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The Undead
Life and death – the eternal circle of life. The natural order of the world. The way it has been, and the way it always will be. Or at least the way it should be, for magic, combined with the malice and thirst for power of certain races, has created abominations of nature, creatures of horrible appearance, and the most unnatural of these are those that go by the name of the Undead.
They are restless spirits, souls caught in the void between life and death. From beyond the threshold to the realm of the dead they look back on the world of the living, full of jealousy and loathing for the world they once inhabited. They refuse to bow to the natural order, sentencing themselves into an eternally cruel existence. A few of them manage to infiltrate the land of the living and manifest there by desecrating the bodies of the freshly dead or possessing the remains of those that died long ago. These revenants are the Undead, and no living creature is spared from their wrath, so driven by hate are these unnatural beings.
Their senseless appetite for destruction makes them ideal for the battlefield, and over the years, many mages have tried to harness the power of these creatures for their own purposes. These mages are know as Necromancers, and can control the hordes of the Undead, summoning them at will.
Even today, though the Convocation war has long passed, the world is still full of the remnants of these dark doings. Now leaderless, the armies of the Undead roam the lands, and many races can barely defend themselves against their destructive powers.
Ghoul
As horrible as the ghosts that return to the land of the dead to annihilate the living may seem, there are some that can surpass their cruelty – and they are, or rather were, the living themselves. Not all flee in terror at the sight of an army of the Undead, there are some that welcome them and revel in the suffering they bring. It is even said that some join the ranks of the revenants by choice, fighting and killing at their side, hoping to be rewarded with an endless existence as an Undead. They feed on the rotten flesh of the dead and wallow in putrescence, until their body begins to decay and their only desires are death, destruction and to feed on flesh. Thus they become themselves Undead and are some of the most cruel and dangerous, for they have chosen this path of their own free will.
The last remnants of this free will, however, make these creatures difficult to control by the workers of magic. But once they are on the battlefield and smell the fear in their enemies, taste the blood of their foes, they are a formidable foe. Their bite is especially dangerous; causing an infection that can kill even after days or weeks if left untreated.
Zombie
Hate is not the only force that brings spirits back from the land of the dead, greed can also resurrect these souls, their need to possess and devour helping them manifest in the physical realm. These carnal desires make them very easy to control. They possess the bodies of the recently dead, and with endless greed they kill and consume anything living that comes within reach, and are as tenacious and unstoppable as they are slow and simple-minded. They will kill anything that is not fast enough to escape their grasp, and follow a victim’s trail relentlessly to still their unnatural hunger. As long as the living continues to strive for power and fulfil their greed, there will be an endless stream of these creatures flooding into the world, much to the delight of their masters.
Skeleton
Endless wars have destroyed the face of the world, and the remains of the fallen are buried deep. They are the vessel that the spirits, driven by hate, can most easily possess and use to enter the land of the living, digging their way to the surface with bony fingers. Many of these spirits were once heartless murderers who continue after death what they began in life, gleefully inflicting pain and suffering on others. Their blind hate makes them easy to control, and obedient servants to the powerful necromancers. Their numbers are easily increased; the hordes of the damned waiting on the borders of death are sheer endless. Often the spirits still possess powers and skills they learned while living, giving the Undead the power of mages and necromancers
Spectre
From the vortex of hate, the chaos of anger, that rules the realm of the dead, a creature may rise that combines the destructive power of many. Born of the most awful thoughts, of the hate and pain of hundreds of tormented souls, this horror takes shape and roams the world like a nightmare, bringing death and destruction wherever it goes. With its weapons forged from pure hate and its magic of death, a spectre will cause much suffering until someone, something, can finally stop it. Thankfully, they are rare, yet the necromancer Hokan Ashir found a way to summon them almost at will. With these ghastly creatures, he formed a legion of spectres and sent it into battle against.
Wraith
Anger and the desire for revenge are powerful emotions, emotions that have brought down entire kingdoms and started many a war. They can also enable the spirits of the deceased to return to the land of the living, where the undead bring terror and death in their name. From the banks of the River of Souls these spirits return to take revenge and unleash their anger, but not only to those that wronged them in life – they will not stop until they have eradicated everything and anything that reminds them of their old life. These souls return as ghosts, apparitions, that do not need a vessel or body to contain them; they can manifest only through their desire to destroy. Few have survived to tell of these ghastly creatures, that stride through a battlefield, sowing death to any that stand in their path and reaping suffering. Wraiths are amongst the most powerful undead, and some of them even have magic skills that rival the strongest mages.
