Part 18 – Spirits & Undead

MUMMY

Close Combat 15W, Dessicated Skin +1, Fanatical 10W, Fearless 15W, Know Myths 10W, Strong 15W, Tough 12W, Devotion to local deity 10W

Distribution: Kethaela, Fonrit, Errinoru

Habitat: Civilised areas

Mummies are free-willed undead created by certain cultures to help guard temples, tombs and other holy sites. The person who will eventually become the mummy must freely give his consent to do so, and, after his death, priests perform a complex ritual that involves the evisceration and preparation of the corpse. The ritual prevents the corpse from decaying, and it remains a desiccated husk, usually wrapped in bandages or cloth. It is only a number of years after the ceremony that the mummy becomes reanimated, ready to defend the holy sites of its religion.

The mummy is much stronger than it was in life; add +10 to Strong and Tough if the person formerly possessed those abilities (or similar ones, at the discretion of the Narrator), to a minimum of 15W. Mummies automatically gain Close Combat 15W if they do not already possess that ability at a higher level. Mummies cannot speak, but will retain most non-verbal abilities that they held in life (as always, the Narrator adjudicates when this does or does not apply). However, any theistic, animist or mystical magical abilities cannot be improved beyond their living levels. Sorcery presents no such problems, although religious restrictions might prohibit its use.

The Narrator should add a number of appropriate abilities to any mummy which must be detailed, based on its former occupation and its particular religion. She should bear in mind that mummies are created from dedicated and skilled individuals, and that they may have had centuries to improve their non-magical skills.

Most mummies would rather be destroyed forever than allow harm to come to the area they protect, and any would-be intruder ignores this fanatical devotion at their peril. Mummies may use any weapons or armour they wish, and some employ relics imbued with theist magical power to help in their role of protecting sacred sites.

VAMPIRE

All the time: Bite 5W, Touch Victim 18W, Drain Blood 10W, Dodge Attack 5W, Move Swiftly 2W, Strong 10W, Tough 10W

When not exposed to daylight: Change into Mist 2W2, See in Total Darkness 2W2, Transform into Bat 18W, Transform into Wolf 18W

Distribution: Central Genertela

Habitat: Wherever there are intelligent beings

Worshippers of the chaos god Vivamort willingly transform themselves into the immortal undead beings known as vampires, but many more are victims captured by the cult and forced to undergo the sorcerous ceremony. Vivamorti are highly secretive, and their blasphemous rejection of life and death, as well as all forms of normal worship, makes them universally loathed. According to the Orlanthi, vampires are despised by many of the natural elements, which explains their weakness to sunlight, fire and running water.

Upon transformation to a vampire, an individual gains all the abilities listed above, but also retains all of his existing non-magical abilities. If they already have Strong or Tough (or similar abilities at the Narrator’s discretion) then these may be increased by +10 above their former values. Move Swiftly (or a similar ability) may be improved by +5 in a similar manner.

Vampires may continue to improve their abilities the same that mortals do, and many ancient vampires have multiple masteries in their best skills. Vampires can continue to use sorcery, and those who do not initially know any will learn it soon, for all other forms of magic are closed to them. Any theist, animist or mystical magic known by the subject is lost when he first becomes a vampire.

In mist form, the vampire is immune to most forms of physical damage, including fire, but can still be affected by most magics. In bat or wolf form, the vampire gains all the normal abilities of those creatures (see below). In any of these forms, the vampire will lose any clothing or armour they may happen to be wearing, except that in which they were clothed when they ‘died’.

To use its Enthral power against a victim, the vampire must catch their gaze, if only briefly. If successful, that person will slouch helplessly, unable to take any action. However, if the person is able to present an object bearing, or fashioned into, a death rune, the vampire will be unable to use its Enthral ability. A death rune may also be used as a +1 weapon against a vampire, although it will not increase the effectiveness of a normal weapon into which it is inscribed (although specific enchantments to this effect are possible).

Vampires rest through the day in specially prepared coffins lined with earth, and must feed on the blood of sentient beings to remain in existence. If a vampire is unable to feed for five successive nights, it becomes comatose and unable to move from its coffin. A vampire unable to return to its coffin is more severely affected still, and all its abilities will be halved after the first day. After two days without access to its coffin, the vampire falls unconscious and will not recover without aid.

Running water is extremely dangerous to vampires, and if exposed to it they must defeat a resistance of 10W (this value may be varied at the Narrator’s discretion, based on the speed or purity of the water) in order to escape. If they fail, they are utterly destroyed. A vampire may also be destroyed if a stake is driven through its heart and its head cut off.

