Westgard/Libris Mortis

Foreword

This manual will attempt to document, categorize, and codify the nature and types of undead and methods of fighting them in hopes that their scourge may be ultimately defeated, or at the very least, ease the suffering their shambling ranks inflict upon the living.

Of the Nature of the Dead

The Undead, in a general sense, are the animated bodies of the deceased. They are with only the most limited of exceptions (a singular occurence, to be discussed later) innately hostile to mankind. Oddly enough, they do not engage in hostilities with monsters, despite a history of opposition, and the monsters possessing qualities that would seem compatiable with their unholy diets. The Undead propogate in three distinct ways which will be explored further in this chapter.

Propogation

The Undead first and foremost require human corpses, or in some rare cases, an undead may rise without an intact body, instead being a being of spirit that was once Human. There are no recorded cases of undead Daimons or Monsters. The Undead are a twisted mockery of life. Feeding and breeding in an unholy parody of Humanity.

The first method of undead propagation is the least understood, but also the easiest to combat. The spontaneous rising of the Dead. This can occur anywhere, anytime. Ancient crypts, tombs, graveyards all hold corpses which untended, will rise again as the Undead. Left unchecked, the most powerful of these will form hordes and menace civilized regions. However, this can be largely kept in check by adventurers, who cull the ranks of the Undead before they grow too powerful. What we can observe from this however, is the undead draw an unholy power from numbers. The more undead in a region, the stronger they become.