You are a great hero hailing from the lands of the kingdom of Alarandis, a land where the grass grows as green as emeralds upon the rolling hills and where the high mountains and the low forests have no lack of wealth for the people to exploit. The sons and daughters of Alarandis, called Alarandisians, are said to be descended from a band of people who sailed across the seven seas and stumbled upon the land that would become their home, and have always been known as a hardworking and formidable people, with as much an aptitude for steel as they do for sorcery...and such things helped them in the great war, a war where the entire realm was stake. The neighbouring realms had grown jealous of their fertile lands and coveted their riches, sowing rumors that the great sorcerer-lord of Alarandis, King Arslan Randeere, had dabbled with perverted and forbidden magic and all other things foul...and soon, they called their banners, gathered their levies and marched to war to take by force what they could not get by any other means.

Chaos and carnage consumed the land as the kingdom was invaded by all sides but the ocean that had given rise to their realm, but the Alarandisians were determined to not go down without a fight. With powerful magics, vast armies and mighty fortresses they fought against their foes, and there you were. As generals, as knights and wizards, as its greatest champions you valiantly defended your beloved homeland, leading her armies again and again.

But it was not enough. The armies of Alarandis were crushed, her cities sacked and her fortresses conquered. Castles that had stood for a thousand years were reduced to rubble, just as bloodlines that had stretched from the realm's earliest days were put to an end by arrow and axe.

And somewhere along the lines, you died.

Your lifeless body was taken back to the capital, Aranda, and buried beneath the king's own fortress alongside all the other greatest heroes of the realm, one of the last few things the realm would manage before it fell completely. With enemies closing in on all sides and defeat certain, the king used the greatest of his magics to forge a mighty crystal, the Soulstone, stored deep within the castle's crypts, it was hoped by the king that it could resurrect all of the realm's fallen fighters for another battle, another chance to win the bloody conflict...and though Arslan fought ferociously, even he was finally felled by a sword through the heart at the foot of his own throne, scores of men dead at his feet, though his body mysteriously disappeared not long after.

But even as the invaders celebrated their conquest, taking the spoils of war from the now defenceless and broken Alarandisian peoples, Arslan's final plan was already underway, for the Soulstone...lived. Meticulously planned magics began to carry out their long work, but Arslan's dream of an army rising from the dead as the victor's bickered over the spoils never came to be...and the years ticked by as you lay in your tomb, maintained by the Soulstone's energy just as the king himself was.

Centuries passed as the lands of the fallen kingdom were traded and fought over, Alarandis becoming nothing more than a distant memory, a footnote in the pages of history...but at long last, the Soulstone's work was done.

"And you live again, my risen champions. Though the dreamless sleep may have taken our memories and the years rusted away our weapons and arms, I know in my core, my eternal and undying soul, that you are still the champions that you once were. Our realm, our Alarandis, is gone, forgotten, and we are all that remains...and I hope all that is necessary, for we have a great duty; to see our lands restored to their former glory and to see our enemies vanquished. Should we succeed, however, it will live again, just as you and I do now...should we fail, we shall be forever consigned to history and forgotten."

"But you have slumbered for a long time, my friends. Allow me but a moment to refresh your memories...and, perhaps, to lessen the shock of what has happened to you."


"Some of you had been knights and warriors in life, some of you rogues and assassins, others wizards and sorcerers. I have forgotten almost as much as you, but I know all of you were heroes. The flames of who we were still burn in our unbeating hearts, and the Soulstone has preserved it as best as it could just as it preserved you...this will take some time to explain, still, we have all the time in the world..."

Rather than the game having a variety of different races such as elves and dwarves and different classes, instead, you choose a single type of undead from the list below when creating your character. Each character comes with a pack of starting abilities and some basic equipment, and all of them have a unique play style, whether that be a specialty for frontline fighting or infiltration instead...and not only do they have unique strengths, but weaknesses that enemies will try and exploit, too, according to their own knowledge.

The Death Knight is the most basic form of the undead, a knight or lord who has been bound to the Soulstone and brought back to life, and have no advanced mechanics to cover. However, that is not to say that they can do everything; a Death Knight is capable of mild sorcery and occasional sneaking, certainly, but their greatest moment is in a fight, as they wield the heaviest armor, carry the heaviest weapons and have a deadly proficiency with all weapons. Beneath the steel plate they wear as if it were a second skin they have the body of a mortal man, made stronger by magic and immune to all disease, and at a glance they would appear to be alive and well...even still, closer inspection would reveal that something is not "quite right" with them to any who still live, as their flesh is cold and pale, their hair grey and their eyes are often an unnatural shade of blue or violet, too. If that were not enough, most animals can sense who and what they are, and will have a quick reaction - dogs will bark, cats will flee, horses will whinny and struggle.

