Mysteries Of The Sims World, Uncovered - By Anonymous

Great storyline! I love it! Well done, Anonymous. Well done, indeed.

I took a family of four to Strangerville and successfully had them all complete the 'Strangerville Mystery' aspiration all at once during the same story - although it did involve some trading of items. It was a while ago now but I can assure you, that you do not need to reset the story and run it multiple times.

"Loanet;c-18108744" wrote:
I took a family of four to Strangerville and successfully had them all complete the 'Strangerville Mystery' aspiration all at once during the same story - although it did involve some trading of items. It was a while ago now but I can assure you, that you do not need to reset the story and run it multiple times.

@Loanet
Random, but alright. I've managed the same.

I've done the playthrough a total of two times. Never once did I reset it. But, I do wait for quite some time in between tries.

Great job, Mulder! ;)

I've made a Strangerville Warriors for each of my 6 timeline game saves. I got them the necessary tools & equipments. I also made sure they had the Forever Full, Antiseptic, Steel Bladder, Carefree, Shameless & Never Weary traits. That way nothing interfiers with them defeating the Motherplant.

The Afterlife, Uncovered

Author's note: Since my last entry, I've been laying low. I'd spied one too many people in suits on my errands, and those "plumbing" vans had been parked along the street in front of every single one of my neighbors' places. Suffice it to say I had to pack light and leave town. The road does indeed bring with it a sense of freedom, but the clarity it also brings can sometimes be more a burden than a gift.

I know this is going to sound crazy, but hear me out...

Being dead is a fate worse than death.

For as far back as anyone can remember, ghosts have walked ("hovered over", more like) the Earth. One rarely sees them on an average day, save for the odd ghost working as a bartender or perhaps visiting a local venue with a few others in tow. On special days, however, one can see them flooding the streets - mostly elders - passing through like tourists on vacation from the Netherworld. Most ghosts are actually quite nice, stopping for a chat with whomever might want to, their emerald hues like Winterfest lights along the streets. The stories some of them have to tell are quite intriguing to those of us interested in our world's history, and they seem quite open about the experience of being dead, not at all taking it personally if asked.

Those who stick to our realm work and live like anyone else. They eat, taking satisfaction in the process. They use the bathroom, finding relief after-the-fact. They seek repose, feeling well-rested and ready to face the world when they awaken. They find solace in the company of others. They feel clean after a shower. They enjoy indulging in earthly desires. They shiver in the cold. They fan themselves when it's hot. They feel fear. They feel love. They laugh and cry like the rest of us. Besides the fact that they can pass through solid objects, have no need for shoes, and cannot die (again), what exactly makes a ghost any different from a living person? If you said "nothing", then you'd be absolutely right.

Society (on the surface) treats ghosts like everyone else. There are laws in place to afford them any of the same courtesies as every other stage of life, their simoleons are worth no less than anyone else's, and on a purely social level, they can form bonds in much the same ways as when they were alive (with a few caveats, depending on the progression of societal values and the like, but those can be overcome with effort). There are even boons to these aspects of unlife: Their state of being brings comfort to others on their way to meet the same fate, they have more accrued knowledge and wisdom, their time is limitless, and their potential for wealth is similarly so. Truly (again, on a surface level) it seems as though being dead may lead to the best part of life itself...

...but "pushing up daisies" isn't quite so "rosy".

Sure, it's true that those of "spectral presence" have all of the same needs and wants, but from what I've observed it seems that these are all purely psychosomatic. Ghosts doesn't have digestive systems, so why would they need to eat or relieve themselves? We eat for energy, to sate a desire, and to stave off starvation. Why would a ghost, a being of pure energy, need energy? Why would a being who is already dead need to stave off death? The answer falls to the last remaining reason: to sate a desire. Consider for a moment that ghosts are conscious energy in humanoid form. What they can do is then purely based upon trained "snapshots" of their living statuses. As living beings they had to eat everyday, sleep every night, go to the bathroom, and bathe themselves. They "remember" how to digest, and so their form provides a way. They "remember" needing to create waste, and so that is created. They "remember" feeling dirty and giving off a stench, and so they immerse themselves in water...and that goes away. Hopefully you're "picking up" what I'm "putting down", here.

