GRAVEBORN
Main trait: Cautious
Common Element: Water, Earth, Darkness, Spirit
Life span: 200-300 years
Average Height: 6-7 ft
Average Weight: 100-200 lbs
Graveborn have escaped death, given another few centuries of life to escape their fate. Once a member of a cursed race dies its corpse may become a graveborn. Some speculate that this is because the soul has not finished its life. Others say that it is a random occurrence. Characters who study graveborn assume that their origins have something to do with unbridled control of Durock. Graveborn have an unnerving presence about them that is as much a result of their cold flesh as their detached cunning and determination. They have a supernatural way with words and often get what they want, but, even so, they fear for their lives since once they only just escaped death. Above all else, graveborn fear the inevitable coming of the grim reapers servants to claim their wayward souls and deliver them to their unknown fate.
Haunted continually by the whispers of those who died and were buried in their vicinity, some graveborn seek to escape the voices by venturing into the wilds as barbarians. Others try to drown them out with arcane music or the more preferable, though demanding, voice of a warlock patron. Since they harbor no memories of their former lives and find it difficult to retain even recent memories graveborn are often distant and unapproachable, even to those who have known them for decades. These whispers are totally insane and provide no valuable advice. They are heard only by the graveborn and are a byproduct of them having escaped death.
Graveborn are usually similar in appearance to a muscular human zombie. Their skin is almost always rotted. They are unnaturally gaunt and underweight, giving the impression of a withered or decaying corpse that shouldn't naturally be able to move. Though they have no need for sustenance, food allows their undead form to change in an imperfect semblance of life. By eating, a graveborn removes particularly noticeable dead flesh, such as dead flaps of skin cut by a sword that are hanging from the graveborn's bones or things such as fungus, and re-knits them into their original form. While they do not reek of decay, as many undead are said to, graveborn always smell somewhat stale. Even so they often wear concealing clothing such as cloaks and hooded robes, and it is not difficult to mistake one for a living person under the right disguise.
Graveborn attempt to blend in with society. As such, they take up names common to their surroundings. The ultimate goal of any graveborn is to avoid what she once escaped; death and the clutches of the Grim Reaper, Durock. Many times this means diplomatic and confrontational encounters with undead monsters. Because of this, the undead have become something of the arch nemesis for graveborn. They seek the power to defeat those who would threaten their survival. They occasionally enter into an alliance of convenience with other adventurers when they cannot accomplish their goals alone, finding grudging acceptance among those who do not fit in with accepted society. Sometimes graveborn find their cold hearts warmed by their living comrades and grow more willing to accept death, whenever it should finally come for them.
Main trait: Cautious
Common Element: Water, Earth, Darkness, Spirit
Life span: 200-300 years
Average Height: 6-7 ft
Average Weight: 100-200 lbs
Graveborn have escaped death, given another few centuries of life to escape their fate. Once a member of a cursed race dies its corpse may become a graveborn. Some speculate that this is because the soul has not finished its life. Others say that it is a random occurrence. Characters who study graveborn assume that their origins have something to do with unbridled control of Durock. Graveborn have an unnerving presence about them that is as much a result of their cold flesh as their detached cunning and determination. They have a supernatural way with words and often get what they want, but, even so, they fear for their lives since once they only just escaped death. Above all else, graveborn fear the inevitable coming of the grim reapers servants to claim their wayward souls and deliver them to their unknown fate.
Haunted continually by the whispers of those who died and were buried in their vicinity, some graveborn seek to escape the voices by venturing into the wilds as barbarians. Others try to drown them out with arcane music or the more preferable, though demanding, voice of a warlock patron. Since they harbor no memories of their former lives and find it difficult to retain even recent memories graveborn are often distant and unapproachable, even to those who have known them for decades. These whispers are totally insane and provide no valuable advice. They are heard only by the graveborn and are a byproduct of them having escaped death.
Graveborn are usually similar in appearance to a muscular human zombie. Their skin is almost always rotted. They are unnaturally gaunt and underweight, giving the impression of a withered or decaying corpse that shouldn't naturally be able to move. Though they have no need for sustenance, food allows their undead form to change in an imperfect semblance of life. By eating, a graveborn removes particularly noticeable dead flesh, such as dead flaps of skin cut by a sword that are hanging from the graveborn's bones or things such as fungus, and re-knits them into their original form. While they do not reek of decay, as many undead are said to, graveborn always smell somewhat stale. Even so they often wear concealing clothing such as cloaks and hooded robes, and it is not difficult to mistake one for a living person under the right disguise.
Graveborn attempt to blend in with society. As such, they take up names common to their surroundings. The ultimate goal of any graveborn is to avoid what she once escaped; death and the clutches of the Grim Reaper, Durock. Many times this means diplomatic and confrontational encounters with undead monsters. Because of this, the undead have become something of the arch nemesis for graveborn. They seek the power to defeat those who would threaten their survival. They occasionally enter into an alliance of convenience with other adventurers when they cannot accomplish their goals alone, finding grudging acceptance among those who do not fit in with accepted society. Sometimes graveborn find their cold hearts warmed by their living comrades and grow more willing to accept death, whenever it should finally come for them.