Their starting abilities are:

Chivalry: Though the vows of knighthood might have been sworn so long ago and perhaps even forgotten by the passages of time, you have maintained enough of your memories to know the tell tale signs of another highborn warrior, allowing you to read their body language and thus predict who they will target next and what they are planning to do. In addition these memories also shape your posture, stance and mannerisms, making it clear to all that you were of high birth - an eternally useful thing, as many merchants and heralds can be better "swayed" by the presence of a knight of noble birth than they can a mere mercenary.

Dualist: Untold years of hard earned experience in tournament melee's and on the battlefield allow you to see the openings that appear whenever an opponent launches an attack, allowing you to immediately counter - for every attack you take, you deal another in return, regardless of whether the hit struck you or not.

Assault: A truly skilled warrior knows that it is possible to carry from one attack to the next in a smooth flow from one target to the next, dispatching one opponent only to rush to the next to do so again, with the understanding that a frontal assault can be as good as, if not better, than defense. By sacrificing your defensive roll - any blows targetted at you will thus strike directly against armor - you may select three enemies to attack; should the first enemy die or be crippled, you will immediately proceed to the next target with an additional combat die and again for the final target.

Their starting equipment is:

A full array of old and rusty bracers, greaves, helm and breastplate, giving two armor protection die on all parts of the champion's body.

A choice between either a one handed weapon or a two handed one: A melee weapon of the Death Knight's choice - a mace, an axe or a sword. All one handers provide two offensive die, whilst the two handers provide four offensive die, but naturally forbid the possibility of anything in the offhand.

If the Death Knight chose a one hander, then they have the choice of taking either a shield or a parrying dagger - the former provides a straight two die for a block chance, whilst the second only has one die for a block chance but provides an additional offensive die in exchange, meaning that a one handed fighter would have three attack rolls rather than two.

Their weaknesses are simple, but not obvious at a first glance; having sworn their vows of knighthood inside a church so long ago, they have been made particularly vulnerable to holy attacks and to religious objects in general, even more so than regular undead.

"A Death Knight...a knight reborn in their own death. You had been my sword and my hand, a part of a shield with which we tried to defend our homes. Though you may have fallen on it once before, champion, there is still no place better suited for you than the battlefield, and nothing you are better at than fighting. You were the bane of our enemies...and what was shall be again."

The Lich is, alongside the Death Knight, one of the more basic kinds of undead - a wizard or sorcerer who has been raised from the dead by the power of the Soulstone, the strange and poorly understood properties of which not only managed to preserve their abilities, but alter and even amplify them. Whereas in life they might have wielded the power of lightning, frost and flame, now they have the ability to use magical abilities completely unknown to the academicians and thinkers of the world, a wide variety of abilities that make the Lich more than capable of destroying their enemies. Still, all power comes with a cost and the powers of the Lich are no exception; the Soulstone has taken a great toll upon their physical bodies. As such their looks range from aged to utterly disfigured - even skeletal - and everything between, but that is not to say they cannot walk amongst mortals without being looked at with horror and superstition, they would merely need to create a veil over themselves in order to do so, but such is the way for the Lich.

Their base ability set - abilities to which they always have access - are:

Soul Forge: A unique ability that centuries of influence by the Soulstone has given to the Lich is the power to bind the soul of living beings to one location, similar to how the Soulstone itself holds the souls of the champions in the material world. Whilst the scale of the ability makes it less useful during combat, it allows the Lich to bind someone, such as a particularly dangerous knight, to a single location - though their body might be able to leave the location their essence cannot, making them feel grievously ill and weak the further away they get from the trapped location. Similarly, it is possible to bind the soul of one living being to another - perhaps to even one of your fellow champions - which results in any harm inflicted to the one appearing on the other. These bonds, however, are weaker than those of the Soulstone and any skilled magical user could potentially block their creation or break an established connection, but otherwise they ignore magical shielding and other such wards.

Levitate: An ability commonly found in all spellcasters and the first proof of a youth's affinity for the arcane arts, even the cold grasp of death could not take this skill from you. You have the ability to move objects up to your own weight using only your own willpower, and to do so by merely looking at them - by this means you can crush your foes with heavy objects or simply by lifting them up off the ground only to slam them back into it.

Arcane Expertise: Though death might have stolen most of your memories of life, even the more detailed parts of your long hours of study, it could never take away the impact of your tutors and your tomes and your approach to magical mysteries, all of which have combined into the ability to decipher and understand the tell tale signs of magic. You can look at another sorcerer and see what spell they might weave, as well as examine any magical barrier, glyph or any other such devices and determine what they do and how they do it.

