Overview

The Undead are almost as widely feared as the dark elves, but for a different reason. A dark elf can inflict all different kinds of tortures or even kill a mortal, but after death you are generally no longer within their reach. The undead are a frightening reminder that even after death your journey is incomplete and that things may seek to harm you even after you are no longer of this world. Only those who worship dark gods are even tolerant of the presence of undead, and even then many prefer to stay as far away from them as possible. Followers of Rend are the only ones who seem to be truly comfortable around the Undead, although they generally see them as tools or resources in much the same way a human sees a packhorse.

Although most races have a homeland of some sort, the undead are of all places and none. An undead’s original "home" can be from anywhere, since the undead aren’t truly born, but born again.

That being said, the undead feel almost as uncomfortable around themselves as their peers do. Most of the undead were unwilling victims of their new lives, and many make an effort to put themselves out. Although many of them want to die, suicide is not an option for these creatures, for the same enchantments which bring them back to life also prevent them from acts of self-destruction. However, this enchantment does not prevent them from putting themselves in dangerous and potentially lethal situations, but it does prevent them from taking direct action to end their own life.

Eventually, most Undead become settled with their new life, and some try to regain some semblance of the life they had before they died. This rarely works for them, as their old lives usually consist of people that are unwilling to see past the fact that they’re dead. This leads many of them to either attempt to atone for past transgressions, thinking that their deeds will eventually allow them peace, or to hate the living and actively plot their downfall. In the end, despite their original motivations, the vast majority of undead fall into this lesser category, seeing themselves as superior to the "ordinary mortals" who often "lack the vision to understand their Gift". Those undead who truly hate the living end up in the service of Rend, while those who want to gain revenge on the mortals for their "mistreatment" generally side with Isikil.

History

Like the creation of the Angelics, little true fact is known about how the undead are created. What is known and without argument is that upon the first full moon after their death, many of the dead rise from their graves at precisely midnight. Although it is often tried by the mortals to set a guard and slay the undead as they rise, for some reason few if any are able to be slain in this way. Enchantments designed to kill them suddenly fail, guards fall asleep in their duty, fires in the city force everyone to come back to save the town, or other "strange" circumstances always seem to occur. The Clerics of all the gods refuse to partake in these missions, which lends credence to the theories the scholars have for why the undead exist. Note that while a cleric is unwilling to attempt to kill an undead as they rise, many clerics - Garguth’s in particular - actively seek out and destroy undead on other terms.

The leading theory presented by most scholars is that the Undead are created as a bribe to the god Rend. It is rumored that in the heavens, the gods went to war over souls. The souls of the dead were always considered Garguth’s personal property, although frequently he allowed the other gods to take custody of their more devout followers. Rend, in his typical fashion, wanted instead to make the dead rise again to serve his clerics. He felt that since the other gods had a chosen race, it was unfair that he was not given one. So he began raising the dead of the other gods’ races and amassing an army of undead minions. Garguth’s followers lashed out at Rend’s, and he began wresting control of the souls who had already been committed into Rend’s service through their reanimation. Isikil and Mordecai, seeing a rare opportunity, sided with Rend and sent their people to battle against Garguth’s. In response Fiera and Sond, already siding with Garguth, threw their own forces into the fray on his behalf. A bloody war ensued, made even worse by the fact that although the gods had entire races devoted to them, some members of those races worshipped other gods instead. Followers of Isikil, Mordecai and Rend existed in every other species, and civil wars rocked the foundations of those civilizations. The angelics and demonics, who had always been considered a neutral force, were forced to fight against each other in the heavens as their mortal cousins fought on the world below. Both Eraen and Silveen’s followers chose to stay removed from the fight, although several assisted Fiera’s warriors with sanctuary and healing. Risirr’s followers are thought to have allied with Rend, although his people played as minimal a role as Silveen’s, and he was amongst the first to withdraw when the largest wars broke out. It is widely assumed that he was likely playing both sides in the conflict, waiting to see who would come out as the winner. Veil’s position during the war is of considerable debate, since she although she was in favor of the creation of the undead, she wanted control over them. Many believe that she visibly supported Rend but manipulated some key fights to allow the good gods to keep Rend under control.

