Wraith
Wraiths are spectral beings cloaked in tattered, shadowy robes, often lacking any discernible physical form beneath their coverings. They are faceless—or have a face that is a void, sometimes flickering with faint glimmers of what once was. Their presence is heralded by an unnatural chill in the air, flickering lights, and a creeping sense of dread. Wraiths don’t walk—they glide soundlessly, barely disturbing the world around them, as if reality itself recoils at their touch.
When seen clearly, they seem more like shadows given form, their movements fluid and unsettling, their forms sometimes shifting or elongating like smoke caught in a wind that isn't there.
Wraiths are phantoms of hatred and undeath, existing as incorporeal predators that sap the life and hope from the living. As a species, they are defined by their eternal detachment from warmth, identity, and peace, serving as cold, lethal instruments of the necromantic will. To encounter a wraith is to feel not just fear—but the approach of one’s own oblivion.
Basic Information
Biological Traits
- Incorporeal Form: Wraiths are fully intangible, able to pass through walls, doors, and solid matter. Physical weapons often pass through them harmlessly unless blessed or enchanted.
- Life Drain: Their touch draws out the vital essence of living beings, leaving their victims weakened, aged, or even lifeless. Prolonged exposure can cause permanent soul damage or death.
- Aura of Dread: Their very presence unnerves both mortals and animals. The air grows cold, lights flicker, and courage withers. Some wraiths can even paralyze or confuse foes with their mere gaze.
- Silent Hunters: Wraiths are nearly undetectable in the dark. They can move silently, become nearly invisible in shadows, and strike without warning. Their stealth and incorporeality make them ideal assassins or spies.
- Soul Sensitivity: Wraiths can sense life forces, emotions, and sometimes even surface thoughts, allowing them to track prey with uncanny precision.
Weaknesses:
- Holy and Radiant Energy: Wraiths are especially vulnerable to divine magic, radiant damage, or sacred relics. These forces can disrupt their form or banish them entirely.
- Magical Wards and Symbols: Protective wards, sanctified ground, or ancient sigils can repel or trap them.
- Enchanted Weapons: Only weapons blessed or imbued with magic can reliably harm or destroy a wraith.
Genetics and Reproduction
Wraiths are manifestations of pure death and malice. They are created when a soul is severed violently from its body through hatred, despair, or necromantic corruption, refusing to move on to the afterlife. Unlike ghosts, which may still cling to memories or sorrow, wraiths have lost all identity and humanity, becoming predatory spirits bent on extinguishing the living.
Some are born from cursed battlegrounds, others from deliberate dark rituals. There are even legends of mortals so consumed by vengeance or anguish that they willed themselves into wraithdom after death.
Behaviour
Wraiths are cold, emotionless, and alien, having lost all ties to mortal reasoning. They do not speak, feel, or remember in the way living beings do. Instead, they are driven by instincts of hatred, hunger, and destruction. Some retain fragments of their past—a vague sense of unfinished purpose or a fixation on a place, person, or item—but it is twisted and corrupted.
Despite their bestial instincts, some greater wraiths develop strategic cunning, acting as lieutenants for liches or necromancers, or guarding ancient tombs with tireless resolve.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Wraiths are elite hunters, sentinels, and assassins in undead forces. They are more intelligent than mindless undead like zombies or skeletons but are less independent than liches or vampires. They are often used to eliminate key targets, guard forbidden relics, or haunt cursed places.
Some powerful wraiths ascend into greater spectral entities, leading packs of lesser spirits or commanding small undead legions.
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