“You should see the skeletons in my closet.” - Kel’Thuzad
Hello people of Argent Dawn!
After a two month hiatus from the forums, I’m back to present to you an IC guide going into detail about the Undead. More specifically their biology, history and abilities. Hopefully this small guide helps others to better understand the nature of undeath, what it does and the types of creatures that are afflicted with it.
AA: https://www.argentarchives.org/node/224723
Section One:
- What are the Undead?
The undead, sometimes referred to as the dead or by the commonfolk walking corpses are being who have died and have had their souls become trapped between a limbo of life and death. These creatures are the result of necromancy, the study of the dead. They are seen as mindless horrific abominations by most, and are usually hostile to any living being they encounter. However some have still have retained their memories and intelligence from their former life. The undead have a fierce reputation of being one of the most dangerous creatures to come into the mortal plane of existance, and they deserve the maleviolent reputation. They are also one of the most diverse ones too.
However, being undead has its benefits. A being in an undeath state have immunities to many essentials they would of needed in life. Disease for example is one of them. A being’s cells cannot react to contact to another infectious organism as they are… well dead. From my studies, the only known disease that the undead are susceptible to is the Forsaken’s Plague, or Blight by some folk. This plague was designed to kill both living and undead foes a like and created by the Forsaken turncoat, Grand Apothecary Putress. But more on that later. Breathing or the need to eat, drink and sleep are also common beneficial factors when in the state of undeath.
Section Two:
- Biology
There are dozens if not hundreds of different kind of undead littered across the world. A person could easily identify one of these creatures by one of their most recognizble features. Rotting skin, loss of limbs, and of course their smell. Blood in an undead is non-existent and instead have been replaced by something dubbed “Ichor of Undeath” which is a green liquid that runs throughout their body, which upon my own studies serves no use at all. Some newly reanimated undead who still retain their past life memories still believe they need to keep doing their normal bodily needs, like breathing or having all their limbs together for example. Even though the necromantic magic substaining them has removed that function altogether. I myself have dubbed this as “Necro-Phantomism”.
Like all beings, the undead have souls, which are attached to their bodies in an unnatural way. Necromancy is the only thing preventing their spirits from properly conjoining with one another and moving on to the afterlife, or the Shadowlands by most. This can be a most discomforting feeling and can even be painful by some. It is also why the Light is the bane of their existance. However very few undead are immune to this effect, the most common form being the lich as their soul is not attached to their body, rather their phylactery and thus are immune to the painful and diminishing effects that the Light imposes on regular undead.
Unfortunately, those who are reanimated into undeath may suffer from some complications and vices. Insanity can be one of them. The sensation of being a literal walking corpse can be very tormenting to any individual, which in turn can revert them into a mindless and bloodthirty state. Some may have unnatural urges and vices that the Lich King instilled into them. The san’layn for example have beastial urge to consume blood or zombies, ghouls and even Sylvanas’ Forsaken can have the urge to eat living flesh. Most undead were at one point or still are subjucated to the iron will of the Lich King, and feel only his terrible and restless control over them. However there are those who see undeath as a gift, such as the Lich King’s living followers, the Cult of the Damned who see it as a path to immortality, and thus being undead amongst their ranks is considered a great honour.
Though the Lich King was powerful, there were still those who managed to break free from his grasp, such as Sylvanas Windrunner, former general of the armies of Quel’thalas who later formed a coalition of other freed undead that she called, the Forsaken, who later allied with themselves with the Horde. However, those who were once broke free are still tormented by the atrocities they commited while under the Lich King’s control, and are consumed by regret and in most cases revert back into their mindless states and back into the Lich King’s grasp. Others like the Forsaken and Ebon Blade accept their new “lives” and carry on. There are even others who don’t even remember their time as a servant within the Scourge.
Section Three:
- Creatures and Summary
When discussing the creatures of death I will be listing both corporeal and incorporeal undead. Starting with the most common forms, that being corporeal undead. This is a brief listing of some undead creatures, discussing their history and purposes.
Corporeal Undead
Skeletons
When undead comes to mind, many people think of the common skeletons. These are literally walking skeletons of once living being, whether be humanoid or beast. Though some still retain their magical intellect and can still conjure spells just like any normal mage would. They can range from warriors, archers and as I mentioned before, mages. You’ll find many skeletons as companion’s to necromancers or even death knights.
