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Template:Info afflictions The stuff of nightmares for some, figments of folklore for others and the steadfast guardians of ancient faith to even fewer, the most prominent of Bintaar's influences in Binral are the Undead, the results of the Shades of the deceased who return to the world of the living through one means or another. Undead take a variety of different forms, whether it be as a walking corpse or an incorporeal phantom, but they share a common trait in being Shades and not proper souls anymore: this means that they are mere conglomerations of memories of who they once were and not truly the person anymore, resulting in altered personalities, behaviors and wants. Undead have existed as long as anyone alive can remember and even longer than that, having had incarnations as varied as the living peoples they used to be: the adage goes that so long as there have been corpses in Aloria, Undead have persisted.
History
It is impossible to discern when the Undead first emerged in Aloria proper, but their first recorded appearance is marked in the myths and legends of the Dewamenet Empire as servants of the necromantic mystic Imeshret the Night-Gazer. It is even theorized that what few necromancers emerged among the Altalar of the Allorn Empire learned the practice of Undead creation from the Asha peoples they oppressed and nearly obliterated. For these few Altalar, they saw Undead as a way to preserve bodies and legacies and even serve their gods, albeit with a more singular or devoted purpose: that of protecting and enforcing the will of Ammu-Loa. At his Grand Temple, those seeking a dignified death could be granted it and be embalmed, as was Altalar tradition. His Undead attendants guarded the Temple, and their nature was widely lauded by some Altalar zealots for centuries, even as the Allorn Empire declined. Fringe cults like the Children of Kruphos even employed them as soldiers and venerated undeath as a sort of hallowed status, being closer to their great God of the Beyond. At the same time, the Undead still held something of a positive significance for the Asha Race, but the destruction of their empire, along with their centuries of enslavement, largely reduced this to mere legend and myth told by the slaves of their past lives. However, it seems that with the Cataclysm, the Wildering and all the changes since then, the Undead have earned a somewhat darker reputation. The Grand Temple fell into disrepair, and the Undead populace that still lingered there grew aggressive and unwieldy without the control of their masters. As for wider Aloria, the Undead had an abysmal reputation among most of the Human Races, mainly for religious reasons. A majority of Ailor faiths saw the resurrection of the dead as unnatural and an abomination against the will of the universe and their gods, Human souls returned to or entered a new plane after leaving Aloria, and it was torture and unjust to drag them back and force them to remain. Unionism specifically developed practices to prevent Undeadism, such as removing significant organs, burning bodies, and decapitating someone after death. There are some exceptions seen in cults like Therin’s Tongues and even the Thyemic Sect of Unionism, with both being accepting of and even composed of Undead people. The same proved true in many other faiths that emerged as the decades wore on after the Cataclysm, but the real anti-Undead fervor broke out only several decades ago.
The leading cause for these feelings was continued problems with the Undead on Etosil, which were actively concerning the Regalian Empire's military officials. But then came an event that changed the course of Alorian history, the Undead Scare. Emperor Justinian II, the last Ivrae Emperor of Regalia, had three sons: Therin the youngest, Juvi, the middle, and the elder Augustus. In 279 AC, Therin attacked Juvin and slew him in his bed-chamber, after which he proceeded to confront Augustus to do the same and claim the throne for himself. While Augustus overpowered his brother and had him formally hanged, Therin rose from the family catacombs in the night as an Undead and sought his revenge. He crept back into Augustus' bedroom and murdered him in his sleep. The guards arrived too late and were horrified to see the corpse of Therin gnawing on Augustus’s throat. This single Undead attack distinguished the future of the Ivrae family. Justinian II had no male heirs left, and his brother had only sired daughters. The throne passed to House Kade 23 years later, where it has remained to this day. Opinions against the Undead increased after that evening, and they have long been slain on sight across the Empire as a result. This situation has continued into today, though ironically, Etosians and the Undead are at somewhat of a more positive position than any point prior in the past thanks to the Undead’s attacks against the Bone Horrors during the Bone Horror Crisis several years ago, thus saving most of Etosil. As of the present day, the Emperor has allowed some Undead to peacefully exist so long as they adhere and practice as good Unionists, though the rest are still treated with the same abhorrence.