Vampires often surround themselves with undead servitors such as zombies and ghouls, and will always avoid conflict unless they clearly have the upper hand. They usually attack their victims when they are alone and helpless.

The bite of a vampire drains blood from the victim, but can be difficult to employ against a fully active opponent. If the victim has all of his blood drained, he dies. A vampire may, if it chooses, turn the victim into a fellow vampire at this point, but must have a good reason for doing so, since it will generally not wish to share its food supply with another of its kind.

A vampire which has been defeated in combat will attempt to change into mist, and if successful may recover one level of injury per minute, unless the injury was caused by fire. If unsuccessful, the vampire falls to the ground unconscious.

Wolf form

Although this form can fight, the vampire is unable to use its normal Touch and Bite powers as a wolf, and so will not chose to do so if this can be avoided. It does, however, retain its other magical abilities, although its normal physical abilities may be curtailed if they require hands rather than paws.

Bat form

Fly Fast 5W, Small 18

Like the wolf form, this is primarily used for camouflage and speed, not combat. Physical and magical abilities are restricted in the same way as for the wolf form.

OTHER VAMPIRE TYPES

The vampire described above is the Vivamorti vampire of central Genertelan human societies. Other cultures, and some species, have their own types of vampire, which may have very different powers or weaknesses to that described above. For example, the Kozoru, or troll vampire, is active through the day and fears the darkness, for trolls are normally nocturnal creatures.

WRAITH

Wraiths are a special type of ghost animated by feelings of frustration and hatred. They are permanently visible, and take the form of translucent skeletons or partially rotted corpses. They radiate cold, and emit an odour of decay. Some wraiths haunt specific sites, as normal ghosts do, but a few are free to wander as they will. They seek to destroy all living things that they encounter.

A wraith attacks with its icy touch, which can pass through armour or any other physical barrier, although anti-spirit magics will be effective. Even if the victim survives, he will be permanently weakened; the handicaps for injury remain in effect until he is blessed by a shaman or healed by other appropriate magics. Because wraiths are immaterial, they are invulnerable to normal attacks, and may be injured only by magic, although this may include magically augmented weapons, for example.

AGITORANI

Distribution: Sakum (Outer World)

Habitat: Burning lands

When Pamalt offered his people the gift of making children, the Agitorani rejected him, choosing instead to keep their immortality. They travelled far to the south, and settled in Sakum, the land of living fire that lies beyond the Nargan Desert. They are powerful spirit beings made of dry earth, no longer human as their ancestors once were.

The Agitorani are a tribal people, in some ways similar to the Doraddi, but with a primal connection to the spirit world that makes every man and woman among them a shaman, no matter what their other roles may be. Each profession amongst the Agitorani, such as warrior, hunter, or wise man, is effectively a separate race, and the curse of immortality is such that none can ever change their profession from that they were born with. While they never age or die, their lives are ones of unending repetition, so that they have learned less from their centuries of experience than many outsiders might suppose.

The Agitorani are tall, seven or eight feet in height, with glistening jet black skin, physically perfect bodies, and burning orange eyes. They converse with a silent spirit-language incomprehensible to mere mortals, but are also able to speak every human tongue in Glorantha with ease.

Agitorani Warrior

Acute Vision 15W, Agile 10W, Agitorani Customs 10W2, Agitorani Practice Knowledge 10W2, Athletic 18W, Open Spirit World, Perfect Physique 2W2, Proud 10W, Resilient 10W2, Resist Flame 15W3, Spear Combat 5W3, Strong 10W2

LUXITE

(Light Elemental)

Bright 8/yard³, Induce Awe 5/yard³

Luxites are an example of ‘elementals’ not associated with a non-elemental substance. Instead, they form from celestial light, and may only be summoned where sunlight or bright starlight are present. Luxites summoned under starlight only, or in daylight when the sun is not directly visible, are half the normal size. Luxites are commonly summoned only by Dara Happan priests, and the most powerful (and intelligent) are angels which serve the celestial gods directly. A luxite appears as a patch of brilliant golden light, and pushes shadows before it.

Luxites are not particularly powerful elementals for combat purposes. To attack, they envelop their victim, and may use their Bright ability to blind any being trapped within them. Magical creatures of darkness, or undead, are particularly harmed by a luxite’s light, and will take physical damage from the being’s brightness. Other, conscious, sentient beings are instead filled with a sense of awe and wonder, which may become so great that their heart bursts with the magnitude of the emotion.