Wraiths

Wraiths Their name spans back to the First Age, when there laid life within the ancestral land and when a war of light and darkness slowly deteriorated and land and drained the plane of life. There had been two sides the coin; two choices a man can make. You could join Iblees and follow his destructive path against spiteful Necromancers bound by a forsaken curse or fight against it against White-Wizards. However… others had found another side. As said in legends locked away in the Dark Omnibus, there was a band of human lords with hearts as black as the void and minds as dark as the night sky; greedy as dwarves, violent as Orcs and without the patience of an Elf. They were spiteful, and their spite had led them to learn the Dark Arts; Necromancy, what rogue-Magi and the followers of the Fallen One had commonly adopted into their arsenal to use against the forces of good. But these Lords held little regard for the conflicts of higher-beings and the toys they used such for.

The Lords counted up to five in number, holding as much spite and selfish desire for immortality as the next. They dabbled in dark things in the darker corners of the earth, the years passing in droves as they worked tirelessly to form a ritual that would exact them the ability to defy age. The Creator did not answer their prayers, Aerial did not see them worthy to align with the ever-living Ascended and Iblees would have them thrown into raging hellfire for their demandful audacity for such gifts that he stole the human race from. Taking things into their own hands would be necessary, and in due time, they unlocked … dark things. Evil things meant not for mortal hands; an unbound and forgotten thread of the inner-machinations of the Creator’s works. A manipulation overlooked by the Aenguls and Daemons; a mistake turned awry, having been awoken by men of malicious ways and bent to their will.

They discovered rebirth through death.

The Five Lords knew what they were doing when they vowed to all follow this path, they knew the dangers that were at-hand, but they could not bear the consequences of life. They knew, past their anger deteriorating mental state, that even if Iblees was defeated, their people made safe and the land cleansed free of the taint that the Fallen One had spread, that they would still have to taste the bitterness of mortality. Whether by the sword or the slow decay of time, they would die. They disregarded their humanity for darker gifts, but they did not realize what they really traded themselves for.

Through a ritual unknown even by the deepest dabbler of the Dark-Arts, they were stripped of skin, flesh and bone; they became what they raised - beings made up of dark mists that hold such strength that they were allowed to don robes and wield blades alongside their putrid magics. They became ever-rageful, seeking more power despite not being able to garner any past the skill they hold in the dark craft. They had been distorted into half-incorporeal beings, like ghosts with the strength of mortal men. They held no strand of their sanity in life, but once they all had gradually turned into these forsaken Wraiths, there was a clarity that dwelt their broken, angry minds:

They cannot escape this.

They once had families. They were Lords for a reason; they were noble once. People approved of them, they ascended to their political positions on behalf of the honor the people of Oren, and their fair King, had seen in them. They were happy before, and it was not a higher-being that twisted them into evil men, but fear. A human could only last so long, and now condemned to this life shrouded in darkness and despair, they would watch as the land they once followed so closely, and all of it’s inhabitants, dwindled away in place of strangers. Their family lines and loved ones withered away without their presence. They watched, and their despair only heightened. They watched as everyone died, and knew that there would be no comfort for them, no comfort to ease the pain of their passing.

The Five Lords came to undeath; the very image of the power of those who ascended to a higher state of being, in glory, undimmed before the very breaking of the world. They were immortal, they held ever-lasting power because of themselves, not others -- but they, the good Five Lords once loved by many, had to linger on, in darkness and in doubt, as night falls into winter that comes without a star, as summers pass with unrelenting heat with skies as blue as the ocean; as the seasons pass them by endlessly as if days and hours. In the Plane of the Living the Five Dead Lords would dwell, bound to their grief and anger; under the fading, blackening skies, until the lands are changed and the long years of the four races’ longevity are utterly spent.

They faded in time behind the ever-changing canvas of the world, still dwelling amongst the living, but only coming forth to strike innocents down in futile effort to relieve themselves of the agonizing grief. The secret of their turning was forgotten as the Five Lords dwelt farther and farther away from each other until their numbers were gradually slimmed; Clerics and wielders of Holy Light having found them alone and purged them from existence. There laid only one Lord left in the latter times of the First Age, present as the ancestral land broke before his very eyes. He lived longer than any human would ever had, but in turn, would be cursed with an ever-lasting anger and urge to purge the weak and living from the masses in effort to dispel his grief.

