Undead

The undead are unnatural, abhorred, and hunted across the cosmos. They are as diverse as they are disgusting, from powerful liches and vampires to lowly shambling ghouls and zombies. All undead are abominations to the natural order, though many are easily controlled as means to potentially noble ends.

Abominable Constructs

 

History and General Info

Hulking constructions of flesh and either bones or some manner of substitute, these creatures are brutish muscle for powerful necromancers and dark mages, as they work unquestioningly. Infamously, the Lord of Skulls had armored constructs of flesh and steel retrieve bodies from the battlefield to replenish his army. They are hideous and mindless creatures animated by a foul ritual that few know and fewer care to enact.

Abilities

  • Mindless- The mind of an Abominable Construct cannot be controlled, as it has none.

  • Brutal Strength- These constructs are very strong, and ignore pain.

  • Unliving- Without organs or vital systems, to destroy a construct, one needs to smash its body apart.

Locations and Allegiances

Found notably near Northwaste & the Deadvalt, constructs of this nature are loyal only to their masters.

Strengths and Weaknesses

While strong and resilient, abominable constructs are infamously stupid, and can only follow their master’s orders and show rudimentary intellect, but only dependent on how smart their creator is.

Notable Figures

The Corpse Gatherers from the War of Skulls.

Ghost

 

History and General Info

Ghost are spirits who make their way back to the mortal planes before they are pulled down into the underworld or manage to escape from Oetheus’s grasp. They are spectral creatures damaged by their foray into death, and often are immaterial. Most beings in the Lands Beyond Life are considered “ghosts” although they work by different rules there since it is the afterlife.

Abilities

  • Incorporeal Form- Ghosts can pass through nonmagical objects and even people, although they cannot see properly when they pass through something.

  • Possession- A ghost that attacks an individual’s mind can attempt to puppeteer that person’s body. Although usually this is only temporary, powerful ghosts can take over a form completely.

Locations and Allegiances

Ghosts can haunt areas where they walked in life or places associated with them or that currently contain an item of particular importance to them. The allegiances of a ghost vary wildly, as anything can become a ghost.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Ghosts cannot interact with the world in direct sunlight, and enchanted weapons that cut the spirit world as well as moonsilver and primordial blades also cut ghosts.

Notable Figures

The Mask Maker is an ancient faerie ghost in the Lands Beyond Life.

The Dragon Patrons are the progenitors of the draconic bloodlines of Kerios, and are quite powerful ghosts that commune with their descendants.

Ghoul

 

History and General Info

Known as the starved hoard, ghouls are subterranean undead that are more intelligent than other undead, as they have the capacity to learn the longer they live. Unlike simple zombies, ghouls are raised when someone dies from starvation and is exposed to necrotic magic. They loose all their memories and their skin becomes scabby and greenish as they become more animalistic.

Abilities

  • Regeneration- When ghouls consume living flesh it immediately restores their own at an equivalent rate.

  • Keen Smell- A ghoul can smell the physical beating of a heart from up to 1,000 feet away.

  • Spider Climb- Ghouls can unnaturally crawl on walls and across ceilings.

  • Flaying Claws and Fangs- Ghouls’s claws and feet rip flesh and create injuries that heal much slower than normal wounds.

Locations and Allegiances

Ghouls are mostly loyal to an entity known as the Ghoul Monarch, created as a curse by Iquatet, the Dark Daughter on her enemies. The Ghoul Monarch rules a kingdom below ground that often raids the surface for food, and the Ghoul Monarch is said to be almost 5,000 years old.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Moonlight and Sunlight burn Ghouls, so they move during storms and beneath the ground.

Ghouls die instantly if they are impaled through the heart or if they drink holy water.

Notable Figures

The King of Ghouls is a menace with tunnels that run beneath much of mainland Ithuan for his “subjects” to consume the flesh of the mortals they hate and require.

Lich

 

History and General Info

Powerful undead spellcasters, Liches are infamous beings that bind their souls to objects so they can attain immortality and maintain their minds and memories, their emotions drained away, and their flesh slowly decaying until they’re nothing but a skeleton.

Abilities

  • Ageless Mind- Lich’s minds don’t become overcrowded with new memories, and they don’t forget their mortal lives.

  • Deathly Touch- The physical touch of a lich causes an unnatural, nerve stiffening chill, they can also manipulate spirits.

  • Magic Channeling- Liches act as magical nodes of necrotic energy, allowing them to cast dark magic more easily than mortal spellcasters.

  • Magic Resistance- A lich finds it easier to resist enchantments and harmful magic effects cast on them than most beings.

  • Physical Resistance- Lich’s bones become extremely tough and resilient to damage.

  • Rejuvenation- When destroyed, a lich reforms as long as its phylactery is intact.

  • Shielded Soul- A lich’s soul can’t be directly harmed by attacking their body with soul damaging weapons because it is contained mostly within their phylactery.

Locations and Allegiances

Liches are largely self serving and cruel beings that build towers, fortresses, tombs, and even kingdoms to shield themselves away as they seek ever greater powers.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Liches are vulnerable to holy magic and antimagic.

