are electromagnetic in nature - they can be forcibly dissipated by
    appropriate projected electromagnetic fields, or their existence
    prolonged by the provision of basic electromagnetic fields (examples of
    each are given)
 7. They are manifestations of what makes a person a person - for lack of a
    better term, the loaded term 'soul' is used.
 8. Conditions that lead to what we call PTSD can lead to a person being
    'de-ghosted' in Modesitt's universe, without dying. A person who has
    been (fully) de-ghosted is called a zombie, and retains all of their
    knowledge and memories - but has just enough volition to follow orders,
    and little more. They also tend to maintain a fixed emotional set (or
    simulation thereof; the book doesn't explicitly say, which, but there
    is room for doubt). A partially de-ghosted person retains volition, but
    their emotional responses may be 'off' or otherwise not fully normal.
    Partial de-ghosting of a person is also a tool used to 'brainwash' or
    'condition' a person into desired behavior.
 9. It is not _generally_ and _publicly_ known within the universe, but
    technology exists to (destructively) remove ghosts from the area that
    they 'haunt'. It is generally assumed by those who know of its
    existence that all of the major governments have this technology; they
    keep it secret because of the public attitude toward ghosts; definite
    general knowledge that the technology exists and is used would result
    in an outcry over destroying the last remaining part of people's loved
    ones - "let the dead rest in peace!"
10. Even 'blacker' technology exists to digitally record a ghost, and to
    re-project a recorded ghost. The processes involved are nondestructive
    but require a certain amount of computing power; re-projection requires
    more than recording.
11. 'Blacker' yet is that it is actually possible to synthesize a ghost.
12. It is possible (but not known to be, except by those actually affected)
    for a ghost to 'possess' a person. The only known example involved an
    accident with a ghost projector, a recorded ghost, and the person
    possessed seemingly partly 'de-ghosted' (or soul-damaged).
13. Different people have different levels of sensitivity to the presence
    of a ghost - for some, they may never have more than a 'feeling' of
    something (the ghost) being nearby (this often expresses itself in the
    same sort of nervousness that unconscious exposure to a 14Hz tone
    does); others may only see a mist; still others can see more definite
    manifestations, or be communicated with (if the ghost is of
    sufficiently high volition). Those who can 'hear' ghosts do not
    actually hear a true sound; it is more accurately describable as a
    mental impression of the voice and words.

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Far Future Enterprises, 1977-2018. Use of
the trademark in this notice and in the
referenced materials is not intended to
infringe or devalue the trademark.

--
Jeff Zeitlin, Editor
Freelance Traveller
    The Electronic Fan-Supported Traveller® Resource
xxxxxx@freelancetraveller.com
http://www.freelancetraveller.com

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