The Haunts are semi-corporal creatures caught somewhere between the last world, Monstru, and the next. Most were created in the cataclysmic and unnatural explosion of the Pathos Bomb, during the Mighty War (1200 odd years ago).
They appear as large, billowly creatures, with gaping mouths, tiny wings, and sad eyes. They can have hands when they need to, which can also become dangerous claws. Most are white, though some very old ones are grey. They tend to glow slightly.
The great majority of Haunts are insane and fairly satisfied pestering Monsterkin, or floating inside of clouds. Most are able to effect the physical world through effort, not unlike how normal folk lift, carry, or break things.
Most Haunts:
- Are little interested in the workings of the current world.
- Hate steampunk technology.
- Think that Monstru was better a long time ago.
- Don't understand the Authority, or know what it is.
- Have old fashioned belief systems.
- Speak an ancient dialect of the Barondook language
- Used to be manlings
- Hate the Automats; they remind them of war machines
- Are lonely
Some Haunts:
- Get along with the living
- Are still quite sane
- Remember much of the old world
- Are made to be slaves in Skytrooper's dirigibles
- Wish that they'd fully die
- Are still able to make friends
- Have something left to prove
Rumors:
- The Authority has figured out a way to "enslave" Haunts to provide lift for their various air zeppelins.
- Teslan invented a way to harvest the remaining power in the Haunts to power perpetual light bulbs.
- Haunts can "shift" into the bodies of Mechans and take over their mechanical bodies for a short while.