Liches are very strong spellcasters and are often outfitted with powerful artifacts and weapons they have acquired or created over their long unlives, and are among the most dangerous of all undead.

Notable Figures

Baba Yaga’s messenger, the spellsword lich Koschei is well known as a dangerous foe and a jealous and bitter undead overlord.

The Lord of Skulls is a god-like undead of horrific power who can warp minds, souls, and bodies, and numbers among the most powerful spellcasters in existenc, this deathless monster is recognized as the first lich, and the originator of this unholy process.

Mummy

 

History and General Info

Mummies are found in Kelratra, the guardians and preserved bodies of previous rulers, mummies have their hearts removed in order to allow their soul to move on to the afterlife, while allowing a semblance of their mind and their body to continue to dwell in the mortal plane.

Abilities

  • Ancient Rags- The body of a mummy will pull itself back together with its anointed rags if it is cut apart.

  • Curse of Sand- When a mummy grabs a living creature by the head it begins draining moisture from that creature’s body quickly, and eventually would turn the creature to sand if it were to maintain contact long enough.

  • Husk- Mummies will continue to move long after they’ve been cut down unless their heart and the jar it’s in are destroyed.

Locations and Allegiances

Found commonly in the tombs of desert elf nobility, and are loyal to Sorcerer Queen Salvashi and similar rulers in Kelratra and other desert lands.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Mummies are almost unstoppable unless their heart or their whole body is destroyed, as they continue to try and move.

Mummies are weak to fire, as it destroys and damages their rags, eventually potentially crippling their regeneration unless it is stopped.

Notable Figures

The Sorcerer Monarchs of the Desert Elf empire are preserved as mummies after their deaths.

Nuckelavee

 

History and General Info

Fiendish horrors of faerie flesh and bone that takes the form of a skinless horse with a skinless warped humanoid torso sprouting from the center of its back. These beings are terrifying weapons of the most powerful hags.

Abilities

  • Bonewarping- A Nuckelavee can cause its bones to warp and grow into weapons or defenses at will.

  • Horrific Shriek- The cry of a Nuckelavee can cause instantaneous, paralyzing fear in other beings.

  • Musclewarp- Nuckelavee can physically warp their muscles to increase mobility and heal injuries quicker, the only way to stop this is to decapitate them.

Locations and Allegiances

Nuckelavee’s are creations of the foulest and most evil fae, such as Grandmother Hags, and are loyal only to their creators, or any that hold a specific control object their loyalty is bound to.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Nuckelavee are weak to iron, but are resilient to other physical and magical damage.

Nuckelavee are afraid of fast flowing water, and if they’re decapitated, they are incapacitated until restored by their creator or controller.

Notable Figures

None.

Vampire

 

History and General Info

Born from the blood of Azerack, vampires are undead beasts that hunger for blood and thrive in the shadows of night. They are dangerous and twisted creatures.

Abilities

  • Increased Agility- Vampires become more graceful and nimble when they’ve been turned, and the stronger they are, the more pronounced it becomes, with a normal vampire being equivalent to an acrobatic human, a greater or elder vampire being equivalent to a world class athlete in terms of reflexes and nimbleness, and a vampire lord is well beyond human, able to walk on walls and ceilings, and nearly a hundred feet unaided.

  • Increased Strength- Vampires are physically more powerful than a normal human, with the weakest being able to lift several hundred pounds, while a greater or elder vampire can easily lift a person or even a werewolf with one hand, and a vampire lord can lift several tons.

  • Increased Speed- Vampires move with unearthly speed, dashing forwards as quick as a sprinter, stronger vampires are compared to a faerie steed in terms of speed, and the lords are as fast as an arrow, able to move at over a hundred miles per hour over short distances.

  • Night Senses- Vampires can see ghosts and in pitch darkness, and can sense invisible beings. They can also smell blood from a mile away, and hear an arrow being fired from eighty strides.

  • Regeneration- A useful ability, vampires heal at a quickened rate, with even the weakest able to close wounds in under a minute, stronger specimens are able to heal whole limbs, and vampire lords can even regrow their head. This ability is weakened by starvation, silver weapons, holy magic, and sunlight.

  • Mutable Form- the traces of divine blood that run though the veins of a vampire allow them to shift their form in strange ways with most only being able to grow claws when cornered. However, more powerful vampires might gain the abilities to phase for a short time, take on an ephemeral mist-like shape, or even become a demonic bat. Vampire Lords can become swarms of bats and their other transformations last longer. Strong vampires can take on a horrific vestige that can terrify mortals.

  • Life Drain- Vampires drain energy through drinking the blood of others, the more powerful the vampire, the less often they need to feed. If a vampire doesn’t feed its powers weaken and its flaws grow, which will kill most lesser vampires. Very old or powerful vampires gain the ability to drain life energy at range, with simple touch, or even to drain mental energy as well. Such powers are also found in abundance in vampire lords.

