Help Me Populate: The Undead Asylum

[Shadowsoul]

The new CRPG dungeon crawler Dark Souls has an interesting premise. (Apart from the fact that it is insanely difficult).

The game world is suffering from a plague of Undeath. Certain people develop stigmata called 'the Darksign', which means that when they die they will become Undead.

The Undead are initially rational beings with the same personalities and motivations they had when alive, they can even appear to be alive if they can gain a stat called Humanity.

All Undead, however, will sooner or later become Hollow. Hollow Undead are very obviously walking corpses and are also completely insane and inclined to murder any non-Hollows that they encounter.

The exact causes of becoming Hollow are not entirely clear. It seems to happen automatically to any Undead after an unspecified amount of time but can also be triggered by 'dying' for a second time.

New Undead are dumped in Undead Asylums, there to await the end of the world while their sanity decays alongside their withered bodies.


What kind of characters or creatures might lurk in an Undead Asylum? There's no need to stick to the mythology of Dark Souls. I'm just interested in the kind of people and creatures which might be dumped in an Asylum in a world plagued by Undeath. And what kind of adventures might an Undead, or a visiting mortal, have in or around the Asylum?

[Steve]

Newly undead Lord Phineus Blackrock was actually as fully functional and compassionate in undeath as he was in life, a loyal Churchman and beloved by the people. His heirs, deciding amongst themselves that he was no longer ruler due to being undead, bound him in chains and consigned him to the asylum, and now the Blackrock lands are plagued by a civil war among the heirs. Lord blackrock has gathered to himself other nobles in the asylum as his followers, but what is he planning? Revenge on his heirs? Simply to escape?

[djkester]

There in the Asylum's bowls is a long dead and decayed corpse. The remains of someone long ago dumped here after all usefulness of his undead body had drained out.

The thoughts of such a creature wander and decay overtime as well and for the most part the broken and used body just blathers on. These incoherent messages are sometimes in mumbles and sometimes in screams. But there is from time to time a chance for it to mutter something still intelligible. The location and protections of a treasure trove buried these last three centuries.

The loot of a pirate ship. The treasure is protected by unknown traps and tricks so finding it is only half the challenge. A challenge only Roger Rook of the pirate ship Plagued Plank knows the answers to.

[Ninja-Bear]

In Vampire: The Masqurade, The Antedivullian vampires were so old that only other vampire blood could keep them alive. How about something along those lines?

[Shadowsoul]

In Vampire: The Masqurade, The Antedivullian vampires were so old that only other vampire blood could keep them alive. How about something along those lines?

You mean like an ancient super-Vampire? Or a Wight/Liche/Thing so ancient that it can no longer maintain its hold on the world independently and must consume the necromantic energies, (death force?), of other Undead to survive?

[Vamphyr1]

How about a juggernaut style monster. A hulking monster of legendary strength, made of hundreds of bodies worth of bones and decaying flesh, it roams the lower halls of the asylum snatching up any undead in it's path and killing any living beings it encounters to increase it's mass and strength, constantly looking for a way out of the winding corridors of cells. It has has hundreds of collected memories telling it about how wonderful the outside is, and how plentiful and easy the food is.

Also, you could set up a lich style undead, one that still has it's memories and intelligence, in the time before his undeath he use to practice certain dark arts, and they have never benefited him more than now. In a hurried attempt to stave off the Hollowness he felt growing inside, he found a way to suck the memories and life force from others around him, almost immediately making them Hollows. He found that this feeding holds off the emptiness and keeps his mind sharp. There was one side effect he did not count on however, the newly drained Hollows obey his every command, he can sense the ones he's drained and can control their every movement with but a thought from any part of the asylum. He is slowly building an army and plans to over through the Asylum guards and turn this prison into his fortress, and to spread his control to the surrounding hills.

[Ninja-Bear]

You mean like an ancient super-Vampire? Or a Wight/Liche/Thing so ancient that it can no longer maintain its hold on the world independently and must consume the necromantic energies, (death force?), of other Undead to survive?

Yeah something like that. Its been a long time for my memory. But something that makes the undead fearful could be frightening!