It was finally Orn who stopped the conflict by suggesting a compromise. Although all of the gods except Mordecai and Isikil were against the thought of the undead being raised amongst their followers, it was finally agreed that a few undead were far more agreeable losses to their people than the widespread chaos and destruction of the war for souls. Therefore, Rend would be allowed to take a small percentage of the dead and use them for undead in exchange for leaving the remainder alone. Rend would also be allowed to create a race of his own, leading to the creation of Mongrels. This outcome suited him just fine, and so the bargain was struck.

Although there are Undead of every race, few undead dark elves are ever seen. Although it is entirely possible that the dark elves kill the undead raised from their stock, it is theorized that Rend chooses not to draw from the dark elves as often as a gesture of alliance with Isikil and Mordecai, whom the Dark Elves almost exclusively worship.

Society and Culture

Undead society, if you can call it that, is completely unorganized. However, a few categories of undead do exist, although this is more for the reference of scholars than of undead themselves. Undead find that they cannot meld with the social structure of the living due to prejudice and fear, and also find that they lack the numbers to form cities, and usually have no inclination to do so.

The first category of undead is the mindless. These undead are not the kind normally described in this packet, and are the result of cleric powers. Most undead regard these as similar to themselves as an oversized puppet is similar to a human.

The second category is the speechless. These undead awake without the ability to speak, for one reason or another. As a result, many end up going insane or losing the will to continue this existence, immediately engaging on a suicide attack against the nearest town, taking out their rage and frustration on those around them before being put to rest.

The third category are the wandering. Wandering undead are normally capable of speech and are always capable of thought, however they have not gone insane as the speechless do. Instead, they travel from place to place, often trying to find a home or some semblance of a normal life. Those who succeed are few and far between, and even then they find that, as their original neighbors die around them, they are subject to the criticism, fear, and prejudice that they faced in life. Life is hard for these undead, and in the stress of questing, they usually end up going insane and moving into the fourth category.

The fourth and final category are the insane. These undead form the most major threat to the world around them. Insane undead are the only ones that will actively seek out and create minions. These undead usually feel themselves not to be unnatural, but to be gifted. Few undead reach high levels of power before becoming this type. Insane undead usually live in crypts and tombs. The levels of sanity among these dead men vary, but as a general rule the longer one spends in seclusion from the living, and the further they remove themselves from the living, the more insane they have become. An undead warrior who has guarded the entrance to a crypt for the last fifty years might actually be quite sane, depending how much social interaction he has gotten in that time. A undead wizard who locks himself away to study, within about 50 years will be eccentric if he wasn’t to begin with. Within a hundred years, he is probably hearing voices. Few reach past this point, as the voices often suggest violent and self-destructive courses of action. This helps to explain why in many cases, the plans of an otherwise intelligent undead are full of loopholes. Intelligent as they are, their madness is often the key to defeating them, especially when their plans become more sinister or subtle.

No matter what their type, undead are feared. Mindless undead are feared, as they are most often created by clerics of dark gods attempting to do them harm. Speechless undead often kill many in suicidal attacks, making them equally feared and often confused for mindless undead. Questing undead are normally seen as okay if they prove themselves sane and of a good nature, usually difficult as most will attempt to kill them on sight. Even then, they are feared for they eventually become insane undead, the most dangerous type of all. Undead who use these guidelines (normally the questing kind) find this yet another thing to worry about, and even some insane undead worry about becoming mad. (driving them further into insanity, of course)

Physiology

Undead have an odd physiology, one that is hard to track due to the many races that comprise them. Undead are not one race, but rather are the reanimation of other races. However, undead all have a few similar characteristics. For one, undead do not smell of decay. The nature of the dark powers that cause them to rise prevents them from rotting any further than they already have, however it does not kill current growths. Rather, it acts as a suppressant, so an undead can literally have the same mold growing on it for several hundred years without it spreading. The enchantment keeps the systems of the body functioning to a slight degree, and this combined with psychological drives leads many undead to still require the same food and sleep that the living do. The degree of this is usually linked to how close of a link the undead being has to it’s former life and state, though not always. However, the internal systems of the body function so slowly as to cause poisons to have no effect, whether they are ingested, put onto blades, or released from traps. In the cases of some undead, the internal systems of the body do cease functioning entirely, their roles being taken over by magical energy, however the character may still feel the compulsion to eat and sleep, despite the fact that their body never needs it. Rumors exist of undead who overcome these psychological conditions, but they are few and far between.

