Ihlathi Lesithunzi
Shadow of the Bush
The Dead remember. The Dead linger on, beyond the ken of mortal consciousness. Past the Shroud dwell the Restless Dead, wraiths and ghosts of fearsome disposition and unquenchable passions. They are the spirits of the deceased, locked into this world still for personal reasons and needs that must be fulfilled.
The Restless Dead in Durban, and indeed the entire eastern coast of South Africa, inhabit the echoes of a colonized country. But those echoes distort the living reality. Whereas Afrikaners dominated South Africa and Durban itself, the Underworld reflects a different story. For apartheid or not, this is Africa. This is the Bush of Ghosts. Here the savannah itself dies and sways in the winds of Oblivion. The golden eyes in the tall dead grass are not those of some Tempest-spawned nether-beast but rather the intelligent gaze of a dead lion’s ghost. And she’s still hungry…for the flesh of souls.
Most ghosts of whites and other immigrants stick to the necropolis of Durban. With no Hierarchy presence, Renegades and Guilds long ago took over. But their influence is limited and isolated to the necropolis. The Byways are unsafe, belonging to the Dark Kingdom of Ivory—the Bush of Ghosts—and are patrolled by ghosts of predators and men alike.
Skinlands
The Restless have a minimal relationship with the Quick. The Bush of Ghosts seems to condemn spirits from harassing the living except in specific circumstances as guided by ancient tribal rituals. While Stygia isn’t around to enforce a Dictum Mortuus, most ghosts in the necropolis observe it anyhow out of common sense. There’s enough to worry about without attracting ghost-hunters, whether amateur frauds or the real deal.
Shadowlands
The Shadowlands are quite different than most Western spirits are used to. While the necropolis stands as expected, with old half-rotted buildings serving as Haunts and shelter in the dead city, beyond the city is another story. The bush of the Skinlands reflects into the bush of the Shadowlands—savannah, forests, and sluggish ochre rivers. They seem starkly contrasted against a strange source of light, as if the sun did rise and fall here, like black cut-outs against a white paper background. And the farther one dares to wander into the Shadow Bush, the more one realizes it isn’t just the flora that’s here. The spirits of beasts, each one seemingly independent and even intelligent, lurks in the wilds. Most Western spirits believe that they’re disgorged from the Tempest as some strange quirk of the African Underworld. Few accept the possibility that these animals are wraiths in their own right, even if they display Arcanos-like powers sometimes. So do the Whistimmu!
Special Events
Special events are annual (or more frequent) holidays or special ritual days that the main group or groups observe as a whole community. Attendance and participation are often expected of all members, and sometimes required.
Umkhosi woMhlanga
The Reed Dance is an important festival for the Quick, a rite of passage for Zulu girls, who dance en masse, wear traditional garb and beads, and carry and present a long reed to their king. In its current form among the Quick, it is a newly adapted festival based on a much older traditional holiday called Umchwasho, a chastity rite. For the Dead, the activity takes on a much more symbolic nature. All wraiths of the Bush of Shadows gather before their king. The males dance and chant lowly while females bring a river reed to the king. All supplicate before the ruler of Bush of Shadows, reaffirming their allegiance and subservience not just to the crown but to the roles that every individual occupies. In the Underworld then, this rite of course has nothing to do with chastity or fertility.
Thetha
For the spirits of Amasimu Afile, Thetha is honored in the Bush of Thembuland. Thetha is a Xhosa custom that involves a family elder staying with the body of the departed and explaining to the dead person’s ghost what has happened, as part of the process to help the spirit move on peacefully. When a soul lingers in the Underworld, obviously something has kept that person from moving on (Transcending) peacefully. Thetha as practiced in the Fields of the Dead thus becomes a sort of self-whispering, a way to gradually work towards Passion or Fetter resolution. Such meditative days are held four times a year (at the changing of each season). Introspective work takes place, sometimes with the aid of Castigate to blunt the Shadow’s sabotage. Typically, Thetha is practiced alone, but Enfants and inexperienced Lemures may work with older ghosts (usually a Mentor) until they get the hang of it.
“Welcome to the Bush of Ghosts. My counsel is the way of death: heed it well and keep it close to your heart. It is how you may one day see the green again.”
-- Nongqawuse, Queen of the Dark Kingdom of Ivory