Becoming Undead
Undead are created one of three ways: they can return from Bintaar through sheer willpower, rise from the grave as a result of some ambient Ordial presence near their resting place (like a particularly powerful artifact) or be resurrected by the hand of an experienced necromancer. All who ‘naturally’ or ‘accidentally’ are resurrected as Undead do so as Ghüls, the catch-all term for ‘basic’ Undead, and Wights can only be created purposefully by necromancers. If a deceased person’s Shade is particularly restless or angry, they can wander through Bintaar with the desire to return to the world of the living until they fade or find a door out and back to Binral, where if their corpse still exists in some state they will re-inhabit it and if it does not they will manifest as a sort of apparition. The presence of Ordial Essence can cause the same phenomenon, dredging up dead Shades from Bintaar and forcing them back into their bodies nearby, or even causing things like suits of armor or other suitable vessels within proximity to become inhabited by Shades. Necromancers resurrecting Undead are much more purposeful, able to pick and choose what sort of vessel the Shade will inhabit. Undead can be prevented from being resurrected via the rituals and abilities of people like the Isldar or others with similar powers, and such practices are utilized by the Regalian Empire and its Violet Order to keep executed criminals from returning from beyond the grave. OOC Note Previously-played characters who die cannot be revived as Undead without explicit Lore Staff permission and the use of an Artifact or Special Permission that allows for the creation of Player Character Undead. Previously-played characters cannot also be retconned into being Undead without explicit Lore Staff Approval.
Mentality
Undead mentality is as varied as their forms and origins, ranging from ghouls who act like nothing more than ravenous animals to completely intelligent and sapient beings, almost entirely indistinguishable from the living. What determines this is the state of the Shade upon being resurrected: older Shades who have spent a long time wandering Bintaar and have lost most of their memories and identity will create much more bestial and mindless Undead. Additionally, it is not uncommon for Undead who linger for extended decades post-resurrection to lose their memories over time and degenerate into animalistic states. Generally, though, Undead will cling to what memories remain of their lives, even if they are hazy, and typically do not change much from how they were. It is impossible to ignore the fact that the Shade itself is just an echo of the person they were in their life, however, and this affects the potential personality of the Undead: sometimes lacking empathy or the true intent of their feelings and memories.
Undead resurrected for a particular purpose by necromancers or maybe by the influence of an Artifact at times feel innate attachments and drives to remain dedicated to and fulfill these purposes, leading to degrees of unnatural zealotry for some causes. The Undead guardians of the Sefakhem’s Vault of the Dead voluntarily allow themselves to be sealed within impenetrable layers of the great tombs for what is most likely an eternity, for example, and those resurrected to defend the Grand Temple of Ammu-Loa still do so to this day, despite its derelict state.
Types
Undead are primarily divided into two broad categories: Ghüls and Wights. Ghüls, simply put, are all Undead who are not Wights. Wights, on the other hand, are Undead who possess unique powers thanks to the Ordial Essence within them. These powers are typically akin to those of an Ordial Mage’s but are never quite as strong or flexible in their use. Beyond this, Undead can be further classified based on the type of form they take in Aloria: these being Corpsefolk, Hollows and Wraiths.
OOC Note While Undead retain their Racial Specials in their undeath, some Racial Specials may say they give benefits or opportunities in progressions or server events. Keep in mind that if your character is an Undead, these benefits might not apply in the same way, or at all.
Corpsefolk
The catch-all term used to refer to ‘general’ Undead, Corpsefolk make up the bulk of known, existing Undead in Aloria. They come in many shapes and sizes, varying just as wildly as Aloria’s many peoples themselves and also being both visually and mentally impacted by the nature of their death and resurrection. Many Corpsefolk still retain their faculties in their undead state, leading simple lives in regions of the world that are tolerant or outright amicable to their existence, such as the people beneath the Bone King’s throng or those composing the Thyemic Sect of Unionism. A great deal of them have withered and degenerated over the course of their years, though, wandering the world aimlessly as walking corpses reduced to their base selves.
