Organizations · Mystical · Country/ State
The Black Legions of Delegroth
These necromancers are maintanied by the warlord-king of Delegroth, in order to augment his armies and decimate his foes.
Some time ago, the King of Delegroth decided that he needed to expand his small nation - and to do it, he would use war. But, as small nations on the borders of large ones swiftly discover, the simple manpower available a populous nation makes war difficult. And pacing his chambers, he swore and paced, and banged his fist upon his desk, shouting, 'If only my dead soldiers could fight!' And as his General looked upon him in horror, the King smiled wolfishly, realizing that he had hit upon his solution.
And his call went out, dipping into what remained of his treasury to hire them - The heart of his Black Legions. Dressing them in a uniform consisting of black robes and a blood red sash, he made one of them a General, and proceeded to create his tactics.
Together with the main army they strike, the main army creating bodies for them in a preliminary skirmish, and perhaps such tactics as poisoning the wells of villages. In the night, then, the Black Legion's Necromancers go out, and they reanimate the dead.
The zombies they create are simple, the ritual and incantations easy and fast, the end product being able to do little more than march in formation... and kill the living. And kill the living they do, with great effeciency, forming the shock troops and front lines, ignoring horrible injuries, and even decapitation as they perform their slaughter. To slay one, one must do so much damage that the body can no longer use its muscles to move itself. And worse, as they slaughter, the Necromancers walk behind them, the fallen arising to join their slaves in battle.
The king, now fancying himself Emperor, provides for the training and salaries of his Necromancers, keeping them fat, happy, and disciplines, for he knows full well how horrible a rebellion of the undead could turn out. More, he uses them in peace-time as well, graveyards emptying out to build entire cities for him. The populace has learned an uneasy tolerace for the undead, fearing them, but incidents have been minor... so far.
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Undead economy anyone?
How did people originally see this order? How do you think they are responding now, that their country is greater, their cities are bigger, and some undead labor is helping with harvests!
The King is not an Evil man. He is just an amoral and practical one. This makes him a GREAT VILLIAN! This order is filled with somewhat Evil necromancers, who are actually slowly becoming good (as they are doing this for the greater good of their country).
Of course there also the opportunity for the Kingdom to truely become evil. The necromancers have the ear, and in a way the fear, of the king with their undead legions. A small request there, a little favor here, and soon the Black Legion has become as powerful as the Praetorian Guard of the Roman Empire. Nice.
This could be a great kingdom next door. Those little guys you keep ignoring while you deal with the big apparent threat next door. Then out of no where this will occur! BAM! Armies of undead!
Nice campaign addition.
It is well written but has been seen before in a 1000 incarnations. This is the basic use of undead. But, nevertheless, it is an excellently fleshed out and written post so I won't go beneath 3 for the lack of originality. Besides, who knows, perhaps it will help fledgling GMs.
My main problem is this that if the king could just recruit units of necromancers, so could, and would, other kingdoms. Its good for short term shock value, but just as gas warfare was a shock at the start, soon everyone would have undead corps.