THE CITY OF MANIFEST
CHAPTER 2:
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Eathon Chavits once said that “there’s less fear of death when you know a little more about what it’s like, and it’s clearly not so bad.” To some extent, these words seem to be true. The living in Manifest often worry less about danger than other people. Many are not at all afraid to become a ghost (although they might very well be afraid of the pain usually involved in death, and any ghost will tell you that such a fear is valid—it usually hurts to die). One of the strangest things about Manifest is a group of folk called “jumpers.” These people willingly go back and forth from living to dead, changing condition with no more thought than others have in changing their clothes. They find advantages in both states, and the transition simply costs about 510 gp (about 10 gp for a painless death spell and about 500 gp for a raise dead). Some jumpers do it for the thrill, but most are adventurers who find, depending on their mission, that they need to be either living or dead to best accomplish some task. They gain skills in both states of existence, and then pay to have themselves switched back and forth when needed. Most folk in Manifest have taken to a practice of carrying around a special document (similar to a will) that specifies what should be done with their body after they’ve died. These documents contain specific instructions like “Please raise me,” or “Please let me rest in peace,” or “I intend to return as a ghost.” In this way, friends, loved ones, or the officials of the city don’t have to waste a lot of time and spell resources trying to do something that’s against the deceased’s wishes. The city offers these documents, complete with a special seal and signatures, for just few coins, so that others have reassurances that the document is authentic (although cases of forged documents planted on bodies to thwart the wishes of the dead have occurred from time to time). Not all is easy when it comes to relations in a city where the living and the dead cohabit. As different as two people from different cultures or races might be, they are not as different on a fundamental level as the living and the ghosts. Each side has its own peculiarities and concerns that it feels the other is not sensitive to. From the living’s point of view: —Ghosts have had their chance at the world. If they want to hang about, fine, but they shouldn’t use up valuable property and resources. They should get their business done and either move on or get themselves raised. This world was made for the living. —Ghosts are strange and unnerving at best (and terrifying at their worst). Some ghosts can even possess living creatures, and that makes them menaces. —Ghosts have such different outlooks on things that they can’t be reasoned with or understood. They shouldn’t try to foist their opinions into the politics of a living city.
From the ghosts’ point of view: —The living are closed-minded and naive; they don’t understand the whole scope of things (in this world or the next). —Ghosts in Manifest are able to still carry on their unique sort of existence, so don’t try to stop them. Ghosts have rights, too. —Ghosts have strange appearances sometimes and odd supernatural powers, but so what? The living community accepts all sorts of folk from all over the world; they should simply learn to cope with the ghosts, as well. Of course, these are extreme viewpoints, and not everyone feels that way. More than a few people in Manifest have both lived in the city and been dead here. They can see things from both points of view. Still, both communities have narrow-minded groups (the more ghost-centered faction of the Yisa-khardomas and the Knights of the Quiet) that support dangerously hostile points of view. All in all, though, Manifest is a fascinating and wondrous place to live . . . or die.
RACES IN MANIFEST
Manifest is a cosmopolitan city, primarily human but with large populations of elves and half-elves, dwarves, halflings, and gnomes, with a smattering of other races. The following descriptions are in addition to the information found in the Player’s Handbook.
HUMANS Humans make up about 50 percent of the city on their own, both as living people and as ghosts. Because of the nature of the city, its residents hail from everywhere. All manner of ethnicities and cultural backgrounds are represented. People who come here for some specific, particularly dour business often decide to stay. Sometimes, this is in order to be with a loved one who is now deceased (perhaps attempting to find work and save for the price of a raise dead spell), but often it is just because they find a peace of mind in Manifest that they never could anywhere else. Humans in Manifest are leery of the Spirit Wood, which surrounds their home. Of all those who wander off the roads that lead through the forest, only the Arboreal Guardians can find their way back with any measure of safety. Human residents are also quite leery of going down below the city. Besides being literally the path to the land of the dead, the catacombs below are rumored to be home to all manner of vile monsters. Only adventurers and Deathwarden dwarves go down there. Most people are happy to stay in the city where it’s safe. Because they were often originally travelers or the children of travelers, humans in Manifest are generally worldly in their views and are more tolerant of different races and cultures than are people who cloister
