Spectropath

Spectropathy is a combat-related magical discipline used by a semi-religious paramilitary force called spectropaths (Spectres as a formal group) on Karsen. A spectropath is an individual who serves the Coil and hunts the Fair Folk, among other duties. Mortals of any race, gender, or magical ability (or lack of) can join the Spectres.

History
Following the Second Cataclysm, monsters and the Fair Folk began infesting the universe. They were instinctively pulled to Halse, the last surviving mortal homeworld. These hostile invasions threatened the well-being of the recovering Fae and drake populations, as well as that of the newly-arrived phrinu. Just by being on Halse, the Fair created pockets of dimensional instability capable of rending large parts of the world and letting in more Fair Folk. The mortals prayed to the Coil for help.

The Coil answered by opening the Spiritus, a divine pocket dimension where the deceased souls of the Unity were laid to rest by the Cataclysm. The Coil used the Spiritus as a renewable resource of divine energy drawn from the decaying god-souls, and allowed mortals to share in it, increasing their power to fight back against their enemies. In order to survive the unique atmospheric conditions of the Spiritus, mortals had to undergo a pseudo-deification process that permanently altered their souls (see 'Initiation' below).

Shortly afterwards, the Spectres were formed as a organized cabal of monster hunters.

Organization
The Spectres are loosely headed by the Ten Bridges, divinely-chosen oracles who each have a special bond with one of the members of the Coil. While individual spectropaths pledge their services to a single member of the Ten, all are bound to answer to them as a group. The Ten themselves may or may not be spectropaths, as it is not a requirement to be selected as one by the Coil.

They track their numbers in terms of devotions, large groups of Spectres bound together by their alliance to a single god of the Coil. Within the devotions, spectropaths are organized in lineage groups, each tracing its line back to one of the first ten spectropaths. Each devotion has its headquarters at a refuge, a massive fort which is built around a particularly powerful Clear Altar, where killed and revived hunters re-enter the world, and the Spiritus can be accessed (see Characteristics).

The devotions are not forbidden from warring against each other because of the discordance among the Coil themselves, and longstanding feuds and rivalries exist among them. Generally, however, spectropaths will band together against greater threats regardless of politics.

Initiation
To become a spectropath, individuals must be formally inducted into a devotion. Most join as juveniles, but some join as adults. Regardless of age, they take a divine oath in service to the Coil at one of ten grand temples scattered around Karsen, which marks them as a student, or novice, of a refuge. There the Coil embeds a magical fragment called a godshade inside their soul. This godshade continues to mature throughout the novice's process of becoming a spectropath, gradually binding the individual's soul with the divine souls of the Coil, granting them divine abilities and a form of immortality. The downside is that it permanently takes something from them as a sacrifice in order for the godshade to form. This sacrifice can be anything personal that the individual holds dear - a personality trait, physical or mental characteristic, memory, ability, et cetera.

The novice is then given to a spectropath teacher, known simply as a mentor, to travel, study, and train with them in a one-on-one environment. When a novice is declared a full spectropath depends on the refuge. Some follow strict guidelines with a specific length of time for study, while others are less formal in their training traditions. This also depends on the age and ability of the incoming novice. As a result, training can take anywhere from a few years to decades. Every refuge, however, roughly marks "graduation" with the novice's first slaying of a Great Fair One.

Characteristics
Spectropathy is so named because of the divine spectral blessing associated with the discipline. They are capable of great physical and magical feats, abilities which are tailor-made to counter the unnaturally-agile and blood magic-casting Fair Folk. They also have moderate immunity to blood magic, which feeds on flesh and life force, thanks to their half-undead nature.

Muteness is a well-known characteristic that all of them share. They use telepathy with other Spectres and magic individuals, but otherwise they are incapable of making vocal sounds. This is one of the reasons that the Fae often shun them, and do not usually become spectropaths themselves. Instead of speech, to talk with non-magical beings, they will use their own internal sign language and gestures, or more commonly, use writing, whether physical or magical in nature.

