[✗] [Playable CA Lore] Greater Undead

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

 

Greater Undead

The Pale and their Lords

A newborn Malchediael witnessing the rebel Undead of the Nether; 

progenitors to the first Pale Knights.

 

The Consumption Ritual

Whether coaxed artificially from a soul-cradle or spawned from wild feats of necromancy in the wake of mass slaughter, all apparitions are comprised of tens of geists which have been forced to share a singular, damned host. 

 

Apparitions differ in scale and power depending on how many geists they were made from. For artificial amalgams formed by necromancers, this is achieved by gathering a minimum of [20] anima fragments in a soul-cradle before they are spent in birthing the apparition through the Primal Resurrection ritual.

 

If an apparition is defeated, pacified or conquered, its geists may be devoured by a killing blow with the Leech, Siphon or Spiriting spells. Consuming so many damned souls would mean instant death for any unworthy necromancer, adding their own soul to the apparition as it is rejuvenated and escapes. Pale knights fortified by undeath as well as those who have completely mastered the school of necromancy, however, may narrowly stomach these devoured souls to ascend to new heights as a pale lord or wight.

 

• Apparitions may only be played as ST Event characters and cannot be represented by players.
  • Apparitions may be born as wild event characters as per their lore or created by the Primal Resurrection ritual found under the Necromantic Rituals section of Reaving and Occultism.
• Though the semantics of the Consumption Ritual must be gleaned through roleplay, draining a fallen apparition is an obvious course for any character with the Leech, Siphon or Spiriting abilities to attempt and thus cannot be gatekept knowledge.
• The Consumption Ritual requires ST oversight, and may only be successfully undertaken by a pale knight or a living necromancer who currently has accepted MAs in Reaving, Occultism and Exorcism. The necromancer must currently be Tier 5 in ALL of the listed MAs. 
  • Any who attempt the Consumption Ritual without these prerequisites will have their souls devoured by the apparition which then escapes with it, resulting in a PK. The apparition then becomes an ST Event asset.
• The Consumption Ritual is immediately followed by the effects outlined in the Pale Lord section of the Pale Knights [CA] or the Creation section of the Wight [CA].

 

Pale Knights

[CA]

Inheritors of Drauchreim’s legacy - wittingly or not - the greater undead are successors to the first Undead; Aegisian descendants whose souls were offered into Iblees’ Nexus, their bones and rotting flesh sustained by the Betrayer’s power. With Iblees’ defeat came the collapse of Drauchreim as the Abyss blossomed from the ruins of Aegis. Abundant lifeforce spilled out from the deep, Entombing the Nether and raising the fallen which Availer had failed to save, independent of the Betrayer’s power, whilst many among Iblees’ loyal Undead found themselves sustained in their master’s absence. 

 

It was in the ensuing civil war, the theft of Necromancy by the Old Lords’ Entombing and the First Synod’s delving, that the first Pale Knights were born. Greater undead sorcerors, soldiers and behemoths, ‘pale knights’ encompass the draugars, darkstalkers and eidola of yore, wrought together by Mordring’s innovations in Soul and Bone and sustained by the lifeforce and ectoplasm of necromancers, with souls bound to no nexus, but worldly phylacteries of menhir. 

 

Borne to dark enchantment, pale knights have inherent powers aping the spells of necromancers. There are even those who, like the transcendent wights, have conquered and devoured an apparition to bolster their anima and evolve into lords in their own right. The Pale Lords are higher variants of the aforementioned, becoming liches, deathknights and titans capable of siring new pale knights without need of a living necromancer.

Spoiler

Explanation

Creation

Pale knights are risen either from prolonged death or in one fell swoop of murder and revival by necromancers or pale lords capable of the Greater Resurrection ritual (detailed under the Necromantic Rituals section of Reaving and Occultism, found HERE), whereupon a lone wight or pale lord or a trio of participants come upon a stone monolith and bind a living descendant, a corpse, ghoul, ghost or soul reachable by Exorcism’s Seance spell to a fitting stone monolith. 

 

Through a complex array of ectoplasmic enchantments and abundant offerings of lifeforce this monolith is transformed, set alight as an unseen beacon in the Elysian for the dead or dying soul of their target to return to as its phylactery. Henceforth the target of the rite would escape the Soul Stream’s cold grasp, reborn as a pale knight.

 

• Pale knights are undead creatures and cannot FTB. 

 

Phylacteries

Pale knights and lords alike are undead beings artificially tethered to the lands of the living through grim spellcraft. Sorcerers, soldiers, and behemoths are all bound and - in the view of some - protected from the reach of the Soul Stream. Though their souls are supernaturally retained in bodies of flesh, bone, and stone, they can still be slain. As such, whenever a pale knight is defeated their damned soul is let loose and, without intervention, sent hurtling toward the purgatory of Ebrietaes.

 

Therein lies the phylactery’s purpose. These hexworked obelisks, overflowing with lifeforce, are gateways used to coax the souls of pale knights back to the mortal plane to ensure their dark rebirth. Each monolith carves a unique pathway across the Elysian Wastes for their respective pale knight’s soul to follow back to the living world. As such, a phylactery’s bespoke enchantments can never be replicated nor shared. 

 

This obelisk is heavy menhir and for all intents and purposes immobile through most means. A pale knight, however, has full dominion over their phylactery as it is uniquely attuned to their soul. Exclusively outside of combat, pale knight sorcerors may exert a telekinetic will over their phylactery to have it trail after them in the air at a range no greater than [4] blocks, whilst soldiers and behemoths can carry their own phylactery with a unique strength. The initiation of combat in these circumstances would cause the phylactery to crash back down to the floor without taking damage. In this regard a pale knight may move their own phylactery with ease, though in all other circumstances the strength of a golem or equivalent would be required to do so.

 

Phylacteries are made from ectoplasm-fortified stone, known as menhir. Capable of ‘healing’ gradually from minor chips and scrapes, this dark rock is laden with abundant lifeforce and mana. In order to outpace its magical reconstruction, within [3] consecutive rounds of emotes or 30 OOC minutes (whichever comes first), a phylactery must be subjected to any combination of: [8] strikes from warhammers, pickaxes, maces, or concussive Voidal spells, [4] strikes from a golem, titan, or high-density boomsteel weapon, [4] gouts of continuous dragonsfire, [4] strikes from a templar’s furiously inflamed weapons or magical spells or [4] necromantic drains such as those available to pale knights/pale lords, reavers or occultists.

 

Should a pale knight’s phylactery be destroyed, they will be met with an immediate sense of shock and anxiety, understanding immediately that their next defeat shall be their last. Once shattered, the security offered by a phylactery is lost forever and the pale knight is condemned to their final days, for should their body be sufficiently damaged again they shall truly die; their soul made belated fodder for the Soul Stream and its judgement.

 

• All pale knights are given a phylactery at the time of the Greater Resurrection ritual. This is always menhir, which must be represented mechanically by an obelisk consisting of a minimum of [1] block width and [6] blocks height to a maximum of [3] blocks by [3] blocks width and [10] blocks height. The phylactery must stand upright and may only be toppled by the methods outlined in the destruction paragraph above. This phylactery is marked with an ST sign specifying the pale knight it belongs to. 
• Phylacteries host enchantments of ectoplasm and lifeforce, NOT the souls or anima of pale knights or pale lords. As such, they cannot be targeted by the anima-draining spells of necromancy or malflame. 
  • These enchantments prevent phylacteries from being moved by Menhir Masonry, Voidal Translocation or Blood Magic’s Hail ritual.
• If a phylactery is destroyed, destroying players must /sreq to ensure the destruction RP is valid and must either be overseen by an ST in the moment or provide screenshots for the ST if none are available. Once destroyed, the ST must comment on the pale knight’s CA to track this destruction and notify the pale knight player in question.
  • Once their phylactery has been destroyed and the pale knight player has been informed, their character loses the ability to revive and must PK upon their next death. This PK clause only goes into effect once the pale knight player has been informed. Dying before being made aware of their phylactery’s destruction will not necessitate a PK.
  • Once destroyed, a pale knight may never recover their phylactery nor be bound to a new one, making their next death an inevitable PK. 
• Though pale knight characters are fully aware of their respawn mechanics and functional ‘immortality’, which they are able to exploit through reckless or self sacrificing actions, committing suicide to escape combat or imprisonment as a pale knight is strictly disallowed and would be considered Bad Villainy, subject to ST enforcement. 

 

Pale Lords

With access to their own phylactery and the mettle to do so, a pale knight may conquer an apparition - a paramount phantom amalgam of tens of lost souls - and consume it, bolstering their own enfeebled souls with abundant anima to evolve, elevating to the mantle of lordship over the undead and delving deeper into their innate necrotic potential. 

 

Pale lords are created when a pale knight undergoes the Consumption ritual (outlined under the Wight [CA] section of this post) within close proximity of their phylactery, where it can be physically accessed without barrier and is put at risk as an apparition is conquered and stolen into its network of grim enchantments. 

 

Immediately after triumphing the pale knight would siphon the apparition’s essence into themselves and become bloated and enfeebled, overwhelmed by the immensity of their excess anima. The pale knight would feel an instinctive urge to touch their phylactery, whereupon its menhir stone would naturally open, revealing a throne carved within. Should they resist (or be barred from) its tug, the pale knight would inevitably perish as their soul is devoured by the dazed apparition, which would reawaken within [10] emotes of its defeat and consumption. 

 

If the successful pale knight is able to sit upon their phylactery’s throne, the menhir obelisk will close behind them and leave them entombed. For one year ([1] OOC week) the greater undead shall slumber as their undead body and soul undergoes a dark metamorphosis from which the transformed body of a pale lord will emerge, carrying with it their own soul irreparably congealed with those of the devoured apparition.

 

These lords bear not only enhanced forms, but advanced mastery over lifeforce and ectoplasm, gaining additional spells from the arsenals of necromancers as well as access to the Cradle, Lesser and Greater Resurrection rituals, allowing them to create new apparitions, ghosts, ghouls and pale knights without need of a living necromancer.

 

Knowledge of this process and the semantics of the Consumption ritual becomes apparent in a revelation given to any pale knight who physically touches their own phylactery, otherwise this information is not inherent.

 

• Becoming a Pale Lord via the Consumption ritual requires ST oversight and a comment from the presiding ST on a Pale Knight’s [CA] should the ritual succeed.
• Should a pale knight be slain during the Consumption ritual and their phylactery broken in the same encounter (by the apparition or otherwise), they will be PK’d. Likewise, if a pale knight is slain or otherwise prevented from entering their phylactery for [10] or more emotes after consuming an apparition, the apparition will re-awaken and steal their soul with it, PKing the pale knight. In addition, during the [1] OOC week in which the pale knight is shelved before remerging as a pale lord, they would suffer the same fate should their phylactery be destroyed; vulnerable to the aforementioned PK clause.
• The pale knight’s phylactery must be mechanically accessible throughout the encounter. Besides this change and the semantics of a pale knight’s metamorphosis, this process is identical to the Consumption ritual as would be undergone by necromancers seeking the Wight [CA], and thus adheres to all of the guidance and restrictions detailed under that section of this post. 

 

Mental State

Divorced from the whims and urges of the flesh as the undead body calcifies or decays into a distant echo of its living form, so too does the risen mind.

 

Regardless of their category, all pale knights have equal potential for intelligence, cunning, and theoretical understanding, however their ability to apply these faculties is often constrained by the physical and magical limitations of their subtype. 

 

Unlike the likes of inferi whose minds are recontextualised in the Infernal Climb, undead creatures retain all of their memories of their past lives and may optionally cling to past virtues such as religions, cultures, familial and national sentiments. There is a broad spectrum of opinion within the pale legions as to if their resurrection marks a true ‘rebirth’ and beginning of a ‘new life’, or a direct continuation of the life that came before. 

 

Regardless of inheritance from or rejection of their descendant selves, all undead are in some way altered in their emotional state when contrasted with the living. A new race in their own right, undead creatures are stripped of their racial curses and blessings; once-orcs are no longer marred by rage and bloodlust, once-dwarves no longer driven by greed, once-humans no longer promised peace in the Seven Skies and so on. 

 

With this, as well as the practical numbness of undead forms no longer sustaining complex nervous systems, many undead become plagued with apathetic or depressive tendencies whilst others thrash desperately against inaction and placidity, becoming wrathful and volatile. Prone to bouts of blind rage or profound sorrow respectively, all undead are subject to what Xionists have dubbed ‘the Old Dark’; a recognition that, unlike living mortals distracted by the necessities of the flesh, undead left to inaction teeter dangerously between extremes of depression and madness.

