The Living Dead By Tony Kenealy For generations, stories of ghosts, vampires and zombies have adorned late night tales, crafted to scare the young of Genayria and amuse the elders. Tales of creatures of the night; of bats that scour the land looking for prey; of undead zombies with rotting flesh, that stagger and lurch across the lands, leaving trails of putrid stench behind them. Only tales they say, but where there is smoke there can also be fire. Before the Drought Wars, Vampires roamed the lands, harvesting the blood of anyone they could find. Keeping to the darkness, wary of confrontation that would expose their existence, and favouring solitary prey to sate their thirst. A nomadic race of beings, their numbers were never truly known. As the Drought Wars raged and the battles continued, solitary prey was hard to come by, and the Vampires were getting desperate. In an effort to survive, Vampire Lords, aged Vampires who could exert their will upon the undead as well as lesser Vampires, grew legions of followers, solely to do their bidding. Vampire Clans arose and started attacking unsuspecting homesteads. As their power grew, larger targets were attacked, villages and towns massacred, the residents turned into bloodless husks or into legions of undead left to search for other victims. No race was left untouched, as Dwarves, Elves and Men were attacked without discrimination. The Elves, purest of the races, were usually taken for food, as turning the pure at heart into mindless zombies was a difficult task. Zombies and Vampires did not make up these legions alone. Wights, mighty warriors in life and now mighty warriors in death, were often seen riding Zombie Dragons, as they are the only ones with the strength of will to control these huge beasts. When the sound of a Zombie Dragon is heard across a battlefield, many a sane man would run and hide rather than face this awesome power. Shrills, powerful spirits unable to take corporeal form, also accompany the legions, often leading units of Zombies or Skeletons as they lurch and stumble across the battlefield. Skeletal warriors, long dead and buried creatures, form huge battalions in the undead legions. No flesh is seen on these gruesome warriors, it being long since decayed and rotted away in the generations since their mortal life was taken from them. Some carried huge scythes, creating the terrifying image of Death himself from the legends of old. Skeletal archers take their toll on the enemy, many falling foul of the rain of arrows that descend upon them. Weaponless Ghosts swirl around the battlefield, killing with a terrifying grip that is enough to freeze a living soul, causing as much destruction as a well-placed blade. i-Kore model painted by Christian Weiss Many a tale has been told of great armies of Men, Elves and Dwarfs that have been routed and destroyed by hordes of the undead. The greatest tale concerns the destruction of the Regency Shire of Oxland. An undead horde, controlled by a Vampire Lord called Melkorar, swept down out of the Glass Mountains where they had been preying on the outlying Regency Shires for generations. At this time, the Regency Shires surrounding Oxland were at war with a Chaos horde that had emerged from the Blighted Wastelands. Even though the Oxland army was preparing for their part in the battle, they were not ready for this unexpected attack. Caught by surprise, the devastation was horrific. The horde swept through the outlying farmland with little resistance and descended upon Oxton, the capital city. The residents did not stand a chance. Death Riders swept through the streets, cutting down anyone who got in their way; Dogs of Doom bayed at their feet, ripping apart any flesh they could get their teeth into. Craven Ghouls, devouring the flesh of the fallen in a cannabalistic frenzy, crawled through the city streets, crazed by the abundance of human flesh. From that moment, Oxland and the city of Oxton were lost forever. Melkorar's horde turned the region into a wasteland of death, forever a reminder to the Regency of the shire they had lost. A fact horrifically confirmed, when undead raiders would attack wearing the armour of Oxland over rotting flesh. It is not the Vampire Lords alone who control the undead hordes. In a land littered with battlefields, where thousands have fallen prey to sword or spear, corpses lie rotting, either buried with full honour or left to decay where they fell. These battlefields are a source for Necromancers who dabble in dark magic, for throughout the centuries, Necromancers have raised undead armies to do their bidding. One such Necromancer was Belligant, a once powerful Wizard who was banished by his former Regency Lord Algeron for the death of his son, Brin. Belligant, protesting his innocence, swore revenge and began delving into dark magic to attain that end. Belligant became stronger and stronger, as the deeper he delved into the tomes of necromancy. He scoured the battlefields of Genayria, raising the dead, and then molded them into a terrifying army. As he grew more powerful his body grew twisted, all pretence of human form, now long disappeared. He became a towering demon of the night, standing over 12 feet tall. He became known as Hakash, The Lord of Undeath. With revenge ever in his mind, Hakash took someone from his past life as his slave, Brin, Lord Algeron's son. It was this one vengeful act that achieved his goal. Lord Algeron, when confronted by the Zombie of his beloved son, turned insane, slaughtering all around him before turning a blade upon himself. With a huge army to fight his battles for him, Hakash is rarely seen openly on the battlefield, but when he is, that sight has caused many an enemy to flee, crazed and terrified from his presence. He wields a mighty sword that can cleave a man in two with a single blow. Over the years, many armies of Living Dead have been seen as the lure of dark magic becomes too strong and many Wizards turn to necromancy. With Vampires and Necromancers each controlling the dead, there is no rest for the brave souls of Genayria. They give their life in battle, only to be brought back to fight and die, over and over again. The eternal battleground of Genayria is, for many, just that - an eternity. The Dark Aspect