Overview

The Haunters' past is tightly-bound to the ancient myth-cycle of the Goddess Mania, who was both the guardian of the Underworld and the muse of insanity. In Classical times Her visage was hung upon doors to ward off evil, and poets and philosophers sought Her favor, claiming that insanity granted by the Gods was far greater than the sanity of Man.

The antecedents of the Haunters were those spirits who performed Her works at Her command. They were the Maniae - the venerated long-dead spirits, whom Mania oversaw in a special, privileged sector of the Underworld. They acted to protect those who venerated Her and kept Her mysteries, and sought out mortals worthy of Her divine favor.

But then the Sundering came, and everything changed. Mania was blocked from leaving the Underworld, just like all others who'd been down there at the time - God or Spirit. She could not contact the Maniae who had been left behind, and they could not contact Her, either.

Eventually, Charun's Ferrymen found a way to leave the Underworld, and then return back. When news of what had happened above came, She petitioned Him to allow Her and her remaining Maniae back to the surface with the Ferrymen. She wished to be an active part of His Concord, for mortals would still need Her divine insights if they were to properly venerate the Gods.

But Charun refused Her this; He had always been jealous of Her insight, and the popularity it gave Her amongst the living and the dead. He was more than happy to have Her confined to the Underworld with the other Gods, where He could keep them all under His hammer.

Mania was furious, and sought the help of other Gods to defy the rule of Charun. Some of them offered Her aid in escaping, but most turned their backs upon Her, for they were too cowardly to openly defy the Emperor. She could only truly count on the aid of Her Maniae, who obeyed Her every word.

So Mania and these few, other Gods conspired to learn the new skills of the Ferrymen, while the Concord was in its infancy. And one day She and these Gods gathered each last Manes to her, and traveled up to the Lands of the Living, escaping the City of the Dead.

But the way was arduous - even for the Gods. None of her Maniae survived the journey, and most of the divine beings She traveled with were destroyed by the terrors they encountered along the way. And even with their might combined, the few survivors were barely able to break through the Barrier at the end.

So it was a severely weakened Mania who appeared before her faithful, and was shocked to find that they had grown lazy and indolent away from Her influence. They had set themselves up as willing members of Charun's new Concord, and had hewn to the words of His Injunction - going so far as to help the Ferrymen hunt down and punish those Maniae who still performed Her will, rather than His.

Her rage was legendary. Even though She was weakened from Her trying, terrible journey, She hunted down and slew each traitorous, backsliding servant. She slaughtered Manes after Manes until only those who had stayed loyal to Her yet remained. And from those few, She crafted a new, more loyal following, and taught them some measure of Her divine magic, so they might inspire madness and fear in Her stead.

Mania did this reluctantly, for it is not proper for mere Spirits to own the power of the Gods. But She knew She did not have long to remain amongst them: the journey, and her rage, had so diminished Her that staying upon the skin of the world was becoming much too difficult. She delayed Her fall to the Underworld as long as She could, but knew it was only a postponement of the inevitable.

Thus did She gather Her followers together, one last time, and give them Her final instructions. Until She could return more fully, they would hold to these new codes She had given them. And they would stay here, in Her place, until each Manes had passed a certain span of time, and were no longer able to interpret Her will. Such dutiful servants could sink into the Underworld and join Her, but the rest must remain behind.

Some of her followers asked how this could be possible - how could mere spirits travel to Her, when the journey here had almost destroyed Her? And She promised them, one and all, that not only would She ease their passage, but one day She would return.

Yes, she would return, for Charun could not hold onto His power indefinitely - here or in the Underworld. One day He would lose His allies, His support, and His power. And on that day, She and the other Gods would come back, bearing His hammer in one hand and His head in the other.

And then, just to prove Her intentions, She and the other, weakened Gods joined hands one last time, and performed a great working amongst them. The ground shook, the air split open with Charontes, and another great Storm came rushing into the lands of the Dead - one that tore down all the Ferrymen had built up, and forced them to retreat.

This new Storm had the effect of giving Mania's followers a more even landscape to work within, which had been Her intention. And it had also created new paths through what lay beyond, so that Her worthy followers could one day join Her.

But She had only a few moments to bask in their glory and praise, and She then sunk into the Barrier. Spent of all power, She fell down once more to the City of the Dead...

That was the last time the Haunters have seen their Goddess, except as representations of Her face, or when they work Her will upon the world. They hold tightly to the words She taught them, and the commands She placed, knowing that there will be no salving Her wrath if She should return to find them slothful or disobedient.

And the world is much better for their diligence.

Coming Home

Unlike most other groups of Wraiths, the Haunters are not terrified of the idea of falling through the Barrier. They don't want to go through it until it's their allotted time to go, as they fear the penalty of having failed Mania. But when that time has come they're more than happy to let go of the Deadlands and sink into the Underworld, just as their Goddess did so long, long ago.

This involves them letting go of their Anchors, either by becoming so full of Angst that their connections snap and they fall away, or having their links to them permanently cut. That act usually forms the climax of their Falling Ritual, where the Haunters of a Necropolis gather to hear the last words - and gather the treasure - of a Haunter who has been made ready to meet Her Goddess.

They also place great value in martyrdom. If they exhaust themselves in a great work of faith and devotion, they are considered to have fallen right into the waiting arms of Mania. Likewise, immense favor awaits those who die in combat against the Ferrymen, as they are the greatest foes of the Haunters {and the most likely to destroy them outright with a single blow}.

Conversely, they have only pity for a Haunter who is destroyed at the hands of the Pardoners. They may hate the shotgun priests as much as the Ferrymen, but, much like the Damned, they are seen as more of a rabid annoyance than a truly worthy foe.


Back