Realistic or Modern Surreal Estate || Lore

[elytra]

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𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕝𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔸𝕔𝕜𝕖𝕙𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕥​

Google docs containing this information will also be provided!

The Supernatural
The supernatural is widely known. That said, it isn’t widely believed in. There are plenty of groups that surround different aspects of the supernatural world, but a vast majority of people don’t believe that there is anything actually paranormal present within the world. Even some who positively engage with such things don’t actually believe in it and see it as entertainment only.

The Agency
At first, there was only one haunted real estate company: Ackehurst&Fleming. It was started by Henry Ackehurst and Lewis Fleming. The two were childhood friends and grew up in Shepshed, Florida, who had both been sent to a boys home by their families. They got along well, but got along better after having shared trauma following the discovery that the Youthsfield Home for Boys was absolutely, 100% haunted.

They remained friends after the home shut down, late into their second year there, following the death of another one of the occupants. They even ended up going to college together, and then once they graduated, started up Ackehurst & Fleming Real Estate, their shared brain child. They wanted to cleanse houses and properties before they were sold and avoid people having to go through the same thing they had done. The Paranormal Society was pretty good, sure, but with their scope so wide, it would be hard to catch everything. The agency had a focus.

Their families even got on well, with their children becoming friends. However, during the 3rd year of the company, something changed. A fight started up- no one really can say what about. All people do know is that it ended in the splitting of the agency. It went from Ackehurst & Fleming Real Estate to Ackehurst Real Estate and Fleming Real Estate. The two groups fought over land consistently, even once the practices were passed on to the Ackehurst and Fleming children.

The two agencies are the only ones of their kind currently known in the US. This makes it particularly worse that they’re right on top of each other, frankly. However, this is just encouragement for Ackehurst to do better than their competitors and rule the market.

𝔼𝕟𝕔𝕪𝕔𝕝𝕠𝕡𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕒 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕙𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕤​

Corporeal
RED CAPS || A type of ravenous, gnome-like fae that are carnivorous. They are around 2 feet tall with sharp teeth and red caps; the red in the caps is due to their habit of soaking them in the blood of their prey.

KELPIES || Shape-shifting, water-residing creatures. Often shifting into the form of a horse, they lure people to ride them, where their victims will find themselves stuck. Then, they will drag their victims into the water, drown them, and then eat them.

MENDERS || Small creatures, at most the size of a person's hand; they look a bit like fuzzy people. They regularly fix things for people, often physical issues people have- balding, bad knees, broken bones, etc. However, they expect payment in the form of things like blood, strands of hair, bones, etc, depending on how extreme the fix is. The payment doesn't have to be yours, per say, but if you don't pay them, they'll take payment themselves.

??? || Unknown creature seen at a house around 7 years back. A large creature, standing 12 feet tall, wearing the skins of many different animals stitched together over its body, which is gangly. It wears a deer skull on its head. It seems to skin animals in the areas it resides in order to wear them.

WILDLINGS || The revived corpses of wildlife. Usually road kill or hunted animals that have 'unfinished business' on the mind. Completely rabid and tend to attack people on sight.

AUTOMERIANS || Moth-like parasitoids that use animals (people preferably) as a host. Larvae live in the host until they cocoon, and once the adult form emerges, it crawls out of the mouth of the host. Automerians effect their hosts mentally, driving them to protect the parasitoid at all costs, even damage to themselves; this continues even after the adult emerges, though the host will rapidly deteriorate. They seem to have a semi-psychic connection with their host.

LIVING TOTEMS || Living Totems are objects, like toys, that have had someone believe in them enough that they come to life. Often they're the product of particularly imaginative children, but every so often they can be created by others.

SECRETARIAT || A secretariat is a type of deal-creating demonic entity. They can be summoned and tied to a piece of land by groups of people and can affect forms of luck (either good or bad). Their payment tends to be in the form of a body count, as they feed on the souls of other beings, but victims must be taken in a particular pattern specific to the Secretariat being dealt with. Patterns range from the more logical (victims taken in order of when they stepped foot on the land) to the more absurd (victims must be wearing purple at the time of death). Deaths usually happen in the form of accidents. And yes...it's named after the horse.

Incorporeal
NEGATIVE SPIRITS || Negative spirits are noncorporeal beings spawned from intense negative vibes within a location. Once formed, they begin to copy people, learning to be a 'person' so they can use it to their advantage to create more emotional negativity. Depending on who's in the area and how they act, Negative spirits will act in different ways; their behavior depends on who they copy. Negative spirits are often misidentified as ghosts, since things like the slamming of doors and flicking of lights could be attributed to a poltergeist.

