Wraith Salts

“You don’t find Wraith Salts, you disturb them, coax them out. And if you disturb them, you’d best bring more than courage. Or so-they-say, I say leave it to the guild to idly worry about such frivolities from behind their desks, and leave it to us experts, actually, in the field to make such warnings.” -Last entry in the field journal of Scholar-Lexicon Helda Kressin, vanished 478 C.A.

Wraith Salts are pale, powdery remnants of spiritual energy crystallized where the boundary between life and death frays. Used by mediums, mourners, warlocks, and spirit-bound alchemists, Wraith Salts allow glimpses into the spirit world—but at a perilous cost. Known to enable brief communion with the deceased, or to thin the veil between the worlds entirely, they are dangerously volatile and emotionally corrosive. In rare cases, they can be harvested from the dying, particularly those who succumb to severe cases of Magebane, their essence caught mid-dissolution as The Arcane tears them from existence. Revered as a sacred substance by some, forbidden by others, Wraith Salts are power made from loss, and every grain whispers a name no longer spoken aloud.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Wraith Salts are pale, iridescent crystals resembling powdered bone-glass, flecked with faint traces of crimson and silver. They glimmer faintly even in darkness, and under moonlight they seem to shift or shimmer without wind. When disturbed, they emit a faint, keening wail audible only to those nearby, often mistaken for hearing loss or whispers.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Wraith Salts are composed of condensed ectoplasmic residue left behind by intense spiritual trauma, often sites of mass death, tragic rituals, or haunted battlefields. They are light to the touch, but unnaturally cold. Exposure causes shivering, hallucinations, and in rare cases, “echo burns”, bruises left by no visible force. Salt reacts violently with necrotic energy or soul-infused materials.

Compounds

• Seer’s Dust – allows limited communion with the dead.

• Veil-Ward Chalk – inscribes protective runes that repel spirits.

• Phantom Lenses – lenses that reveal spiritual residue.

• Salted Runes – suppress hauntings or bind ghosts to objects.

Geology & Geography

Most Wraith Salt deposits form in places saturated with spectral energy: abandoned crypts, ruined battlefields, plague pits, cursed temples, or near leyline convergences disturbed by mass death. The Salt itself is not dug, but gathered, usually swept from surfaces, walls, or coagulated spirit-mist.

Origin & Source

Wraith Salts are byproducts of metaphysical trauma: when souls are torn violently from their bodies, their lingering essence calcifies upon contact with a strong elemental or ley-bound influence. What is left is not the soul, but the echo of its departure.

Life & Expiration

If left untouched and in darkness, Wraith Salts can persist for centuries. However, once disturbed by light, sound, or motion, they begin to deteriorate, releasing psychic resonance for several days before becoming inert. Exposure to solar light hastens decay. Post-exposure salts slowly dull in color and lose their wailing resonance. “Dead” Wraith Salt loses all metaphysical effects but may still serve as ritual components for weaker divination spells or folk charms.

History & Usage

History

The Scholar’s Guild first documented Wraith Salts during the aftermath of the Ration War, when mass hauntings became too widespread to ignore. Early use was restricted to mortuary rites and banishments. As alchemy matured, so too did its uses, for both insight and cruelty.

Discovery

First noted beneath the ruins of Fellmere Hospice, where thousands perished to an outbreak kept secret for weeks. Scholars investigating the cause uncovered walls dusted with whispering powder. Most refused to touch it. One did. His eyes turned white for a week.

Everyday use

Too volatile for common use. Reserved for sanctioned spiritual rites, seances, or high-level alchemical divinations. In black markets, often found in "seer’s sachets" promising forbidden knowledge, usually fake, sometimes fatal.

Cultural Significance and Usage

Wraith Salts are sacred to some death cults and spirit-walkers, seen as the breath of the dead. Others view them as abominations, dangerous residues that must be cleansed. Among some borderland villages, a pinch is buried with the dead to ward off possession.

Industrial Use

Rarely used in industry outside specialized magical forges or the Scholar’s Guild’s soul studies. Some rune-temples in Kibonoji reportedly use Wraith Salt in rituals to seal or awaken ancient spirits.

Refinement

Collected using blessed bristles, bone scoops, or silver-chased gloves. Exposure to flesh without proper barriers risks possession or phantom sickness. Salts are stored in glass vials lined with gravewax and must be kept in iron-shielded boxes for transit. Some rites involve “calming” the salt with oils of myrrh or lavender, meant to pacify residual psychic energy. True refinement is rare, as over-handling risks spiritual contamination.

Manufacturing & Products

• Seer’s Dust – finely ground, mixed with Widow’s Root and burned to summon ghosts.

• Ectoglass – arcane glass tempered with Wraith Salts, holds memories of those near it.

• Censor Stones – used to test rooms for residual hauntings.

Byproducts & Sideproducts

• Whisper Fog – fine dust exhaled from the salt, induces visions or madness.

• Echo Heat – sudden burst of chilling air that extinguishes flame and disrupts enchantments.

• Hollow Resonance – a long, droning moan trapped in alchemical chambers, must be bled out lest it wake a true spirit.

Hazards

• Psychic Damage – prolonged exposure may cause voices, sleepwalking, and empathy with the dead.

• Possession Risk – improper handling opens the mind to remnants of the spirit or spirits that created them 'seeking out' life again.

• Spiritual Bleed – using too much in rituals may create rifts between living and dead.

• Residual Echoes – rooms that held Wraith Salts for too long remain “thin,” even after removal.

Environmental Impact

Salted ground often becomes spiritually unstable. Crops wilt. Animals avoid the area. Hauntings become frequent. Some sites are declared “Echo Fields” by the Church and sealed off. In time, even inert salts can draw spirits if left unchecked.

Reusability & Recycling

Re-ground Wraith Salts lose potency but may serve in minor wards or protective charms. Cannot be “revived” once inert. Some necromancers believe a spark of soul-flame can reawaken them, but the Guild considers this heresy.

Distribution

Trade & Market

Extremely rare and tightly controlled by the Scholar’s Guild and select All-Faith clergy. Banned in most city centers due to risk. Sold illegally to spirit-binders, warlocks, or desperate mourners.

Storage

Sealed in waxed, rune-marked glass vials. Transported with anti-echo charms. Containers are often etched with the names of those whose deaths produced the salt, more for peace of mind than any alchemical reason.

Law & Regulation

Illegal to possess without a Guild writ or Church ordination. Use outside of ritual grounds punishable by exile or execution. Despite this, many Chapels keep trace amounts for exorcism or funerary rites.

Wsa

Value

Extremely valuable to death priests, ghost hunters, and occultists. Worth its weight in gold to those who know how to use it.

Rarity

Exceedingly rare, localized to places of spiritual trauma.

Odor

Burnt incense, rain on stone, and candle smoke.

Taste

Bitter and cold, with a faint metallic tang. Causes numbness.

Color

Pale white with lavender or silver iridescence.

Boiling / Condensation Point

Unknown. Evaporates metaphysically, not physically.

Melting / Freezing Point

Crumbles under direct flame, shatters at -20°C.

Density

Light and porous, disperses in air like dust.

Common State

Powdered or crystalline solid. Rarely liquid if dissolved into soul mediums.