Their starting equipment is :

An old and dusty robe, with leggings, boots, gloves and every other garment needed to cover one's body. Whilst they might not give much in the name of protection, the freedom of movement they give is unrivalled, providing an additional combat die for spellcasting purposes.

The Lich has a choice between two main weapon types, similar to the Death Knight's usage of one handed weapons and their two handed brethren. They can choose between a staff - a powerful ranged weapon that provides four offensive die - and the weaker wands that allow for the use of an object in the off hand.

Assuming that the Lich chooses to go with a wand, they then get the ability to choose from two main types of item - spellbooks and crystals.

Spellbooks, though they might be nothing more than a shadow when compared to the great tomes you once studied, contain all the information you need to quickly recreate the magics stored within - each book covers a small section of a single field of magic, with the books available at start listed below:

Basic Pyromancy : A primarily offensive field of magic, this book contains the information needed to control and influence existing flames, the knowledge needed to create a dangerous dart of fire or how to make it shoot from one's fingers and even how to set oneself alight without harm.

Basic Hydromancy : A field of study well known for its supporting role on the battlefield, this book contains the knowledge on how to create a gush of water, how to freeze one's enemies and how to slow them down, as well as how to cleanse a variety of curses and other such impairments.

Basic Geomancy : A defensive school intended to make one's allies impervious to harm, this book contains the information needed to create a barrier of rock and earth, how to shape that barrier so that it might work as armor, how to manipulate existing rocks and boulders and how to create a small earthen guardian to take blows for you.

Basic Aeromancy : A bizarre school of magic with a wide variety of powers and no real focus, this book contains the information needed to make a gust of wind, how to shoot lightning from one's fingertips, how to summon a lesser air elemental and - on a page covered in warnings - a basic teleportation spell that will often cause one to appear near, not at, the destination.

"Whilst there are certainly more spellbooks in the world than those few that are listed here, much of our own collection of such knowledge, our magical heritage, was lost during the attack on our beloved city...who knows how much of it may have been lost forever, never to be learned again, but take solace in the fact that new kinds of magic might very well have been discovered during our...absence from worldly affairs...even still, do check in with me from time to time, for I might uncover forgotten secrets of our own."

Crystals, unlike spell tomes, do not give abilities - instead, they store the energies of the world around them and especially any you use on them and make it possible for that energy to be held for whenever it is needed most - this allows for a wizard to charge it whilst out of combat and store that energy for the future, either discharging it over the duration of an entire fight or in a single, devastating burst rather than several weaker attacks. The first option manifests as an additional three combat die for several turns of combat, whilst the latter outright doubles the final number of your die rolls for a single attack.

Though the Soulstone was able to prevent decay and maintained the Lich's physical body rather well, the burden of holding them together away from it falls on their own magical might, the result of which is a self sustaining loop of power - the Lich creates the magical power they use, but that same magical power keeps them alive. As such, anything that nullifies magical energies will inflict ruinous amounts of damage on even a prepared lich by directly attacking the magic holding their body together.

"A Lich...a wizard so powerful that the Soulstone was able to harness that might and grant them immortality. We have much in common, you and I, for both of us were, are, champions of spell. Perhaps in more peaceful times we once studied together, working to unravel the mysteries of the physical world, but in war there were few our foes dreaded more than you and your fellows."

The Vampire was once nothing more than a member of Alarandisian high society, a royal courtier and a loyal servant of the crown...but death changed them into something else. In life, a talent for sneaking and spying, learnt from hard earned experience in the ever ongoing games of politics and intrigue, came to use in the role as both a royal diplomat and, at other times, as a spy and an assassin...and their demise did not change their skill. Instead, the Soulstone, working to preserve the essence of their character, managed to utterly maintain their physical appearance - whereas the Death Knight is cold and pale and the Lich twisted and gaunt, the vampire's skin is warm and their appearance unmarred at all by the kiss of decay. Even close inspection would reveal nothing that would say they were anything but a normal human being, but this perfect appearance would only last as long as they had the blood for it to do so...but as the amount of vitae within their veins decreases, so does their appearance become more twisted.

The primary mechanic for Vampires is their blood level, a number that goes from zero to ten and represents how "full" they are. At ten they are considered fully sated, and all their vampiric traits are effectively concealed - at this level they can even walk on sanctified grounds without problem...but as this number drops so does their ability to conceal their true nature...but they receive additional abilities for every point below the fifth unit, ones which are especially useful in combat; thus the player can use a dagger or other such weapon to bleed themselves before going into a fight, so as to be more capable when it occurs, but they will need to collect more if they wish to maintain an appearance of normalcy.

