Empire of Bone: The Power of Death

In the Empire of Bone, death (and undeath) is a tangible force that imposes itself on the world in various ways:

• The Restless Dead – Once a living thing dies, they don’t always stay dead. There is a chance they will come back to life in an undead state: as a revenant, a zombie, a skeleton, a ghost, or as an animated “thing”. While many are quite civil about it, many also go about bothering the living with their undead state.
• Death Rot – The world is awash with entropic energies, causing everything to warp and rapidly. Everything appears to be in a twisted and dilapidated state and drained of color.
• Dead Sky – The sky has entered into a perpetual twilight, casting a pall on everything. The sun and moon both cast a dull light through the dead sky, with grey days giving way to a thick darkness on moonless nights.

This force of death can be controlled in various ways with those with the right knowledge:

• Grave Gifts – Every restless dead possesses a special power when they come back from the grave. Usually it is related to the method by which they died.
• Necromancy – Necromancy means “divination through communication with the dead”. Necromancers can do that and much more with the spirits of the dead.
• Reanimation – Through creative surgery and applied necro-science, talented surgeons can create mindless undead servants.
• Funerary Rites – The Black Church possesses certain powers over the dead, and indeed watches over the resurrection process.

This covers a fairly wide range of “dead powers” to work into story and player abilities!