Calis

Calis
Calis is a city-state shrouded in mystery and misinformation.

Perhaps the most advanced and learned human culture, Calis is also the most magically enhanced. Calisians have shunned the wider world, and as a result they have become the victim of some unfounded myths and propaganda; that they are dark Liches raising armies of the dead, or that they practice ritual cannibalism in worship of some demonic blood god.

But what gives Calis it's nickname "The Dark City", and its darker still reputation, is its open embrace of the necromantic arts. A casual observer might mistake Calisian culture as being obsessed with death, but it more accurately Calisians range from venerance to indifference.

Location
It is located in the south east of Tol, it's surrounding territory bordering the Lysantine Sultanate, with whom it has a history of conflict. The city is entirely independent, beholden to no greater force and submitting to no overlord.

Only matched in scope and scale by the great capitals of the Lysantine satrapies, Calis is a sprawling metropolitan expanse. Whilst the eye is immediately drawn to it's most significant landmark - the Sepulchre - the rest of the city is no less of a marvel. With endless winding streets as far as the eye can see filled to the brim with all kinds of different buildings that could be housing or shops. Huge domed buildings and spindly towers seem to dot the city at random, whilst a series of walls rope around the outer edge of the city, each differently weathered to bely their staggered construction.

Calis lays claim to large swathes of territory surrounding it, primarily for farming, mining, logging, and other resource collection. Small towns and villages dot the countryside, populated by family groups and their Servile thralls. Many of these groups were existing settlements forcibly absorbed by Calis and assimilated.

The inhabitants of these surrounding settlements are often looked down upon by city dwellers; they do not consider those outside the city to be Calisians, instead referring to them as the Helots, after the first assimilated village, Helos.

History
Calis is most famous within Tol and beyond for ending the Lysantine Sultanate's great wave of expansion by means of military conquest.

Unwittingly built on the site of three intersecting major leylines, from the onset it has been associated with the practice of magic, much more so than anywhere else in Tol.

Long before the blossoming of human civilization, tribes of humans often migrated around the continent, rarely settling in one place for any extended period of time. To a much greater degree than now, their lives were governed by the life cycle of the planet itself; changes in season, changes in predators and prey alike, changes to the wider environment, so many things could upset the fragile balance humans needed to eek out their lives.

This was also a glacial period in Tol, with much colder temperatures across the entire continent, limiting human habitation and making long journeys far more arduous.

One such tribe, the Kal, found themselves drawn eastwards, to an area beyond the scope of human exploration at that time. The tribe's shamans claimed to feel an almost magnetic pull that they could not explain. As the tribe closed on their destination this pull grew ever stronger, and with it the enhanced shamanic powers; calling the voices of their ancestors came with ease, soon they could summon spirits in their entirety. The shamans knew, open reaching it, that the tribe had found something special, something ancient and powerful, that they could feel deep in their minds and bodies. So powerful was this aura that even those not learned in shamanic ways were now able to glimpse loved ones long gone, channelling in some small way the potential energy beneath them.

This was the Confluence. The three intersecting leylines caused such ripples in the fabric of reality that magic was as abundant as water in the sea. But like the sea, untamed ripples can become waves of overwhelming force that sweep away the unprepared.

The newly empowered shamans were able to accomplish great feats of magic previously unheard of. Where once careful ritual and ceremony was required to summon a spirit who might offer guidance and insight, such a thing could be accomplished now with mere focus and personal will. The shamans began reaching out with their magics into the ether, testing the extent to which they could shape the energy around the confluence. Perhaps if other forms of magic users had reached here first, such as halfling druids, Sload shapers, or the Hekan-witches of the early Atroxi, then how they utilised the Confluence's magical energy may have been entirely different. But from shamanistic origins grew a path of magic known as necromancy.

More than merely calling spirits, Calisian shamans learnt to summon them into recently vacated bodies to be commanded as servants. Naturally, this gave them access to a wealth of labour power unavailable to the other humans of Tol. Although this binding was not permanent, their study and practice of this necromancy allowed them to push such magics to the limits, creating a servile labour force of the recently deceased, each able to remain in service for as much as a decade.

They developed techniques to embalm the bodies of those who had been warriors in life, preserving them such that they may be called upon to do battle once again in times of great need, free from the menial labour of most Calisian corpses.