 

Pale Lords

 

Having taken into themselves an amalgam of souls foreign to their own, pale lords share their undead psyche with those of the numerous geists they have consumed. Though the soul and mind of the original pale knight remain the dominant centre of pale lords, their thoughts are plagued by the often quarreling voices, opinions, tastes, malices, attachments, and motivations of the other souls forced to witness the world through their jailer’s evolved form.

 

Put plainly, pale lords maximise the woes of undeath in their discordant state. Strings of thought and purpose will inevitably be riddled with internal doubts, ridicules or outright objections from their imprisoned geists as their personalities and ambitions become blurred or stretched into compromises with their internal chorus. Though the undead minds of liches and deathknights are inherently calculated or zealous, which may at times triumph over the haunted collective, madness is an inevitability.

 

Sanity may only be maintained by the intervention of pacifying necromancy, such as the regular consumption of lifeforce to bolster their own mind over the rest, lingering in hindered lands to satiate their geists or wielding treasured morion to carry with them a physical manifestation of the Abyss’ soothing properties. It is for this reason that titans, the pale lords evolved from eidola, are able to hold stoic dominion over their own minds; being remade from the same dark metal in their evolution.

 

• Though pale knights are capable of cherishing, empathising with and befriending descendants, they are wholly incapable of romantic or sexual feeling toward the living. 

 

Physical State

Subdivided into sorcerers, soldiers, and behemoths, the physiques of pale knights vary wildly, though as greater undead beings there are a number of qualities they share in common. 

 

Will of the Pale

Risen again past their natural lifespans and processes, pale knights are freed from the organic woes of hunger, age, fatigue, sleep deprivation, and suffocation. They do not need to eat, rest, or breathe and are blessed with physical endurance limited only by their mental fortitude. 

 

Numbness of the Grave

Having lost their physical nerve endings to the decay of time or the apathy of stone, greater undead are unphased by temperature, discomfort, or encumberment. Their bodies have no inherent means of thermal regulation, typically matching the ambient temperature of their surroundings and denying them the warm touch of the living. With this comes adaptability to extreme climates such as frozen mountainscapes or scorching deserts without ailment. In addition, though mundane harm can certainly damage or slay pale knights, they are typically incapable of feeling pain - or any sensation beyond balance and weight - except through specified means.

 

Misery of Gold

Sustained by unnatural enchantments in ectoplasm and lifeforce, all undead are vulnerable to attacks from pure aurum which inherently saps lifeforce. Though gold may be handled or touched as normal by pale knights, strikes which penetrate their flesh, bones or stalwart shells shall sear and sting them with the same agony a descendant might feel when afflicted with the same injuries from a red hot weapon. Slayersteel will also inflict physical pain in this way, albeit without the added burning sensation. In addition, though it gains no such benefit against blows blocked by the armaments of the undead, successful strikes made with pure aurum to the bodies of pale knights will cause the usually fragile metal to be in the moment reinforced; black wisps feeding into the soft metal to preserve the edges of blades, the points of spears, or the rigidity of concussive weapons. That is to say, despite the inherent softness of aurum in most circumstances, whilst successfully striking undead creatures it becomes unbreakable.

 

Borne of the Dark

All undead creatures are inherently dark; descended from the first beings to defy divinity, they are the prime ‘darkspawn’, existing outside of the natural order. When revealed to the magi which hunt them, pale knights may be smote as darkspawn with the same prejudice as pure aurum. Further, all pale knights retain in themselves their souls, including those consumed by pale lords. This tainted presence makes them vulnerable to the undead-targeting spells of necromancy as well as dragonsfire. What’s more, though their phylacteries serve as beacons through which their souls may be led to re-manifest in the lands of the living, their anima is still kept with their corporeal form and as such may be targeted by the malflame of inferi and naztherak to the same extents as ordinary, living descendants. The dark enchantments which sustain the undead are also inherently magical and, therefore, subject to disruption from auric oil, thanhium, and concussive or hard Voidal spells; all of which may inflict pain in a manner akin to slayersteel.

 

Quantification

The aforementioned physical conditions culminate in three main damage types to which pale knights are vulnerable to varying extents (elaborated on under each subcategory). Strikes are grouped as follows:

Minor Strikes: Shortbows, light crossbows, stabs and slashes from mundane weapons.

Major Strikes: Concussive or hard Voidal spells, malflame, stabs or slashes from Voidally enchanted, hexed, auric oil treated, thanhium or slayersteel weapons. OR Mundane warhammers, maces, longbows or heavy crossbows. OR A minor strike made with the strength of an olog or golem.

Devastating Strikes: Pure aurum (or equivalent) weapons of any type, dragonsfire, spells that target revealed darkspawn. OR Warhammers or maces made from Voidally enchanted, hexed, auric oil treated, high-density boomsteel, thanhium or slayersteel weapons. OR A major strike made with the strength of an olog or golem.

 

• Strikes as quantified refer to successful hits made to the body of a pale knight, not failed, missed or hindered hits which have been dodged, parried or otherwise blocked by an armament.
  • Where a pale knight is hit with different types of strike, they should refer to the higher category’s number and add lesser strikes to the count at a rate of ½.
    For instance, “[3] Devastating Strikes” worth of damage could be wrought by a combination of [1] Devastating Strike, [2] Major Strikes and [4] Minor Strikes.
• The ‘numbness’ of pale knights equates to an absence of sensation and pain from sources not specified above or under the later subcategories. A lack of feeling does not equate invulnerability, however, as all corporeal undead are still subject to physical damage which can kill them in the ways specified per subcategory.
• Though they do not feel fatigue nor encumberment, pale knights are still constrained by the limits of their mobility and strength outlined in their respective subcategory.
• Aurum weapons are unbreakable in the moment of a direct, successful attack on a pale knight’s body, immediately after which they return to normal durability. Pale knights are not capable of strengthening aurum weapons they are wielding at will.

 

[Sorcerers]

Draugars and Liches

 

Arcane cadavers, these mummified magi and festering wizards are borne of a corpse that was either their own in life or an unfortunate vessel made host for a soul attuned to magic. Stiff and frail, draugars have withered bodies of flesh and bone bound together by embalmed, papery skin. In lordship they become liches: skeletal and unfettered in physique nor arcane potential.

 

Physicality

 

Draugar are shrivelled corpses, resembling mummies or dry, spindly ghouls. 

 

These feeble undead are physically pathetic, made up of bones which support the bare minimum musculature stretched thin by their arcane potential. As such, their embalmed forms are emaciated and weak in a manner akin to Voidal magi, regardless of which arts they practice. Though their organs are shrivelled and inert or absent, a draugar still depends on their physical ligaments, tendons and muscles for mobility, all of which can be severed or damaged with mundane means that - whilst numb to most forms of pain - could be rendered disabled and restrict the draugar’s movement. This fragility lends to severe weakness, as draugar are incapable of wearing even light armour.

 

This strength is sacrificed in favour of their magical prowess; draugar are unique amongst the undead in their ability to retain most magical abilities they held in life, as well as the potential to learn and expand upon their arcane arsenals in the eternity ahead. With souls routed to their phylacteries, however, draugars are not capable of the Scion Voidal Feat.

 

Draugar are withered and though they may be odorless they still possess distinctly sunken, embalmed and optionally rotten features that make them obvious as undead creatures under any amount of scrutiny. Their withered flesh and bones are susceptible to mundane damage in all the ways a living body might be broken, albeit numb to pain and without risk of bleeding or organ failure as their veins and vital tissues have long since run dry. 

 

With their desiccation comes flammability: all draugar are fine kindling which - though in most cases painless - will easily catch and spread over a draugar in a matter of seconds. Flaming limbs (including hands or feet) as well as a head will spread on to a draugar’s torso after [2] emotes if left to burn, whilst fire will spread from a torso onto the draugar’s entire body (head, arms and legs) after [3] emotes if left to burn. After [3] emotes of continued burning on a given area, the frail tissue about a draugar’s limb or head will be rendered disabled and functionally lost. [4] emotes of sustained burning would disable a draugar’s torso, causing their whole body to collapse. 

 

Draugars’ souls are tethered to their skulls, causing them to be defeated if their head is removed from the rest of their body, disabled by burning, or smashed completely. [1] Devastating Strike, [2] Major Strikes or [3] Minor Strikes made to the head would slay a draugar. [1] successful strike of any kind made to a draugar’s joints (including wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders or neck vertebrae) will sever the body part it connects to.

 

A draugar can otherwise still survive and cast with missing limbs or damaged torsos - albeit hindered by whatever physical disability that may have been wrought - so long as they have not been subject to pain:

 

Pain is afflicted by successful Minor Strikes. These strikes disrupt spellcasting, requiring the draugar to restart emote counts for spells, however Voidal connections may be retained.

 

Severe pain is afflicted by successful Major or Devastating Strikes as well as malflame burns. This not only disrupts spellcasting, but also prevents the draugar from being able to cast for [2] subsequent emotes. If they are Voidally casting, their connection cannot be re-established until the third emote. 

 

Abilities

 

As undead wizards, draugar can never access true necromancy, barred from mastering any archetype in its school, though they do still possess an inherent command over lifeforce with the full breadth of the Siphoning spell at their disposal.

 

Though they cannot perform it on themselves, occultism’s Fleshsmithing spell may be used to repair a draugar outside of combat, or to provide it with any combination of the following customisations:

• An even number of additional arms, through which the strength of their original [2] arms is equally divided. For example, a [4] armed draugar's arms would each be [½] as strong as a [2] armed draugar's arms. During combat these cannot perform more actions than a [2] armed character could.
• Up to [3] skulls, which can all talk and move though the draugar may only see or hear through the central skull or the skull of their choosing if they have [2]. These skulls are just as durable as their original, though destruction of any through the earlier described means will kill the draugar.
• Engraving across their bones and skulls. This cannot strengthen them.
• Re-sculpting of their mummified or putrid flesh or organs. These are always visibly decayed. Liches may also be re-enveloped with useless, mummified or putrid flesh resembling a draugar’s.

 

Lordship

 

Should a draugar undergo the Rite of Consumption to become a pale lord, they shall evolve into a lich.

Liches are always skeletal, no longer constrained by petrified flesh for movement nor vulnerable to its heightened flammability. With souls bolstered by the abundant anima of their consumed apparition, liches may bolster their magical arsenal with necromantic feats.

 

Liches have minorly enhanced physical capability over common draugars, sustained solely by the heightened enchantments etched into their very bones and no longer constrained by atrophied flesh they may move with complete flexibility and wear light armour. 

 

Though bones can still easily be broken and severed and pain is experienced in the same manner, liches also uniquely benefit from the ability to levitate up to [1] block in the air, allowing them to easily traverse difficult terrain or move without functioning legs. This is not flight, however, and liches will still plummet as normal past dangerous heights. Additionally outside of combat a draugar may extend this levitation to their immediate surroundings, allowing them harmless telekinetic control over objects in a [2x2x2] radius around themselves.

 

Upon ascension to lordship, liches also gain the ability to enchant geists into objects, allowing them access to the Hexing spell, enabling them to tempt geists from beyond the grave to be bound in Hexed Objects.

 

Sorcerer-specific Redlines

 

• The [Sorcerer] archetype must be listed on a Pale Knight’s [CA] from creation. This CANNOT be changed later.
•  Draugars have [5] magic slots, which may be used to learn any Voidal magic, Naztherak, Bardmancy, or Housemagery as well as any Alchemical Feat. They may also retain any of the aforementioned as well as the Vivification Feat if they had such in life. Draugars who were slotted Seers in life may retain their Seer slots, though once risen all other draugars will be granted magical sight and cannot become a Seer even if they previously had the feat. Draugars who were Devils in life will retain devilish features albeit in an undead fashion, as well as the ability to learn / use Ilzakarn, though their souls will have been saved from the Red Prince’s claim.
  • Draugars and liches may retain most Voidal Feats they had in life and also learn new Voidal Feats within the confines of that feat’s lore.
    • Liches cannot become scions.
  • Sorcerers may only practice magics explicitly listed above. This includes new magics which would require an amendment to the aforementioned list for compatibility.
• Though they will retain the Vivification Feat if they had it in life, draugars will never retain nor be able to learn any of the MAs from the School of Necromancy such as Reaving, Occultism or Exorcism.
• Draugars/liches may swim with the same capability as descendants and may walk underwater at normal speeds (though may not use the sprint action whilst doing so).

