The Beyond

The place beyond death, resting below the Above (the land of the living) it is often seen as life's antithesis, in truth the Beyond is were all life originates. When a person's time in the Above is done, their soul flows down into the murky waters Beyond via grand waterfalls where they are broken down into their base components and remade to create a new soul. All that exists in the Above was born in the Beyond, and all shall return to it one day.

The oceans here are acidic to all that touch it, however some things dissolve much quicker than others, some buildings and ideas can even last centuries in the sea. As more and more falls from the Above things will often fall ontop of these more durable ideas and be spared the ocean's kiss (at least until what it has landed on is destroyed) creating spires of the Above's discarded. It is atop these spires that spirits build their cities, a safe haven for a time.

Spires are built in layers, each on top of the others. Every time a building is torn down in the Above it falls down into the Beyond, often ontop of an existing structure. This can cause sectors of the Beyond that were previously bustling to be blocked off with no non dangerous way to get in or out. This causes dead zones.

It's not too dangerous for the people trapped inside the dead zone when it's created, as they can simply leave into the city above through one of the numerous waterfalls and that are sure to form, but needless to say its still a problem to find new homes for people when this happens.

Especially old dead zones are often completely forgotten under the weight of the city ontop, and their entrance pools become unknown. This creates 2 problems:

1. It is common for criminal organisations to move into these zones and turn them into workshops that are near completely inaccessible to Reapers.

2. New spirits who fall through the pools that lead to them find themselves completely alone with no way out and no one who knows they are there.