This also freed much of the people of Calis to focus on issues of the mind; science and philosophy blossomed, as did cultural and artistic expression, far beyond the rest of the human world. This necromantic path also lent itself to life extending magics, as the healing magic of Calis allowed even the gravest of wounds to be healed if treated rapidly enough.

The Confluence
The scholars of Calis have studied the Confluence and leylines in great detail, in an attempt to understand them.

Like tectonic plates, the leylines drift over time, moving only small amounts within a solar year. Leylines in close proximity to one another generally are forced away, but occasionally they instead exhibit a sort of gravitational pull, shifting over centuries towards one another.

This, the scholars believe, almost always results in a "Cataclysmic Event", which Calisian historiographers have tied to many disasters and catastrophes throughout the turbulent history of Tol.

Prominent among these is the hypothesis that the Halfling Exodus was caused by two major leylines that were long on an intersecting path finally colliding. The theory goes that the close proximity of the two leylines created such wondrous conditions for the Halflings; the druids feasted on the superabundant magical energies, and were able to channel it for the betterment of their people. But when these gravitating leylines snapped together - which the scholars believe occurs in such brief moments before violently repelling one another - the resulting massive energy blast awakened the long dormant volcano, shaking the earth itself so that great plumes of magma erupted all around it, building into a mega-eruptive event.

The scholars, however, have been entirely unable to explain the confluence. By all accounts, three intersecting leylines should cause utter destruction and devastation. And yet, they don't. They offer a fragile balance of magical energies that are somehow in alignment with one another. It is peaceful chaos.

King Rom
In the early days of Calis, as it began to form into an established city, rulership fell to a council of Elders; as vestige of their tribal origins. Originally, as one member passed on, the remaining Elders would simply appoint a replacement from among the best and brightest, who was assumed to be equally as capable as the the outgoing Elder. However, over time, this became an informal hereditary position, whereby an Elder's oldest child would be appointed as their successor. The oligarchy that this created drew much ire from Calisians; abuses and scandals ultimately culminating an uprising.

At some point, a man by the name of Rom began to speak out directly against the Elders and their oligarchy, holding public sermons decrying the Elders and their self agrandisment and perversion of power.

Rom - full name Romovelus - was the son of an Elder, the youngest of four. When his mother - an Elder - died, his older sister inherited their mother's position as an Elder on the council. Future Calisian histographers would highlight this as a key reason for Rom's stirring up dissent, his motivation more personal than political. Though certainly well spoken and articulate, Rom was by no means a captivating speaker; not especially charismatic or heroic. He was nonetheless a renowned firebrand, and clever enough to surround himself with the most passionate dissenters. After many months of public demonstrations alongside clandestine plotting, Rom and his disciples made their move. With thousands of supporters, and the tacit approval of many thousands more, they stormed the early-Sepulchre building, dethroning the Elders, killing most of them (including his sister). In their place, he announced himself as Steward of Calis, to oversee the transition of the City as a people's commission was established to design a fairer and more representative system of governance.

Whilst initially well supported, as his stewardship progressed Rom showed his true colours as a demagogue, popularly referred to as 'King Rom'. Cronyism and corruption were rife; the revolution had been perverted, it's intentions disregarded, and the commission lay all but abandoned. Those who spoke out were swiftly punished. His position and power began to see his support wane, eventually even his closest allies seeing the stewardship as untenable. After 12 long years, a coup was instigated by his advisors, who overthrew him and quickly moved to found a succeeding administration. What followed was known as the "Romovellion Reforms", which established the Archonage, a system whereby the heads of each of the major institutions - which was 'conveniently' the same as Rom's advisory council - would form a semi-democratic governing body of technocrats.

'King Rom' has since become a figure of ridicule, a common character in farcical stories and in children's puppet shows. He is the subject of widescale mockery, such that calling someone a 'King Rom' is to describe them as foolish and to undermine them.

The Lysantine War
Perhaps the most defining moment in their history since the city's founding, the war with the Sultanate (or rather, their defense against the Sultanate's invasion) was among the most prolific wars ever recorded within Tol.

A century of aggressive expansion by successive Sultans had brought the Sultanate right up to the Calisian doorstep, with microaggressions and wilful intrusions across the border by Lysantine troops acting as a prelude to the coming conflict. There was no official declaration of war, no offer of absorption, the Sultan merely waved his hand and tens of thousands of troops marched through the exposed irrigated farmlands around Calis. They met no resistance, no waiting defences, nothing. The Archons had been expecting the advance for some time, scrying to observe the movement of troops within the Sultanate, and so drawing in all of the Serviles from their farm postings, and ensuring all citizens too were safely within the epic black stone walls of the city proper.

