Undead Lore

This is just an overview of the undead in Ranu. The GM will provide more infomation once PCs are created.

Types

There are currently eleven types of undead recognized in the lore:

• Abominable: Undead made to be particularly distorted from its mortal form or undead non-sentient beings.
• Apparition: Generic phantasms (non-corporeal undead).
• The Damned: Undead whose actions in life doomed them to undeath.
• Femmes Mortes: Women whose undeath is rooted in their gender.
• Forsaken: Phantasms (non-corporeal undead) with a cultural root.
• Nemortsi: Powerful undead who can command, control, or influence other undead.
• Revenant: Corporeal undead driven by revenge.
• Skeleton: Corporeal undead without flesh, only bones.
• Tutelary Undead: Undead set to protect a certain area or thing.
• Vampire: Blood-drinking undead with folkloric roots and a wide array of powers.
• Wight: Corporeal undead with flesh.

Click here for a full list of the known undead .

The Grisified

Living beings who have been doomed or cursed to become undead when they die; they usually begin manifesting powers or abilities of undeath before they die.

Corruption

The infernal, imperial, and industrial magic of undeath is the corruption of death itself, the rejection of nature, of the endings of stories, of the mercy of an end to pain and suffering. It is a denial of mortality, but it does not give true inmortality. It corrupts all of these things into undeath, a violent, exploitative, oppressive state of being that requires more corruption, more pain and suffering, stasis of stories, and unnatural distortions of life and mortality to exist. To wield the magic of undeath, one must commit acts that violate Death itself in some way. The most dangerous is murder - not crimes of passion or assassination, but murder for the sake of murder. The more complicated are cruel acts like driving someone to become a killer or to suicide. But mostly, it involves distorted rituals, ancient spells, violating graves, and terrible curses.

Grey Mist

Grey mist is a physical manifestation of the magic of undeath. It appears where powerful undead are found, but it might also appear where acts of corruption of Death have occurred. It is distinctly unnatural, and anywhere it is seen, undead dangers lurk nearby or will be formed.

Dominions

There are powerful undead throughout the world that have formed Dominions, political and social groupings of undead that have their own distinct motivations and agendas. Most are tied to different regions of the world. Undead who are powerful and conscious and able to interact with the wider world often voluntarily join a Dominion, but most undead are limited in scope and power. Weaker undead are only part of a Dominion if they were created to be part of it. Otherwise, they are just unaffiliated.

The most common Dominions in Ranu are the Raesian Dominion (from the empire of Kael'Ras to the far north), Asug Dominion (centered to the east in Srisia), Neothanean Dominion (those rejected from the Hells, or so it is said), and the Coursangian Dominion (centered to the west in Terre Blanche). It is thought that perhaps some powerful undead in Ranu might be seeking to form a new Dominion, but this is speculation based only on the amount of powerful and ostensibly independent undead there are.

Being in a Dominion gives powerful undead extra powers.

Major Figures

There are certain famous undead figures from around the world that many people, especially those who fight the undead, know about.

Olumsuzluk

Olumsuzluk is the common Omaevi title for a goddess known as the Bringer of Inmortality, the Grey Lady, the Grey Mother, or the Grey Crone. She is known as Olmaszlaesk in Kael'Ras, the center of her religion; she promises eternal life to her followers, but fighters of the undead know she truly just curses them to undeath.

The Grey King

An alleged husband or consort to Olumsuzluk, a figure of power said to dwell in the Grey Mists, an ancient and more powerful figure than any other undead being. The Grey King is just a whisper, a rumor, a legend, and nothing more... or so most hope.

The Upper Council

A perhaps mythical group of 12 powerful vampire lords who coordinate vampiric activities around the world.

Habernitsa

The cornflower wraith, wanderer of the fields, an undead figure in Aeslaw (an area of Paurek).

Koschei the Deathless

A warlord of Vesturia, a bash tchelik who is perhaps the most legendary bash tchelik, found somewhere in Vesturia or Tridesy.

Constantin and Doruntinë

A famous vampire and his lover in Shar.

Jure Grando

A vampire in Ottavia.

The Raesian Nobility

The rulers of Kael'Ras far to the north are all undead. Famously, the Eternal Empress Druzidara is believed to be a bash tchelik, and her consort, Chalg'Ru, is called "the Wraith-King", which is claimed to be poetic but is not.

Necrocurcuriba

The undead Pumpkin King who may or may not have been defeated long ago.

Saint Elden

The head of the Raesian Church who has "never died".
the mysterious The Fiend, a Survan vampire or demon of unknown origin and form