The Pale

The Pale is the plane where departed souls travel to the realm of Gosaena. It is unclear if there is any distinction between this and Purgatory, which is a very similar limbo where souls have not yet chosen and Lorminstra removes souls for reincarnation. It might be that souls in the Pale are not supposed to leave, or alternatively, Purgatory might be the part where only Lorminstra can remove them. In the old death mechanics before Death's Sting was introduced, when characters lost to their souls to the demonic, the Purgatory messaging showed the Gates of Oblivion (now Ebon Gate) receding in the background.

The Pale

This was experienced through a ritual by Morvule during the second Griffin Sword War to retrieve the soul of Harith from the harrow of the Pale:

[The Pale]
Everything is awash in both light and darkness, the waves of each alternating hue creating ephemeral shades that float by in an endless abyss.
Obvious exits: none
>
You find yourself not seeing at all, but sensing things in a way that is completely indefinable.  You feel a vast emptiness spreads out before you, the cold infecting your very soul...
>
What can only be termed as others drift by in the endless vastness, their presence felt by mere fluctuations in the emptiness.  The pain of your body still lingers in your memory, the remembrances of the lashings and cuts allowing you to focus on anything other than the nothingness around you.
>
The others approach you as moths approaching a light, their fluctuating presences crowding around you, overwhelming you.  But none resonate with the familiar pain that writhes and burns through you, the only thing that holds you fast to *something*, the only thing which keeps you from being whisked away into the endless abyss...
>
Suddenly, the amulet around your corpse begins to flicker with a faint crimson aura, the heat of it burning through all your senses like an inferno of pure agony.
>
The others disperse into the abyss, but one remains - it draws closer and closer to you, like a stalking predator.  The amulet around your corpses' neck rises up, flickering brightly and more rapidly - sending you spiralling in a vortex of agony and pain as it increases its rapid emissions.
>
As the presence draws near, you feel the same pain resonating from its shadow, washing over you in waves of excruciating pain and bliss rolled into one.  You feel it reach out to touch the amulet around your corpses neck, and then suddenly your world explodes in a blaze of white...
>
You feel yourself being pulled away...

Contrast with the death mechanics messaging in GemStone III. Purgatory most recently referred instead to the space between Liabo and Elanthia during Rings of Lumnis.

(1) GemStone III Death Mechanics (2000)

[Purgatory]
You find yourself wandering amidst endless streaming light, and vast nothingness. This place feels torn between two prophecies, each vying for your loyalty.
Also in the room: All the spirits of those who could not choose.
Obvious exits: light and darkness. 

(2) Rings of Lumnis Disconnected Mechanics (2018)

[Rings of Lumnis, Purgatory]
Located somewhere between extremely dark grey and the blackest of black, the space here is filled with nothing but darkness.  It is unclear which way is up or down, and the disorientation is overwhelming.  You also see an atmospheric tear.
Obvious paths: none