Engines & Empires Core Rules
Engines & Empires
Undead: [A]nyone bitten by a giant vampire bat must save or fall asleep for 1d10 rounds; the bat will then feed, draining 1d4 hp per round—and anyone slain in this fashion may rise as the undead!
But whereas the undead are animated by negative energies from the plane of Shadow, magical constructs are usually given life by imbuing them with a planar spirit of some type, such as an earth elemental or a demon; and scientifically created constructs make no use of spirits or magical energy at all, being entirely natural (in the philosophical sense, not the moral sense) in their operations and functioning.
The Veil of Shadow itself, meanwhile, has its own inhabitants: the spirits of negative life-energy that give rise to the restless undead.
With respect to the origins of fae-kind, little is certain. Some sages speculate that they are ethereal spirits given solid form in Faerie, much as the Undead are given partial corporeality in the Veil.
In a strange way, quantum physics and thermodynamics might actually provide the best explanation for what demons are. More than mere agents of entropy, they are intelligent minds sprung spontaneously into being, out in the Void where such unlikely infinities are possible—what speculative science and science fiction would term “Boltzmann brains.” But they are minds only, lacking any physicality unless and until they can pass from Chaos, through Limbo, into the Veil of Shadow—where the Chaotic energies of the demon can combine with ambient ectoplasm or Shadow-matter to give the entity corporeal form. (A similar process acting on restless souls departed from Earth gives rise to the undead.)
THE UNDEAD are often described as the souls of the departed, the restless dead whose unfinished business—or a particularly violent or traumatic death—has somehow bound them to become spirits and haunt the world of the living, instead of departing for the afterlife and their just reward or punishment. Of course, none can say for sure just what the afterlife might entail, or whether or not there is any justice in it; there are as many beliefs about this as there are religions in the world. But those brave individuals who have taken it upon themselves to study the undead empirically—paranormal investigators and parapsychologists—have come to believe that the undead are, strictly speaking, not really animated by dead human souls; or at least, not complete souls. (And it is no slip to speak only of human souls: for whatever reason, the corpses or spirits of fae-blooded demihumans never become undead.)
The theory goes that when a human being dies under unusual circumstances—violent murder, supernatural factors involved, etc.—that person’s mind may leave behind a psychic “impression,” a mere shadow or echo of their genuine soul. (Mages, of course, are far more likely to leave behind such impressions.) The image is always distorted, grossly exaggerated in some way that amplifies a particular sin or evil formerly committed by the deceased. Thus do paranormal researchers theorize that the animus behind an undead creature is a fragment or splinter of the departed soul, namely the portion of it with the strongest affinity for Chaos. At the moment of death, it travels to the plane of Shadow, there to mingle with the ambient Chaotic energies—and an undead being is born. While it yet remains on the other side of the Veil, it is only a disembodied evil spirit; but, on those occasions when a rift opens between Earth and Shadow, those spirits can flood through and haunt this world. Then they are able to take on a variety of forms, either by inhabiting human corpses, or by converting their own energies into a kind of misty, slimy half-substance called ectoplasm, which localizes the undead as a semi-corporeal apparition.
All undead have a strong affinity for the plane of Shad-ow—their very being is the stuff of the Veil—but they do not truly have an alignment. Undead tend towards Chaos, but they are not Chaotic, which is what separates them from demons.
[A] mortal slain by a barghest will rise as undead, usually a phantom or a spectre, at the next new moon.
Incorporeal Undead: ?
Intelligent Undead: ?
Mindless Undead: ?
Corporeal Undead: ?
Undead Animal: Eternal Walker ritual.
Moreau: Properly speaking, they are constructs; but they are animated via dark witchcraft and have some of the characteristics of undead as well.
Moreau Canine: ?
Moreau Feline: ?
Moreau Ursine: ?
Draug, Draugr, Orcneas: Draugs are the Dark Fae counterparts of elves and fays, mortal descendants—or perhaps creations—of the Dark Fae-Lords, the sluagh. Tales tell of the half-undead origins of the draugish race, of their having been raised up from the mucks and slimes of cursed patches of earth, woven with the darkest of old magicks, and in which the corpses of elves or Light Faes had been buried and left to rot.
Cadaver: [T]he cadaver class consists of undead made from material remains and animated through magic.
Ghost: What happens after death is a matter of great speculation, but it is at least widely agreed that the Veil of Shadow is the first destination for the restless dead, those doomed to haunt the living as ghosts. And as for the souls of mortals with no unfinished business, who can say?
Revenant: The revenant class includes undead which have mostly become such through their own actions or will (or that of another revenant).
Animus: The animus class consists of evil spirits which are incorporeal and subsist purely on their own hatred for the living.
Walking Dead, Zombie: The walking dead (sometimes called zombies, but this term is best avoided to prevent confusion with a living thrall under the effects a voodoo curse or drug) are mindless human corpses which have been animated by dark magic, either intentionally through witch-craft or spontaneously by a location saturated with evil.
