The Undead

"EARTH TO EARTH, ASHES TO

ASHES, DUST TO DUST;

IN SURE AND CERTAIN HOPE

OF THE RESURRECTION

TO ETERNAL LIFE.”

- The Book of Common Prayer, 1662

THE NATURE OF THE UNDEAD

Undeath is not a singular race, a singular order, or a unified empire. It is a condition that emerges where life and death collide and fail to resolve. The Undead are not bound by one origin story, but by a shared truth. The Void devours. Hod hungers. Yet from that endless pull, there are those who refuse to fully surrender to dissolution. Whether by curse, will, accident, or lost rite, the Undead rise in many forms and for many reasons. We are the consequence of existence reaching beyond its natural end.All Undead exist through the interplay of three Ancient Forces:

• The Void: The primordial absence from which all things emerged. From it flows Negative Energy, which sustains The Undead.
• Hod: The Mouth of the Void, which hungers for the return of all life.
• Will: The animating refusal that allows Undead to exist between life and dissolution. The Will of the Void itself, fracturing its own endless hunger.

MYTHOS OF THE DAMNED

The world that gave rise to the Undead was not shaped by one hand or single moment, but by ancient forces that stretch back to the first breath of creation. This mythos serves as the shared root from which all Undead may trace their existence, connecting our condition to the greater histories of Belegarth while allowing countless paths to branch from its foundation. For those who seek the full telling, the Books below hold the deeper lore.

ORIGINS AT A GLANCE:

• In the beginning, there was only The Void — empty and without form.
• From beyond came Eon, who breathed the First Flame and lit the dark, allowing the Primal Gods to behold one another for the first time.
• Eon sacrificed Himself, and from His broken body, The World was formed.
• The Primal Gods created mortal races to walk the world; among them, Phobettus shaped the Hobgoblyns.
• The Void reached into Phobettus and stole his essence, creating Hod — the Mouth of the Void.
• Hod whispered to the Hobgoblyns, gifting them access to Negative Energy — the power of the Void itself.
• The Hobgoblyns, now calling themselves the Dark Elders, used this power to raise the first Undead and wage war against the living.
• In their hubris, the Dark Elders fell, shattering their Temple of Thuul and unleashing Negative Energy freely into the world.
• With Negative Energy now loose, Undeath spread: warping the dead, corrupting places heavy with death, and allowing new Undead to rise in many forms.

THE BOOK OF CREATION

1 In the Beginning, there was The Void. 2 And The Void was without form, without witness and without voice. There was no light, no death, no hunger—only the Is-Not. 3 But from The Stillness, a Wound appeared, not made nor given, but simply was. 4 And from The Wound came Eon, The First Serpent, The Encircler of All That Would Be. 5 Eon beheld the Wound and moved, and by His movement the Void was troubled, for what was there to move, before Him? 6 Eon breathed, and His breath was fire. The First Flame. 7 The First Flame lit the dark, and in that light the hidden were revealed: The Primal Gods, who had never seen before. 8 They beheld one another for the first time and Knew. And in Knowing, they suffered. 9 For now they understood the endless Hunger of the Void which surrounded them. 10 Among them stood: Melashekhaad, the Measurer of Falls; Marjack, whose eyes drowned the stars; Gruumsh, the one-eyed destroyer; Dagon, of the deeps and Phobettus, the pale shadow-walker; and others unspoken. 11 From the First Flame, they shaped mortals — fragile, fleeting, burning. 12 But these mortals could not endure the Cold of the Void. 13 Eon, seeing His brethren undone, despaired. For the Void remained ever devouring. 14 Eon sought to seal The Wound, and thus he cast Himself into its Maw to be Remade. 15 His body was torn asunder: His bones became the firmament; 16 His blood the rivers; His breath the winds; His tongue the mountains; His skin the veil between realms; His heart He buried deep, where fire forgets its name. 17 Gruumsh, angered by The First Sounds, struck the Wound, and from it rose unending flame — Eon's fire, burning still. 18 The gods called it the Sun, and none dared speak Eon's name again. 19 Thus was the world born — shaped from sacrifice, balanced between fire and void. 20 Yet the Void endured. Though wounded, it whispered still. 21 The Gods creations warred and strove; their children bled in the First Great War; and from the first deaths, the Void learned. 22 For when Eon took from the Void, the Void knew only absence—but now, it could take back. 23 It crept through cracks, roots, and caverns, speaking to the dark places of the world. 24 Phobettus, pale-limbed and shadow-bound, Father of The Hobgoblyn, withdrew from the world during The Great Wars, into the deep void. 25 There, the Void entered him and stole his essence, and from this theft, Hod was formed. 26 Thus was Hod—Mouth of the Void, Shadow of Phobettus, Voice of Unmaking—brought forth. 27 The Mouth opened, and the world would never again be free of its hunger.