[Shadowsoul]

More good ideas. Thanks guys.

[Vamphyr1]

You could also be dealing with non undead related beings as well. If this is an asylum for the undead, where and what are the guards? What kind of evils and creatures may have snuck into a place with such a high concentration of evil energy and death?

I would stick some stone centurion style guards on random floors, pairs of stone warriors that march the levels and put down anything moving without authorization with extreme prejudice. Unless the players acquire and keep track of a specific piece of paper/medallion/or jewel that allows them to pass, the guards will use everything in their power to destroy them.

You could also be dealing with different kinds of demons considering this would be a place full of necromantic energy. Shadow demons and the like would lurk in dark corridors and rooms. More powerful demons or devils may have taken over and converted entire floors to suit there needs.

But all of that is entirely up to how you want to run the place. Were you thinking of having a strong human guard presence at the upper levels and then construct style guards and free-roaming prisoners in the lower levels? (Sort of like that prison planet in Chronicles of Riddick) or are the only undead ones that have escaped their cells and now torment the guards and still sane prisoners until they can be put down?

[Vamphyr1]

Depending on how you want to run the Asylum, the players may also be running into non-undead enemies. You could have pairs of centurion style constructs wandering the corridors as guards ruthlessly destroying anything moving without permission. The only way to get by them without fighting would be to have a certain item that worked as a pass signalling to the guards they have permission to be there.

You could also have different types of demons lurking in corridors or even taking over entire floors as mini-kingdoms. Shadow demons would be numerous in lower levels and it would make sense they would be attracted considering the large concentration of necromantic energy.

Now, are you planning on having a strong human guard presence in the upper levels, and then the lower Asylum portion is full of cells but the prisoners roam free? Or is it all heavily guarded with the dead inside their cells, only becoming an issue when the break free?

I would personally go with the free roaming, since it allows it to be a dungeon crawl, and for their to be unknown treasures and secrets beneath, with the guard on the upper level letting them know what they've heard of rumors from some of the still sane inmates residing beneath.

[Ninja-Bear]

Well evry asylum, prison or such needs guardians, and or wardens. Whats to stop them from being corrupted, crazy, evil, or all of the above? Maybe they're golems, but hte magic is getting warped?

[Vamphyr1]

I would definitely though in some centurion style stone golems that march preset paths and floors. Their only purpose is to destroy anything moving without permission.

Before the players enter the Asylum, have the warden or whoever give them some kind of amulet that they just have to show to the guards to gain passage. Then halfway through the dungeon have some crafty undead steal it from them so they have to fight to get it back or be crushed by the guards.

An item that allows free passage past guards that kill everything in their path would be highly valued in an asylum, whether the individual was good or evil.

[Ninja-Bear]

Or how about the guards were alive with the darkstigmata and they get recruited, or forced to be guards of the asylum, even after the first death?

[Ninja-Bear]

Well evry asylum, prison or such needs guardians, and or wardens. Whats to stop them from being corrupted, crazy, evil, or all of the above? Maybe they're golems, but hte magic is getting warped?

I was thinking of a module I have, and the heroes have to break into a temple/prison. The guardians (golems-like) will attack the heroes, not because they are evil (guards) but because they try to stop anyone from releasing the big bad. So maybe the guards in the asylum attack do to the hero are intruders.

[Shadowsoul]

Might as well add a denizen of my own. Another riff on the Eater of Undead theme.

Please excuse the portentous style.

"Gethenthrax is a snake so old that he has grown to the size of a dragon. Once he slithered beneath the earth and was free. Once he had worshippers who fed him screaming sacrifices in the hope of favour, though he had no interest in answering their prayers.

But now the land has been devastated by plague and the Snake's worshippers are all dead.

Nearing starvation, he settled beneath the Undead Asylum and hunted through its depths for sustenance, gorging himself on the pitiful creatures that rotted there. This, however, was a poisoned feast because the flesh of the Undead is cursed and any creature that preys on them will share their fate.

Gethenthrax does not move much nowadays. The urgency of life has long since fled from his decaying bones. Yet he is still dangerous, for he feels a hollow ache deep within the pit of his belly and he mistakes it for hunger ..."