Ghouls
These undead usually act as footsoldiers or workers for the Scourge’s armies as they are one of most easily managable undead a necromancer can handle. However only a small handful of people actually know on how to reanimate and create ghouls. Their bloodthirsty inhuman instincts allow them to wreak havoc easily upon anyone and group! Though seen through both the mainly the Scourge, they also used by the Forsaken and of course the Ebon Blade. Ghouls are cannibalistic creatures and will eat both friend and foe alike. However they are also used for hard labour by the Scourge as well. Making them both soldier and worker in their respective fields.
Abominations and Flesh Constructs
First created in the catacombs of the Barov Family Home, now known as the school of necromancy; Scholomance, abominations are undead who are made by other stitched corpses to create a walking tank of flesh and bone. They are used by both major undead factions that being the Scourge, Forsaken and the Ebon Blade. They are the more developed type of undead as they range from the plague-dog to the colossal flesh-giant.
Death Knights
First created by the Shadow Council to combat the Alliance of Lordaeron armies, death knights have dramatically changed throughout the decades of war. The first generation of death knights were orc souls placed into the bodies of fallen Alliance knights. Most if not all of the first generation were wiped out during the Second War. The first Scourge death knights or the now new second generation were a much more powerful breed of death knight than their predecessors and instead of being just strictly orc souls, were fallen heroes of the Alliance. Either corrupted or reanimated by the Scourge. The death knights you see now however are the third generation and were used by the newly crowned Arthas’ Menethil to be his ultimate weapon against his enemies. Unfortunately for him, most of these would break free from his dominating grasp and form the Knights of the Ebon Blade.
San’layn
When Kael’thas Sunstrider allied himself with Illidan Stormrage to destroy the Frozen Throne, his dead elven followers were raised into vampiric beings known as the San’layn. These were the elite force of the Scourge who used blood magic or hemomancy to fuel themselves. From my understanding, not many of these beings are around anymore. However rumour has it that a simple bite from these undead elves can turn you into one of them! An interesting species of undead to say the least.
Liches
By far the most intelligent and powerful of all the undead, liches are large, floating skeletal beings commonly seen in robes and jewellery. They are former mages or necromancers who have bound their souls to something called a phylactery. An item that houses their soul which allows them to regenerate a physical form. So long a lich’s phylactery remains intact, they can never truely die and will always regenerate at their phylactery. All necromancers aspire to be liches, but few ever ascend.
Wrights
A strange form of zombie, wrights are large, hunched-over undead that act as body guards and tanks on the battlefield. It is mostly unknown how they came to be in their current state, but I would suggest that the plague of undeath may have mutated their bodily structure in way of deformity. Like most undead, they aren’t as bright as the rest and some would even assume they are dumber than the abominations or even ghouls for that matter. They are used in both the Forsaken, Ebon Blade and Scourge armies however, acting as soldiers and at rare times, couriers.
Incorporeal Undead
Ghosts and Spirits
The most common of the incorporeal forms of undeath, ghosts and or spirits are beings who have failed to past onto the afterlife due to them being tortured souls in their previous life. They writhe and shriek in the agony of undeath and will usually seek release whenever they gain the chance. Being incorporeal, mere iron or steel will simply have no effect on their being and either silver, enchanted weaponry or magic will be needed in order to cut them down.
Banshees / Spectres
Banshees or their male equivalant the spectre are elven woman with the ability to have a most unnatural scream which in the worse can scenario, can deafen anyone who hears it. The first banshees were highborne souls raised by the nathrezim or the dreadlords by most during the War of the Ancients, but they made a major apperance during the Third War when Arthas Menethil invaded Quel’thalas with the Scourge at his side and slaughtered and raise most of its inhabitants.
Shades
Shades are a unique kind of ghost and are spectral remains of a once living person. They often serve as spies and servants to the Scourge and like to inhabit deathly lands, such as Northrend or the Plaguelands. They exist only to serve their lord, the Lich King. Their most famous ability is becoming literally invisable at will, only detectable by magical means. For all you know, there could be one next to you at this very instant.
Val’kyr and Spirit Healers
Val’kyr were originally vrykul woman who ascended to the Halls of Valor. These being of the Light were created to serve the Titan Keeper, Odyn. The Val’kyr I refer to however are deathly being who serve Helya and the Lich King. However, after the Lich King’s defeat, the remaining Val’kyr pledged themselves to the Banshee Queen, Sylvanas Windrunner. Spirit Healers however are a more pleasant sight to look at. They are undead yet angelic being who chose not to join Helya in her realm; Helheim and instead chose to instead to guide lost souls to the Shadowlands while watching over the physical world after the sealing of the Halls of Valor.
Side Note
Feel free to leave any feedback or suggestions of what kind of guides related to the undead you would like to see next. I’m more than happy to give my insight on the deathly aspects of WoW Lore.