THE BOOK OF THUUL

1 When the first mortals rose, they strove and fought, as their makers had before them. 2 The Great Wars tore the world, and death walked freely upon the earth. 3 Blood ran in rivers; corpses filled the fields; the Void drank deep and hungered more. 4 And Hod watched from the edges, its mouth growing wide, its voice beginning to reach. 5 The gods turned away, for they had built the world, and cared not for its peace. 6 Among the children of the Primal Gods stood the Hobben, born of Phobettus’ design. 7 They knew the dark well, for shadow was their cradle, and silence their first breath. 8 In secret, Hod reached to the Hobben, whispering with Phobettus’ stolen voice. 9 The Hobben heard, and Knew, and did not turn away. 10 They called themselves the First Chosen, and from among them rose The Dark Elders. 11 They were wise in forbidden arts, for Hod taught them what Phobettus once withheld. 12 They named the gift Negative Energy — the essence of the Void given form. 13 And with it, they raised the first of The Undead from those fallen in the Great Wars. 14 Bone walked where breath was gone; flesh moved though hearts lay still. 15 The Dark Elders waged war not with armies of the Unyielding. 16 The Kingdoms of Man fell before them, for death itself could not halt their advance. 17 In their pride, they built a great Temple — Thuul — where all knowledge was bound. 18 Within its halls, the Dalamus pulsed — a vessel to store and wield Negative Energy. 19 Maug’Aarr’Uend, the Master of the Dalamus, siphoned the spent energies into his Dalamus to fuel new war. 20 And upon the vessel, Maug’Aarr’Uend carved signs of power: the form of Eon, the Great Serpent, devouring His own tail, that life and unlife would feed one another without end. 21 But Pride breeds Rot, and from within their number came betrayal. 22 The Temple of Thuul was sundered in ruin, its conduits shattered, its halls broken and naught but a crater in the earth remained. 23 The Dark Elders, cunning and clever, escaped Death and scattered to distant lands, their power fractured but not entirely spent. 24 Yet in the ruin, the work of Hod was yet fulfilled — for now Negative Energy seeped unbound and uncontained in the Temple of Thuul. 25 The world itself drank the corruption; death-soaked places grew fertile for Undeath and propagated Negative Energy uncontrolled. 26 And Hod smiled, for its Mouth had breached the world entire. 27 Thus was the Age of Elders broken, and the Era of The Undead begun