Need further proof? Let's look at their forms--They have no blemishes, few unique aspects of their shapes, and uniformed colouring from head to toe. To look upon one directly, it's almost like looking at a conscious bubble. Even the fact that they can possess objects and phase through them points to a lack of an actual form. With this in mind, it serves as an indication that perhaps what a ghost looks like (or "who" in this case) comes down to what they consciously remember. Think about yourself for a moment...what do you see? Now go look in a mirror and tell me if what you saw in your head completely matches the image reflected back at you. In most cases, you can get the general gist of what you look like. In some cases, you might be able to recreate yourself down to the very last mole. Now let's say you've been away from a mirror for a while. Whilst you're away, something major happens that completely changes your life, causing a myriad of thoughts and considerations. Someone asks you to describe yourself in detail so they can draw you as you see yourself. Now, you not only have to remember what you looked like, but consciously sustain that image. Even worse, there are loud noises all around you, your thoughts are racing this way and that, and you're performing a life-saving procedure at the same time. Don't ask how you got into this situation, but consider that that is what "living" is...except now you don't get the luxury of dedicating your mental energies to only performing external tasks and considering internal struggles...now you have to maintain your form at all times. Would you opt to perfect your form, hoping to be the you you want to be, or would you opt for a low-effort facsimile instead? What if you don't get a choice in the matter, simply because your mind was always beyond your full control, even whilst alive...?

Despite having met their end, however, this is only the beginning of their suffering...

Whilst the law affords ghosts the rights to own property, marry, and hold down a job, it also has to consider the living. People are born everyday. Infants become toddlers. Toddlers become children. Children become teenagers. Teenagers become young adults. From teenagehood, people have access to ways of making a steady income, and if every deceased citizen were to retain their jobs, there'd soon be too many occupied positions. If ghosts held on to their property, no living kin would have a chance of inheritance, and new families wouldn't have a chance to find their home. Marriage is a strange one, but consider that it is only a legal formality--if the love did not die with the spouse, then it can simply be rekindled again. On the other hand, having no legal ties to a deceased spouse can free up those who never had the heart to leave when they were alive. It's a simple concession in the pursuit of happiness, or a negligible bump in the road. Whilst this is something one might be grateful for in life, in death it can feel like an uphill battle for a return to normalcy, further adding weight to one's state of living.

If one's contacts within a career aren't loyal, one can wind up starting at the bottom of the career ladder. Even with contacts, there are concerns of nepotism which must not be made to seem implicit, risking scaring off future hires. This might seem like a path to freedom for some, but given the majority of ghosts are elders, a great many of whom gave their lives to a job...it's not always met with open arms (at least not initially). If one's property is taken (without the opportunity to get it back), one must then wait and save up to reobtain it. Especially in the beginning of the afterlife, when time has not yet become meaningless, this can seem like another lifetime's worth of effort. For a being of mental energy, this can be quite draining. Even if one reobtains one's property, there'll be changes one must contend with--missing items, new items, signs of lives lived that weren't one's own, and remodeling...this is if the property even still exists. With regards to love, there are more challenges than simply realising one's old flame had either burnt out...or was never there. Being conscious energy means that contact with physical objects and others calls for a level of willpower. The touch of a ghost feels different depending on how long they've "un-lived". New ghosts feel odd, like they're constantly moving, even moreso than the average person usually does. It's almost like they can't settle down, and it takes some getting used to for those they interact with. Longer-lived ghosts feel a lot more solid, though if one pays a bit too much attention, there's still a slight feeling of constant motion. Scientists have found that ghosts are made up of energy particles, all constantly rubbing against one another, moving about like a creature made of bugs, adapting to ever-changing circumstances. This is fascinating in principle, but in practice it can be frustrating. Sure, constant vibration sounds nice, but imagine trying to snuggle, kiss, or even keep hold of all that.

This is all fine and dandy while they're relevant.

Ghosts have a unique conundrum: they can be released to the Netherworld. Ghosts themselves don't remember the Netherworld whilst milling about on the mortal plane. It's like a gap in their memory...something constantly on the tip of their tongue, but unable to be grasped fully. They know what it is, the name for it (at least what we mortals call it), and that they were there, but nothing else. Ever since the first instance of Death's corporealisation, and the first appearance of ghosts (thus far as we've managed to speculate), the Netherworld has served as a "second death" for people all over the world. You die, Death makes an urn for you, you end up in the Netherworld, then you return as a ghost. It's speculated that the first trip there is simply for processing, then once your grip on the mortal plane slips (or someone releases you) you return there...forever (at least 99% of the time, though I don't know of anyone who has escaped, and Death isn't telling). The urn itself acts as a "spectral telephone" connecting with one's essence through a medium. Mediums are always anonymous, and they're the ones who send out 'Day of The Dead' celebrators and head up agencies that find employment for the deceased. They also strengthen/loosen the connections of ghosts to the mortal plane (per request). Some mediums deal directly with people, clearing out haunted homes and communicating with lost souls. Death is an industry, much like life. In a perfect world, only family members would be able to make requests on a ghost's behalf, but in truth there is no way to enforce this, given that sometimes a ghost's family line may die out, and once they're released, they fade into obscurity, only vague memories, monuments, stories, and pictures of them remaining to impact the living world. The moment they return to the Netherworld for good, the grief their loved ones felt begins to lift. One can only imagine the nefarious deeds one could do with this level of power over another's life.