The Demons
From the depths of the earth the Red Horde streams constantly to the surface. They hunger for the flesh and souls of those born into the world and thirst for the thrill of killing. Long ago, they came from the burning gorges of the Barga Gor and their number was legion. The armies of the world fought valiantly to drive back these creatures, but in the end, the power of the Gods was necessary to collapse the Barga Gor and banish the demons into the caverns below the surface. Yet still, they strive to come ever closer to the light, and will readily appear for those who would summon them from the depths. They fight with passion, and only one powerful in the arts of magic can hope to control their bloodrage.
No one knows their exact origin, but many believe demons are left-over souls that the Great Smith threw into the fire of the earth, repulsed by their malice. For whenever Bjarne, the Soulsmith, takes a new soul from the River of Souls to form it for a new life, he checks his work carefully. Many souls are filled with such viciousness or guilt that he throws them back into the blaze, for never would he be able to form good from them. And so they burn, unable to return to the River of Souls, until their evilness forms its own shape. Deformed figures they are, ugly and grotesque, yet malice and greed give them power that those born on the surface learn to fear even in their dreams. Even though they lurk many miles below the earth, their power reaches far and their faces live in the twitching shadows, the dark corners and nightmares of the world as a sempiternal memorial of danger. And as the world becomes more and more evil and cruel, the more these creatures ache to reach the surface, where they would celebrate the victory of their unnatural existence in their thirst for war.
Gargoyle
Their spirits flow from the abyss and form rock in their image, permeating the world of the living to kill in stony form and prepare for the onslaught of the horde. They are scouts and harbingers, watchers, who from the roofs of towers and houses are constantly on the look-out for victims, whom they seize and throw into the depths of the earth as a sacrifice to the horde. Of all demons, they are the easiest to control. Once a body has been formed from rock, it is simple to summon a Gargoyle spirit and fill the rock with unholy life. Thus summoners have always valued their use as guards and servants. The people, however, look up to the stony, distorted faces on mages’ towers with fear, for no one knows if they may not come alive one night and begin the hunt for new victims…
Lesser Demon
They are the mass and power, an endless onrush from the depths. Under the earth’s protective crust, their greed grows and anyone who summons them to the battlefields of the world unleashes their thirst for killing in a orgy of death. They know neither tiredness nor remorse and like a red storm will consume anything and everything in their path. Their unholy claws penetrate both iron and flesh with ease, their acidic slobber and burning blood turning the ground to ash. Any land where the Reds wage war is doomed to become a barren desert of ash and blackened rock, where a dark sky full of dust smothers all life. Only the glowing blood of the earth that springs out of the surface with them sheds light in these dark places.
The lesser demons mainly use their claws and fangs to kill, but there are a few amongst them that command the power of Fire Magic. Demons are difficult to control, but many a summoner has managed to force the hordes of lesser ones to do his bidding.
Succubus
Though there are fewer of them, a Succubus is by far more dangerous than the lesser demons. Born from sin and decadence, they are more evil and wicked than any lesser. With the power of their seduction, they constantly strive to lull those born on the surface into subjection through visions and dreams, always hoping to find a way to the surface where blood and flesh await. Once they are freed from their prisons, they show their true faces, swarming out like hordes of bats, gleefully killing anything that comes their way. Most kill with their bare hands, but they are also able to use weapons. Their true dangerousness, however, is the magic they are able to wield. They can control fire as well as they can the mind, and often drive their victims to insanity with their power.
Greater Demon
Among the flow of the lesser demons they wander, as leaders and hurriers, cracking their flaming whips over the heads of their servants to drive them forward. They are the most powerful of the Reds and it is they control the horde’s destiny. The feared barters between greedy mages and the demons are their doing, and it is the goal of any summoner to learn the true name of a Greater Demon and thus gain control over him. To date, only one mage has ever managed to control such a demon. Uram the Red, member of the Circle and a master summoner, unleashed the Red Horde in all their cruelty in the Convovation War. With his power of a single Greater Demon, he was able to command an army that destroyed every other on the battlefield - except for one, but that is a tale best told another time.
The only way to control a Greater Demon is by learning his true name, and there are few that have lived to tell of an encounter with these creatures. Their flaming tentacles, claws and fangs bring swift death and they command the power of fire like no other - anyone claiming that a Greater Demon is match for an entire army is not exaggerating.
