Risen

The Risen are a race of enlightened, sapient Undead created by The Blightfather. Risen often come from other enlightened races being willingly converted through a ritual, but in a new universe the System also revives all members of enlightened races that died within 24 hours of the start of integration as Risen.

When speaking of the undead, one thing must be made clear immediately: the difference between the Risen and the original undead. The undead were originally all monsters, with the majority not having even a shred of intelligence - specters, skeletons of fallen creatures, given new life through an abundance of death-affinity mana. Initially, they could only be found in desolate areas or on old battlegrounds, but with the rise of The Blighfather Inmortau, that all changed. The Primordial created the first Risen – himself. Intelligent races turned undead, able to retain all prior memories and personality. It was a race change, more than anything, but into an entirely different kind of lifeform.

Able to retain nearly all properties as the race they changed from, the undead have become a powerful race throughout the multiverse. The archetype Risen Human is the most numerous, mirroring the fact that humanity is the most prevalent race in the multiverse. Due to their preference for death-affinity mana, they tend to stay in secluded parts of universes, but that does not mean the undead cannot live anywhere as they wish. It is hard to find any pinnacle factions without undead in them. As for reproduction of the undead race… it gets a bit more complicated. Unlike other races, breeding is not the only way for the undead race to propagate. Many new Risen come from enlightened races willingly becoming undead and joining their race.

Contrary to what many may believe, the Risen still can reproduce. However, it can only be done with other undead, and it requires special items mass-produced by their race to do so, so crossbreeding with living races is impossible. The stat gains for any Risen lean towards staying the same as their living forms, but with the new Spirit stat gained instead of vitality and endurance for the races that possessed those prior.

The largest and most poweful faction of Risen is the Empire of Blight, the faction lead by the creator of their race The Blightfather.