第二章：设置
尽管对偶然投下目光的旁观者而言极为相似，《死灵》的世界并非我们所处的这一世界。仔细观察，你会发现细微的出入、更深的阴影与蛰伏的黑暗，而正是这些定义了这不眠亡者出没之地。这世界仍有美好，仍有爱、希望与信念，甚至足以鼓舞灵魂挣脱坟土。但与此同时，这也是个充满痛苦、恐惧与惊骇的世界，是我们世界更为可怕的一个版本。人类精神之光烧的炽亮，但它所投出的阴影也更黑、更长，并令那些腐败更加显眼而非将之隐蔽。
也许这是由于冥界的一部分，被称作幽土（Shadowlands）的所在如同幽邃的斗篷一般笼罩在生者地界之上而带来的形而上学接近所导致。理所当然，死者之地与生者之地的接近一定会产生某种令人毛骨悚然的可怕效应。再说一次，死灵之眼所看到的世界从来不是一个美好的地方。这是黑暗世界，一个激情与抗争之火不断升起，放射光芒，而后转瞬熄灭的世界。
本章详细描述了死灵的世界。从鬼魅存在的基本形而上学理论到冥渊的历史、死者的帝国，再到冥界的独特地理。受过良好教育的死灵所需知晓的一切都在这里。
地理学与形而上学 Geography and Metaphysics皮囊之地 The Skinlands 在鬼魅之言当中，生者之地被称作“皮囊之地”。你我会发现自己在那里基本和在家乡没什么不同；地理学位置完全一致，（官方性的）历史、流行榜单内容与某些街道地标的名称也是一样的。但由于这里是黑暗世界，偶尔这里也会有它不曾有的一面。呼啸的寒风更加冰冷与肮脏。摩天大楼不仅更加华丽，对外人而言也更加难以逾越。城市更加拥挤，更加险恶；街道更像迷宫，灯光更少，死角更多。甚至富人们的城堡也比在我们世界当中的要更加干净、优雅，并在某种程度上远离常人必须面对的日常现实。所有事物中都潜藏着一种微妙的恐惧，一种灾祸将至的无需言说的预感。
死灵的世界基本倒向了哥特朋克当中的哥特一面。教堂的屋顶上有更多的石像鬼，建筑既有21世纪的风格，又有19世纪的味道。官僚机构规模更大，效率更低，更没有人情味。少数幸运儿的花园中喧嚣更盛，而其外的阴影每天都在变得更长、更冷。
但这并不是要否定朋克的一面。反主流文化仍旧充满活力，有时甚至是暴力的，会向矗立在老街区的教堂的玫瑰色玻璃窗丢砖头。街道并不太平，举目皆是无政府的乱象，全然未被摁回阴暗的地下。尽管许多皮囊之地的住民都选择了平静而绝望的生活，但也总会有人决心要把自己烧得透亮，欣享这世界所提供的每一种感受。
不论对生者还是死者，这都是个鬼怪作祟的危险世界。死灵可以使用称作冥法的力量从冥界穿越到皮囊之地，但总的来说，他们只能在短时间内如此行动。而即便只是进行这样的尝试也是危险的，因为冥渊的法律禁止生者的世界接触，同时也会有其他危机潜藏。皮囊之地的一些地点比其他地方更容易被死者突破。这些地方经常因此被认作是作祟之地，而除了深陷绝望或是完全鲁莽的那些死者外，所有死者都不会选择这些地方。
与此同时，生者们忙于他们自己的事物，对这与他们一起生息活动的世界一无所知。在极少数情况下，当他们意识到它的存在，又会竭力忘掉他们所看到的这一切。
尸幕与幽雾 The Shroud and the Fog 亡者的领域与皮囊之地被一层称作尸幕（the Shroud）的现实结构薄膜分隔。它是无形的，但在很大程度上又是不可穿透的，它允许不眠者们看到生者的世界，却又阻止他们与之互动。冥渊的形而上学家们一直争论着尸幕的构成成分，究竟是恐惧、怀疑还是那些更为离奇古怪的存在，但可以确定的是尸幕并非恒在恒有。在尸幕出现之前，生者与死者都能通行无忌，但随着时间的流逝与大众恐惧的加深，尸幕诞生了。
尸幕的厚度并不均一。在一些地方，尤其是那些死灵屡屡违背卡戎律令穿过尸幕的地方，尸幕已被磨损得极为薄弱。尸幕被如此磨损的地方通常被那些冒进的死灵称作祟地，他们经常利用其与皮囊之地进行互动的便利性。
另一方面，幽雾（the Fog）则只存在于生者的头脑当中。这是死灵对那种阻止人类认知并记忆鬼魂活动的防御机制的一个术语。幽雾源于对死亡的天然恐惧，它是那个细微的声音，那个告诉你一定是风推开了那扇门的声音，那个告诉你镜中闪过的鬼影只是光线的恶作剧的声音，那个告诉你墙上不可能有鲜血滴落的声音。并非所有人都容易受到幽雾的影响。儿童和动物大体上来说对其影响是免疫的——可能因为他们并不理解或是害怕死亡。猫尤其以其能透过尸幕观察到死灵而闻名，并能以出乎意料的方式对死灵在皮囊之地的出没做出反应。