 

[Soldiers]

Darkstalkers and Deathknights

Skeletal legionnaires, cavaliers of bone, darkstalkers are risen warriors borne of a corpse that was either their own in life or an unfortunate vessel made host for a marshal monster. Lithe and nimble, darkstalkers have slight forms of bone and optional, ineffective flesh sustained with rigid enchantments to mimic the ideal descendant soldier. In lordship they become deathknights: blackened and scorched by abundant lifeforce to be wielded in grim spells like the Abyss Knights of yore.

 

Physicality

 

Darkstalkers are living, fortified skeletons with capabilities akin to human athletes. Though, like draugar, their bones may be draped with the withered, rotting or embalmed undead tissue of their host bodies, such would serve as a solely aesthetic remnant of the living descendant that once was; their musculature and organs have no bearing on their senses nor locomotion, which is all replicated by an unseen veil of lifeforce stitched into their bones and anchored to their skulls. They may wear light, medium or heavy armour and will be encumbered by such in the same manner as living descendants.

 

This bolstered physique makes darkstalkers ideal machines for war, forgoing their magical potential in favour of precise speed, strength and dexterity which may be combined with feats of inhand necromancy to devastating effect. Their bones and joints are reinforced, capable of grand demonstrations of flexibility and swashbuckling whilst also holding their own against most mundane attacks.

 

Though lacking the vulnerabilities of flesh, a darkstalker can still be dismembered or - should their fortified skulls be beheaded or smashed - slain. [2] Devastating Strikes, [3] Major Strikes or [4] Minor Strikes made to the head would slay a darkstalker. [1] Devastating Strike, [2] Major Strikes or [3] Minor Strikes to a darkstalker’s joints (including wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders or neck vertebrae) will sever the body part it connects to. 

 

Devastating Strikes as well as malflame burns inflict severe pain on darkstalkers, causing them to not only lose their composure but also be staggered for [1] additional emote, during which they cannot access their inherent abilities; active casts will need to be restarted on the following emote. Extreme heat (such as molten metal or naked flame) will also inflict pain on a darkstalker after [3] emotes of sustained exposure, causing affected bones and skulls to crack and char to the point of functionally breaking after [6] emotes.

 

Darkstalkers’ souls are tethered to their skulls, causing them to be defeated if their head is removed from the rest of their body or smashed completely. Darkstalker skulls are fortified to account for this, necessitating the additional strikes described earlier. A darkstalker can otherwise still survive with missing limbs or damaged torsos - albeit hindered by whatever physical disability they may have been wrought - and possess the unique ability to reattach lost limbs in the heat of battle. Should a darkstalker’s upper spine be damaged to the point it can no longer hold their head, they too shall be defeated.

 

Abilities

 

By dedicating [1] emote in which they cannot simultaneously attack, dodge, perform actions, or move more than [4] blocks, a darkstalker with unhindered access to a severed limb (regardless of if it was their own or stolen from another) may extend out the reach of their lifeforce to weld it to themself, becoming fully functional on the next emote. Severed heads wrought by broken/cut necks cannot be repaired by this ability, as the darkstalker will be immediately slain by such.

 

Darkstalkers also have limited command over lifeforce, with the full breadth of Reaving’s Leech ability at their disposal and are able to cast it without accruing Wither.

 

Though they cannot perform it on themselves, occultism’s Fleshsmithing spell may be used to repair a darkstalker outside of combat, or to provide it with any combination of the following customisations:

• An even number of additional arms, through which the strength of their original [2] arms is equally divided. For example, a [4] armed darkstalker’s arms would each be [½] as strong as a [2] armed darkstalker’s arms. During combat these cannot perform more actions than a [2] armed character could.
• Up to [3] skulls, which can all talk and move though the darkstalker may only see or hear through the central skull or the skull of their choosing if they have [2]. These skulls are just as durable as their original, though destruction of any through the earlier described means will kill the darkstalker.
• Engraving across their bones and skulls. This cannot strengthen them.
• Envelopment in useless, mummified or putrid flesh or organs. These are always visibly decayed.
• In-built bone blades, lances or hammers in place of their hands. These may be as strong as steel. Deathknights may ‘bless’ these bodily weapons with Spiriting as though separate from them.

 

Lordship

 

Should a darkstalker undergo the Rite of Consumption to become a pale lord, they evolve into a deathknight. 

 

Deathknights are blackened skeletons shrouded with a dark veil of untethered lifeforce. With this evolution comes the splintering and recalcifying of their ‘burnt’ bones, causing them to grow in height [1] foot up to a maximum of 8ft and crowning their skulls, joints, and fingers with optional fangs, horns, and claws of dark ivory. 

 

These paramount darkstalkers may also contort their dark aura to take on the aesthetic of an opaque sheen which renders their bodies a featureless silhouette behind a veil of Abyssal fire or arcs of black lightning akin to that which the Ibleesian Undead of Aegis held. 

 

Deathknights develop a complete immunity to heat wrought from mundane, alchemical, or Voidal fire, their bones fortified even against the scorch of molten metal or lava, though they are still subject to the magical harm inflicted by dragonsfire and malflame as well as any concussive force inflicted in tandem with explosions or Voidal spells. 

 

Though deathknights are not physically enhanced beyond the aforementioned, their lifeforce pool and inherent domain over necromancy is exponentially expanded, granting them [8] Wither and access to Reaving’s Taint, Spiriting, and Shroud spells as well as Occultism’s Abyssfire spell. When their Wither is fully spent, a deathknight loses their sheen of lifeforce though is otherwise unhindered, re-accruing [1] Wither per OOC hour spent outside of combat. 

 

Soldier-specific Redlines

 

• The [Soldier] archetype must be listed on a Pale Knight’s [CA] from creation. This CANNOT be changed later.
•  Darkstalkers have [0] magic slots though retain the finesse required to practice Alchemical Feats. They may also retain the Vivification Feat if they had such in life. Once risen all soldiers will be granted magical sight and cannot become a Seer or retain the magic even if they previously had the feat or were slotted. Darkstalkers who were Devils in life will retain devilish features albeit in an undead fashion, as well as the ability to learn / use Ilzakarn, though their souls will have been saved from the Red Prince’s claim.
  • Ascending to deathknighthood offers no changes to the aforementioned.
• Regardless of the prior race or size of a darkstalker / deathknight, they will always be physically capped at the peak speed and strength potential of a human.
• Aesthetic flesh clinging to their skeletal forms as well as aesthetic manifestations of deathknights’ abundant lifeforce cannot offer any mechanical benefit in the form of protection or disguises.
• Darkstalkers/deathknights may swim with the same capability as descendants and may walk underwater at normal speeds (though may not use the sprint action whilst doing so).

 

[Behemoths] 

Eidolons and Titans

Haunted rock, imposing and stalwart, these statuesque undead are composed of menhir: stone saturated with ectoplasm to serve as unrelenting avatars of the fallen. Lumbering and robust, eidola are both slower and stronger than most descendants with their immense forms cut off from any magical potential they may have had in life. In lordship they become titans: imposing black colossi of morion armour.

 

Physicality

 

Eidolons are humanoid boulders, resembling statues or suits of earthen platemail. Every eidola is clad in inherent heavy armour as part of their makeup and cannot wear additional armour over their rumbling, tectonic forms lest it inevitably be bent and broken by their movements. Their menhir exteriors are hollow in the torso and thighs; a walking jug with walls that are several inches thick on all sides, filled with liquid ectoplasm wherein their soul resides. Imposing behemoths, eidola range from 7ft to 9ft in size and with humanoid proportions, respectively weighing [⅓] to [½] of a metric ton. Their physical speed and strength remains consistent across this range. 

 

Eidolons of any size may still perform the sprint action, though are encumbered and capped at [6] blocks per emote (down from the descendant potential of [8] blocks per emote), and possess strength equal to the strongest of uruks. All eidolons are too heavy for mundane horses to carry. When not attempting to sprint, eidolons can move and perform actions as quickly as normal descendants ([4] blocks per emote). 

 

Made from numb, fortified stone, eidola are effectively impervious to bladed slashes and stabs, regardless of if they would otherwise count as Minor, Major or Devastating strikes. That is to say daggers, the pommels of shortswords, blades, or light weapons as well as spells that are not explicitly concussive do not damage eidola. More appropriate attacks however may chip away at their stone, exposing their innards to give way to ectoplasm bleeds and their eventual undoing. Ectoplasm bleeds are incurred after [4] successful Minor Strikes, [3] successful Major Strikes or [2] successful Devastating Strikes are made to the same region of the body (upper torso, lower torso, left thigh, right thigh). 

 

An eidola will die when all of their interior ectoplasm has been bled. In combat, applicable bleeds lose ectoplasm at a rate of [¼] per emote, per bleed. This only occurs when a hole appears in such a way that ectoplasm could spill out due to gravity. For instance, if an eidolon’s head were removed, they would be faced with no ill effects: their sense of sight and sound as well as their voice would remain disembodied in the vacant space where their heads once were, though their ectoplasmic core would be exposed and could spill out if they were toppled over, as their ‘lid’ is missing. Though being knocked prone will cause holes to bleed, if kept upright an eidolon with a missing head will lose [0] ectoplasm per emote. A hole in the upper torso or chest will bleed up to [¼] of the eidola’s ectoplasm after [1] emote. A hole in the middle torso or stomach will bleed up to [½] of the eidola’s ectoplasm after [2] emotes. A hole in the hips or abdomen or lower back will bleed up to [¾] of the eidola’s ectoplasm after [3] emotes. A hole in the thigh will bleed up to all of the eidola’s ectoplasm after [4] emotes, killing them. Multiple holes would stack, causing ectoplasm to be lost faster. So long as they remain standing, an eidola may freely move, attack, dodge or perform actions and will still be considered ‘upright’ in this regard.

 

Once exposed, an eidolon’s interior ectoplasm may also be destroyed rather than spilled, such as by [1] successful Devastating Strike made directly into a hole. This would cascade or rend violently through the eidolon’s exposed ectoplasm, slaying them instantly. Malflame burns inflicted in the same manner would cripple the eidola, leaving them stunned for [4] emotes in which they cannot attack, dodge, perform actions or move. 

 

Abilities

 

Unlike draugars and darkstalkers, eidolons have no inhand mastery over lifeforce. They are however capable of sculpting their own forms, utilising the Menhir Masonry ability to customise and maintain their own bodies out of combat, as well as [1] weapon or tool of their choosing hewn from (and bound to) their forms which can be drawn out of their physical bodies with [1] emote. These weapons are imbued with the same anima-harvesting and undead-rending effects of Spiriting, and are also just as impermanent; crumbling into black smoke if moved more than [8] blocks from the behemoth which made it.

 

As walking obelisks of menhir, eidolons are also capable of storing anima fragments in their armour as a mobile soul-cradle, which may be extracted from as normal as well as harnessed by pale lords or occultists to conduct the Primal Resurrection ritual.

 

Menhir Masonry may be used to repair an eidola outside of combat, or to provide it with one of the following customisations:

• An even number of additional arms, through which the strength of their original [2] arms is evenly divided. For example, a [4] armed eidola’s arms would each be [½] as strong as a [2] armed eidola’s.  During combat these cannot perform more actions than a [2] armed character could.
• Up to [3] heads, or no head and a sealed menhir ‘lid’ atop their torso. In either scenario the eidola’s senses of sight and sound as well as the source of their voice still originates from the central space above their collar. 
• Any aesthetic texturing or decoration of their armour. This cannot strengthen their shell.
• In-built spikes protruding from their shoulders, elbows or knees as well as horns atop their head(s).
• In-built blades, lances or mauls in place of their hands with the anima-harvesting and undead-rending properties of Spiriting. This customisation prevents the eidola from being able to create their bound weapon/tool.

 

Lordship

 

Should an eidola undergo the Rite of Consumption to become a pale lord, they shall evolve into a Titan.

 

Titans are always 10ft in size, weighing [1] metric ton and having their menhir bodies Entombed and recast completely from morion; the lifeforce-saturated ore of bygone Aegis, causing them to appear as monolithic suits of grim black armour like the dreadknights of Asulon. Morion is imbued with the soothing properties of the Abyss, making titans uniquely stoic and well reasoned when compared with the other more volatile variants of pale lord.

 

Titans are incapable of sprinting and though they can perform actions as quickly as normal descendants, their movement is capped at [3] blocks per emote in combat, even whilst focused on sprinting without other actions.

 

Titans have their strength bolstered to rival that of a golem. Their metallic forms are also fortified, with morion shells becoming dented by strikes before being chipped at, thus requiring [1] additional Major or Minor Strike to incur ectoplasm bleeds. Devastating Strikes still pierce titans at the same rate as eidola, however. Ectoplasm bleeds inflicted in any way will also still occur in the same manner and rate as eidolons.