Spectropaths draw their power from the Spiritus. When spectropaths give themselves over to their ghostly forms and turn invisible, or when they die and are re-animated, they are actually briefly crossing into the Spiritus.

Abilities

 * Immortality - While not true immortals (see Death below), spectropaths age in an erratic fashion to the point of seeming immortal by normal standards, and dying is not a permanent state.
 * Increased stamina, strength, reflexes, and flexibility - Spectropaths are known for their amazing reflexes and blinding speed in battle, regardless of race. They can take much more physical abuse than the average mortal thanks to their half-ghost nature, and land stronger blows. The average spectropath can break bones with little effort.
 * Flash-stepping - In addition to their already heightened speed, spectropaths can teleport short distances in rapid succession, taking advantage of the unique spacial properties of traveling through the Spiritus.
 * Intangibility - The most infamous "trick" of spectropaths the world over. In battle, they absorb the death-essence of the Unity to temporarily step outside of mortal - and Fair - perception, turning invisible and intangible to all but their own kind, who they see as ghostly forms.
 * Astral projection - By splitting their souls in half, a spectropath can briefly occupy Halse and the High Realm simultaneously, which allows them to physically interact with Halse while a splinter ghost navigates the corresponding area of the High Realm. This is useful for anticipating attacks and seeking out targets. However, it does make their souls vulnerable to attack in the High Realm.
 * Blessings of the Coil - Blessings vary depending on the devotion to which one belongs. In general, blessings are what allows spectropaths to do so much more damage to the Fair Folk than normal warriors are capable of.

Death
Spectropaths combine their souls with those of the Coil and are heavily exposed to the dead Unity's energy. One consequence of this merging of the mundane and the divine means that the spectropath is cut off from a true death, and will often linger as physical specters after succumbing to (usually violent) death. There are two ways that they can pass on:

Transfusion
The first is via the blood magic spell Transfusion. Nearly all the Fair Folk are capable of casting Transfusion, which is a crude version of the Fae spell used to corrupt them into Fair Folk in the first place. The Fair use the spell frequently, as this is their primary method of feeding on the living. As a result, spectropaths have many ways to deflect or avoid it, but occasionally they fail. Being Transfused causes the spectropath to rapidly turn into a Haunt (see below).

Going Clear
The second way is essentially a drawn-out version of the first. When one "dies" for the first time in any way that isn't Transfusion, their souls are whisked within the Spiritus, where they are reconstructed by the Coil, and sent back to Halse at one of the thousands of Clear Altars located around the world, most often at their own refuge. The revived spectropaths look like they did in life, can interact with the world like a normal mortal, and cannot be told apart from the living by non-spectropaths. They do not fall ill or die permanently, merely vanishing into spectral dust after taking a mortal blow, and re-materializing at an altar after about a week.

But they slowly lose their grip on sanity as they linger on Halse over time, turning into gradually dissipating, impotent ghosts as they suffer the burden of holding the universe together along with the Coil. Spectropaths call this development 'clearing '. Temporary deaths speed this process as well. The rate at which they lose their minds varies depending on the individual, and can happen very soon after death or years beyond it. The transformation is considered complete when the ghost can no longer interact with the environment, phasing through physical objects, and has dissolved entirely into ectoplasm.

Because of the presence of mana in the world, ectoplasm has a chance of randomly reforming into a ghostly monster known as a Haunt. Some spectropaths devote themselves to hunting down Haunts and giving them a final death, permanently erasing them from existence.

Gear
Spectropath equipment is made specially to accommodate their high-speed fighting style and rough way of living. It tends to be relatively light armor accented with adamantite or blessed with the Flare, both of which grant some immunity to blood magic.

The traditional weapon of the spectropath is the scythe, inspired by the Bloodied One's weapon of choice, but over the centuries, the refuges have branched out to different ones. The majority of spectropaths are still learned in scythe combat as a point of pride and cultural tradition.