"On Undead Summoning" by Dark is Right

The following is a historical text recovered by several ar/k/ivists after the konvergence. The text refers to events that took place several centuries before the merge.

On Undead summoning: Simple minded-Caster and Summoned- Summoning the undead is one of the most complicated and time consuming spells in the world. The location, time of day, items used, bodies used, incantations spoken and the  intended purpose of the summoned.  The largest number of undead are former soldiers raised where they fell as part of a delaying action. These  undead lack coordinated motor skills, memories, higher intelligence,  the ability to replenish their numbers and cannot take commands even from their caster. They pose little threat to anyone who isnt surrounded by them.  The second most common type of undead are servants, both bound and unbound.  Servants are summoned through simple spells, but they require constant thought and attention. Failure to provide this for even a split second means that the undead will revert to its normal state and can only be re-bound by a day long incantation spell.  The loss of control usually results in the death of the caster, as these undead have normal motor skills and strength and the average caster can only hope his fat acts as armor.

However Servant undead have shown great promise when used en mass,  the great palace of the high elves was re-built using an entirely undead labor force. It was restored to its former splendor less than a month after the Ovlaen(pronounced ah veh n) rebels burned it to the ground. Despite this, any form of undead summoning or control is banned in most nations under penalty of death or isolation imprisonment.  Even the Empire of the Shadows, where the dark  elves reside is known to frown upon the use of undead off the battlefield.  The memories of the great plauge are not so easily forgotten it seems. Rumors persist that the unbound servants are being controlled and ordered to congregate in dark places so that they may grow in strength and numbers. Additionally, they say that the unbound are actually bound to the Tomb King, who controls them from beyond death and is using them to mastermind his return.  This however, is pure alcohol induced nonsense. No servant undead has been found to exhibit higher intelligence, the ability to increase its numbers., or any memories of its past life. Their ability to take commands ranges from simple one word instructions to complex plans yet they lack free thought and their physical abilities are only half that of of their living selves. It is advised to follow the instructions of the Sunguard Order and be "Trained in either arms or the arcane" before tackling undead servants.
For all simple minded undead the summoning spells are relatively simple. The location and bodies used are still important, but many of the other factors yield negligible results or penalties.  The only locations where this spell is difficult are sanctified ground, Houses of worship/temples or places with magical inhibitors installed. In such situations the caster is required to stay near the place he began the incantation. Otherwise the caster may move about freely, so long as they continue to recite the incantation silently in their mind. Using the clothing or favored items of the passed is not required  and no memories must be invoked via incantation as it is not necessary to have the same essence in the body.  The spell takes on average 12 hours to complete and requires no sacrifices of any kind, even for large groups.  Once the spell is finished the undead is summoned and bound to the caster, who must maintain a low level mental link with it. If this link is severed or clouded the undead will become unbound and revert to its natural instincts: A love of dark places and a desire for warm flesh.

On Knight Undead - Unholy Scourges -  Summoning a knight is a complicated process. At least one item of clothing and physical object that the deceased owned must be used in both parts of the ritual. The first part requires the user to draw an elaborate rune sign into the ground and place the objects of the deceased within the run. The caster must then recite a 40 page long incantation including the name of the deceased for a period of 12 hours. After this the caster will have one hour to perform a blood sacrifice and  draw the second rune in the blood.  For the second half of the ritual, the caster must do 12 hours of silent repetition, but they cannot go further than 3 paces from either rune during this time. The following are known to have an effect on the final summoning of the undead and should be controlled for as much as possible: weather, time of day, phase of the moon, ambient temperature, surface upon which the runes are carved/drawn,  amount of light exposed to the runes, density of magical energy in the area, and the mood of the caster.
Note - Any drastic shift in these factors during the ritual may result in the undead being summoned unbound. Unlike their servant counterparts they are capable of deception and are able to hide this fact for up to a week before their natural impulses get the better of them.

