The Undead

*"Undead? Why in the in the name of the Sruth do ye' want to know about them? Bunch'a boney shamblers and nefarious sorcerers. They're bad and they'll kill ye'. Best keep away." -Archmage Darious of Isodia*

There are many different form of undead in Ori, much as there are different levels and currents of the Sruth. Dragging along the bottom of the rivers of magic that flow through the universe is the magics of necromancy and undead. For the very act of resurrecting the dead is an unnatural one, and a perversion of the energies of creation. Even the greatest scholars cannot figure out if these powers are a pollution of the great Sruth, or merely a different iteration of its magical depths.

## The Dregs

An ancient civilization discussed further in the Antiquarian Guild if you're interested in their background and ruin. All the remaining Dregs that inhabit their scattered ruins are undead and one of the subraces described on this page.

## Types of Undead

### Ghouls and Skeletons

The ghouls and skeletons of the Dregs are fairly standard through Ori. The most basic forms of necromancy these monsters can be found anywhere magisters have delved into the dark arts and used their powers to create undead. Shambling corpses of either bone or flesh, seeking ever to murder the living that their soulless forms are so envious of.

### Wights

A much higher level of magic, only the most powerful of necromancers know if a Wight is made or if it is just a skeleton or ghoul who has found a source of magic. Wights are intelligent undead and thus are not usually subservient to a necromancer or member of the living. Wights are capable of drawing power from the Sruth and so can become magisters or necromancers themselves, making them extremely dangerous to the common folk or Antiquarian party. Wights that inhabit the ruins of the Dregs usually form parties of their own and go out to seek lost or stolen treasure.

### Lich

The most powerful of undead, Liches are necromancers who have extended their own lives to the point where they have metamorphosed into undead. Their mastery over the deepest parts of the Sruth make them extremely dangerous. Avoid at all costs. The only known Lich of the world resides within the Pale Lands on the sub continent of Wraithguard. But itis the unknown deep things of the world that make journeys so perilous.

### Formless

*"Oh how I envy the boy who trusts only his eyes and isn't scared by the bumps in the night." -Overheard from a crone in Marienburg*

Not everything that hunts in the dark places and evil haunts of the world has a corporeal form to it. For when the souls of mortals enter or are submerged in the Sruth, they can sometimes take parts of it with them. And when magic clings to your soul, it becomes too heavy to escape the confines of this world and is transformed into a formless undead.

#### Ghosts

The most common version of a formless undead is a ghost. Ghosts come in a variety of forms, shapes, and powers, but through acts of magic or willpower, can be exercised and driven out of this world. The most common and least dangerous ghost is a poltergeist. Poltergeists are usually the souls of more animals or beasts and can be a nuisance when they inhabit a home or place of worship, since they throw things around, bite, pinch, and cause mayhem. But these spirits usually can be exorcised quite easily. The ghosts of people on the other hand can grow in their own terrible purpose when the life it once had was one of regret. Emotions fuel the strength of spirits, and the ghosts of sentient people can become twisted and horrible, growing in strength as their haunting continues and they consume the emotions of people who stumble across their path.