Nekros

DESCRIPTION

Nekros

History

Acquisition

Living as a Nekron

Mageburn Symptoms

• Lesser: Slippage, Chills, Runny Nose, Sore Throat, Headaches, Obsessive Behavior
• Moderate: Caged Rabbit, Anemia, Flu, Intense Shivering, Uncontrollable Obsession
• Greater: Becoming Draugr, Overwhelming Paranoia, Coma
• Slippage: As the Necromancer's power wanes, so too do their Tethers. Undead beneath their purview begin to slip out of control, shambling after the living around them to feast on their flesh or else going dormant if they feel no hunger.
• Caged Rabbit: The living dead no longer consider the Necromancer a Pale Man, unless they truly are a form of Undead such as a Draugr. This usually happens as the last of the Necromancer's Tethers slips away, plunging them into a dangerous situation where the dead crave their flesh. Many choose to become Draugr simply to avoid this fate.

Pale Man

A Nekron has pale skin and their eyes lose color unless Tethering themselves. Shambling undead without Tethers show them no hostility, while Ghosts will strongly consider if they should hang around the Pale Man, for better or for ill. Draugr feel no different.

Raise

Nekros may control differing types of undead, arising them as-is from a dead body or part that meets the requirements. Each has a certain cost to Tether it.

It is by the aid of Maltricians and the Devorari that the living dead may be sculpted in a manner beyond simply raising them. Other skills and Practices such as Artificing aid in outfitting the undead with the instruments of war. To many Nekron, a retinue of the undead is a sprawling tapestry of artwork that they and their apprentices spend countless hours assembling.

• Thrall: 1 Tether - A Thrall is the basic minion of a Necromancer, arisen as-is with no change to its body. They can move normally as their biology allows, but Necromancers often fail to bother with mending their broken or decomposing bodies. When untethered, a Thrall rots to the point its nervous system decays to slow its movements within a week, and by a month they can no longer move. Unless treated in some way, a Thrall tends to carry the scent of soft rot. They operate with Novice skills, but might reach Apprentice if the one who Tethers them has Mastery in a skill.

• Fetch: 1 Tether - A Fetch is a small T1 animal - usually no larger than a large dog - which may retain its instincts to run, bite, and fly if it has intact wings. Fetches tend to be more readily available than the corpses of humanoids or larger beasts. A Fetch may also be assembled from a limb or even a skull which may rattle as an alarm, biting the clumsy. Some captured Draugr break and tear off their own hands, using them as a Fetch to escape confinement.

• Skeleton: 5 Tethers

• Ghoul: 5 Tethers - A Ghoul is a Thrall that has had its physical capabilities heightened, allowing for it to move and strike quickly with purpose. When raised, the liquid in their flesh drains away, leaving them dry, gaunt, and shrunken-skinned, with lips peeling back to show a haunting face of dried gums and teeth. A Ghoul operates at one skill tier beneath the one who raised it. It will still collapse should it suffer enough trauma that it cannot move, or its nervous system ceases to function due to decapitation.

• Graft: 25 Tethers - The Graft is any minion devised as an extension of something else, such as an exoskeleton, prosthesis, or container that may continue to operate long after the one inside has perished or lost some form of function. This might be used to subdue, to subsume and hide, to smuggle or protect. Still more uses exist to stabilize a body or puppeteer another creature weaker than its joints. These are typically created by other disciplines and then animated, but a rib cage that shifts to catch the blow of a sword is entirely feasible.

• Hulk: 25 Tethers

• Chariot: 25 Tethers -

• Draugr: 100 Tethers

• Goliath: 100 Tethers

• Death Knight: 1000 Tethers

• Death Wyrm: 5000 Tethers

Tether

One learns that Undead must be sustained, or they will begin to decompose. A Necromancer tethers Undead to themselves, halting their degradation. This can be done to Thralls, Draugr, Ghosts, or even themselves if they are also among the ranks of the living dead. Normally mending of the flesh is performed by a Maltrician, but this allows the undead to appear more lifelike than mere arcane surgery. The Tether functions at an unlimited distance from the mage, but may be followed by nearly any form of divination unless dismissed remotely.

While wielding a Tether, the Nekron experiences a diminishing of their restoration of Arcane reserves - the numbers below indicate how many Tethers they may wield before they cease regenerating Spell Reserves altogether. Most only wield up to half of this amount, so that they might operate their other abilities freely.

