We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.
Editor’s Note: This is another pre-World Anvil C10KD post. Here’s a link to the current WA version.
Opinions on soulfaring vary considerably: Whether it’s a grave societal threat, idle distraction, path to enlightenment, or indication of moral failing depends on who you ask. For this reason, it’s a topic rarely discussed in polite company. Based on the brisk trade done by Ferryman, the practice of soulfaring is considerably less taboo than the discussion of said practice.
Whether it happens in a dirty shack on Blood Alley or a silk-draped room on the upper floors of Madame Xanthia’s Pleasure Palace, a soulfaring journey always starts with a Ferryman administering some catalyst and performing a ritual. The catalyst is usually a potion of some sort (ranging from acrid sludge to delicious spiced wine), but some Ferrymen use cakes and other foodstuffs, special incense, and other methods. A common story claims that soulfarers in faraway Shangri-Thul are sent on their journey through the bite of a snake whose venom holds the power to send a victim’s soul out into the ether.
Regardless of the method, the purpose of the Ferryman’s craft is to send the client’s soul out of his body and into another realm of existence. A good Ferryman knows the proper mixtures and rituals to send the soul exactly where it wants to go. These travelers often return to the waking world with stories of amazing adventures, mind-altering revelations, and ecstatic experiences. Other Ferrymen are less precise, potentially sending a traveler on a hellish journey through some nightmare realm. Some of these unfortunates return “soul-shattered” and broken. Others don’t return at all.
Game Notes: Whether soulfaring actually sends characters to other planes of existence or just causes them to trip balls is up to the GM, but in either case it works best if the players can’t tell the difference.
“Shangri-Thul” is shamelessly stolen from Leighton Connor.