 

Upon ascension to lordship, titans gain the unique ability to sculpt morion (including that of their own bodies and bound armaments) with their Menhir Masonry. Their morion bodies become conduits of lifeforce, capable of storing [6] Wither for others to drain at no harm to the titan, naturally replenishing at a rate of [1] Wither per OOC hour spent outside of combat.

 

Behemoth-specific Redlines

 

• The [Behemoth] archetype must be listed on a Pale Knight’s [CA] from creation. This CANNOT be changed later.
•  Eidolons have [0] magic slots and, thanks to their cumbersome menhir (or morion) nature, lack the finesse required to practice Alchemical Feats. They may retain the Vivification Feat if they had such in life. Once risen all behemoths will be granted magical sight and cannot become a Seer or retain the magic even if they previously had the feat or were slotted. Behemoths who were Devils in life will retain the ability to learn / use Ilzakarn, though their souls will have been saved from the Red Prince’s claim.
  • Ascending to titandom offers no changes to the aforementioned.
• Titans’ innate morion armour and constructed weapons follow all of the guidance and restrictions outlined here: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/235250-%E2%9C%93-world-lore-the-blighted-metals-ch-2-morion/ 
  • Excluding its passive Wither storage, the morion of titans has no unique properties from the standard material lore. 
• Behemoths are incapable of riding horses in or out of combat. In combat, behemoths (sized 8’5” or smaller) are limited in their sprinting capability to [6] blocks (down from the usual [8] as per CRP rules). Titans cannot sprint, and are capped at a maximum movement of [4] blocks per emote in combat, regardless of if actions are being performed. 
• Though they may drape themselves with any sort of unprotective fabric or clothing, behemoths are incapable of utilising any form of rigid armour, causing it to be bent and broken before it might be made useful. 
• Eidola/titans cannot swim and will always sink to the bottom of bodies of water. They may walk underwater at normal speeds out of combat or [3] blocks per emote in combat.

 

---

 

Wights

[CA with prerequisite MAs - 5 Slots]

 

Having studied and practiced reaving, occultism and exorcism to their fullest, a necromancer may commit themselves - body and soul - completely to their art, conquering and devouring an apparition via the Consumption ritual to conjoin with multitudes of primitive geists to die and rise again as a lord of undeath; a wight. Like the ancient wraiths, these barrowlords and archliches have pushed themselves and their necromancy to their furthest extents and can evolve no further, their once-living bodies calcified into statuesque phylacteries from which their undead avatar may roam free in a phantasmal or physical undead state.

Spoiler

Creation

As masters of the grave, wights are drawn from the ranks of those who have dedicated themselves fully to the school of necromancy, having mastered all of its subtypes and forsaken all other magical pursuits as they are left without the capacity to cast spells beyond the domains of reaving, occultism and exorcism.

 

Only when such heights have been achieved may one hope to undertake the rite of Consumption; a necromantic ritual forbidden to all but the greatest adepts in their art. By conquering and consuming an amalgam, a necromancer may artificially force their soul into the state of undeath without hindering their magical potential through the usual apparatus of death and dark resurrection. 

 

Bloated by tens of geists swallowed into a living form, necromancers who successfully complete the ritual are met with pain beyond measure as their living soul is swollen and split by abundant anima and their bodies become oversaturated with ectoplasm and lifeforce far beyond the limits of even reaving and occultism. This calcifies their bones, causing them to first seize up before being solidified as menhir, which agonisingly creeps through their flesh until their entire body has been frozen in cursed stone over the course of [10] emotes following the consumption of their apparition, their mortal coil forever lost as they die with their soul yet imprisoned in their menhir flesh, denied egress to the Soul Stream as the necromancer’s body becomes their a phylactery. 

 

• Only living necromancers who have dedicated all [5] of their magic slots and reached Tier 5 in the Reaving [2 slot], Occultism [2 slot] and Exorcism [1 slot] MAs may successfully devour an apparition via the Consumption ritual. 
  • In order to apply for the Wight [CA] a necromancer must CURRENTLY hold all of the aforementioned necromancy MAs at Tier 5. Those below this tier or missing any of the respective necromancy MAs will be unable to ascend to wightdom and will have their soul torn apart by the apparition if consumed, PKing the necromancer in question.
• Once a necromancer gains their Wight [CA], they will lose the ability to drop Reaving, Occultism or Exorcism as all of their magic slots must be dedicated to the School of Necromancy. In this sense being blacklisted from any of the above necessitates the revocation or shelving of their wight character. 
• Wights are undead creatures and cannot FTB. 

 

Phylacteries

Unlike the enchanted monoliths of pale knights, wight phylacteries are formed from the physical body of the necromancer which came before, calcified into a menhir statue to which their soul and the amalgam they have consumed and conjoined with is anchored. 

 

These statues are heavy, solid menhir that are difficult to move. Wights, uniquely attuned to their own calcified bodies, may enter and possess their phylactery and mimic the appearance of an eidola, albeit with the restrictions outlined under the puppet section of their Husk ability. In all other circumstances the strength of an olog or equivalent would be required to move a wight’s phylactery.

 

Phylacteries are made from ectoplasm-fortified stone, known as menhir. This dark rock is laden with abundant lifeforce and mana, capable of ‘healing’ gradually from chips and scrapes and thus requiring significant efforts to destroy. A lone miner would not suffice, as damaging a phylactery to the point of disenchantment would necessitate the combined efforts of [3] descendants or [1] golem striking the phylactery with blunt, heavy weapons or concussive spells for [6] emotes, [2] nephilim bathing the menhir in dragonsfire for [3] emotes or [2] templars striking the phylactery with spell-enhanced weaponry for [3] emotes.

 

Though it serves a similar purpose to those of the other greater undead in guiding a wight’s souls back together when slain - to artificially remanifest at the Cloud Temple - the re-convening of a demanifested wight is a far more delicate process. As living mortals who have never ‘died’ to be raised again, the dark spells which cheat the Soul Stream of wight souls are far more fragile than those of the ‘organic’ undead pale knights.

 

Defeated wights require [3] OOC days to reconstruct their shattered forms when slain, during which time the character is shelved. This is an agonising, traumatic process with ramafications listed under the Mental State section. 

 

Should a wight’s phylactery be broken, regardless of the wight’s whereabouts or state of harm, the enchantments which keep their unnatural forms tethered to the land of the living will all at once collapse and come undone, severing the central soul of the necromancer from the apparition they have conquered as both are cast into Ebrietaes, incapable of sustaining themselves without a worldly bond for their soul.

 

• All wights have their living bodies transformed into a phylactery at the time of their Consumption ritual. This is always a menhir statue resembling their once-living bodies, which must be represented mechanically by a sculpture of a minimum [2] blocks in any orientation, which is marked with an ST sign specifying the wight it belongs to. 
• Phylacteries host enchantments of ectoplasm and lifeforce, NOT the souls or anima of wights. As such, they cannot be targeted by the anima-draining spells of necromancy or malflame. 
  • These enchantments prevent phylacteries from being moved by Menhir Masonry, Voidal Translocation or Blood Magic’s Hail ritual.
• If a phylactery is destroyed, players must /sreq to ensure the destruction RP is valid and must either be overseen by an ST in the moment or provide screenshots for the ST if none are available. Once destroyed, the ST must deny the wight’s CA to track their PK.
  • Once their phylactery has been destroyed a wight must be informed as their character becomes unravelled and consumed into Ebrietaes, being permanently killed in an instant. 
• Though wight characters are fully aware of their respawn mechanics and functional ‘immortality’, which they are able to exploit through reckless or self sacrificing actions, committing suicide to escape combat or imprisonment as a wight is strictly disallowed and would be considered Bad Villainy, subject to ST enforcement. 

 

Mental State

As with pale lords, wights too are borne of a union between their initial soul and the tens of geists bound to it through the Consumption ritual. Unlike other greater undead, the wight’s soul must have been that of a living mortal before their higher conjoinment and as such they lack the same composure as those who were prepared with undeath. Though the arts of reaving, occultism and exorcist mastered in life grant the necromancer familiarity with and sway over the likes of geists sufficient to keep their soul from being torn apart, their damned spirit is unprepared for the trauma and toil of so many competing thoughts, voices, and emotions, leaving them for the mostpart drowned out.

 

On ascension to wightdom the necromancer who came before is smothered by the collective. Though their core ideals and bonds may remain, the prior necromancer undergoes an ego death as they practically cease to be and are subsumed into the forum of geists as its minister. Not its master. The living necromancer is no more and in their place the wight remains. 

 

It is for this reason all wights take on a new name in their ascension, as their True Name loses its meaning in place of the new, collective identity of the geists comprising it. Wights will always identify as a new, separate being only tangentially related to the necromancer they once were; they may keep their memories and creeds but beyond that the soul of a necromancer is just another voice amidst twenty others, bearing no sentimentality or significance. Wights are quick to disregard their family and loved ones as mere past acquaintances and regard their ascension as the true point at which their life - and all that matters in it - began. In this regard some are born with no clear memories at all; retaining their skills without any understanding of their purpose or origin.

 

Unlike pale knights made numb in their undeath, the profane existence of a wight more closely resembles that of a ghoul or poltergeist. That is to say they are erratic, impulsive, and emotional creatures, driven by instinct and obsessive bonds or ideals; typically involving their coven’s preservation and expansion. This zeal is a double edged sword for whilst their inner purpose may fuel their drive and ambition to rash, merciless extents, so too does a lack of purpose open their mind to the Old Dark.

 

Without set goals and ambitions, wights become hollow as their idle geists begin squabbling amongst themselves, inciting a personal crisis. This is manifest in two ways: the first, and most common, is for a wight to fall into a deep, years-lasting depression wherein they succumb to such apathy and sorrow that they stagnate and ‘slumber’ in a meditative trance, trapped in their own labyrinthine mind. The second, and rarer affliction of a purposeless wight is a full bipolar shift and reorientation of their internal hierarchy, leading to a drastic change of character, be it in opposition to their prior bonds or ideals or a mutation of them.

 

Physical State

Wights are undead creatures unique in their capacity to shift between an intangible or tangible state, each with its own merits and detriments. These are the incorporeal and corporeal forms: that of a ghostlike, disembodied force of undeath or a skeletal, grounded or otherwise possessed physicality or corpse, respectively.

 

Will of the Pale

Risen again past their natural lifespans and processes, wights are freed from the organic woes of hunger, age, fatigue, sleep deprivation, and suffocation. They do not need to eat, rest, or breathe and are blessed with physical endurance limited only by their mental fortitude. Unique among necromancers, wights are capable of exerting all of their Wither without falling tired, though it still is recuperated at the same rate as living occultists and reavers.

 

Numbness of the Grave

Having lost their physical nerve endings within manifested skeletons or ectoplasmic simulacra, wights are unphased by temperature, discomfort, or encumberment. Their bodies have no inherent means of thermal regulation, typically matching the ambient temperature of their surroundings and denying them the warm touch of the living. With this comes adaptability to extreme climates such as frozen mountainscapes or scorching deserts without ailment. In addition, though mundane harm can certainly damage or slay wights, they are typically incapable of feeling pain - or any sensation beyond balance and weight - except through specified means.

 

Misery of Gold

Sustained by unnatural mastery of anima, lifeforce and ectoplasm, wights are vulnerable to attacks from pure aurum which inherently saps lifeforce. Though gold may be handled or touched as normal by wights, strikes which penetrate their ectoplasmic forms, bones or husked bodies shall sear and sting them with the same agony a descendant might feel when afflicted with the same injuries from a red hot weapon. Slayersteel will also inflict physical pain in this way, albeit without the added burning sensation. In addition, though it gains no such benefit against blows blocked by the armaments of the undead, successful strikes made with pure aurum to the incorporeal or corporeal bodies of wights will cause the usually fragile metal to be in the moment reinforced; black wisps feeding into the soft metal to preserve the edges of blades, the points of spears, or the rigidity of concussive weapons. That is to say, despite the inherent softness of aurum in most circumstances, whilst successfully striking a wight it becomes unbreakable. This is the case regardless of if the wight is in their corporeal or incorporeal states or the Possession or Husking abilities. 

