Undead

The Undead are one of the major antagonists in Talberran. They were alive once, now reanimated by a dark or supernatural force. They are bloodthirsty and unrelenting in their ways, hostile toward any living thing they may come across. The undead are mainly mindless, a shell of their former being, however they are extremely aggressive and will stop at nothing to kill whatever it sees. Undead sightings are mostly reported in the South, in and beyond the Dying Marsh of House Valoth, although recently they have been reported almost all around Talberran. Undead are mainly lead by Liches, a powerful being of darkness capable of raising the dead at the point of a finger. They share the same characteristics as the undead, rotted, at times decapitated or limbless but they seem to have a particular intelligence that their minions do not have.

History
The Undead have been a frequently consistant enemy to the people of Talberran. They have once been defeated and driven back by the Houses in the War of the Dying Marsh. The war stretched for a long period of five years of constant fighting, the Liches had assembled thousands of the dead from the men beyond the gates whom they'd slaughtered. During this war, it was the first time Stenwulf and Balaire had fought side by side, but of course this was a long time ago, during the First days of the Houses, before their rivalry.

Finally, over a long, bloody war, the Liches and their minions were driven back to the Black Marsh. Most, if not all undead and Liches were killed. House Valoth had taken a huge blow, due to the war being on their soil. Thousands of men had died during the war, including Malkom Valoth, head of House Valoth at the time.

The undead had remained in the Black Marsh, either rotting away or growing mindless. The people of Talberran banded as one to construct barriers to seal off the Black Marsh and the rest of the land beyond the wall. The gate of Talberran was built and has stood strong for thousands of years.

There had been many other accounts of undead since then, even to the present. Many believe that the wall has withered away over time and the undead have an entryway through it. Some also think that the undead have simply laid in wait for their chance to wreck havoc upon the land. It may be true, reports of undead after several thousands of years could prove these assumptions.

Characteristics
An undead's traits can be quite diverse, depending on their condition and how long they have been dead. A freshly reanimated undead is fast and aggressive. An undead that has been dead for years will be slow and sluggish but still aggressive.

Undead that haven't been dead for a decent amount of time can blend with those who are alive, due to them not rotting away just yet. The most notable way to notice an undead is their extremely pale skin and if their eyes are rolled back.

During the War of Dying Marsh, some young soldiers were said to have trembled at the sight of a rotted undead. Old recordings say that undead without heads, limbs and other parts still managed to march toward them. They are slower and more frail but definately able to inspire fear and are still quite aggressive in fighting.

Behavior and Weaknesses
Undead need to be guided by a Lich in order to be organized into armies and the like. Undead without Liches tend to be mindless and shamble about endlessly to their doom. Due to the Liches being killed off for quite some time, any undead beyond the gate would have driven itself into complete madness.

The Undead are noticable by their strange or shambling movement. Some tend to move as if they were guided by a force beyond. Growling and groaning is also common to be heard.

During combat, they are unrelenting. Decapitating them or disarming them does nothing, they will only find more ways to try and kill you. According to old recordings, the only way to really kill an undead is to use fire, magic, or stab them in their chest and impale their core the Liches use to control the undead.

Their core is an unnatural sphere of darkness that formed inside of the reanimated corpse, it apparently forms upon the Lich reanimating the body so that they could mark and control the undead that they have risen. If harmed in any sort of way (like impaling), it would be destroyed and the undead would no longer be controlled by the Lich and simply fall dead. This is still effective, regardless of if the undead is controlled by a Lich or not.