The sun will not feel as anything more than a distraction above seven units of blood, but below that it grows increasingly irritating and outright damaging at below three units,

Their main abilities, which they always have access to no matter their blood level are :

Enthrall: An ability first known of in fairytales and passed down from one generation to the next in story and song, the ability for a vampire to make another their thrall is well known; however, the means varies from a mere glance to a kiss under the moon to everything else imagined by man...in reality, the truth is far simpler; a chalice of vampiric blood is enough to make most people compliant with the vampire's requests, two cups will crack the will of even the strong and three will make them into a true thrall, utterly devoted to their master...however, these effects do wear off given time, though they can be prolonged indefinitely with regular cups to drag on the effect, but any who completely recovers from their effect can never be enthralled again.

Glamor: Any man or woman who has danced the careful ballet of courtly politics and intrigue know best how to catch the eyes of others, how to make themselves appear all the more magnificent and how best to make themselves appear as an unnoticed detail in the background. With their heritage in the royal court of Alarandis, the vampire has this ability and death has only made it stronger. With an innate aura of splendor about them, the vampire can easily find eyes drawn towards them...or, if they so desire, they can control the effect enough that people instead find them more plain in appearance and are less likely to pay attention to them.

Assassinate: Though internal matters of the kingdom were not quite as bloodthirsty as the title of this ability might suggest, despite duels in the name of honor, royal courtiers were both the first and last line of defence against those who might try and infiltrate the realm and its voice whenever diplomacy was needed. With nothing more than a dagger and your wits, you can instantly and silently kill any unwary target you are standing behind with almost no difficulty. In addition, you can slip poison into drinks and other such things without your target taking notice, so long as they are unaware of your intentions to do so.

Their blood level traits are:

10 : At this level the Vampire appears completely human; their hair is colored, their skin is warm to the touch and all their mannerisms are as natural as any normal person's, in addition, their weaknesses are effectively nullified - sanctified ground means little to them, and the sun's rays little more than a mild discomfort easily ignored with a comfortable cloak.

9. At level nine the vampire loses their ability to walk on holy lands and their reflection in mirrors becomes cloudy, but their appearance is otherwise completely natural aside from a few minor things that can easily be brushed off as minor flaws in appearance.

8. At level eight the vampire loses their reflection entirely and their skin starts to feel cool, as if they had emerged from a cold lake, whilst their extremities turn slightly pale - other than that, there are no effects but the sun becoming even more daunting.

7. The vampire's skin feels cold and clammy, their skin pales; they look as if they are fighting off an infection or have lost a lot of blood. Animals become aware of their inhuman state, and trained guard dogs will react quickly to their strange scent. Particularly perceptive individuals will begin to notice that something is amiss with them, but most will simply chalk it up to being unwell.

6. Level six is the last time the sun is anything but a bother - from this point down anything less than a travelling cloak will impart penalties in the form of a -1 to a variety of different actions, but never on getting into shade or otherwise mitigating the sun's effects, within reason. Their physical appearance is now a match for that of the Death Knight; warmth and color has fled their skin and their hair is beginning to thin and change color.

5. At level five the Vampire's traits will begin to come out in the open - their appearance becomes gaunt and haggard, with what was once supple and soft flesh beginning to shrivel up whilst the very shade of their irises begin to change towards a dark crimson. They could still potentially pass for a live human being, but only as a seriously ill one and even then only at a distance. They cannot go below this level without direct bleeding, whether done by the Vampire or otherwise.

4. Finally, the Vampire's ability to pass as human fades away entirely as their teeth become sharp fangs and their eyes a red as dark as blood. The flesh of their fingers grows tight to the bone, giving them a claw like appearance. Their sense of smell sharpens with their appetite, and they gain the ability to smell nearby humans and the blood coursing within them.

3. The Vampire's skin becomes as pale as curdled milk, their eyes deeply set, their hair coarse and rough and their limbs inhumanly long; there is none who would mistake their monstrous appearance for that of a human being. The vampire begins to salivate and heavily so, their jaw gaining the ability to unhinge itself like that of a snake, and they can bite with bone crushing force. Their hands become claws proper, able to rip through clothing and soft materials with ease though unable to damage real armor, and their senses sharpen enough that not only can they tell where nearby humans are with more precision, they can smell their mood and even where they had last been, effectively letting them track targets from afar with unnatural ease. Gain Claws, giving an additional offensive die roll and Bite, an attack that gives three offensive die but will raise the vampire's blood level by four, returning them to level seven, but their weakness to fire swells.