The result of this elaborate process is an undead significantly stronger than most mortal beings.  No appropriate counterpart exists among the living, however those who have fought these creatures describe them as having "half the strength of a troll with the intelligence of an adolescent and the agility of an elf".  Individuals without sanctified weapons, magic, or holy knowledge are little more than fodder against Undead Knights. Knights are capable of basic tactics and will attempt to preserve themselves at any cost short of betraying the individual who raised them.  However, they lack a strategic understanding and are often impulsive. It is possible to trick them and bait them into bad positions or lure them onto traps. Their increased states however, mean that a single trap is unlikely to kill them or restrain them for a long period of time. If the knight is able to break free from the trap or avoid destruction it is quite possible that they will use the components of traps against those who are nearby. Those who build traps for these monsters should bear this in mind during the building process. Additionally Knights are the first level of undead capable of being leaders in their own right. Each is able to have approximately 100 servant level undead bound to them, though these must be raised separately.

Note- The use of objects from their past lives imbues them with a subconscious recollection of their former lives. Should these memories enter their conscious mind the undead is likely to become unbound and go berserk. Nothing is understood about how, why or when this occurs but keeping the Knights busy prevents or at least delays this outcome.
Regarding Noble Undead -Lords of the Apocalypse -Summoning noble undead is an undertaking that requires a degree of precision and ritual unlike any other.  The ritual itself has 3 parts spread out over the course of a week and cannot be stopped once its started. Over the course of the ritual the caster will burn one full set of garments owned by the deceased, destroy six items of extreme importance to the individual, spill enough blood to kill themselves six times over, draw 30 intricate runes, walk in a specified pattern while reciting the incantations and sacrifice two sentient beings.  Additionally, the caster must spill their own blood onto a book or scroll from the Library of the Tomb King.  These requirements mean an individual has no hope of completing the ritual. There have been several groups that were successful in summoning a bound undead noble. Each time the noble brought a tide of destruction and killed over a million people before being stopped.

Undead Nobles are a creature unlike any of those who are below them. They have complete sentience and control over their functions, both motor and higher. In practical terms this means that their physical attributes are on par with the best races for the job: Agility of an elf, strength of an orc, endurance of a dwarf, intelligence of a human etc. Where they excel is in the arcane arts, their magical abilities are far beyond any single caster in history. Nobles have been known to combine spells or invent new ones themselves. They have strategic and tactical sense, making them competent generals in their own right. They have on occasion, engaged in diplomacy with the living. These agreements are rare and often short lived but they provide valuable insight into what the nobles want. Every instance has shown that the nobles exchange safety for information. Nothing else has value to them. Worst of all, they have the ability to replenish their numbers without being constrained by the standard rituals. Nobles can summon any undead below them with a simple incantation and wave of their hand and can raise multiple at a time. Their only limit to this multi raising is the number of bodies they have access to. There is no concrete information on how many undead they can control. Optimistic estimates place the number in 10000 with more realistic estimates reaching the 100,000 range.

Removing a Noble is an impossible task for an individual or a party of any size. There is no way the average group can hope to damage one significantly, much less defeat it outright.  The best bet is to hide and wait until it and the accompanying horde passes by. If this fails then the advised course of action is running as far away from its path as possible. Nobles have on several occasions called their minions back into formation and allowed small groups to escape. If the party is cornered the only option is to try and bargain with the Noble for safe passage. Should a group find itself fighting a Noble and its minions the best course of action is to sanctify the ground they are on and kill as many minions as possible. Dying on sanctified ground has been proven to increase the raising time from seconds to minutes and may allow those who die to avoid joining the skeletal horde.   Short of an army or intervention by the Sunguard, Nobles are unstoppable.