 

Borne of the Dark

As master necromancers who have forfeit their lives to rise again in undeath, wights are inherently dark; descended from the first wraiths and barrowlords to conquer the divine mandates of death, they are ‘darkspawn’, existing outside of the natural order. When revealed to the magi which hunt them, wights may be smote as darkspawn with the same prejudice as pure aurum. Further, all wights retain in themselves their once-living souls, coupled with an amalgam of geists consumed in their ascension. This tainted presence makes them vulnerable to the undead-targeting spells of necromancy as well as dragonsfire. What’s more, though their phylacteries serve as beacons through which their souls may be led to re-manifest in the lands of the living, their anima is still kept with their corporeal form and as such may be targeted by the malflame of inferi and naztherak to the same extents as ordinary, living descendants. The dark, active spells which sustain and bind the stolen souls of wights are also inherently magical and, therefore, subject to disruption from auric oil, thanhium, and concussive or hard Voidal spells; all of which may inflict pain in a manner akin to slayersteel.

 

Quantification

The aforementioned physical conditions culminate in three main damage types to which wights are vulnerable to varying extents (elaborated on under each subcategory). Incorporeal wights may only be harmed by means marked with an asterisk*, whereby they count as a ‘Major Strike*’ or ‘Devastating Strike*’ respectively. Strikes are grouped as follows:

Minor Strikes: Shortbows, light crossbows, stabs and slashes from mundane weapons.

Major Strikes: Concussive or hard Voidal spells*, malflame*, stabs or slashes from Voidally enchanted*, hexed*, auric oil treated*, thanhium* or slayersteel* weapons. OR Mundane warhammers, maces, longbows or heavy crossbows. OR A minor strike made with the strength of an olog or golem.

Devastating Strikes: Pure aurum* (or equivalent*) weapons of any type, dragonsfire*, spells that target revealed darkspawn*. OR Warhammers or maces made from Voidally enchanted, hexed, auric oil treated, boomsteel, thanhium or slayersteel weapons. OR A major strike made with the strength of an olog or golem.

• Strikes as quantified refer to successful hits made to the body of a wight, not failed, missed or hindered hits which have been dodged, parried or otherwise blocked by an armament.
  • Incorporeal wights are intangible and ONLY affected by strikes marked with an asterisk*.  
    • Though some of the materials under Devastating Strikes affect incorporeal wights, blunt force does not heighten their impact against their boneless, intangible bodies (unlike their corporeal forms) and thus they would remain as effective as their earlier listed stabbing or slashing equivalents (under Major Strikes).
  • Where a wight is hit with different types of strike, they should refer to the higher category’s number and add lesser strikes to the count at a rate of ½.
    For instance, “[3] Devastating Strikes” worth of damage could be wrought by a combination of [1] Devastating Strike, [2] Major Strikes and [4] Minor Strikes.
• Besides the above quantification, wights are also vulnerable to the spells of reaving, occultism and exorcism where mentioned.

 

Masters of Death

Unless hidden within deceptive suits of armour, disguises or fresh bodies (specified later), wights are always gleaming. This means unless they have taken measures to disguise their nature (as outlined later), wights are at all times classified as revealed darkspawn and easily identifiable as undead creatures, and in turn have easy access to their spells without need for a ‘connection’ emote as required by living necromancers. This is the case irrespective of their physicality or lack thereof. 

• A disguised wight (elaborated under Intangibility, Corporeality and the Husking ability) loses the Masters of Death trait. Whilst disguised a wight is not considered revealed darkspawn until discovered, and will have to emote gleaming as a living necromancer would.

 

Soul and Bone

Shifting between the incorporeal and corporeal states requires [1] emote in which the wight cannot attack, dodge, perform actions or move. This includes whilst being attacked or whilst falling from a height. Their shift of form takes effect in the following emote, failing if the wight is successfully attacked in their prior form. They function as follows:

 

Incorporeality

When becoming incorporeal, a wight untethers from their husked vessel as a ghostly fog or allows their bones to melt and seep away into a haunted miasma, the result of either transition being their phantom form. 

Whilst incorporeal, wights are entirely composed of ectoplasm: like phantoms, apparitions and the innards of eidola, they will become translucent and glow an unsettling halflight and take on a monochrome tint of blue, green, grey, white or any mix of the aforementioned. Otherwise, the form of an incorporeal wight is freeform, floating and malleable. 

 

Incorporeal wights are not confined to any permanent shape nor height, their only limitation being their maximum size, which may at most be stretched to the size of an olog, and their minimum size, no smaller than a halfling. Beyond this they may appear as humanoids, animals, disembodied fog or mundane objects, so long as they are always clearly phantasmal and ghostly. Their form cannot be made inherently invisible or hidden, dependant on reaving’s Fade spell or their innate Possession ability to achieve such.

 

Mundane objects, as well as all but other phantoms, will pass freely through intangible wights as if they were not present. In the same vein, whilst a wight is intangible so too are any of their held items or armaments during combat. They are incapable of interacting with the physical world beyond undead creatures or items marked by the grave, and they may only engage the living with their necromancy, hexed, menhir or morion items, or reaving’s Spiriting spell. These objects also become intangible with the rest of the wight’s inventory but will become once again physical whilst drawn, able to interact with the tangible world as well as be blocked, parried, damaged or stolen by mundane means. In these examples a wight would have to manifest some semblance of a limb to wield them during combat, which is limited to physical strength on par with a Voidal mage. This weakness also makes intangible wights incapable of wearing heavy or medium armour during combat, even if using the spell or materials mentioned (though the Sphere of Influence ability allows them to carry such weight unhindered outside of combat). 

 

Their intangibility may be challenged by spells and materials which are harmful to wights. Lacking a defined physiology and the likes of a skull or organs to be targeted, the entirety of a wight’s chosen form is vulnerable to potentially lethal blows. An incorporeal wight may have their ectoplasmic vessel torn to the point it can no longer host their conjoined souls, causing them to demanifest them after [4] successful Major Strikes* or [2] successful Devastating Strikes*. Devastating Strikes* as well as malflame burns agonise corporeal wights, also disrupting them and also staggering them for [1] emote in which they cannot perform actions, attack or sprint, though they may still dodge or move up to [4] blocks.

 

If an intangible wight is slain, their ectoplasmic body collapses into a temporary heap of mushy, coagulated ectoplasm for [3] emotes. Whin this heap any object the wight was carrying may be found as once again tangible and able to be taken. After this duration the wight’s remains will slip away into the Elysian Wastes, taking any unplundered treasures with them. If made to /d40, a wight’s inventory is considered scattered and lost as a normal descendant’s would be.

 

All of the aforementioned forms of harm will disrupt the spellcasting of wights and force them to restart emote counts for any necromancy spells they may be casting, with the exception of weapons created from or imbued with the Spiriting spell which linger regardless of concentration.

 

Once hit with [1] or more successful Devastating Strikes* or equivalent to their skull, a corporeal wight loses the ability to shift into their incorporeal form.

 

Incorporeal-specific Redlines

 

• When incorporeal a wight must emote a visibly translucent, ghostly appearance. Unless hidden with the Fade spell or the Possession ability, they are gleaming and therefore count as revealed darkspawn. 
• In combat, an incorporeal wight’s inventory also becomes intangible. With the exception of hexed, menhir or morion objects these intangible items cannot be used in combat, though they may be discarded by the wight at which point they become tangible for others to use. This means alchemic products and enchantments cannot be activated by an intangible wight nor can they benefit from the effects of special materials or metals. Whilst the Spiriting spell may be used on a pre-existing object for an incorporeal wight to wield it, any underlying alchemical, magical or material properties of the object are nullified by Spiriting, meaning a wight may only make use of the object’s base durability and shape. 
  • In combat, Spirited as well as morion, menhir or hexed weapons can only be handled with the strength of a Voidal mage. This requires the wight to have at least a limb of visible, concentrated ectoplasm which if severed will drop the item. In addition, intangible wights are too weak to wear medium or heavy morion, menhir or hexed armour. Light armour of these materials requires the wight to have body parts of visible, concentrated ectoplasm to wear it.
• Whilst incorporeal, wights have no organs, bones or defined anatomy. In this regard successful attacks made to any part of an incorporeal wight’s body will be equally damaging to it.
• Though incorporeal wights may pass through mundane characters and objects with ease, their movement is still restricted by mechanical standards and they cannot fly or phase through doors, walls or impossibly small gaps, nor may they fall past heights that would kill them mechanically.

 

Corporeality

When becoming corporeal, a wight congeals their raw lifeforce into a rigid skeleton or tethers their disembodied form to a humanoid vessel via their Husking ability, the result of either transition being their physical form. 

Whilst corporeal, wights are possessed of natural bones, optionally wrapped in sunken, embalmed or rotten flesh: like ghouls, draugars, and darkstalkers they will become an opaque and solid corpse confined to the physical limitations of an undead, humanoid body. 

 

Corporeal wights may range in levels of decay as well as heights ranging from those of skeletal dwarves to uruks, though they will always be confined to the speed, strength and endurance potential of a capable human, regardless of their shape or size. They will also always be recogniseable as corporeal undead, bearing features which are easily identified as those of a corpse which is embalmed, festering, or skeletal. 

 

Whilst corporeal a wight is subject to harm from mundane sources; able to have their bodies damaged to the point they can no longer host their conjoined souls, wherein they are slain. Their survival is bound to their skull which is fortified beyond its usual limits, meaning they shall be defeated if they are beheaded or it is smashed. This makes them subject to the same strikes quantified under the Physicality section of the Pale Knight [CA].

 

As living skeletons like the Archliches of rh’thor, corporeal wights may be dismembered or - should their skulls be beheaded or smashed - slain. [2] Devastating Strikes, [3] Major Strikes or [4] Minor Strikes made to the head would slay a wight. [1] Devastating Strike, [2] Major Strikes or [3] Minor Strikes to a wight’s joints (including wrists, ankles, knees, elbows, hips, shoulders or neck vertebrae) will sever the body part it connects to. 

 

Major Strikes cause corporeal wights to feel and react to pain, making them lose their composure and resetting precise emote counts such as when priming potions, aiming ranged weapons or casting necromancy spells. Devastating Strikes as well as malflame burns agonise corporeal wights, also disrupting them and also staggering them for [1] emote in which they cannot perform actions, attack or sprint, though they may still dodge or move up to [4] blocks.

 

As physical creatures, corporeal wights may freely activate and utilise alchemical or magical items and armaments as well as materials with special properties to the same capacity as a normal descendant. With solid bodies, they are also subject to harm from falling great heights and will sink into bodies of water in manners akin to pale lords of the darkstalker variant. Further, as tangible entities they are dependant on their physiques for movement and as such can be hindered or disabled by loss of limbs necessary for walking or wielding items. Broken or damaged bodyparts may be mended with reaving’s Cauterization spell to the same extent as its bone-mending effects on a living necromancer, and it may also be used to attach replacement or reclaimed bones or limbs that have been removed.

 

Whilst missing [2] or more limbs or after receiving at least [2] successful Major Strikes or equivalent to their skull, a corporeal wight loses the ability to shift into their incorporeal form.

 

Corporeal-specific Redlines

 

• When corporeal a wight must emote a visibly undead, corpselike appearance. Unless hidden with the Fade, Fleshsmithing, or Husking spells / ability or a disguise (e.g heavy clothing, masks, armour, illusions), they are gleaming and therefore count as revealed darkspawn. When hidden in the aforementioned way, [1] additional emote is required to make their gleam visible to ‘connect’ just as a living necromancer would.
• Corporeal wights in their default, skeletal form as well as any form of husk are limited to the physical capabilities of humans, regardless of size or material in the case of puppets.

 

Abilities

Regardless of their tangible or intangible state, wights are capable of feats of higher necromancy denied to their living acolytes. These spells and rituals are inherent to all wights upon ascension, and are essential to the propagation and culling of their dark arts among the living. 

 

Husking - Combative

A wight transitioning from their incorporeal form may do so by utilising the husking ability, possessing a physical humanoid in one of the following ways:

 

-A puppet of non-organic material such as a suit of armour, a mannequin, a scarecrow or an inactive automaton. This puppet must be humanoid in structure and is only as flexible as the material it was made from. It must also be smaller than 8ft in size and weigh no more than 100kg. Corporeal wights husked into a puppet will be slain if its head is destroyed or removed, if two or more of its limbs are dismembered or if its torso is broken in half. Additionally, dragonsfire, malflame and spells which target darkspawn (if the puppet has been revealed as such) will eject the wight, stunning it for [1] emote as they are forced into their incorporeal form and damaged by the strike. 