2. The Vampire becomes almost bestial in nature, forever hugging to the shadows and being wounded from even the mere light of a torch or a candle. The thirst for fresh blood becomes almost irresistible and any you bite is very likely to be drained of their lifeforce entirely, still, there is enough reason left in the vampire's mind to differentiate friend from foe and prey from that which is not...but they also gain the ability to grip with their growing claws with such a precision and dexterity that they can climb and creep across walls and ceilings in pursuit of their prey; if that were not enough, what was once fingers have become so sharp they they can now rend through leather and cause deep and dirty wounds. Claws now gives two combat die for attack rather than one. Fire is now capable of doing grievous damage to them with barely a touch, and silver becomes an entirely new - and deadly - weakness.

1. The Vampire's mind effectively dies amidst an all consuming thirst for lifeforce, able to hear the sounds of a beating heart as clearly as they might thunder, able to track a target across a city drenched with rain and scale any obstacle barring their path. Their claws are so sharp and so dangerous as to be able to rip steel, giving four additional attack die, and wings burst from their back to give them flight. Animalistic and predatory, there are few who can resist the vampire's attacks...but the vampire's list of weaknesses grow accordingly; holy symbols as minor as those carved onto the guard of a blade will drive them back, whilst silver and fire will almost instantly kill the vampire on contact...and the sun becomes their greatest bane and will instantly disintegrate them on contact with its light and seriously weaken them merely at the sight of it.

0. With their body utterly deprived of precious vitae, they can sustain their form no longer. The vampire dies, only to rise again at the site of their phylactery restored to blood level five.

Though the vampire loses weaknesses as they sate their thirst, there is but one weakness ever present - the wood of an oak tree. Its mere presence is discomforting, its touch on bare skin revealing of one's vampiric nature...and its bite deadly. Arrows and spears made of it can easily stop even the most bloodthirsty vampire dead in their tracks with but a few hits, and a stab to the heart with it will instantly fell them.

Their starting equipment is :

A large and musty travelling cloak, as able to keep the rain off of the wearer as it can block the sun. Only able to be properly worn with other clothing or the lightest of armours, it removes all penalties caused by sunlight and makes it easy to conceal one's weaponry.

A full set of finely made clothes, their colors faded and their fashion outdated. Though they provide little protection, they have a number of pockets and barely make a sound when one moves around whilst wearing them, as such they give a +1 modifier to whenever an action that requires stealth is being performed.

The vampire can choose between either:

A rusty stiletto, a thin blade designed to slip through the gaps of armor. Though it only has but a single combat die, it has a thirty percent chance to outright ignore most forms of armor and is easy to sneak past even a vigilant guard.

An old crossbow of a kind made for hunting, this relatively small weapon can be concealed fairly easily - for the standards of a crossbow, at the least - and gives two offensive die whenever you make an attack, however, its attack power can be greatly increased through the use of better and more specialized crossbow bolts.

The vampire can also choose three of the following :

A smoke filled bottle - When smashed or otherwise opened, these glass bottles will disperse a thick cloud of grey smoke, perfect for covering one's escape or otherwise making it hard for one's enemies to see you. It disperses before long, however, and even faster in the outside world.

A flask of oil - Whilst the thick, tar like substance inside seems innocent enough, it burns furiously as soon as a spark is applied and the resulting blaze floats on water. Simply throw it at the target to douse them in it, or throw it at the ground to create a puddle of oil to be burned.

A vial of poison - A dangerous and noxious brew derived from the roots of the nightshade plant, this vile concoction is utterly harmless to you and your fellow undead champions but lethal to most human beings after only a few minutes of ingesting it.

"A spy and a spycatcher, an assassin and a poisoner and a ward against their ilk, a diplomat and a messenger, you have been many things before you became a Vampire, champion. Perhaps in life you even served upon my council of advisers, helping to keep peace across our land. With your aid and your advice, our realm will become whole once more, and you and no other shall ever need to lurk in shadows ever again."

The last type of undead is also the most complex, the Spectre, for one main reason; they lack corporeal form. With no body and able to manifest only in spirit, it is completely unknown what process causes the Soulstone to make one champion rise from the dead with their body intact and the other only as a spirit, as a ghost of the past, but regardless of how it occurs the result is that the Spectre gains certain, utterly unique traits. Firstly, the lack of a physical vessels means that they are only loosely anchored to the material world, so much so that they would be unable to do much more than make the air grow cold or quietly whisper at something...were it not for an anchor to hold them in the world. Whether it was a trusted old keepsake or a family heirloom passed from one generation to the next, it's emotional tie to the Spectre is strong enough for a bond between the two to have been forged, similar to how the Lich might soulforge a living being to a location, so has the Spectre been soulforged to the item.

The closer the Spectre becomes to their heirloom, the stronger they are and the better they are able to manifest their powers - at distance they might only be able to move items slightly or make noises, but at close range they can effectively recreate their body if they so desire, and will be capable of flinging objects around the room or other displays of power without difficulty, and this power is shared by the Phylactery they use in that both act as anchors...an effect which becomes all the more powerful when the two are placed close together.

