Afterlife: Ghosts Of The Rim

When your colonists die, some of them don't leave.

A ghost here is not a generic spook - it is THEM. The dead rise as a translucent, spectral copy of who they were in life: same name, backstory, skills, appearance, and relationships. They cannot be harmed and cannot be killed by ordinary means. Whether they rest in peace or linger - and what kind of spirit they become - depends on how they died and how you treated them.

Requires Harmony (the standard library nearly every mod uses). No DLC required, though Anomaly is recommended. Vanilla-friendly and built to coexist with large modlists.

= WHO COMES BACK =
Not everyone lingers. Colonists who die have a good chance to return; outsiders (raiders, visitors, prisoners) only rise if their death carried weight - a notable figure, someone killed in your care, someone with a grievance. A hard per-map cap keeps things from spiraling. You control all of this in the mod options.

= FIVE KINDS OF SPIRIT =
How a colonist died decides what they become:
- Friendly - died with people who loved them. Comforts the family they left behind.
- Protective - died with a living blood relative (a child first of all). Watches over that ward, shielding their mind with a powerful sense of being guarded.
- Mournful - died alone, unloved, ungrieved. A quiet, sorrowful presence, and the easiest to lay to rest.
- Vengeful - murdered, executed, or wronged. Haunts the living, and especially whoever was responsible.
- Companion - a bonded pet that wouldn't leave its owner's side, even in death.

= UNFINISHED BUSINESS =
Every ghost lingers for a reason, and resolving it is how they finally move on:
- Avenge their death - wait for the one who killed them to fall.
- Watch over a loved one - until that person is safe, old, or gone.
- A proper burial - lay them to rest in a real grave.
- Finish the work - a skilled crafter or researcher haunts their workbench until the job is done.
- Guard their grave - stand watch over their own resting place.
- Reunite in death - two lovers, both fallen, drift toward one another and pass on together.
- Stay with their owner - a faithful animal companion remains until its person also passes.

= LAYING THEM TO REST =
Gentle spirits move on once their business is settled - often a proper burial is enough. Vengeful ghosts are another matter: no headstone will soothe them. For those, build a Spirit Shrine(building>misc) and hold a SEANCE. A colonist acts as medium and channels at the shrine, calling the spirit to it. If the rite succeeds, the ghost finds peace. If it fails - or the spirit refuses to come - the medium is left shaken, and the ghost's fury only deepens. A medium's Psychic Sensitivity and Social skill decide their odds.

= WHEN THE DEAD ARE WRONGED =
A Vengeful ghost left unexorcised festers. Over days it escalates into a full poltergeist - intensifying its haunt, hurling chunks, flinging colonists, and driving them to madness. Ignoring the dead has a price. And disturb a grave - dig up a buried colonist - and they will rise again, furious, no matter how peacefully they once rested.

= RESURRECTION =
If a ghost's body is brought back to life by any means, their spirit is drawn back into it - the ghost vanishes, no longer needed. Works with every resurrection source.

= PLAY AS A GHOST =
When your last colonist falls, the story doesn't have to end. If a departed colonist still lingers, you may choose to carry on AS them - a spectral guardian haunting the ruins of your colony. You can move them, terrify intruders, and - as a Vengeful spirit - unleash their full power: hurl enemies, throw chunks, drive raiders to madness. Drive off those who come, or draw a wandering soul to settle and rebuild. The colony can live again under the watch of the dead. Or, if your spirit is finally laid to rest, the story ends for good.

= ATMOSPHERE =
Ghosts shimmer faintly and are hard to perceive. The air near them grows cold; a colonist who walks through one feels an unnatural chill. The dead are fearless - it is the living who should be afraid.

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= MOD OPTIONS =
Everything below is adjustable in Options > Mod Settings > Afterlife: Ghosts Of The Rim.

WHO BECOMES A GHOST
- Colonist ghost chance - how likely a dead colonist returns as a ghost (default high).
- Other-pawn ghost chance - the (much lower) chance a non-colonist - raider, visitor, prisoner - lingers.
- Other pawns must be "notable" - when on, anonymous outsiders stay dead; only meaningful deaths (a prisoner or slave who died in your care, someone killed by a colonist, a royal, or a named figure) can rise.
- Max ghosts per map - a hard cap on how many living ghosts can exist at once, so a massacre doesn't flood your map.

WHICH DEATHS COUNT
- Only unpeaceful deaths - when on, a calm death in a good bed won't produce a ghost; only violent, tragic, or wronged deaths do.
- Require bonds or grievance - when on, a pawn must have had close relationships OR a real grievance to linger; the truly unconnected simply pass on.

GHOST BEHAVIOR
- Friendly ghosts comfort family - beloved and protective ghosts give mood comfort to the people who loved them (and protective ghosts shield their ward).
- Vengeful ghosts haunt - vengeful spirits inflict dread on the living, worst of all on whoever wronged them. Turning this off makes them passive.

APPEARANCE & ATMOSPHERE
- Spectral appearance - the extra "hard to target" invisibility shimmer on top of the translucency. This layer uses an invisibility effect from Anomaly; without Anomaly, ghosts are still translucent but won't gain the harder-to-target shimmer. If ghosts ever turn fully invisible or unselectable in your setup, turn this off.
- Ghosts phase through walls - lets a ghost periodically blink toward the focus of its business, slipping past walls to reach you. A safe stand-in for true wall-phasing.
- Ghostly atmosphere - cold spots and chills. Tiles near a ghost grow colder, and colonists who pass through one feel a brief, unsettling chill.

PETS
- Bonded pets can return as companion ghosts - when on, an animal bonded to a colonist may linger as a faithful companion spirit, drifting near its owner and comforting them until that person also passes.
- Companion ghost chance - how likely a bonded pet returns (only appears when companion ghosts are enabled).

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Requires Harmony. Anomaly is recommended for the full spectral effect but not required. Compatible with Royalty, Ideology, Biotech, and Odyssey, and none of those are needed. Designed to play nicely alongside large modlists and custom races.