But they are not the only spirits loose in the world. Ghosts have lingered in the world of the living after death for thousands of years, but since the winter solstice of 2012, they are now few and far between. Those left behind share one common trait, a strong attachment (sometimes involuntary) to the world of the living. Other spirits that go bump in the night were constrained by these free roaming apparitions are now free themselves. Wraiths dark parodies of human ghosts left over from the last magical age now scourge the living. They seek to corrupt and consume the essence of the living. Other even more alien spirits linger in places far from the living and the dead. The purposes of these lonely spirits seldom ever coincide with either the living or the dead. They have granted boons and curses through hastily agreed to bargains. These spirits and more now populate the changing Earth in Fantastic America and Midwestern Magicians, the first two books in the Magic Unleashed series.