THE VIRAL UNDEAD
Imperial Viral Mage Beezer Year 10 YI (Year of the Imperium)
Warning: there may be spoilers in this section, especially for Book 1
The undead have existed for over a thousand years, moulded in death and misery, clouded with dark magic. Conceived during plague outbreaks they have earned the name Plagueborn, which has become a byword for evil among the living. For many of the living, they are the harbingers of death and destruction, mysterious dark creatures to be feared and loathed, but the truth couldn’t be more different. Well, at least for most of them.
Rasnal Nalrost
There was a time when the name, Rasnal Nalrost, was whispered in both reverence and dread. Driven by insane ambition, somewhere around 100BI (before the imperium), although there is some scholarly dispute over this date, this ancient spectral mage delved into darker magic seeking ever greater power. He began to experiment and eventually this led to him experimenting on people. He managed to created a number of horrific results, leading to his eventual goal, to create an army of the undead in 79 BI.
During this time, at some point he touched the Spectrum of Existence itself with his power, opening a window into other realms. So infatuated with his own power had he become, he thought to steal the magic of the angels themselves. His plans culminated in a dangerous spell in 79BI, which resulted in the plagues. These would ravage the world for another thousand years, claiming millions of lives and resulting in the viral undead. (More on the plagues in the Archive under Magic)
His lover, Astra Dar, a sorceress of immense power, said by some to rival Nalrost and by others to have surpassed him, decided to get in his way. Nalrost, who had been usurped by Tartaros and having formed a connection with two unusual shraeds, had become estranged from Astra. Secretly, she worked to undermine him, culminating in her attempt to thwart him by obtaining the Aura Crystal, an ancient angelic artefact. She failed in this bid, the artefact taken by the twin shraeds. Still, she worked a spell to thwart Nalrost’s own, though it cost both her life and her son’s. Though people died in their millions, Nalrost’s spell was turned against him in dramatic fashion, forever changing him.
Even when his spell went wrong, the undead were still created. Just not as he’d intended; their unlife aside, the undead proved to be like everyone else with hopes and dreams, desires, and ambitions. His dreaded army never materialised, but instead a new hope for the world emerged. That hope was the viral undead.
Despite this, however, the undead became the subject of much persecution as the centuries passed, despite often proving invaluable allies to the living. This had a lot to do with the designs of dark and nefarious powers operating in the shadows, waiting for the opportune time to strike.
Appearance
Most virals looked human and some, without too close an inspection, might have seemed alive. In fact, there were a rare few who could mimic life while concealing their true nature from the living, or breathers as they preferred to call them. The vast majority, however, could not do this, and as they grew older, they decayed faster. Those who were many centuries old began to lose parts of their bodies as rot and decay took a greater hold. However, the magic that birthed them via the plagues, maintained them, and such old ones persisted, often finding ways to compensate.
Most current imperial scholars speculate that the viral undead were likely meant to survive for a few hundred years at most, their numbers constantly replenished by recurrent plagues. However, with Nalrost’s spell having gone awry, it is impossible to know, and certain virals have lasted almost a thousand years or more.
Virals like Threadfin Todder, who was only twenty-six years old in the year 923YC, had some decay but was able to control it using natron baths, among other methods, to rid himself of maggots and to keep the rot at bay. Younger virals such as Tezcat Licolo, who was technically in her late teens in 923YC, looked much healthier, though she did have a grey-green tinge to her skin and lifeless hair.
Generally, the older the viral, the more desiccated and decrepit they often appeared, where magic was not used to hide it. After the return of the viral horde to the world in mid 924YC, Viral Mage Beezer sported a caved in section of his face. When this damage occurred is unknown.
Aiyana Todralan
Aiyana Todralan was only a few years older than her brother Threadfin. While she had the ability to hide her true nature behind a magical façade, a rare gift, when she did display her true face the damage always seemed more extensive. It is likely that this was a price paid for the amount of magic she had used since her early childhood in maintaining that façade. There is some evidence that links viralic magic use to a more rapid decay in virals.
As a sidenote, Threadfin Todder managed to buck the trend on this one as he did on many other things. The more he used his magic, the more he also changed but in different ways. His appearance became more draconic with scaly skin and horns, and if anything decay was less of a problem for him as time passed. This however, may have been due to a stronger connection he had with his magic – also known as a Watcher. However, it is impossible to say for certain.
Aiyana also had her own unusual secret. While yet a child, the mage Beezer reached across time from two hundred years before Aiyana’s birth, and somehow made a connection with her. Likely, he did not know who he would find, and perhaps finding her was accidental, but more likely, something or someone guided his efforts. With that undead child, he made a pact, and during the purges sent the souls of thousands of undead across time, to bond with her. Connected to her soul, they guided and guarded her for much of her early existence, until the time came for their release. She sometimes saw them as Watchers in draconic form while dreaming. Now and again, Aiyana used her gift to mimic life, and was able to give temporary form to a soul, such as Tezcat Licolo for instance. That soul could then appear wherever it wished. In this way, Aiyana was able to send Tezcat to watch over her brother when he was in exile. It is also worth noting that Aiyana was able to connect with her grandfather’s soul, which suggests it was not only the souls of those virals during the purges she carried, but every viral in history who had died. A heavy burden, indeed.
Types of undead
Virals – although all undead are technically called virals, this name is more commonly used in reference to more human-like undead such as Threadfin Todder, Beezer, and Tezcat Licolo. For most of his life, Threadfin wasn’t even aware there were other virals for since the purges, his kind had become rare. Those that had survived remained hidden from the living.
