Species Dread Reever
Order Corporeal Undead
Classification Undead
Dominion Pandemonian
Sphere Misfortune
Origin Reevers who were cursed by ill luck to continue on.
Lifespan Inmortal
Habitat Open seas, pirate ships, islands, hidden coves, close to where they died.
Food Flesh
Description Dread reevers appear to be skeletal versions of their living selves, usually garbed in pirate wear, with scraps of flesh still hanging from parts of their bones. Their souls are bound to a specific circumstance that can restore their physical forms, but they remain undead
Corruption When a pirate is tricked, trapped, or otherwise bound to a hidden treasure, sunken ship, or deep betrayal, their souls may longer on connected to those objects or circumstances. That is, they may be trapped as undead until they can exact revenge, retrieve their treasure, or raise their ship. Some are bound to protect hidden treasure, having no escape possible without intervention. Dread reevers may be intentionally crafted out of pirates by corrupting their bodies and souls with powerful msawhat (15). This is usually followed by a betrayal by the necromancer that kills them.
Esoterica Dread reevers are beings of msawhat and misfortune. Having both corrupted body and soul, they have access to many esoteric arts, but all of them are corrupted and bent toward evil. Entropy, quaestus, brown aether (especially dark waters), some emotional resonances (fear, wrath, hatred, greed), parasitic energy, vile energy, doom, shadow, uafas, feirua, self-denial, arnum, imperium, and infernum are all common.
Special Powers

Dread reevers cause unease in those who are near them. A dread reever has a limited range (varying on what and where they are bound to), but these territories define some of their powers:

  • Bound to an island: able to command certain features of the island
  • Bound to a sunken ship: able to command certain features of the ship
  • Bound to the sea floor: able to darken the waters into consuming energy
  • Bound to a mainland cove or similar region: able to command the surf in a small but dangerous way
  • Bound to a floating ship: able to surround the ship in mist
  • Bound to an inn or other building: able to seal the doors from anywhere within
  • Bound to a lighthouse: able to control the light

Other kinds of dread reevers are possible, especially zailors/sky sailors, sand sailors, space pirates, swamp pirates, etc. who would have other powers based on territory. Within their territories, their enemies are subject to grievous misfortunes.

All dread reevers imbue their melee weapons with a potent poison. Their missile weapons (bows, firearms, cannons) can launch, once per year, a powerful msawhat blast that corrupts the flesh of those it hits.

A dread reever cannot be destroyed but by supernatural arts, silver or similar metals, or by someone related to them. If a dread reever achieves the purpose they are bound to (protecting a treasure, acquiring a treasure, avenging themselves, etc.), they either move on (if they are seeking that) or have their flesh restored but not their lives. These latter become much more powerful and dangerous.

Necromancy

A necromancer can create dread reevers by betraying them or using their arts (15) to bind them to some circumstance or object, then killing them. Often, necromancers aim to do this to entire ships. Controlling a dread reever either requires similarly powerful arts or having control of their purpose. Summoning them singularly is the same level of power (15), but in groups, it has a cumulative effect. That is, it is only a little bit harder to summon two than one (17). To summon a shipful is only 24.

One may draw power from a dread reever either by sealing their bodies somewhere that can be drained (15), which has weaker results, or by taking on the object of their purpose (their treasure, to which their soul is bound), and using that for greater results, gaining many of their powers.

Sending A dread reever can be sent if their purpose for existing is fulfilled if and only if they desire to move on afterward. This means exacting revenge, finding a treasure, raising a ship, solving a mystery, or even simply arriving somewhere.
Weaknesses Silver, ailsilver, white gold, azure gold, and living ailsilver can harm them. Emblems of luck or fate can destroy them. Qi, the gates, and heavenly essences can send them.
Behavior Dread reevers are bound to their circumstances or objects. They guard treasures, sunken ships, or hidden fortresses, or sail to find them. They kill and eat any living mortal who gets near their territory. While they eat flesh, they do not need it to survive or maintain strength. Only their object of bonding empowers them. Dread reevers sometimes operate together as a crew under the leadership of a captain or other powerful reever. Other times, they serve a necromantic pirate. If a whole ship becomes undead, it retains the same social structure it had before death. Dread reevers rob, plunder, kill, and eat mortals who come to their territories.
Dominion Culture In the Pandemonian Dominion, dread reevers operate as the massive navy of the undead fleet. Most are bound to ancient treasures the fleet jas secreted about to empower them, or else to their ships. They exist as a military force in service to the fell ruling class. Only in this Dominion do they work together with bato nanm.
Other Dominions In all Dominions, dread reevers make up a significant part of the naval forces. Among the Raesians, their msawhat blast is much stronger. Among the Srisians, they are part of a massive military that uses them to guard specific areas. The Dun Dominion sees their poisons more potent, and the Durosians make them less susceptible to azure gold. The Godless Dominion uses them less than others, keeping them a protectors of certain treasures they wish to keep from faithful hands, and the Qhanuum Dominion has them as voidship sailors. The Agikaani Dominion has them as more skilled in their prowess. The Kaanian has them more subaquatic, and the Wapek finds them more often as raiders than pirates. In the Campionese Dominion, they have greater stealth, and in the Sangarian Dominion, their territorial power is greater.
Mortal Interactions Sailors and coastal folk alike live in terror of meeting dread reevers. They keep wards against them and special watch at night just in case.
Afterlife Dread reevers are not irredeemable if they move on on their own, but they often have many crimes against them and heavy corruption to deal with, spending many millennia in the in-between. Most, however, end up in the Hells or the Grey Lands rather quickly, being dangerously corrupted.
Notables Captain Callum Devane, Dread Reever Manifest; Captain Khallengaer Achandd, Sword of the Black Sea; Captain Murosa Skaer of the Red King's Death, Captain Wilhelmina Karlheinz of the Long Night
Special Classes Dread Captain, Dread Quartermaster, Dread Deckhand, Dread Sailor, Dread Bos'n, Dread Lookout, Dread Rigger, Dread Navigator, Dread Mate, Dread Gunner, Dread Helmsman, Dread Barber-Surgeon, Dread Cabinboy, Dread Carpenter, Dread Master-at-Arms
Sample Stats PRO 14
ATH 14
STR 14
AWA 9
WIL 8
ROG 12

Unease Presence 8
Territorial Power 15
Poison 14
Msahwat Blast 12
Sailing 11
Topic revision: r4 - 27 Jul 2020, SallyJaneBlack
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