GHOSTS (VARIED) || Ghosts, or 'Formerly Humans' to ghost hunters, are further broken down by awareness. Unintelligent ghosts are remnants of the people they used to be; they’re rated on a scale. Level 1 UGs have no awareness they are dead, nor of who they used to be. What remains are reactions and emotions; usually, they aren’t even aware of living people, simply existing and wallowing in whatever emotion they had strongest at the time of their death, which is often anger or sadness.

Level 2 UGs aren’t aware they are dead, but are aware they are people. They are similarly driven by strong emotions, particularly whatever they felt closest to their death, but have no memories of who they were. Generally, they may try to get the attention of the living, which can end in accidental chaos.

Level 3 UGs aren’t aware they are dead, but are aware they are people and may have flashes of memory. Usually, L3s tend to be overtaken by anger, and may associate living people with whoever wronged them in their fragmented memory flashes, driving them to attack. They can’t be reasoned with and often have to have their remains or tethers burned.

Intelligent Ghosts are dissimilar in the fact that they are split into two groups only: benevolent and malevolent. Intelligent ghosts retain all their memories, as well as their sense of being and the knowledge they are, in fact, dead. Like people, they’re complex; UGs are dangerous due to their unmitigated emotions, while IGs are dangerous due to the fact they can be extremely calculated with their actions. Sometimes, they can be reasoned with, but malevolent IGs can be manipulative when they want to be.

HITCHHIKERS || A type of non-corporeal being that body hops from person to person through contact, never staying in one body for long. They feed off negative energy and will use possession to their advantage. If a Hitchhiker is in someone, they have the ability to lay dormant and not fully/obviously possess someone until they're ready to cause trouble.

Phenomena
INTERSECTIONS || Location where the veil between the normal world and other realms (dream realm, realm of the dead, etc) are thinner and aspects of each realm bleed through to one another.

DOORWAYS || Deliberate doorways from the normal world to other realms.

ECHOES || Sometimes, when a significant event that has a lot of energy of some type tied to it happens, the event will 'repeat' over time. Often mistaken for ghosts, spectral forms can be seen fading in and out, repeating actions they took on the days of whatever event occurred. They can't be spoken to or interacted with, simply the echoes of times past.

CURSES & HEXES (VARIED) || Can be cast by magic users or other beings with various effects. Depends on circumstance. Curses are broken into: generational, object-bound, deal-given, and inflicted.

Generational run through families, passed on from parents to children. They linger and have been present through everyday life of whoever has them. They are consistent in how bad they affect the cursed person.

Object-bound curses are tied to objects, not people. This means they can change hands if the object does. However, sometimes these objects have a tendency to attach to their hosts; for example, a cursed tie that refuses to be removed. Object-bound curses can either be consistent or can build up; some have curses that build up until they kill their host, initiating a new cycle when they're picked up by a new host.

Deal-given curses are curses given through deals with deal-making entities, demonic or otherwise. These are usually twisted wishes or the cons that come with boons that were wished for. They are rather consistent in how bad they are.

Inflicted curses are those that were cast on a person by a magic user or entity. They usually are either silly and annoying or tragic, powerful, and build up over time; there's not much in between.

Psychics

‘Psychic’ is a broad term that can cover a lot of different people with different abilities. Mostly, they’re people with mind-based powers, like deadsight or mindreading, but there are many different subgroups and power levels to them. Most psychics are unaware of this, due to being born into families that don’t have such traits; no one is quite sure how psychicism arises in individuals. Out of all innate forms of magic, psychics seem to be the only ones who can develop ability when no family members have it.
First, psychics are placed into groups based on ability type.

Mediums: Those who can see and channel the dead.​

Communers: People who are able to read minds and convey mental messages to others.​

Scouts: People who can even see ‘overlays’ of other realms, like the dream realm, in day-to-day life, seeing what's going on in corresponding areas of both the normal realm and another realm simultaneously.​

Seers: Can see the future as well as briefly see places they are not in a way similar to clairvoyance; some seers can also see the past events of an area, but its unheard of for an individual to be able to see the future and the past.​

Empaths: Those who can alter emotional states and influence choices. At times they can also feel sensations that other people are feeling (their emotions, things touching them, smells, etc).​

Dreamwalkers: Those who can invade the dreams of others are also considered psychics by some, but the mechanics are different so it's a hotly debated topic.​

After being grouped, psychics are also defined by whether their ability is innate or not. Innate users have it come naturally to them, but may not be able to control it well. Taught users can use spells to gain the abilities an innate user may have. Those with innate abilities can be taught and learn to both control their abilities better and also delve into other psychic practices; generally speaking, though, psychics stick with one sort of psychicism.

