Completes, Almosts, Nevers--the three categories of people on this side of the boundary. Completes are those living people who cannot cross the boundary. They have never experienced a close enough brush with death to become an Almost. Some live in fear of Almosts and Nevers, some are enchanted by them, and some.. some want to become an Almost.
Almosts are those living people who can cross the boundary between the world of the living and the city of the dead. They are those who have had a brush with death--the girl who suffered a stroke being born, the man who lost his job and didn’t shoot himself in quite the right way, the car accident victim who was technically dead for a minute and a half. They gain the ability to cross over to the city of the dead, to visit with those who have passed away. The shifts happen randomly, though a more experienced Almost can channel the changes more successfully, repressing those they do not wish to have and shifting on command most of the time.
Nevers spring from two origins: either dead Almosts, or those who set out to intentionally become Almosts--there is money in ferrying messages, in having this ability that most people do not, in getting autobiographies from historical figures long dead. However they came to be, they become the ghosts on this side--their attempts to almost die renders them very dead, and they do not pass on to the other side. They remain in our world, unable to affect anything but the smallest items, unable even to be seen most of the time.
The fact that two people may do the same thing--one to die, one to become an Almost--and become an Almost and a Never respectively is a puzzle. Why should intention matter so? But it does. The intention to die does not invalidate becoming an Almost. The intention to become an Almost as you try to almost die inevitably means you do die--and linger, on this side.
The City is the expansive place on the “other side” where the dead who do not become Nevers live, much as they did in life. In the City, age is a matter of geography. The dearly departed can live as any age they wish--but it might mean going twenty miles east to become ten years younger, or twenty miles north to become five years older. The rules such as this are never constant, but Almosts need not concern themselves with it--they are immune to the rules of the City, not a part of this world.
Almosts can be forced to shift worlds against their will by surprise, trauma, or another Almost. It is disorientating, but not otherwise harmful. Skilled Almosts can choose where within a given area they enter in the City, or back into the living world--distances are BIGGER in the City, as the entire world is just… the City. You can travel two hundred yards in the city and it may be five or ten feet in the real world. Vice versa doesn’t usually work so well; if you try to travel 500 miles in the City by moving a mile in the real world, you’re probably going to be disappointed when you cross over.
Completes can be pulled across to the City--but it is a process that harms them, and the City itself has a negative effect on their minds and bodies. They fall into stupor and coma, or become filled with an enthusiastic zeal and love of the place. Left there too long, and they perish to become Nevers--ghosts among the dead. The dead cannot be brought from the City--it is physically impossible, and all the Almost earns for the attempt is a headache.
The reason intention matters with creating an Almost--why? Is there some intelligent force creating Almosts, that would prevent those from wanting to BE Almosts from becoming them (like how the best person to rule is someone who wouldn’t want to be?) Is there a force that wants the dead to be able to communicate with the living, to ease the burden of death, or… perhaps in letting people know WHAT to expect after death (Almosts blog on the internet, and write books!) it is weakening the value of religion? If religion offers the answer to what lies beyond death--maybe Christianity and Judaism are less popular in this universe, and things like Buddhism are more. Could it be Lucifer, or that kind of concept, rebelling even now by creating Almosts?
Almosts are those living people who can cross the boundary between the world of the living and the city of the dead. They are those who have had a brush with death--the girl who suffered a stroke being born, the man who lost his job and didn’t shoot himself in quite the right way, the car accident victim who was technically dead for a minute and a half. They gain the ability to cross over to the city of the dead, to visit with those who have passed away. The shifts happen randomly, though a more experienced Almost can channel the changes more successfully, repressing those they do not wish to have and shifting on command most of the time.
Nevers spring from two origins: either dead Almosts, or those who set out to intentionally become Almosts--there is money in ferrying messages, in having this ability that most people do not, in getting autobiographies from historical figures long dead. However they came to be, they become the ghosts on this side--their attempts to almost die renders them very dead, and they do not pass on to the other side. They remain in our world, unable to affect anything but the smallest items, unable even to be seen most of the time.
The fact that two people may do the same thing--one to die, one to become an Almost--and become an Almost and a Never respectively is a puzzle. Why should intention matter so? But it does. The intention to die does not invalidate becoming an Almost. The intention to become an Almost as you try to almost die inevitably means you do die--and linger, on this side.
The City is the expansive place on the “other side” where the dead who do not become Nevers live, much as they did in life. In the City, age is a matter of geography. The dearly departed can live as any age they wish--but it might mean going twenty miles east to become ten years younger, or twenty miles north to become five years older. The rules such as this are never constant, but Almosts need not concern themselves with it--they are immune to the rules of the City, not a part of this world.
Almosts can be forced to shift worlds against their will by surprise, trauma, or another Almost. It is disorientating, but not otherwise harmful. Skilled Almosts can choose where within a given area they enter in the City, or back into the living world--distances are BIGGER in the City, as the entire world is just… the City. You can travel two hundred yards in the city and it may be five or ten feet in the real world. Vice versa doesn’t usually work so well; if you try to travel 500 miles in the City by moving a mile in the real world, you’re probably going to be disappointed when you cross over.
Completes can be pulled across to the City--but it is a process that harms them, and the City itself has a negative effect on their minds and bodies. They fall into stupor and coma, or become filled with an enthusiastic zeal and love of the place. Left there too long, and they perish to become Nevers--ghosts among the dead. The dead cannot be brought from the City--it is physically impossible, and all the Almost earns for the attempt is a headache.
The reason intention matters with creating an Almost--why? Is there some intelligent force creating Almosts, that would prevent those from wanting to BE Almosts from becoming them (like how the best person to rule is someone who wouldn’t want to be?) Is there a force that wants the dead to be able to communicate with the living, to ease the burden of death, or… perhaps in letting people know WHAT to expect after death (Almosts blog on the internet, and write books!) it is weakening the value of religion? If religion offers the answer to what lies beyond death--maybe Christianity and Judaism are less popular in this universe, and things like Buddhism are more. Could it be Lucifer, or that kind of concept, rebelling even now by creating Almosts?
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