User:Reene/WWZ

OOC NOTE: For all reasonable intents and purposes, any character may consider this in-game, in-character knowledge as originally distributed to members of the Coalition and other interested parties by Caelumia herself, and likely copied and passed around second-hand after that.

[The multi-page document has been scrupulously copied by an apparently meticulous scribe on crisp off-white parchment.]

Necromancy and the Undead: A Treatise

Necromancy has a long history in and around Kermoria. Stories of its use stretch back to before written history and extend right into modern times, from the aptly named Fallen Prince to the likes of Velmix or Veyne. However, for obvious reasons, actual facts about the practice are scarce; after all, anybody that demonstrates more than the most vague and rudimentary notions of how one might create an undead creature or conjure flesh-eating necromantic acid tends to get strung up and burned alive for their trouble. This is the best course of dealing with their kind, but does leave us lacking when we are faced with "people" capable of doing just that, as the study of actual necromancy from even a scholarly point of view is nonetheless unacceptable. Still, despite these limitations, researchers have accumulated years of distant observations and put together portions of history to make some kind of sense of necromancy and its practitioners. What follows is a summary of some of that research as it may relate to the coming conflict, as well as a few of my own theories based on personal observation and study.

Necromantic magic distilled into its most base parts is a sorcery typically composed of Life mana mixed with any other kind of mana. Necromancy manifests invariably in themes of corruption, blood, bone, and acid, but mixed into the average Necromancer's repertoire tend to be other lesser petty sorceries such as Limb Disruption. Spiritual necromancy is a rare, separate subset of all of these, and few Necromancers have displayed the ability or inclination to engage in magic meant to manipulate the soul; the reasons for this are unknown, as it is certainly possible, though perhaps presents some extra difficulty or other obstacle that most cannot or do not wish to surmount. Dessication of the flesh and alteration of physiology - both that of the Necromancer's and that of his victims - occurs commonly however, either as a side-effect while accomplishing a different intended result or as a direct product of the tampering of the Necromancer. Examples of this can be either overt or subtle and include such acts as the rearranging of the caster's own flesh to create a sort of shield against physical attacks, or causing the pain senses of a victim to become so heightened that the slightest skin contact is agonizing. Having experienced the latter myself, I can say that it is no less terrible for its relative subtlety.

However, a Necromancer's "art" occasionally extends beyond common mutilation. Some of the most potent and deadly poisons and diseases in recorded history had necromantic origins; supernatural plagues engineered to spread, mutilate, and kill without further interference from the Necromancer, or else poisons capable of ripping the soul from the body of a victim and forcing it to walk the Starry Road. Instances of the latter are thankfully rare, though absolutely devastating when they have been used (see the deaths of nearly the entire Moon Mage High Council for an example of such) but there are still occasional breakouts of these necromantic plagues capable of devastating an entire city in a fraction of the time it would take a normal disease to spread. The recent consumption outbreak that temporarily crippled Rivercrossing and Riverhaven is an example of one such plague, having been developed and spread by Adan'f Necromancers. Once this consumption reached a certain presence threshold among the population, it was spread easily and readily by people simply being people: ignorant, frightened, and occasionally malicious.

The Undead

The most recognizable act of any Necromancer is, of course, the creation of undead beings. When your average person thinks of an undead creature, they imagine the classical image of a shambling, mindless zombie bent on inflicting as much raw destruction on behalf of its creator as possible. While this certainly happens, and their abundance is a good reason that it has become the iconic representation of an undead abomination, it is far from the only blasphemy in a Necromancer's repertoire. Corporeal undead are still by far the most common, ranging from from the mindless but vicious examples above to undead that seem to possess a startlingly cold intellect and the ability to plan, ambush, and even use magic. Further, there are recorded instances of undead creatures that not only retain their intellect and abilities, but portions of their personality and possibly even free will; more on these later.

Noncorporeal undead being controlled by Necromancers are rare in comparison but have been observed on a few occasions, and are typically possessing of much more startling abilities. The reason for their rarity is unknown; they may simply be so difficult to conjure and control that most Necromancers don't bother, they may require some extra component or ritual from the Necromancer, or there may be some other reason, as with spiritual necromancy in general, that most Necromancers do not dabble. No matter what the cause, we can be thankful that we rarely see Necromancers wielding them.