• Novice: 2 Tethers
• Apprentice: 10 Tethers
• Journeyman: 100 Tethers
• Expert: 1000 Tethers
• Master: 10000 Tethers
• Ascendant: Unlimited Tethers

Command

Soul Stone

As a being passes on, the Nekron may usher its soul into a Sliver - or greater - of Alkahest. When embedded into the undead, it allows them to regenerate while conferring the skills they had in life up to the quality of the shard used, including Arcana. They will have access to the skills and memories they had in life, allowing for some facsimile of a personality, and their dead flesh will regenerate from destruction.

A Soul Stone of an equivalent Metaphor confers Spell Reserves equivalent to one cast of its tier that may be split up into smaller spells. It is not unheard of for a Lich to wield several Grafted accessories containing the souls of magi it has defeated in its long unlife, however they must pay additional XP equal to what they would have spent on an NPC with that level of Arcana.

The Life Force of a dragon might be stored if the stone is large enough, allowing those with Grist to consume it for advancing to that draconic stage - or to empower Glamour. Most Necromancers use this added force to raise a Death Wyrm.

Souls may be extracted and reallocated, or passed to greater Alkahest sources that might make better use of their skills. The embedded undead will receive all the traits of their Arcana and Ascension, if any, including any Mageburn symptoms should they burn themselves out - and doing so will cause them to immediately slip their leash. Blights will confer their benefits and drawbacks to the minion, which may risk slipping and rampaging if its needs are not met.

• Sliver: Apprentice Skills & Arcana; Regenerates normally as a living person.
• Shard: Journeyman Skills & Arcana, Young Dragons; Regenerates twice as fast as a living person.
• Crystal: Expert Skills & Arcana, Adult Dragons; Regenerates visibly fast.
• Sphere: Master Skills & Arcana, Elder Dragons; Regenerates in under a minute.
• Globe: Grandmaster Skills & Ascended Arcana, Ancient Dragons; Regenerates in seconds.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

Just starting out, a

A novice is already a Pale Man, but they may not yet Tether themselves to hide its aesthete.

• Raise: A novice may arise a Thrall or a Fetch.
• Tether: As a novice, the Nekron may sustain 2 Tethers.
• Command: A novice is limited to simple one-word commands without any refinement, such as 'attack' or 'stop' to one minion at a time.

Apprentice

Still

An apprentice may

• Raise: An Apprentice may now arise a Skeleton or Ghoul.
• Tether: An Apprentice may sustain 10 Tethers.
• Command: An Apprentice might define more complex tasks, such as 'stop over there' or 'stab that person with your spear'.

Journeyman

A journeyman has

A journeyman may

• Raise: A Journeyman may now arise a Hulk or create a Graft. They raise the dead at half the cost in spell reserves.
• Tether: A Journeyman may sustain 100 Tethers.
• Command: A journeyman may begin to define more complex tasks with conditions such as 'detain a man with red hair, and attack him with your sword if he resists', but repetition nor autonomy is unavailable at this point. They may issue commands to each within earshot.

Expert

Experts

An expert may

• Raise: An Expert may now arise a Goliath or bring a Draugr into the world. They raise the dead at one fourth the cost in Spell Reserves.
• Tether: An Expert may sustain 1000 Tethers.
• Command: An expert may define a task with repetition and Apprentice-level skills such as 'mine for copper with your pick until the tunnel is about to collapse, then reinforce it with wood from the forest, and begin again' , but adaptable autonomy at this stage is not possible. At this stage, they may issue their commands remotely, without a need to be heard.

Master

The master

A master

• Raise: A Master may now arise a Death Knight, greatest of all bound Undead. They raise the dead at one tenth the cost in Spell Reserves.
• Tether: A Master may sustain 10000 Tethers.
• Command: A master may now define a routine with adaptable autonomy for their Tethered. Volumes of information can be passed on with a mere gesture.

Ascension

Lich this

Lich that

• Raise: The Lich may now arise the living dead at no cost of Spell Reserves; simply Tethering to them will birth a creation.
• Tether: A Lich is only limited by the amount of dead body parts available to their craft, and time.
• Command: A Lich may freely puppeteer each of their Death Knights as if they were themselves, grafting their own personalities into them.