He was trapped within a broken Aegis after the Four Races had fled to another land; finally knowing the mistake he had made. There he walked endlessly; yearning not for power, but for a release from this curse that could no-longer be shattered now that everyone had fled to another realm. He walked upon a dead land forever-more, a Wraith gripped with agonizing emotion without anything to release it upon. Never would the Last Lord see his loved ones, for death is something he and his four comrades had surpassed; unable to be reached now that death itself had been imbedded into his soul.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Wraith

A Wraith has a very selective set of strengths and weaknesses, with the latter being more broad; to become a being that had been tethered to a life of undeath, having forced time to pause on his or her lifetime distorts the turned and grants them a good bunch of weaknesses but also some strengths. These advantages and disadvantages shall be listed below:

Strengths:

   Immortality. Necromancers who had learnt of the ritual and surpassed it’s requirements are tethered to a strange, sudden pause in time; mortals would cease to age on behalf of their obvious, corporeal-body-dispersing changes. They are reduced to beings of strange, blackened mists and robes, and thus, the disadvantages a flesh-bound body would have are disregarded: they cannot sustain wounds, time does not affect them and the most prominent of all being the fact that their souls are not handled by the Monks after death. Wraiths re-form after a time much like a Druid bound to a soul-tree does; though such time would be prolonged.
   Strength. The Wraiths, after being warped into half-corporeal beings, are not bound to the weaknesses of a mortal coil. Using their Dark-Arts does not drain them as much as it had before and they are capable of wielding blades alongside any magic they use. Armor is a possibilty to be worn by a Wraith, but it would be difficult to keep it held up and the Wraith itself would endure a sudden lack of ability to cast any magic except their draining abilities. They are not capable of wearing full, battle-field oriented plate-armor and lighter plate would be the extent of their strength. Wielding a sword would be the most they could muster after that; this weakness is why Wraiths stick to robes to keep close to the power they were blessed with.
   Physical defenses. A Wraith is not so easily cut down; alongside it’s offensive strengths is the defense against what mortals would most-often die from. Poisons do not affect them and regularly-forged weaponry does not work very well against them. Large heights are known to damage their corporeal bodies, but not kill them. They cannot drown since they do not breathe.
   Fluidity in the Dark-Arts. A Wraith still retains their magical abilities and most-prominently the dark magic that made them what they were. It is most-common to find a Wraith who only wields Necromancy in terms of magical abilities, however, any magic they learned in their past lives is still known and can be wielded in their undeath. The ability to learn other dark magic is also present, though unlikely on behalf of their opinion toward mortals; the ability to learn Shade magic is a prime example of this, though Shade-bound wraiths have never existed thus far.
   Reign of the Dead. Because a Wraith is an Undead creature, Undead-oriented creatures are more than likely to simply ignore a Wraith's presence than to actually attack them as if they were living beings. A Wraith can still provoke Undead, however, and can still be attacked. However, because of their fluidity in Necromancy, they are capable of raising the dead and controlling them; especially since a Wraith is supposed to be near mastery (or above) in Necromancy when it's turned.

Weaknesses:

   Weakness against sunlight. A Wraith despises the sun and light in general; as both undead creatures and incorporeal beings, they fail to operate magically whilst in the open sunlight. Their magical abilities decline rapidly whilst in the light of day and the only the strength to wield their weapons remain; draining is still an ability able to be utilized by a Wraith whilst it is showered by light. It is more likely for a Wraith to be defeated whilst doused in sunlight than in darker places; this forces Wraiths to either seek homage in underground lairs or to build ones that block out the sun completely on the inside. This is one of the prime reasons they don dark cloaks.
   Weakness against fire. Much like sunlight, Wraiths are fearful of flames. Flames are able to scorch their black cloaks easily and the blinding light fire gives off frightens them; this make fire-mages one of their many enemies. A fire-mage is more prone to kill a Wraith than a small group of armed men.
   Ever-lasting emotional discomfort. Wraiths are very emotionally-distorted creatures; their rebirth is so mildly strange and unsettling that the Necromancer turning into one of them is rendered mentally broken and unable to act like they ever were in their past lives. Long-lived Wraiths often attempt to try to draw their old lives back in; surrounding themselves in what reminded them the most of their mortal lives, like trinkets given by a loved one or pictures. This is futile, however, as their ever-lasting anger prevents them from ever acting normal ever again. Becoming a Wraith is no laughing matter as the individual being turned would be mentally scarred for the rest of their ever-lasting, sinister existence.
   Weakness against gold. Gold with it's odd battery-like behavior against life-force can harm a Wraith. Unlike iron/steel weaponry, Gold is capable of killing a Wraith, and scaring it off, as much as a regular blade would to a regular mortal. Any form of gold can frighten or weaken a Wraith, with golden swords/weaponry being able to actually de-manifest a Wraith.
   Holy magic is as prone to defeat a Wraith as easily as fire can. Shaman, however, have little affect on them; Wraiths can be assumed spiritual creatures, though they are actually just undead with a half-corporeal form. Druids are also capable of killing a Wraith; since a Wraith is made up of tainted, necromantic energies, a blight-healer is capable of purging one -- if it can be held down long enough.
   A Wraith can be weakened by an alterationist or fi'hiiran'acaele'sair, though it is unlikely for them to actually kill one; similar to Shamans in this.
   A Wraith requires life-force to operate. Much like a risen minion of a Necromancer requires a constant flow of life-force to walk, a Wraith requires doses of life-force from time-to-time; failing to drain life-force from a living source and fuel the Wraith will gradually weaken it until it is either too weak to actual mobilize or de-manifest and disperse to another location to regenerate and draw life from the environment to properly fuel the Wraith back into “life.”
   Ethereal Rending. One of the more unsettling weaknesses of a Wraith would be the strange, mirrored versions of wounds they, as half-corporeal beings, sustain. If they are struck with a golden blade, it is more than likely than a Wraith would be inflicted with an Ethereal Rend; whilst sustaining such a strange "wound" of sorts, the wound would gradually drain the Wraith of the life-force it is made up of; as if it was mimicking blood draining from a wound. Should a Wraith be inflicted with numerous rends, then it will de-manifest from a lack of life-force to keep it up and running. Only golden weaponry can inflict Ethereal Rends upon Wraiths and the Wraith must garner a steady supply of life-force to seal it's incorporeal wounds soon after sustaining one should the Wraith wish to continue living.