Liches are a special subset of undead, and understood to be Necromancers that have descended into the embrace of undeath to achieve formidable strength and a certain level of indestructibility and lasting power you might typically find in your average mountain. Details of this transformation are obviously not known, though it seems to come with unsurpassed power over their corporeal form, and whatever is left of the Necromancer's soul departs from the body, leaving their mind, memories and personality behind in a fleshy shell. Short of utter, complete destruction, liches cannot be destroyed through traditional means, however fond people are of speaking about fire and explosions as permanent solutions; assume that anything a modern-day adventurer could survive, a lich could easily recorporeate from. After all, if mere total incineration were enough to take someone permanently out of commission, we would not have very many Moon Mages.

Against all kinds of undead, Holy magic is the most effective tool of destruction. Non-Holy magic is impeded and weakened when used on corporeal undead and will fizzle without adding additional added power to the spell pattern, but most types may still be used to decent effect. Non-Holy magic won't work at all against noncorporeal undead, leaving one with the sole option of wielding a blessed weapon against them and hoping for the best. Bless is an absolutely vital addition to the arsenal of one wishing to go toe-to-toe with any undead creature, corporeal or non, and indeed a weapon that has not been Blessed will simply pass right through a noncorporeal creature.

Most prominent and interesting among research into the subject of the undead is the existence of an undead creature known as Penelope, or Lady P. Lady P was a Moon Mage and Astrologer of great distinction believed to have originally been born and died long before the Empire of the Seven-Pointed Star, and is best known for her research into the phenomenon of the Bloodworm Comet (which is at the time of this writing visible in the constellation of the Mongoose), thought to be a portent of great ill. She taught some of the most brilliant mages in the history of the guild, including Sanyrsen Astoshe, Guildleader Mortom Saist and Guildmaster Prime Taramaine Braun, and she was responsible for multiple breakthroughs in enchanting and spell research.

Oddly, and despite her incredible brilliance, Lady P presented a consistent attitude of obliviousness to her state. How she became undead was a topic of much contention, and since she would not talk about it and there was never any evidence to suggest she actively practiced necromancy, the subject was not pursued by most. Despite the designation by researchers as a lich she lived in relative peace until her final death at the start of the Mirror Wraith Prophecy. But despite this designation, Lady P herself never expressed the remotest inclination toward necromancy, nor the temperament you would expect to see in such an individual (Necromancers, particularly powerful ones, are invariably megalomaniacal, destructive, and arrogant creatures). Further, even a living Necromancer is nigh-impossible to kill successfully, with a nasty tendency to get back up; nevermind killing a lich. But on the contrary, when attacked, Lady P never raised so much as a hand against her attackers, instead begging them to stop and asking them why they would want to hurt her. When she fell, she did not get back up.

Why is this relevant to our discussion? Simple: If Lady P was not a Necromancer that transformed herself into a lich, then it follows that she must have been created by another Necromancer instead, with her personality, intellect, powers and free will intact; this is in stark contrast to the common vision of undead as never more than mindless, enthralled monsters. What became of her creator and why he never apparently intervened in her recorded life is unknown, but if one Necromancer could do it, we cannot assume that it is an isolated act. Thousands of shambling undead monsters is one thing, but giving them the ability to think and plot and feel is quite another. Indeed, the more exposure we have to Lyras's servants, ostensibly dubbed her lieutenants, the more we must realize that we need to tear down our preconceived notions of what a Necromancer is and is not capable of, and face a much more grim reality: Our opponent is more dangerous than we ever thought.

