The Spirits of Midnight

Those Trapped who were banished to Aryth with Izrador or caught in the maelstrom of the Sundering came to Aryth in their purest forms, as beings of thought and power, light and shadow. Caught without form or bodies of their own, they were forced to exist on Aryth as faceless spirits. Even those who had been summoned and given form by magic were eventually destroyed by violence or time. Regardless, without their home planes to return to, the spirits of the Trapped all eventually found themselves as bodiless and nearly helpless spirits.

Unlike other worlds, to which the Astral and Ethereal planes are joined, Aryth is completely cut off from the other planes and to the normal dwelling places of the unseen. The world is surrounded by an unfelt wind of agony and unheard cries of despair, comprised of the souls of the dead and the spirits of trapped extraplanar creatures.

Along with the souls of the dead and the spirits of visitors from elsewhere, this unseen world is populated by powers that always have been and always will be on Aryth. They were made with the world, and are of the world, as much as light is part of fire and darkness is part of shadow. These are the Eternal, and they have been worshiped as gods of place and spirits of nature, alien beings to supplicate and loved guardians to depend upon. They are at turns destructive and protective, responsive and uncaring, and none can say what thoughts they have, if any.

While the Eternal continued their incomprehensible existences and the Lost wailed in despair and madness, the Trapped responded in several different ways to their exile. Some hid away from the world while others raged against it. Many now roam Aryth on missions arcane and esoteric, some serving good, some serving evil, all attempting to find a way home.

Those Trapped that wish to can take physical form, although there are always limits. Elemental spirits are, appropriately, dependent on the presence of the element to which they are attuned. Fey spirits can only enter this world in areas of great life and natural abundance, and are bound to those areas as surely as any dryad is bound to her tree. Outsiders have more power to roam freely, but must do so at the expense of the corporeal creatures of Aryth: only by possessing others and hijacking their bodies can outsiders affect the world around them, and a body that remains in the possession of such a being for very long begins to transform, eventually becoming the demon or angel that took hold within.

A rare few in the Last Age possess the lore of conjuration and summoning, and can command these spirits to obey their will. They can draw them from their bodiless prisons and give them form, albeit temporarily. The most powerful druids speak with the spirits of nature while the legates of the Order of Shadow command demons and other foul spirits from the lower planes.

In the world of MIDNIGHT, however, these are not nameless spirits called to the mortal realm to perform specific tasks before returning to their native domains. They are unique and powerful beings with distinct personalities, natures, and goals of their own. Their true names are words of power guarded jealously by those who know them, and their service comes at a price few mortals are willing to pay.

Many of the Trapped are creatures of great power that haunt the wild places and the margins of civilization. Many are strong enough to resist the call of mortal conjurers and they are a bane to travelers and those who must live near their domains. The Aruun Jungle is home to many such spirits, particularly the demon-haunted ruins of legendary Ibon-sul.