Undead (Warhammer) - The Legions of Undead

The Legions of Undead

Several staple character types are represented by the game of Warhammer, and several others besides those which are readily recognized and accepted. Among the undead, the following are included:

• Necromancers: Men who have turned to the dark arts in a desperate attempt to preserve their own flesh beyond that which is normal. Though living themselves—even if only just—they are generally the masters of the undead, for it is their magic which binds the corpses to the material plane.

• Liches: This is what becomes of a successful Necromancer. The soul is bound to the body, so the sorcerer can not die a natural death, but can still be destroyed by a determined opponent. Liches resemble walking corpses, and many - such as Nagash himself - were mere animated skeletons wrapped in their vestments.

• Wights: These are long-dead kings and warriors of renown which have been raised by powerful necromantic magic. Stronger than the typical skeleton warrior, Wights carry with them powerful weapons which are enchanted to bring death with the slightest scratch. It takes a necromancer of incredible power to bind such warriors.

• Banshees: These are the spirit-fragments of women who are heralds of woe and death. Their scream is the harbinger of death, and when people hear the banshee's wail, they tremble with fear.

• Wraiths: If a necromancer does not achieve the level of mastery required to become a lich, this is what becomes of him. Wraiths are terrifying creatures who no longer possess a physical body, but whose fear of dispersing into oblivion within the Chaos Realm binds them to the physical realm, in a hollow existence of endless torment.

• Ghouls: Though not strictly undead, or even dead at all, ghouls are mortal cannibals, once human, who have been transformed by necromancy and reduced to grave-robbing and following in the wake of battle to feed their unnatural hunger for human flesh. They operate in packs, very much like ravening wolves. They seem to have no humanity left to them whatsoever.

• Vampires: There are few beings on the Warhammer world with as much power to themselves as a vampire. Many of them are centuries old. Some are older, and they continue to grow in power as they age. Blessed with a natural affinity for Nagash's Necromancy, they are very often found leading the undead into open war.

• Skeletons and Zombies: These are the mindless corpses of fallen warriors which have been animated by a necromancer to do the master's bidding. They have no conscious thought, and they are not adept fighters. Their only advantage is that they are not alive. They do not feel pain, hunger, cold, heat, wind, rain, nothing. They simply continue on their crusade until their master decides otherwise.

Most all of the true undead cause "fear" or "terror" within the structure of the Warhammer Fantasy battle game and some can only be attacked by magical means. Another important factor within the game is that of "instability"; being for the most part creatures animated by magical means they are dependent on the controlling sorcerer (the army general in Warhammer Fantasy Battle) and the flow of magic within the game. In some editions of the game this meant that the loss of the army general effectively led to the possibility of instant destruction of most of the undead units.