Games - Wraith: The Oblivion

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	Games - Wraith: The Oblivion

Wraith: The Oblivion is a role-playing game set in the afterlife of White Wolf Game Studio's World of Darkness. In the game, players take on characters who are recently dead and are now ghosts. The difference between Wraith: the Oblivion and other games of its sort are that the society of wraiths is deeply described and explains the interaction that occurs when ancient dead souls mingle socially with the more recent dead; the society is both a dystopia and a heterotopia. Also, the significant presence of morbid and horrific content that creates a tone of despair and horror with immense creativity, bringing to mind the works of Samuel Beckett, Jorge Luis Borges, and Clive Barker.

Wraith: the Oblivion has been described as the most artistically consistent of the World of Darkness series line (due to its rich depiction of the afterlife and steadfast dedication to thematic integrity), but also is the least commercially popular (due to its graphically dark tone and sometimes confrontational style of play). White Wolf discontinued their production of the game line long before having published all material that was originally planned.

White Wolf revisited some of Wraiths themes in their role-playing miniseries Orpheus
, and in a recently-published collection of adventures called Ghost Stories, but have no official plans to revisit Wraith as a setting.
Overview
The world of Wraith: The Oblivion takes place entirely in the Umbra
(This is typically called the Dark Umbra by those who know of its existence). Near the realm of mortals (sometimes called "The Quick") is a realm known as the Shadowlands
that mirrors our world. Beyond this surface layer is the Tempest, a massive storm in which distance in the traditional sense has no meaning. Within the Tempest are realms and empires of wraiths, as well as the elusive Far Shores, the final resting place for the dead. Most who die go directly to the Far Shores, but wraiths remain tethered to reality by Fetters, which are items, places, or people of great importance to their former life with which the wraith in question has unresolved business.

The world of wraith is overrun by a force called Oblivion, a pervasive force of distintegrating nothingness and nihilism that acts on everything in the Shadowlands and the Tempest. Every wraith has a sliver of such nihilism, known as a Shadow, embedded in their minds. This Shadow is essentially an alternate personality that, if the wraith's primary personality (or Psyche) becomes vulnerable, asserts control of the wraith's body and senses for a time. These episodes, called Catharsis, only end when the primary personality manages to reassert itself. Wraiths who succumb entirely to their Shadows are known as Spectres, and represent an omnipresent threat through the lands of the dead, especially in the Tempest where Oblivion is stronger.

Wraiths have a variety of motives. Some seek to resolve their Fetters, ending their connection to the mortal world and travelling to the Far Shores. Others hover close to the mortal world to watch over their Fetters. Still others embrace their wraithly nature and seek knowledge, power, and prestige in wraith society. These motivations, called Passions, are a wraith's weapon against Oblivion, and give wraiths the strength necessary to resist their Shadows. Spectres, no longer having mortal (or even wraithly) Passions, seek nothing less than the unravelling of reality, driving Oblivion forward.
Setting
Wraith: The Oblivion primarily takes place in the Deadlands of the western world, which is by the Empire of Stygia. Stygia's authoritarian governing body, The Hierarchy stands opposed to the disparate Renegades, who seek to the freedom of an anarchic state and to the Heretics, cults formed in search of transcendence from the underworld to a higher state beyond the Far Shores. Ferrymen also exist, lone pathfinders who exist above political concern and act as guides through the Tempest.

Though officially disbanded, Stygia (especially the Hierarchy) retains a tradition of Guilds, each specializing in one of the Arcanoi, or spiritual arts. Mastery of an Arcanos (the singular) often has visible effects on a wraith's physique and personality, making such categories a matter of generalization. The Guilds, as defined in the Hierarchy, are:
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