冥界 The Underworld 从与生者地界接壤的幽土到难以名状的遥远迷宫的最深处，冥界是对所有亡者领域的统称。冥界并非单一性的区域。相反，你最好将它当做一种洋葱式的形而上结构，一层又一层，随着你逐渐深入，它会变得越来越广大。拨开幽土的面纱，你会发现大风暴当中永不停歇的狂风暴雨。而深入大风暴后，你会发现那些稳固的岛屿——冥渊与其他的死者王国，乃至传说中的彼岸。而当你潜入大风暴的核心，你会发现一个森然可怖、变化不休的构造，它被称作大迷宫，是无尽恶灵之军的巢穴。在大迷宫的中心则是湮灭的大口。所有这些都被认为是冥界的一部分——尽管它们各自都有其独特的性质与危险。
直视我业 Gaze Upon My Works 冥界的景象鲜少能以“美丽”形容。它是过往历史中所有鬼魂的安息之地；被夷平的建筑与被摧毁的史迹都将长眠此处，直到被不眠亡者们清扫。除了生长在大川（the Great River）两岸的那些罕见而又发育不良的树木，这里没有任何事物生长，阿鼻叫唤的恐怖景象倒是随时可能发生。然而这亦是一个死灵们豁出性命牢牢抓住的世界，一个可以被永恒的爱或是桀骜的希望点燃的世界。即便在幽土的荒芜空虚与大风暴的疯狂混乱中，也会有美。
湮灭 Oblivion 从根本上来说，湮灭是宇宙当中趋向被动毁灭的原力。它是熵的辘辘饥肠，耐心地等待在适当的时侯吞噬万有。那些坠入虚空的存在将永远消失，被吸入永恒的黑暗当中，从存在的这一层面彻底消灭。
湮灭之能无远弗届，在冥界，它是一种比人们所想象的要更为伟岸的力量。它不满足于简单地等待时间将食粮送入口中，而更通过它的代理人来加速众生那不可避免的衰亡。正是湮灭的轻触将死灵变为影噬恶灵，并给予每个死灵的黯影在他们脑海中发声行动的能力。正是湮灭为大迷宫中可怖的怪物注入了生命，并将铸造其扭曲墙壁的材料从大风暴中卷出。正是湮灭吐出了漩涡，那席卷冥界，将弱者与不幸之人吞噬的狂怒风暴。终有一日，万物将归湮灭，但它已迫不及待。
在物理上，湮灭表现为虚空，终极的虚无。而所谓的虚空之口，则是坐落在大迷宫中心那通向不断扩张的虚无的大门。如果说冥界有所谓上下之分，那么虚空之口便处于最低点。任何坠入其无法穿透的黑暗的事物都永不复返。
大迷宫围绕着虚空之口，就像一个扭曲至极的贝壳包裹着一个可憎的软体动物，大迷宫是无有穷尽的迷境，深藏无尽的恐怖与不计其数的恶灵。很难说大迷宫究竟有多大，其尺度处于永恒的变化当中，即便是为数不多的那些稳定坐标有时也会突然易位。现实的残骸横尸于此，破碎的遗迹、被弃的灵器与不复光明的影噬之魂随意散落。古恶灵，即所谓未诞者，在他们的鬼魅奴仆雕凿出的巨大庙宇中不安地沉睡，物理定律在这里自行扭曲颠倒，变化不定。少有死灵自愿来到这里，更少有死灵能从这里离开。
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Chapter 2: Setting
The world of Wraith is not our world, though to the casual observer they may look remarkably similar. But a closer look shows the subtle differences, the deeper shadows and lurking darkness that defines the place where the Restless Dead walk. There’s still beauty in this world, still love and faith and hope that can inspire a soul even beyond the grave. But at the same time, it is a world of pain and fear and terror, a version of our world as we are afraid it might be. The light of the human spirit still burns brightly, but the shadows it casts are darker and longer, and highlight decay rather than hiding it.
