The Returned

Walking the Path of Phenax doesn’t restore a soul to its life. Those who return from the Underworld are hollow shells inhabited by grim and purposeless spirits. These Returned are separated from their memories, which become wandering eidolons. They retain their personalities and skills, but each Returned tends to be a very different being from who they once were. Their second life is theirs to do with as they please, but it’s typically a confused, cursed life, plagued by frustration, bitterness, loneliness, and melancholy. Such leads many Returned along dark paths.
Anographers are the scribes of the Returned. On long scrolls of bleached white parchment, they write half-remembered names, images from dreams, and descriptions of places and people that might once have held meaning. Other Returned visit anographers and describe what scraps of memory they retain. Some believe hidden wisdom lies upon these scrolls, clues to ancient mysteries, or hints at the lost identities of the Returned.
Traders recognize Gray Merchants by their hooded gray cloaks and their carts piled high with useless trinkets. Their wares include components for sinister rituals, jewelry stolen from graves, cursed magic items, and other ominous goods. In return, they demand kitchen utensils, worn bridles, waterlogged books, and other unremarkable trash. There’s no rhyme or reason to what the Gray Merchants seek, and the merchants themselves never speak. They conduct business through gestures, making their unusual trades and plodding off into the shadows.