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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 9124026" data-attributes="member: 2209"><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/437046/Iron-Kingdoms-RPG-Borderlands-Survival-Guide?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">Iron Kingdoms RPG: Borderlands Survival Guide</a>5eSand Dervish: Sand dervishes are the remains of mighty warriors who perished before fulfilling a sworn oath or task.Sand Dervish, Sentient Whirlwind, Angry Ghost Made Out of Sand That Carries Around Some Damned Sharp Swords, Ambusher: ?Sand Dervish, Tormented Spirit: ?Fallen Knight: Like the other Iosans who were present in the nation when Scyrah and Nyssor were assassinated, the Fane Knights were either transformed or destroyed. Some, realizing that their duty was at its end, became eldritch, leaving the fanes behind to seek a new fate elsewhere. Others simply perished, released from their holy obligation. For a small handful, however, their ultimate failure was too great to accept. Now called Fallen Knights, the oaths of these individuals continued to hold, even after their bodies had vanished.What little I have heard about such beings demonstrates that the convictions of duty and faith can sometimes persist beyond death. —Edrea LloryrrFallen Knight, Sentinel Who Will Never Tire: ?Reliquary: The death knell of the gods had many long-lasting effects on Ios. While the most obvious was the transformation of all living, ensouled elves who survived into eldritch, this was far from the only repercussion. In the lost and forgotten laboratories of House Vyre, another change took place.Long-abandoned experiments were awakened anew by the deaths of Scyrah and Nyssor. The infants who had been vivisected in the depths had lacked souls, but something awoke from the remains of their bodies—something that spread outward to infest the arcanikal vessels that entombed them. Thus were born the abominations called reliquaries.Reliquary, Abominable Thing, Hideous Simulacrum of Crytal Metal Bone and Spirit, Unholy Fusion of Vengeful Ghost and Broken Arcanika, Walking Nightmare, Abomination, Horrific Amalgamation of Glass Metal and the Bones of Those Who Were Taken Apart in the Labs of House Vyr: ?Tormented: Near the ancient aeryth known as the Twilight Gate, battles between the Iosans and the skorne scarred the land in ways that might never heal. Here, elven magic and arcanika clashed with skorne mortitheurgy, and countless skorne warbeasts perished under the lash or were cut down by Iosan weapons and myrmidons. So much death soaked into the earth that it transformed the very plant life and created the horrifying creatures known as tormented.More than merely the ghosts of skorne warbeasts, the tormented are composite creatures, made up of the suffering of innumerable beasts and the eddying remnants of skorne mortitheurgy, activated by the arcane backlash that flowed outward from the murder of the elven gods—the same backlash that transformed elves into the undead eldritch they now are.Tormented, Horrifying Creature, Spirit of a Sort, Physical Creature, Scream of Pain and Anger, Echo of the Suffering of Countless Skorne Warbeasts Torn by a Lash They Can Never Escape, Composite Nightmare, Composite Creature: ?Tormented Light Warbeast: ?Tormented Heavy Warbeast: ?Shaft Wight: Most were once miners, buried by cave-ins and collapsing tunnels and left to suffocate in the darkness beneath the earth. Some were consumed by such terror at the thought of their inevitable deaths and clung to life so strongly that they fueled a terrible transformation. The desperate imperative to free themselves endured past death—hours after they died, each clawed free of their earthen tombs with hands stripped of flesh and twisted into bloody talons.The extensive mining operations of the Rhulfolk present an elevated risk of tunnel collapse and the creation of shaft wights.A humanoid killed by the shaft wight’s Constitution Drain or Gravel Vomit rises as a shaft wight 24 hours later unless the humanoid is restored to life or its body is destroyed.A notable clan figure swore to put an end to a shaft wight infestation that has plagued the clan’s mines for generations. Unfortunately, this noble warrior was turned into one of the undead creatures—and now the whole mine’s worth of them are marching on the warrior’s home, with the undead dwarf leading the column.Shaft Wight, Dangerous Undead Creature: ?Shaft Wight, Undead Dwarf: ?Macabre Mistral: Many things can cause a macabre mistral. The tremendous death and destruction wrought on battlefields leads some areas to become haunted with the spirits of fallen soldiers. Once in a great while the weight of so much wanton carnage condenses into a wind of undead misery. Veins of necrotite ignited by flame have also been known to create this deadly wind. It is possible that the haunted mists of Ios after the Claiming could whip into such a frenzy of sorrow that a macabre mistral could be created.Macabre Mistral, Wind of Undead Misery, Deadly Wind, Wind, Whispering Zephyr: ?Eldritch, Undead Eldritch: The origins of the eldritch began long ago. The first of them arose from the Cult of Nyrro in Eversael.The Sundering is the name given to the moment when the gods Nyssor and Scyrah perished and to the arcane aftermath of their passing. When Goreshade’s ally Elara used his sword to slay the gods, it caused a spiritual shockwave that passed to the very borders of Ios. In a moment, all the Iosans and Nyss within the nation faced one of two fates.The first and larger of the two groups perished. When the escaping essence of the gods washed over them, the spirits of these elves flew along with that tide. Young and old, sick and hale died in an instant as their souls left their bodies, mingling with the energy of the gods before dispersing from Caen. What happened to that great collective of spiritual essence is not known, but there are still threads of it in Ios, drifting in