War of the Undead

Ellebore was a new land, wild and raw. ‘Civilization’ had come to much of the eastern half of the continent, but even the Tamed Lands were tamed in name only. In the year 1180 PF, the most advanced kingdom, Belegria had decided that they would be a kingdom only for humans and so forced all the non-human races to move up into the northern lands and out into the wilderness beyond.
This of course caused multiple problems, not the least of which was that there were not enough people left in Belegria to farm the land. As the kingdom struggled to survive their mages began to search for an answer. In the end, the answer they hit on was necromancy. They raised zombies and put them to work in the fields. As more and more of the workload was shifted to the undead the necromancers rose in power. Within a short time, these necromancers found that the newer the body, the better the worker. Prisons were quickly emptied, and brutal punishments ordered by the Grey Council.
Led by High Master Olmallaas, a demi-god born from the rape and a soul spark from the dark god Tharizdun. As his power grew, Olmallaas became obsessed with gathering more and more. He ultimately began seeking a way to defeat death as well because why should he, Master of the Deathspeakers, ever be forced to submit to such a plebian process.
As his search led him into darker and darker places, Olmallaas began to make war on the rest of the Tamed Lands, using the deaths and blood magic to fuel his research. His armies of undead seemed unstoppable, for how do you kill something that’s already dead. Even the magic of the other races was no match for them and so the people cried out to their gods for aid. The gods of life and order, already concerned with the dark spawn’s plans, having only recently bound his father, the mad god Tharizdun. In the end the gods of order brought forth their own champions to defeat Olmallaas. These nine were known as the Bright Shiners. If they had other names, they have been lost to time and history. These legends were able to augment the magics of the races and they drove back the armies of Master Death as he now called himself.
Eventually they pushed Olmallaas all the way back to the southern peninsula, but even the combined powers of life were unable to get any further as the lands of Belegria itself had been corrupted by the blood magics Olmallaas had employed. Worse yet, there were still some living in the land, unable or unwilling to leave. Pinned in his dark land, Master Death began to turn on these poor souls, convinced that if he gained enough power he could ascend to godhood and take his place at his father’s side, bringing Ellebore as a welcome gift.
The Bright Shiners began to make plans, knowing that Olmallaas could not be allowed to complete this. But it was not as simple as defeating him; there were the living to save, masses of undead to remove, and the land itself to purify. At last they found a solution, though it was a desperate one. It would take most of the energies of the gods and quite likely the lives of the Shiners. It would also require a specific conjunction of the stars. Worryingly, that same alignment was integral to Olmallaas’ plans, but such things could not be helped and perhaps might actually be useful as he will be focused.
While the mages and arcanists worked to prepare for this great working, the peoples of the land were tasked with building a wall along the border. They were cautioned to include several gates as there would still be living people over there when things were settled. Concerned, one group of people was in favor of a solid wall and let the people hang. “They should have escaped when they had the chance.” Hearing this the Bright Ones promised that there would always be a way to tell the living, but that the gates would be built or they would not perform the ritual.
At last preparations were complete and not a moment too soon for the stars were in the correct position to begin the weaving. As the Bright Shiners spread out around the land and began to weave the starlight into a net surrounding the peninsula, one broke and ran far into the north. . Pouring power into this net the eight remaining Shiners shifted to take up the slack and continue the wrecking. In the end, pouring their very lives into the spell they managed to seal the entire peninsula in a pocket dimension linked only at The Wall. In this process the Writ was formed by the wills of the seven, a magic strong enough to hold the undead at bay. All of the undead were destroyed, sent far into death where no power would bring them back, and Olmallaas himself was bound. Bound, but not destroyed for without the power of the eighth Bright One they could do no more.
And so the people of the Belegria began to remake their lives in the ashes in this new and strange place. The land was still broken and twisted, but through the use of the Writ the living were protected and began to reclaim the land. Yet it would always be a place closer to death and so the role of Deathwalker was created to help keep the undead creatures at bay and any future necromancers that sprung up.