The Vrak

 Welcome to my 20th blog post.  The Vrak are the final major playable race in Gal Hadre, but also the one with the lowest population.  Along with the Peshtar, they are less directly influenced by classic fantasy races than the other major playable races.

The Vrak are undead, created in a way that few understand beyond the most basic terms.  A small percentage of bodies re-animate shortly after death, with wounds sealing in horrifically scarred ways.  This re-animation can happen anywhere from moments after death up to a day, though the majority happen between 5 and 90 minutes after death.  Cause of death seems to have no impact on the chance.  Large numbers of deaths in a short period of time seem to increase the chances.  Most large battles will see at least 1 Vrak be created.  Overall the odds of creation seem to be somewhere between 1/1000 and 1/20,000.  Some claim magical talent improves one's chances of becoming Vrak.  There appears to be no way to directly influence who becomes Vrak.

 

 

Any sentient race appears to be able to become a Vrak, though they retain little to no memory of their past life initially.  However in some cases they eventually gain at least some of their old memories and skills.  All Vrak immediately gain an innate connection to the draconic path of death, and manifest the ability to channel death magics; some go on to developing extremely powerful abilities in this area, others never attempt to increase their knowledge.  Their skin changes colour over a few days to various unnatural shades, generally greys.  Without the use of significant cosmetics, Vrak cannot hide their nature from others.  They often have clothes with hoods to attempt to keep a low profile when possible.  Vrak voices don’t change significantly, nor do they give off any odor of decay.

Vrak don’t appear to age or die of old age, though given how violent the lives they tend to live are, there isn’t a significant sample size of long lived Vrak to verify any theories of what happens to elderly Vrak.  A few powerful dragonblooded appear interested in learning more, hoping to present a new, powerful source of servants to their draconic masters.  It is best not to think about what methods they consider acceptable to cause Vrak to be created.

 

 

Vrak have no homeland, and no government or central ruling body.  They are rarely found in any significant numbers, generally living solitary or otherwise isolated life in a small group.  Many of them find as isolated a place as possible to avoid those who dislike or fear Vrak.  Any attempts to form any sizable community of Vrak eventually draws the attention of those who hate them; who inevitably have far more warriors than the Vrak.

While most people don’t care one way or the other about Vrak, those who dislike them hate them with a burning passion.  The most organized and hate-filled are the Children of Life, an anti-undead quasi-religious order.  Unfortunately many circles of the Children of Life, chase after low hanging fruit of harassing and killing Vrak rather than actually dangerous or threatening undead.  The Children of Life operate in five person teams called circles, that are a mix of warriors and mages, this gives them the skills to fight any type of undead and easily overpower any individual one that isn’t a lich or elder vampire.  In theory a circle can be a great ally against any kind of undead threat, but the aura of self righteousness they give off and their willingness to let terrible people join as long as they hate undead cause more problems than solutions the majority of the time.

 

 

Vrak that live more than a couple of years tend to make themselves important to someone that has enough power to keep the Children of Life at bay.  Inevitably the Children of Life track down rumours of hermits or isolated communities that match Vrak traits and without allies, a circle can kill them without notice.  Unfortunately, due to their limited numbers and the relatively effective efforts of the children of life to hunt them down, there really aren’t older Vrak around to guide most of the newly created ones.

Ironically, despite the Children of Life’s propaganda, the only reason many Vrak become servants of the neverborn is being chased there by hatred.  There is nothing innately part of becoming a Vrak that makes them more susceptible to the whispers of the neverborn.  But when you spend your entire life hunted just for existing, the offers of dragon cultists become mighty enticing.  Power and revenge are easy ways to buy the loyalty of the oppressed.  Dragonblooded Vrak are the most common by percentage of their kind, but in raw numbers it is still small.

 

 

Many theories exist as to exactly how or why Vrak are created.  The children of life claim that they have sinned against the gods in their pre-Vrak life and have been cast out, denied entry to the afterlife for their sins.  Others claim that it is some kind of flaw in the processing of souls, occasionally, generally in times where a significant number die in a short period but not always.  Others have more odd and less convincing ideas.  Whatever the truth is, it is known only to the gods and perhaps the neverborn.

It is not known exactly when Vrak first started appearing, they have existed since at least the last dragonstorm; however there aren’t any mentions of Vrak in what records survived that horrible event.  Perhaps the Knights of Horin or the Shard cities have some idea, but if so they are not sharing it with outsiders

What did you find most interesting about the Vrak?  Now that the major races of Gal Hadre are done, I will likely shift the Gal Hadre posts to a variety of subjects, including minor races, more information about groups and various regions on the continent.