The Skel were an ancient and malevolent race of humanoids, infamous for warfare, terror and their mastery of both shadow magic and voodoo magic. They existed as a blight upon the Wildlands, where their vast numbers and unrelenting cruelty made them a constant threat to all other races. Known for their intelligence and cunning, the Skel did not act as mindless beasts but rather as a highly organized and industrious people, though their pursuits were always steeped in evil. They were driven by a singular purpose: to dominate the Wildlands and bring all of its creatures, especially humans, to their knees.

Description

Skel were tall, standing at an average height of six feet, with a fearsome presence. Their skin was a dark, slate-gray, appearing almost like cracked stone in the dim light of the Wildlands‘ misty skies. Their hair, jet black and wiry, grew only from their heads, while the rest of their bodies were entirely hairless, accentuating the unnatural smoothness of their beastial features. Their faces were grotesque, with two small fang-like teeth protruding from their lower jaws, giving them a predatory appearance. Their eyes glowed with a fiery intensity, ranging in hue from sickly yellow to molten orange, and seemed to burn with the malice they harbored within. Among all humanoids races in the Wildland, the skel had the longest and most-pointed ears, making this a distinctive physical attribute.

Despite their savage appearance, the Skel were highly intelligent and industrious, building complex villages, crafting weapons, mastering magic and establishing dark alliances with an unsettling fervor. Their societies were built around a communal pursuit of malevolent goals, and they shared a twisted sense of duty to their dark cause.

Skel were known to command various beasts, which they used for both labor and war. One was the common Crow, as well as the Tyranox, muscled, sturdy, primal creatures with thick hides, served as beasts of burden and as mounts in battle, while black panthers, sleek and silent, accompanied them in raids, tearing their prey apart with lethal precision.

Necrotic Powers

The Skel were naturally immune to necrotic magic, an ability that made them particularly dangerous in battle against undead and other such adversaries. Not only could they resist negative energy, but they could also harness it to devastating effect, draining the life force of their enemies with a single breath of enfeebling power. This power was deeply ingrained in their essence, as if they were born of the shadows themselves. Among their kind, those who demonstrated the greatest aptitude for necromancy and illusion magic rose to positions of leadership. These powerful individuals, known as Necromon, held sway over their communities, controlling the dead as easily as they controlled the living. Necromons could summon shadows to obscure their movements, raise the fallen as undead warriors, and twist the perceptions of their enemies, leaving them vulnerable to Skel ambushes.

Within Skel society, there also existed a caste of warriors known as Brutes. These towering fighters were even larger and more muscular than their kin, their strength unmatched in combat. Brutes fought with savage fury, wielding enormous weapons like mauls and double-bladed axes. Their presence on the battlefield was enough to break the morale of any opponent, as they charged forward with reckless abandon, their brute force cleaving through armor and flesh alike.

Crows

The skel had a very long history with the common crow and forged a strong bond with them. For generations, they had been domesticating and training these birds as pets, and they were able to control swarms of these creatures in combat to disorient their enemies.

Haters of Humans

Above all, the Skel harbored an undying hatred for the humans of the Wildlands. This animosity was mutual, as humans viewed the Skel as a scourge that needed to be eradicated. For centuries, the two races waged a relentless war against each other, each vying for control of the Wildlands. The Skel saw humans as weak, unworthy creatures, unfit to inhabit the land that rightfully belonged to their kind. Every battle, every raid, and every conquest was driven by this deep-seated desire to wipe humanity from existence, and they pursued this goal with a terrifying fervor.

Mophedian Legacy

The Skel believed that their lineage could be traced back to the ancient Groll, a collection of powerful demonic spirits from the underworld realm of Mophedus. According to their lore, the Grolls were once powerful necromon sages who sought to cross over into the Wildlands and claim it as their own. Though these spirits were ultimately banished to the underworld, the Skel maintained that they were the direct descendants of these dark beings, inheriting both their necrotic powers and their mission to conquer the Wildlands in the name of the Mophedian lords. This belief was deeply ingrained in their culture, and it fueled their fanatical devotion to their dark masters.

Knights of Groll, Sworn to the Mission

Skel swore an oath to serve the Mophedian lords, a pledge that bound them to their dark purpose. They believed that the Wildlands had been promised to them by their ancestors, and they would stop at nothing to claim it. This oath was not merely symbolic; it drove them to train relentlessly in both martial combat and dark magic, honing their skills to perfection. The most devoted of their warriors became Knights of Groll, a fearsome order of knights who built shrines to the Mophedian lords in the darkest corners of the Wildlands. These underground sanctuaries were sites of unspeakable rituals, where human captives were sacrificed in horrific ceremonies to appease their shadowy masters.

Necrotic Breath

The Skel possessed a terrifying ability known as necrotic breath. This was no mere magical attack; it was a manifestation of the dark energy that coursed through their bodies. With a single exhalation, a Skel could release a burst of negative energy that sapped the life force of any creature unfortunate enough to be caught in its path. This necrotic breath not only drained the vitality of its target but also left them weakened, their bodies and spirits decaying from within.

Awakened by Night

The Skel were creatures of the night, most alive during the twilight hours when shadows stretched long and deep across the land. They prided themselves on their ability to lurk in darkness, using the cover of night to ambush their enemies. Skel warbands, led by their war masters, could move with astonishing speed and stealth through even the most treacherous terrain. Travelers who wandered too far from the safety of civilization often fell prey to these nocturnal hunters, their screams lost to the night as the Skel descended upon them with brutal efficiency.

Origins

The true origins of the Skel were shrouded in mystery. They did not hail from any one place but instead built their villages in remote locations that were hard to traverse. These locations made it easier for the skel to defend themselves and their society. These villages were scattered across the Wildlands, deliberately isolated, nestled deep within forests or hidden in the shadow of mountains.

There were no records of the Skel in the Ex Arcanotis, the great histories of the land. It was believed that they had crossed over from Mophedus at the end of Origins II, bringing with them the dark magic that had become their hallmark.

Notable Skel

Lagnok, the War King

Lagnok was a legendary Skel warlord who ruled with an iron fist during the Blood Wars of 1090 MA. Known as the War King, Lagnok led his forces on a bloody campaign across the Wildlands, leaving entire regions in ruins. His thirst for conquest was insatiable, and his reign was marked by terror and destruction. Lagnok’s army, bolstered by legions of undead raised by his Necromon advisors, was nearly unstoppable, and his name became synonymous with death and ruin.

Gulraas

Gulraas was one of the most powerful Necromon in Skel history. A master of necromancy and shadow magic, Gulraas commanded an army of the dead, raising fallen warriors to fight once more in the Skel’s endless war. His mastery over death itself made him a figure of both awe and fear within Skel society, and his reign of terror extended far beyond the borders of the Wildlands.