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Môrghuul - The Arisen "Damned be the Gods, and their servants too, Shadow wars, cataclysms, crimes never few; Invaders and pillagers, tyrants of Man, Enemies of the Dark, goodly illusion they cast, they can; But locked within the Fallen One's book, Mortal eyes unable to look; Is the curse that brings Man's darkness near, The visage of mortality, that which all Men fear; Glorious, undying, no longer a Gods' tool, The embodiment of Dark, the old Môrghuul." The Resurgence The Môrghuul are undead entities created from an ancient curse that had been deciphered from the texts of the Necronomicon; a relic that bears an age that dates back toward Aegis, when the first Undead waged war against the descendants. The curse itself, named "Môrghuul", translates from the tongue of the Undead as "Arisen Men" -- implying the affliction turned mortals greater instead of distort them into mindless, rotten savages. This implication is only half-truth, however; records of its use had been vague, but the one most known was of the Magi Cataris, whom in the late wars of Aegis had been captured by the Undead to be turned into one such Arisen Men. Instead, he was turned into a stiff, undying thrall who, even amidst his lesser undeath, was capable of achieving the status of Lich and beyond the Fallen One's jurisdiction, proceeding into the next age as the one who would herald the transcendent race of Liches. The Môrghuul never came to true fruition, for many were not fabricated in the duration that the first Undead existed. Only the lost Necronomicon held the last remnants of the curse's details as the Undead were defeated in the end, casting the spell, with the book itself, into obscurity. But generations later, after nearly two centuries, the art of necromancy had risen again, brought back by the old Overlord Wrothgar as a solution to the living Undead remnants' affliction which promised them a quick end with no font of power to keep them alive. The dark art, now godless, had been passed down from master to student and then master again until it was widespread among the established coven, leading to extensive research and experimentation with the obscure dark art. Many spells were created, many rituals - even the reformation of the Lich race, which had been thought to be lost with the fall of Cataris some time after the rise of his own fleshless kind. But by pure coincidence, one such ritual had been discovered by accident; the creation of Ghouls, whom were risen from the carcasses of the fallen dead, able to exist beyond the reach of their necromancer masters by devouring the living and passively draining their lifeforce to remain alive and functional, though mindless and animalistic - without souls or any mishapen form of humanity. The very moment of their creation awoke a buried fate; an unseen and unforeseen collection of clues that all led back to one final discovery: the Môrghuul. Though paled in comparison to the uniform resurrection that the curse of the Môrghuul brought upon its mortal victims, the affliction of Ghouldom was a relation, a connection to a secret long lost. The Necronomicon was thought to be lost, yet something akin to one of its powerful incantations had been discovered by sheer chance, but without the bind to wretched Iblees. An unrecognized innovation to the existence of mortal Man. The Necronomicon was discovered some decades later after the second invasion of the Undead upon Athera, the land that bordered the allusive Abyss. Stolem by the ex-Undead Adorellan, it was carried to his Archwraith ally, Vinzakra, whom then brought it to Ashen Lord Nimdravûr and Forlorn Lord Doldremeûs for review. Their warped minds protected from the madness within the tome of evil, they made quick work, making a collective effort to decipher the secrets within. Though their time was spent mulling over inane scribblings and incompatible incantations, they found one magical affliction which bore a particular likeness to the ways of their dark art -- the curse of the Arisen Men. Immediately, they went to work on replicating the curse, reshaping it and reforming it to apply to the laws of their godless, independent necromancy; retaining the soul-warping secrets of the spell, but replacing the way in which it remains active and functional-- assuring that the affliction would indeed make the afflicted "arisen", though to replace and circumvent the burdens of mortality. To be arisen, to be greater, to be independent and free - at a cost. The Return Long ago, when primeval Man walked the earth and when the Fallen One's war only had raged for the final year, the land of Aegis bustled with solemm activity. Dull prosperity, for Iblees' fire and ash hadn't managed to destroy them all. Unity, for the Four Brothers kept their descendants to remain as an unsteady One, when their curses made them Four. Yet, also naivete, for it was not long ago that the Creator set the Four down upon the plane to flourish as One; shrouding the minds of the descendants in a white and black scale. Mortality was the white, Iblees was the black. Little was known about the in-between, for beyond light and dark were forces and laws indiscernable to the common mortal - attunements to the universe shared only to a select few, and others more obscure - more dark - found by others. Some such chosen ones were deemed the "Monks" - those that bore the burden of keeping the descendants alive while the blight of Iblees threatened to destroy them all. Magic was a concept little understood, and theirs was an art little understood, if not the most among their kind. Only the Monks of the Temple knew of how the soul worked in these primeval times, and