Not all apparitions are ghosts. Sometimes, when an area is haunted by an ethereal presence, especially by someone who has passed from the world of the living, the location is actually inhabited by a psychic remnant.

Psychic remnants are rarely visible to the naked eye. They usually spend most of their time invisible, leaving them nearly undetectable until they make themselves known by one method or another, such as whispering to someone, moving objects, or leaving messages. When a psychic remnant is seen, they are often described as if they are in multiple positions at once. They look like a strange, ghostly silhouette of the person they once were, lacking any facial features and flickering like the light of a quickly-dying candle flame.

Fragment of the Lost. Psychic remnants are created when an intelligent creature is killed by extreme psychic trauma, such as being eaten by a mind flayer or having one's mind destroyed by psionic or magical means. The mind of a particularly determined creature may linger in the physical world like a ghost, retaining the personality they had in life, but few of their memories. Some sages are able to achieve this state on their own upon death.

Mind Without Body. A psychic remnant is composed entirely out of psychic energy, similarly to how a ghost is composed of negative energy. These remnants are made out of the same substance as thought itself, but without any physical material at all. They can choose to interact with physical objects or choose to pass through them, giving them the ability to reach into the mind of a living creature and harm their sanity directly. Despite lacking a body, most remnants are bound to a physical object. It is called their anchor, and they can't leave its general vicinity, because its presence is the only thing that holds them together. An anchor is usually an object that held great significance in the remnant's mind during life.

Undead Nature. A psychic remnant doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.