THE BOOK OF SHADOW

1 When the Temple of Thuul was sundered, the Dark Elders called upon their most terrible magicks. 2 Nine there were, and nine were cast apart, flung upon the winds of the Nekromic Directions. 3 East, West, North, South, Above, Below, Before, Beyond, and Between — so were they scattered. 4 Centuries passed. Kingdoms rose and fell; memory faded; only whispers remained of Those Who Came Before. 5 Of the Nine, only two would reemerge to the waking world. 6 The first was Maug’Aarr’Uend, whose story is carried by The Lost. 7 The second was Tsa'ath, who beheld the shattered world and chose ambition. 8 Tsa'ath wandered the broken paths of the Undead, finding new Risen unbound to any Elder. 9 These were not called forth by Elders, nor by ritual, but by the world itself—by Death, and by Negative Energy loosed. 10 Tsa'ath beheld this truth and feared it. 11 For if Undeath could rise without him, then what was his place? 12 And so he wove a new tale. 13 “The Chain of Shadow,” he named it — an unbroken link from Void, to Hod, to Elder, to Undead. 14 He declared: “As Undead, you are bound to the Elders, and if we are severed, you cease.” 15 Many believed, for such doctrine gave comfort, and purpose, and control. 16 And thus the Deathrisen rose, by fear made doctrine. 17 Yet the world did not bend to his tale. 18 Across the realms, Undead of all kinds stirred — Revenants, Liches, Shades, Wights, all whom had never known the Elders. 19 Practitioners of lost arts; accidents of cursed ground; echoes of ancient wars. 20 Some were called forth by ritual; others simply awoke, unbidden. 21 The Negative Energy, spilled from Thuul, had made its mark upon the world entire. 22 The Undead no longer belonged to a single lineage, nor to any one master. 23 And so the Schism grew: those who clung to the Chain, and those who stood apart. 24 Proof walked among them — living contradictions who stood unbound. 25 And their presence whispered a simple truth: Undeath belongs to no throne. 26 The Void devours, Hod hungers, and the Undead endure as the Will of the Void made flesh. Unbound and unbending. 27 Thus was the Chain broken, and death now belongs only to those who surrender to it

THE BOOK OF CRYNND

1 Long before Thuul's fall, a Mountain stood as a resting place for the dead. 2 A tribe laid their lost within the stone, carving the first hollows into the mountain's face. They called the Mountain Crynnd. 3 Generations followed, and the resting place grew with each burial. 4 As the region flourished, cities rose. The mountain became the heart of a kingdom, its core layered with countless tombs. 5 The weight of centuries hollowed the mountain’s core, as pressure and time opened unseen hollows below. 6 The lower chambers fell into disuse, sinking into deeper recesses where few dared to tread. 7 After the fall of Thuul, the black flow of Negative Energy found the mountain’s roots and stirred what slept. 8 The first mouth of Crynnd opened, and the Halls began to grow. 9 The Halls of Crynnd were born, swelling downward as death and Negative Energy folded tomb upon tomb into unending hollows. 10 The breath of the Halls carried a chill into the stone, and the deep places grew restless. 11 Death fed the stone and the stone responded. 12 From these depths, the dead began to stir. 13 The things that rise from Crynnd wander as empty shells. 14 Yet deeper things crawl upward, creatures of twisted shape and unseen origin. 15 The deeper one travels, the more the world fractures. 16 Walls shift. Air thickens. Minds unravel. 17 Some who enter do not return. Some return altered. 18 The Halls hunger and they grow without pause. Each death near its mouths feeds the Halls, and its reach lengthens with every offering. 19 In the deepest coils, it opens into realms that never knew life — underworlds, void-pockets, and places beyond mortal maps. 20 The mouths of Crynnd can emerge in forgotten places, where light does not reach and death has been left to linger. 21 In graveplaces heavy with loss, the breath of Crynnd may crack the surface and spread. 22 No throne was ever carved in Crynnd. No dominion holds within its depths. 23 Few attempt to harness its depths. Fewer still survive the attempt. 24 Some bend Negative Energy to carve a path through the depths, though every command invites the Halls to claim them in return. 25 Every passage exacts a toll, each step carving something from the one who dares continue. 26 In the deepest reaches, even time loses shape, and those who linger may forget whether they ever lived. 27 The labyrinth of Crynnd coils ever deeper, traced by the remains of those swallowed.

