Undead Origins

[Voadam]

Heart of Glass

Heart of Glass
Castles & Crusades
Soul Thief: He was one of the guards for Unklar’s forces. Accused of treason - treason he never committed - he was tortured for many years before they allowed him to die. Being innocent, his soul attempted to fulfill his duties they accused him of not performing while alive.
These creatures are of the order of the Val-Austlich, created in the Days before Days by Thorax. They were shadows, cast off by the Cloak of Red, and called the rottenshuf.
Marissa, Vampire: ?
Malcom of Helliwell, Vampire Grave Knight: They watched as he vanished beneath the awnings of the ruined gate. The screams of his pain and horror carried over the barren wastes and into the ice-bound wilds. So Malcom of Helliwell, knight and paladin of the Holy Defenders, sacrificed his place in heaven for the greater good of the world. So Malcom of Helliwell gained immortality and became a vampire, all for the greater good.
A one time paladin of the Holy Defenders of the Flame, Malcom fell victim to Sagramore, the father of all Vampires, and the machinations of the gods during the Winter Dark Wars.
Malcom is an unusually powerful vampire. He is a Living Vampire, a Patriarch. There are few of these creatures in the world. Malcom came to be thus for as a living man he was a good man, a lordly paladin of a noble line and family who willingly submitted to the lusts of the undead Lord Sagramore. In so doing he bound his soul, his very being, to the prospect of being undead, so that his soul lingered in his body.
Sagramore, a one time wizard and tortured victim of the horned god’s came to St. Luther and offered to make Malcom a creature of the undead. “You know my tale, Lord of Dreams, and you know that I must live by the blood of living things. You know that I am a vampire. But Narrheit must be foiled, and the riddles of the Blood Runes understood and only Malcom may do this.” He promised to take the boy in his arms and give him eternal life.
“Such a thing would be damnation for him. But alas, I see no other way. If he agrees, I myself shall slay him when his destiny is fulfilled.” So they took Malcom and after much debate the knight, in great consternation, with curses for his father and St. Luther allowed for the Vampire’s embrace. So it was that the second curse came upon Malcom and he became the undead.
Sagramore: Unklar then cursed him, “Ever shall you thirst for the power you cannot have! Ever shall you gain that which you do not seek!” And he marked him with the gift of immortality, bound to a chain in a cave under a mountain in the frozen north.

Vampire:But the worst of his powers came when Naarheit, god of Chaos, revealed to Sagramore that he could alleviate his loneliness by spreading his disease to others.
At first he did so reluctantly, for he was ever a good man, and knew in his heart that what he did was an abomination. He felt also that he owed Jaren a debt. But his loneliness overcame his reluctance, and he eventually made others like himself.

 

[Voadam]

I2 Under Dark & Misty Ground Dzeebagd

I2 Under Dark & Misty Ground Dzeebagd
Castles & Crusades
Huge Skeleton: This is the skeleton of an ogre child who starved to death after his parents died. His father is the skeleton found in 8a. If the child’s skeleton is disturbed, the ogre skeleton in 8a animates.

 

[Voadam]

Lost City of Gaxmoor

Lost City of Gaxmoor
Castles & Crusades
Ogre-Ghoul: The evil half-orc Lamesh discovered a potent magical item, the Necromantic Crown of Quentis, and has created several of these abominations.
THE NECROMANTIC CROWN OF QUENTIS (EVIL): This simple circlet of golden snakes provides an evil cleric with the ability to create and command twice the normal number of undead. The crown also bestows the ability to create undead as per the spell once per week at 2 times caster’s level. This is how Lamesh has been able to create the dreaded ogre-ghouls. Anyone wearing the Crown for more than an hour must make a weekly wisdom save (CL 15) or lose a point of constitution. Upon reaching zero constitution the character is completely transformed into a ghoul!
Gnoll Zombie: ?
Xerxes, Vampire:
Ghoul: THE NECROMANTIC CROWN OF QUENTIS (EVIL): This simple circlet of golden snakes provides an evil cleric with the ability to create and command twice the normal number of undead. The crown also bestows the ability to create undead as per the spell once per week at 2 times caster’s level. This is how Lamesh has been able to create the dreaded ogre-ghouls. Anyone wearing the Crown for more than an hour must make a weekly wisdom save (CL 15) or lose a point of constitution. Upon reaching zero constitution the character is completely transformed into a ghoul!
Skeleton: ?
Luscious Maximus Mageris, Lich: ?
Daedalus, Antonitus, Advanced Skeletal Warrior: Daedalus Antonitus animates as a special undead creature if anyone violates his seat of honor (i.e. touches or attempts to steal any of his possessions).
Skeletal Warrior: ?