Locations and Allegiances

Vampires are found near areas where the Queen of Blood has created a vampire lord, slowly spreading out as various vampires move away from their lord’s lair. This leads to secret networks of vampires that get larger the longer a vampire lord survives.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Certain healing and culinary herbs, when mixed create a toxic solution that is poisonous to vampires.

The light of the sun is the bane of vampires as is slowly incinerates them, but as they age they develop resistance, with vampire lords being all but immune to the sun’s effects.

Silver burns a vampire’s skin on contact and slows their regeneration, making it effective to use a silvered weapon against them.

Living wood can paralyze a vampire if it is stabbed into their heart, stronger vampires recover from this more quickly.

Fast flowing water creates an almost physical barrier to lesser vampires, as with many undead.

Holy magic is effective against vampires, as with most other undead.

Lesser vampires find it difficult to enter a home without invitation, but more powerful vampires or blood starved ones are able to ignore this rule.

Vampires can survive of off the blood of non-humanoid beings for a time, but will eventually wither and die.

Vampires are ageless beings that are resilient to conventional weapons, and can charm mortals with their presence.

Vampires are supernaturally beautiful.

Vampires cannot be cursed by normal means, and are resistant to dark magic.

The more a vampire feeds, the stronger it becomes.

Vampires are naturally gifted at both necromancy and sanguimancy.

A vampire lord can only be permanently killed by being decapitated by a blessed silver weapon. Other means exist, but are much harder to come by and accomplish.

Vampires do not need air, sleep, or water, and do not get cold.

Vampires move much more quietly than normal mortals and are gifted with stealth.

Vampires have a slightly hazy memory of their mortal lives, but their perception becomes warped and their emotions dulled.

Notable Figures

The Queen of Blood is renowned as the first vampire, a woman who struck a deal with the Founding God of Darkness and drank his blood, becoming akin to one of the Faerie Monarchs in power.

Alvertos Darke is an ancient vampire lord who rules a large barony in northern Dulatica known as Nightport. He rules with an iron fist, and its residents are cursed by the consequences of his extended presence there.

Lord Erebus is a vampire lord from Kerios, he is a Lunasterc dragonkin, and is gaining infamy amongst the peoples of Kerios. He is an agent of the King of Thieves.

Wight

 

History and General Info

A wight is a vengeful skeletal monster made of blackened bone that brings alone a cold aura of revenge, and a crippling curse. These undead are rare and difficult to control, as they’re infamous for blaming the living for their wretched state.

Abilities

  • Chill of Death- A wight’s aura of cold and fear causes black ice to grow where they step, extinguishes nearby flames, freezes water, and strengthens other undead nearby. It also causes mortals to become more easily frightened or dazed in combat with it.

  • Wrathforged- The weapons of a wight burn their enemies soul on contact, and enough strikes can reduce their foes to undead husks.

  • Wrathtempered- The armor of a wight is strengthened by its hatred, the more living beings and or foes are nearby, the stronger it is.

  • Death Curse- When it is destroyed a wight’s spirit latches onto its killer and haunts the dreams of that being for a month, sometimes so fervently that they can drive that creature mad.

  • Lifesense- Wights can detect living creatures within 100 feet of them, even if they can’t see them, and if they are hidden by magic. This makes wights very useful as undead bloodhounds.

  • Hateful Mind- Wights are intelligent but rarely completely rational since they are fueled by rage and pain.

Locations and Allegiances

Wights are summoned as the tomb guardians of liches and other powerful necromancers, as they are fearsome and dangerous. Some demon lords such as Balbrazu have wights in their service, since infusing a corpse with a corrupt or demonic soul is fairly easy for such a being.

Strengths and Weaknesses

A wight can only be permanently destroyed by a Moonsilver blade through the heart or the banishment/destruction of its soul. Holy magic can also destroy them.

A wight is skilled in necromancy and can reanimate zombies around it.

A wight can also be found in demonic temples, as demonic souls are commonly used to animate them.

Notable Figures

None.

Zombie

 

History and General Info

Zombies are the simplest and most common undead, as they are the easiest to control. The three generally accepted ways a zombie can be created are when residual necrotic magic animates a body, when a necromancer raises one, or when a powerful being uses a strange kind of conjured fungal spores to infect a being with zombie plague.

Abilities

  • Painless - zombies do not feel pain the same way a human does, and aren’t effected by blood-loss either.

  • Mutating - if a plague zombie is exposed to something and not killed it becomes stronger and more resilient to that type of damage, they can become resistant to fire, regenerate and strengthen particular muscles, and become more resilient, all in order to survive.

  • Infectious (Plague) - a zombie that kills a being via infection from bacteria or one that dies from the poisonous bite of a stalker become a new zombie upon death.

  • Regenerating Mind - zombies that survive a long time become slowly more and more intelligent and thus more and more dangerous

Locations and Allegiances

Zombies are common in the service of necromancers and even mage apprentices.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Zombies are normally weak to fire.

A zombie is vulnerable to holy magic

Destroying a zombie’s head kills it

Zombies can use 100% of their muscle power, but they can still damage it, and their muscles do decay.

Notable Figures

None.