On Lyras

Lyras, alternatively known by epithets such as the Chaser of Cats and Dogs or (more recently) the Devourer, seems to break many of the rules we've come to identify. She wields powers of spiritual and corporeal necromancy the likes of which have never been seen before, and her army is vast and apparently under her near-total thrall. Little is known of the mortal Lyras was before her conquest and undeath, much less how she acquired her powers or why. What is known is that she was once a Warrior Mage and wielded Elemental magic before her descent into necromancy and undeath, and that she managed to acquire enough power to travel far to the west and begin her now-infamous subjugation of two entire species. While the combined forces of the Prydaen and Rakash as well as a few eastern-trained mages managed to ambush her, she rose again as the archetypal lich and forced the living remnant of the civilizations of the west out of their homeland. Though she did give chase, the Prydaen and Rakash did something she did not expect: forming a chain of people a mile wide, they collectively tapped into a huge reserve of every mana type in the spectrum, giving rise to a massive Barrier which was "part magic, part god-wish" that encircled their old homelands and prevented anyone or anything from getting in or out. Several died in the attempt, from both opportunistic attacks by the undead and sheer exhaustion, but the Barrier they created held for some six decades, reinforced and intrinsically tied to the souls of the Prydaen and Rakash Elders that helped make it.

In more recent times, Lyras finally engineered a way to shatter the magic keeping the Barrier in place. Seers and holy men alike across the land received vivid visions of a group of six mages on a hill with what later proved to be a depiction of the Barrier - a wall of golden light - in the background. These six casters wove an incredibly complex and powerful necromantic spell which sowed the seed of the Barrier's effective destruction: As the Elders are tied to the Barrier, the Barrier was tied to the Elders, and this corruption seeped into their own spirits and drove at least one of them temporarily mad. Eventually, the remaining Prydaen Elders died, some say as a mercy granted by their gods to free them from the suffering being inflicted upon them. In any case, this was the opening that Lyras needed, and more visions followed confirming that the Barrier was now useless against holding Lyras or her legions back. While vestiges of it remain, what glimpses Seers have been able to get show the once-golden wall of light as a corrupted, diseased-looking thing, permeated with sickening black and red streaks.

Curiously, Lyras seems to have mages of all types in her employ, not only Necromancers. Elemental and Lunar mages showing clear and obvious signs of having been formally trained in the east have been glimpsed in her retinue; Moongates for example, a spell westerners would not possess, have been observed receiving heavy use, presumably to help both bridge the massive distance between the east and west and position troops. Indeed, the relatively primitive technology and magical prowess recorded from the west combined with the lack of large, organized population centers suggests that Lyras likely originally chose the west as her initial staging ground in order to build a very large army composed of relatively intelligent, sentient undead with as little resistance as possible. As she possesses formally trained mages all the same despite the lack of the Prydaen and Rakash, it can be inferred that she either took these mages with her or created them at a later date from some of the sparser yet still eastern-educated groups found far to the west; most likely, both are true.

I shall not rehash and restate details regarding the composition, size and movements of her army here, as it has been tracked, observed, recorded and accidentally leaked most admirably by researchers in the Moon Mage guild. Within these documents however, researchers touched on the apparent difficulties involved in attempting to use any kind of clairvoyant magic or foresight against Lyras, and the inaccuracy inherent in using spells like Locate to attempt to triangulate her position. While they hypothesized that this was solely due to some mysterious influence from the Barrier, I believe this is only half the story. The Barrier may very likely throw up some interference to scrying attempts, but formal researchers have thus far failed to publicly take into account Lyras herself - that is to say, the possibility that there is something Lyras is doing, or something being done to her, that is occluding her from our senses. We have discovered for certain that spells relying on a connection to the Plane of Probability, such as Seer's Sense, experience violent backlashes when mages attempt to use them on Lyras or one of her Necromancer minions. This was an ominous confirmation of some suspicions for some, and a premonition for others.

Far-flung Seers for the past year have experienced visions of a great darkness with an aching hunger and a malevolent will with the power to consume an entire world; an entity whose machinations crush the very essence of Fate itself, killing symbols, destroying the forces of nature and devouring anything and everything, even the Immortals themselves. These visions have been both highly emotionally and physically traumatic to that have experienced them, inflicting everything from simple brain hemorrhage to coma to death on those that have been unfortunate enough to experience them. While Clerics and Moon Mages do not as a rule have very much common ground, those that have experienced these visions, witnessed Lyras herself and attempted to read her supernaturally have come to an uncommon accord: The seed of the proverbial End itself is tied intrinsically to Lyras's fate. Her destiny is clear and astonishingly obvious with any that have the eyes to See it, and while the entity responsible is not directly observable, its influence is painfully obvious.

