Undead

The undead are bodies animated by beings originating at the Oblivion Gate at the heart of the Abyss. Essentially, they're animated by jotnari (yot-NAR-ee, singular jotnar), effectively anti-kami. Where the kami are manifestations of nature and creation, the jotnari are manifestations of negation and corruption. Their existence breaks down creation and drains anima from the world. Thus, an undead infestation in an area is often signaled by reduced fertility (both of plant life and animal life, including intelligent life); a prolonged infestation will cause the area to be completely sterile. Jotnari are present at low levels in many areas but are only a significant threat where the land has become corrupted to some extent. Jotnari (especially the minor ones) are not sentient as we know it [citation needed -Nidus]. Instead they're driven by an unceasing urge to destroy everything, especially life. They exist to kill living things and consume their anima; given enough anima they generally replicate. So undead infestations are contagious, given a supply of corpses.

It is important to note that there are many undead-like creatures that are not jotnari in origin. Those others are always mortal souls trapped (whether by duty, by curse, or by strongly-felt need) between life and death. While these do have a minor draining effect on the ambient anima (enough to survive), they are not inherently inimical to reality itself. Most ghosts, a very few liches, many mummies, revenants and other tomb guardians, as well as the Dutybound from Godsfall fall into this category. One way to determine whether a creature is jotnari in origin or not is to check whether its first instinct (when someone disturbs it) is to attack or to warn the intruder away. Most of the Trapped will try to communicate in some fashion. To be sure, many of the Trapped are themselves beings of malign intent--adventurers must use their own judgement to determine the truth of the matter. In addition, some of the higher-order jotnari undead are capable of communication and deceit, while a very few seem to fight their nature.

It should also be noted that the fey are fond of animating dead bodies in very undead-like fashion. As with all things fey, their purposes and intents are frequently inscrutable and hard to distinguish from malice. As a note on that matter, will-o-wisps are fey, not undead in origin.

Lesser Corporeal Undead

The lesser corporeal undead (skeletons, zombies, and the like) occur in two major ways--spontaneously and artificially.

Spontaneous undead arise where the Shadow veil is thin (often due to mass deaths, especially traumatic ones) and/or the corresponding area of Shadow has been touched by the Waste. So battlefields, necromantically-active catacombs, plague-ridden villages, etc. are the most common sites of spontaneous animation. Minor jotnari, driven by a hunger for anima, find corpses (which are easy to animate because they still remember being alive) and flood in. Unlike most undead infestations, these types are generally relatively self-limiting as they need corpses and don't have the intelligence to hunt. When the supply of living creatures drops too far, they collapse and enter a stasis-like state, waiting for the breath of life to wake them again to feed.

Artificial lesser undead arise when a spell-caster (often of the demonic-cult variety, but there are others who dabble in necromancy) casts spells or conducts rituals to summon and bind jotnari to corpses. Unlike the spontaneous ones, these artificial ones are constrained by the spells and rituals to obey their master...as long as the spell lasts or is renewed. Being fueled by the spell's anima, they're much less dangerous to other life while under control. This does not make them safe--they still seek to destroy all existence and their presence still corrupts reality (and especially Shadow). But the draining/sterilizing effect is much less pronounced--a necromancer with a small stable of skeletons can go months before the symptoms become apparent. Of course, the necromancer does pay with his own vitality to some degree--prolonged contact with the undead causes premature aging and a particular pallor, along with dried, brittle hair and yellowed eyes.

Incorporeal Undead

Shadows, specters, wraiths, and shades are as close to "pure" jotnari beings as can exist. They form when a jotnar in the Shadows consumes a spirit and takes over its nimbus and shadow body, converting it into a destructive presence. Whether in the Shadows or after slipping through into the Mortal plane, these manifestations are some of the most destructive and contagious--those that they kill arise as more of their kind. Fortunately, they are susceptible to the purifying effects of sunlight due to their "bodies" of shadow-stuff. Also fortunately, they find it difficult to penetrate the barrier between the Mortal and the Shadows unaided unless that veil is very thin. Thus they are rarely seen near populated areas.