 

• Whilst husked in a puppet a wight loses access to their necromancy spells. 
• Regardless of size, husked puppets are always as physically strong as a human.
• Though puppets are as durable as the materials they are made from, Major Strikes* and Minor Strikes* that would slay incorporeal wights will affect puppets in the same ways outlined in the Incorporeal state. The wight is also anchored to the ‘head’ of a puppet, and will be slain if the puppet is decapitated.
  • Despite the durability of a puppet, pure aurum will still strike it in the indestructible fashion described under Misery of Gold and hurt the wight as a Devastating Strike*. 

 

-A corpse of any level of freshness may be possessed by a wight to the same extent as manifesting their own corporeal form. Corpses being husked by a wight will be supernaturally embalmed for the duration of their husking, though once exited will decay at an accelerated rate; crumbling to dust the moment the wight shifts into a new husk or their incorporeal form. This corpse is still for all intents and purposes undead and cannot retain warmth, whilst being just as susceptible to different forms of damage as their corporeal skeleton. 

 

• Whilst husked in a corpse a wight may still access their necromancy spells, however they are no longer passively gleaming and must add this ‘connection’ emote to their spells in a manner akin to living necromancers. 
• Regardless of size, husked corpses are always as physically strong as a human.
• Corpses are subject to being dismembered or slain in the same ways outlined in the Corporeal state. Though a wight may manipulate and puppeteer it, flesh is not essential as the wight is anchored to the skull of the corpse.

 

-A host that is a living descendant, adunian, halfling, klone, kharajyr, hou-zi, musin or wonk. This living husk is subject to the physical limitations of the race being inhabited, though is also subject to its mortal vulnerabilities, causing the wight to be slain if their host dies, effectively rendering the wight as vulnerable to harm as an ordinary, living creature and the host as their sleeping hostage. Whilst husked, a wight may communicate with the unconscious host as they would using their Sphere of Influence ability.

Hosts may only be possessed whilst already unconscious. Though an incorporeal wight may freely phase through any conscious creature, they would be incapable of possessing them. Whilst an unconscious host is possessed, they will remain artificially comatose for as long as the wight stays husked into them, though successful Major Strikes* or Devastating Strikes* (which would harm an incorporeal wight) will awaken the host and eject the wight, spitting them [4] blocks away from their prior host and stunning both for [1] emote in which neither party can perform actions, attack or sprint, though they may still dodge or move up to [4] blocks. Ejected wights are simultaneously forced into their incorporeal form and damaged by the strike as if it had hit them whilst incorporeal, becoming active again in the following emote. 

All harm inflicted on a host body whilst possessed remains, and if the host is afflicted with a fatal wound the wight loses the ability to escape the body and shall die with their host if not healed. If a host survives the ordeal, they will retain no memory of what transpired whilst being husked and be haunted for [1] OOC week with nightmarish images of the wight’s true, unhusked form.

 

• Whilst husked within a living host a wight may still access their necromancy spells, however they are no longer passively gleaming and must add this ‘connection’ emote to their spells in a manner akin to living necromancers.
• Husked hosts are as physically strong (or weak) as the creature being possessed. 
• Hosts are subject to harm in the same ways as any ordinary, living descendant. Wights will feel all sensation and pain through hosts as if they were themselves living creatures, and will be slain if the host they are husked into dies. Dead hosts may revive at Cloud Temple as normal, at the host player’s discretion.
• The characters of offline players may not be husked into. If a host player logs out during a combat encounter, the wight may remain husked (if not ejected) until the end of combat. If a host player logs out outside of combat, the wight may remain husked (if not ejected) for 15 OOC minutes, after which they must defer to captor rules if they intend to carry the character as their prisoner. 

 

Outside of combat, a wight may also perform Husking on animals no heavier than 100kg or plants no larger than an oak tree. Possessed animals may only move in ways permitted by their physical bodies, whilst possessed plants may unnaturally sway and bend though will never be able to move beyond the confines of their roots. Unlike humanoids, these hosts are powerless to the whims of a wight and cannot resist possession. When this occurs with a plant or animal that is still living, druids within [24] blocks of the husk shall be alerted to the cries of nature, exposing the possessed entity as an abomination and revealed darkspawn. 

 

• Husking is an active ability, only accessible to wights when shifting from their incorporeal state into their corporeal state. Thereafter it is maintained passively.
• Damage made to a husked body is shared with the wight as a Minor, Major or Devastating Strike where applicable. Regardless of if it is a puppet, corpse or host, the decapitation or death of a husked entity equals the destruction of the wight. In this regard husking does not grant wights a “second life”.
• Puppets and corpses are limited to the strength potential of a human. Hosts are limited to the strength potential of the possessed creature.
• With the exception of kharajyr, hou-zi, musin, wonks and inhabited klones which all count as ‘hosts’ if living and ‘corpses’ if dead, the Husking ability cannot be paired with any sort of active/ ‘living’ CA character. For example, a wight could never husk into a living homunculus or nephillim.
• A living host may only be inhabited via the Husking ability once they have already been knocked unconscious, serving as a vessel for the wight until they are ejected or willingly released. These living hosts MUST be ST-event or player characters. 
  • Should the player whose character is being husked into go offline, the wight will be ejected from their husk as soon as the current encounter (combat or otherwise) ends. If the wight is ejected from their husk before this happens, the host body remains unconscious though the wight may not re-enter it.
  • Offline player characters cannot be husked into, unless they are dead in which case the wight may possess them as a corpse.

 

Levitation - Combative

Intangible wights, though practically weightless, are still tethered to the ground and cannot levitate more than [1] block in the air. In this regard, wights cannot fly, though they can freely travel over any terrain - including bodies of water - without hindrance. They are also unphased by falls and may drop from any height without risk of injury.

 

• Levitation is a passive ability inside or out of combat, only accessible to wights in their incorporeal state.

 

Sphere of Influence - Combative/ Noncombative

Intangible wights may interact with the world via their sphere of influence, which spans a [5x5x5] block area. Characters within this range may receive one-way telepathic messages from wights (using the /msg command) and outside of combat may also be afflicted with minor hallucinations, haunting their thoughts with projected sounds and images of the wight’s creation. These hallucinations may only affect one character at a time. Also outside of combat a wight may telekinetically manipulate any number of objects within their sphere of influence, so long as their combined weight is no heavier than 100kg.

 

• Sphere of Influence is a passive ability inside or out of combat, only accessible to wights in their incorporeal state.
• During combat, wights may only use Sphere of Influence for telepathic communication. Hallucinations as well as telekinesis are only accessible outside of combat.
  • Telepathic communication can never forcibly distract or disrupt a character during combat (though a recipient may respond to it however they feel appropriate). For instance, a wight’s telepathic screaming could not cause a Void mage to lose their connection, an archer to miss their shot or a swordsman to falter their strike.
•  

Corpse Courier - Noncombative

By imbuing their own anima and lifeforce into the decapitated head or skull of another character, a wight may create a dormant anchor for their presence known as a ‘Corpse Courier’. 

 

Corpse Couriers are dormant, dead heads or skulls which may be triggered by touch with a living or undead creature. Exclusively outside of combat this activates the skull, allowing the wight - should they be receptive - to fall dormant and enter a trance-like state over [1] emote, lasting thereafter for the duration as their consciousness is partially shared with the skull from any range.

 

Whilst active, a wight is able to hear and speak (though not see or feel) through the skull, able to maintain conversations with those in the Corpse Courier’s presence. This is achieved exclusively through the /msg command, during which the person interacting with the skull must speak out loud in #w, #q or #rp chat and relay their spoken words (as well as any sounds within range for the skull to hear) to the wight via /msg. The skull may then reply though is incapable of telepathy or whispering and as such will always speak in #q range. This is achieved by the player interacting with the skull emoting on its behalf to repeat the wight’s words relayed through /msg in #q or via ST assistance.

 

A Corpse Courier may remain indefinitely active though as soon as it is moved more than [8] blocks from the site it was activated or if combat begins at either the wight or skull’s end it will fall dormant and require reactivation.

 

• Corpse Courier is an active ability, only accessible to wights in either state outside of combat.
• A Corpse Courier must be created in advance of its use by the wight, imbuing their anima and lifeforce into the head or skull of a slain player character; it cannot come from an NPC.
• Corpse Couriers are represented by player signed MC items or builds describing the skull and pointing others to message the wight player to interact. 
• Corpse Couriers may only be used to facilitate conversations and cannot cast spells, move, see or feel on their own. They may relay instruction for necromantic rituals to any necromancer as well as lessons for reaving, occultism or exorcism to a student marked on the wight’s TA.
• Corpse Couriers may only be activated by living or undead creatures with lifeforce as described under the Resources section of the Necromancy Hub: [Hub] Necromancy - Lore Criteria + Submissions - The Lord Of The Craft

 

Possession - Noncombative

Outside of combat, phantasmal wights may concentrate their ectoplasmic forms and spheres of influence into a single mundane object, possessing it. The only limitations to this are that the object cannot be made from any sort of aurum or thanhium alloy, nor may it be enchanted by any means. This object cannot be permanently attached to a structure (e.g. a floor, wall or ceiling) nor can it weigh more than 100kg or occupy a space larger than [3x3x3] blocks. Possessed objects may then be puppeteered by the wight as they please, as they have complete control over any moving or flexible parts of it. They may also move the whole object up to [4] blocks per emote.

 

The wight will become fully concealed within the object whilst doing so, hidden spare for a dilapidated sheen upon it similar to a hexed item; metals will appear rusted and scraped, wood will appear gnarled, rotten or chipped, cloth will appear tattered, stained or damp and so on. Exorcists, as well as those utilising Sigismund’s Candles, will witness a bright ectoplasmic gleam upon the object to reveal it as possessed. 

 

If the object is damaged and loses ¼ or more of its material, or if it is struck by any material or spell listed as harmful to incorporeal wights, they will be immediately ejected from it and dazed for [1] emote during which they cannot attack, dodge, perform actions or move more than [2] blocks. 

 

• Possession is an active ability, only accessible to wights in their incorporeal state.
• Though wights cannot initiate the Possession ability during combat, they may remain hidden in possessed objects should combat be initiated by others nearby or someone attacking them. They are incapable of launching attacks whilst possessing an object, and when exiting a possessed object of their own volition they cannot make an attack in the same emote.
• The Possession ability cannot be used on humanoid structures such as suits of armour, corpses or living creatures. This would require the Husking ability.

 

Conjoinment - Noncombative

Uniquely capable of consuming and corrupting strays from the Elysian Wastes, as well as geists reached by exorcism’s Seance spell and the Sapping ability, a wight can add to and eject from their amalgam of souls as they please, restricted only in retaining their own soul alongside the souls of the original apparition bound to them in its Consumption.

 

These surplus geists are useful to wights in a heightened variant of the Hexing spell, which when combined with their intangible state may be uniquely cast on living descendants to bind a geist within their bodies or to exclusively attuned talismans. 

 

By temporarily lending their ectoplasm to a geist it may be manifested outside of the wight’s collective form, appearing as a vicious mass of shadow or light. Whilst in the intangible state a wight can then bind this pilfered soul through one of two methods:

Reavers are created when a wight reaches their intangible grasp into a viable host, forcing the geist in with it and Entombing the mortal’s soul to pair the two, stitching together the living and dead souls to curse the host as a pseudo-undead creature, capable of producing abundant lifeforce for the reaving discipline of necromancy.

 

Occultists are created when a wight reaches their intangible grasp into a relic with which a living acolyte has flooded their own mana. The anima of the mage’s own soul is then coaxed into the object by the wight, consecrating it as a talisman; a greater form of hexed object uniquely attuned to a living sorcerer, capable of leeching their own lifeforce to then be directed into the occultism discipline of necromancy.

 

• Corpse Courier is an active ability, only accessible to wights in their incorporeal state outside of combat.
• Conjoinment requires OOC consent as it incurs a semi-permanent change of character. Further, conjoinment ‘fails’ if the person the wight is conjoining does not submit a Reaving [MA] or Occultism [MA] with an appropriate teacher. 
  • This teacher does not necessarily need to be the wight performing Conjoinment.
• Both variants of Conjoinment must be carried out between the wight and a prospective reaving or occultism student in person, after which the wight must comment a screenshot of their emotes on the prospective necromancer’s student app.

 

Sapping - Combative

Through enhanced in-hand exorcism, a wight is uniquely capable of tearing a geist out of a necromancer’s body. Violently plunging their ethereal grasp into a necromancer’s chest, they may excise a geist from the bloated body of a reaver, and flood the withered form of an occultist with innumerable ‘blessings’ of anima to sever and silence their attunement to their talisman.

 

This results in the ‘sapping’ of a necromancer; unravelling any former Conjoinment as they are stripped of their dominion over lifeforce and ectoplasm. 