Walking dead come in several varieties that largely depend on the condition of a corpse when it’s animated.
Like all hags, the black annis delights in evil for its own sake, spreading disorder and misery wherever mortal men dwell, glutting herself on the flesh of children, cursing naïve young lovers, turning corpses into walking dead, etc.
[ B]lack annis hags keep company with all kinds of foul monsters, oozes and chimeras and worse; but they are especially fond of the undead and can create obedient walking dead from corpses pretty much at will.
Reanimation spell.
Eternal Walker ritual.
Raise Undead Horde ritual.
Walking Dead Drybones: Drybones are creaky and ancient animated skeletons.
Reanimation spell.
Raise Undead Horde ritual.
Walking Dead Shambler: Shamblers are desiccated, leathery old corpses.
Reanimation spell.
Raise Undead Horde ritual.
Walking Dead Rotter: Rotters are fresh corpses, still (for lack of a better term) “juicy.”
Reanimation spell.
Raise Undead Horde ritual.
Walking Dead Clockwork Zombie: Clockwork zombies are rotters which have been created via mad science instead of magic (see the Necro-Reanimator invention, pg. 89; clockwork zombies are just like rotters but have AC 8).
Necro-Reanimator invention.
Ghoul: They can be created intentionally through dark magic; the blood-drained victims of a vampire may rise as ghouls; and it sometimes happens that corpses left in places saturated with evil magic will transform into ghouls spontaneously. But usually, new ghouls are created when a healthy human is infected with disease from a ghoul’s bite.
[A] creature bitten by a ghoul must save or contract a fever with a 4-in-6 chance of killing its victim in 1d4 days if untreated; victims that die from this disease become ghouls within 1d4 hours of death.
Anyone killed by a vampire rises again as a ghoul under the vampire’s control 3 nights later.
[A]nyone bitten three or more times by a nosferatu must roll a saving throw after the third and each subsequent time they are bitten; any failure indicates that the victim contracts anemia and will slowly waste away over the course of 1d10 days, after which they will perish unless cured by a Full Restoration ritual; those that succumb to this disease rise that very night as a vampire, unless the corpse is staked and beheaded, or burned; note that anyone killed in direct combat with a nosferatu still rises as a ghoul, not a vampire.
Eternal Walker ritual.
Raise Undead Horde ritual.
Skeleton, True Skeleton: Skeletons are intelligent undead which are sometimes created by powerful mages to serve as knights or guardians.
Mummy: Mummies are undead guardians of tombs and ruins, corpses that long ago were carefully prepared with bandages and perfumes and then animated by elaborate priestly rituals.
Sah-Hotep, Mummy High Priest: The sah-hotep is a mummified high priest: cunning, ruthless, and powerful.
Apparition: An apparition is a minor ghost, a psychic impression left behind by someone who died with unfinished business.
A victim slain by a Life Drinker [magic sword] has had their life energy sucked out completely and is likely to become an undead apparition, geist, or phantom.
Geist: [A]nyone killed by a geist rises as a geist themselves after 1d4 days.
At any given time, the legion [of the damned] can create up to 21 hit dice worth of “puppets” by turning up to seven normal objects into animated objects or up to five human corpses into geists under its direct control.
A victim slain by a Life Drinker [magic sword] has had their life energy sucked out completely and is likely to become an undead apparition, geist, or phantom.
Eternal Walker ritual.
Phantom: [A]nyone killed by a phantom, either by its touch or its disease, becomes a phantom themselves after 1 day.
[A]nyone killed by a spectre will themselves rise as a phantom under the spectre’s control the following night.
A victim slain by a Life Drinker [magic sword] has had their life energy sucked out completely and is likely to become an undead apparition, geist, or phantom.
[A] mortal slain by a barghest will rise as undead, usually a phantom or a spectre, at the next new moon.
Spectre: [A] mortal slain by a barghest will rise as undead, usually a phantom or a spectre, at the next new moon.
Furthermore, at nighttime only, the legion [of the damned] can attempt to possess a living human (but not a demi-human). The target may roll two saving throws; if only one save fails, the human is merely knocked out for 1d6+6 turns, but not possessed, and they are immune to further attempts. If both saves fail, however, the victim is possessed and immediately becomes a spectre under the control of the legion—still alive for the time being, but with all the powers, qualities, and abilities of an actual undead spectre.
Vampire: Vampires are earth-bound undead spirits inhabiting the corpses of those who committed unforgivable sins in life. Wicked individuals who fear their fate after death may become vampires by means of unspeakable unholy rituals.
[A]nyone bitten three or more times by a nosferatu must roll a saving throw after the third and each subsequent time they are bitten; any failure indicates that the victim contracts anemia and will slowly waste away over the course of 1d10 days, after which they will perish unless cured by a Full Restoration ritual; those that succumb to this disease rise that very night as a vampire, unless the corpse is staked and beheaded, or burned; note that anyone killed in direct combat with a nosferatu still rises as a ghoul, not a vampire.
