Lorgan's Notes: The Finders

Finders are to the Evenacht as water is to a desert-dry being; saviors.

~Æshren Gerant, founder of the Finders

Without Greeters, the Evenacht would be a place without joy for the newly deceased. Without Finders, the Condemned would suffer in the Fields, dreaming of a better existence.

~Imparik, the Keelsland Bard

For ghosts in the Evenacht, the first, and most important, organization they encounter is that of the Finders.
The Finders are a sub-organization within the Hallowed Collective. They have two charges:

• greet and educate new ghosts about their existence in the Evenacht
• Redeem the Condemned.

Research:

The Finders:
Saviors of the Evenacht

by our Finder hero,
Lorgan the hard-working

In this Research Document:

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all images by Shanda Nelson
unless otherwise stated

The Inception

The Finder's story begins with Greeters.
Before the Greeters, ghosts had a hard time. They would go through Death's Judgment, get scared by the Evengates' guardians (red-skinned, horned begestern three times their height), and flee this supposed enemy.
To add terror upon terror, the spirits then had to traverse the Fields of the UnRedeemed, witness thousands of shrieking heads waiting for Redemption, and then race down a winding path and to Death's Arch. There a dirt road and a foggy forest met them, and they had no idea where they were, what do to, who to talk to, where to go.
It was very stressful.
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And this is where Æshren Gerant comes in. He had a busy few seasons, what with the The Nectar flooding and destroying the Grail, clashing with the Beast afterwards, and creating a new community known as Evening.
He knew he needed to rehabilitate the Hallowed Collective's reputation, to emphasize their strength, cunning, and compassion. He wanted to show that ghosts were not the evil entities that local, living discontents believed.
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Gerant devised a way to place Hallowed Collected representatives front and center, as the first beings the newly deceased encountered when they entered the evening lands. He formed the Greeters, and created the set of rules they still follow.
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Arrival pics

I remember my arrival. It was a flurry of fear and wispy racing to safety.

Greeters

First and foremost, the Greeters needed to Greet the newly deceased and help them adjust during this difficult time.
Gerant set up stations at Death's Arch and manned them with a variety of ghosts of different ages and languages, and all having passed within the last two hundred years. When the ghosts reached the Arch, the Greeters would, well, greet them.
They would be directed to a faelareign that spoke their language, and that being would take charge of them. Once the Greeter had four or five charges, they would lead the group to Evening and the Hallowed Collective's building. Once there, they would introduce the ghosts to the Evenacht and how to interact with their new home.
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This was all fine and good, but it meant fewer Collective agents performing Redemptions. Other organizations got in on the action, using ancient methods to Redeem the UnRedeemed. Some even charged family and friends fees to perform the service.
By 8000 years previous, the Collective decided to do something about their loss of control.
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Enter Imparik the Keelsland Bard.
Imparik, a notable member of the Collective, began to write and perform songs about the wondrous Redemptions the Collective conducted. Redeemers were strong, adventurous, bold and brave, and respected in all corners of the Evenacht. His catchy performances rejuvenated interest in Redemptions, and enthusiastic souls poured into the Hallowed Collective building, looking to join.
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man Moose Photos from Pexels
background Annie Spratt from Unsplash

Ha! I know this Greeter. His name's Bo, and he trains other Greeters. One of the nicest ghosts you will ever meet.

orig musician Alexey Wineman from Pexels
orig background роман микрюков from Pexels

Imparik

The newly deceased learn fundamental Ether Touch from Greeters. Since this is how they initially interact with everything and everyone in the Evenacht, it is one of the most important lessons the Greeters impart.

Greeting is a skill. Not everyone has the patience to calm multitudes of terrified newly deceased. When Greeters age out, businesses and organizations (run by both the living and the dead) seek to employ them as experts in ghostly behavior and the Hallowed Collective.
Most ex-Greeters become Finders, though.

Because the Greeters provide the first positive interactions with other dead, they are held in high regard throughout the evening lands. Many ghosts keep in contact with their Greeter once they enter the Evenacht proper.
This goodwill is the reason Gerant made the Greeters part of the Finder sub-organization. He thought it would be a quick way to develop a stellar Finder reputation.

orig serhiibobyk, Adobe Stock Images

Finder Acolyte Memerisah. She has completed somewhere around two hundred Redemptions. Nolaris may get accolades for his number, but she has Redeemed some of the most hostile Condemned in the Elden Fields.