Innate users also have different base power levels. The more powerful they are, the more difficult it is to control their abilities. Low-powered Medium may see spirits and incorporeal beings some of the time, popping into their vision when the beings energy is at a more powerful level (but still below that of what would allow a normal person to see), but a powerful Medium may see them all the time, causing them to lose it a bit. Similarly, powerful Seers have been known at times to get stuck in visions and remain in a coma-like state.

Hunters

What is a Ghost Hunter?
Ghost hunters are people who hunt ghosts, simply put. Well, not just ghosts, but ghost hunters tend to focus on the non-corporeal side of things in comparison to their ‘sister job’, monster hunters. They also tend to be less into killing being the end-all-be-all of what they’re hunting; ghosts can be laid to rest in a variety of ways, and those of previously-human origin can require a gentler hand.

That said, there’s some overlap. Demonic entities, for example, have been known to have corporeal forms, which has led to some in-fighting between the two practices about who gets to take care of that sort of thing. It doesn’t help that the taxonomy of the supernatural is hotly debated in the research community; what makes a demonic entity a demonic entity? Is that even a useful term? God only knows.

How Does One Get Into Ghost Hunting?
It depends, really! Ghost hunting is different all over the world. Different cultures and places have different ghost hunting techniques and ways to get into it. Usually, though, in the past? It was passed down through families in an oral tradition sort of way. A lot of techniques were taught through the use of stories, folklore, tales, etc.

However, recently in the game, things have become more centralized. In America specifically, paranormal societies have sprung up in many if not all counties, interconnected and working together to provide a better understanding of ghosts and creatures to the public. These societies have three sectors: ghost hunting, monster hunting, and the research division.

Hunters within these societies carry licenses given to them through their training, and are considered ‘legit’. They’re able to access the library system of the Paranormal Society of America, which contains digitized copies of different resources ghost hunters of older times used. They’re also able to access a network of other hunters for help. The PSA has been known to fund education at colleges and grad schools for hunters within their organization as well, allowing members to expand their knowledge of subjects like engineering and bring it to the field.

That said, technically you don’t have to be trained to be a ghost hunter. Unlicensed hunters do exist, but in the grand scheme of jobs and resources, they tend to be lone wolves. Licensed hunters and unlicensed hunters have a…tense relationship, to say the least.

Ghost Hunters Out There! In the World!
So, where do you work as a ghost hunter? Some are contract workers, coming in when needed. Others work in agencies, having teams they can send out. Even more work on ghost hunting shows, and there are some companies that will employ them as well. There are plenty of options for those looking for employment in the world of ghosts and ghouls!

Ghost Hunter Equipment
So, what sort of equipment do ghost hunters carry? I’m glad you asked!

Brisco Spirit Box || A radio frequency sweep scanner & recorder; can detect spikes, record EVP audio (ghosts speaking), and connect to bluetooth speakers!
Brisco PhasmCam || A camera that has full spectrum and night vision recording, just so you can capture any evidence you may not be able to see on the first go around.
Brisco EMF Meter || A hand-held device that uses sound to indicate spikes in electro-magnetic frequencies given off by spirits.
Brisco Laser Sensory Array || A device to detect cold spots, along with other environmental factors that may change.
Brisco GhostNet || This is a newer device. It looks like a gun with a small radar-like dish at the end, along with a slot in the top to place in a Brisco Ghostery™, which is a crystal-like tube marketed as a dead battery that can be filled up by any ghost you encounter! Supposedly, aiming and using the device on a spirit can capture their energy and trap it within the crystal, which can then be used to power certain Brisco devices. The morality of this device is….well, hotly debated, to say the least, but its an alternative to finishing a ghosts business, burning their remains, or dispelling them with the help of a priest.

What is a Monster Hunter?
Monster hunters hunt monsters, just like how ghost hunters hunt ghosts. They go after corporeal supernatural entities, which include things like cryptids, fae, kelpies, and plenty of others. Execution of the creatures tends to be the end-all-be-all of their hunts, unlike ghost hunters, who may occasionally peacefully lay what they’re hunting to rest. Most of the time, what monster hunters are hunting were never human, and thus there is little sympathy for them.

Overlap has caused issues, specifically in the demonic entity sense. Secretariats are considered demonic entities and have physical bodies, but Hitchhikers are possession-based and non-corporeal. Even further, Exiguans, which are deal-making demonic entities that attach themselves to items, are non-corporeal for most of the time, but by using up some energy can materialize. Weslow’s Guide to Monster Hunting notes that the requirements for something being considered a demonic entity are that they are not human in origin and feed off the soul-based energy of people and, sometimes if in a pinch, other creatures; the lack of comment on whether or not corporealism has anything to do with status as a demonic entity has led to ghost and monster hunters showing up at the same place and fighting over who gets the hunt.

