Wraithlord

### Main Abilities

Highly intelligent, powerful Soul Magic users, command and summon undead, Shroud travel, will revive unless their soul is severed, often potent physical combatants, may own a Reaper Scythe

## Common Knowledge

Among the ghosts of Orelisle, some of the most dangerous are called Wraiths. These frightfully intelligent beings seek to cause death and destruction, but only the most learned of Soul Magic scholars know the reason why.

## Location

Wraithlords can be found anywhere on the Material Plane, or more commonly in the Shroud, but have no specific home. For the purposes of their research, Wraithlords like to lurk near areas with large amounts of dead or undead for easy access to resources, or areas far away from any groups of people.

## Biology/Lifestyle

Wraithlords are a special kind of spectral undead, who often have a shimmering or gray aura about them in addition to their typically-magelike attire. A Wraithlord may be any race, though many appear to have been Pionus at one point.

Wraithlords do not require any sustenance or sleep, and they do not deteriorate with age, instead slowly gaining more power both through empowering rituals and the natural development of their soul.

As is often the case with powerful, amoral Soul magic users, Wraithlords tend to keep a small horde of undead thralls on hand for self-defense and conquest. Aside from these, though, they tend to travel alone. Any societies formed amongst Wraithlords are a result of their relationships before attaining their current state.

Wraithlords are a step beyond even lichdom, the act of becoming a Wraithlord requires immense power, tactical genius, and even a good deal of luck. Unlike liches, who simply remove their soul and store it someplace else for immortality, Wraithlords steal their power and immortality from the arbiters of Soul magic itself: Reapers. In order to become a Wraithlord, one must combine their soul with the Essence of a captured Reaper (already a feat in and of itself), restructure their life force to be fueled by the Reaper’s Essence instead of one’s own body and life force, then liquifying one’s body around the soul and attaching the melted body’s essence to the newly-formed soul.

This process is unbelievably dangerous, even outside the normal risks posed by facing off against a Reaper. Consequences of failure range from simple death of the body, to annihilation of the soul, to the creation of incomplete creatures made of parts soul and parts reaper. These afterbirths, called Wraiths, still wield some power over Soul Magic, but their sapience becomes mere sentience (albeit very high, like a very smart dog or raccoon).

## Rarity/Power Level

Wraiths, and unintelligent Wraithlords are a rare sight, and each is powerful in its own right. A fully-formed, properly created Wraithlord far outpaces Liches and even some Reapers in power, and only a handful have ever existed at a time.

Wraithlords are highly intelligent, use powerful Soul Magic, can freely travel through mundane surfaces and the Shroud, will recover from any wound and even death unless their soul is severed, and can passively dominate any weaker undead, even wraiths and liches.

Wraithlords passively and slowly raise undead within a certain radius around them, usually not exceeding 5 miles. These zombies are not immediately under the control of the Wraithlord that “summoned” them, but most wraithlords have some way to rectify this should they stumble upon the freshly-raised in question. Even the most powerful can only raise a handful of undead per day this way. Wraiths are also capable of this feat, however they have no means to exploit it beyond simply lurking near them for extra support.

## History

The process of becoming a Wraithlord has always been possible since the creation of souls and Reapers themselves, however the discovery of the process remains a mystery. Many Wraithlords that have existed are the released experiments of Ezirath, one of the first Wraithlords and one of the four Tyrants of Navitos.

## Further/Related Information

* Essence
* Lich
* Magic
* Navitos
* Reaper
* Soul