 

Both methods, though unique in their processes, require a wight to touch a reaver or occultist for [4] consecutive emotes, during which time they are wrought with excruciating (but not debilitating) pain as they are assailed by the wight’s spellwork, cast (and disrupted) in an identical fashion to reaving’s Leech spell. If sapping is disrupted (as outlined under the Leech spell), the wight will be staggered for [1] emote in which they cannot cast or sprint. 

 

• Sapping  is an active ability, accessible to wights in their either state outside of combat.
• Sapping obeys all of the effects and redlines of the Leech spell, with the added caveat of staggering a wight should it be disrupted.
• Sapping may only be used on characters with a Reaving [MA] or Occultism [MA]. It has no effect on the Exorcism [MA].
  • If successful, wights must /sreq to ensure the sapping RP is valid and must either be overseen by an ST in the moment or provide screenshots for the ST if none are available. Once sapped, an ST must comment on the reaver or occultist’s MA(s) and deny them. When a character with a Reaving [MA] and Occultism [MA] is sapped, both apps are denied as they lose access to both magics.
• Characters with a Wight [CA] are incapable of being sapped. 
• Sapping requires sustained, physical touch between the wight (or the husk they are in) and the necromancer being sapped. It cannot be done by proxy of a corpse courier, puppeted zombie or expelled geist.

 

[lemonke 6014]

32 minutes ago, The King Of The Moon said:

• been destroyed and the pale knight player has been informed, their character loses the ability to revive and must PK upon their next death. This PK clause only goes into effect once the pale knight player has been informed. Dying before being made aware of their phylactery’s destruction will not necessitate a PK.
• Once destroyed, a pale knight may never recover their phylactery nor be bound to a new one, making their next

Why are we giving now, every necro CA such a harsh pk clause? Like, it seems extreme as not even demons have something like this. Does this mean every darkstalker now must have a pk clause added to their thing?

 

It's a feedback that was given by a few people but I don't see a lot of changes. Will write a in depth review later.

 

I am unsure if it was something w pale knights in general but a lot of these things get destroyed so easily. Giving such harsh pk clause to a non end-game CA like this seems... random.

[MysticalWeasel 910]

29 minutes ago, The King Of The Moon said:

If a phylactery is destroyed, players must /sreq to ensure the destruction RP is valid and must either be overseen by an ST in the moment or provide screenshots for the ST if none are available. Once destroyed, the ST must deny the wight’s CA to track their PK.

Having a system completely able to be done with 0 interaction to the player being PK'd. I understand people can hide these things very very well. It does not change you can PK a character that you've never had to see, meet or understand. I also understand this has been the accepted PK system for quite a while now. Yet I feel that this in current day will just be abused, and people will now break into lairs or when a lair is found camp it until entry is gained. 

I believe 90% of the server won't do what I just said it only take 3 people with enough motivation and time on their hand to completely ruin whole covens cause they got lucky with breaking in, 

 

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

5 hours ago, lemonke said:

Why are we giving now, every necro CA such a harsh pk clause? Like, it seems extreme as not even demons have something like this. Does this mean every darkstalker now must have a pk clause added to their thing?

 

It's a feedback that was given by a few people but I don't see a lot of changes. Will write a in depth review later.

 

I am unsure if it was something w pale knights in general but a lot of these things get destroyed so easily. Giving such harsh pk clause to a non end-game CA like this seems... random.

 

5 hours ago, MysticalWeasel said:

Having a system completely able to be done with 0 interaction to the player being PK'd. I understand people can hide these things very very well. It does not change you can PK a character that you've never had to see, meet or understand. I also understand this has been the accepted PK system for quite a while now. Yet I feel that this in current day will just be abused, and people will now break into lairs or when a lair is found camp it until entry is gained. 

I believe 90% of the server won't do what I just said it only take 3 people with enough motivation and time on their hand to completely ruin whole covens cause they got lucky with breaking in, 

 

Historically, all undead creatures besides Wraiths, Ghouls and Ghosts have had phylacteries and associated PK clauses, including Darkstalkers, Liches, Eidolons and Wights. In current lore Darkstalkers are the only undead creature of their tier without a PK clause. Currently accepted Pale Knights and Pale Lords have phylacteries and PK clauses identical to what this lore is proposing. Draugars have even harsher PK clauses than what this lore proposes at present, akin to Wights. 

In practice this change is giving Darkstalkers their phylacteries back, as they had in all other iterations of necromancy besides the current lore. The Memento Mori system that current Rh'thorean Necromancy promotes is easily abuseable, and has been easily abused a number of times. Phylacteries are a tried and tested vulnerability to characters who, for all intents and purposes, are otherwise immortal. The phylactery system this lore proposes, wherein a character will not die if their phylactery is broken and merely lose the ability to respawn, is also far more lenient than the current iterations of Greater Undead creatures, with the sole exception of Darkstalkers.

The design philosophy of this piece is to put undead creatures on a similar playing field and discourage the bad behaviours enabled by current lore. Though I appreciate the concern for this vulnerability being added to Darkstalkers, it is by no means a new or - in my opinon - unfair change. 

[wowj 9747]

2 minutes ago, The King Of The Moon said:

 

Historically, all undead creatures besides Wraiths, Ghouls and Ghosts have had phylacteries and associated PK clauses, including Darkstalkers, Liches, Eidolons and Wights. In current lore Darkstalkers are the only undead creature of their tier without a PK clause. Currently accepted Pale Knights and Pale Lords have phylacteries and PK clauses identical to what this lore is proposing. Draugars have even harsher PK clauses than what this lore proposes at present, akin to Wights. 

In practice this change is giving Darkstalkers their phylacteries back, as they had in all other iterations of necromancy besides the current lore. The Memento Mori system that current Rh'thorean Necromancy promotes is easily abuseable, and has been easily abused a number of times. Phylacteries are a tried and tested vulnerability to characters who, for all intents and purposes, are otherwise immortal. The phylactery system this lore proposes, wherein a character will not die if their phylactery is broken and merely lose the ability to respawn, is also far more lenient than the current iterations of Greater Undead creatures, exclusively excluding Darkstalkers.

The design philosophy of this piece is to put undead creatures on a similar playing field and discourage the bad behaviours enabled by current lore. Though I appreciate the concern for this vulnerability being added to Darkstalkers, it is by no means a new or - in my opinon - unfair change. 

y not have them have 'shrine' type locations where they can infinitely respawn at, but if the shrine is destroyed, and the undead is killed, they're pked?

[lemonke 6014]

7 minutes ago, The King Of The Moon said:

 

Historically, all undead creatures besides Wraiths, Ghouls and Ghosts have had phylacteries and associated PK clauses, including Darkstalkers, Liches, Eidolons and Wights. In current lore Darkstalkers are the only undead creature of their tier without a PK clause. Currently accepted Pale Knights and Pale Lords have phylacteries and PK clauses identical to what this lore is proposing. Draugars have even harsher PK clauses than what this lore proposes at present, akin to Wights. 

In practice this change is giving Darkstalkers their phylacteries back, as they had in all other iterations of necromancy besides the current lore. The Memento Mori system that current Rh'thorean Necromancy promotes is easily abuseable, and has been easily abused a number of times. Phylacteries are a tried and tested vulnerability to characters who, for all intents and purposes, are otherwise immortal. The phylactery system this lore proposes, wherein a character will not die if their phylactery is broken and merely lose the ability to respawn, is also far more lenient than the current iterations of Greater Undead creatures, exclusively excluding Darkstalkers.

The design philosophy of this piece is to put undead creatures on a similar playing field and discourage the bad behaviours enabled by current lore. Though I appreciate the concern for this vulnerability being added to Darkstalkers, it is by no means a new or - in my opinon - unfair change. 

It is new, now. It may have been a thing years ago in the ancient era but right now, I feel such a mechanic wouldn’t work. Things are way different nowadays and what's most unfair is that they cannot re-build their structure.

 

It isn't like Kloning whereas after your klones get destroyed, you can build them back through resources. In here, you just are put onto one-life situation with a chance of having no interaction out of it. It's the most unfun thing and all it'll do is making people schizo or overly unfair when it comes down to this.

 

I don't know. For such a simple CA, you are giving them a harsher pk clause even than most end-game CA. I would say this is really one of the most harsh ones around.

[Benleft 2579]

Isn’t there already a Siliti submission 

[Mestvin 947]

What i don't understand is why a Lich can become Naztherak, but can't become an Occultist?

[PrimnyaQuorum 3999]

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

The Consumption Ritual requires ST oversight, and may only be successfully undertaken by a pale knight or a living necromancer who currently has accepted MAs in Reaving, Occultism and Exorcism. The necromancer must currently be Tier 5 in ALL of the listed MAs. 

• Any who attempt the Consumption Ritual without these prerequisites will have their souls devoured by the apparition which then escapes with it, resulting in a PK. The apparition then becomes an ST Event asset.

 

Some form of OOC Consent/OOC Willingly redline should likely exist to PREVENT people from being forced OOCly into doing something that could PK their character or commence major trolling through a CA transformation.

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Phylacteries are made from ectoplasm-fortified stone, known as menhir. Capable of ‘healing’ gradually from minor chips and scrapes, this dark rock is laden with abundant lifeforce and mana. In order to outpace its magical reconstruction, within [3] consecutive rounds of emotes or 30 OOC minutes (whichever comes first), a phylactery must be subjected to any combination of: [8] strikes from warhammers, pickaxes, maces, or concussive Voidal spells, [4] strikes from a golem, titan, or high-density boomsteel weapon, [4] gouts of continuous dragonsfire, [4] strikes from a templar’s furiously inflamed weapons or magical spells or [4] necromantic drains such as those available to pale knights/pale lords, reavers or occultists.

What constitutes a "magical spell" here? Would a void spell count for 1 normal hit, and 1 double hit given some void spells are blunt/concussive and all voidal spells are magical? Where do magical metals fall under this table, like Arcanium [which is equal to a T5 voidal spell?]

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

If a phylactery is destroyed, destroying players must /sreq to ensure the destruction RP is valid and must either be overseen by an ST in the moment or provide screenshots for the ST if none are available. Once destroyed, the ST must comment on the pale knight’s CA to track this destruction and notify the pale knight player in question.

• Once their phylactery has been destroyed and the pale knight player has been informed, their character loses the ability to revive and must PK upon their next death. This PK clause only goes into effect once the pale knight player has been informed. Dying before being made aware of their phylactery’s destruction will not necessitate a PK.
• Once destroyed, a pale knight may never recover their phylactery nor be bound to a new one, making their next death an inevitable PK. 

To echo similar sentiments, this feels like a mechanic ripe for abuse. Mods are already inconsistent/has not publically stated what "peak" hours are, nor are most players aware enough to understand when someone has broken rules just to do something against them. This enables bad actors to have the most clear cut method of getting rid of people with CAs they dont like - just break in, break the funny greensign, and gank the target. 

 

I would argue some mix of the Azdrazi revival system and Inferi revival system might work here - when a Phylactory is broken, the CA will be soft PK'd on their next death - to be returned, they need their coven to rebuild a phycaltory for them, re juice it in a possible, but difficult manner, and wait a short period for the CA to revive. In this, "PKing" a Pale Knight effectively entails wiping out their coven, and any Necromancy MA/CA who knows that particular Pale Knight existed so their soul cannot be recalled to be revived. Equally, if a coven wants to put down their own CA, they can just opt not to bring them back. 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Pale Lords

With access to their own phylactery and the mettle to do so, a pale knight may conquer an apparition - a paramount phantom amalgam of tens of lost souls - and consume it, bolstering their own enfeebled souls with abundant anima to evolve, elevating to the mantle of lordship over the undead and delving deeper into their innate necrotic potential. 

 

Pale lords are created when a pale knight undergoes the Consumption ritual (outlined under the Wight [CA] section of this post) within close proximity of their phylactery, where it can be physically accessed without barrier and is put at risk as an apparition is conquered and stolen into its network of grim enchantments. 

 

Immediately after triumphing the pale knight would siphon the apparition’s essence into themselves and become bloated and enfeebled, overwhelmed by the immensity of their excess anima. The pale knight would feel an instinctive urge to touch their phylactery, whereupon its menhir stone would naturally open, revealing a throne carved within. Should they resist (or be barred from) its tug, the pale knight would inevitably perish as their soul is devoured by the dazed apparition, which would reawaken within [10] emotes of its defeat and consumption. 

