Undead

Undead are a type of monster that take the form of the dead, from rotting corpses to howling ghostly shadows. Nightmarish amalgamations of flesh and essence, they hunt the living to sustain their own existence or serve greater powers that keep them fed. Where other monsters can occasionally be reasoned with, intimidated, or bled dry, the undead stop at nothing to keep their hunger sated. Only a few among them have anything of a mind left besides the need to consume, and appear as mindless, soulless abominations. It is also one of the rare few monsters that can be created by mortal sorcery, though the art is rare and despised - not to mention costly, unless the sorcerer has access to many fresh victims.

All undead run on essence, like a mortal man might run on food and water. Their movements are jerky and uneven, puppettered by essence, either by a sorcerer or greater creature, or by a Dungeon. Every moment they are kept animate is a drain on their essence and once they run out, they just collapse back into inert bone or flesh while shades dissipate. Corporeal undead can be raised again with a fresh infusion of Essence, but ghosts are lost forever and return to essence.

For this reason, all undead hunger. Walking corpses feast on the warm flesh of the living to consume their essence, while the life-stealing touch of wights and wraiths serve the same purpose. Unless otherwise sustained, the undead are always on the hunt and always hunger. As their supply of essence dwindles, the undead begins to decay until there's nothing but bones left. With no way to return from that state, skeletal undead are the lowest of the undead, closest to inanimation. Undead able to gorge themselves on the other hand will grow in strength and stature, taking on greater and more terrible forms. The greatest among them become like kings in a kingdom of rot and bone.

Unlike most monsters, they aren't born from eggs or cocoons, but made from the remains of mortal creatures. For a dungeon, that means it will either burrow up to rob the graves underneath which it is forming, kill those who venture into its halls, or sometimes form grisly corpse-farms, where bodies are made and animated as undead.

The Undead And You, An Adventurer's Perspective

Undead probably rank among the most hated opponent of any adventurer. They are unpleasant to fight, frequently tough to put down, and the higher forms of undead are some of the most dangerous monsters you can encounter. Even before that, many kinds of undead require specialized equipment or abilities to destroy, such as wraiths, vampires, and graveminds. Worse still, many undead don't even offer much in the way of loot. Many don't use weapons or armor at all, and when they do it is almost always in poor quality or rusted and old. Undead like the walking dead or skeleton offer nothing up when butchered, either.

Opportunities only arise when facing the lethal and abominable forms of undead. Wight lords clad in grave goods with enchanted weapons, vampires turned into valuable and potent ash, and so on. Most adventurers consider the risk not worth the reward, forcing kings and guilds to raise the rewards for the vital task of culling the undead where-ever they emerge. An undead surge from a dungeon is one of the most horrific imaginable, with the only comfort that an undead horde deprived of victims will eventually fall apart outside the sustaining environment of their dungeon. But if they should breach a city and reach all the tender flesh hidden behind those walls, the deathly crusade might go on and grow to disasterous proportions.

Bestiarum Undead

Below are the list of currently known forms of undead recognized by the adventurer guild of Lethe. It is the most extensive in the known world, due to the city-state's long and unfortunate path with death, plague, and outbreak of cannibal madness. No other place knows as much about fighting the undead, or suffering by their hands, and claws, and teeth...

Skeleton

The lowest form of undead. Robbed of all flesh, these walking bones are both weak and brittle.

Walking Corpse

A rotting corpse made animate by essence. They consume flesh, brains, and organs to sustain themselves, with ceaseless hunger.

[Link here!]

Crawlerites

Made out of one or more animated limbs or organs, Crawlerites are hideous but thankfully temporary abominations. They are usually raised from recently slain corpses, and attack in swarms of dismembered limbs, looping organs, and crawling hands.

[Link here!]

Gorger

Walking corpses that have gorged themselves on too much flesh, too quickly, and grown bloated. If left alone, they will grow into another form of undead - if not, they regurgitate their meals on their enemies which is both horrific and poisonous.

[Link here!]

Haunts

Lesser ghosts, haunts are transluscent humanoid figures. They are resistant to weaponry, but not so much that they can't be dispersed with effort. They drain life from victims through their touch.

[Link here!]

Blood Leech

Thick, maggot-like leeches spawned from the bodies of other undead such as Gorgers, Stitchers, Graveminds, and certain vampires. Hound-sized, they clamp down on victims to drain them of blood and essence, and are then consumed by other undead.

[Link here!]

(More coming soon!)