Species Draugr (plural Draugar) (also Draug, Droeg, Draugur, Dreygur, Aptrganga, Aptrgangr, Again-Walker, Afturganga)
Order Tutelary Undead
Classification Undead
Dominion Sangarian
Sphere Famine
Origin Greedy or cruel people who were improperly buried
Lifespan Inmortal
Habitat Near their graves or sunken boats
Food Flesh and blood
Description Draugar appear to be swollen, ambulatory corpses with either blackened, dark blue, maroon, or pale skin. They stink of decay. Those who died at sea will have a head made of seaweed instead of flesh. Some draugar, sea or land, have no head at all. Many will be dressed in the clothing associated with what they wore most in life, such as a sailor's oilskin or a warrior's armor.
Corruption Any cruel or greedy person can become a draugr in death if their cruelty or greed in life corrupted their souls enough and if their wills were strong enough to draw back their hugr (corrupted soul).
Esoterica Draugar are beings of hunger energy and msawhat. They have powers similar to what they had in life, though warped and corrupted, save for powers of qi, the gates, or heavenly essences. They sometimes learn new arts in undeath, such as those of self-denial, fallow aether, arnum, flux, various forms of aether (including brown), mijjit, mansam, blood energy, other humors, vile energy, Raesian energy, spirits, kor, Damaskian powers, shebv heya, poioumenon, infernum, entropy, rending, and feirua. They call all of these arts trollskap.
Special Powers

Draugar cause unease in those who are near them. They have supernatural strength and can alter their own size and weight at will. They can make themselves extremely heavy. They use their weight to crush foes. They then devour their flesh, or their whole body, or simply drink their blood. They have sharp claws. If a draugr snaps someone's neck, the victim becomes a draugr.

A draugr can enter the dreams of the living if they sleep in the community where the grave is; they will often leave something real behind to prove the dream was more than a dream.

Draugar have three curses they can inflict on victims. They can curse targets so they cannot gain strength. They can curse targets with fatal bad luck. And they can curse targets with almost anything if they have a moment before their own destruction to do so.

When they enter a community, the community is susceptible to disease. A draugr out during the day can temporarily bring darkness around themselves that extends for 300 yards. Sunlight does not affect them. The sight of a draugr can make someone faint.

Mundane weapons do not harm them.

Some draugar have the power to shapeshift, control the weather, or see the future. If they can shapeshift, they can take the form of a seal, flayed bull, grey horse with broken back and no ears or tail, a troll, or a cat that grows heavy when on a sleeper's chest.

Their appetities are insatiable.
Locus

Draugar are bound to their tombs (or boats), which they protect fiercely. They will not let anyone disturb the area around them, either.

A draugr can escape from their grave in the form of smoke or swim through stone or earth.

The area around their grave is toxic. Animals that feed near it go mad, and birds drop dead when they fly over the barrow. The mound itself glows like foxfire, and anyone who crosses through this glow risks crossing over into death. A sea-draugr will ride in a half-boat rather than dwell in a tomb, but the boat will have all the same features as the tomb.

Necromancy To create a draugr intentionally, one must find a greedy or cruel person and kill them in a specific ritual (19), then bury them in a sitting or standing position. To summon one, a user of hunger energy or msawhat must have a piece of their grave or boat and invoke their name. To control one, one must use that piece of tomb or boat in a ritual (22) of fire and fasting. To capture one and draw their power, one must lure them into a coffin made of soft pine and seal it, then invoke their name atop it.
Sending Cut off their head, burn the body, and dump the ashes in the sea, or a door-doom ceremony wherein the draugr's soul is summoned and given judgment and their home purified with holy water. If their bodies completely decay or are dismembered or destroyed, the draugr will be sent.
Weaknesses

To harm a draugr, weaponless combat or iron can work where mundane weapons will not. Nourishment or light of bounty, however, work best. Other heavenly essences, the gates, or qi will also send one.

To prevent someone from becoming a draugr, one can set a binding inscription upon their grave; place a pair of iron scissors on the chest of the deceased; hide straws or twigs in their clothing; tie their big toes together or drive needles through the soles of their feet; lift the coffin and lower in three directions as it is carried from the house; carry it through a special corpse door feet first with people surrounding it and then brick up the door; or invoke the names of heavenly spirits.

Behavior

Draugar are either land-draugar or sea-draugar.

Land-draugar live in their graves, usually large tombs, from which they corrupt the world around them. Often, they have treasures buried with them, especially if they are made intentionally. They leave their tombs at night to stalk and hunt livestock, wreak havoc on the living, and torment shepherds. Anyone who disturbs graves near them will be hunted down and killed.

Sea-draugar dwell in their half-boats, stalking the waters near where they died, killing fish and coastal wildlife, tormenting fishermen, and terrifying those in seaside communities.

All draugar long for what they had in life. They will get revenge on those who wronged them in life and make horrifying visits to the living near their places of death. They are deceptive and intelligent.

Dominion Culture Draugar are a major part of the warrior class among the Sangarian Dominion. They are used primarily to protect special treasures of the lords of their Dominion.
Other Dominions Draugar occasionally are employed by other Dominions to guard special treasures as well. In Durosian, their anti-strengthening curse is more powerful. In Srisian, their darkness powers are stronger. In Dun, their disease powers are greater. In Fellwood, their dream powers are stronger. In Raesian, their death curse is greater. In Godless, their visage is more potently overwhelming to faithful. In Qhanuum, they cause nullification instead of disease. In Agikaani, they have extra shapes to shift into. In Campionese, they have a fourth curse. In Wapek, their weather control is stronger. In Kaanian, their visage is more potent against children. In Pandemonian, their futuresight is more potent.
Mortal Interactions Mortals view draugar as the result of a misled life, but legends of draugr warriors are told with some awe. When a draugr is in an area, word spreads quickly and people avoid their territory assiduously if possible.
Afterlife Redemption is almost impossible for draugar, but if it happens with very powerful heavenly essences (especially light of bounty), it takes millennia for them to get through the in-between. Otherwise, they often end up in the Hells, Broken Obelisk, or Grey Lands.
Notables Thorolf, Massive Warrior; Thrain, Cat-Warrior; Glamr, Shepherd-Warrior; Samanaur Tagrauk, Draugr Lord; Svangur Kappi, Draugr Manifest
Special Classes Warrior, Sailor, Shepherd, Marine, Merchant
Sample Stats PRO 17
ATH 14
STR 19 Heaviness 22+ Claws +5/+5
AWA 14
WIL 14
ROG 14

Unease Presence 11
Size/Weight Shift (WIL)
Smoke Form 11
Stoneswim 12
Toxic Surroundings 15
Foxfire Glow 11
Dreamwalk 12
Three Curses (WIL)
Cause Disease 13
Dark Aura 17
Fainting Visage 11
Shapeshifting 13
Weather Control 13
Futuresight 13
Topic revision: r11 - 30 Jul 2020, SallyJaneBlack
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