As the Lysantine army advanced on the city, preparations were already in place. The Archons unleashed their greatest weapon, waking the thousands upon thousands of sleeping drauger that they might fulfil their eternal destinies. So too were the Serviles and Wights armoured and equipped with weapons, a ready reserve lest the drauger be overwhelmed, such was the fear among the Archons. Having prepared for the coming invasion for some time, the Calisians held firm behind their walls, confident in their ability to withstand siege, but less hopeful as to whether they could repel direct assault given the enormity of the host before them.

The following days saw a near endless bombardment of the city walls - day and night - from Lysantine siege weapons, hurling immense boulders that crashed into and over the walls, spilling chaos into the streets. And yet the Calisians held firm. After thirty days of near contant barrage and bombardment, Lysantine forces moved into position to begin their assault; although they had failed to outright penetrate either the city walls or the resolve of those within, they had certainly weakened both, and felt confident in bringing about an end to the siege.

In a last ditch bid to prevent an assault they knew they could not withstand, drauger poured from the front gates, forming into perfect legions before their opponents.

The ensuing battle lasted much of the rest of the day, with more drauger roused to replace the fallen whilst the Sultan's forces committed ever more troops. Despite being incredibly durable, able to withstand many attacks, drauger are not immortal and can ultimately be destroyed. Faced with such numbers as the Lysantine army employed, Calis was quickly running out of drauger, so that by day's end it became clear that they would not be able to face a second day of such destruction.

The Archons elected to breach their own laws and raise from their enemy's deceased a vast undead army, by returning their recently passed spirits. Within Calisian parlance, raising the dead this way is referred to as 'Lichery', and has always been a taboo prohibited by law. With the fading light, all of the city's necromancers acted in unison under the direction of the Archons, channeling their magics and raising every fallen Lysantine soldier. The survivng soldiers looked on in horror as their comrades arose, as though pulled by puppet strings. They began to cast down their weapons and flee; panic and disorder taking hold of the mighty Lysantine army.

The Sultan, as shocked and appalled as his men, rapidly moved to open negotiations to end the war, his hand forced by the growing desperation of his situation.

Negotiations in the coming weeks drew borders between the two, more to the benefit of Calis. The tenuous peace would be maintained despite sabre-rattling and threats from successive Sultans, ultimately too fearful of an undead invasion by their dark magics of Calis.

Archonage
Calis is governed by the Twelve Archons of the Sepulchre, a cathedral-like complex of steepled towers in gothic fashion, housing the great schools and institutions of Calis, and erected above the centre most point of the Confluence. Although not required, Archons have almost always been powerful necromancers. They take their sessions within the Halls of the Prime Spire; the oldest and tallest of the spires within the Sepulchre. Eight of the Archons are drawn from the Grand Spires, with the remaining four elected by the heads of the Spires.

Archons serve for life, and given the extent of their necromantic magics they regularly live for over a hundred years, with the most pushing more than halfway to their second century. This creates an incredibly experienced and capable leadership (or senile, depending on your viewpoint), albeit generally reserved and conservative. Upon dying, an Archon becomes an 'Ex-Archon'; an Exarch.

A simple majority is required to make decisions, with any tie being broken by the Gravespeaker - the soul of the most recent Exarch - brought back to cast the thirteenth, deciding, vote.

It is this that fuelled rumours of Calis being ruled by the dead.

The Sepulchre
The Sepulchre is the centrepiece of Calis, visible from all corners of the city. It's grandiosity exemplifies Calisian society, placing learning and necromancy at the heart of their society and at the head of all affairs.

Each of the Sepulchre Spires is a vast tower that serves as a the paramount institution of their respective fields. Outside of the Sepulchre, only the enigmatic Institute of Peculiarities can claim to be equal in prestige to the Spires.

The Grand Spires
The 'Grand Spires' each have a reserved place among the Archons, taken by the head of the respective Spire.

Augury Spire - concerning divination and farseeing (scrying). Grand Augur.

Spire of Restoration - concerning medicine and healing. Grand Apothecary.

Enchantery Spire - concerning enchantmenting and enchantments. Grand Enchanter.

Thrall Spire - concerning Serviles & Wights. Grand Custodian.

