LIMBO
Limbo is home to the Liminal Angels and many other elusive beings. Limbo itself is a strange place; it's a patchwork of landscapes, from deserted cities to silent jungles, vast plains, and empty roads to strange unearthly architecture. Sometimes the landscape will just disappear altogether for a while with nothing but a black void to walk through. Almost everything is in monochrome and the sky is covered with flat gray clouds with no apparent change in time of day. There is no weather other than occasional wind.
Random, out-of-place objects are not uncommon but often in worn condition. Free-standing doors may also be found occasionally and can lead to just about anywhere in Limbo or on Earth. The doors come in all shapes and sizes (and often have color), however, each individual door will always lead to the same location. Objects brought to limbo from Earth retain their color, and objects from Limbo will remain monochrome if taken to Earth.
Random, out-of-place objects are not uncommon but often in worn condition. Free-standing doors may also be found occasionally and can lead to just about anywhere in Limbo or on Earth. The doors come in all shapes and sizes (and often have color), however, each individual door will always lead to the same location. Objects brought to limbo from Earth retain their color, and objects from Limbo will remain monochrome if taken to Earth.
LIMINAL ANGELS
- Overview: In a world of shades of gray, Liminal Angels fit right in. They exist in Limbo, where neither the good or evil end up after death. These are the people who weren't quite good enough. Acting as karma in a more physical form, they are responsible for either punishing or helping those who deserve it, and they aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. These tasks can takes years (or less of course) in order to be completely played out, as to ensure that everything seems natural. However they are rarely directly involved in their tasks, which are usually accomplished through illusion and subliminal persuasion/hypnosis, as they are masters of both.
- Abilities: As stated, Liminal Angels are adept in illusion and influencing the subconscious, but only after many years of training. As they age, they become more and more adept at creating illusions, allowing them not only create realistic illusions, but to alter their own shape, form, appearance, etc. and to even appear differently to different viewers at the same time. Their illusions are not only visual, but can be tactile, aromatic, etc. The same goes for working with the subconscious. Some are much better at it than others, but it's basically a combination of hypnosis and weak mind-control. It is also a difficult skill to teach due to it being practicable only on humans, which can be a little risky. Animals can also be practiced on but they are considerably weaker minded and easier to influence.
- Development: When first passing into Limbo, the newly deceased still have their human form, but are given the same dark gray robe as everyone else. They will soon notice small, feathery wings which will grow slowly over time. Once a Liminal Angel has "graduated" (illusion and persuasion must be taught and practiced) they are able to start interacting with the real world and are given their mask which simultaneously gives them the same hard, white, hollow body shared by every Liminal Angel. It stops at about the collarbones and has the texture of porcelain, but is incredibly tough. This change is permanent. Although it is possible to appear as their previous self, their true and final form has been achieved.
- Community: First and foremost are the Keepers and the Seekers. They are assumed to be immortal and have powers beyond the average Liminal Angel. There are 4 Keepers who keep Limbo and its inhabitants' behavior in check and 196 Seekers (one for each country) who are responsible for looking into the human world and finding out what needs taking care of. They are able to mark specific people with basic information to give the other Angels a starting point in their work. Next there are the Teachers. Obviously these are the ones who teach the Students, but they also pass any information from the Seekers down to the Missionaries, who are responsible for taking care of business on Earth. These two positions are rotational. Finally there are the Students. These are individuals who have yet to graduate. Teachers and Missionaries will, sooner or later, simply and quietly disappear. It can happen anywhere from a few days after graduation to many years later. No one really knows why this happens or where they go though, if anywhere at all.
OTHER INHABITANTS
- Unsurprisingly, the beings of limbo can be quite elusive. They usually have the ability to travel freely between limbo and the human world, but can be even more difficult to find in the human world. It's almost impossible for a living human to enter limbo anyway, so don't plan on encountering any of them any time soon unless they want you to. Not only do they have a wide variety of personalities and temperaments, some of them are very powerful and/or dangerous, so you can never be quite sure of what you're getting into.