Skeleton

Skeletons are considered among the lowest types of undead. They're typically mindless creatures, lacking many of the abilities that make other undead a serious threat. However, the animated bones of dragons, giants, and other great beasts make for dangerous foes. Powerful living creatures can retain some of their might and intellect upon returning as a skeleton. Some necromancers turn their strongest enemies into skeletal undead servants, assuming they can keep control of them.

Skeleton adventurers were usually skilled and powerful in their former lives. Through unremitting force of will or extraordinary circumstances, their ego and ideals persist even in death. However, the very act of rising as a skeletal undead is traumatic. Memories of one's former life are usually fractured or hazy, if anything can be remembered at all. For some, these memories return with time; for others, they're gone forever. For the most part, this comes down to how the skeleton views themself: either as a continuation of the person they once were, or an entirely new being.

Skeleton adventurers often set themselves apart from other skeletons by dressing as flamboyantly as their station allows. Large, feathered caps, ornate armor, embroidered silks, or glittering jewelry are likely staples of their wardrobe. Some carve intricate “tattoos” into their bones or paint their skulls to maintain a sense of self that simple skeletons lack, and to signal to the living they're not like other undead.

Skeleton adventurers must come to terms with their new identity. They aren't bound by the limitations of the living and are often underestimated.

## You Might...

* Work harder than most to prove you're a capable and distinct individual.
* Wade into danger with little regard for the safety of your undead body.
* Desperately seek the acceptance of the society you once moved through with ease.

## Others Probably...

* Assume you're the servant of a necromancer, working to advance their agenda.
* Have difficulty empathizing with you.
* Regard your undeath with either pity or envy.

## Physical Description

Aside from their complete lack of flesh and organs, skeletons vary widely in appearance, reflecting the broad diversity of all living beings. They can be tall, short, or anywhere in between. Skeletons of creatures with horns, wings, or tails retain them, although they are usually useless in their skeletal state. Skeletons raised from fresh remains tend to have stark white bones, while older ones tend to be gray or yellowed. Skeletons who adventure for a while often possess faint lines crisscrossing their bones like scars, indicating where they were injured in previous battles.

## Society

Across Cyril, intelligent skeletons rarely gather in large enough numbers to constitute any kind of settlement. They typically mingle with other undead rather than band together. Many skeletons would rather keep company with those who remind them of their former life (although such reminders can just as easily lead to revulsion derived by the negative energy infused within them). Coven Isles' skeletons are usually treated as members of the servant class and rarely have any upward social mobility.

Outside the Coven Isles, skeletons are far more solitary. Some might hide on the outskirts of society or move about in disguise, but it's difficult for them to find acceptance among the living. In Voraranu they act as servitors or acolytes typically, in Duinn they are integral to society and usually put among the higher rungs of society but are in a separate branch of it from he living. In the dwarvern settlement of Ashfall they are quite common because of their worship of Yeira but it is extraordinarily rare for any to be non-dwarvern skeletons, it would be more common for a pet to be risen then a non-dwarf.

## Alignment and Religion

Skeletons typically reflect the society they are risen in but neutrality and lawfulness are natural inclinations of their nature. Other than the tendency to become twisted toward evil over time, skeletons typically lean toward the alignments of their creators or their former selves. Skeletons without any particular loyalty or allegiance trend toward neutral evil alignment, or neutral if they can stave off evil.

Skeletons who embrace their undeath often worship gods of death, such as Jazub or Banda, while those who resent it typically look toward gods of life and redemption like Saoba .

## Names

No widespread naming convention exists for skeletons. When necromancers bother to name skeletons they've raised, they typically choose names that suit their own tastes, the way one would name a pet. Others might be named for their role or job. Skeletons with their memories intact might choose to keep their name from when they were alive, but others might choose new names based on their undead experiences.

### Sample Names

Clatterjaw, Creaker, Doorstop, Final Sacrifice, Gochiyo, Lectern, Macefodder, Sixth Lancer, Skulldyr, Xelim