Undead

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Undead is a collective name for a number of creatures that are physically dead and yet behave as if alive. Some forms of undead lack any physical forms and exist only ethereally, such as Wraiths; others are corporeal, such as Vampires and Zombies.

Overview

The world is saturated in magical energy, which has the power to undermine even the laws of death. The dead do not rest easy in the Warhammer world, and while not commonplace, the undead are an accepted reality. In certain cursed places they simply rise from their graves, most notoriously in the Land of the Dead in the Southlands, and - even in The Empire itself - in the County of Sylvania. The dead can also be easily raised and commanded by certain ruthless individuals who study and use Necromancy, a specialized form of magic. The masses of the undead such as Skeletons and Zombies almost completely lack a will of their own and are dependent on powerful sorcerers for direction.

Undead creatures have attained "undeath", or undead status, by various means, notably through the power of Necromancy, and transcended death (either being resurrected from a dead state by a practitioner of necromancy or else cheating death by some other means, as in the case of a Vampire or similar creature). This is not to be confused with immortality; the power of becoming a sentient entity within the Aethyr.

Necromancers, vampires and other sorcerous creatures make use of large numbers of undead as their exclusive servants.

The forces of the Undead are divided into the armies of the Vampire Counts, and of the Tomb Kings.

Types of undead

There are some Undead who either used universally by many Undead creature with necromantic abilities, or can exist without a master, wandering the land.

Necromantic Undead

(These are the Undead found specifically within Vampire/necromancer led armies)

Nehekharan undead

Ethereal undead

Undead creatures lacking any physical forms comprise another type of undead called ethereal undead.

See also

Sources