Editing Wraith: The Oblivion (section)

==Spectres & The Labyrinth==
A spectre is a wraith/ghost who has become an agent of [[Oblivion]].  The transformation into a spectre happens, when a wraith's Shadow gains control and its Psyche becomes secondary, their biggest asset is that they share a hive-mind. Some dead start this way, such as children, because their wants, lack of patience and selfish attitude overrule any self-reflection and are instantly consumed by their shadow. There was even a book under the Black Dog label, ''Dark Reflections'', that provided rules for an inverted experience where someone else plays your character's Psyche instead of their Shadow. Spectres cannot see people or really understand their surroundings in the shadowlands under normal circumstances, because their alignment towards oblivion far removes them from the land of the living.

The Labyrinth is essentially the center of the Underworld, and at its center is the Maw of Oblivion, a big hole of nothing that destroys all that falls into it. Spectres experience the pull of oblivion far worse than wraiths, to the point where it is akin to a ripping agony and the only way to satiate it is to cause untold misery and suffering to wraiths and eventually lead them to be consumed by Oblivion. One way this happens is through "Harrowings". 

A harrowing occurs when a wraith becomes weak enough (whether by losing all their corpus, or having a passion/fetter damaged) to be pulled through the tempest via nihil forming under their corpus, and into the Labyrinth; in here, they get thrown into an impromptu nightmare scenario that is orchestrated by the local spectres. The scenario is invariably personalized to the poor bastard who's suffering from it (courtesy of it being dictated to the spectres by the wraith's shadow), with the spectres typically attacking their victim's fetters or passions (for example, a wraith whose passion is to be remembered through work may find a manuscript of theirs is under threat, and need to save or abandon it). Every spectre is consumed by oblivion eventually, increasing its mass and power.

(If you're still having trouble grasping this: watch the original version of ''Jacob's Ladder'', which is a pretty good representation of a wraith undergoing several back-to-back harrowings).

===Spectre Castes===
*Apparitions: middle-caste lackeys, in transition to becoming Nephracks.
*Doppelgangers: low-caste, the usual Wraith whose Shadow took over, can pass for a Wraith
*Haints: non-caste as they hate everyone, became Spectres after a horrific death that defined their unlife.
*Hekatonkhires: varies with the spectre, they're failed Onceborn and like Shades at Malfean power levels.
*Malfeans: leader-caste; two types, Onceborn (former humans) and [[Exalted#Neverborn|Neverborn]] (nonhumans).
*Mortwights: under-caste, became Spectres on death yet are still defined by their life.
*Nephracks: upper-caste (admin, military, priests, etc.), they're former Doppelgangers warped by their contact with Oblivion.
*The Nothings: lowest caste, those stuck in shell-shock or who just give up, some even try "suicide".
*Pasiphae: non-caste ciphers, created when the Ferrymen use a weird ritual to permanently separate their Shadow from their Psyche.
*Shades: middle-caste shock troops, twisted into monsters by Oblivion kept in check by the hive-mind.
*Striplings: non-caste, mobs of feral dead children.