Happy Halloween

Granted, in the world of Night Song, every day is Halloween, but the Machrai stands out as being especially "Halloweenish."

In the pantheon of nasties that populate Night Song, the Machrai falls into the category of Radical or Demon. It is a little more than a Radical (a Wraith that has escaped the Barrier) but is not quite a Demon ( A Radical who possesses the physical body of a human being). 

The Machrai is a special case because it attains objective existence in the "earth plane" by capturing and enslaving the souls of the recently deceased. So it kind of maintains a dual existence in both the Barrier and the earth-plane. On the earth-plane, it is usually a dark specter, but can manifest as an especially loathsome looking creature. It spends most of its time skulking in the shadows of cemeteries and mortuaries, searching for souls to harvest. 

Within the Dream Land of the Barrier, however, the Machrai can take on any form and create the appearance of any kind of world. It does this purely to trick the newly deceased into not moving on into the Barrier. If the Machrai can keep a spirit earthbound for ten days, then it can "claim" the spirit as its own, and gain total control over the will and existence of the spirit. The more spirits the Machrai has under its control, the greater the power and influence it can exert within the earth-plane. 

With enough power, the Machrai can gain influence over the living, and bring on all manner of noxious maladies and manifestations - all in an effort to keep an individual in a state of hysteria. This hysteria is like a power supply that feeds the Machrai, and enables it to exert even greater influence and more pronounced manifestations. The ultimate goal, of course is to wear down an individual's will to live. If the Machrai succeeds in getting the individual to die, it is almost sure to get the soul because it has already gained control of the person's reality. 

The scariest part, though, is that if a Machrai hangs around long enough, gets enough souls under its control and gains enough power, it can achieve a full-fledged objective existence within the earth-plane as a solid, flesh and blood entity. 

At this point, the Machrai usually metamorphoses into a politician. 

So, Happy Halloween, and don't forget to vote!