How Does One Get Into Monster Hunting?
In the past, monster hunting was a family business and was location-based. Not every creature is going to live in every environment; kelpies are always near water, while red caps tend towards preferring forested or previously-forested habitats, so on, so forth. It was far easier to specialize than try and shove all that lore into your brain.

With the creation of the Paranormal Society of America, though, things have changed. Some monster hunters still stick to one area and specialize, but the idea of monster hunting being a family business has dissipated. People wanting to get into the trade can contact the society and be trained and given a license, along with access to the society's resources.

Like ghost hunters, unlicensed monster hunters do exist still. That said? Unlicensed monster hunters are statistically more likely to die on the job. Studies have been done. It's a fact.

Monster Hunters Out There! In the World!
So, where do you work as a monster hunter? A lot are contract workers, getting hired when there's a problem to be solved. A few work in agencies, but it isn’t as common as ghost hunters.

Monster Hunter Equipment
Monster hunting equipment varies heavily depending on the job. There could be guns involved, knives, salt, silver, crucifixes, the list goes on. A good monster hunter knows what tools to pull out at what times and what to bring with them so they aren’t over encumbered with all the stuff they own.

Societies & Groups

Societies/Organizations that characters can be a part of are denoted with a ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

The Right Hand are a group of psychics believing their abilities were a gift granted to them by some deity due to being the heralds of a new age. Their goals are murky to outsiders at best, seeing as they tend to do things that appear nonsensical, like opening tears between worlds.

The Wizards of Oz are a group of psychics who work to map the dream realm. They’ve set up camp in one of the sectors of the realm and rarely are seen outside of it unless something has gone horribly wrong.

EthicalClairvoyance is a company that focuses its energy into research behind the science of psychics. They haven’t published many findings yet, being fairly new (and having many people who believe its bullshit), but often will call up known psychics and ask them if they’d be willing to come in for tests in exchange for money. It’s unknown how much of the company is actually made up of psychic individuals. ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

The Society of the Smiling Hunt (SSH, or SHH as people tend to pronounce it, despite that being wrong) is a society of trained psychics that are generally at odds with both ghost hunters and monster hunters, acting like detectives on mysteries and crimes of the supernatural variety. Their methods are unorthodox and often shadowy, to say the least; it isn’t unusual for them to be seen working with supernatural creatures, most even having demonic companions they bring with them. Sometimes, they even take the side of supernatural threats, though it's unknown why. SSH members can be identified, usually, by a small smiley face tattoo on the backs of their necks. While considered odd by non-psychics, is the most well-known group when it comes to gaining help with abilities. They have a code that makes it so they have to offer to help any untrained psychics they come across, regardless of whether the individuals want to join the society itself. They won’t spill the secrets of the society to said individuals if they don’t join, but will train and help them. ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

The Hive are a group of psychics and other folk that believe that when you eat the brain of a psychic, you gain their power, energy, knowledge, and more. Whether or not this is true is unimportant; the group is considered rather crazed in their beliefs.

Brisco Inc., commonly just Brisco, is the company that makes a lot of the more main-stream ghost hunting and monster hunting equipment. Seeing as their only customers seem to be the PSA, it's amazing they manage to stay in business. ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

The Research Division is the third sector of the Paranormal Society of America (PSA). Mostly, it’s individuals studying parascience and magic to find logical explanations and solutions for things. This doesn’t always work out, but…they’re trying, I guess? ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

The Order of St. Hubert is an ancient order dating back to the times of Francia. They're old-school hunter sorts who prefer to use old fashioned methods- no guns, no modern tech, just the classics like swords and stakes. The Order has different bases of operations throughout the world, with the members of each base being called a 'family'. Each family specializes in a different sort of creature or spirit, and family members will travel to the homes of other families to assist in hunts. Their society is rife with traditions and expectations. ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

Reapers are a group tasked with hunting down Formerly Humans and sending them to the afterlife where they belong. Unlike hunters, they never destroy the soul of a Formerly Human, even if malevolent in some way. Their belief is that every soul should be treated with respect until their departure to the afterlife, where the Council of the Gates decides what will happen to each person. ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

Storm Breakers are a more spready out group. Rather than being super interconnected, they're spread out and don't network as much as some other groups. They're people who put faith in the power of belief and fear, and that those two things contribute to supernatural phenomenon in the sense that the more people fear or believe in something, the more power it holds. They travel with Living Totems created through a ritual with the people who initiated them, and the totems tend to be toys and dolls and the like. They go to various places of tragedy and unease and try to clear up supernatural issues by using the energies of both belief and fear against threats (ie. convincing people things aren't real to take power away from the threat and make it easier to kill). ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗

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