There are other smaller, detailed disadvantages that are too obvious to be listed here -- prime examples being that a Wraith cannot breed since it’s undead and lost the ability to fornicate after their body was destroy in place of a half-corporeal one. One must also note that these weaknesses must be discovered in-character; you cannot look at a Wraith and just know it’s an undead creature without properly experiencing it’s wrath first or learning of it through the victims of one.

The Creation of Wraiths

The creation of the Wraiths were discovered by the Five Lords (The Lords of Black as they called themselves) within the ancient era of Aegis' history. Not only did it involve their dark magic, but it had followed along hand-in-hand with a special relic that had been discovered by the Five whilst they descended into madness. It was discovered by the first Wraith and the oldest of the Five that it would be impossible to create one of these abominations without it. It was suspected by the Lords that the relic was but a misplaced, enchanted bauble; a trinket malformed by their manipulated magics in such an abhorrent fashion that it allowed them to "ascend" themselves to a higher being with the assistance of one of the Five that had specialized in utilizing this relic and turning others into Wraiths.

Creating a Wraith is an act that changes lives, and thus, the creator must change his own life in turn.

This bauble was not what they expected a first. After the five lords were created by the hand of the First, whom of which learnt the way of creating Wraiths and him alone, they hid the relic away with the suspicion what they had used to turn themselves into the horrid abominations they currently were was the creation of some malignant deity. Not being religious men, the Five Lords of Black kept the relic locked up and hidden for centuries while they terrorized Aegis in secret, only the be discovered ages later on the five land inhabited by the masses...

---

The process of creating a Wraith is a difficult and painful one, and as the history states, it requires the "maker" of Wraiths to change himself before taking the initiative to take in willing (and skilled) Necromancers in to ascend to a higher state of being. For reasons obscured and assumed for god-willing purposes, the strange relic that had been passed down through the centuries (along with the book of notes created by the First Lord of Black) had been known only to "allow" five Lords to exist.

Perhaps, despite the creation of Wraiths being a strange slip-up and manipulation in how life-force operates, the relic simply is put under too much stress because of these rituals and dimensional-fabric-harming acts that must be done in order to create a Wraith. It had been stated in the First Lord's book of secrets that the relic seemed to simply lock up and shut down; the odd, eerie glow that permeated from it's swirling center cut off and darkened.

With the Five Lords of Black having perished long ago and in another plane, the relic had re-activated and it's strange magical mechanisms had been unlocked.

To create a Wraith, one of the five who had been chosen to take up such a mantle must endure weeks of study. It is then that, after affirming their understanding in how the relic was theorized to operate by the First Lord of Black, that they endure a ritual that warps the Necromancer at-hand into a Wraith. Only this first Wraith alone would be able to create more because of how the relic works. After the second had been created, there must be a branch-effort to create more; to create Wraiths puts stress on the relic and more power must be siphoned into it's core in order to keep it stable.

