Skeletons
From World of Gothic
Skeletons are undead beings, brought back to life through the art of necromancy. They have been buried in the ground or lying on it long enough for the flesh to rot away and their equipment decay, leaving only a skeleton with sorry remains of his equipment only.
The skeletons are more intelligent servants than zombies and are able to use a variety fo weapons, ranging from swords and shields through bows to two-handers. Despite their fragile appearance, they are exceptionally strong, as the animating magic replaces muscle tissue and each hit from them is highly damaging, more so when the skeleton is using two handed weapons. They are also completely immune to projectile weapons (unless you can separate their head from the body with an arrow, an impossible thing).
Generally, following their reanimation, skeletons automatically assume whatever roles they performed while still alive - a dead scout becomes a scout, a warrior becomes a warrior and so forth. They also retain their hierarchy, enforced even more so by their state.
The ranks of the skeletons are divided by their power and function:
- Lesser skeletons are basic cannon fodder. They aren't very powerful or smart. They don't wear any armour at all and are equipped with rusty one handed weapons. However, they are a threat if somebody underestimates them.
- Skeletons are the most commonplace variant, who continue to perform their functions. They are subdivided into three groups:
- Skeleton warriors, who are undead swordsmen that wear remnants of their armor and carry rusty, but still immensely powerful swords to battle
- Skeleton scouts, who wear the remains of their mixed chain mail and leather armor and use simple one handed weapons, basing more on speed rather than raw power.
- Other types, which are named generic skeletons.
- Skeleton mages are undead mages, who were reanimated and retained much of their power. They are among the most dangerous foes, having access to a variety of spells and being highly agile, due to them hovering above the ground. They are easily recognizable by their decayed hooded robes and glowing red eyesockets.
- Shadow warriors are the elite of the undead army, corrupted men who discarded their flesh in favor of a skeleton body encased within a knight's armor. They are second only to Shadowlords in their power.
- Shadowlords are the ultimate undead. Generals, great warriors or devoted paladins who have been corrupted by Beliar become them and lead the armies of darkness. They are few and far in between, but each of them is a threat NOT to be taken lightly.
Apart from these classes, ancients of Varant that have become undead were divided into their own classes:
- Ancient swordsman and ancient bowman were skeletons who were basic footmen of the the undead ancients. They wore no armour, but used a variety of melee weaponry (mostly one handers) and bows to a devastating effect.
- High priests of the undead led the legions of the dead. They were priests of Adanos who have turned away from him following their demise in his temples as the flood destroyed their civilization.