Sepulchre House of Wisdom (not technically a Spire) - Library & Archive. Arch-Scribe.

Alchemy Spire - concerning Alchemical study and experimentation. Grand Alchemist.

Garrison Spire - concerning the policing and defense of Calis. Chief Marshal.

Academic Spires - in fact a collection of spires concerning research and acadmia. Grand Scholar.

Between the scholars of the Academic Spires, the scribes of the Sepulchre Archive, and the Alchemists of the Alchemy Spire, Calis has put itself at the forefront of worldly (and perhaps otherworldly) understanding. That said, experimental necromancy outside of these approved institutions is not tolerated, and is a fast track to being Wighted (that is, forcibly turned into a wight).

The Sepulchre, however, is not entirely a united body. Competitiveness and rivalry is rife between the Spires - sometimes breaking into outright hostilities, with acts of sabotage and larceny.

The Romovellion Conclave
The Conclave sits as the highest constitutional authority of Calis. Made up of the heads of every Spire (not just the Grand Spires) as well as a number of other major institutions, they convene once every hundred years for a month, on the centenary of the Romovellion Reforms. Their purported purpose is reflect and make judgements on the previous century, as well as implement reforms - where necessary - to positively influence the century to come.

The Conclave is presided over by the Speaker of the Conclave, an ostensibly neutral party who also sets the agenda of each Conclave meeting in the month long process. The Speaker continues in their role full time beyond the scope of the Conclave itself, spending the intervening period as an observer to each and every session of the Archonage. In this way, they are paramount to the record keeping of Calis; their noted records allowing for intimate oversight by a Conclave, facilitating detailed scrutiny of the Archons and their actions. Their presence in the Archonage is equally seen as a deterrent to heterodoxy.

Helots
The Helots constitute all those living outside of the city proper, but within the surrounding territories claimed by Calis. As the City expanded, it's need for arable land and resources did too, resulting in waves of expansion imposing dominion over neighbouring settlements; the people's of these towns and villages forcibly integrated into Calisian rule. The ruling elites of these settlements were usually allowed citizenship and rights within Calis itself, and in this way certain cultural aspects of Calis have remained diverse.

At one time, it may have been accurate to describe them as subjugated peoples, but after centuries of Calisian rule they have largely assimilated, practicing much of the same cultural necromancy found in the cities, though with some irregularities.

Helots enjoy the same rights as Calisians, however they are treated almost with scorn. Whilst not outwardly hostile to them, Helots are looked upon as backwards or inferior by many within Calis (particularly among the wealthy).

Helots often act as stewards for Calisian Serviles, whose services are contracted out as seasonal agricultural labourers.

Calisian Magic
Necromancy sits at the centre of all the magical offerings of Calis. All magical problem solving is thus viewed through a necromantic lens.

Harrow Stones
Harrow Stones are enchanted precious stones of all kinds, cut and engraved with particular magical sigils, which allow the stones to be enchanted with necromantic magic. These enchanments mean that a spirit can remain bound to a body for much longer than would otherwise be possible, slowing the decay of the otherwise cadaverous flesh. As all citizens will one day become Serviles, it is a rather important consideration.

Where the skill lies, however, is in the type of precious stone used, as well as the finesse of the engravings. Basic Harrow Stones can be acquired for very little coin from The Ossuary, stones ordered en mass and engraved by common jewellers throughout the city. The downside of such stones is the weakness in holding their enchanment, resulting in rather rapid decay of the Servile. From a dignity perspective, this is less than ideal, but what is of greater concern, usually, is that Serviles are a source of income for the deceased's family - a longer lasting Servile can generate more income from their labours.

Many choose to spend significant sums of money commissioning incredibly elaborate Harrow Stones engraved by highly skilled lapiderists. The wealthy in particular are reknowned for their beautiful stones, often encased in metal filigree and worn as pendents around their necks.

Healing
Calisian clerics are undoubtedly the most able healers in the known world. Using magic to heal is very much in the purview of necromancy, as the often quoted opening line to Archon Aliast's 'Treatise on Restorative Necromancy' states "To abate wound or subdue senescence is to overturn the forward flow of the natural order".

Although most ordinary citizens would not have access to the kinds of life extending magics afforded to the Archons and wealthy elites, the prominence of lesser healing to cure for most common wounds and ailments ensures that the majority of Calisians enjoy good health.