It acts as a pattern. Once the second Wraith is made, they both must make effort to make a third and they must both agree willingly to do so and actively partake in the ritual whilst it transpires. The same repeats for the fourth Wraith's creation with all three of them required to assist the first to warp another Wraith into existence. Upon following this pattern up until the fifth Wraith, the relic will lock down and de-stabilize itself as it had centuries before until the five new Wraiths would perish.

Only one Wraith can create the others and the secret and technique in doing so, with all it's complicated intricacies, are pass down unto another Wraith once the first either suspects it's coming demise or simply wishes to relieve itself of the duty.

Clarifying Points

There are several specific notes to be made here to clarify specific details concerning a Wraith’s weaknesses and strengths. Firstly, it’s relation to spiritual beings shall be spoken of:

The best way to described a Wraith is a manipulation of the natural order of things as Necromancy commonly dabbles in. They are not beings made up of mana, they are beings made up of life-force -- the ritual that the Necromancer invoked to turn themselves into a Wraith involved solely their magic. Since Necromancy is not mana-based, this removes the possibility of a fi'hiiran'acaele'sair being able to actually kill one instead of weaken one.

Bolstering this, Shamans are also not very capable of de-manifesting a Wraith with their spiritual abilities. An Elementalist is more prone to defeat a Wraith with it’s powers than the sway in spirits it has at it’s disposal. Again: a Wraith is not a completely spectral being. To put it in another way, consider a Wraith a soul adopted into a body made up of dark mists instead of flesh and bones. A Shaman is as capable of killing a Wraith with spiritual abilities than killing a Dread-Knight with them.

Gold affects a Wraith because Wraiths are undead; with gold being the bane of most death-oriented creatures, Wraiths are able to be harmed by gold or gold weaponry. The only reason that gold weaponry is more prone to defeat a Wraith over regular weaponry is because a Wraith does not keep it’s old body and depends on the one they adopted through the ritual, thus removing the possibility of wounds. You can kill a Wraith with an iron sword, but it’s comparable to trying to kill a large dire-wolf with a cracked stick. Because of this, their weaknesses are broad and make it so a Wraith is relatively easy to ward away or defeat, given that the circumstances are properly met.

Necromancy and any of it’s abilities renders no effect on Wraiths.

Unlike Liches, Wraiths are not bound to phylacteries. When a Wraith de-manifests/is “killed” in combat or otherwise, it’s soul disperses and retreats to a safe area. It will then have to endure a regeneration process that takes up to one to two IRL days; death rules are not exempt from Wraiths. Upon de-manifestation a Wraith forgets all events leading up to it’s defeat.

Only the first Wraith of the five may create Wraiths, though with the assistance of other Wraiths so a number beyond two may be made. A Necromancer cannot just make Wraiths out of no-where, they must either be the first or learn how to create them after becoming on themselves.

Wraiths are intended to be event creatures. Someone may become a Wraith if they legitimately know how and are at the adequate skill-level in Necromancy to do so.

Physiology of Wraiths

A Wraith is a creature that is not very easy to be mistaken to be a normal person. First of all, they are tall -- long robes are often adorned upon their person to hide the body made up of black mist. Looking beneath their hoods is like looking into the very void; they hold no actual identity, and because of this, any Wraiths that have ever existed had tended to fashion helmets or specific designs in the dark cloaks they wear to properly affirm who they are. It is an unlikely occurrence, but a Wraith’s eyes can glow, though only with the color of the eyes their old body held.

Because of a Wraith’s half-corporeal form, they are understandably unaffected by disease, sickness or biological harm; there is nothing biological about a Wraith after it’s been made. Also, Wraiths can speak. Their voices are similar to the voices they had in the past, but are seemingly strain-sounding and hold a strange, metallic and distant pitch to them.

Glowing eyes and other physical changes that do not cross a Wraith’s physical boundaries are optional and up to the player.

Like all Necromancers, the Wraith expels a slightly fatiguing aura on behalf of it's deathly origins. This is not to be confused with a Dread-Knight’s aura, which grips people with fear: slight fatigue felt by by-standers is simply the outcome of becoming a creature born from a Dark-Art and would not physically affect someone so much that they would falter in combat against a Wraith.

To accompany this chilling effect, Wraiths have taken to releasing shrill shrieks to notify those they wish to kill that their doom is at-hand; the shriek of a Wraith is a feature emphasized in the sparse legends made of them.

