Poltergeists - Taurnil Falassion

Origin

Poltergeists, throughout the ages, have always been a curious phenomena. While akin to ghosts and other spirits (and often mistaken for the others), poltergeists have a few fundamental differences and respects to consider.

First and foremost is that while spirits and ghosts usually come from the deceased, or pre-existing entities. The normal routine for the classic ghost haunting is that someone dies and has 'unfinished business' that stops them from continuing in the cycle. Poltergeists, on the other hand, need not come from anything - they can be and often are created by nothing more than a concentration at a single spot. They have, however, been known to form due to a concentration of the anguished dead, creating something more than the sum of their spirits.

Alignment

The second prime difference is that poltergeists are almost always malign, or at least disruptive. It's the very concentration of ill-energy - such as death, or great violence - that creates these entities. Whereas ghosts can be of any persuasion, and spirits are often good.

There have been a few cases of benign poltergeist activity, always after some sort of intervention; the lifespan of a benign poltergeist is short, however, as positive energy is readily accepted and disperses quickly. The longest recorded was the Poltergeist of the Gurney Estate in southwest Derry of Amasynia; after five years of violent haunting, the Gurney family sought the intervention of Nessa Halyanwë, a renown ghost-buster. What followed was two years of benign, and sometimes even protective poltergeist behavior. Purportedly, the Gurney family members eventually 'loved' the entity and it soon after dissipated.

Another matter of note is their lack of an alignment. Though usually violent, they don't suffer from the practices used to dispel the undead or other evils - holy blades, dispelling magics, and even known demon banes are ineffective. This, coupled with their lack of a corporeal form (or even an identifiable form, unlike ghosts and spirits) often prompt those at haunted residences to abandon and condemn the buildings.

Many poltergeists have been left to haunt their respective structures or fields for anything from ten years to ten thousand, depending on the power of the poltergeist. Large battlefields are often the haunts of these more powerful entities.

Behavior

Poltergeist activity usually involves bumps or movement of inanimate objects without any apparent cause. Doors closing and opening are common, as well as fires and torches mysteriously going out. They frequently invade dreams as well. Lesser poltergeists usually inact their violence by throwing objects at the living. Greater poltergeists have been known to will into existence objects - or in some rarer cases, create actual people. These 'dummies' are controlled by the poltergeist and are the most dangerous, capable of functioning and killing without a head, limbs, or any important organs. The dummies are created in the image of those with close contact to the poltergeist - it is said that some poltergeists can not only recreate one's physical form, but rob one of their thoughts as well.

The most dangerous ever recorded is the Poltergeist of the Dorthonion Battlefield, created from the clash of fifty thousand soldiers centuries ago. It was said that the poltergeist had robbed the mind of General Ulrick, concluded by survivors who watched the poltergeist enact some of the general's battle plans through dummy soldiers. The poltergeist still haunts the battlefield today, and has thwarted every attempt by Dorthonia to dispell the entity.

Methods of Riddance

There remains no documented method to dispell poltergeists, though there are individuals known to have great success in destroying them. Some poltergeists simply disappate over time. Plane-walkers claim they have encountered a poltergeist's 'true' form when passing haunted areas, and fewer have claimed to have defeated this form, resulting in the poltergeist's destruction.