Ancient creatures and Wildmen
Magic and growth are closely entwined in Ura. The magic of the world permeates and changes all life that is created. Throughout their evolution, all living beings have undergone many changes, but from times before the higher races first saw the light of day, some creatures have survived almost unchanged - creatures as wondrous as they are dangerous. Some of these creatures even resemble the human form, a fact that has puzzled writers and scholars for generations.
Strange places and areas where the magic of the world in particularly strong seem to attract these beings, yet no one has ever managed to truly understand their goals. What is known, however, is that they are as merciless and cruel as the elements they have withstood for centuries. And even if though they ally with none, they have been used in many a war and made slaves of destruction. Their raw strength and animal traits especially were put to use by the dark races to strengthen their armies.
Thus they are known chiefly as killing beasts, but their true nature and the background of their heritage remains shrouded in mystery.
Beastman
Many believe the Beastmen originate from Urgath, a land of swamps, full of foul morass, the air a poisonous fog. Much evil has come form those jungles – even long before the Dark Races fled from Urgath – including the race of Beastmen, also known as Brutes.
Dark and malicious creatures they are, their spirit animated by the simple instincts of feeding and killing. They live in small groups or tribes, plundering, pillaging and murdering at will. Although they themselves are not able to command magic, their connection to it is strong, thus they can often be found near magical or special places. Brutes also enjoy driving others from their homes and settling there themselves.
The Beastmen were enslaved by the Dark Ones in the war against the Old Races; some believe that this is how they came to Fiara and were able to spread. In Urgath, they were almost completely exterminated by the Dark Races. Their numbers in Fiara were relatively small, at least until the Circle began breeding them as soldiers for their armies. Now they can be found in the few remains of the Circle’s armies, hidden away in remote regions
Minotaur
Horned Ones – are a battle-eager race, whose life’s work often consists only of plundering and killing. The Minotaurs however, stem from southern lands, their origin presumably lying in the hostile region of Xu. The Circle believed they were used by the Shapers as guards and soldiers, a theory that is at least partly confirmed by the Minotaurs’ rune writing bearing more than a passing resemblance to that of the Shapers. Unlike their beastly brethren from Urgath, the Minotaurs are proud and their simple rune tablets show the history and songs of their ancestors.
Perhaps the Horned Ones would have grown in number and become a nation if the Dark Gods had not made Xu the home of their slaves. Thus the Minotaurs were soon made servants of the Dark Ones, slaves of war. With the flight of the Dark Ones and the War of Six Races they also found their way to Fiara.
After having also been recruited into the armies of the Circle, they can be found only in remote regions, much like the Beastmen, sometimes even living together with the Brutes and joining them in the plundering. Their superior intellect and great strength make them the natural leaders of such groups.
Giant
The Giants are ancient. Their footsteps shook the earth even before the Dragons ruled the skies or the Shapers created their huge cities. Their realm was the mountains, the impenetrable and hostile peaks covered in snow, where they lived and reigned undisturbed. Their sheer strength and size enabled them to resist the wrath of the elements, and like the perpetual storms above the peaks, they defied the changes of the centuries.
So they have wandered the land since the beginning of time. The legends of the Northern Realms tell of Giants that are so old that they have earned the respect of the forces of nature themselves. The winds speak to them and the icy northern storms greet them respectfully as they stride among the summits.
Although Giants possess a quick intellect and some have even managed to learn a language in the course of their long lives, their capacity for reason is not as well-developed as that of other races. They are stubborn, vengeful and greedy, as well as being cruel and merciless. This combination of cruelty and greed enabled the Mages of the Circle to use these creatures for their own purposes. In the Convocation War, many armored Giants strode into battle, where the wreaked unimaginable havoc and destruction amongst the ranks of the enemy.
Ogre
Unlike their ancestors the Giants, the heavily-built Ogres can be found almost throughout the world. They have adapted to the changing conditions in many areas and often live in small groups or settlements. And though they have lost some of the strength and size of their ancestors, their cruelty and greed remain unchanged. Thus they also were susceptible to the promises of the Dark Ones and fought alongside them when the Fial Darg began the War of Six Races. In the Convocation War, they were a welcome reinforcement for the armies of the Circle.
Since these days of war, the Ogres are counted among the Dark Races, but if the truth be told, they will simply plunder and pillage anything that looks weak or defenceless enough. Most of their knowledge of battle, however, does indeed stem from wars fought alongside the Dark Ones, and some have learned to adore Zarach or even learn the orcish spirit magic.
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Spellorce