"The Ghosts of the Condemned" (quoted from the Everlasting, Book of the Unliving, page 161, © 1997-98 by Steven C. Brown)

These spirits can be thought of as being condemned to spend eternity (or a large portion of it) reliving their crimes or offences committed against innocents. They can not go on to their final resting place.

The following quote is being re-printed from pages 162 and 163 of The Everlasting, Book of the Unliving, and describes these lost or condemned beings and their existence within the Secret World:

The condemned can instinctively shapeshift into four basic forms called the shrouds of death. No draw is required for changing shrouds, but it costs three animus points unless reverting back to natural form. [note: this is a part of the game system mechanics] The natural form for shades the burial form. The natural form for the earthbound is the death form. The natural form for phantoms is the living form.

Dead Souls are sometimes referred to as "Ghosts" or "The Condemned". They can be found "haunting" a place of death or "tied" to a location where they had committed some vile act for which they are being eternally punished to re-live their crime over and over again, for eternity. Among these spirits are widely differing types. Among them are the most commonly known to humans, the "Earthbound", who are ghosts who are tied to live along the edges of the human realm of the living, but not quite able to participate in it, but yet unable to make their journey to the afterlife. Then there are "Phantoms" who are powerful spirits who are tied to their own personal "Shadoworld" or "Life Tomb", however some of these condemned beings sometimes are able to make their presence known to those of the living realms by being able to suppress their personal prisons and thus create shadow realms of sorts, that while a part of their prison it may extend into the world of the living to a limited degree, creating "Poltergeist" effects as well as other strange occurences and effects. Another group are the "Shades", which are powerful undead spirit entities that inhabit the "Dreadlands". They can travel freely among many places within the Underworld. They can even sometimes visit the lands of the living upon the earth, but find "living" there very uncomfortable due to their state of existence. Unlike the Earthbound, who can also walk the lands of the living, Shades can not change form as easily and do not tend to posess as broad a range of Phantasmata (or supernatural powers of Dead Souls). Then there are the ever feared Ankou (also known as Grim Reapers, Reapers, or simply as Deathbringers), these dead spirits are in the employ of Death (or Haides as they sometimes refer to the persona of Death) with the mission of collecting souls of those who's time is up within the lands of the living by cutting the "silver cord" that binds a soul to its early form. [OOC: Along these lines, in keeping with the humor of Terry Pratchett, whenever any character or NPC within the games run from here encounters Death (or any of his minions) he will speak only and always in CAPITAL LETTERS.] There is also another (even more evil) group of Dead Spirits, called the Rakasha, who are alien things that are very similar to Dead Spirits, but while they live within the Underworld, they can transform into strange and sickening creatures as well as appearing as Dead Souls (some even suggest that they may be Dead Spirits of Abominations, however no strong evidence of this has presented itself as of yet).

These creatures are not intended to be played by players as characters or Protagonists, but are instead intended to be played as Antagonists (run by the Game Masters or Story Tellers), however if someone has a desire to play the part of a Dead Spirit, and has a character concept that can work with other Protagonists (that will be the trick) and that will fit with the current story it might be possible. However the players must realize that Dead Souls can not effect the world of the living in the same ways that most other Everlasting can due to their corporeal state of existence.

Dead Spirits are usually tied to some location or some "occurrence". These are commonly referred to as Life Cords or Death Chains. Life Cords are strong positive emotions, interests, beliefs, memories, or similar feelings that tie the Dead Soul to something within the lands of the living. This can be something related to their career when still alive, their family, a strong connection to a hobby of some type, or their previous home among the living. Death Chains are a little different in that they are of a negative emotion and that they are what holds the Dead Soul to the Underworld or some place of "haunting", which can include such things as guilt, infidelity, fear, alcoholism, or other negative emotions.

The Torment of Dead Spirits is Imprisonment. The few Dead Souls who work to break their Death Chains and embrace their Life Cords while in the Underworld may someday hope to break free of their Imprisonment within the Underworld. These few souls who do will eventually find the Tunnel of Light that leads to the afterlife, but only after long and repentive time spent trying to right their wrongs or change their outlooks on life issues.

Abominations: var. (most Dead Souls do not trust Abominations, however there are some that have been known to aid the Abominations in their efforts to overtake the earth, seeing it as a way to gain power within the Underworld)

Angels: var. (those who are repentive strive to become good, but many embrace their torment and detest Angels)

Daevas: var.

Dead Souls: 3-7

Demons: 2-4 (even evil and unrepentive Dead Souls detest Demons, although a few will embrace their evil ways as a means to gain power within the underworld)

Djinn: 5 (tend to be impartial towards the Djinn)

Dragons:

Elves:

Faerie:

Gargoyles: 2-4/6-8 (these vile creatures have the potential to save those of the living worlds from becoming Dead Souls, but yet they will as easily feast on Dead Souls as on living sinners, and thus should not be trusted)

Ghuls: 7-9 (these vile creatures are not that unlike ourselves, they use our services as we use theirs, while they should never be completely trusted, they are more like us than most other Everlasting)

Manitou: 3-5
Orcs:

Osirians: var.

Possessed: var.

Questers: var. (while they would just assume destroy us, they are just beings but should be feared)

Reanimates: 6-8 (these creatures are fleshy or mechanical creations that are animated with souls of our brothers that have somehow been able to make their way back into the world of the living)

Revenants: 7-9 (these are our brothers who have stolen away into the world of the living, be it for good or ill, they have gone back among the living, however they are corrupted in such a way that they will likely never make it to the afterlife. If the Ankou ever catch them, they will likely be returned to the Underworld and be eternally damned here with no chance for escape into the afterlife, pity them for they are worst of our kind)

Vampires: 5-7 (these beings are not too unlike our Revenant Brethren and Sisters, however they have never tasted the vile Underworld, instead of being damned by their actions, they have managed to damn themselves before death ever overtook them, pity these wretched beings who no longer have souls)