Undead

Titan - Lord Bane

Click Lord Bane to hear him speak

Lord Bane is one of the Four Horsemen, who entered the Realms of Etheria during The Sundering in year 1032 HET. This cataclysmic event was the result of a Dark Elven summoning spell gone horribly awry. It killed the Dark Elven King, Mordaine the Kinslayer, and in the process tore apart the Isle of Mordanion, so that henceforth it became known as The Sundered Isle. Lord Bane quickly fled north, to the icy wastelands of the Northern Tundra which soon came to be known as the Realms of Death. Here, he discovered the secrets of bringing the dead back to life, and also after many foul experiements, he learnt how to transform them into new, more powerful creatures. No way has ever been found to permanently kill Lord Bane. In his immortal words to Lord Albion, Knight of Siria, just before he was struck down with the Dragonstone... "You can't kill Death"

Race

Granted, if you are confronted by some shambling horror, the correct course of action is to pound it to pieces, rather than attempting a close personal enquiry as to its motives. But the question must be asked. Why would you endure existence as a Zombie, with all the bother attendant upon having your head fall off all the time? Why be a skeleton, puny, smelly and not even all that terrifying? Even life as a Vampire, pretty much the top of the Undead tree has decided limitations, quite apart from the outrageous accent that you are forced to adopt.

Well, dedicated philosophers have made enquiries, and the results are truly startling. It seems that the ranks of the Undead are filled from those mortals who never achieved closure or managed to get the last word in any discussion or debate, and were left with an immense feeling of unfinished business. This feeling was so strong that they would endure the life of the living dead, just on the off chance that they finally got say their piece.

So strange as it may seem, the Undead are recruited solely from unhappily married couples! No wonder the Undead rank even lower than the Barbarians on the social desirability index. However, the anger of the Undead, properly directed on the battlefield, can be an awesome power.

Pros: Very flexible, suited to finesse plays, high level Heroes who summon can be deadly

Cons: Insatiable appetite for resources, require high micromanagement to get results, no healing even for the Hero

To taunt an Undead: Reminisce about your bachelor days

To make friends with an Undead: Tell them you never really liked their spouse

Motto: If you don’t know what’s wrong, then there’s no point in talking about it.

Zombies:

You can say what you like about the Undead Masters. Actually, you can’t, because they’ll send their minions around to burn your house down. But even they would have to agree that whoever created the Zombie had a sense of humor. The way their heads keep falling of is hilarious, unless, of course, you are the poor soul perpetually entombed in the rotting Zombie flesh. Zombies are the Undead builder units, who when not playing headball can also scavenge resources from bodies and debris (so long as Feast of Garok has been researched).

Skeletons:

The Undead Skeletons fit in perfectly with the prevailing archetype of skeletons as the perpetual Level One Monster. So weedy that first level Halfling Thieves can still kill ten with one blow. Skeletons have two useful attributes. One is a very high resistance to Piercing damage, making them useful against some Towers. The other is the ability to morph into a much more capable unit.

Wights:

Pay a small fortune in Metal, (and get used to the feeling) and your Skeleton turns instantly into a Wight. Wights are essentially the basic Infantry type for the Undead. They have lots of HPs, and reasonable armor, but are slow and their attack is a trifle anemic (all Undead units have trouble keeping their iron levels high). For a further cost in Metal, a Wight can morph into a Slayer Knight, or by paying Crystal and a Wight can be turned into a Liche.

Slayer Knight:

A Slayer knight is mostly a huge improvement on a Wight. Substantial HPs, and excellent armor but paid for by embarrassingly low speed. Slayer Knights move slower than a husband putting out the garbage for the 2000th time, and this lack of speed really does become a factor on the battlefield.

Liche:

A Liche is made by paying Crystal and morphing a Wight. A Liche is a handy missile unit, and follows the typical Undead pattern of low combat, low speed, high HP, high damage, and good armor except for a vulnerability to crushing. Liches are quite intellectual as far as Undead go, and have rediscovered the concept of clothing. Even so, the arrival of a bunch of black robed Liches will severely test the dictum that black is always fashionable. Liche damage and range can both be improved at the Dark Library.

Doom Knight:

A Doom Knight is created by morphing a Slayer Knight, paying more Metal for the privilege. The Doom Knight is a powerful attacking package, causing Chaos, and hitting both air and ground opponents for large amounts of damage. It has very tough armor, but depressingly slow speed.

Wraith:

Pay a small fortune in Crystal and your Skeleton turns into a Wraith. Wraiths are floaters, slinking their not quite corporeal forms over the landscape, and capable of attacking both ground and air units. Wraiths have similar combat qualities to Wights, low attack strengths but lots of HP and decent armor. Wraiths can drain XPs from their victims. Wraiths can also be morphed into Shadows.

Shadows:

A Shadow is either ‘the dark figure cast upon a surface by a body intercepting the rays from a source of light’ or an improved Wraith. Some of the improvements are substantial, like the increases in HPs and Damage, some are miniscule like those to Combat and Speed. Perhaps the first Undead was some kid who tragically tripped while running with scissors, because no Undead units get to even break into a trot. Your Undead armies may be advancing to certain doom against powers too strong even for their arcane energies, but at least they’ll get there safely.

Bone Catapult:

You guessed it, the Bone Catapult is slow. It seems to derive its motive power from the spirits of snails who died of sickle cell anemia. But it has a range of 12, which should outrange all basic towers, and an outranged tower is a dead tower. Relatively cheap to produce, the Bone Catapult does Splash damage as a bonus.

Vampire:

The Vampire is the Undead General, and apart from a distressing vulnerability to Piercing weapons, is a useful unit, although the ability to Summon Bats is of limited utility. The Bats are improved by the Vampire Bats ability, which lets them drain HPs. Unfortunately, the Vampire is somewhat short in stature, and is unable to reach the necks of any flying units. Unsurprisingly, Vampires cause Fear, and drain HPs from their victims, and so can give quite a good account of themselves in a stand up fight with other infantry.

Bats and Harpies:

The Undead deploy Bats and Harpies as standard flying units, and they operate in a standard fashion, apart from the Vampire Bats ability to get 1 HP back for every 3 points of damage that they cause to other units. Unfortunately for the Bats, they don’t have many HPs to start with, and can still be killed outright by a single attack from powerful units.

DragonLiche:

As befits a unique side, the Undead get a unique Dragon, the Dragonliche. The Dragonliche can haul its bony body around the battlefield a reasonable, though not breathtaking, speed. The attack range for its fiery breath is four rather than the Dragon standard of two, and that little bit of extra standoff is always welcome. Otherwise, it is close in ability to a standard Dragon, and just as welcome as an addition to your army.

Lord Bane:

Touring the battlefield in a very smart Bone Chariot pulled by two perfectly matched undead horses, Lord Bane epitomizes the power and majesty of a Titan. Dressed in Imperial purple, Lord bane emphasizes his authority with death dealing fireballs, and harnesses infernal energies to ward himself strongly against all types of attack. Once Lord Bane arrives at a battle, causing Terror, then the best plan is to suddenly be somewhere else.