Expanding the Northern Reaches: Undead Paths to Adventure
by Marc SaindonSometimes heroes venture into unknown, and no one is quite sure if these mists might just be from Niflheim or Ravenloft... So here are a couple of suggestions form a more grim, darker, Northern Reaches setting:
Aptrganga (Revenant) as a Failed Einherjar (Ravenloft 5e Reborn Lineage adaptation)
(cue “The Lonely Man” theme song from the 1970s Incredible Hulk series)
As far you remember, you followed your chieftain into battle, screaming “Victory or Valhalla”, crashing into your foes. What you got was neither: the Valkyries failed to recognize a destiny glorious enough to earn a place in Valhalla or Sessrumnir, while Hel herself never bothered dragging you into her domain. And so, you rose from the battlefield as undead, with hazy memories of your previously. Maybe you're not even entirely yourself, just a patchwork of corpse pieces – from fallen friends and foes alike – that somehow regenerated themselves into one confused being with a gestalt mind (maybe it was the result of a Necromancer's botched attempt at raising zombies?).
Or maybe you froze to death during an avalanche in Soderfjord and have been in ice for countless years, having just recently been thawed back into existence during a warm Spring season, and when you finally came back home, the village elder tells you your last grandchildren died of old age decades ago, leaving you kinless.
Perhaps your corpse rested in a forgotten mound, and when adventurers looking for some loot caused the desecration of your tomb by their presence, you were re-awakened back into the world. While as a (lesser) Barrow-Wight you might not be evil at all, your existence is unnatural and your former kin, if they recognize you at all, are likely to reject you. You might quest for redemption, final rest, or to find a new purpose for your extended existence. You might have even joined the adventurers that accidentally brought you back, and now are a bit confused by recent events (“What do you mean, Vestland is independent now?”).
Pact of the Draugr (5e Undead Warlock adaptation)
“Winter is coming.”
When the Heldannic Knights took over your nation and your clan made its last stand against them, you were the only survivor, left bleeding and unconscious under a pile of corpses. As you recovered, over a few months, you saw the last of the resistance breaking and, worse, your own countrymen started eagerly joining the enemy ranks, seduced by the promise that they would become conquerors themselves. Even people who didn't sympathize with Knights just shrugged “The Heldannic Freeholds are no more, the past is dead.” In despair, you latched onto that last point until you became convinced that there was only one to get your coutry back, and so you made a bargain with dark forces by joining the Cult of Niddhogg. Through gory rituals, you were altered by necrotic energies, and then sent forth to spread death. You use the body count of your raids to build an ever-increasing army of animated corpses, so that one night you may rise as a warlord and eventually become the ruler of the 'Heldannic Darkholds'.
You were a ruthless mercenary from Soderfjord, and after committing too many foul deeds you were damned by the last words of a dying peasant girl. Forever marked by Hel, you can never enter Valhalla. Perhaps you accept your role as a servant of Entropy, awaiting the moment were you charge against the gates of Asgard itself in the Final Battle, and find your new powers to be so “metal”. Or maybe now you realize that while you can't come back from the line you've crossed, you can at least use your powers to fight Evil in your own way: after betraying your companions and reanimating them as zombies to serve you, you travel the world, as a pariah among both the dead and the living (and probably carrying twin edgelord scimitars...).
Pact of Rán (5e Fathomless Warlock adaptation combined with the Reborn Lineage from Ravenloft 5e)
“Release the Kraken !”
As an Ostland sailor that fell overboard in the chilling sea, you drowned and as such you were claimed by the primordial sea goddess Rán. But she spat you back onto the world, changed. You appear as a pale, bluish corpse. Your skin has a rubbery, bloated feel to it. You don't even blink. Your new lovecraftian seeming has an affinity with the seas and the dark things that lurk below. And while these powers are great at first, the constant gibberish and gargling sounds you hear in the back of your head are very annoying. Sometimes these form words – instructions – that you can discern, and acting on those orders make the voices go away for a few days or so. However, these tasks often make little sense, and many of them are not for the faint of heart.
(art from: https://www.deviantart.com/lucastorquato27/art/Zombie-Viking-716128285)