To combat this, most family members opt to keep their urns at home. Some wealthier families create private graveyards. When a ghost is bound to the mortal plane by a living person, they'll offer the urn to its rightful owner, preventing any possibility of involuntary actions taken on their behalf. Speaking of binding, in the olden days this was a more involved process, but even Death has to keep up with the times, so this has been streamlined down to simply asking the ghost to "move in", upon which all other parts of the process are done in the background by the mediums. Most families will decide upon the aspect of release prior to death (barring an accidental fatality). A majority of the population opts for release, rather than prolong an already lengthy autobiography. Cool, but what does all that have to do with the tragedy of the afterlife? Well it sets up the variables for a diminishing number of loved ones as time goes on. The longer you've lived, the less remain, and in some cases, the less care. In some cultures, such as Sulani's natives and the citizens of Mt. Komorebi, ancestors are revered and ever in the deeds, thoughts, and hearts of their people. Even visitors to either locale are encouraged to pay their respects. Yet in our culture that way of looking at things was left behind with time, coughing at the dust left in the wake of progress. They eat, so they need sustenance. They sleep, so they need a place to rest. They bathe and relieve themselves, so they take up time in the bathroom. They feel lonely and need attention. They have desires, and need them satisfied. All of that costs space, time, money, and effort. If having children or pets is a consideration in sacrifice, then so too must retaining a spectral family member. To stubbornly cling to life as those who'd gladly hold onto you are released or perhaps are of more open minds, leaving to see the world or find "new life"...it is a slow, painful prison of one's own making. Worse yet is when those of opportunistic natures come along, offering all of those things...should one dedicate oneself to their lifestyle. Desperate for companionship or to soothe the mental (and thus existential) ache of one's psychologically-conjured "needs", ghosts without advocates can be some of the most vulnerable targets.

Sometimes the choice to live is one of either being unloved or unwanted.

No one death is ever the same. Whilst the number of ghosts is made up in bulk of elders whose times had come, the rest are those who will never get to make that claim...or even make it to that age. Whilst staying at an abandoned home, I met a sad little ghost girl, acting out because she couldn't understand what was going on. She was always hot, and could never find her parents. In a system of orphans available at the touch of a button or click of a mouse (as well as a 1k simoleon fee), no one would consider taking in a little girl who would never grow up, stuck in a house with no one to talk to, and no understanding beyond that of a child's. I've met ghosts who'd drowned. They cannot even make use of a bath due to a fear of being submerged in water, and the puddles they leave behind are a cause for incessant complaint. There are ghosts who've died of fire (like the little girl) and need to keep themselves in a constant state of calm, lest they burn down an employer's facility or someone's home. Those ghosts who show up with something in their chests (something that moves) are nightmare fuel for some people (I'll admit it takes some getting used to). Then there's the ability to possess objects. Aside from the fright that can give anyone (even other ghosts), I've spoken to ghosts addicted to the feeling of being corporeal, even for a short amount of time. They have a constant need to overtake something that'll "let them in" (given inanimate objects have no will of their own), and sometimes do so to the point of breaking functioning objects (though they can willfully do the reverse as well). Whilst this is already a cause for pause in employers and potential friends/lovers alike, there are ghosts who can possess living people (rather than just pass through them), and those who hunt people down, not allowing them to sleep. I've never met either of those, but given the prospect terrifies me, I can only imagine how it is for beings pushed by forces beyond their control.

All that I've mentioned here have been drawn from those I've spoken to, spent time with, or from my own compiled research. Being without a home (due to my previous article) has introduced me to the those the road is home to--from the erratic, searching for silence and clarity of thought in parks at midnight, to the spectres who wander from place to place, their particles moving to keep them intact, whilst the world around them moves to leave them behind. The next time you see a ghost hanging around, maybe say "hey". Might just be the only bit of attention they've gotten in many seasons, or it might just make their day.

-Anonymous