A compilation of facts and legend regarding those creatures of monstrous bearing which still inhabit this fair land.

Benthen

Crag Trolls

Hill trolls

Stone trolls

Bone (War) trolls

Deep trolls

Deep Walkers

Giant Rats

Goblins

Ryndarth Orcs

Strange Ones

Troglodytes

Undead, Arisen

Undead, Created

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The Undead are a class of monster with which Neridia has had much experience and deals with in a forthright and final manner. They destroy them and they use nearly every possible means to do so. The Neridian Chivalric Code states that you will shun the forces of undeath and destroy them at each turn. This statement has been analyzed and interpreted many times over the centuries since it was first put to parchment. The clear interpretation as supported by the King is that anything short of direct violation of the law of Neridia or the violation of another tenet of the code is acceptable in destroying undead. There is no law in Neridia forbidding interacting with undead, as long as the end result of that interaction is the undead’s destruction. This means that one can speak to an undead or even put off its destruction if those actions will bring its destruction about, but you cannot interact with it under the guise of seeking its destruction only to aid yourself or it. There have been many court cases over the years involving those who claimed to be seeking the destruction of undead but were found to have simply been their supporters or seeking profit from their interaction with the undead. While these cases are always difficult to try, they are tried and have brought about convictions.

The undead in Neridia have been grouped into two basic classes, the created and the arisen.

Created Undead

Least

Skeletons

Zombies

Lesser

Giant Skeletons

Grotesques

Leviathans

Spectres

Wights

Greater

Death Knight

Death Rider

Genhorde

Skeleton Warrior

Wraith

High 

Master

Created Undead

Created are born of from empowerment by the formal magics of necromantic nature and are of many forms. They are often described based upon their power level as least, lesser, greater, high, and master and of course rumors abound of foul things beyond even the incredible power associated with master undead. Despite rumors to the contrary, created undead cannot survive prolonged immersion in water. Their forms will be destroyed in about the time a living being could hold its breath underwater. The same holds true for the arisen but rumors persist of undead creatures that arise from the drowned bodies of the dead, whether this is true or not is not known.

Least and Lesser (Created) Undead:  The least and lesser forms of undead are those that rise up from bodies previously deceased and now reanimated in a twisted, corrupted form by necromantic forces. In the least group are common things like skeletons and zombies. In the lesser group are such monsters as giant skeletons, spectres, wights, grotesques and leviathans. These creatures rarely have any true intelligence and generally are at the whim of the necromancer which created them or wander in a horde seeking the life force of the living. All lesser and least undead are utterly destroyed when hit with a destroy undead spell.

Greater (Created) Undead:  Greater undead are the majority of those who have intelligence and the lowest form of undead into which transformation is possible. When a transformation to a greater undead is cast, the transformation itself is latent upon the spirit of the recipient. When they die their permanent death the transformation becomes active and their spirit is imbued with necromantic force to replace its once living essence. It literally cheats death by becoming undead. There are conditions which exist which seem to be able to invoke the transformation before the permanent death of the individual. Exactly what these conditions are is unclear but certain areas tainted by necromantic energies have been known to invoke transformations, as have very high powered undead who have permanently died and taken on their transformation. Clearly other things do exist which can invoke the change but no studies to date have revealed them nor found a way to suppress them. When an individual bears a transformation formal magic upon them there is no known way to tell its presence, though if found out another formal magic exists which can destroy the transformation though a normal destroy formal magic would not. This formal to remove the necromantic taint of the transformation is like any other however and the target may choose to take a death rather than accept the destruction of its transformation. This makes it difficult to deal with those who secretly bear these formal magics and harbor hidden in their spirit the power of the undead.

The power of the greater undead varies a fair amount. Some are physically powerful while others are physically weak but very defensive in nature or highly magical. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses which may be exploited by the intelligent adventurer. However be forewarned that the greater undead retain the skills they learned in life and so a mighty warrior will be made mightier by this transformation and a great mage even greater. Most greater undead gain the ability to command the lesser undead by the sound of its voice. Greater undead and the more powerful high and master undead are only damaged by a destroy undead spell rather than being destroyed by it as lesser and least undead are.

Types of greater undead which have been reported as relatively common in Neridia are:

The Death Knight:   A death knight is a creature to fear unless you are a mage or bear a dweomered weapon. The transformation to death knight gives great physical prowess but not a great deal of defense against magic or magical offense. A death knight becomes impervious to all blows from weapons that do not bear a dweomer and a death knight’s weapons become dweomered themselves as the magical force of their form extends over them. Their strength grows and they gain the standard resistance that all undead do. They gain a very limited ability to send back the spells of a mage to their mind rather than taking the effect. A death knight has red eyes which glow to warn away those who can not deal with such a creature, the sight of them has been known to cause strong men to run encompassed by a fear of magical nature.

