“ | Life and death – the eternal circle of life. The natural order of the world. The way it has been, and the way it always will be. Or at least the way it should be, for magic, combined with the malice and thirst for power of certain races, has created abominations of nature, creatures of horrible appearance, and the most unnatural of these are those that go by the name of the Undead. | ” |
— Official Description
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General Information[]
Undead beings are restless spirits, souls caught in the void between life and death. From beyond the threshold to the realm of the dead they look back on the world of the living, full of jealousy and loathing for the world they once inhabited. They refuse to bow to the natural order, sentencing themselves into an eternally cruel existence.
A few of them manage to infiltrate the land of the living and manifest there by desecrating the bodies of the freshly dead or possessing the remains of those that died long ago. These revenants are the undead, and no living creature is spared from their wrath, so driven by hate are these unnatural beings. Their senseless appetite for destruction makes them ideal for the battlefield, and over the years, many mages have tried to harness the power of these creatures for their own purposes. These mages are know as Necromancers, and can control the hordes of the undead, summoning them at will.
Unique Undead[]
Some noteable undeads will be noted here. Please note that this list is only a small
- Korshar, a lich from the Howling Mounds leading Hokan Ashir's armies
- End of all Hope, a skeleton from the quest Amra and Lea which is guarding Amra's grave
- Soulforger, the creator of the Dark One's blades in Sharrowdale
- Munch, a screamer in the east of Tirganach guarding the portal to Winterdeep.
- Bone Guardian, a screamer guarding the bones of the first bone carver of Urgath
- Grand Master of the Mosaic, a skeleton fighter guarding the Mosaic of Death at the Blazing Stones.
- Undead Rohen, the revived Circle Mage Rohen Tahir riding on a Bone Fiend.
Sub-Types of Undead[]
Although almost all undead are revived corpses, there are sometimes huge differences between them. See below what types of undead do exist.
Skeletons[]
Endless wars have destroyed the face of the world, and the remains of the fallen are buried deep. They are the vessel that the spirits, driven by hate, can most easily possess and use to enter the land of the living, digging their way to the surface with bony fingers. Many of these spirits were once heartless murderers who continue after death what they began in life, gleefully inflicting pain and suffering on others. Their blind hate makes them easy to control, and obedient servants to the powerful necromancers. Their numbers are easily increased, the hordes of the damned waiting on the borders of death are sheer endless. Often the spirits still possess powers and skills they learned while living, giving the undead the power of mages and necromancers.
Ghosts[]
These undeads dont possess a corporal form but are instead the spiritual component of the former life. As such the ghosts often have a clear state of mind and are even able to communicate and are therefore able to interact with others, including the living. However ghosts are so varying depending on which being is resurrected as a ghost that their behaviour is just as different as each living being's behaviour could be.
Ghouls[]
As horrible as the ghosts that return to the land of the dead to annihilate the living may seem, there are some that can surpass their cruelty – and they are, or rather were, the living themselves. Not all flee in terror at the sight of an army of the undead, there are some that welcome them and revel in the suffering they bring. It is even said that some join the ranks of the revenants by choice, fighting and killing at their side, hoping to be rewarded with an endless existence as an undead. They feed on the rotten flesh of the dead and wallow in putrescence, until their body begins to decay and their only desires are death, destruction and to feed on flesh. Thus they become themselves undead and are some of the most cruel and dangerous, for they have chosen this path of their own free will. The last remnants of this free will, however, make these creatures difficult to control by the workers of magic. But once they are on the battlefield and smell the fear in their enemies, taste the blood of their foes, they are a formidable foe. Their bite is especially dangerous, causing an infection that can kill even after days or weeks if left untreated.
Zombies[]
Hate is not the only force that brings spirits back from the land of the dead, greed can also resurrect these souls, their need to possess and devour helping them manifest in the physical realm. These carnal desires make them very easy to control. They possess the bodies of the recently dead, and with endless greed they kill and consume anything living that comes within reach, and are as tenacious and unstoppable as they are slow and simple-minded. They will kill anything that is not fast enough to escape their grasp, and follow a victim’s trail relentlessly to still their unnatural hunger. As long as the living continue to strive for power and fulfill their greed, there will be an endless stream of these creatures flooding into the world, much to the delight of their masters.
