| Species | Grey Beast |
| Order | Abominable Undead |
| Classification | Undead |
| Dominion | Raesian |
| Sphere | Undeath |
| Origin | Animals that are buried in corrupted ground |
| Lifespan | Inmortal |
| Habitat | Their natural territories |
| Food | Usually flesh |
| Description | Slightly rotted versions of their living selves, sometimes with glowing eyes. |
| Corruption | A graveyard that has been desecrated will sometimes corrupt animals buried there. |
| Esoterica | Grey beasts are beings of msawhat and Raesian energy. Only the most powerful retain any powers from life, usually warped and corrupted. No powers of qi, the gates, positive resonances, or heavenly essences are possible. Very rarely do they learn any new arts, mostly of other forms of msawhat (especially brown aether) or viscera, blood, or other humors energies. |
| Special Powers | Grey beasts are much more violent than their living counterparts. They have supernatural strength. They can move (walk, run, swim, fly) even if their bones are broken, their flesh ripped, or their organs smashed, and they can repair themselves by consuming flesh. As they age, and eat, they gain new powers, such as paralyzing gaze, greyflame breath, corrupting claws/fangs/stings, phantasmal fazing, bonebreaking shrieking/howling/roaring, etc. They all cause unease in those who are near them. Because of the great variations of animals, there are many variations in grey beasts. |
| Necromancy | To create a grey beast, a necromancer must corrupt the ground (20) they bury an animal in, usually through violating the graves already there. Any animal buried in desecrated ground will return the next night. If a necromancer (or anyone) finds a graveyard already desecrated, they can bury an animal there to raise it, but a small ritual (9) of breaking every bone in the animal can ensure it. To control a grey beast, one must fashion a leash, bridle, or other appropriate harness for the creature out of flesh and bone; capture a part of the animal's soul in a jar of blood from other animals of the same kind; or find some equivalent variance for animals without these features (i.e. insects). An animal that was trained in life will sometimes respond to that training in unlife. Summoning them requires a design of sigils that invoke the animal species and the power of msawhat. To capture a grey beast and draw its power, one must physically trap it, bury it back in its grave, and place a sigil atop the spot. |
| Sending | Cremating a grey beast will send it. Burying it in consecrated ground will also work. |
| Weaknesses | Qi, the gates, or heavenly essences will send a grey beast. |
| Behavior | Grey beasts are hyper-aggressive versions of the animals they were in life. |
| Dominion Culture | In the Raesian Dominion, grey beasts are usually common work animals, special guard animals, or even pets. Any role an animal plays in living society a grey beast can play in Raesian society. Horses, dogs, messenger birds (crows or pigeons), constrictor snakes, worms, rats, oxen or cattle, and bats are extremely common. Notable Raesian grey beasts include monogonants, choughs, ladybugs, basans, gray jays, oxen, rabbits, pegasi, penguins, forest king wolves, mimsies, rooks, pangolins, minka birds, blue crows, and tunnel lizards. |
| Other Dominions | Much like in the Raesian Dominion, in other Dominions, grey beasts serve as living animals would in living society. They gain special powers based on Dominion and animal-type. Other than the regular common animals (horses, dogs, cats, etc.), these are the most notable grey beasts by Dominion:
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| Mortal Interactions | The commonest way a grey beast interacts with a mortal is when a mortal tries to bring back a beloved pet or an animal they depended on for support (a horse on a farm, for instance), and it returns violent and warped. Mortals are warned about these corrupted burial grounds, but often don't listen. |
| Afterlife | Grey beasts can be redeemed with sufficient heavenly essence, positive resonance, or qi. Those sent otherwise usually end up waiting in the in-between for millennia before moving on to the Grey Lands. |
| Notables | Raesian Jelly, Grey Beast Manifest, Primordial Monster; Dauntaenil, Winged Steed of the Raesian Empress; Ghaer'glith'ael, the Wraith-King's Horse; Jaughud, Serpent of the Grey Wastes; Munur, Fleshless Cat of Cantaen Isle; Nyok-Ballagor, Eight-Armed Deep Beast; Pradrir Malakaeth, 13-Headed Chough; Shurung, Corpse-Eater Worm; Bone Stallion, Vahana of the Bone-Mother; Vysenthaenil, Grey Pegasus of Cary Driver; Taltanaeth, Rotting Rabbit; Yarmu, Grey Rook |
| Special Classes | Grey War Horse, Grey Hunting Dog, Grey Ox, Grey Cat |
| Sample Stats | Varies by animal. |
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