It has thus far been the opinion of Tallis and many other less creative minds that Maelshyve, the demon and immortal demi-goddess, is the principle root and cause of this evil and that Lyras herself draws her power from Maelshyve somehow. I respectfully disagree with this assessment, and urge our leaders both public and private to see the true nature of this threat and take steps to deal with it. It is here however, unfortunately, that I run out of ideas. How does one stop the very essence of hunger itself that threatens to extinguish even the very idea of life? At the very least, this may help us understand our enemy better, and every shred of understanding gets us one step closer to potentially averting the tide of destruction that is ready to wash over us; at the very least perhaps by destroying the earthly shell that Lyras's cunning malice still occupies. Of course, liches are known to be notoriously difficult to truly kill, even when the Necromancer does not possess the skill and power that Lyras does. We will need to come together in the times to come if we stand even the remotest chance of figuring out a way to stop the threat of Lyras and her armies and destroy the lich Lyras has become.

Perhaps a volcano would work.

By my hand and will,
Fateweaver Caelumia Y'laeth
Academian, researcher and professor of the Moon Mage Guild and the Province of Zoluren

[Attached to the document is a sheaf of disorganized notes written in much sloppier handwriting.]

Miscellaneous Notes

Incomplete and likely inaccurate in places, but it is a reasonable start. If you want something done...

• Brittle skeletal peons
  • Utterly weak and ineffectual individually, but what they lack in strength they make up for in sheer irritating numbers.
  • Usually find them with the mutts.
  • Areas sighted: Northern Trade Route south of Kaerna in Zoluren.

• Fractured revivified mutt
  • Same as the peons, and they swarm together.
  • Unique throat-grabbing maneuver, potentially nasty and painful, at least if you're a paraplegic.
  • Areas sighted: Northern Trade Route south of Kaerna in Zoluren.

• Mange-covered rotting Prydaen/Rakash
  • Same crap, different woof. On par with faenrae reavers.
  • Areas sighted: Northern Trade Route south of Dirge in Zoluren.

• Rotting Elf corpse
  • Well isn't that unpleasant. About like sand sprites.

• Shambling Elf corpse
  • Same as the rotting ones.

• Mutilated transmogrified oaf
  • Comparable to silver leucros, maybe a little more challenging. Hard to tell.
  • Found with the beasts.
  • Areas sighted: Roads around the North Gate of Crossing in Zoluren.

• Noxious flea-ridden beast
  • Found with the oafs, with about the same killing power.
  • Resistant to puncture attacks. Blunts seem to work very well.
  • Areas sighted: Roads around the North Gate of Crossing in Zoluren.

• Cracked bone warrior
  • On par with a black leucro.
  • Resistant to puncture attacks.
  • Typically seen with the shambling horrors.
  • Areas sighted: Southern Trade Route north of Leth Deriel in Zoluren, along the road through the Dark Forest in Ilithi, general park region in Outer Hibarhvidar in Forfehdhar.

• Shambling horror
  • About the same as the warriors, and usually seen with them.
  • Areas sighted: Southern Trade Route north of Leth Deriel in Zoluren, along the road through the Dark Forest in Ilithi, general park region in Outer Hibarhvidar in Forfehdhar.

• Necrotic warrior
  • Same as the other warriors.

• Putrefying shambler
  • About like a small peccary or black leucro.
  • Areas sighted: Langenfirth in Therengia, Southern Trade Route in Ilithi.

• Leathery grey ghoul
  • About like the shamblers.
  • Areas sighted: Langenfirth in Therengia, Gorbesh Fortress in southern Ilithi.

• Preserved zombified Prydaen/Rakash
  • Same crap, different purr. Probably on par with geni.
  • Areas sighted: North Road in Therengia, out the West Gate of Shard in Ilithi, Sky Road west of the ford in Forfehdhar.