their powers allowed them to lure the spirits of the fallen to their haven to be renewed despite the end that gripped it little time before. To current day, the magic of the Monks, though granted by another patron, is obscure and unknown; held only by the fabled wise men beneath the Cloud Temple. And quite wise they were, despite what risks their seclusion. There was plentiful knowledge and study to be had where there were not revivals to be made. In the dim candle-lit libraries, the idle Monks both read books and toiled over the replication of them, promising generations not yet born among the descendants limitless texts to learn from. But even among their most coveted secrets, the way of the soul was one not recorded. The old Monks were taught to memorize their art by mind, and through the words of their predecessors, in order to prevent their art escaping the confines of their temple. Such was the way of things, for the mind of the Monks were said to be indomitable, and invulnerable to temptations beyond the walls of their inner-haven - where the dead were brought back to life. But all Monks were not the same. One only known as Gloomgazer in ancient excerpts studied astrology, and the dark of the night sky when he seldom was allowed to look upon them under the collective permission of his brethren. He found the stars captivating, the moon a mystery, the sun a searing reminder that more was to be explored beyond the confines of the temple. Within his heart was a faltering, a distortion; a breach of his judgement and the wisdom all Monks were taught to covet. Never were they supposed to leave the confines of the temple, but the ages were early, and exceptions were allowed. Even mortal naiveté touched the hearts of the old Monks of the Temple - leading them to allow this Gloomgazer his brief moments of study of the beyond. But the exceptions were made in error, and the dark of Gloomgazer's heart deepened with each answerless mystery he faced. Why were we here? To stay idle, and to keep alive the dead while they suffered ashen blights and undying curses? Questions developed into desperations. The Gloomgazer's inner darkness grew until it could be felt by those who were one with Dark itself. Lured by this inner-turmoil, the four Wraiths of the primeval age came before the crestfallen monk as he wept one night before the stars. Each lord whispered to the Gloomgazer, hoping to lure him to their covenant, to see what they saw of the world. The Lord of Embers spoke with a shadowed charisma matched by few men among Horen, yet the Gloomgazer drew no inspiration from his words. The Lord of Dark spoke seductive truths, seeking to lure the fallen monk with what he sought most-- understanding. Knowledge. But the Gloomgazer would hear none of it, far too fatigued by his failures to believe such promises. The Nameless Lord spoke of justice, of honor, trying to pinpoint some kind of warrior's spirit within the Gloomgazer in effort to gain his favor. But he was feeble, and a man of the tomb and the tome. No blade was his. Finally, the Lord of Oaks confronted the disciple of the temple, offering not promises, but a greater outlook; a dream, shaped by the Gloomgazer's wisdom, power, and knowledge of the soul. The Lord of Oaks dreamed of unity once more, for mortality to be truly One again, not Four. For the curses to be expunged from the soul of Man so all may come together as one unified kind, never again beset by fabricated sins imposed upon their spirits. Allured by his dream, and believing it possible with his knowledge, the fallen monk sought to depart immediately from the temple he once called home; leaving behind his coveted power as a result of his abandonment to gain another granted by the Old Lords, yet carrying with him a knowledge of the soul no one beyond the walls of the temple knew besides him. A stolen secret, a taken power. A fleeting dream. The Way of Things A revision to Ghoul lore, the Môrghuul are an undead species aimed to almost entirely replace the old, unintuitive Ghoul design; turning them from mindless, soulless savages into disturbed, undead men and women who were forced into an undying existence by the will of an ancient curse, and kept alive by the will of one known as the “Old Man”. It removes the basis of a temporary cannon-fodder character from Ghoul design and replaces it with a more focused, immersing system more intended for those wishing to commit themselves to be part of the undead community, but without the greater powers that stronger undead races are written to wield. The firstmost and likely most important differentiation between the Môrghuul and the old Ghouls is the fact that Môrghuul have souls; however, the curse that is applied to them via ritual distorts their soul from a Superior Soul to an Eroded Soul: a new kind of soul that applies only to the Môrghuul based on their curse and the nature of their darkened existence. The Eroded Soul is a Superior Soul both damaged and corrupted intentionally by the old curse applied to the mortal spirit. The Eroded Soul is much like a Soul Shadow in some instances: left behind after the onset of the curse is a dejective, sullen husk of a being, where memories are sometimes fleeting and sanity wanes without the curse being satiated. Satiation of the curse harmonizes by the old Ghoul lore’s canon function, in that lifeforce must be absorbed by the Mórghuul, consistently, in order to keep their Eroded Soul from breaking down further. The more a Môrghuul keeps themselves satiated (either by gifted lifeforce or by devouring the living), the longer their minds remain as stable as their cracked spirit allows them to. Negligence to their hunger (which, overtime, would