White Crane "Ghost-Touched" Sorcerer (5e Shadow Magic Sorcerer)
by Marc SaindonThis is a variation on the Shadow Sorcerer (see link below for the original). The idea is to create a more positive type of necromancer. With Ochalea incorporating a lot of ancestor worship from the Chinese culture is based on, dealing with ghosts might be seen in a more favorable light.
So as a lore starting point, in ancient times, before Ochalean magic was bureaucratized in one central school (see my Fu Lion Magistrate idea), and before the Clerics took over, guidance over the communities was ensured by spiritual guides, what we consider Shadow Magic Sorcerers, that acted as advisors, mediums and shamans to their tribefolk. Many were women. These people acted as intermediaries between the living and the ancestors dwelling in Diyu (the Shadowfell counterpart of Ochalea). Ochalean ghosts "typically" hang around 3-4 generations before reincarnating, hoping to resolve issues and to help their descendants.
Ghost-Touched become what they are in two ways: born this way and later in life due to some traumatic incident. In the first case, these are your anime orphans who lost their mother during their own birth or just the typical odd kid that spends a lot of time with "imaginary friends". Because Sorcerer is a Charisma-focused class, these people grow up strange-looking, either very beautiful or very ugly, but leave no one indifferent. Features might include raven-black hair or, in contrast, it may be bone-bleach white. Skin is often alabaster white. They look like goths or emos, but some might look hags early in their 20s. Men have trouble growing beards, and seem imbalanced towards yin, some appearing a bit more femine or in perpetual adolescence. A few cross-dress as women. Some are grim and melancholic, but others live their lives to fullest. All are infertile, as serving a spiritual conduit to the land of the dead hinders their creation of life (having descendants is an important part of Ochalean life). The second type, those who become "Ghost-Touched" later in life, are the result of a trauma such as near-death experiences, returning to life via the Raise Dead spell or losing a loved one, such as a child or spouse. They retain their previous appearance, although they pick eerie vibes.
Prior to the centralization of Ochalea, Ghost-Touched would serve as advisors to rulers of villages and tribes. With social and political changes, they have been cast down as "peasant magicians" by the administrations and aren't considered "wizards at all": their arts are more spontaneous, personal, and not as easily as repeatable as arcane magic. Despite their downfall, the White Cranes still have support among the populace (everyone worries about death evantually, and you might want news from a dead family member) and some are still kept as advisors to local administrators. The Ghost-Touched do have considerably more freedom than the uppity registered Wizards from the Ministry of Wonders.
Ghost-Touched are trained through a mentor-apprentice method, rather than a magical school. Sometimes, that mentor is the ghost of the previous White Crane that guided the community. Evil Ghost-Touched are possible, but they are quickly put down.
The choice of the crane is tied to its role as a messenger between the world of the divine and the worlds, the white feathers reminiscent of the robes of mourning in Chinese culture, and the slender, graceful and elegant appearance of the bird that you would expect from this type of character.
(art from: https://tensor.art/models/673826359799271967)