Physically speaking, Corpsefolk are Shades inhabiting a dead cadaver in any state of decay ranging from entirely skeletal to freshly-dead. The cadaver can be of any Race except Yanar and can have a varying amount of traits inherent to its state of decay that conflict with the original Race’s restrictions like their eyes being darkened, milky or even missing and their skin appearing mottled or pale in comparison. Additionally, they can bear impossible amounts of permanent decay and injury and other oddities thanks to their undead state like missing body parts, lethal burns, objects remaining embedded in them, plants growing throughout their body or even stitching to indicate their corpse shell was cobbled together by hand. If they are fully decayed like walking skeletons they can even have cloth, twine or other material binding their bones together for stability, visible Ordial Essence running through any exposed sections of their body, and Deathspeech runes etched into their very bones. All types of Corpsefolk can sometimes bear some Ordial Magic aesthetics like green tattoos and gaping wounds. Corpsefolk have the following Abilities:
| Ability Name | Ability Type | Ability Range | Ability Description | Modifiers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debilitating Bite 1 | Instant Power | Direct Touch | Grants the user Debilitating Bite 1 | Undead Modifier |
| Instant Leap | Movement Power | Emote Range | Instant Leap | N/A |
| Power Burst | Instant Power | Emote Range | Grants the user Power Burst | Undead Modifier |
Corpsefolk Specials
- Corpsefolk Shell: Corpsefolk do not have to breathe, do not need to eat or drink, do not require sleep and are immune to Gas, Toxins, ingested Alchemical Substances and Diseases. They have a dulled sense of physical pain, though cannot ignore the actual debilitation that being tangibly wounded results in. They cannot utilize Racial Abilities (but retain their Specials), have any kind of Point buy from the Magic Category, except Mystic Point Buy, or be infected by other Afflictions. They can only be killed through complete destruction of the head (or other mechanics that specifically target Undead or Ordial Afflicted), and do not require Maim Permissions to be maimed.
- Corpsefolk Mend: While out of combat, Corpsefolk can physically consume the flesh of either living or dead people or animals in order to heal their body up to the original point of their decay as an Undead. They must eat for an hour to restore wounds and surface level damage to the flesh, and must eat for 4 hours to repair any maims inflicted upon them. Severed pieces do not have to be recovered, and any regenerated flesh will appear as if it was the original piece of their body.
- Dead Familiar: Corpsefolk are often lonely in their undeath, and impart some small amount of their lingering essence into a resurrected animal to serve as a companion, choosing an animal from the Animals Page (barring Magus or Dragon species). This choice is permanent, and must be mentioned on the Character Application. The familiar takes on an Undead form itself, being composed of any degree of decaying flesh and bone. The familiar cannot inflict harm. If killed, the familiar will collapse into a pile of dead matter, after which the user can resurrect a new one from a graveyard of the same type of Animal as mentioned on the Application, though can have a different aesthetic appearance. The familiar can carry a single object around and perform mundane tasks and hunt with the user to help retrieve flesh for the purposes of healing.
- Split Attention: Corpsefolk’s unique state of cadaverous being allows them to seamlessly detach and reattach their body parts at will, operating them with ease even while they are detached. They cannot ever leave emote range of their owner, but can act freely and even have an imparted personality (like a severed hand acting on its ‘own’). None of these functions may be used competitively, or mid-combat.
- Dead Sight: Corpsefolk are immune to Darkness, whether mundane or created by an Ability. They also have Night Vision, giving them perfect sight at night and in dark places.
Hollows
The restless sentinels and soldiers of the Dead, Hollows are specifically manufactured by their makers with purpose in mind for them. Whether that purpose is inevitably fulfilled, however, is up to fate. Hollows are most often seen forming the vanguard of the Bone King or other necromancer’s armies, or standing on eternal guard as wardens and watchers of sacred places in the case of those built to serve Unionism and its Everwatcher or similarly faithful purposes.