Nosferatu, Vampire Lord: This monster can only come into being when a mighty hero, once of great faith and goodness, betrays that faith and willingly embraces evil by partaking in a horrible and depraved ritual to attain “immortality.”
Death Knight: A death knight is the revenant undead form of a warrior who was thoroughly evil and corrupted in life, clinging after their death to a harrowed existence in this world through sheer, stubborn will.
Lich Lord, Corpse Lord: A lich lord (or corpse lord) is a revenant wizard who has willingly sought out undeath as a means of staving off his inevitable end for as long as humanly possible. Curiously, while a villainous lich lord is perhaps the single most dangerous threat that a party of heroes can face, the process that a mage uses in order to become a lich preserves most of their soul: their psyche, intellect, and personality remain intact, at least for the first couple of centuries (after which boredom or madness will eventually set in).
Lich Lord Arch-Lich: A rare few lich lords, known as “arch-liches,” were priests of Order in life and carry on the good fight in death.
Grimwraith: A grimwraith is the undead spirit of a wicked priest, scholar, or philosopher who has died with unresolved philosophical or theological questions still weighing on his mind, the burden so heavy that he has refused to pass on into the next life.
Malice: Over the centuries, as the grimwraith ponders evil notions without ever resolving any of his questions, his vile thoughts take physical form as small and ghostly apparitions called “malices,” which look like translucent, wispy clouds with small arms and faces. The malices fly through the air (staying within 100’ of the grimwraith) and seek out living beings to attack. The grimwraith produces 2d4 malices for every century of its deliberations, so if it is very old, it will be surrounded by a great many of them.
Reaper: A reaper is a spirit of death from the Veil of Shadow.
Legion of the Damned: The legion of the damned is not a single entity; rather, as its name implies, it is a massive coagulation of individual spirits, possibly a hundred yards in diameter, all bound together and operating on the same psychokinetic “wavelength.”
Reanimation
Range Near, Duration 3 hours/level, Save No.
This dark magic causes the dead to walk. The mage speaks words of power, and 1d4 corpses within Near range become walking dead (drybones, shamblers, or rotters, each according to the corpse’s condition). The walkers are under the control of the caster and will revert to their natural, lifeless state when the spell ends.
Level 4 Ritual
Eternal Walker
Type Spirit-channeling, Range Touch, Duration Permanent, Save Yes.
By slicing off a small piece of his own soul and placing it within a human corpse, the necromancer animates it and binds it to his will. The newly-made undead creature will follow all of the caster’s commands, both spoken and unspoken, until it is destroyed or until the magic is dispelled. The creature will be an undead animal, walking dead, a ghoul, or a geist, as appropriate to the target of the ritual; only a nobleman buried in state may be raised as a geist. The cost of this magic can be great: upon completion of the ritual, the caster must make a saving throw or else permanently lose a point of Presence. Thus do many practitioners of necromancy become foul and isolated.
This ritual requires that the caster have access to the corpse, an offering to the gods of the dead worth at least 100 cp, and a mystically prepared altar or bier. The corpse is placed upon the slab while the caster reaches a hand into the Netherworld and seeks join the corpse’s soul with a piece of his own.
Level 8 Ritual
Raise Undead Horde
Type Spirit-channeling, Range Near, Duration Permanent, Save No.
It is said that the mightiest necromancers can command whole legions of the dead, and mortals rightly fear such dark magic. This ritual transforms all corpses within range of the caster into walking dead (95%) or ghouls (5%). (Any walking dead thus created will be ½ HD drybones, ¾ HD shamblers, or 1 HD rotters, according to their physical condition.) These creatures are assumed to be under the control of the caster for as long as they remain animated.
Such dark magic requires the foulest of all components: a human sacrifice. The victim must be bound for the duration of the ritual and then slain with a dagger of iron. Hopefully the heroes can stop the ritual in time!
Necro-Reanimator
Encumbrance: 2 kg each
This invention produces a set of 6 “Necro-Reanimators,” clock-work devices which also act as etheric antennas capable of receiving dark emanations from the plane of Shadow. If one of these devices is attached to the spine of a freshly dead, ordinary humanoid cadaver, it will slowly (over the course of a turn) burrow into the decaying brain and nervous system and animate the body as a “clockwork zombie.”
Clockwork zombies are just like normal 1 HD walking dead (i.e. rotters), except that their AC is 1 point better (AC 8 instead of 9); and because they have been created with science instead of necromancy, their connection to Shadow is more tenuous than it would normally be. This has pros and cons: clockwork zombies are resistant to the effects of the Banish Undead spell (they get +2 to saves vs. turning); but they also have a limited shelf-life. With no evil enchantment to stave off the process of decay, clockwork zombies (which start out with 1d8 hit points, the same as a 1 HD rotter) permanently lose 1 hit point for each day that they exist. When a clockwork zombie falls to 0 hit points, the body has decayed beyond use and cannot ever be reanimated; but the device itself can be retrieved (with an hour of delicate work: it’s practically brain-surgery to retrieve a Necro-Reanimator intact).[/B]