Ghouls – these were designed by Nalrost to spread the plagues so more undead could be born. They eventually ceased to exist on Threadfin’s world, except for rare occasional visits when their powers were triggered. They could be found mostly in the Styx or the Grimstyx as it came to be known. Considered mindless beings, they had human-like faces, with claws, and sometimes even horns.
They often moved on four feet instead of two, but were capable of both. Ghouls also had a unique ability to transition between the mortal world and the Styx where the Grim resided. If someone wishing to enter or leave that place, accessed the pressure points behind the ghoul’s eyes, the creature would take them there. This unusual ability may have been inbuilt in them by Nalrost in the event of things going wrong. Which they invariably did.
Giant Serpents – Threadfin Todder encountered giant snake-like creatures that could produce and retract legs at will while in a memory fragment created by Manic and Mani. While there is no known name for them, they are generally accepted as being viralic in nature though it was Roper who made this claim. Roper also claimed they were experiments, of which there had been many, of Rasnal Nalrost’s. There may be an untold number of such experiments lost to innumerable memory fragments. No one knows.
Undead dragons – while technically not virals in and of themselves, Threadfin Todder — and at a later point it is discovered other virals can do this too — can transform into an undead dragon. This is as a direct result of the true nature of the magic he uses.
Vampires – another of Nalrost’s experiments gone wrong, vampires were created in the imitation of vanths, a Rift of the Fallen Ones. However, they proved too violent and dangerous, and when they turned on their master, Nalrost and the angels worked together to imprison them for all time. Unfortunately, for all time, proved not long enough.
Zombies – these latter do not exist in Threadfin Todder’s time, but they used to long ago. Many spectral mages experimented with magic, none more so than Rasnal Nalrost. Some mages delved into necromancy, and zombies were the result. In the end, they were all destroyed, as the mages found them more trouble than they were worth. It wouldn’t be until Nalrost’s infamous spell that the true undead would be created.
Other Interesting Facts about the undead
Virals often eat seafood, usually seaweed or some form of molluscs, though they would also eat fish. It is unknown why, though some imperial paytors in later centuries did speculate on the reasons. There may have been other types of food preffered by some virals too. It is believed by some that something in seafood gave virals an extra vitality. The fact they needed to eat at all was seen as odd, with some speculating it was more of a craving than a necessity. It is unlikely one of the undead could starve to death. Whatever the reason, adult virals didn’t feel the need to eat as often as younger ones.
Threadfin Todder, for example, often ate guck, a concoction of ground up kale and ground fish. However, later he underwent a physical change due to issues with his magic, and he began to desire raw meat, the bloodier the better. Like he later admitted himself, it did nothing for the reputation of the undead among breathers. Apart from vampires, this was not a common trait among his kind.
Reproduction
Generally, virals are sterile and do not produce offspring. New viral births would occur in living women after a plague epidemic, resulting in a very difficult pregnancy, and always ending in a stillbirth. However the infant, often minutes or sometimes hours later, would become animate and a viral was born. Some that had been buried quickly would eventually crawl out of the ground. There is, however, one known incidence of a viral actually fathering children.
Both Threadfin Todder’s sister and grandfather shared an extremely rare ability in that they could imitate life. Threadfin’s grandfather, Olen Quintus could create life in his own body to the point of having a beating heart and pumping blood. It is known that he had taken cuts and bled. It is likely this effort took a lot of magical use on his part as it had to be constantly maintained.
His viralic face was said to be hideous to behold, and those few who knew his true nature, rarely got to see it. In the same way he could mimic life in his body, he could do the same in the womb of his wife. Despite his nature, his children were not born undead, which has baffled scholars ever since it became common knowledge. His daughter in law, Mayala Lyn Todralan, caught the plague in the borderlands of the imperium in 895YC. She was heavily pregnant with Aiyana at the time, having one other daughter Sarscha who was aged seven. She then gave birth to Threadfin two years later, dying in childbirth. Both children were born undead.
Magic
The magic of the undead is of a dark sort, generally considered to be viralic in nature, and a product of the Darkness, also known as Tartaros. Despite this, many virals ended up using their magic for good, some becoming healers, others like Threadfin Todder trying to save the world from annihilation. In the end, the magic itself was never the problem; whether used for good or evil always depended on the heart of the user. Still, magic could and did corrupt, but this usually meant the one being corrupted was weak, and may already have been on their way down a dark path.
An unusual talent
Though most virals had fun magical talents such as Tezcat Licolo’s ability to raise dead things to terrorize breathers, Threadfin saw things in reflections. His own reflection was missing, but he often saw strange and sometimes horrific events in puddles, metal, or any surface that could cast a reflection. He did learn to use this gift to his advantage eventually as he became a much more powerful mage. This was not usual and in fact, the only known case among virals.
He also saw his magic in the form of a dragon, though at the time he had no name for such a creature as they were unheard of. Instead, he called it the Watcher, the creature apparently feeding him this information. He would later realise that these Watchers were present in most viral undead. Threadfin often felt like his magic was trying to devour him, and in fact, it was. It sought freedom and control, and above all else, to kill.
The Purges
The undead were not often loved by the living. Despite this, they had managed to live side by side for centuries. Until the year 702YC that was. It was then that the twin soul fragments, Antipa Todralan and Rade Wyn, set in motion a terrible event. The living were forced to turn on the undead, and war broke out. The undead formed into the first clots or groups as they fought to stave off destruction.
It would end in the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of virals throughout the world as the purges spread across continents. Many of the living would also be caught up in the purges during this time, denounced as virals and executed.
Though virals are often maligned and misunderstood, hated and even feared, their presence in the world was vital as the forces of Tartaros mobilised against existence itself.
“Breathers may have built this world, but it is the undead who defend it.”