Ihlathi Lesithunzi
Factions
The Bush of Ghosts do not seem to care what happens to the Cauls of immigrant descendants in Durban or anywhere else in South Africa. Instead, the Ivory Queen compels the spirits of African blacks to leave the necropolis and vanish into the Bush to serve the Dark Kingdom of Ivory. Sometimes, they are seen again as emissaries or traders at the necropolis or as patrols on the road who often demand bribes in the form of relics or Pathos for the travelers to pass. Most vanish into the Bush and are never seen again by Durbanite ghosts.
Dark Kingdoms
Stygia has no presence here. Despite the significant population of South Asian immigrants, Swar has no influence over their ghosts that Reap here, even if the occasional visitor from Swar arrives. The only Dark Kingdom that matters is the Bush of Ghosts.
Guilds
In Durban, the Guilds are the only serious source of organization. Most wraiths join the guild that best suits their talents. Due to the hazards of the Bush, few ghosts stay freewraiths. No particular guild is dominant in Durban. However, it should be noted that due to the lack of a Hierarchy presence, many otherwise outlawed guilds find Durban cozy.
Heretics
Few Heresies make Durban their home. Children of the Green is the only notable Heretic group.
Renegades
Renegades make up the other sizable population of wraith groups in Durban. The most prominent gang is the Lords of Valhalla.
The Bush of Ghosts
The Bush of Ghost by far dominates the Shadowlands in Durban and KwaZulu-Natal (and beyond). Most outsiders believe the Bush of Ghosts functions like other Dark Kingdoms, with the Kingdom of Ivory ruled by a Queen making her throne in some Far Shore connected to the African Shadowlands. All Bush wraiths are commanded, upon pain of soul-forging, to keep the truth a mystery. But that mystery is not revealed at first. When a ghost due to the Bush is Reaped, the Reaper brings him or her before the supposed queen in the Bush just outside the necropolis of Durban. This queen is the ghost of the infamous false Xhosa prophet, Nongqawuse. She makes general pronouncements of fealty and directs the spirit(s) north or south, depending on their heritage. Non-indigenous spirits are sent back into the city. Though she is well-protected, she is no true queen, for there is no kingdom. (Nongqawuse accepts her role [and it is not without perks] as justice for her failings in life.)
And the truth is, every people of Africa has their own Bush, each with its own leader, typically a Gaunt of notable power. There is no centralized African Queen of the Dead. There is no African rival to Yu Huang or Charon, nor does there need to be. The Shadow Bush cannot be conquered. The land itself would revolt against any who threaten its ancient and primeval nature. It would swallow up whole armies, depositing them in the depths of the Tempest to be devoured by the spectral hordes, where they would belong for their imperialistic audacity.
Indeed, unlike almost anywhere else in the world, in Africa the spirits of dead animals may (may) become Restless Dead. They gain a degree of intelligence they did not have in life, or perhaps an intellect that they could not and did not need to communicate to humans. Of course, just like with humans, most animal spirits are actually drones. Only those of special note continue independently in the Bush of Ghosts. Some of these bestial ghosts even rise to great heights of reverential power.
In the Underworld of Durban and its surrounding provincial lands, two African peoples dominate: the Zulu and Thembu (a Xhosa-speaking people). The two peoples are similar in many ways (and their languages aren’t all that different), but there are some key differences.
Ihlathi Lesithunzi
Zululand commends the spirits of the dead to Ihlathi Lesithunzi (Bush of Shadows). When these wraiths are Reaped in or near Durban by a Reaper of the Dark Kingdom of Ivory, whose operations are rarely challenged (and he or she is always given ample protection by the “Ivory Queen”), they are directed based on their ethnicity—Zulu or Thembu—to travel north (Zulu) into the Bush or far south (Thembu). The Bush of Shadows is marked by expansive grasslands and savannah prairie haunted by beast-ghosts, and cut through by a few winding, Tempestuous rivers. Haunts rise on hills as kraals do in the Skinlands. The Enfant is presented to the leader of the Bush of Shadows and given their role, their tasks to undertake, in the Underworld.
Interactions with the Quick are highly restricted and permitted only during special funerary or ancestral rituals that an authentic sangoma medium must perform. Other circumstances include those tragic times when the Quick fail to perform the proper funeral rites to begin with (quite common for urban-dwelling Zulus), in which case the ghost is compelled to make amends with the Quick—haunting his family or village until they do the right thing. Otherwise, afterlife in the Bush of Shadows is routine, even mundane, with most assigned duties being some form of maintenance and care for the Bush itself.
The Lord of Ihlathi Lesithunzi is none other than Cetawayo, descendant of Shaka Zulu, and last of the great independent Zulu kings.
Amasimu Afile
Thembuland commends the spirits of the dead to Amasimu Afile (Fields of the Dead). When these wraiths are Reaped in or near Durban by a Reaper of the Dark Kingdom of Ivory, whose operations are rarely challenged (and he or she is always given ample protection by the “Ivory Queen”), they are directed based on their ethnicity—Zulu or Thembu—to travel north (Zulu) into the Bush or far south (Thembu). This part of the Bush actually expands into the Shadowlands of the province south of KwaZulu-Natal, for traditional Thembuland lies in what is now called the East Cape. The Fields of the Dead are notable for their flat coastal plains full of inland ponds connected by streams. These shadowy waterways and pools are disturbingly calm, with unbroken mirror-like surfaces that belie the connection to the Tempest beneath. Haunts rise as kraals do in the Skinlands. The Enfant is presented to the leader of the Fields of the Dead and given their role, their tasks to undertake, in the Underworld.
Interactions with the Quick are highly restricted and permitted only during special funerary or ancestral rituals that an authentic sangoma medium must perform. Other circumstances include those tragic times when the Quick fail to perform the proper funeral rites to begin with (quite common for urban-dwelling Thembus), in which case the ghost is compelled to make amends with the Quick—haunting his family or village until they do the right thing. Otherwise, afterlife in the Fields of the Dead is routine, even mundane, with most assigned duties being some form of maintenance and care for the Bush itself.
King Jama rules over the Amasimu Afile. He does not take the form of a great African elephant. He is an elephant, an old bull that once ruled over the largest and mightiest of elephant herds before the early poachers came for his ivory tusks. Oh, in life, he gored many a would-be hunter and took his scars with pride. But even the mighty fall eventually. Yet, he returned, trumpeting his triumph over Oblivion, and now ruling over the dead, human and elephant and otherwise, in Thembuland. He has proved wiser and stronger than any other death-lord, and there have been many to challenge him.