Perhaps this is due to the metaphysical nearness of the socalled Shadowlands, the part of the Underworld that drapes over the lands of the living like a spectral cloak. Surely the proximity of the lands of the dead to the realm of the living must have some chilling effect. Then again, the world as seen through the eyes of a wraith has never been a pretty place. It is truly a World of Darkness, one in which the flares of passion and defiance rise up, shine brightly, and then all too often are snuffed out.
This chapter describes, in detail, the world of Wraith. It covers everything from the basic metaphysics of ghostly existence to the history of Stygia, empire of the dead, to the peculiar geography of the Underworld. Anything a welleducated wraith needs to know is here.
Geography and Metaphysics
The Skinlands
In ghostly parlance, the lands of the living are known as the Skinlands. You or I would find ourselves largely at home there; the geography is the same, as is the (official) history, the content of the pop charts and the name of a given street sign. But because this is the World of Darkness, there’s an edge to it that is sometimes absent here. Winds blow colder and dirtier. Skyscrapers are both more ornate and more impenetrable to those who don’t belong inside. Cities are more crowded and closer to the brink; streets are more mazelike, with fewer lights and more dead ends. Even more than in our world, the citadels of the rich are clean and elegant and somehow removed from the workaday reality others must deal with. And there is a subtle dread that permeates everything, an unspoken expectation that something is always about to go wrong.
The world of Wraith tilts heavily toward the gothic side of the gothic punk equation. Cathedrals boast more gargoyles scowling along their rooflines and architecture suggests the 19th century as much as the 21st. Bureaucracies are larger, more inefficient, and more impersonal. The sounds of excess rise from the gardens of the lucky few, while outside the shadows grow longer and colder every day.
But that’s not to dismiss the punk aspect as well. Counterculture is vibrant and sometimes violent, throwing bricks through the roseate windows of cathedrals that tower over old neighborhoods. The streets are unsafe and anarchy reigns everywhere it isn’t forcibly clubbed back into the underground. While many who dwell in the Skinlands choose lives of quiet desperation, there are always those who are determined to burn bright and fast, reveling in every sensation the world has to offer.
It is a haunted world, and a dangerous one, both for the living and the dead. Wraiths can cross over into the Skinlands from the Underworld by use of powers called Arcanoi, but by and large they can only do so briefly. Even to attempt to do so is dangerous, for the laws of Stygia forbid contact with the world of the living, and other dangers lurk as well. Some places in the Skinlands are more easily breached by the dead than others. They often acquire reputations as haunted, and are usually abandoned by all but the desperate and the foolhardy.
Meanwhile, the living go about their business unaware of the world that moves alongside their own. And on those rare occasions when they are made aware of its existence, they do their best to forget what they’ve seen.
The Shroud and the Fog
The realms of the dead are separated from the Skinlands by a thin membrane of reality known as the Shroud. Invisible, and yet largely impenetrable, it allows the Restless to see the world of the living but prevents them from interacting with it. Stygian metaphysicists argue over what exactly comprises the Shroud, whether it be fear or disbelief or something far stranger, but what is known is that the Shroud was not always there. Before it existed, the living and the dead walked freely with one another, but as time passed and societies grew more fearful, the Shroud arose.
The Shroud is not always of a uniform thickness. In some places, particularly those where wraiths have violated Charon’s law and repeatedly crossed the Shroud, it is worn thin. Places where the Shroud is worn down in this way are often claimed as Haunts by enterprising wraiths, who take advantage of the ease of Skinlands interaction as best they can.