become ravenous) causes their soul to slowly break down. This is what links their mental anguish to the status of their soul: first their memories fade, and then their identity, and then their sanity. For a Môrghuul to ignore their hunger is to throw them into a plummet towards utter and irreparable madness, for when their Eroded Soul finally departs them or simply fades from existence, they become hollowed in mind and body, no better than the shamblers that wander across the land mindlessly and with an undying hunger to keep them feral and animalistic. They, in essence, become soulless: the Môrghuul become Ghouls, wherein permanent death is mandatory upon the character being slain. Old Ghoul lore still apply, however, and their original nature through this transformation is not lost by these changes. Because the curse forces the Eroded Soul to inhabit the corpse of the accursed character, they are by default weaker than the common mortal. While the Necrolyte race and all of its features are still valid for Môrghuul characters to use, they are given an equipment limit. They cannot wear anything past chainmail, and can only use, at best, iron weaponry. In-character, this translates similarly: the Môrghuul must rely on lighter armor and average-weighted weaponry so their rotten bodies aren’t damaged by the force of weight outside and inside combat. Chainmail armaments and a heavy longsword are likely the best a Môrghuul may utilize, lest their flesh rips and bones break from carrying greater weapons and armor (greatswords/plate armor) around. Physically, the Môrghuul are on-par with the common human soldier in dexterity if not strength. A honed knight, for example, would easily overpower a Môrghuul combatant, whereas a leather-clad infantryman would be equal with one, and a lighter footsoldier would likely be threatened by a single armed and prepared Môrghuul. Rot and decay is prevented by the curse from distorting a Môrghuul’s stance, allowing them the stature they had in life. In contrast to their lesser strength, their pain tolerance is greater, and they may receive more wounds than any other common man would. A Môrghuul may tolerate the severing of one of their arms, and the more narrow impaling of their chest, for example, but they would not survive decapitation or being cut in half. Their corpse-form acts as both advantageous and disadvantageous in these regards. As undead, they are inherently weak to gold and holy magic. The presence of gold discomforts them, the touch of gold stings and burns, and whereas the iron sword would deal little pain to them amidst combat, the gold sword deals much. Gold weaponry, however, doesn't spell a Môrghuul’s doom, as it only brings to them unexpected agony from the damage it may deal. One may compare them to phantom pains: a Môrghuul would feel the pain of being impaled as a mortal with gold, whereas blades of other metals would provoke little such response. Holy magic is their inherent bane, and brings both extreme suffering and quick death depending on the spells used against them. Summarization Pros - Allows for the continuation of a character after permanent death, - Gives the character a Necrolyte buff, - The character has a resistance to pain and a greater threshold for bodily damage, - The character becomes “immortal” to things such as age. - The character is immune to mortal hazards, like drowning, bleeding to death, and a lack of air. Cons - The character becomes Undead, and as a result cannot: breed, eat, sleep, kill themselves, or heal themselves naturally. - The character’s accursed existence is fatigued by the sullen, rotted state of their body, and thus suffers from a lack of strength. The character is more suited to be an alchemist, a chainmail-bearing footsoldier, or a rogue. - The character is forced to frequently devour living flesh of any living beings in order to absorb their lifeforce. Alternatively, they may enter a pact of sustenance with a Necromancer to assure they are fueled with lifeforce when it is needed. - The character is cursed to feed, or else their mind, body and soul erode until the latter is nonexistent, their mind is an animalistic shamble, and their coil is much more distorted and ghoulish. - The character is not exactly weak to gold, but receive an incredible amount of pain upon being wounded by golden weapons, and also feels discomfort in the presence of large sums of gold. Other barriers, such as lines of gold dust in front of a door, would cause a Morghuul to pause their steps for a moment, for example, but it would not halt them. - Holy magic, such as that of the Clerics, Paladins or the other long-passed and ancient divine arts is like fire to cloth to the Morghuul. They are damned beasts, and thus Aengulic magicks are their greatest bane and doubly brings as much searing agony as bladed gold. Notes - Morghuul are revived by the fabled Old Man, who uses his knowledge of the soul and ancient necromancy to catch the eroded souls of the accursed so he may reform their bodies and set them out anew. This is an undead reflection of how the Monks revive people. - Morghuul have souls, and thus may transcend to higher undead forms with the assistance of Necromancers, specifically in the Lichtype species. - The damage on a Morghuul’s soul prevents them from casting magic, but they may excel in lesser arcanic arts, such as alchemy. - A Morghuul can only, at most, wear chainmail and use iron weaponry in PvP. This is on behalf of their physical degradation in unlife. (A Morghuul warrior, clad in furs and broken armor) (A Morghuul sage, or alchemist) (A Morghuul rogue or assassin, clad in leather padding and rags) (A degraded Morghuul; or, in other words, a ghoul)