Ever since the development of afterlife communication technology, there has been a well-kept secret, codenamed “The Cobalt Curtain.” The use of the technology is almost prohibitively costly and as such, only a few thousand messages have been successfully received and interpreted in the decades since first contact with the Other Side was made. 

The name “Cobalt Curtain” is somewhat obscure, though in recently declassified documents it is hinted at that the element Cobalt, which shares its etymology with “kobold” and “goblin,” has some essential function in the eventual goal of resurrecting the spirits of the dead. What the Cobalt Curtain represents is, it is hoped at least, a necessary and ineradicable distortion in the messages received in response from the contacted dead.

The messages invariably contain an element—whether implicit, usually in a code understandable only to the living person making contact, absolutely explicit—which amounts to an injunction that the living person end his or her life as quickly as possible. The message, when explicit, is usually persuasive, detailing, for example, the wonder and majesty of the Other World. Occasionally, however, it is a curt order, “End it now.” 

The rate at which these messages are obeyed is extremely high. The numbers are still classified, but estimates based on earlier records, before Cobalt Curtain was put into effect, are on the order of 95% of “rejoinings” being successful.

Under no circumstances should this technology be used. (That it is still legal—though, as above, extremely costly—is extremely suspect.) We have no reason to believe that the messages, necessarily distorted as they are, are benevolent in nature. The messages also contain broken, garbled bits of what might be language, but the majority of what has been recorded is, again, classified—even Code Gray, apparently. What has been leaked would point to ulterior motives on behalf of the deceased, the companies employing the afterlife communication technology, or perhaps something intercepting the signal between this world and the Other. 

Under no circumstances should anyone attempt to contact the dead. They have been silenced for a very good reason