Divination
The art of divination - or Augury, as it is known amongst Calisians - is an ancient one, its forms and methods largely unchanged from it's archaic shamanistic origins. By and large, two major forms of augury exist: reading/casting bones, and consulting powerful spirits.

Bone reading is as much about instinct and intuition as it learning how to interpret the bones. One application of bone reading is burning human bone in magical fire, withdrawing it and interpreting the symbolism of cracks and markings. Another technique is to carve meaningful symbols into the bones, then throwing - casting - the bones upon a surface, reading their particular positions in relation to one another as prophecy.

Consulting spirits is far more straightforward and self explanatory; practitioners attempt to summon the wisdom of powerful spirits, who may offer tidings of things to come, present past memories, or allow one to see into far off lands through scrying.

The necromancers of the Augury Spire have a particularly esoteric reputation, sometimes viewed as "glorified mystics" by the self-describe 'reputable' Spires. Nonetheless, augurs are very often consulted by the Archons prior to taking any drastic action.

Hemomancy
Blood magic.

Culture
Calis is very much a city of learning and culture; it is home to a multitude of theatres, galleries, parlours, various sport arenas, music halls, libraries (of which the Sepulchre's Central Archive is the grandest), and all the trappings of a thriving cultural hub.

Learning
Outside of the Sepulchre Spires, which are the uncontested peak of learning in Calis, education is accessed by the mass of the Calisian populace through Madars. Madars are schools of various kinds focused on particular trades or subjects, with the goal of perfecting their chosen area of study/practice. They are named after Ex-Archon Madar, who founded the first of these schools in an effort to "ensure excellence in every labour, every profession", that is, Madar intended to construct a more rigid and professional system of education to supersede the old apprentice-master custom. The initial Madars focused on the likes of masonry and carpentry, but it wasn't long before they were joined by Madars "of the mind", teaching philospohy, architecture, and mathmatics. More and more Madars sprung up over time as the population of Calis continued to climb.

Serviles
In the cycle of Calisian citizenship, upon death ones corpse is reanimated for undead servitude, as a Servile. This is considered a natural succession in the life cycle of all Calisians. The exception to this is the Archons, who are exempt from such duty and are instead interred inside painted sarcophagi within chambers beneath the Sepulchre, so that their wisdom and insight may more readily be called upon by future generations. Serviles constitute the bulk of the labour force within Calis, as undead serfs tending to all the physical labours and needs of their living masters. Almost all of the irrigated farmland surrounding the city is worked by human supervised Serviles, for example. This frees up the bulk of Calisians to focus themselves on other endeavours, which has greatly enriched their society as a result. Serviles are entirely dependent on their living masters, unable to think or take action of their own accord; they are not sentient.

After passing, one's body is taken to be embalmed in the Ossuary. The Ossuary is a massive domed building that sits some distance from the Sepulchre, and as such towers above its surroundings as the second largest building in the city. Once these procedures have been completed, the now embalmed cadaver is moved on to one of the connected mortuary chambers, where they remain for a two week period, available for mourners to make their peace. The body is then prepared, dressing them in a simple cloth gown. After this, a Harrow Stone is implanted upon the host's brow between their eyes, and the necessary necromancy is performed to pull a spirit into the host body, reanimating it as a Servile.

Serviles are very much the property of the host's family, or next of kin, finding use working family farms, mining, logging, etc. Commonly, when a loved one passes, their family will arrange to have a Harrow Stone made, and it is in their best interests to purchase as high a quality as possible. Whilst some Serviles will remain in their households, and indeed they are a common sight throughout Calis, it is far more common for families to "rent out" their Serviles.

In cases where there is no family or next of kin, the state provides a very basic Harrow Stone, and possession of the Servile falls to the local Magistrate acting on behalf of the state.

Serviles feature very heavily as seasonal workers in the fields of Helot farmers.

Wights
In addition to the Serviles are Wights. To be turned into a Wight is a punishment enacted for the worst crimes within Calis (which includes the likes of murder, and necrophilia). Powerful magics are used on the still living person to bind a foreign entity to their body, an act of possession that subsumes the free will of the host. Over time, they develop the signature vacant stare and gaunt visage. To further demarcate them, Wights are ritually shaved (the hair does not grow back), and rather than Harrow stones they have the sigils branded directly onto the Wights skin. As with Serviles, they are then dressed in plain cloth gowns.