• Unctuous Rakash/Prydaen zombie
  • Comparable to celpeze or raiders.
  • Powerful magic resistance, like a bloody Barbarian. Figures.
  • Areas sighted: Gate of Therenborough, Therengia.

• Arisen Rakash ranger
  • Also a ranged user, and not a very good shot at that. Maybe comparable to orc scouts.
  • Areas sighted: Gorbesh Fortress in southern Ilithi.

• Stark white bone archer
  • Ranged user (obviously). Just one poor cliche after another, isn't it? Unsure of skill.
  • Areas sighted: Sky Road east of the ford in Forfehdhar.

• Amalgamated fleshreaper
  • Comparable to mature gryphons or plague wraiths (nasty magic resistance).
  • Massive! Large enough to stomp and create tremors to knock people in the area down. Sure Footing helps negate this effect. Bloody Warrior Mages.
  • Weak-minded and slow, extremely susceptible to psychic attacks or anything that requires it to move quickly. Didn't stay down very long though.
  • Areas sighted: Out the West Gate of Shard in Ilithi.

• Patchwork abomination
  • Ugly and about as mean as the fleshreapers.
  • Areas sighted: Out the West Gate of Shard in Ilithi.

• Gestalt draugen
  • Heard these compared to malchata.
  • Stealthy and difficult to see.
  • Massive and horrendous, vaguely canine and feline; has the same sort of biting attack as the mutts, but infinitely more deadly.
  • Areas sighted: Out the West and North Gates of Shard in Ilithi.

• Cadaverous assassin
  • Seem to be very dangerous, about the same as the draugens.
  • Areas sighted: Ilithi

• Cadaverous hulk
  • People I queried about this thing (sighted only rarely) mumbled 'Jhime' under their breath and wouldn't say much else. 'Nuff said.
  • Areas sighted: Near the ferry to Ain Ghazal in Forfehdhar, Ilithi.

Lieutenants

These all share the common trait of being undead Necromancers, as well as (presumably) the same spell pool. Of the three, Gurglesnout seems to be the least threatening while Klusarlaik is easily the most, with Tachid somewhere in between. Tachid referred to himself as "Risen," presumably by Lyras, and based on commentary by the other two I assume they are also creations of hers versus self-styled undead like Lyras herself. Curiously, when "dead," they seem to regain something of lucidity. Does this mean that Lyras clouds their thoughts? Is it simply the nature of their creation, or something else? Klusarlaik in particular begs for the mercy of oblivion. I am almost moved to pity.

Do not approach these creatures alone. Singular acts of aggression are more likely to be fatally stupid than they are heroic. All of them seem to be able to call undead troops to their locations and show amazing levels of endurance and the ability to regenerate wounds at an alarming rate, as well as the ability to instantly snap out of any kind of stun, immobilization, unconsciousness, or other disability. The cooperation of a middling to large group of people focusing as many damaging attacks on the Necromancer, preferably on a single body part such as the chest, is the most successful way of dealing with one of them in combat. Fire also helps, though it pisses Tachid off something mighty if you mention it.

• Tachid
  • Halfling. Remarkably well preserved, considering. Not sure what those sigils on his scalp do.
  • Been having visions of him for months. Seems almost childlike in temperament.
  • Handy with a throwing knife (seems to prefer butcher's knives) as well as various other necromancies.
  • Funny little bugger in a gallows humor sort of way.

• Gurglesnout
  • S'kra. Seems to be in good condition.
  • Prefers throwing blades. The only spells I saw him cast were not fatal ones.
  • Talkative, and apparently not as aggressive as the other two; he only attacked when we all started aiming at him.
  • We have begun to "affectionately" refer to him as Gigglesnout instead. I tentatively approve.

• Klusarlaik
  • Rakash. Horrendous condition, looks like she was really torn up before she was raised. Half her face and throat is missing.
  • Rumors that this is actually Sharlir. No clue there, but Klusarlaik definitely wasn't her original name - it means Dead in Rakash. She doesn't respond to Sharlir in the positive or negative. Not Sharlir, according to statements made by her during a lucid moment.
  • Seems to prefer using her bare hands. Only picks up a weapon when she needs to. Extremely bloodthirsty; even kills her own troops.