Bombay, India. 1930.

"Oppressive" is the watchword. The humid, jungle air presses down like a lead weight on the shoulders of over one million people. The British crush anything, and anyone, they cannot buy. The upper castes cling to whatever wealth and power still lies within their grasp, lording over their "lessers" with callous disdain. Rebellion roils beneath the surface, but it will be a long time in coming.

The so-called "untouchables" carry the heaviest burden. They are outcastes and beggars, the lowliest of the low. Those who have jobs are relegated to the most distasteful of tasks: handling the dead and disposing of the city's waste. These duties make them so spiritually polluted that they are forbidden from touching members of higher castes, even if it's only with their shadows. They cannot live inside the city limits; their shanty towns occupy the swamps and barrens many miles from port. According to Hindu dogma, this is all just punishment for the sins of past lives.

Why roleplay in such a wretched environment? Because it's Halloween! As handlers of the dead, untouchables run afoul of all manner of nasty demoniacs. Check out some Hindu folklore; there are corpse-eaters everywhere! (In fact, you already know one of them: the infamous ghuls, or "ghouls.") Forcing such fiends into Sanctum requires a slight tweak to the standard cosmology, since the demons we've encountered thus far have taken possession of living bodies. For whatever reason (belief in reincarnation, something in the soil, gypsy curse), the demons of India can maintain their grip on a corpse after its soul has departed. Consequently, deceased Hindus are cremated as soon as possible... unless they're outcastes. In that case, they're returned to the earth with little fanfare. It will come as no surprise, then, that most of the Hindu undead were untouchables in life.

These warlocks are like any others in all respects but one: they like to eat the flesh of the dead. They still have Affinities and a resolute inability to exhibit prosocial behavior, they're just dead and hunger for same. They might be a bit harder to kill, since a gunshot does little to a body whose heart isn't beating, but there are plenty of burial rights, Buddhist mantras, and holy invocations to pick up the slack.

An Untouchable game need not spend all its time in the graveyard, though. There's plenty of horror to be had in the crowded streets of Bombay. Pimps, pirates, soldiers, and slavers can be every bit as terrifying as ghosts and ghuls. Just be careful to watch where your shadow falls and always sweep the ground where you walk. Even an outcaste's footprints are polluted.

Harijan Sanctum

Gandhi coiled the term "harijan" to refer to untouchables. In means "Children of Vishnu." However, the Indian National Congress was more concerned with ousting the British than improving the lives of outcastes. They were left on their own even by the Hindu priests, who considered dead bodies (and the untouchables) too impure to deal with themselves. Thus was the fight against demonkind left to civilization's least loved children.

Among the outcastes, Sanctum is more a subculture than an organization. Gurus and swamis pass their knowledge down to apprentices, who eventually pass it to their apprentices, and so on. No one knows the whole story and each lineage has evolved its own methods for dealing with demons. Some are mystics and others are warriors, but most borrow a little from both.

Isha Shukla

To all appearances, Isha is a just another poor gravedigger. He lives at the cemetery and wears clothes stolen off the dead. At night, however, he's the living world's last line of defense. In a past life, Isha was a member of the warrior caste, a Kshatriya. He's managed to recover enough of his former skills to take on the corpse-eaters that plague India's largest city.

• Past Lives - Melee combat skills & jack-of-all-trades.
• The Dead - Learned a lot about the undead... the hard way.
• Untouchable - His mere presence is "spiritually polluting."

Abha Pariyar

Those who handle carcases are no better off than those handle corpses. Abha works at a butcher's shop, gutting and cleaning the new arrivals. She's been in love with Isha for years and often steals scraps to bring him for dinner. She also swings a mean meat cleaver and has gone toe-to-toe with her share of corpse-eaters.

• Simple Beauty - Her looks get her in where outcastes aren't allowed.
• Savage Blades - Natural grace & indifference to blood go a long way.
• Outcaste - Tries not to mention her job or family name.

Shiv

Aghori mystics reject the dogma of purity and pollution as a false duality. They put their theory to the test by clothing themselves in burial shrouds, bathing in cremation ash, and eating the flesh of the dead out of bowls made from human skulls. By meditating atop corpses, they gain power over the undead. This particular Aghori aids Isha in his fight because he's fascinated by Abha's beauty. It's a love triangle made in hell.

• Necromancer - Deep knowledge of all things dead.
• Dancer - A living symbol of Shiva, The Destroyer.
• Polluted - Devote Hindus avoid him like the plague!

Dead Demons

The many cemeteries of Bombay are rife with lesser necrophages. Baitala are four-foot, goat-tailed, bat-like monstrosities that lair in trees and caves. At night, they scavenger dead flesh like flocks of vultures. Pishachas are the trickster spirits of the Indian undead. They can alter their appearance at will, turn invisible, and spread disease with their baleful gazes. Ghuls are walking corpses who dig up graves to feast on whatever flesh lies within. They look like filthy, emaciated humans, but their tiny teeth and wicked claws can tear a victim to shreds in an instant. The following warlocks are of the same stock, but have a little more personality than your typical corpse-eater...

Vetala

When a person's family does not perform the proper rites and observances, their demons occasionally seek revenge. These wrathful corpses invariably arise with their hands and feet pointed backwards. They torment their survivors with nocturnal visitations, violent attacks, and their ability to inflict maddening hallucinations on the living. However, they are also territorial and have been known to defend villages from threats both mystical and mundane.

Bombay's resident Vetala used to be a landlord and prominent member of the Vaishyas caste. After murdering all but one of his heirs, he drove the last into an asylum and now runs his real estate empire from behind the scenes. He sends clueless servants to fetch his meals from fresh graves and funeral pyres. Isha and his companions would most likely encounter him after mistaking his retainers for ghuls.

• Evil Eye - Torments enemies with visions of the macabre.
• Mogul - Access to vast reserves of wealth & power.
• Mine! - Fiercely defends his tenants and property.

Masani

Though outlawed by the British, a few Hindu widows continue the practice of sati: they throw themselves upon their husbands' funeral pyres. Scripture extols this as a virtuous act, but demonkind must not share that opinion. Masani are female ghuls who hide under piles of cremation ash during the day and attack male travelers at night. Their skin is stained gray by the former practice, but they are otherwise just like any other ghul.

Bombay is haunted by a particularly dreadful Masani who has an affinity for less corpse-eaters. She is attended by swarms of bloodthirsty Baital and leads a pack of female ghuls. Her hatred of men, particularly unfaithful or impious men, knows no bounds and she delights in hunting them like the dogs they are.

• Affinity: Necrophages - They carry out her wishes by instinct.
• Ambush - Strikes when and where her prey cannot escape.
• Anger - Particularly fearsome in combat against unfaithful men.

Bhuta

These "ghosts" received improper burial because they died by accident or execution. Like vetala, they're out for revenge, but the object of their ire is usually connected to their death, not their burial. They avoid touching bare earth at all costs, for fear of being buried and sent to their next life. While they are the most human of the necrophages, in both appearance and motivation, they are also the most dangerous.

Case in point - An untouchable who was executed for taking up residence under a Brahmin's house has arisen as a walking disease. His demons make manifest with "pollution" his killers so feared. Mold and maggots spring from his footsteps. His merest touch rusts metal and rots wood. When his shadow falls across an enemy, their flesh erupts in boils and sores. Death is a mercy.

When the outcastes discover his campaign of vengeance, do they stop him... or help him?

• Affinity: Pollution - Anything associated with decomposition.
• Criminal - In life, he was a skilled thief and burglar.
• Driven - Will not stop until the caste system lies in ruin.

Next Stop: The dark, European landscapes of Hammer horror!