Deathling

Deathling
Fauna
Official Name	Deathling
Common Nicknames	Dark Ones, Risen Evils
Classification	Magus
Habitat	City of Regalia
Domesticated	No
Current Status	Extinct

The Deathlings were a strange form of Undead largely resurrected in 304 AC in the City of Regalia. A distant shell or echo of their past selves, with a darker personality, their emergence wreaked havoc on the capital city as their substantial numbers saw them take control, and proclaim the ascension of their Dark Queen. However, just as quickly as they emerged, they were defeated, as during a large-scale revolt against the Deathlings’ control, the Dark Queen was slain, causing all Deathlings to disintegrate and never rise again. Today, their impact is broadly considered minimal, but their strange nature and possible origins are an area of concern for some scholars.

History

Deathlings were first encountered in the world during the 304 AC war between the nation of Arlora and the Regalian Empire. Then known as the Midnight Court, they were conjured into being from the living forms of the Arloran king and his royal guard at the behest of the giant statue which caused so much trouble the previous year. Triggering the Bone Horror Crisis immediately after its abrupt appearance and strange empowerment of the Midnight Court, the Statue and its new allies vanished while across the world, projectiles rained down and rose up the dead flesh and bone for miles around their impact sites. Several months later, as Regalia’s forces marched out to combat the Bone Horrors, members of the Midnight Court infiltrated the capital city, and used their powers to revive an infamous noblewoman who had sought to conquer the city two years prior, Freya Lo. Now the Dark Queen, she used a strange power and rose up the Deathlings to serve at her command. Fanning out across the city in an initial wave, more and more figures from the past emerged to terrify those they had known in life. While the city itself fell, the countryside was held by the Regalian state, and with time, even some Deathlings gradually began to turn against the Dark Queen. Her end came when a massive assault broke through the Deathling-manned defenses of the city, and she was killed. In a few brief moments, her form crumbled to dust, followed by every Deathling across the city. Within just a few months of their first emergence, no Deathlings remained, with no remains left behind for examination by the scholars of Aloria.

Physical Appearance

One would believe a person who was dead for many years to resemble nothing more than a shambling corpse. However, Deathlings were not living corpses, but rather a reflection of the corpse. Unknown Magic was used to create a distant echo of a past life, an incomplete copy, which contained only fragmented memories, but also a darker personality and an inability to disobey the Dark Queen when speaking with her. Deathlings were, physically, an almost exact copy of their former self when they were alive (not what they had been in death). Freya Lo, for example, looked exactly the same as she did before she died and dressed the same, but with color palette differences. The first observable difference was the skin tone, as all Deathlings possessed light gray or white hue complexion. The second major difference was in hair color, as all Deathlings had black hair. The final difference was the eyes, where eye whites turned gray and the pupil an eerie luminescent light blue. In fact, in darkness, those eyes appeared to dance like two small blue flames. These physical characteristics were the same over all Deathlings regardless of their original appearance.

Diversity

As mentioned, the visuals of the Deathlings themselves were uniform, with the same hue to their eyes, skin and hair. Furred beings saw their hair turn entirely black with highlights of gray fur as well, but none were free of the resurrection. Even Deathling Narim were reported, but as they emerged deep within the city’s underbelly, were often quickly killed by living Narim. Elderly Deathlings, however, were an extreme rarity, as Deathlings instead emerged appearing as they had at the prime of their lives.

Life Span and Development

The Deathlings came in three waves of increasing number. The first stage was largely made up of dead politicians and political figures from recent years, as well as Knights and warriors who helped the Dark Queen take over the city. The second and third waves were mostly former members of the general city populace, and it was from these ranks that the Deathlings who rebelled against the Dark Queen came from. All Deathlings then died at the same time, within seconds of the Dark Queen’s own demise. Deathlings could die before this, but it was unclear if such “deaths” were real, or only a temporary defeat before they reformed as they had been before.

Mental Overview

Deathlings, despite some keeping up a contrary pretense, were inherently vile creatures. Deathlings possessed the vast majority of the original person’s memories and personality traits, but some things could be off. Some important memories were often missing in the resurrected alongside some of their personality traits. While Deathlings were not incapable of kindness, their personality was often a cold reflection of what it used to be, one focussed on revenge against whatever they deemed the reason for their demise, and in some cases an even worse personality taking hold in individuals who were already terrible. Deathlings were inherently cold, vengeful, uncaring, obsessive and reveled in pain and violence. Deathlings sometimes attempted to rekindle old friendships with the still-living, only to turn on them when they least expected it and stab them in the back for their perceived betrayal when they died. This pure hatred for their death persisted even in the Deathlings who in their previous lives died of natural causes. Even small events that made the original living person sad or feel lost were twisted and corrupted in the mind of the Deathling to be reasons for revenge against the living.

Territory and Groupings

Curiously enough, Deathlings had some form of internalized hierarchy. Common Deathlings were all subject to the Captain Deathlings, who reported directly to the Dark Queen. These Captains were largely made up of men and women from the first wave of Deathling arrivals, and were often skilled warriors and politicians in life who served to operate some part of the city’s occupation in the Dark Queen’s name. Additionally, any order issued by the Dark Queen was not resisted by Deathlings, even if they wanted to, due to an innate will to obey her.

Trivia

• The Midnight Court apparently met its end a few years after it caused all of this chaos, and the strange Statue too is said to have been destroyed. Both acts were purportedly at the hands of the Arken.
• The nature of the Deathlings, while very hard to look into today, is believed to tie heavily into Ordial power. While only a handful of years ago, knowledge of that realm has only dramatically increased recently when the Regalian Empire officially recognized this realm as a possibility.
• Deathlings forged their own armor, twisting and blackening the former outfits of the infamous Crimson Inquisition, the anti-Vampire organization that once pursued Vampires in the City of Regalia.

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Accreditation
Writers MonMarty, HydraLana Artists MonMarty Processors HydraLana, FireFan96, MantaRey	Last Editor HydraLana on 12/9/2023.

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