Their starting abilities are:

Possess: The Spectre, lacking corporeal form and barely tethered to the material realm, is capable of doing something that nothing else in the world can - they can possess not just living people, but inanimate objects, too. In the case of the former they "push" the owner of the body into an almost trancelike state as they slip in and take control - like a great knight going off to war they are utterly indomitable, but when they are away their home is undefended - whilst the person is, for all intents and purposes, sleepwalking. Some actions, like trying to harm their loved ones, will cause them to snap back to awareness almost instantly, but they are otherwise under the Spectre's complete control. In the case of an object their dominance is complete and utter - a sword controlled by the Spectre is capable of shooting through the air under their command just as a suit of armor might be possessed and made into a capable combatant.

Store: The Spectre, ever aware of the white light trying to call to them and the combined power of the Soulstone and the anchor that binds them, know that not only can they pick an item up off of the ground...but take it with them as they go towards the light, safe in the knowledge that they cannot pass on to the next life so long as their phylactery is intact. Able to drop any object there, outside of space and time and every other law of the world, they are able to store an infinite number of things in the place between one life and the next, even liquids and other such items can be placed there for future use and withdrawn whenever need be...however, should the Spectre be "killed" and made to return to their phylactery, everything they have stored away will be released instantly. A single item will fall to the ground without harm, but the more items stored away the more force that shall be unleashed when the universe reasserts itself - a few nails on their own might be harmless enough, but if the Spectre stores a great quantity of them, their demise would trigger a deadly explosion of flying metal shrapnel, and bigger objects increase in force quicker than little ones.

Imbue: An ethereal being is without limits in the number of forms it can take, allowing them the opportunity to not just forge a new body from the power of illusion, but to take the form of flame, of water and of everything else in in the world that you have experienced. You are not casting spells in the way that the Lich might, no, you become the energy that you wield - the fire you throw is an extension of yourself, able to controlled as such, and thus what it lacks in scale it makes up for with precision, and can safely be used to support your allies directly on their weapons and armor without any real danger.

As a noncorporeal being, the Spectre has little use for weapons or armor as they cannot be harmed by physical means...but even still, there are certain restrictions that they cannot overcome: blessed grounds are difficult to traverse whilst magical shields outright block your passage entirely - and those with magical talents will be able to see you, even if they are latent - and magical attacks can outright destabilize your connection to your anchor, your equivalent to being wounded.

"A Spectre is but a ghost by a different name...I am unsure as to how this occurred, how your fellows maintain their bodies and why you have not...perhaps it is a unique thing to do with you yourself, or an unknown to do with the Soulstone itself. Regardless, you possess unique powers that no one else in this world does. Our enemies will never see you coming."


"The Soulstone...even in life I barely understood its power, its ways, but in death I know even less. What I do know is that we might never die, so long as the Soulstone may receive us. At close ranges, a few dozen miles perhaps, it needs no assistance in recovering our spirits whenever we fall, and we will rise again at its location within a few minutes...but past that distance it needs assistance, lest you pass onto the Heavens when you fall rather than back to it. For this, we have our phylacteries, which function as a sort of "path" for our essences to travel through. They are bound to the Soulstone and allow you to travel the world without issue...and should you fall, you will rise anew at their location instead of at the Soulstone. Your phylacteries are your lives, my champions. Guard them well."

"With you now having a basic understanding of their role and function, I can begin explaining the more...complex side of them. But to begin, there are three basic types."

Active Phylacteries are the most basic kind; they are an object to which a champion's soul is bound, a relic unique to them. Placed in a location far away from harm, they will quickly resurrect the champion to whom they are bound and have capable defenses - though they will not be able to slay a group of men prepared for a fight, they will be able to resist a modest attack and defend themselves if need be, making it possible for them to stop any man who has merely stumble upon it. A common phylactery might be a particularly large crystal or a pearl, a book, or a vial containing the champion's blood, and is best placed somewhere off the beaten track but near enough to allow a quick return to action for the champion. "Ah, an all rounder. It has no particular strengths, but no particular weaknesses either, so you have little to worry about if you choose to leave it in one place for any long amount of time."

Silent Phylacteries differ from their active brethren in that they sacrifice their defensive capabilities for camouflage - they will instead change their appearance to match that of the objects around them, so as to better blend in, and are almost undetectable by magical means. As such, they can be difficult to locate for anyone attempting to slay the bound champion, but once they are found they are utterly defenseless and fragile, too, so they cannot take much damage, if any, still, they will alert the champion if someone is getting close to uncovering the phylactery, and are best placed in somewhere busy, like perhaps a market stall where it can best blend in, or a storeroom where it can go unnoticed. "A fine choice for any urban environment, still, this is best used by one who knows they have a safe place to hide it for a long time without it being disturbed. A rogue's phylactery, or an infiltrator's."