Mentality of Wraiths

As expected and stated numerous times above, Wraiths are not beings that are necessarily mentally stable. However, this is not to be exaggerated -- they are not feral creatures and are as capable of being devious and open as they were as mortals in the past. However, it is unlikely for a Wraith to actually cooperate with whoever they seek to strike down. Their turning had made them spiteful and seeded their mind with ruthless will to cut down their opposers.

Wraiths, because of this, are inherently evil and cannot be used for goodly purposes. A Wraith is made because a Necromancer wants power or immortality -- for a Wraith to assist Aeriel-following Paladins or Druids makes little-to-no sense while Wraiths fighting alongside other Dark-Magi or Death-Knights are a much more common occurrence. A Wraith, through it’s rebirth, actually attains a disgust for living creatures. They exist purely to revel in their own power and to crush any who oppose them with this power; for a Wraith to act other than brutal, sinister and ever-serious makes as much sense as them assisting Paladins and Druids.

Alongside being ruthless and evil, Wraiths are also prideful. They are powerful beings, and despite the rather wide list of weaknesses they had been given through their turning, they retain a pride able to be matched with a High-Elves and higher; assuming no mortal man is capable of defeating them. This can be assumed a weakness in some instances.

A common example of their pride is the desire to prove they are the best -- to deny duels with another powerful individual is unlikely to occur unless it is obvious they would lose.

Since Wraiths essentially despise everything living or anything that puts a damper on their plans, they dislike civilization. The most experience they would have with cities, towns or large groups of people would be either raiding/killing them, sending undead hordes to raid/kill them or plotting to raid/kill them from afar. If another Wraith saw a Wraith somehow comfortably dwell amongst the living, the first Wraith would most-likely attempt to purge the second from existence from sheer anger of the second Wraith’s audacity and lowliness.

Wraiths do not often value wealth, but this depends on the character that had been turned into one.

Wraiths despise being led by any darker force unless this force proves it is powerful. It is only then that an individual Wraith or a group of them would lend their sword. Wraiths are more prone to lead other Wraiths through show of their skills and power, however, Wraiths are not above deities or higher-beings like Aenguls, Daemons or Aengudaemons. Wraiths, having no real, viable goal in their unlife than to garner power, are more prone to join forces with an Aengul, Daemon or Aengudaemon if interests align correctly. A Wraith joining forces with a higher-being like Aerial or Tahariae is like a Wraith joining forces with goodly Raevir-men in the peasant town of Kralta -- very unlikely.

This means that a Wraith is more inclined to join forces with dark higher-beings, like Iblees or Setherian, than goodly ones.

While a Wraith is emotionally crippled and cursed with an ever-lasting hatred and anger of living things, this does not necessarily prevent them from being affected by emotional ties with someone they knew in their past life. A Wraith is more viable to grudgingly kill an old friend than their child or the mother of this child. Love and affection is a difficult concept for Wraiths and they are often rendered enraged from the confliction they endure whilst in an instance where they are either opposing their past loved-ones or watching them be opposed -- the latter is often reacted by the Wraith promptly murdering the opposer and then dispersing the area with haste to avoid contact with their past loved-ones. They do NOT, however, have the wish to reconnect with those of their old lives. This is why they are so often emotionally distraught when in the face of those whom they interacted with in their past lives.

The “Red Lines” of Wraiths

   Wraiths are not goodly creatures. This is lore-breaking.
   Wraiths cannot learn holy magic. This conflicts with how they were created.
   Wraiths cannot turn back into mortals. Becoming a Wraith is permanent and condemning your character to an ever-lasting life of bloodshed, effort at garnering more power and emotional frustration.
   Wraiths cannot not hate living things, it is inherit. They can hate things less than others, like allies, but they are more than likely to turn on their allies in the end purely from paranoia.
   Wraiths cannot dwell around the living casually. This is also lore-breaking and makes zero sense with how their mentality works.
   Wraiths cannot step beyond the guidelines laid out for them. No matter how strong or “different” a Wraith is, they will always have the same strengths and weaknesses. That means no flying Wraiths who draw power from sunlight that also know Clerical magic and use these abilities to protect their Dark-Elven wife and half-Wraith child.
   Wraiths also cannot be un-Wraithed by the will of an Aengul, Daemon or Aengudaemon. The ritual that turns a Necromancer into a Wraith is quite literally warping their soul permanently and the forces of a higher-being fixing it are more than likely able to mangle a Wraith’s blackened soul than remove it’s deformity.
   Only the first Wraith of the Five may create another Wraith. You cannot become a Wraith on your own beyond the first's transformation. It is a complicated process that both requires a Necromancer's ability to adequately fuel himself and the ability to assist the first to create the other three, two or the last.