the dead mists and clinging to certain sites like strands of old webs.The second, smaller group died as well, but their death was not the end. They transformed into eldritch. Once, this transformation was known only to the Nyrro cultists who pioneered it in an effort to escape true death, and required a prolonged ritual marked by a series of brutal sacrifices to achieve. Even the mighty lord of House Vyre had to bow to the Auricant of the cult for the privilege of becoming one of these creatures. That was no longer the case. What once required weeks occurred in the span of a single breath.No one is certain what distinguished the first group from the second nor why the influence of the gods’ death was contained to Ios. The original eldritch cultists have plumbed their lore for any answers to such questions but remain as unknowing as the rest of their reborn kin.The following rules provide player characters the option to become eldritch themselves, either due to the effects of the Sundering or through transformation brought on by another eldritch. In order to become an eldritch, a character must have once been either an Iosan or Nyss elf, as this condition is unique to those particular lineages.Before playing an eldritch, the first question the player must answer is how the character underwent this change. Were they one of the masses who transformed during the Sundering, or does their eldritch origin have some other source? The Cult of Nyrro has bestowed the “gift” on others in the past, such as Lord Ghyrrshylld, and the character might have been one of these special individuals. Or it is possible they were transformed by one of the new generation of eldritch following the Sundering: a family member, friend, or even rival could be responsible.Though they might not think so, those who became eldritch in the Sundering agreed, at least at some level, to continue on in undeath. But that is not always the case. Those who became so before or after the event might not have been given the choice. For them, the eldritch state might be a curse, unwanted and irreversible.Prerequisite(s): To become an eldritch, you must meet the following requirements:• Elf. You must be of Iosan or Nyss lineage.• Constitution 13. The transformation is not easy. Those who do not possess physical rigor are not able to exist in this undead state.• Unique Genesis. You must either have been one of the elves in Ios during the Sundering who suffered the full effects of that apocalyptic moment, find an eldritch willing to transform you through ritual art, or have been the victim of such a creature.Were you cursed by the death of your gods, did you pursue this fate instead of the uncertainty of what would happen upon your death, or are you the victim of another of eldritch who thrust this existence on you?In the Iron Kingdoms setting, only Iosans and more recently Nyss can become eldritch. This state is unique to the elven descendants of the Empire of Lyoss, and creatures of other types simply are not compatible on a spiritual level with such a condition.Like the other Iosans who were present in the nation when Scyrah and Nyssor were assassinated, the Fane Knights were either transformed or destroyed. Some, realizing that their duty was at its end, became eldritch, leaving the fanes behind to seek a new fate elsewhere. Others simply perished, released from their holy obligation. For a small handful, however, their ultimate failure was too great to accept. Now called Fallen Knights, the oaths of these individuals continued to hold, even after their bodies had vanished.The death knell of the gods had many long-lasting effects on Ios. While the most obvious was the transformation of all living, ensouled elves who survived into eldritch, this was far from the only repercussion.More than merely the ghosts of skorne warbeasts, the tormented are composite creatures, made up of the suffering of innumerable beasts and the eddying remnants of skorne mortitheurgy, activated by the arcane backlash that flowed outward from the murder of the elven gods—the same backlash that transformed elves into the undead eldritch they now are.Eldritch, Undead Elf, Predatory Creature, Entity, Thinking Undead, Unique Undead, Undead Iosan: ?Recently Transformed Eldritch: ?Ambitious Eldritch: ?Eldritch Maker: ?Lord Gyrrshyld, Goreshade, Lord of Vyre, Most Notorious Eldritch: Though they were initially reluctant, the Cult of Nyrro agreed to share their secret of undeath with the Lord of Vyre. He emerged from the catacombs beneath the city transformed and set out on a decades-spanning plot that would see him ally with the undead armies of Cryx, challenge the last of the living elven gods, and eventually bring about the undeath of the vast majority of elves in the world.Oldest Most Powerful Eldritch: ?Eldritch Scholar: ?Eldritch Master: ?Sythyss: Create Sythyss feat.Sythyss, Sythyss Servant: ?Iron Lich: ?Iron Lich, Sentient Undead, Thinking Undead: ?Hungry Sepulchral Lurker: ?Undead, Undead Creature: ?Undead Construct: ?Calling Spirit: ?Calling Spirit, Incorporeal Undead: ?Incorporeal Undead: ?Mindless Being: ?Sentient Undead: ?Ghost: ?CREATE SYTHYSSPrerequisite: EldritchYou have learned to master the art of transforming those killed by your touch into unliving servants bound to your will, the sythyss. When an Iosan or Nyss elf dies from your Dread Touch attack, you can choose to raise it as a sythyss servant.Raising a sythyss requires you to use an action and touch an Iosan or Nyss killed by your Dread Touch attack within the last hour. The target gains the sythyss template (see the Eldritch entry in Monsternomicon) and follows your commands to the best of its ability, with no regard to its own safety.You can have a number of sythyss bound to you equal to your proficiency bonus. If you attempt to raise another sythyss beyond this number, the attempt fails.After using this feature, you can’t use it again for 10 days.</blockquote>

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