Angered Phylacteries are the most dangerous to use, both for the bound champion and any who think themselves capable of destroying them, and the reason for this is simple. An Angered Phylactery lacks any offensive attacks or camouflage capabilities, but instead provides direct support to the one to whom it is bound, such as additional armor, sensory capabilities and attacks, so long as they are carrying the phylactery. In addition, they can take perhaps more damage than the champion who wields them, so only a direct and focused attack against them can break the heavy protections placed upon the phylactery...and if that were not enough, they provide rapid resurrection right where the wielder fell. An Angered Phylactery lives for frontline combat, as its wielder must do to get the biggest benefit from its powers, and they appear most often as a treasured amulet or other piece of jewelry. "Any who choose such a phylactery gamble whenever they fight, but the rewards are as great as the risk. Quick resurrection is theirs, as is a wide variety of ways for it to...assist the wearer. This is how my own is, so that I might best protect the Soulstone itself from harm."

"Do not worry, you will not be instantly struck down should your phylactery be lost - instead, you lose your ability to rise again. Merely return to the Soulstone with the shards of the first phylactery and it should be easy enough to restore it to a working condition...still, to die without a phylactery and away from the Soulstone is to die a final death. Stay vigilant, my champions, and you shall never have to fear a return to the dreamless sleep."



Name: This is pretty self explanatory, but you should also put any titles, such as Sir, Lord, Lady, etc at the beginning.
Appearance: So long as you abide by the rules of your character type and write within reason you've got a free hand to describe them as much or as little as you want.
Backstory: While most of your memories may have been lost by the first death of your characters, you can still remember the most important bits - loved ones, important places - though most of them may be blurry...but none are clearer than how you died.
Character Type: Simply choose from the list above and I'll set up your inventory and abilities accordingly at the start of the first roll.
Phylactery: Once again, pick from the list above and describe it.

1. Seraphimo as Chas Delaney the Spectre!
2. maart3n has reserved a spot!
3. CaveCricket as Chaikin the Death Knight!
4. TorrentHKU has reserved a spot!
5. TheKebbit as Tsunnarad the Lich!
6. CrazyMLC as Bodnakin the Death Knight!

This post will be where I put the collected gameplay questions, tips on how to use various abilities to their full potential, quest information and so on. think of it as something along the lines of a journal, one that's updated with every roll.

Gameplay Questions - Everything you might need to know about how the game works.

Tips and Hints from the DM - In case you get stuck, or need advice on how to best use your abilities.


Useful Information - Where all the useful information about various locations and characters goes.


Miscellaneous - The bits and pieces that can't go anywhere else.

Name: Chas Delaney

Appearance: In spectral form: Cyan ghost like figure. In human manifestation form: A man of average height and width. The face is a very serious face (Kinda like "Every second we spend talking could mean defeat." face) with two scars: one on the right cheek and one over the right eye (from up to down). And the clothing looks like a captain-of-the-guard outfit (Alarandisian captain-of-the-guard outfit).

Backstory: Chas Delaney was a captain-of-the-guard tasked with the defense of a fortress on the frontlines that eventually fell late in the war due to the onslaught of hostile forces and supply shortages. The rest is lost to the passing of time.

Character Type: Spectre

Heirloom: A large uncut amethyst that Chas Delaney got as a present from his uncle after Chas had completed his training to be able to become a captain-of-the-guard.

Phylactery: Active Phylactery: Large Cyan Crystal (Looks like the pylon crystal from Starcraft 2)

"Chas Delaney reporting for duty sir!"

I'm in, will set up a proper character tonight!

Reserve

Given how little incentive I have to read that gigantic post, could you shrink it to a tl;dr version?

I'll reserve a spot, then.

You really should try to cut back on your word count, Caek. I don't think this is sustainable.

A quick tl;dr for making your character, because it took me a long time to make sense of the OP.


OVERVIEW



CHARACTER CREATION



Phylacteries



Character Sheet

Put the names of all people who mentioned they were interested in the FG Lounge onto the player list as reserved.

A lot of it is just information about abilities and starting equipment, so sure.

tl;dr: You're a champion of a fallen kingdom who has been risen from the dead and now seeks to take vengeance upon those who killed you and destroyed your homeland. There are four classes - the Death Knight (who is the melee class) the Lich (who is the wizard equivalent) the Vampire (who are similar to a rogue/ranger character) and the Spectre (which...doesn't really have an equivalent), and though you can be killed you can't die permanently whilst your phylactery is intact.