 

If the successful pale knight is able to sit upon their phylactery’s throne, the menhir obelisk will close behind them and leave them entombed. For one year ([1] OOC week) the greater undead shall slumber as their undead body and soul undergoes a dark metamorphosis from which the transformed body of a pale lord will emerge, carrying with it their own soul irreparably congealed with those of the devoured apparition.

 

These lords bear not only enhanced forms, but advanced mastery over lifeforce and ectoplasm, gaining additional spells from the arsenals of necromancers as well as access to the Cradle, Lesser and Greater Resurrection rituals, allowing them to create new apparitions, ghosts, ghouls and pale knights without need of a living necromancer.

 

Knowledge of this process and the semantics of the Consumption ritual becomes apparent in a revelation given to any pale knight who physically touches their own phylactery, otherwise this information is not inherent.

 

• Becoming a Pale Lord via the Consumption ritual requires ST oversight and a comment from the presiding ST on a Pale Knight’s [CA] should the ritual succeed.
• Should a pale knight be slain during the Consumption ritual and their phylactery broken in the same encounter (by the apparition or otherwise), they will be PK’d. Likewise, if a pale knight is slain or otherwise prevented from entering their phylactery for [10] or more emotes after consuming an apparition, the apparition will re-awaken and steal their soul with it, PKing the pale knight. In addition, during the [1] OOC week in which the pale knight is shelved before remerging as a pale lord, they would suffer the same fate should their phylactery be destroyed; vulnerable to the aforementioned PK clause.
• The pale knight’s phylactery must be mechanically accessible throughout the encounter. Besides this change and the semantics of a pale knight’s metamorphosis, this process is identical to the Consumption ritual as would be undergone by necromancers seeking the Wight [CA], and thus adheres to all of the guidance and restrictions detailed under that section of this post. 

Some form of bad faith prevention mechanics should be redlined here - it feels incredibly easy to just force a Pale Knight into this encounter and get them PK'd.

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

The dark enchantments which sustain the undead are also inherently magical and, therefore, subject to disruption from auric oil, thanhium, and concussive or hard Voidal spells; all of which may inflict pain in a manner akin to slayersteel.

What the hell is a "Hard voidal spell?" 

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Quantification

The aforementioned physical conditions culminate in three main damage types to which pale knights are vulnerable to varying extents (elaborated on under each subcategory). Strikes are grouped as follows:

Minor Strikes: Shortbows, light crossbows, stabs and slashes from mundane weapons.

Major Strikes: Concussive or hard Voidal spells, stabs or slashes from Voidally enchanted, hexed, auric oil treated, thanhium or slayersteel weapons. OR Mundane warhammers, maces, longbows or heavy crossbows. OR A minor strike made with the strength of an olog or golem.

Devastating Strikes: Pure aurum (or equivalent) weapons of any type, dragonsfire, spells that target revealed darkspawn. OR Warhammers or maces made from Voidally enchanted, hexed, auric oil treated, high-density boomsteel, thanhium or slayersteel weapons. OR A major strike made with the strength of an olog or golem.

 

• Strikes as quantified refer to successful hits made to the body of a pale knight, not failed, missed or hindered hits which have been dodged, parried or otherwise blocked by an armament.
  • Where a pale knight is hit with different types of strike, they should refer to the higher category’s number and add lesser strikes to the count at a rate of ½.
    For instance, “[3] Devastating Strikes” worth of damage could be wrought by a combination of [1] Devastating Strike, [2] Major Strikes and [4] Minor Strikes.
• The ‘numbness’ of pale knights equates to an absence of sensation and pain from sources not specified above or under the later subcategories. A lack of feeling does not equate invulnerability, however, as all corporeal undead are still subject to physical damage which can kill them in the ways specified per subcategory.
• Though they do not feel fatigue nor encumberment, pale knights are still constrained by the limits of their mobility and strength outlined in their respective subcategory.
• Aurum weapons are unbreakable in the moment of a direct, successful attack on a pale knight’s body, immediately after which they return to normal durability. Pale knights are not capable of strengthening aurum weapons they are wielding at will.

 

"Voidally enchanted weapons" is a bad thing - a Tfig mage can spam lesser enchants that have 0 function in combat [as lesser enchants cant function during combat] but if its in a mace that would make it do devastating strikes? A simpler option might be to Arcanium alone and not any voidally enchanted object for Devastating or at least clarifying what the lowest level of void enchant is to count as "voidally enchanted"

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Though bones can still easily be broken and severed and pain is experienced in the same manner, liches also uniquely benefit from the ability to levitate up to [1] block in the air, allowing them to easily traverse difficult terrain or move without functioning legs.

 

Would this allow Liches to fundamentally "dodge" spells that are only 1m in height by just floating over them? Naz and Seers have this ability but its only 1 foot.

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Deathknights develop a complete immunity to heat wrought from mundane, alchemical, or Voidal fire, their bones fortified even against the scorch of molten metal or lava, though they are still subject to the magical harm inflicted by dragonsfire and malflame as well as any concussive force inflicted in tandem with explosions or Voidal spells. 

I think remaining weak to Blue Fire could be a possibility considering its function as more intense flame, and its utter uselessness current.

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Behemoth-specific Redlines

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Imposing behemoths, eidola range from 7ft to 9ft in size and with humanoid proportions, respectively weighing [⅓] to [½] of a metric ton.

For the love of god, PLEASE redline that Eidola's cannot "fall over" onto things or people when otherwise unable to act offensively [such as when sound blasted/Malflame'd]

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Titans are incapable of sprinting and though they can perform actions as quickly as normal descendants, their movement is capped at [3] blocks per emote in combat, even whilst focused on sprinting without other actions.

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Behemoths are incapable of riding horses in or out of combat. In combat, behemoths (sized 8’5” or smaller) are limited in their sprinting capability to [6] blocks (down from the usual [8] as per CRP rules). Titans cannot sprint, and are capped at a maximum movement of [4] blocks per emote in combat, regardless of if actions are being performed. 

Which one is it?

 

2 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Though they may drape themselves with any sort of unprotective fabric or clothing, behemoths are incapable of utilising any form of rigid armour, causing it to be bent and broken before it might be made useful. 

Does this extend to metals enchanted to be akin to fabric/cloth [like through BM] or is it strictly meant to intend that a Behemoth cannot wear anything that provides some effect/advantage?

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Once hit with [1] or more successful Devastating Strikes* or equivalent to their skull, a corporeal wight loses the ability to shift into their incorporeal form.

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Whilst missing [2] or more limbs or after receiving at least [2] successful Major Strikes or equivalent to their skull, a corporeal wight loses the ability to shift into their incorporeal form.

These seem to refer to the same inhibiting incorporeality mechanic, they describe 2 very different thresholds

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

In addition, though it gains no such benefit against blows blocked by the armaments of the undead, successful strikes made with pure aurum to the incorporeal or corporeal bodies of wights will cause the usually fragile metal to be in the moment reinforced; black wisps feeding into the soft metal to preserve the edges of blades, the points of spears, or the rigidity of concussive weapons. That is to say, despite the inherent softness of aurum in most circumstances, whilst successfully striking a wight it becomes unbreakable. This is the case regardless of if the wight is in their corporeal or incorporeal states or the Possession or Husking abilities. 

Is there anything preventing this from serving as a meta-check tool against Necromancy CAs? As it reads right now, you can just poke anything at a gatehouse and go stupid if your aurum turns wispy which feels like the usual low effort bad faith testing RP.

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

-A corpse of any level of freshness may be possessed by a wight to the same extent as manifesting their own corporeal form. Corpses being husked by a wight will be supernaturally embalmed for the duration of their husking, though once exited will decay at an accelerated rate; crumbling to dust the moment the wight shifts into a new husk or their incorporeal form. This corpse is still for all intents and purposes undead and cannot retain warmth, whilst being just as susceptible to different forms of damage as their corporeal skeleton. 

 

• Whilst husked in a corpse a wight may still access their necromancy spells, however they are no longer passively gleaming and must add this ‘connection’ emote to their spells in a manner akin to living necromancers. 
• Regardless of size, husked corpses are always as physically strong as a human.
• Corpses are subject to being dismembered or slain in the same ways outlined in the Corporeal state. Though a wight may manipulate and puppeteer it, flesh is not essential as the wight is anchored to the skull of the corpse.

What is the maximum strength a Husked Corpse can have? It's listed under puppet but not Corpse for some reaosn.

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Husking - Combative

Husking is entirely missing a emote count for going into a Husk, alongside a range requirement. Unless Husking is intended to be a 0 emote LoS thing. Equally, how would a unconscious player commune with the Wight actively husking them? Does a Wight Husking a Host have access to anything of the Host's memories or mannerisms or voice or MA/FA/CA benefits? Equally, a no-ftbing redline should probably be under husking in some way, especially for Hosts. I also think the memory loss redlines for Husking should be a bit more intentional, as I can see plenty of ways to Husk a Host to abuse the memory loss feature.

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Corpse Courier - Noncombative

By imbuing their own anima and lifeforce into the decapitated head or skull of another character, a wight may create a dormant anchor for their presence known as a ‘Corpse Courier’. 

 

Corpse Couriers are dormant, dead heads or skulls which may be triggered by touch with a living or undead creature. Exclusively outside of combat this activates the skull, allowing the wight - should they be receptive - to fall dormant and enter a trance-like state over [1] emote, lasting thereafter for the duration as their consciousness is partially shared with the skull from any range.

Given the potential these could have to be infinite range birds/rally bells, the usual [3] Emote count should probably be for both ends, calling and answering.

 

3 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Corpse Couriers may only be used to facilitate conversations and cannot cast spells, move, see or feel on their own. They may relay instruction for necromantic rituals to any necromancer as well as lessons for reaving, occultism or exorcism to a student marked on the wight’s TA.

Is there any particular reason why a student has to be on a particular Wight's TA for this to function, as opposed to the currently accepted ST rules that so long as you are on someone's TA, anyone with a TA in that MA can provide lessons?

 

Honestly cool additions and changes to undead CAs in general

[megavoltar 1634]

Will pale knights/lords finally be barred from being 20ft tall olog strength game-bait with this update?

[MysticalWeasel 910]

12 hours ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Draugars have [5] magic slots, which may be used to learn any Voidal magic, Naztherak, Bardmancy, or Housemagery as well as any Alchemical Feat. They may also retain any of the aforementioned as well as the Vivification Feat if they had such in life. Draugars who were slotted Seers in life may retain their Seer slots, though once risen all other draugars will be granted magical sight and cannot become a Seer even if they previously had the feat. Draugars who were Devils in life will retain devilish features albeit in an undead fashion, as well as the ability to learn / use Ilzakarn, though their souls will have been saved from the Red Prince’s claim.

Current redlines for Naztherak prevent Dark CA's from learning the magic. You'd need to amend Naztherak, or remove it from the learnable magics here. 

If it is to be amended does that mean also Malda's (Inferi witches) will get the ability to learn all of the Necromancy hub? 

[RockyTheWolf 209]

Unless I'm blind, does this write remove the ability for paramount darkstalkers to assist with necromancy rituals and create ghouls? [Though maybe this will be in the ghoul page? Which currently links to the phantom page.. on the hub...] 

If so.. I feel kind of mixed on that? I liked the idea of paramounts serving as lesser necromancers themselves 

This also doesnt have the flesh facade ability as far as I can see and I honestly am not sure I like the progression as much. Old darkstalkers felt like soul vampires while ghouls were basic bone men, these darkstalkers don't really feel the same. 

 

[King_Kunuk 3022]

13 hours ago, RockyTheWolf said:

Unless I'm blind, does this write remove the ability for paramount darkstalkers to assist with necromancy rituals and create ghouls? [Though maybe this will be in the ghoul page? Which currently links to the phantom page.. on the hub...] 

If so.. I feel kind of mixed on that? I liked the idea of paramounts serving as lesser necromancers themselves 

This also doesnt have the flesh facade ability as far as I can see and I honestly am not sure I like the progression as much. Old darkstalkers felt like soul vampires while ghouls were basic bone men, these darkstalkers don't really feel the same. 

 

So you need to look at the necromancy lore page of reaving and occultism to find this. On that page, it details that Pale Lords (Death knight, Lich, eidola), can assist/conduct their own rituals with other necromancers. and a lot of rituals have been simplified down to

 

Make a Pale Knight (create one of the three)
Ascend Pale Knight
make ghoul/ghost
Entomb Land

 

[Plummius_ 141]

Imagine being a new player diving into some spooky stuff and this thing shows up. 

[Pallodium 3775]

This lore has been denied. You will be sent a forum PM regarding the reasons for denial within the next 24 hours.