On the Tomb King - Origins and Pre March - The Lord of the Undead occupies its own level, far above any other of the other unholy abominations of the same class.  What is known about the Tomb King is assembled from the Journals that were left behind, is that the tomb king and Raelight are used interchangeably. It is assumed that Raeligh was the Tomb King's original name or at the very least what it called itself. Raleigh's journals describe a troubled soul whose parents both died at a young age. As a result, Raleigh became obsessed with immortality.  According to records, Raleigh's youth and early life were spent performing experiments on friends, family members and eventually resorted to buying people out of debtors prison.  The last journal records a small army at his command and makes repeated references to his "inevitable ascension from mortality". Alterations to spells are mentioned, but never specified further.  Raleigh became a being of immense power sometime in the year of the Dwarvern Primacy (approximately 982 years ago) . From this point onward he referred to himself as "Tomb King" both in public and journals. The experiments conducted shattered what had been widely accepted as the limitations of magic. HIs advancements were recorded in the 37 Necronomicons, though many of these did not survive what became known as the Eternal March, Raleigh's effort to exterminate all living creatures.
Eternal March information below

Eternal March pt 1- The Tomb King's experiments with magic raised his power level from demi god to full Diety.This, combined with his ability to raise thousands of undead with a single gesture made his forces unstoppable on the battlefield. One by one the nations of the world fell to the Tombking and the skeletal hordes purged all they came across. Refugees began to stream across borders and tensions flared. RIots and wars were common for the first two years as no one believe the rumors of a skeletal horde overrunning entire kingdoms. It wasnt until the Dragon King, leader of the high elves appeared with his court outside Wellak to ask for the aid that people began to take the threat seriously. The Dragon King led a combined army of men, dwarves, orcs and elves which fought together for the first time in more than a century. Whats more their defeat of an undead horde of 100,000 and its noble leader gave the living a much needed spark of hope. The Tomb King himself appeared and slew the Dragon King in the next battle, but the coalition of the living continued to grow until it included every nation and race, save for the under kingdom (dark elves). They relied on undead labor and hoped to be able to strike a bargain once the surface dwellers were destroyed. Once their undead workers were turned against them during the Eokan incident they reluctantly joined the coalition.

Eternal March pt 2- The Tomb King's forces overran half of the world within a year of his ascension. He wiped out two major powers along the way the Elven Coalition and the Iron Mountain. The elven coalition was already reeling from the Death of the Dragon king several months prior and found themselves divided into factions vying for power. Their standing armies were withdrawn and congregated around the factions, leaving their borders and capital city of Velloen(V-el-oh-en) undefended. The Tomb King's forces overran the scattered Elven armies who fought to the last and allowed most of their civilian population to flee to Velloen with the horde close behind them.  The city was entirely unprotected save for the Sunguard, an elite unit dedicated to protecting the Dragon King. With the undead closing in, the nobility locked in debate and the leader of the Sunguard lied for the first time in the history of their order. He claimed that the Dragon King had issued a final command "Protect the Living and wipe the Undead from the world". He ordered the evacuation of the city and created a government in exile that would eventually become the coalition of the living.  The coalition found themselves on the door step of their neighbors, the Iron Mountain.

Eternal March Part 3 - The Iron Mountain was a majority dwarven nation (99.9%) that had built itself into a superpower by investing in the transmutation of substances. It allowed them to create higher quality metal and minerals out of their poor quality resources.  Their efforts caused them to neglect all schools of magic other than transmutation and as such were completely unaware of the existence of necromancy or the undead. When the Sunguard appeared on their doorstep at the head of nearly a million elves they were regarded as uninvited guests. As such they were begrudgingly housed and fed  As the Sunguard explained what had brought down their kingdom. The mountaineers (people of the Iron Mountain) were largely skeptical of the tale, but quietly readied their armies for war. The Sungard offered their expertise to the Mountaineers, but were turned down as it was not the place of hosts to make their guests do work, invited or not.  The armies and fortresses of the mountain met the same fate as their guests' and the the last remaining mountaineer armies gathered in their final fortress, prepared to fight to the last. Only through the tireless work of a Sunguard mage named Owekal  were they persuaded to join the coalition in exile.