Spiriti Ostos

Unbound spirits, severed from soul and body; essentially ambulatory (but quite impotent and imperceptible) consciousnesses. Their influence on the living world is naught, less than that of the meanest ghost - but they are, in theory, eternal; making it a state of existence sought by those who are utterly unwilling to move toward any of the afterlives or the Void.

A Spiriti Ostos has no body, and thus no physical needs, desires, or drives; they also lack all but the most perfunctory concept of gender, although they retain their sense-of-self. In addition, as soulless creatures they cannot be resurrected; the soul, once severed, withers to nothing within an instant.

The situation is irreversible, although their exist magics to affix such a being into a mortal body. It can only be performed by those with a more substantial presence, however; so unless arrangements have been made prior to severing, it is unlikely to occur.

Whether they can be considered "alive" without the presence of a soul is a topic of much scholarly debate.

A cult responsible for the large-scale creation of Spiriti Ostos, the Free'd used a ritual-magic entrusted to them by an unknown agent of Eschaltar that, while creating a fully-functional Ostos-ghost, left it linked to Eschaltar's spell. The end result - which was contrary to the intentions of the cult - was that every "Free'd" cultist and victim was utterly annihilated as opposed to the eternity intended.
(See also: Main Article?)

---