Zea's Ghosts

This article is a list of ghosts associated with Zea Mazuo.

High John the Conquerer

High John the Conquerer
Birthplace:	unknown
Height:	{{{height}}}
Job:	none
Affiliation:	(Zea Mazuo)
Weapon(s):	mental domination
Weapon Name(s):	{{{weaponname}}}
Race:	presumed human (deceased)
Gender:	Male
RPer:	Kai

Zea began seeing the ghost of a nameless man when she was very young. She was about three when she noticed him watching her, and for a long time she assumed everyone else could see him. She was, of course, incorrect. He generally manifests as a tall, nondescript man of about thirty. Black pants, shoes and vest with a white shirt. Hair neatly combed back. His ability to dominate and bully other spirits earned him the name of one of Zea's common spell components. He would talk to her, play games with her, and occasionally he would shelter her from the other spirits vying for her attention. When Zea would spend hours curled up on the floor drowning under the voices of a seemingly endless number of screaming, weeping, pleading spirits, it was often John who drove the others away. If anyone could be credited for Zea's ability to develop an individual identity in the face of so many voices... it would have to be John.

However, such protection wasn't free. He's a bargaining type. When she was very young, he would promise to silence all the voices if she'd... say... stop eating until he said she could again. Because, after all. If she trusted him...if she loved him....she'd let him help her. She just had to prove that she trusted him, or he wouldn't want to do it. His request wouldn't always be a danger to her, and was often something relatively harmless like a kiss or a few minutes in her body to taste food again. John always did miss chocolate cake.

Zea's relationship with John isn't quite platonic, but not quite romantic either. Nor is it precisely a relationship of equals. The short explanation is that their relationship is that of a sorceress and her familiar spirit. Though a paternal attitude on John's part is not unheard of, Zea has been known to pull rank with some frequency. Each commonly dominates and manipulates the other with constantly-changing motivations. His fixation on her does give her some authority over him even as it makes her a focus of his obsession.

John's current ambition is one that he knows she will never allow him. More than anything else at this point, he wants her. Whatever he has to do, whoever he has to "borrow" to accomplish this is an issue of practicality rather than morality to John. Like many ghosts, he has a keen desire to return to the flesh, but is currently unable to do so. However, he is limited not only by his own abilities, but by Zea's tolerance. He walks a fine line between craving her attention and hating her for being alive, and this is reflected by the vague line he draws between overly-possessive or controlling behavior on the one hand, and ingratiation and protection on the other.

Jezreel

Jezreel
Jezreel_wiki.jpg
Birthplace:	unknown
Height:	{{{height}}}
Job:	none
Affiliation:	(Zea Mazuo)
Weapon(s):	telekinesis
Weapon Name(s):	{{{weaponname}}}
Race:	Elf (deceased)
Gender:	Male
RPer:	Kai

Jezreel, as a mortal, wrote some really odd fiction. Not terribly odd by Gaeran standards, but odd enough. His novel, Everlasting Shadow, was not very popular, and is probably only read by bored students at Gunnir. He never quite got over the injustice of his fate, since such a brilliant author ought to have become famous at some point, right? I mean, hell. For what he wrote he ought to have been a millionaire in a huge house with dozens of beautiful women to feed him grapes and tell him what a genius he is. But no.

His bitterness and eventual suicide led him to become unnaturally anchored to his writing in the way that only a ghost can fixate. He, unlike most of Zea's ghosts, was given a name by mortals before he met her. When he was eventually drawn to the little girl that had captured the attention of so many other ghosts, he found in her an audience if nothing else. He told her stories, and persuaded her to find copies of his book to keep around the house for his benefit.

Jezreel had to tread carefully, though. The ghosts who controlled his access to Zea, namely John, did not think much of him. His propensity toward poltergeist activity earned him the scorn and mockery of the more subtle spirits. Jezreel was often dismissed as a mere "noisy ghost," but when truly enraged the criticism didn't stop him from causing a great deal of chaos. That's the true origin of his name. It was an Elvish description of what a room looked like when Jezreel was done with it. "God will scatter." It was as if an angry god had torn the room apart.

Jezreel eventually tired of John's constant bullying, and began to lash out at the other ghost, as well as John's precious little living girl. Despite her willingness to listen to his stories as a child, Zea had become too deeply entrenched in Jezreel's mind as something belonging to John. Jezreel's plan, if it succeeded, would avenge him against John as well as bringing him back over to the material plane. After all...if he had a body he might be able to do something about the sad state of today's uncultered barely-literate primitives, none of whom seem to have read any of his writing.

He found a mortal sensitive enough to communicate with him, and began whispering to him, claiming to be one of the Ancient long-dead gods of his own stories. This became the storyline Blandly Titled: A Second Gen RP. Jezreel's failure was due in large part to the efforts of Zea's living friends, one of whom 'had' read his novel. They reversed the damage he had done while John pulled him aside to teach him the error of his ways. Jezreel was rendered unable even to manifest himself for a long while, though he's been seen around again recently. It's impossible to guess his intentions at this point without asking, and no one has bothered.

Sadie

Sadie
Birthplace:	unknown
Height:	{{{height}}}
Job:	none
Affiliation:	(Zea Mazuo)
Weapon(s):	modified telepathy
Weapon Name(s):	{{{weaponname}}}
Race:	human (deceased)
Gender:	Female
RPer:	Kai

Sadie manifests as a child of about eight or nine with brown hair in high pigtails, and was one of Zea's earliest playmates, from the time before Zea learned that some of the people she knew were... corporeally challenged. She and Sadie were best friends for several years, even after Zea learned that the little girl was long-dead. Zea was lonely and so was the ghost, so they comforted each other in their mutual isolation. Sadie would create elaborate ethereal landscapes for them to play in, and the two got along so well that Zea's mother was willing to overlook Sadie's essential nature.

As Zea grew older, she found that Sadie couldn't mature at the same rate as a living person, being merely a static memory of her former existence. Sadie became bitter that Zea didn't want to play anymore and seemed to think that she was better just because she was older. It was around this time that Sadie began using her powers 'against' Zea, creating illusory duplicates of herself and causing Zea hallucinatory episodes. John quickly stepped in, nearly destroying the juvenile ghost. Sadie, rather than being bound to Zea herself, is bound to the house where Zea grew up, so she's something that the young medium doesn't have to deal with unless she's at home.

Sadie's behavior has improved as she learned to reconcile herself to the loss of another playmate. John's enforcement helps ensure that this reformation sticks. Zea will occasionally spend time with Sadie, but it's much closer to babysitting than their former, more carefree, friendship.