Undead

“

We have long known that the dead do not always lie still. The armies of Braccus Rex, and more recently the foul Black Ring, took great pleasure in raising their fallen – and their victims – to fight again. The screams of horror emitted on the sight of friends, family, and loved ones lurching towards you on the command of a foul necromancer still echo through the generations. Many terrified villagers claim to have seen rampaging hordes of skeletons pillaging and burning farms across Rivellon.

„

—Modern Chronicles of Reaper's Coast ^{by Cranley Huwbert}

Undead are beings denied rest in Hall of Echoes.

Background[]

Either brought back through necromancy or by other means, undead are cursed beings who have to roam the world until they are destroyed or somehow released. Most of the time the less intelligent undead serve as expendable slaves to the necromancers who have created them. Due to their dark nature, the more intelligent and sociable undead have to conceal themselves among the living.

Physiology[]

An undead's appearance depends on the state of the body and the magical power the being once had during its life as well as how it became undead: either naturally, by dealing in necromancy or alchemy or by being cursed.

The term 'undead' is a collective name for many different "species". The most common species are zombies, skeletons, ghouls and creatures. The first three are also mainly created by necromancers as they usually lack intelligence, but there are known exceptions among zombies and skeletons. The more rare and intelligent undead take the form of liches and vampires.

Subraces[]

The Black Zombie

"The Black Zombie is equipped with lethal iron thorns and thus is to be taken seriously in close combat. In case you try to avoid close combat and keep them at a distance, they will employ underhand spells to make the victim helpless. One of their favorite spells is the poison cloud which spreads out within seconds and warps the opponent into fatal toxic vapor. Nobody really knows where the origin of the black zombies lies. In secret archives of the necromancers several hints were found regarding their origin. According to those hints, zombies are supposed to be a product of bizarre experiments in underground laboratories." - The Black Zombie of Divine Divinity^[1]

The Vampiric Ghoul

"Originally created by the dark archmage Ragon, the madman, the vampiric ghoul is a perfect example of just how far evil will go in its perversity. The story has it that Ragon dedicated his life to the 'assembly' of a female counterpart who would be as vile and evil as himself. Apparently the vampiric ghoul was a byproduct of his experiments, one which the evil archmage found particulary entertaining. Instead of destroying or torturing his creation (as he usually did), he repeated the experiment many times, in the process trying all kinds of variations. Then on one day, he assembled all of his creations, and teleported them to random locations all over the lands. The sudden appearance of vampiric ghouls who went on a killing spree naturally caused quite some panic among the people, and there was also one notable side-effect. Most people thought the vampiric ghoul was a demon sent by the gods of darkness, and decided that the occasion presented a perfect opportunity to renew their faith in the gods of light. Because of this, some refer to Ragon as Ragon the religious.(See noteworthy archmages, volume III).

Among the folk, there are all kinds of stories about vampiric ghouls. Most tales attribute the ghouls supernatural powers, powers which are more than likely overrated. Sadly the author was unable to find a single person with first-hand knowledge of vampiric ghouls, so the veracity of these folk tales could not be checked. However, this should not trouble the reader, as it is the author's opinion that there is a high chance there are no more vampiric ghouls..." - The Vampiric Ghoul of Divine Divinity^[2]