The Undead Explained

[A guide to the undead for the laity, approved for publication by the grand inquisitor.]

The undead are some of the most feared creatures. However, in most cases that fear is simply a fear of the unknown. It is important for every layperson to understand what kind of undead are there and what kind of dangers they pose to act accordingly and without panic.

First of all, undead creatured can be corporeal or ethereal. There are also legendary undead whose existence is not confirmed.

Corporeal undead

Corporeal undead are bodies of deceased people that retain or regain their ability to move and rudimentary consciousness.

They can occur naturally or be intentionally raised by necromancers.

Walking corpses

A walking corpse is a body that returned to unlife shortly after death. The name is something of a misnomer: not all such corpses actually walk, most of them may sit up, crawl, or engage in stereotypical movements like rocking or flailing their limbs.

Some walking corposes are able to dig out of their graves and walk large distances, but those cases are rare.

It is not fully understood what animates walking corpses and if they are tuly capable of thinking and self-awareness.

One theory is that a walking corpse forms when the spirit does not completely part with the body after death.

Another theory is that a walking corpse is animated by a free spirit that is mistakenly trying to reincarnate into a body that is vacant because it is dead, rather than because it is not unborn. Since a dead body cannot support consciousness, the result is a mindless and confused creature at best.

A third theory is that a walking corpse is a body that is moving without any involvement from any spirit, similar to the knee jerk reaction in the living, just much more elaborate.

None of the theories could be proven

In any case, the consensus is that it is out moral duty to lay a walking corpse to rest — even if there is no spirit involved, it is necessary to preserve the dignity of the deceased person and the safety of the people around.

Dealing with walking corpses

First of all, it is important to ensure that what you see is truly a walking corpse.

There are many documented cases when severely ill or injured people lapsed into a death-like unconscious state for hours or days but came back to life and recovered.

If there are no obvious signs of decomposition, the suspected walking corpse must be checked for signs of life and treated as a living person if there is even the faintest breath or heartbeat.

If the body is confirmed to be dead, it can be laid to rest with any weapon or offensive spell. Spells that directly damage their victim’s health or frost spells are preferred to avoid mutilating the body and preserve its dignity.

The body should then be given a proper burial ritual by an experienced priest to prevent it from coming back.

Prevention

Proper burial rituals prevent dead bodies from becoming walking corpses in the vast majority of cases.

Undead minions

Bodies raised to become undead minions are distinct from naturally occured walking corpses. They are created by necromancers with profane and repulsive rituals.

Revenants

A revenant is a dead body reanimated by a necromancer. There are two methods for creating a revenant, both unthinkably horrifying. The first method is to invite a free spirit to possess an already dead body. The other method is to murder a living person in a way that keeps the spirit bound to it but strips it of its will.

A revenant is usually easy to distinguish from a naturally occuring walking corpse. Revenants are always capable of walking and coordinated movement, even if their movement may look stiff and unnatural.

Most necromancers take measures to prevent their undead minion bodies from decomposition to prolong their “service life”. For this reason, revenants often display signs of crude embalming such as discolored skin, emaciation, traces of salts on their skin, and so on.

If you see a body with sigils inscribed on it, that is also certainly a revenant.

Revenants are dangerous because their fighting ability is at least as good as that of living people, and they are completely controlled by their masters and have no fear or pain. Revenants are animated by magic, so they cannot be laid to rest with common weapons.

Bodies of former revenants should be given a proper cleansing and burial ritual, so any cleared necromancer lair should be reported to the Inqusition.

Dealing with revenants

The best course of action for most people is to run for their life if they see a revenant and report the sighting to the Inqusition.

Experienced fighters equipped with appropriate weapons can clear necromancer lairs and do a great service to the community — and to the spirit trapped in the revenant’s body. The best enchantment to use is fire damage, since revenants are vulnerable to fire.

Skeletons

Some necromancers unearth skeletal corpses to put them together with leather straps and similar implements and reanimate them with profane magic.

It is not clear if animated skeletons contain any spirit or they are, in effect, simply magical mechanisms.

Dealing with skeletons

Skeletons are highly unstable and can fall apart from a good blow, and they are vulnerable to common weapons, so they do not pose much danger to anyone with even modest fighting abilities.

The bones once used to create an animated skeleton should be given a proper cleansing and burial ritual, although locating the grave where they came from is often a challenge for the Inqusition.

Ethereal undead

Ethereal undead are free spirits that are bound to the world and somehow possess a shape and some form of energy. Their nature is the same but their abilities vary widely.

Although in the colloquial usage, the words “spirit”, “ghost”, “spectre”, and others are treated synonymously, the Inqusition ascribed precise meanings to them.

Dealing with ethereal undead

The common characteristic of all ethereal undead is that they are all immune to common weapons, since they have no physical body. They can only be laid to rest with magical weapons or spells. Like all undead creates, they are especially vulnerable to fire.

How exactly dangerous they are depends on the type.

Spirits

What the Inqusition calls simply a “spirit” is a departed spirit of a deceased person that has not completely departed the world. It usually looks like a shapeless, almost transcluent blob of faint light.

Spirits cannot harm the living and do not possess any magical abilities. Encountering one may be unsettling but there is no reason to fear them. The best course of action is to do nothing. They will eventually leave the world and reincarnate.

Ghosts

A ghost is a more powerful undead create that is usually vaguely human-shaped and is capable of communication and melee attacks.

Ghosts are often spirits of people who were murdered or have some unfinished business and thus remain earth-bound until they find vengeance or are laid to rest.

Many ghosts are restless and attack all living beings indiscriminately. However, some are lucid and may provide some information about their identity, circumstances of their death, and what they want to find a revenge for.

However, everyone who approaches a ghost must be prepared for a fight, and people not equipped with proper weapons and combat skills should avoid them. While most ghosts are not powerful enough to kill a person, they can inflict significant injuries.

Spectre

A spectre is an especially advanced ghost that often retains an almost exact look of the person it was in life and possesses nearly intact consciousness and magical abilities.

Spectres will often make attempts to actively track down and attack those who wronged them in life. However, some spectres hold a grudge against all living beings — those are especially dangerous (although, thankfully, rare).

The main danger of spectres is their magical attack that can damage its target’s strength, endurance, intelligence, and other characteristics. That damage is reversible only with restorative spells or potions, so victims of a spectre may become unable to escape or continue fighting.

For this reason, the best course of action is to report the spectre sighting to the Inquisition. Only the most experienced fighters may engage with them, and even them it is critically important to carry restorative potions or scrolls. Most commonly, the victim’s strength is damaged — sometimes to the point that the victim can no longer move. Thus having a potion of restore strength on hand is a matter life or death in places where spectres may be found. Temples provide scrolls and amulets that restore multiple attributes, although the price may be prohibitive for anyone but professional crusaders.

Legendary undead

Vampires

Vampires were considered real for a long time, but their exact nature was never fully understood, and the records of vampire encounters have always been inconsistent.

Ever since the Flood, there were no documented vampire encounters, and they are currently considered to be either extinct or legendary.

The only thing that is universally agreed upon is that a vampire is a creature that feeds on the living. Whether vampires are truly undead, how exactly they feed, and if vampirism is transmissible was never determinted with certainty.

The current policy of the Inquisition is that any report of a vampire sighting is mistaken unless there is strong evidence to the contrary; and there haven’t been confirmed encounters in centuries.

However, all suspicious cases should still be reported to the Inquisition.

Liches

Legend has it that some necromancers and dark mages were able to turn themselves into powerful and immortal undead beings. Such a being is called a lich.

There are no documented encounteres with liches, so it is not clear if those creatures are real or legendary.