The Fog, on the other hand, exists solely in the minds of the living. It’s the term wraiths use for the defense mechanism that prevents humans from recognizing and remembering evidence of ghostly activity. Born from the innate fear of death, the Fog is the little voice telling you that it must have been the wind pushing that door open, that the ghostly reflection you saw in a mirror was just a trick of the light, and that there’s no possible way you could have seen blood dripping from the walls. Not everyone is susceptible to the Fog. Children and animals by and large are immune to its effects, perhaps because they don’t comprehend or fear death. Cats in particular are known for watching wraiths through the Shroud, and for reacting in unexpected ways to their presence in the Skinlands.
The Underworld
The Underworld is the collective term for all of the realms of the dead, from the Shadowlands that border on the lands of the living to the hellish depths of the Labyrinth, indescribably far away. The Underworld doesn’t exist as a singular place. Rather, it’s best thought of as a sort of onion-like metaphysical structure, with layers within layers that somehow keep getting bigger the further in you go. Scratch the surface of the Shadowlands and underneath you’ll find the roiling eternal storm of the Tempest. Go deep into the Tempest and you’ll find islands of stability — Stygia and the other kingdoms of the dead and eventually, the legendary Far Shores. Dive into the heart of the Tempest and you’ll find the monstrous, ever-changing maze called the Labyrinth that serves as a home to the uncounted armies of Spectres. And at the center of the Labyrinth is the maw of Oblivion itself. All these are considered part of the Underworld, though each offers unique attributes and dangers.
Gaze Upon My Works
The scenery in the Underworld can rarely be described as “beautiful.” It is the resting place for all of history’s ghosts; the torn-down buildings and shattered monuments all come to rest here, to be scavenged by the Restless Dead. Nothing grows here save the rare, stunted trees that line the banks of the Great River, and scenes of overwhelming horror can erupt at any moment. And yet it is also a world that wraiths cling to with unparalleled ferocity, one that can be fired by the strength of eternal love or defiant hope. Even in the desolation of the Shadowlands or the whirling chaos of the Tempest, there can be beauty.
Oblivion
At its most basic level, Oblivion is the force of passive destruction in the universe. It is the gaping maw of entropy, waiting patiently to devour everything in due time. Those who pass into the Void are gone forever, absorbed into the long dark and removed from this plane of existence.
But a little Oblivion goes a long way, and in the Underworld, it’s a far more vital force than one might expect. Not content to simply wait for time to bring it sustenance, it reaches out through its agents to hasten the inevitable decline of creation. It is Oblivion’s touch that turns wraiths into Shadow-Eaten Spectres, and that gives voice and power to the Shadow inside every wraith’s mind. It’s Oblivion that fuels the nightmare monstrosities of the Labyrinth and that sucks the material of its twisted walls out of the Tempest. And it is Oblivion that belches forth Maelstroms, the savage storms that scour the Underworld and devour the weak and unlucky. Sooner or later, all things must fall to Oblivion, but it would prefer sooner.
Physically, Oblivion manifests as the Void, the ultimate emptiness. The so-called Mouth of the Void, the gateway to this ever-expanding nothingness, rests at the heart of the Labyrinth. If there can be said to be an “up” and a “down” in the Underworld, the Mouth of the Void rests at its very lowest point. Nothing that enters its impenetrable darkness ever returns.
Surrounding the Mouth of the Void like a particularly warped seashell around a particularly unpleasant mollusk is the Labyrinth, the unending maze of passages stocked with horrors and home to countless Spectres. It’s impossible to say how large the Labyrinth is, as it is constantly shifting in size and even the few stable landmarks are subject to sudden dislocation. The flotsam of reality drifts down here, broken relics and abandoned Artifacts and Shadow-Eaten souls who have no more use for the light. Ancient Spectres, the so-called Neverborn, slumber uneasily in vast temples carved out by their spectral servants, while the laws of physics reverse themselves on a whim from corridor to corridor. Few wraiths venture here voluntarily, and fewer still return.
【WtO 20th】卷一-第二章 设置 Setting, 冥界地理与死灵历史、基本概念
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