Mental, romantic relations and aging

Stragglers are not stable by any means. Having reformed themselves by random process and chance instead of the very practiced and refined process of Soulterian, they are twisted, warped, damaged, incomplete. They’re not stable in mind or form. This is why Ghouls exist. Ghouls are the souls that have degenerated in mind and become pure forms of hate, darkness, and destruction. They want only to make people suffer in fear or, if they can, brutal death. If they have a particular grudge against someone or something, they will be more likely to target that person or thing they have a grudge against. However, they are almost guaranteed to attack literally anyone they can in the absence of that. Imagine them as able to be literally any monster or horrifying thing that would haunt anything. They’re diverse enough to fit that.

Specters as similar in that they tend to target and attack the living, but not always. Depending on their mental state when they died, they can reform entirely sane. They can exist days, months, years like this if they are careful. Inevitably, though, they will begin to slip. Their unstable nature is doomed to an eventual life of a Ghoul. At some point or another, insanity will seep into them and they will slowly transition into a maddened, aggressive, vengeful spirit. It’s like a ledge. Once they go over the line and lose it, they become Ghouls and can no longer undo what has been done. The closer to this point they are, obviously, the more aggressive and dangerous they will be.

Kobolds are different. Kobolds are not necessarily doomed to a Ghoul’s life. Instead, they walk a razor-edge balancing act. They are simultaneously human like a Specter and a monster like a Ghoul, all bundled up inside them. They can exist for literally eternity as themselves. However, they are susceptible to falling to a Ghoul’s level. If they fall into a state of insanity and give into the dark impulses within them, then they will transition into a powerful Ghoul with the ability to turn solid, as they do. In this case, they are still known as Ghouls, but are denoted as “K class” Ghouls. Kobolds tend to be more susceptible than the living to insanity and slip faster, but can be preserved from that fate forever if their mental health is properly managed and watched.

Stragglers take on two distinct methods of aging or…rather not aging.

Specters and Ghouls don’t age. With no physical form, they pretty much stagnate as the age at which they died. So, there’s that.

Kobolds age until their mid 20’s to early 30’s and then stop, stagnating there and frozen in time for eternity at that age. If they died after that age, then they just won’t age beyond that.  

With a ghost??? 

Well, alright man. Someone’s going to ask. So here’s the answer.

No, Specters and Ghouls can not have romantic relations. While sane Specters are capable of romantic attraction and love, they have no physical forms and can’t do anything about it. Ghouls are just too crazy and jumbled to care. They have no romantic feelings at all.

Kobolds /can/ have romantic relations but they can’t reproduce since….they’re dead. They’re still ghosts, after all.

So there you have it.