Undead appear to be a member of another race, save for what is known as the ‘Mark of Death’ Not an actual mark, but rather a condition of unlife, it separates undead from the rest of society. Those who die of a brutal accident have a scar that cannot be healed, sometimes as much as a gruesome hole in their chest with gore sticking out, sometimes as little as a knife mark across the chest. These undead often were left to the open air, and had time to rot before being raised, so they appear to be a rotting corpse. The second sort of undead usually die from natural causes. These undead have no wounds and do not rot much, however, due to poor circulation of blood they have almost no pigment that shows in their skin, appearing pale white. (hence the saying, "As white as a ghost.") The third kind of undead are those who’s bodys did not wholly survive. Those who die from the rack or decapitation often become skeletons. These undead would rise as any other, but the loss (not utter destruction) of the head causes their bones to ‘liberate’ from their skins, creating a skeletal humanoid. For this reason, those who fear the undead often crack the skull open, as this is the only way to ensure that a body will not rise again. (Some who fear the undead will thus refer to fighting as, ‘cracking skulls.’)

However they rise and however their appearance changes, undead will usually appear to have some traits of their previous race. This is even true for skeletons, who might bear pointed ears (if elven or dark elven) or a tail (if a furry species with a tail) or of any other species. Due to the unnatural aspects of raising a corpse, undead often have little to no memory of their previous life, and usually almost no ability in the skills they were once good at. Because it is harder for the undead brain to develop new tissue pathways, the undead often find it hard to learn new skills, or even to remember the skills that they learned in life. However, once a pathway is formed, the undead’s brain functions at normal capacity, leading many undead to naturally find it easier to specialize in one thing rather than attempt to do multiple arts.

Government

Undead have no governing body, however, in the Elven and Human empires they are viewed with suspicion and are often destroyed for simply being what they are. In this respect they are often treated like Mongrels. If an undead shows any hostile tendencies, it is probably to be executed without trial. And the say-so of a living person who is even moderately trustworthy is enough to say that the undead was hostile. In the lands of the Dark Elves, undead are treated as any outsider would be, even if they were once Dark Elves themselves, and Mongrels will usually kill Undead on sight, unless they were Mongrels in life, in which case they may adopt them into the tribe. This is particularly true of tribes that worship Rend, as many of them do. The Nibelung view undead as kill on sight, whether they mean well or not, and Furry tribes are so randomly dispersed as to vary from not caring to being extremely superstitious when it comes to undead. As such, most undead avoid governments altogether, and attempt to stay out of the way.

Role Play, Costuming, and Make-Up

Undead usually fall into two catagories: insane and depressed. The former are detailed above, and should be played as maniacal rather than weird. Insane undead tend to be overly defensive and sadistic, and have homicidal tendencies. Playing one is not encouraged, as if you play such a character you are likely to have to make a new one very quickly due to PC or NPC actions. Depressed undead tend to view their current state as a curse, and (as the name states) are often in a state of worry or glum. This can be so bad that the undead refuses to do anything, but again, this is not encouraged as it will lead to you being left out of much of the game around you.

Undead dress by the race they were in life. Newly created undead are often in tattered rags (a result from clawing out of their own grave) and some do not even think to get new clothing. Those who do tend to prefer concealing garments such as robes, that might hide their disfigurements. Even when accepted, they might do this to help cause themselves to forget, if only occasionally, of their state.

For undead costuming, you need to have one of three appearances. The first is that of a pale white humanoid. This is easy, and can be done with the simple application of white make-up to the face. Playing a zombified undead is a little harder, as is playing a skeletal undead. While there are good masks out there, a good make-up job is often better. A light gray paint can make the skin appear slightly decayed, while skeletal gloves are good for skeleton’s hands, and with the proper application of make-up the face can look almost skull-like, although in those specific cases you might want to get a mask (in character or out) that either conceals your face or shows a skull. For skeletons, try to have clothes that cover much of your body and conceal it, especially if you are not thin as a rail. Other make-up tips can be gained from those at the games or the shop where you buy the costuming and make up.