Undead
This world is home to all manners of creature, not all of them number among the living. The Undead of Lume are corpses,or parts thereof, reanimated with Anima, the intangible matter that has permeated the Continent since the reign of the Deumana. Revenants vary in intelligence, appearance and ability; given sufficient time and resources, they may develop beyond their meagre origins. Customarily the Undead prey on the living to maintain their reanimation, though the more resourceful of them find sustenance elsewhere. All Revenants are difficult to overcome; it is fortunate most Folk will live out their lives without an encounter.
In regards to their origins, historically Necromancers are held responsible for the existence of Undead. The former argue that in most cases, the Caster was performing under duress, or the act committed by a renegade from the School. To their credit, and particularly since the calamity of the Liche Liege, the Necromancer School has taken swift action upon hearing of crimes committed by one of their own. It should be noted that the Deumana - one demigod in particular - hold the dishonour of first reanimating the dead. The Undead are customarily divided into two branches: the bipedal and humanoid Necrosapiens, and their unnerving kin, the Abominations.
Abominations: Undead of unrecognizable origin
These degraded creatures manifest in areas where Anima accumulates, principally in the fallout of a Casting battle, or as a result of sloppy castmanship.
Blotch
A degenerate among horrors, Blotches are belligerent sacks of organs and other invertebrate flesh. Lacking the skeletal frame which muscles affix themselves to, these Undead propel themselves in wet, heaving lurches. The Anima possessing a Blotch pumps through the heaving mass in a sick parody of life. Driven by primal hunger, they leech the life from victims by enveloping them within their gelatinous mass. A sleeping traveller caught unawares may be smothered, suffocated and partially dissolved by sunrise.
Blotches are relatively scarce, and targeted for elimination by Casters when discovered. As with all the Revenants, they are diffult to put down. Blunt trauma has little lasting impact, and piercing their flesh induces squirting jets of corrosive liquids. The cut then promptly heals over. Instead, relevant records advise immolation; they may also have their Anima drained by a skilled necromancer, rendering them a lifeless mass.
Various records indicate that Blotches are born from the offal and remnants of the dead. They form where inept or uncontrolled Casting occurs near remains, the misdirected Anima reviving the spilled, cadaverous contents. It is no secret many a novice Necrocaster has produced one or two in their lifetime, if only to destroy them shortly after. A final, desperate tactic for Necromancers on the losing side of a battle is to Cast a Blotch from the entrails of a fallen combatant. Amidst these fertile surroundings they are prone to feast on the remains of the dead and dying. The following day the victors, still weary from conflict, are confronted by a towering gestalt of friend and foe.
A well-placed Blotch can turn the tide after the battle is won.
Paraspiders a.k.a. Ticklers
(Consider Osseopede, Calcipede, Aranach, spidoss)
These composites collect as an assortment of bones and osseous matter, sporting ghastly, makeshift legs that lend them an arachnid appearance. The skeletal union of several different creatures and devoid of flesh, they are the inverse of Blotches. They have a symbiotic relationship with them, each feeding on different parts of their victims, though Paraspider sightings are by far more common.
Like their abominable kin they lack intellect; perhaps a mercy considering their disposition. Depending on their configuration, these creatures will adopt their own gaits, characteristics, and preferred prey. Ironically dubbed Ticklers, they prefer to stab, tear and render their prey apart to reach the bones inside. Their destruction is challenging, and best accomplished by dismemberment, pulverization, and preferably followed by immolation. The sound of their joints clicking as they shamble is one of the few mercies offered by these Undead.
There are worse things than rodents in the labyrinths and catacombs of Lume.
Manus
The Frost Giants mutter of a time when, many cycles after the Schism, they battled a powerful enemy whose brash Casters attempted to raise fallen Giants. The relics of this conflict are the Manus; immense amputated claws walking on the digits that remain to them, terrorizing the Waste between the Inland Forests and the northern Cerulean mountains. This choatic hellscape is resplendent with lighting-threaded sandstorms and uncanny volcanic activity; a seemingly endless stretch of blighted terrain. Violently inhospitable, the sandstorms alone are capable of scraping the landscape bare. These surroundings speak volumes of the beings that reside there.
Resistant to these madcap elemental forces due to their scale, density, and unliving nature, Manus can rival even a Walker of the Waste, and often do. The bones have petrified in the arid conditions, their thick hides pulled tight over their frames, any moisture drained long ago. Unlike some of their Undead kin, they possess nor develop intelligence. It is believed they instinctively know the paths to follow that suffer least from the elemental rage of the region.
How the Manus came to be larger in scale than the limbs of their donors is a matter for dispute. It is possible that they grew in size over the many Rotations, or perhaps it is the Frost Giants that have diminished over this period. The Giants are not forthcoming on this matter.
The speed of these necrotic sauropods is reported to be astounding for their size, records stating they can pounce frightful distances. Should a traveller traverse the Waste and survive the deadly conditions, they may find themselves pulverised by a descending digit. Memoirs of a survivor of one such ambush claims the predator then rolled in the pulped remains of her companions; a grisly spectacle that allowed the witness opportunity to flee its territory. It may be that this gory bathing ritual is a rudimentary means of absorbing living matter and Anima. Unsurprisingly, noone has volunteered to investigate.
Prudent wanderers of the Waste would be wise to keep an assortment of distractions on hand - fireworks, even a kite - anything capable of diverting attention well away from themselves.
Necrosapiens
Skeletal or decaying Undead, these revenants differ from abominations in that they, at least physically, still resemble their former selves. Held together with Anima - the alchemical matter underlying Lume - it weaves unseen like sinews around its host. Being Undead, they are resilient creatures, to eliminate them qualifies violent dismemberment. Their animation exacts a heavy toll during Casting, and demands long years of study. Revenants can linger long after their creator's intentions, or indeed the creator themselves.
Necrofauna
Frays
Not all the Undead found on Lume are humanoid. The corpses of beasts are also put to use, serving as steeds, servants, even hunters. Stalwart creatures that require little sustenance, they can, for long periods, be tasked with guarding sanctuaries and other areas of import. Frays are the historically preferred choice for reanimation by Necrocasters, however the practice has dwindled since the aftermath of the Liche Liege.
For undocumented reasons, Frays are restored with an intellect proportionate to their acumen before death. All Necrofauna learn via osmosis, increasingly so if the creature keeps regular company with the living. Kor, the skeletal familiar of the healer and necromancer Mestat, is one such creature. While it could be argued that cleverness makes them no less dangerous, they can be reasoned with, and as such are the most widely accepted of all the Undead.
There is great diversity among their number; only the ability of the Caster limits the target of revivification. The beasts may be large or small, skeletal or cadaverous, and still others ablaze. Records predating the Liche Liege indicate that Frays may develop over time, growing in size and ability, picking up a few tricks along the way.
Gestalts
Less common than frays, reports of gestalts are few, possibly because thier creation is doubly diffuclt. Gestalts are an Undead assemblage of various non-human corpses. If a Caster desires a familiar with certain abilities, they may construct one from the corpses of animals with the necessary attributes. Technically challenging, but possible for a skilled anatomist. Most challenging for the Caster is to unite the...components...well enough so as to prevent theGestalt from falling apart or tearing itself to pieces. The failures would seem to account for some of the number of Undead Abominations.
Where wass'I? Critters! Yeah, right, so, while this old coot jabbered on, this winged-feline...thing just sat perched there on his shoulder, happy as you like, bits fallin' off'a'it like soggy bloody seaweed! I'm no artiste, but I think it wasn't, y'know...stewed right.
Entry in progress
