Revenant

Death isn’t always the end. The revenants exemplify this, sentient undead whose soul still clings to their lifeless body after its death. Often hiding their form with masks or cloaks, they live in isolated numbers in a world that has passed them by. Having met a cruel and undeserved end, they have returned to the realm of the living striving to complete a final, critical task they've left unfinished. Whatever their origins, reborn know a new life and seek experiences and answers all their own.
If you want a character with an undying motivation towards their goal, a near-alien outlook on life, and one who hides their true form from those outside their close circle, you should play a revenant.

History

Physical Description

Aside from their complete lack of flesh and organs due to decay, revenants vary widely in appearance, reflecting the broad diversity of all living beings. They can be tall, short, or anywhere in between. Revenants of creatures with horns, wings, or tails retain them, although they are usually useless in their skeletal state. Revenants raised from fresh remains tend to have stark white bones, while older ones tend to be gray or yellowed. Revenants who adventure for a while often possess faint lines crisscrossing their bones like scars, indicating where they were injured in previous battles. Often a revenant's form is adorned with a ghastly teal fog that lingers to their dead frame like embers to a fading fire. Scholars of necromantic magic have theorized that this essence is that of the revenant's lingering soul clutching to its undead form. Often this ethereal smoke billows from bone without control, only being subdued by heavy layers of clothing or armor that prevent the smoke from exhausting through the apparel.
Some revenants, specifically those who have become accustomed to their undead form, often adorn parts of it with interlayed gemstones and regalia. While often seen as a personal choice solely for decorative means, circles of revenants often view these implants as a sign of status. A once noble human turned undead might adorn the crown of their skull with an ornate circlet of gold, a dragonborn warrior might outline their teeth with razored silver, and an elven mage might implant a spellcasting crystal within their forehead of marrow.

Personality

Revenants retain their memories and most of their personalities, but these do not make the transformation into undeath unscathed. Their unfinished goal takes over their psyche as the most important thing to them, and while they retain memories and a personality, these become secondary to their sole motivator: accomplishing their goal. A revenant might be able to laugh along with their companions while huddled around the fire, or listen as a friend shares their secrets, but a portion of their psyche is constantly fixated on the goal that ties them to this realm at all times. They are consumed by it, every waking moment a reminder that there’s a task that they need to accomplish -- and that they can’t afford to stray away from it this time, because there won’t be another chance to see their goal through.

Culture

There have been accounts of Revenants for ages. We know of knights who died before saving those they were sworn to and came back as skeletal protectors of the ones they pledged their lives -- and now unlives -- to. There are accounts of parents escaping war-torn countries arriving at an inn, their children sleeping in their arms. When they paid the innkeeper, they made him promise that the children would be taken care of, and once the innkeeper agreed the parents form crumbled to a pile of bones, their goal having been finally accomplished. But we also hear of adventurers who refused to let their party be slaughtered at the hands of their foe, clinging to life and traveling together once more as revenants. There are even rumors of full communities or adventuring parties of revenants, all sharing a single goal, refusing to give up until they see it through even if they died on their first try.

Revenant Traits

Basic Information

Type
Humanoid (Registers as Undead to Magical Effects)

Lifespan

Undetermined

Average Height

Equal to their ancestral counterpart

Average Weight

Equal to their ancestral counterpart

Bone Colors
Primarily ivory, with shades of algae, charcoal and dust being an exception
Hair Colors
Shades of grey
Distinctions
Skeletal body, clinging incorporeal mist, appearances of related ancestry (tusks if orc, tail if dragonborn, etc.)

Being a Revenant...

You Likely...

• Hide your appearance using concealing clothing, bandages, or a mask.
• Wade into danger with little regard for the safety of your undead body.
• Desperately seek the acceptance of the society you once moved through with ease.

Other Races Probably...

• Fear you, viewing you as an abhorrent monster similar to that of a ghoul or skeleton.
• Have difficulty empathizing with you.
• Regard your relationship to immortaility with either pity or envy.