Greater (Free-willed) Undead

The primary distinction between the lesser undead and the greater ones is in whether they can speak and act under their own volition other than to attack living things. There are two major groupings (by power level) within the category of free-willed undead. Both originate similarly, as described below. In general, magic users can animate the intermediate category but not the greatest ones.

Unlike lesser undead, who arise when jotnari possess corpses without any fragment of life, the greater undead arise when mortals are strongly infected by jotnari while still alive and then die. Instead of only gaining control of the physical body (like the lesser ones) with only very limited memories and fragmentary ability to reason, the greater undead possess much or all of the memories of the living person whose soul was corrupted and can act on them. Their bodies inevitably show degeneration due to the draining effect of the jotnari presence, but they often consume living anima to counter this.

Unwillingly-corrupted Undead

Ghouls, ghasts, and the various forms of wights are the major players in this category. They arise when a soul is unknowingly and involuntarily corrupted by jotnari and then dies (except due to the bite of a vampire lord). In general, those that were more prone to their physical urges in life become ghouls and ghasts (differing primarily in their power), while those with more intellectual prowess become wights. Either way, they maintain their will and physical forms by consuming the anima of others. Ghouls (and ghasts) prefer the still-living flesh of victims, while wights drain the life-force directly. Like the lesser undead, they can enter a form of stasis if there isn't anything around to drain, but they show significant deterioration while doing so, becoming wizened and shriveled. This does not, sadly, affect their combat prowess.

While these can be reasoned with (and even controlled to a degree), their hunger for anima overwhelms almost everything else except basic self-preservation. And even self-preservation is a weak instinct. Necromancers of extreme skill can animate ghouls; there are legends of those mortal necromancers being able to animate and control ghasts and create mummies.

Willingly-corrupted Undead

Vampires and liches, unlike their lesser (but still-free-willed) kindred, got the way they are because, at some level, they chose to be corrupted. And in doing so, their mortal soul gained a measure of power over their corruptor. Their souls are still intact, but they must pay a constant price in the anima of others for this freedom--if they fail to do so, they degenerate into (very powerful) versions of their lesser kindred. Vampires were the first to discover the rites that could indefinitely prolong life, summoning a jotnar into their own bodies and trapping it, using the entropic fiend's anima-draining powers to augment their own and to stave off mortal death. This does come at significant risk, however, and each generation of vampires (created by draining a victim and sharing some of the vampire's own jotnari-infected fluids) is weaker and more susceptible to the bloodthirst inherent in their being. The original binding ritual is lost to history (thankfully, as those original vampire lords rivaled the titans in their might, with none of those ancient beings' compassion or desire for order).

The process also entails giving up the creative spark that makes one fully human--this starts with losing the emotions and desires of the person over the course of a decade or so and replacing them with cold obsessions. Vampires find it hard to grow in power except by giving into the jotnar corruption more deeply, which further distorts their desires and even their bodies. Go far enough, and only a monster remains. Vampires do not need to feed on blood, but many prefer the taste. Any significant contact is enough to drain anima from living beings to some degree; the "fanged kiss" merely does it more quickly and thoroughly. And the rush of power is the last true pleasure that many of the older vampires have left.

Liches arose first when arcanists (including the one that became the White Skull) studied the vampire lords and attempted to "improve" the process. They partially succeeded. The lichification ritual is a descendent and refinement of the vampiric ritual. By binding their souls into phylacteries, liches lost the ability to create more of their kind as simply as vampires do (a loss they do not particularly mind)--in exchange they have complete control of the corruption and retain their own minds and interests. They do, inevitably, lose the ability to grow in power (beyond horizontally). A wizard who became a lich while only being able to cast 5th-circle spells will never progress beyond that--only those that can die can grow. They do gain the ability to reconstitute themselves as long as the phylactery is intact, as their body is but a vessel of anima.

This was a partial success because liches are even more dependent on a steady supply of external anima. And in most cases, simply taking a life (or a portion of one) as vampires do will not do for a lich. They need souls to fuel the demonic pact that stabilizes their being. And they need them frequently--if they do anything other than simply exist, a lich generally will need to feed on a commoner once a day (or less frequently on stronger souls). Failure to do so means that their minds and powers unravel before the corruptor's touch and they wither into demiliches.