The Dead Rider:   A dead rider is a transformation that seems unique to the Varykites. They are similar to the death knight but with more magic at their command. Unlike a death knight they are only immune to weapons of steel, a weapon of silver can still cut them to the bone. Their strength grows like a death knight and a dweomer will cover any weapons they bear, but in addition to this their touch can wither away the limbs of those who come within range of their blows as if they had cast the spell wither limb upon them. They have greater defenses against magic, able to send more spells back to their enemies’ minds. They too have glowing red eyes and their sight invokes fear as well. They are difficult to tell from the death knights but should one see an undead Varykite there is a good possibility that they are a dead rider. Should one see what looks like a death knight and is not a Varykite, assume it is not a dead rider until proven otherwise.

The Skeleton Warrior:  The skeleton warrior is a fearsome creature to all warriors for any blow that hits it only scratches its surface unless delivered with a mighty force behind it. Any blade will merely scratch it, so even a dweomered blade will not aid in fighting this creature. Mages, however, find these creatures much easier to deal with. Though they have the power to return spells to the mind of the caster, they can only do this twice before the next spell will affect them. The strength of the skeleton warrior is greater despite the fact that they no longer bear muscles on their frame. If you see a skeleton with glowing red eyes then know it for a skeleton warrior and not one of its lesser brethren and heed the warnings given herein.

The Genhorde:  The genhorde is one of the most physically powerful of the greater undead. It is immensely strong and its touch can wither the limbs of those it strikes. Like a death knight, the sight of its red glowing eyes can bring a magical fear into those it throws its will at. It can send magic back into the minds of those casters who face it and it can even phase out of existence to avoid an attack which is unusual for a solid form undead. It takes a blade of silver or one with a dweomer to affect it. It has been known to hurl bolts of ice at its enemies as well.

A genhorde looks similar to a death knight or death rider, truly its abilities are the only real way to tell them apart.

The Wraith:  The wraith is a non-corporeal creature with glowing red eyes and with power that any lone adventurer should fear. Though the transformation does not give much additional fortitude, the creature does gain some strength over its mortal form. It also, as most non-corporeal creatures can, may phase momentarily from this plane such that attacks may pass right through it. But by far the most devastating power the wraith gains from its transformation is the touch that drains the very life force from those it strikes taking away all strength and energy from their victim. Someone so affected cannot run or battle for ten minutes or until they are restored by a life spell.

If a earth caster is lucky and the wraith has expended its ability to phase then a well placed destroy undead can often destroy these creatures. However the warriors among them can certainly take more damage than that. Warriors should beware that it takes a weapon of silver or one with a dweomered blade to affect a wraith.

High (Created) Undead:  High undead represents an increase in the power level over the greater undead. The formal magic which transforms them must be cast on one who already is transformed into a greater undead of the appropriate type. All that was stated about the greater undead and the latency of their transformations also holds true for the high undead. They may now command the greater undead by voice as well as the lesser undead and they all have green glowing eyes.

There are high forms for all the greater undead discussed above. The high death knight is more powerful than its lesser form, the death knight, though it still retains a relative weakness for magic. The high dead rider has rarely been seen but they are much stronger than their lesser form, the dead rider. The skeletal champion is an even tougher fight for a warrior as it now has more fortitude to be able to stand after a mighty blow is delivered. However its ability to return spells to the mind of others is not greatly increased so mages are still the best way to deal with these. The high form of the genhorde is the greatly feared liche and these are powerful and dangerous. The liche is even stronger than the genhorde and the damage to the liche is reduced no matter how hard it is hit, though it cannot reduce a forceful blow delivered by a skilled warrior. It gains a much greater ability to return magic to the minds of its assailants and its touch now drains the life force of its victims. The high wraith though not gaining a great deal of physical prowess becomes more defensive and able to phase out of existence a great number of times.

Master (Created) Undead):  Master undead represents the most powerful of the known transformations to an undead state. The sheer power they hold makes all their eyes glow blue. The exact nature of these creatures is not known for in general there never exist more than one in any given area and they are rare indeed. The liche king, the skeletal warlord, the wraith master, the death knight preceptor, and whatever the master form of a dead rider is called are all incredibly powerful and not to be fought lightly. These all have the basic abilities of their type of undead but to a much higher degree in general. They tend to have the same vulnerabilities but to a lesser extent. Those forms which could not resist a great deal of magic will still be more vulnerable to magic than they are to weapons but will have more defense against it. If they were strong they will become stronger and if they were intensely magical they will become more so. What other strange powers they gain upon the final transformation of high undead to master level is not known. It would be expected that a master undead would have one or more high undead as their lieutenants and a good number of greater undead as their warriors and a horde of lesser and least undead as their minions and slaves.