Death Knight
A death knight, also known as a dread knight or a dread paladin, is a powerful type of Undead warrior. They can be raised to serve dark gods, archdevils, or liches, granting them immortality and immense power in exchange for any chance at rest for their Soul.
A newly risen death knight looks similar to other corporeal undead creatures, like a zombie or a wight, except in their full armor from life. Their body remains a rotted husk forever, but their armor takes on a life of its own, slowly growing to enclose every inch of their flesh. Their helmets, in particular, grow into gruesome and expressive shapes, reflecting their personality and history even as they cover every sign that they were once mortal. After only a matter of weeks to months, they are encased entirely in metal, with only two pinpricks of red light where their eyes once were shining outwards from a black void. Death knights are often most recognizable by the age, origin, and shape of their armor and weapons, and scholars of the occult dedicate their lives to noting subtle differences between them in order to track the reappearance of well-known death knights.
Career
Qualifications
In life, most death knights were Paladins, either those who swore oaths to deeply evil gods and tenets or those who betrayed their oaths to the light. Many of the death knights most well-known to history and legend were prominent knights of their realms, even highly decorated leaders of groups like the Commonwealth Rangers.
Career Progression
Death knights gain power by killing opponents, claiming their souls after the final blow has been struck. The claim is rendered via dark magic and acts quickly, taking place approximately one minute after death; it can be nullified by quick or exceptionally powerful Resurrection spells, or in rare cases by special intercession from a god or powerful celestial. Under the legal system of the Celestial Courts, death knights cannot legally claim possession of mortal souls, and those found doing so by the celestial authorities face the temporary or permanent nullification of their ability to travel between planes.
When a death knight is killed on any plane, they do not die, but instead are banished to the Liminal Plane. Their strength recovers over anywhere from a few years to many centuries, depending on how many lives they have claimed and the relative power of the being that raised them. Whatever territory the death knight occupied in life is typically where they are repeatedly resurrected in undeath, though they are not bound to stay within it.
A death knight can only cease to exist by restoring their broken oaths and atoning for their evil deeds. No verified record of this exists; some scholars of the occult believe the redemption of a death knight to be a myth invented to give satisfying endings to stories and plays. Still, not all death knights have consistently reappeared over the centuries, with a few prominent figures not recorded since before the War of Great Sorrow—implying that their destruction, whether through atonement or some other means—is indeed possible.
Perception
Social Status
Death knights often give themselves flowery titles: styling themselves after nobility, commemorating their worst deeds, or claiming names related to the dread gods or forces that created them. These are not tied to any known mortal hereditary and are believed to be self-styled, though knowledge of the baroncies and other noble territories of the Lower Planes are yet unknown to mortal minds.
Alternative Names
dread knight, dread paladin
Type
Illicit
Famous in the Field
Other Associated professions
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