Spectres[]
From the vortex of hate, the chaos of anger, that rules the realm of the dead, a creature may rise that combines the destructive power of many. Born of the most awful thoughts, of the hate and pain of hundreds of tormented souls, this horror takes shape and roams the world like a nightmare, bringing death and destruction wherever it goes. With its weapons forged from pure hate and its magic of death, a spectre will cause much suffering until someone, something, can finally stop it. Thankfully, they are rare, yet the necromancer Hokan Ashir found a way to summon them almost at will. With these ghastly creatures, he formed a legion of spectres and sent it into battle against his brethren of the Circle. It is rumoured that many of these spectres still exist, and woe to those that happen upon the remnants of this army of horror.
Wraiths[]
Anger and the desire for revenge are powerful emotions, emotions that have brought down entire kingdoms and started many a war. They can also enable the spirits of the deceased to return to the land of the living, where the undead bring terror and death in their name. From the banks of the River of Souls these spirits return to take revenge and unleash their anger, but not only to those that wronged them in life – they will not stop until they have eradicated everything and anything that reminds them of their old life. These souls return as ghosts, apparitions, that do not need a vessel or body to contain them; they can manifest only through their desire to destroy. Few have survived to tell of these ghastly creatures, that stride through a battlefield, sowing death to any that stand in their path and reaping suffering. Wraiths are amongst the most powerful undead, and some of them even have magic skills that rival the strongest mages.
Screamer[]
The knowledge about the origin of the screamers was lost with the Circle's archives. Some believe they are a nation that once upon a time came to Eo from the heavens, but has long found its end. The Circle's magic brought these ancient creatures back to light as undead and incorporated then into the armies of the Convocation War. Now the screamers are aimlessly roaming the land, and only a few masters of the dark arts succeed in controlling them.
Mummies[]
The first God King of Xu learnt the art of embalming from the stone tablets of the former and introduced it to his empire as a fixed custom. This custom was not abandoned until the fall of the empire and decline of the imperial power. Today thousands of these mummies are slumbering under the sand, waiting to serve a long-dead God King as an undead slave. Many a necromancer has tried to benefit from this sleeping army, but a only a Grand Master of necromancy would be capable of this. These horrors will then rise from the sand of the deserts and no army will be able to resist their numbers.
Flayed One[]
Flaying is a gruesome form of execution used by the Sha and the Hazim as the highest form of punishment. This is a death you would not even wish on your worst enemy. A being which has died under the tortures of flaying represents a special attraction for necromancers. For the old teachings of Belial say that the more suffering experienced by a being while alive, the angrier and more powerful it will be as an undead. It is said that Belial himself carried out the flaying of his victims and those who follow Belial’s ways will make use of these skills sooner of later.
Bone Fiend[]
They wandered across the face of Eos many thousands of years ago and they were the mightiest hunters of their time. That is a long time ago, but which necromancer wouldn’t be keen on including these horrors from ancient times in his armies. The stony bones of these ancient beasts are thus dug out of the earth from deep under the black jungle and filled with unholy life by their new master.
Lich[]
The Lich are already captains amongst the grey hordes, dead spirits of great magicians and kings. But even among them there are greater and minor ones. Korshar of the Howling Mounds was a weaker lich while Anktahr of the order of the Zerbites was one of the most powerful ones known.
Blades[]
The Blades created by Hokan Ashir had a black armor covered in spikes and blades. They mostly did not use weapons but their very own body for attacking with enormous brutality and were able to break deep into enemy lines. Because of this unique fighting style Hokan Ashirs Iron Ones were also nicknamed Blades. The Iron Ones made by Hokan Ashir used soul gems to fuel the metal bodies with life.
Undead Units[]
See below which undead appear in the different games.
Undead in SpellForce[]
In SpellForce the undead did not possess a standardized unit system and thus all undead units were unique individuals in the game. As such the undead cannot be listed in the same way as units of different other peoples. However below is a short list of some noteable undead.
Undead in SpellForce 2[]
In the second SpellForce series the undead were included as a complete faction with their own buildings and unit creation system. They were able to create units from resources just like the playable factions of the game. Their units will now follow:
See the main article at Undead (SF2) for more information.
Undead in SpellForce 3[]
Now following is a short list of noteable undead. Please consider that this list only names the general types of undead. Some undead fighters do possess variants with slightly different stats or names that won't be listed her.