Hollows are a Shade inhabiting a vessel composed of inorganic or manufactured materials like a suit of armor or a person-sized doll, with a specially forged Shadecore inside: this being a fist-sized object tempered by a Metallurgist out of Lontaal, used to contain the Hollow’s Shade within their vessel and uniquely attach them to it. It is always placed within the torso of the vessel where their heart would be, and sometimes even artificially beats with energy like a heart would. A necromancer can use the Shadecore to transplant them from one vessel to another. These vessels can be as uniform and complete as a matching, clean set of armor or as patchwork and cobbled together as pieces of carved wood, animal bone and twine in the shape of a person. A Hollow Undead can be made of fundamentally anything except the cadaver(s) of people, but the inherent defensive effectiveness of its body will never be any stronger than the metal of armor. They can sometimes bear some Ordial Magic aesthetics like glowing green eyes, light or essence coming out from gaps in their bodies and ritual Deathspeech or symbolic markings. Hollows have the following abilities:
| Ability Name | Ability Type | Ability Range | Ability Description | Modifiers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summon Armor | Summon Power | Self | Grants the user Armor Summon | Undead Modifier |
| Deathmarch 1 | Movement Power | Emote Range | Grants the user Deathmarch 1 | Undead Modifier |
| Omniaware | Constant Passive | Self | Grants the user Omniaware | N/A |
| Endless Watch 1 | Buff Power | Emote Range | Grants the user Endless Watch 1 | Undead Modifier |
Hollow Specials
- Hollow Shell: Hollows do not have to breathe, do not need to eat or drink, do not require sleep and are immune to Gas, Toxins, ingested Alchemical Substances and Diseases. They have a dulled sense of physical pain, though cannot ignore the actual debilitation that being tangibly wounded results in. They cannot utilize Racial Abilities (but retain their Specials), have any kind of magic except Ordial or be infected by other Afflictions. They can only be killed through complete destruction of the Shadecore within (or other mechanics that specifically target Undead or Ordial Afflicted), and do not require Maim Permissions to be maimed.
- Hollow Mend: While out of combat, Hollows can enter a state of self-repair by replacing any lost parts and restoring damage done to their vessel with scraps of whatever material they are composed of. They must spend an hour grafting material on to repair simple injuries, and must spend 4 hours replacing maimed parts. Severed pieces do not have to be recovered, and any replaced parts will appear as if they were original portions of their vessel.
- Body of Infinite Holding: The nature of a Hollow’s Shadecore results in the interior of their hollow body being a distorted space of indiscernible emptiness, allowing them to store an impossibly large amount of objects within themselves. Hollows contain roughly a 3x3 cube of space inside of their bodies, from which they can place and remove objects while outside of combat. Artifacts cannot be placed inside this storage space, and neither can people.
- Artificial Hands: As beings made of artificial, manufactured shells, Hollows gain an innate understanding of working with a mundane material. They gain access to one of the Crafting Point Buy packs for free.
- Dead Sight: Hollows are immune to Darkness, whether mundane or created by an Ability. They also have Night Vision, giving them perfect sight at night and in dark places.
