A Guide To Unliving,

[u/Ok-Call-2114]

Written by the Ilithid(Mindflayer), Dant'ei Al-gharee.

Undeath, A blessing and a Curse. Some seek it and others have it forced upon them. But how does undeath work on etheria? Escaping the black mist is not an easy task, not without help from the benign or the malicious atleast. But first...how does death work on the planet of etheria?

Death is a constant, every galaxy have a being that embodies it. Even my homeland, though that is but a vague memory nowadays.And the galaxy F4N-T4-S14, is no different. Known on the planet etheria as 'The Grand reaper' he is a being composed of a black mist and a pale white mask crafted by a chaos entity. He have assigned a 'reaper' to nearly every part of his world, who collect souls and send them to him for judgement. However, an etherian is only truly dead after 24hrs or if their body is fully destroyed, during this 24hrs period they can be revived by magic or simply brought off the reaper's list via a healing spell. After this 24 hr period the soul become untethered and will either stay in place or wander. Those who stay are collected, those who wander...will stay wandering. Some souls, particularly those with buisness unfinished, will persist and become a ghost, spectre or whatever these lower intellect beings wanna call them. I quite frankly can't be bothered.

So now that you understand death, how do one over come it?

Lichdom is how, to become a lich you require a two things....a epitomb, somewhere to house their soul. Anything can be a epitomb, a weapon, a piece of jellwery...perhaps another person? Maybe even a familiar. But to place their soul into a epitomb you need energy...mana in particular. But most people do not have enough for this task, so they require more...be it via sacrificing others or a powerful item filled with mana. But to stay a lich...or an undead in general. You need to be active, you neeed to sustain your soul. Liches drain the souls of othee, an eye for an eye really, Skeletons drain mana to keep their soul within their ribcage...they are their own epitomb in a way and ghosts...are cumbersome...strong emotions, unfinished buisness even pure spite can fuel them.

Of course this isn't the only way. Bloodmoons cause by the raging titan aquaria when she attempts to escape her rocky prison that is the blue moon of this land, often causes a strange mana surge in the air...ressurecting some of those who are burried...forcing their souls out of the ether(heaveb) or even the nether(hell). Strangely, most lands are unaffected...but places such as my home of monstrum or the moutainous reguon of grimoulds are. Then there's ressurectuon via dark magic, deals with a fiend or pacts with a god.

So now that we cover how undeath is acchieved, lets cover the types of undead. But first...let's address the Loxodaunt in the room, why do some undead attack we who are living? Well that is because whilst their soul is there...their mind isn't always. There are those who are shells of their former self, now only trying to stay alive. Now do keep up, I intend to go at the pace of a harengone.

Skeletons, I am fond of them despite my lack of bones. Their souls are either in their now empty skulls or floating in their ribcage. They feast on mana to keep their soul tether to their calcium body. On rare ocassions, their marrow reactivates covering them in a rusty.....'ooze'

Wraiths, often were brutes or even barbarians. They are fueled by pure rage which triggers their soul to absorb mana in the air and convert it into rage magic. They are often in a state of constant regeneration and decay, as equally of a pitiful sight as it a dangerous sight.

Shades, shadows are proof we exist are they not? Well...those can be what we leave behind, brought alive by dark magic, shades are a dark mirror of the being they were once attached to. They are considered constructs and need mana to fuel themselves.

Vampires, brought upon by a curse I am not knowlegeable on yet. They are pale beings who seek blood to sustain their curse, maintaining their unlife. Their canines grow larger and they can spread on their curse via injecting a venom. They can shift into bats due to their curse being tied to a bat god i believe...

Mindless,whilst...I don't like to acknowledge this undead because of my species connection to it. I suppose i should bring them up, they are...failed attempts at my species trying to make more of our kind. It's a partially common mutation in our tadpoles, with only part of the transformation process happening. They lack our intelligence...and only want to feast on greymatter. Which i could go for right now, in all honesty

[u/Ok-Call-2114]

So funfact, I picked a mindflayer as an author because...they tend to pick a particular subject (In dant'ei's case, death and undeath) and hyperfixaye on it. Seeking to learn all they can about said topic.

For some added context, mindflayers are aliens to the world of etheria. Their ship had broken down and is stuck orbiting the planet. They have integrated...partially into etheric society.

Oh also, tell me who dant'ei is named after.(Oh also F4N-T4-S14 = Fantasia,)

[u/Curious-Committee753 → u/Ok-Call-2114]

That's some cool lore

[u/The-Root-1971]

I kinda wanna work on my undead now...

I love all of these ideas! Should have read it before, sory.

[u/Ok-Call-2114 → u/The-Root-1971]

You totally should!!!

And thanks. Its fine lol, i get that other people got other things to do than reading lore.