Returned

The Returned Returned have escaped the Underworld and dwell among the living once more, but their second lives are rarely what they expected—not that they remember what it was they expected. As a result of having followed the Path of Phenax, the Returned lose their identities, which manifest as separate beings known as eidolons. The experience of escaping the Underworld also causes them to lose their faces, which become expressionless surfaces with empty eye sockets and gaping mouths. These blank surfaces they cover with distinctive golden masks.
Returned reenter the world blank and undead. No longer possessing the ability to form long-term memories, they generally can’t build meaningful relationships or establish new lives. Instead, most experience fleeting emotions and follow hollow routines, their existences reduced to shadow plays without weight or substance. 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

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.

Gray Merchants

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.

Kakomanteis

Returned kakomanteis employ powerful magic at a price paid in blood. Some theorize that in life each kakomantis was a spell caster, and the trip along the Path of Phenax corrupted their abilities. Regardless of how they came upon their grisly magic, kakomanteis keep small animals, such as rodents, snakes, and insects, close at hand to power their spells, though more potent magical effects demand more significant sacrifices.

Palamnites

While most of the Returned are listless and quiet, palamnites burn with envy and rage. They are vicious killers, destroying what no longer brings them joy. Palamnites burn villages, slaughter innocents, and steal wealth only to discard it later. Most stories of vengeful Returned stem from reports of these tortured souls.

Pseudammas

Pseudammas are cursed by fleeting memories of their lost children. They know that they were parents in life and that they will never again experience the love of their child. Though their plight is heartbreaking, pseudammas turn tragedy into horror by snatching mortal children and attempting to raise them. However, the Returned have forgotten the needs of the living and they have no concept of how to care for a child.

Returned Nature

The Returned are undead. They need water and air, but not food or sleep. They think and speak and even feel emotions based on their new experiences, but given their circumstances, those emotions tend to be muted.

Returned Masks

Adventurers who defeat Returned foes might marvel at their fortune in claiming such rich spoils after a battle. The mask of a Returned is worth approximately 100 gp, based on its composition and craftsmanship. However, selling a Returned mask isn’t a simple matter of cashing it in for coin. Most people on Theros know the tales of the Returned and want nothing to do with such cursed relics or with those who try to traffic in them. Finding an unscrupulous merchant willing to trade for Returned masks is rare, as the items are effectively another sapient being’s face. Convincing a merchant to buy a Returned mask, or dealing with the ramifications of such a sale, might prove to be an adventure in itself.

Type

Secret, Occult