FORMS OF UNDEATH

Though all Undead draw from the same primordial forces, the ways in which they manifest are many. Some are cursed revenants clinging to broken oaths, others are conjured by lost arts, and still more rise by accident where Negative Energy festers. This section offers examples of the many forms Undeath may take, though no single list can contain every path by which the dead may walk again.

Each form presented here stands as a branch of the greater Undead mythos, with its own members responsible for the creation, maintenance, and expansion of their respective Geddon pages, lore, and membership.

FORMS OF UNDEATH
THE BARROW-WIGHT		THE FLESH GOLEM		THE MOHRG		GHOST		VAMPYR
Restless spirits bound to ancient tombs, guarding the places where their bones remain.		Stitched from the dead by design, these powerful constructs often outlive their masters, wandering as aimless hulks after uncontrolled rage or abandonment.		Parastitic worm-creatures that animate corpses as hosts, driven by a hive-mind will to assimilate and consume across dimensions.		Lingering spirits untethered from flesh, often bound to places, memories, or unfinished emotions.		Blood-feeding Undead sustained by predation, manipulation, and the refusal to release mortal indulgence.

DEATHRISEN VARIANTS

Among the many paths Undeath has taken, the Deathrisen embody a lineage shaped by surviving fragments of Dark Elder teachings. While many forms of Undeath rise independently across the world, the Deathrisen bind their existence to the doctrines of the Chain and its rituals. This section records the manifestations of Undeath as defined within the Deathrisen tradition.

DEATHRISEN VARIANTS
THE CORPSER		THE DEATH KNIGHT		THE DRAUGR
Unstable Undead born of abysmal energies and near-impossible to control.		Undead warriors who retain martial discipline, often cursed or bound to Oaths of unending battle.		Undead born from cursed waters, drawn from drowned souls and twisted magics beyond the Material Plane.
THE LICH		THE MORRIKYN		THE REVENANT
Scholars of Death who anchor their souls to phylacteries, preserving knowledge and existence beyond mortal decay.		Ancient blood-feeding Undead with deep cultural lineages, often mistaken for vampires, but rooted in their own complex history.		Driven by rage and vengeance, these restless dead rise to complete what life left unfinished, often losing their former selves in bloodlust.
THE SKELETON		THE WRAITH		THE DARK ELDER
Undead stripped to bone through time or rot, retaining will and function long after flesh has fallen away.		Restless spirits strengthened by prolonged exposure to Negative Energy, drifting between planes and growing in power as time passes.		Original Hobgoblyns who existed at the time of the first Risen Dead.

ORDERS OF THE UNDEAD

Throughout the world, many groups, units, and orders have risen under the mantle of Undeath. Some trace their roots to ancient doctrines, others were born entirely independent. While each holds its own customs, beliefs, and purposes, all exist within the greater mythos that binds Undeath to the world. Each order governs its own membership, lore, and structure. This section serves as a record of those who walk the path of the Undead.

UNITS	Est.		HOUSES	Est.
THE LOST	Dead of Winter, 2016		HOUSE CRYPT	2025
An Undead Unit bound not by destination, but by the shared Hunger to rise, improve, and endure through every trial set before them.			An open hall for the Undead, offering sanctuary, lore, and community without binding allegiance or combat ties.
Unclaimed			Unclaimed

ACCORD OF THE DEAD

This page serves as a shared foundation for Undead world building within Belegarth. It offers scaffolding drawn from the existing mythos of the game, connecting Undead lore to the Void, Eon, the Primal Gods, and the emergence of Negative Energy, while leaving full creative control in the hands of each unit, race, or player. The Codex does not function as a rulebook or authority but as a worldbuilding resource, giving Undead groups a way to tie into the greater setting while preserving their own stories, origins, and interpretations. Disagreements or variations in lore remain player-level discussions rather than "lore mechanics", ensuring the freedom to build while maintaining a shared narrative language.

"The Undead" is maintained by its contributors as a living document, not as the property of any single group.