Different types of undead

To many Scarterrans, it is a pointless exercise to differentiate different types of undead. They are all dangerous and unnatural!   But to some adventurers, clergy, scholars and others distinctions are important.     Most souls of deceased pass on to the afterlife. These are referred to as "the honored dead". The honored dead can enter the material plane in limited ways at specific time.     Some souls of the deceased are so tainted that upon death the souls are drawn into the the Void where they face utter obivion and are never seen again.   Some souls of the deceased drawn to the Void are not destroyed, but reshaped into Void Spawned undead, which often turn the souls into predators of other souls. The broad category here is Void Spawned Undead.     Exogenic undead are undead creatures created seemingly at random though they are not purely random. It is more accurate to say they are created coincidentally. It takes a confluence of uncommon events to create exogenic undead. They are nearly always hostile to the living, but compared to Void spawned undead, they are often more random and less aggressive.     "Created Undead" are often called "puppet undead" are nearly always the result of a necromancer. Created undead are magically animated corpses that either mindlessly obey the will of a necromancer or if they are masterless, they will instinctvely and animalistically lash out at any living creature they encounter.   Unlike most other undead, puppet undead do not have a corrupted, tainted, or enslaved soul, a puppet undead is a mobile corpse and nothing more. The corpse's previous soul may be among the honored dead, wandering as a cursed undead soul, or having faced utter oblivion.   Because the souls are (theoretically) left unharmed, some jurisdictions do not consider this type of necromancy maleficum depending on how the corpse was obtained.     Transformed undead are free-willed undead that retain the full memories and personalities of their previous mortal mind and soul though transformed undead nearly always gradually go mad and have their sense of empathy and morality either slowly or quickly deteriorate. The only commonly known transformed undead are vampires and liches.     The "Restless Dead", more colloquially known as ghosts are souls that possess just a tiny bit of Void taint. Enough taint that they cannot pass onto the proper afterlife and join the honored dead, but they are not so tainted that they are destroyed outright or become pawns of the Void.   Ghosts are often feared and hated but they are less feared and hated than the other undead types. Many ghosts are malevolent but many are benign. Also, it is possible albeit rare for ghosts to be able to put aside their pain and unfinished business and become the honored dead.


Cover image: Symbol of the Nine by Pendrake

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