Undead

To say that undead are a race would be a mistake, but rather they are mortals who have succumbed to death and then been pulled back from the grave through magic.   All undead begin as mortals, live mortal lives and then die. What brings a mortal back from death can vary greatly, though there is always magic at hand. Sometimes it is the work of a necromancer, other times a dark curse bestowed by a god or demon, and yet sometimes it can be simply the will of the dead was tied so greatly to a place, person or object that they can not have their eternal peace.   There are many forms of undeath too, and what form a being takes depends entirely on what created it. The mindless zombies who shamble and consume, to the ghouls who retain some memory of who they once were. And yet there are less corporeal entities such as ghosts, wraiths and banshees, who haunt the living so. And for those unlucky enough to encounter one, there are the blood-craving vampires.   But the most powerful of the undead are the liches (including the demi-liches, baelnorn and dracoliches), mortals who have not only become undead but have mastered it. These powerful beings often control other undead, and even the living, to do their dark deeds.