the explorers' guild
ymra: the restless dead
Death is not always the end for the mortal races of Ymra. Ymra was brought forth from primal chaos by pure will, and will remains the most powerful force in the world. Sometimes the will of a mortal being is stronger than death itself, and will alone may be strong enough to overturn it.
The will of the dying, then, is the source of the Restless Dead.
Ghosts are the disembodied spirits of dead mortals that have refused to surrender their existence. So tenacious are they that they gather the very substance of will itself into shades of their former selves. It's only a desire of incandescent intensity that can enable such a tenuous being to exist at all, and with the passage of years, ghosts most often dissipate into nothingness, unless some greater power binds them. Most often the greater power is a spell conjured by some necromancer, bent on making a servant of the ghost.
A few ghosts, though, may survive for centuries, so powerful is the feeling, or the memory, or the desire that holds them. With the passing of ages, these ghosts will gradually forget everything except that one passionate wish. A ghost of this type can be as powerful and as dangerous as a demon.
A ghost may be the Shade of a Man, or of a Dwarf, or of any mortal creature, even a Beast. Even a Fairy may sometimes become a ghost, by being deprived of the source of his life and power for so long that his mind and substance slip slowly and painfully away, leaving only his shade.
The Undead, on the other hand, are the dead bodies of mortals, animated by magic, and driven by the will of a sorcerer or an inhabiting spirit. In some cases, especially when the living being was a powerful magician, the inhabiting spirit may be that of the living being who died. Most often, though, the Undead are commanded either by a necromancer or by a demon.
A Zombie is a dead mortal whose body is animated by magic and then commanded by the will of the magician.
A Ghoul is a corpse that has been seized by a hungry demon before it has had the chance to decompose too much, and that is then used as a vehicle for the demon to sate its raging appetites.
A Vampire is a person who dies while inhabited by a particular kind of malevolent demon. The demon devours the person's life essence from within, and then continues on to absorb that of living beings by drinking their blood. Such an unfortunate person is imprisoned in his own undead body, which is under the command of the demon.
In rare cases it has been possible for such a person to conquer the Vampire demon and regain command of his own flesh. Such a triumph may be short-lived, however, as the body is still undead and still hungers for blood, and the immortal demon remains, ready to reassert his control at any moment of weakness. Furthermore, in their quest to destroy the vampire, the living are unlikely to pause to listen to his protestations that he has regained control of himself, and unlikely to believe him if they do listen.