Wraiths
In comparison to their other Undead kin, Wraiths tend to prefer more solitary and reclusive existences. Their frail bodies are not suitable for combat or much in the way of physical exertion, and so most end up leading scholarly or dutiful un-lives. It is not unheard of for Wraiths to haunt the libraries they once studied in, the graveyards where they were buried, or the temples and holy places they once knelt in. Others who seek a more ‘driven’ purpose often find some use as informants and sometimes even employees of more quiet, out-of-sight businesses. A Wraith is specifically a Shade bearing a conjured physical husk, containing a phantasmal apparition within them. The husk appears like the person did in life, albeit much paler and with dark circles of cracked, decaying flesh beneath their eyes. Their eyes are always a shade of Ordial green. They can sometimes have parts of their body that are ebbing away to expose gaping holes, bone, green Ordial essence or whatever gaseous material their Wraith form is composed of. The Wraith form appears like some kind of ghostly specter, made up of a gaseous material (like ash, smoke, frost, vapor, etc.), sometimes wearing clothes or other garments, with distinct Ordial green eyes and is only ever shown in out-of-combat situations when the Wraith chooses. If they are ever attacked while showing off their Wraith form, they immediately revert to their physical husk. Wraiths have the following abilities:
| Ability Name | Ability Type | Ability Range | Ability Description | Modifiers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haunting 1 | Memory Power | Direct Touch | Grants the user Haunting 1 | N/A |
| Rift Step | Movement Power | 10 Blocks | Grants the user Rift Step | Undead Modifier |
Wraith Specials
- Wraith Shell: Wraiths do not have to breathe, do not need to eat or drink, do not require sleep and are immune to Gas, Toxins, ingested Alchemical Substances and Diseases. They have a dulled sense of physical pain, though cannot ignore the actual debilitation that being tangibly wounded results in. Upon being physically wounded, they do not bleed and instead spew whatever gaseous material their Wraith form is made of. They cannot utilize Racial Abilities (but retain their Specials), have any kind of magic except Ordial or be infected by other Afflictions. They can only be killed through complete destruction of the head (or other mechanics that specifically target Undead or Ordial Afflicted), and do not require Maim Permissions to be maimed.
- Wraith Mend: While out of combat, Wraiths can make direct contact with another and slowly sap away their energy in order to slowly heal their wounds and any Maims they have endured. They must spend 30 minutes sapping from another to restore simple wounds to their husk, and an hour sapping to replace a lost body part. While being drained from, the target experiences a distinct sensation of exhaustion and lethargy and physically grows paler and weaker-looking up to the point of unconsciousness if a Wraith spends more than an hour draining them, though a full night of sleep will restore them.
- Poltergeist: Because of their potential to haunt, Wraiths can remotely perform a variety of mundane tasks by sheer will alone such as letting a broom brush the floor by itself, letting dishes wash themselves, opening curtains with the wave of a hand, lighting candles with the flick of a finger, opening (unlocked) doors with the flick of a wrist and more. None of these functions may be involved in Combat Roleplay, but there is no limit to the amount that may be running at any given time, and there is no cooldown.
- Confront Mortality: As representations of Death, when Wraiths make physical contact with a person they can project a lucid vision of the person’s potential death in the near or distant future. The vision is one that the Wraith creates and imparts onto them, letting them control the details of the ghastly premonition.
- Dead Sight: Wraiths are immune to Darkness, whether mundane or created by an Ability. They also have Night Vision, giving them perfect sight at night and in dark places.
- Phantom Form: A Wraith can, at any time, choose to unveil their ‘true’ phantasmal form to somebody, discarding the barely-present facade of life they put on and assuming a full ghostly image. The Phantom Form is fully aesthetic (with some caveats, as explained below), though can function as a disguise if the Wraith chooses for theirs to be unrecognizable.
- Phantom Forms may never imitate other Transformations of other Abilities or other Races. Additionally, some element of green must be prominent, but exactly where is up to the player.
- Phantom Forms must remain within the general aesthetic of being a ‘ghost’, though whether this means being a full spectral image or a cloaked wraith or anything else ghostlike is up to the player. Appearing like a ghost does not affect their combat capabilities at all, and they are still treated as corporeal.
- Players may design their own Phantom Form, but the description must be placed on a Character Application under “Phantom Form” somewhere in Abilities.
- The Player may decide that their Phantom Form is unrecognizable from their normal appearance, or has the same face. It functioning as a disguise is optional.
Trivia
- A rumor for nearly two decades after it happened was that the Emperor couldn’t bear to kill his last remaining son, despite his Undead status. Instead, he kept him chained and secured away in the deepest reaches of the Imperial Palace.
- With the rise in publicity of Unionist Cults and sects that support the existence of Undead, so too has the paranoia of those who hate them risen, leading the most radical of conspiracy theorists to believe that the Regalian Empire may be fielding armies of the Undead or that important officials could be possessed by ghosts.
- There exists a world-traveling theatrical troupe of Undead called the Dead Fellows who often visit metropolitan areas across Aloria to perform unnatural, macabre feats of circus-like theatrics with the capabilities presented by their resurrected bodies.
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