 

[Damian Henderson]

Does 5th edition have the Positive and Negative Planes?

 

[Voadam]

Nine Worlds Saga Volume I Hel Rising

Nine Worlds Saga Volume I Hel Rising
Castles & Crusades
Vaettur: They are the vengeful spirits of those sacrificed to the bogs and they will drag the victims into the waters to their doom.
Haugbui: ?

 

[Voadam]

Does 5th edition have the Positive and Negative Planes?

Under the default 5e cosmology, yes. See DMG page 43. They only have a one sentence entry though.

 

[Voadam]

Nine Worlds Saga Volume II Odin's Fury

Nine Worlds Saga Volume II Odin's Fury
Castles & Crusades
Irrbloss: ?
Vaettir: These spectral women float about the swamp waters and remain from what had been left of earlier sacrifices by the dwarfs (of Mortals) to satiate the Ogress.

 

[Voadam]

S2 Dwarven Glory
Castles & Crusades
Feliul Stone: Feliul stones are magical stones that have been possessed by the spirit of a fallen dwarf, gnome, giant or goblin (far more commonly a dwarf). Usually the victim has died some horrible death, through torture or the like. Some feliul stone’s are possessed of the spirits of those that have died before some great task was completed.
Skeleton: Anyone making a successful wisdom check (CL 0) notices a gold chain hanging on one of the chandeliers. Any attempt to retrieve it however animates five skeletons and many of the bones.

 

[Voadam]

S3 Malady of Kings

S3 Malady of Kings
Castles & Crusades
Vivienne Ghost: But she lingered still, in the world of the living, a haunt barred from the Stone Fields, where the noble dead lie, for a desire so deep death cannot claim her; now, upon the edge of the Wretched Plains, her ghost is fearful and restless.
His one true love, Queen Vivienne, had died long ago; but unbeknownst to him, her spirit did not pass to the Stone Fields where the good rest forever. Instead, it lingered in the world, awaiting his return.
But in truth, she failed to gain the peace the gods promise the dead. Her spirit, sundered from her corporeal form, lived on, seeking the love of her life, Luther.
A powerful, forceful woman, Vivienne ruled the kingdom frequently in her husband’s absence. It is this force which has kept her spirit from passing from the world and made her the ghost of the Frieden Anhohe.

 

[Voadam]

S4 A Lion in the Ropes

S4 A Lion in the Ropes
Castles & Crusades
Orinsu: This act of consecrating the burial chamber created the orinsu. Left to die in the deep cold pits, unburied and forgotten, the souls of the men hovered in a purgatory between life and death. The spells of the clergy laying their own to rest wrenched the souls back to the world of the living.
These souls, usually spawned from those who suffered a horrible death due to torture, starvation, or other evil circumstances, search for their place in the afterlife. The spirit, wracked by earthly pain, is unsure as to whether it should pass on from the realm of the living. It remains in the foggy middle, tied to its place of death as an undead creature.
The orinsu are common creatures in Aihrde as the long and bitter Winter Dark and the brutal 20 year Winter Dark War left countless dead, whose bodies were never properly laid to rest. And though these all are not subject to becoming the orinsu, enough of them were cursed or placed under some banishment to keep their souls bound to the world where their fallen bodies lay in rot.