Species Profile – The Lost Artefacts: The Ravaged

The Ravaged exist in a liminal state between life and death—souls bound to eternal service through bargains with the Reaper. Neither truly alive nor conventionally dead, these spectral entities represent the ultimate cautionary tale about the cost of desperation and the dangers of seeking supernatural shortcuts to power or resolution.

Distinguished by their ghostly translucence that maintains the appearance they possessed at the moment of their bargain, the Ravaged retain individual appearances while sharing certain common characteristics. Their bodies emit a faint luminescence visible primarily in darkness, and they move with an unnatural fluidity that suggests freedom from physical constraints while simultaneously emphasizing their otherworldly nature.

The origin of each Ravaged begins with a moment of profound crisis—a situation so desperate that an individual willingly seeks out the Reaper to trade their soul for the fulfillment of a single wish. These wishes range from personal vengeance to protection of loved ones, from acquisition of power to the righting of perceived injustice. Regardless of motivation, the outcome remains the same: the wish granted, the soul claimed.

Upon completing their bargain, the Ravaged undergo immediate transformation. Their physical bodies cease to exist in conventional terms, replaced by spectral forms that can interact with the physical world but exist primarily in a state between dimensions. This transformation grants them limited immortality—freedom from aging, disease, and conventional death—while binding them eternally to the Reaper’s service.

The Ravaged operate under specific supernatural constraints that define their existence. They can only manifest in the physical world during nighttime hours, returning to the Reaper’s domain when daylight breaks. They retain the ability to touch physical objects and interact with living beings, though with limitations that prevent them from fully rejoining the world of the living they left behind.

Gold represents the primary vulnerability of the Ravaged, with weapons forged from or imbued with this element capable of disrupting the magical bindings that maintain their existence. This weakness creates a significant limitation on their otherwise formidable durability, ensuring that despite their supernatural nature, they remain vulnerable to those with the knowledge and means to confront them.

The Ravaged organise themselves into a hierarchical structure under the Reaper’s ultimate authority, with positions largely determined by age, ability, and the Reaper’s favour. Some, like Freya, rise to positions of significant responsibility, serving as lieutenants who oversee other Ravaged and carry out the Reaper’s will across broader territories. Others remain in more limited roles, serving specific functions within smaller domains.

The psychological state of the Ravaged varies dramatically, with some maintaining the memories, personalities, and cognitive functions they possessed in life, while others, like Bors, gradually descend into madness over centuries and millennia of service. This variation appears connected to both the individual’s mental resilience and the nature of their experiences before and after their transformation.

Phantom Place represents one of the few known locations where the Ravaged have established a semi-autonomous community under Freya’s leadership. This abandoned church serves as both headquarters and sanctuary, allowing the Ravaged to develop systems of mutual support and alternate economies that operate adjacent to but separate from the Reaper’s direct control.

Despite their cursed existence, many Ravaged demonstrate remarkable adaptation to their circumstances, finding purpose and meaning even within the constraints of their bargain. The most successful among them learn to navigate the boundaries of their service, creating spaces of limited autonomy while fulfilling their obligations to the Reaper—a delicate balance to maintain across the centuries of their unending service.

Check out The Lost Artefacts here >

---

More by Johnathon Nicolaou