Voadam
Legend
Gothic Ancestries & Cultures
5e
Undead, Undead Being: Undead are created in a variety of ways: necromancy, a curse, or even a contagion.
Awakened Undead: Whatever the cause, a very few people who fall victim and are transformed into undead nevertheless retain their minds and personalities from life. These lucky (or unlucky?) few reawaken after death to discover themselves transformed into an animate corpse.
Unlike awakened undead, the risen cannot be created by magic.
Animate Corpse: ?
Zombie: ?
Evil Undead: ?
Vampire: ?
Ghost Phantasm, Ghost Who Was Once Human: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Occasionally, however, the reason a soul remains is mysterious; the soul themselves might not have had any overwhelming emotion, as in the cases above, and they might not have been the target of any sort of necromantic ritual. Indeed, in a few cases, the souls of the departed find themselves, simply, stuck here. The result is a spirit that find itself remaining on the material plane with no specific purpose. These are phantasms.
Phantasms are ghosts who were once human.
Ghostly Being: ?
Horrific Undead Creature: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters.
Shadow: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Wraith: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Specter: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Ghost: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Spirit: ?
More Malevolent Form of Undead: Occasionally, however, the reason a soul remains is mysterious; the soul themselves might not have had any overwhelming emotion, as in the cases above, and they might not have been the target of any sort of necromantic ritual. Indeed, in a few cases, the souls of the departed find themselves, simply, stuck here. The result is a spirit that find itself remaining on the material plane with no specific purpose. These are phantasms.
Some such beings slowly transform into a more malevolent form of undead, as their resentment and being stuck in the world grows.
The Preserved: The preserved are humans who have undergone a powerful ritual of mummification upon their deaths, one which allows them to return to a semblance of life. The occult practice returns the deceased to life, preventing their soul from passing on and their bodies from decaying. The process itself renders their flesh leathery and desiccated. It also involves the removal of several vital organs, replacing their life-preserving role with packets of herbs and powerful magic.
Preserved are ritually preserved, re-animated bodies similar to mummies.
Mummy: ?
The Risen: The risen are humans that have died, usually tragically, yet have been brought back from death by incredibly powerful emotions. Sometimes the emotion is the desire for revenge, but at other times, it is a timeless love that transcends death itself.
Unlike awakened undead, the risen cannot be created by magic. Instead, a supernatural psychopomp – often, a deity of death or justice – senses the intensity of their emotions and returns their soul to their repaired, yet still lifeless, bodies. Those who have witnessed this event report a crow tapping upon the gravestone of the deceased, followed by the emergence of the risen from the grave. The risen retain the appearance they had before they died, though they are pale and cold, and bear scars where their fatal wounds were inflicted. The divine power that animates the risen keeps them in existence until their business in the living world is complete.
Risen are revived corpses that retain a semblance of life and conscious self-awareness.
The risen have been brought back to complete some unfinished business with fearful and furious purpose.
Revived Corpse: ?
Macabre Steed, Deathly Steed: The macabre steed is an undead horse possessed by a spirit of necrotic energy from the Lower Planes.
Undead Horse: ?
5e
Undead, Undead Being: Undead are created in a variety of ways: necromancy, a curse, or even a contagion.
Awakened Undead: Whatever the cause, a very few people who fall victim and are transformed into undead nevertheless retain their minds and personalities from life. These lucky (or unlucky?) few reawaken after death to discover themselves transformed into an animate corpse.
Unlike awakened undead, the risen cannot be created by magic.
Animate Corpse: ?
Zombie: ?
Evil Undead: ?
Vampire: ?
Ghost Phantasm, Ghost Who Was Once Human: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Occasionally, however, the reason a soul remains is mysterious; the soul themselves might not have had any overwhelming emotion, as in the cases above, and they might not have been the target of any sort of necromantic ritual. Indeed, in a few cases, the souls of the departed find themselves, simply, stuck here. The result is a spirit that find itself remaining on the material plane with no specific purpose. These are phantasms.
Phantasms are ghosts who were once human.
Ghostly Being: ?
Horrific Undead Creature: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters.
Shadow: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Wraith: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Specter: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Ghost: When folks die, their souls usually pass along to whatever afterlife they’ve earned. Occasionally, however, something keeps them around. Most often, they suffer from such rage, hate, or other poisonous feelings that their souls refuse to depart, transforming them into horrific undead creatures like shadows, wraiths, or specters. Other times, their sorrow is so great at their deaths that their souls linger, leaving them as ghosts.
Spirit: ?
More Malevolent Form of Undead: Occasionally, however, the reason a soul remains is mysterious; the soul themselves might not have had any overwhelming emotion, as in the cases above, and they might not have been the target of any sort of necromantic ritual. Indeed, in a few cases, the souls of the departed find themselves, simply, stuck here. The result is a spirit that find itself remaining on the material plane with no specific purpose. These are phantasms.
Some such beings slowly transform into a more malevolent form of undead, as their resentment and being stuck in the world grows.
The Preserved: The preserved are humans who have undergone a powerful ritual of mummification upon their deaths, one which allows them to return to a semblance of life. The occult practice returns the deceased to life, preventing their soul from passing on and their bodies from decaying. The process itself renders their flesh leathery and desiccated. It also involves the removal of several vital organs, replacing their life-preserving role with packets of herbs and powerful magic.
Preserved are ritually preserved, re-animated bodies similar to mummies.
Mummy: ?
The Risen: The risen are humans that have died, usually tragically, yet have been brought back from death by incredibly powerful emotions. Sometimes the emotion is the desire for revenge, but at other times, it is a timeless love that transcends death itself.
Unlike awakened undead, the risen cannot be created by magic. Instead, a supernatural psychopomp – often, a deity of death or justice – senses the intensity of their emotions and returns their soul to their repaired, yet still lifeless, bodies. Those who have witnessed this event report a crow tapping upon the gravestone of the deceased, followed by the emergence of the risen from the grave. The risen retain the appearance they had before they died, though they are pale and cold, and bear scars where their fatal wounds were inflicted. The divine power that animates the risen keeps them in existence until their business in the living world is complete.
Risen are revived corpses that retain a semblance of life and conscious self-awareness.
The risen have been brought back to complete some unfinished business with fearful and furious purpose.
Revived Corpse: ?
Macabre Steed, Deathly Steed: The macabre steed is an undead horse possessed by a spirit of necrotic energy from the Lower Planes.
Undead Horse: ?