Finders

Overwhelmed by the response, and needing a way to channel the new recruits, Gerant founded a new sub-organization of the Hallowed Collective. Finders.
Before the Finders, the Hallowed Collective members who conducted Redemptions had no set rules or regulations. They went to the Fields of the UnRedeemed, selected a Candidate, and went on an adventure to find their sundered essences--the Redemption.
After collecting the final essence, the Redeemer would conduct the Recollection ritual and send the newly formed ghost on their way.
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As one might expect, this caused problems. No official guidance meant Redeemers' actions did not always end up being beneficial for the Condemned, or the Hallowed Collective's reputation.
Gerant wished to change this. By creating the Finders, he not only had an organization in which to channel new recruits, he could conduct proper training of these recruits, not only to better uphold the ideals of the Hallowed Collective, but to keep them extant (HC members meeting the Final Death while on a Redemption was not common, but it happened).
He instituted a system of apprenticeships under the guidance of Hallowed Collective sages and wrote rules about how a Redemption should be conducted. This not only cut down on abuse but helped the recruits succeed in this dangerous undertaking.
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Brief Overview

Finder acolytes:


• must be sponsored by a sage
• must fulfill all training requirements as stipulated by their sage mentor
• must become proficient at Ether, Physical and Mental Touch
• must learn the incantations and spells required of a Redemption
• must learn how to recognize when a Condemned is ready to become a Candidate
• must follow the Finder Code of Conduct (ie don't embarrass us)
• must accept that Finding is a dangerous profession, and prepare accordingly

Sages:


• must accept and train new acolytes. Only ghosts who have acolytes are considered sages
• must have intricate knowledge of Ether, Physical and Mental Touch
• must have exceptional knowledge of one of the three Evenacht continents
• must continue conducting Redemptions

After training is complete, acolytes officially become Finders and accept their ranked Finder badge.

Acolyte badge
< 10 Redemptions

ranked Finder badge
> 11 Redemptions

Sage badge

Conducting a Redemption

What does a Redemption entail? Finders must

• select a soul they believe is ready to be Redeemed. There are as many ways to do this as there are Finders
• conduct the Ritual of Binding to link the Condemned to them. This link allows for the Finder to follow a magickal connection to the sundered essences
• create a binding map during the binding ceremony that highlights the general locations of the sundered essences
• conduct research into the essence locations after the ceremony is complete. Newspaper articles, Finder notes, myths, legends, etc., are the main source of information and are found in the Finder Library

• search for and find the essence, once they believe they have discovered the exact location (hence the name Finder!)
• defeat any guardians or other creatures and claim the essence
• continue research and discovery until all essences are found. This could be one, in the case of a lightly punished Condemned. It could be hundreds, in the case of a severely punished Condemned
• conduct the Recollection ritual after finding all the essences. This reforms the ghost, completing the Redemption
• if so inclined, the Finder can act as a Greeder and train the Redeemed in the use of Ether Touch
• rinse and repeat

The Bad and the Ugly

Finders do a lot of good in the Evenacht, don't get me wrong. They do important and dangerous work and are respected and revered for this reason. But as with all institutions, there is room for improvement and reflection.

• Finders are the only organization in the Evenacht officially allowed to Redeem the Condemned. After the influx of members influenced by Imparik, Gerant declared that Finders had a charge from Death and Darkness to conduct Redemptions. Any completed outside the Finder ranks were illegitimate. Concerned family and friends, not wanting to jeopardize a ghost's Redemption, stopped hiring non-Finders. This has led to abuse of the system.


• Abusive Redemptions, such as Redeeming a soul who is not ready, are rampant. Particularly egregious:
  • Finders and Sages accepting bribes to Redeem unrepentant beings, letting evils into the Evenacht that only cause future problems
  • accepting exorbitant payments to Redeem the rich. This leaves everyone else to suffer, even when they are ready for Redemption (particularly those in the Elden Fields)
  • the Hallowed Collective turning a willfully blind eye to the abuse, because that silently sanctions it
  
  
• Many of the Condemned hate Finders and the Hallowed Collective because they are poorly treated. This causes friction not only during Redemptions, but in the evening lands proper. Vengeful ghosts can interfere with Finders and cause all sorts of mischief.


• Finding is a dangerous profession. The Final Death is a mistake away. Pretending it isn't, that creatures and essence guardians are easily defeated, that angry living residents are easily bribed and manipulated, is detrimental to new acolytes. A Redemption is NEVER easy, and we have a 1% Final Death rate to prove it.


• Infighting helps no one. Tanking promising Finder careers because of jealousy jeopardizes the entire organization and harms the Condemned.