So, whilst you're going to be outnumbered - and you are going to die at least once at some point in this campaign and probably a lot more than just once - and will be fighting against dangerous opponents, your immortality can let you do some pretty clever stuff.

An example : The party is up against a large number of men-at-arms led by a single, more powerful knight, who gives the rest of their party commands. He's difficult to take out normally because he's staying at the rear of the group, but the Lich notices that their group doesn't have a mage or any magical shields and comes up with a plan; they Soulforge the Death Knight besides them to the enemy knight...then kills the Death Knight.

The enemy knight instantly drops dead, and the Death Knight respawns at his phylactery not long after and regroups with the party.

The campaign won't be unending combat, however, you can certainly enter towns and cities without fear of getting attacked the moment you enter, which gives you the chance to visit vendors, check stuff out before combat breaks out, etc...and also allows you to infiltrate the town's government, something the Vampire is especially good at. Enthrall a lord and the entire city falls under your command, though naturally people will start getting rather...interested in how they seem to be bending over backwards to sate your every request.


I normally write even bigger stuff than this nowadays, and I really enjoy writing so it's not a problem for me. Still, the rolls will be smaller than the OP, that's for sure...and...hey, why is everyone here...is..is this an intervention?

Name: Chaikin
Appearance: Pale skin, black hair, blue eyes. Not the buffest guy around, but he's fit enough to work the farm and run away from bandits.
Backstory: Chaikin had his roots as an ordinary farm boy. When the war started, he was drafted as a soldier and ended up not dying immediately. No, he died much later, after many hard-fought battles and slim victories, when a boulder launched from an enemy trebuchet pasted him against the lush Alarandis farmland, sending him back to tend to the crops with the rich nutrients of his body. Or so he thought.
Character Type: Death Knight. One-handed Sword and Shield.
Phylactery: Aggressive: Peasant Knife - A phylactory resembling an ordinary folding knife. Cutting actions are greatly improved while the phylactory is with Chaikin.

Fine with me, but it could use a few minor tweaks to make it more medieval - fortress commander is too modern a term, but things like captain-of-the-guard, castellan, lord, those are fine.


Everything but the backstory is fine - remember, you were buried beneath the capital city, and though you have lost most of your memory you still remember how you died, your station in society, things that were important to you, that kind of thing. You might not remember the specifics, like what lands you ruled over, but you would remember that you were a lord, for example.

Character updated.

Yikes! Talk about a way to go!

Accepted I'll put you on the list.

Name: Bodnakin
Appearance: Lightly tanned skin, brown hair, green eyes. A little short and stout, but has a good chunk of meat behind him. A bit paler and... off, than he was in life.
Backstory: Bodnakin wasn't always a knight, he started out in his royal family's business, carving stone and smithing metal. They did it not so much for the money, but for the work itself. As such, the war started without him, as he was meant to stay at the smithery making weapons for the war effort. He had to give up carving stone during this time, which was his true passion, for smithing. But as the military's numbers thinned and thinned, he was eventually told to come to the front lines. He prepared for his moment in the sun, making himself a beautiful two-handed sword, and taking his family's finest armor. His first moments on the battlefield were shortlived however - a boulder launched from an enemy trebuchet flattened him, along with a few others. At least he got to work with stone again. But, his adventure wouldn't end there...
Character Type: Death Knight, two-handed sword.
Phylactery: Angered - his Phylactery is, in fact, a gemstone encrusted into his two-handed sword, just like the one from the one he smithed. Imbued with supernatural power, it makes his strikes hit much harder than you might expect.

Name: Tsunnarad

Appearance: Charred and desiccated post-flesh - the shambling ruin of a corpulent man, a swarthy, buccaneering spellcaster who in life was equally at home slaughtering bandits on the frontier or cutting runes inside of a library. The whites of his eyes have darkened to slate grey. A slick mixture of ash and preserving brine trickles from old wounds in his barrel chest.

Backstory: A line of scholars, advocates, judges and natural philosophers ended inexplicably with this brute. Given naturally to war, his powerful magical gifts aided his ascent to captainhood in the regular army - mathematics, artillery and impeccable drill were his mundane forte. Tsunnarad ruled his troops with the whip, ruined townships with a massive hand that spat unholy flame. Marked for execution by the enemy when the kingdom was torn asunder, the brave officer remained mute out of spite when asked to plead his case. Perhaps he longed for the final peace. Now, old hates and memories of heavy deeds carry him into a new dawn of horror and blasphemy.

Character Type: Staff-Wielding Lich

Phylactery: Angered - a pendant bearing a molten religious symbol, a smoking tetrahedron of reddened iron with a glow that ebbs rhythmically. The seal of his family's academic god reduced to a focus for his unending life.