Valravn

Valravn was an insignificant fey creature of the old world. He roamed the land as a spirit and made his way into the material plane at times, for he loved the gods of life and death, Amuan and Nauma. The mortality cycle of the mortals was fascinating to Valravn, of which he never experienced. He never stayed on the material plane long enough to trap himself there. During the events written about in the The Song of Three Sisters, Danu stayed in material plane. Valravn chose to stay as well, though not as a member of Danu's party. Though he was a member of the winter fey, he was of such insignificance that his absence was not noticed.
During this time, his obsession with Nauma (The Corvid). She was the keeper of the dead, and carried their souls to the Afterlife. She often took the form of a Raven eating the flesh of those that died on the battlefield. Valravn, in his obsession, began to become influenced by demons, vulnerable without the protection of the Feywilds. He began to feast on the flesh of the living, hoping to gain their essence and the notice of Nauma. He wanted her power, and to deliver mortals sto the afterlife. Valravn wondered if he could slow and halt the power of death, and change the course of power. In his ritualistic consumption of blood, flesh, and eventually souls, he gained his wish. Nauma took notice of Valravn and declared him an abomination. She tried to kill him but he was immune to the Doom of Cailleach and an immortal. Though his heart stopped, and life snuffed out, he did not truly die and became a warped cursed creature, unable to stand the light of Amuan, the god of light, and the Sunbird. He fled to the familiar winter-cold abyss of the north. There, he was the first undead. He despised all things of of light and life, feeling betrayed and crushed. He wished to continue to defy Nauma, and created the first undead, called the Sluagh. It is through dark rituals of his followers that liches, vampires, and ghouls rose.
Valravn was destroyed during the breaking of the world when Queen Mórrígan and King Cernunotus declared him a false lord and attempted to pull him back into the feywilds. Through the power of the Fey, he was destroyed completely, so it was believed. However, they Lord and Lady of Winter could not undo what he had done. Undead lived, and his artifact were lost and scattered. Queen Mórrígan gained dominion over the undead and promised to maintain their balance in the material plane. Though they use and control them, they must prevent them from ever growing too numerous.
For years, the undead continued to keep their home in Qabdarda, under the rule of various leaders who claimed dominion over the Frozen Throne. in 1053, Theda Kleatometra took over the Frozen Throne. She is a priestess of Valravn.