Unliving

The unliving are a race of skeleton people in the World of Shaston.

Appearance
As living skeletons, most unliving look very similar physically. The typical unliving has been dead for long enough that the rest of their body has decomposed, leaving no flesh remaining on their bones. Their forms are therefore usually clean of gore and the like but colored brown, gray, or yellow due to their time in the earth.

Because a unique appearance is rare among the unliving, other forms of expression and physical distinction are very important to them. Unliving wear a variety of forms of clothing; some attempt to wear "ordinary" clothes, using magic or straps to keep it in place, while others wear grave clothes, truly relishing their dark nature, and still others wear nothing at all, fully embracing their new skeletal bodies.

Many unliving also tattoo their bones, creating further physical distinction, albeit artificially. These tattoos can range anywhere from small, localized designs to intricate patterns to coloring the entire skeleton.

Despite the lack of physical differences, most find they are able to recognize individual unliving if given enough time, due to other factors such as behavioral quirks and small imperfections in the bones.

Lore and History
As a race, the unliving are native to the country of Thyrigen. In the early 1300s, many of the dead throughout Thyrigen began rising from their graves, initially causing an understandable scare and panic. Once it was established that these people had no harmful intentions and were in fact in many cases just as confused as the living citizens, the panic quickly calmed down as was replaced by equal parts curiosity, fascination, and, in many cases, joyful reunion. Unliving slowly began to become an accepted part of society and eventually spread to the rest of the world.

Although initially appearing undead in nature, these new creatures did not posses many of the traits typical of undead. Most of them, although not all, retained the memories, personality, and identity they had while alive. No connection could be found between them and any one necromancer or force, and as such they had no necromantic tether that could be destroyed by disruption weapons or interfered with through turning. Because of these differences and to help alleviate the confusion and distrust that surrounded them, they dubbed themselves "unliving," reflecting their undead nature while separating them from the creatures of darkness.

Although no necromantic connection could be found, one did exist in reality. The powerful lich and former king of Thyrigen User the Killer had created the unliving in a secret attempt to create an undead army. His goal was to create soldiers who could raise and control themselves without his constant attention and would possess intelligence and personality enough to make better decisions on the battlefield. He was successful in doing so, however he failed to limit the unliving's personality or put them under his control.

During the Death Crisis, User had almost completed a spell that would allow him to take over the minds of the unliving. However, he was eventually thwarted by the Cultbusters, who had been tasked by Death with discovering the source of the unliving and putting a stop to it; the fact that the unliving were not mere undead creatures but retained their personalities and, more importantly, their souls was troublesome for Death. At the moment of User's defeat, the unliving throughout the world were each given a choice to continue their lives or return to their afterlives.

Ability Score Increase
Your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores each increase by 1, and you Constitution score decreases by 1.

Age
Physically, there is little distinguishing the oldest of the unliving from the youngest. In their society, age has little to no meaning anyway, so unliving tend not to give their age. If forced to give a number, they will usually reply with how old they would be if they were alive, or if they cannot remember, how long it has been since they rose. Unliving do not usually die of old age or other natural causes, though there have been some rare cases of unliving ceasing to animate.

Alignment
Despite the association with death, very few unliving consider themselves to be truly evil. Even the most aggressive and cynical of them simply desire to be left alone. Ironically, many unliving do lean towards the lawful alignments, having accepted death as a part of the natural order of things despite having “escaped” from it.

Size
Unliving have approximately the same height as they did when they were alive, usually minus a few inches. Your size is medium; unliving of small or large creatures or non-humanoids have not been recorded.

Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Moonvision
Due to the admittedly dark nature of your reincarnation, you are able to see in darkness similarly to in the light. Even when the area is only lit by moonlight, you can see just as well as you would be able to in normal light. When the moon is not in view, you can still see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in this way, only shades of gray.

Skeletal Body
Though you still may if you so desire, you have no need to eat or drink, and can survive indefinitely without nourishment. Because of the structure of your skeletal body, you are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. You are considered undead, however you are immune to most things that specifically affect undead, such as turning, as your undeath does not come from connection to and control from a necromancer.

Nocturnal Rest
You typically feel more energized at night and more tired during the day. However, you have no need for sleep in the traditional sense. Instead, you may rest by remaining still for 4 hours at a time. During this time you may still be mentally active, but your physical body remains perfectly still other than small, subtle movements. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Knit Bones
Once per day you may use an action to artificially heal yourself, wrapping your bones up and/or realigning them as needed. You regain a hit die plus your Constitution modifier plus your Intelligence modifier in this way, without expending your hit die.

Languages
You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. This language should reflect who you were when you were alive, even if you don’t remember who you were. It does not necessarily have to be tied to your previous race, but can rather be tied to your previous job and/or history.

Notable Unliving

 * Andur - Player character in the Thyrigen campaign
 * Allan - NPC in the Thyrigen campaign - Owner of the North Star Trading Co. based in Zebulun
 * Blood the Red - NPC in the Thyrigen campaign and in Rebellion Redemption

Trivia

 * The unliving are based heavily on the race of the same name from the video game Gladius.
 * Both Gladius' unliving and Shaston's unliving rise through mostly unknown means, are in reality (initially) tied to a darker power, and resent being compared to ordinary undead and treated as creatures of darkness.
 * The Shaston unliving's general proficiency with mental skills (such as magic) and lack of Constitution reflect the great magical power but lack of defense and hit points the unliving in Gladius have. The Knit Bones ability was also inspired by a similar ability the unliving possess in Gladius.
 * Both versions of the unliving are relatively rare and can only be found in specific areas (Shaston's Thyrigen and Gladius' Mordare), due to these areas possessing some sort of history and/or supernatural power that allows them to rise there.
 * The unliving were the first homebrew race created for the World of Shaston, and as such played a major role in the first campaign.