Unlike a Servile - whose servitude has a definite end - a Wight's enslavement may last centuries as their bodies gradually decay, being a living body held together by the same preservative magic that binds the spirit within them.

Wights are often used in the most demanding and dangerous works, employed to maintain the sewer system or enact dangerous repairs high up on the the spires of the Sepulchre.

Religion
Religious beliefs are notably absent from Calis; with the widespread introduction of necromancy and it's normalisation within Calisian society, religious mythology lost sway. Ideas around an 'afterlife' and omniscient beings pulling mortal strings were replaced by self aggrandisement and belief in a self regulating natural order which can be influenced and manipulated by magic.

Cult of the Sanguine
A quasi-religious group that were notably the last tolerated within Calis. Ostenstibly a society for the betterment of life through the use of hemomancy, their covert reverence for the 'Sanguine God' became the undoing of hemomancy.

Lead by the matriarchical Paramount Sanguine, the Cult were intrinsicly tied to the now defunct Hemetic Spire, which studied and furthered the practice of hemomancy - blood magic. It had long been maintained by adherants of hemomancy that it was an offshoot of necromancy, sharing origins and goals with the emblamatic magic. The longstanding tolerance came to a close when the Paramount Sanguine was arrested on charges of high treason and the Cult abruptly disbanded by the collective will of the Archons.

Pilus the Betrayer
The Paramount Sanguine at the time had been accused by one of the Cult's high ranking members - Pilus - of occult divinty, a very serious crime that breached the core tenets of Calisian society. The Paramount Sanguine had gathered high ranking members of the Cult, and shared with them her plan to bring herself and this select few immortality, by sacrificing many thousands of Cult members in a hemomancy ritual that would transform her into the Immortal Avatar of the Sanguine God.

Pilus, although very much enthralled by hemomancy and equally as covetous of eternal life, had joined the Cult of the Sanguine largely because of the privilege and opportunity it afforded him within the Hemetic Spire. He still very much adhered to the principles of anti-divinty, and paid lip service to the more religious elements of Cult membership in order to rise to a position of relative prestige within hemomancy. So when the Paramount Sanguine announced her intentions, Pilus was left with an easy choice of his own. Not acting entirely out of duty, he sensed an opportunity to destroy the Cult and supplant the Paramount Sanguine as the head of the hemomancy within the city.

With Pilus' guidance, the Paramount Sanguine was found, and arrested by the Archons before she was able to enact her plot. So too were the high ranking Cult members party to it, Pilus excluded, granted clemency for his role in foiling the conspiratorial ritual.

The Cult was disbanded, and the Archons additionally opted to abolish the Hemetic Spire, expelling it's members from the city. This was perhaps a light punishment, as the Paramount Sanguine and her conspirators were given the ultimate punishment - they were Wighted. Furhtermore, the now vacant Hemetic Spire was converted into an eternal bastille; the Paramount Sanguine was given the eternal life she wanted, but as a prisoner in her own body, to spend her days interred, slowly decaying. The other Wights were put to work as any other, forgotten by wider society.

Warfare
Despite propaganda depictions of Calisians as Lich Lords commanding an army of the dead, the city maintains a professional standing army of highly trained soldiers that do not rely on magic. This is intentional, as scholars from the Academic Spire have long studied the gradual movement of the leylines across Tol, some hypothesising the eventual disintegration of the Confluence. The Archons are not fools, and so they prepare for this eventual possibility.

Drauger
Beneath the Sepulchre exists a series of immense subterranean crypts, filled with many thousands of dark slate coffins. These coffins house the embalmed corpses of the warriors who have served the city of Calis from the time of it's founding up to the present. They appear as rather slender beings, the embalmment and centuries of rest reducing their bodily mass. They are uniformly clad head to toe in shale-like wrappings overlaid with light armour plates that have been melded to their leathery flesh.

Whilst all of Calis' cadavers undergo embalmment upon passing (prior to their resurrection as Serviles), the process for creating a drauger is rather different. They must remain "intact" for many hundreds of years, and as such receive a particular embalmment than involves the combined use of particularly potent alchemical and magical technologies. Alchemists use special chemical concoctions within the subject's body alongside charcoal-imbued linen strips wrapped to cover their entire body to ensure as little decay as possible. Then, necromancers of the Sepulchre's Entombment Spire apply their powerful enthrallment magic through the use of special Harrow Stones. Such stones are masterfully cut multifaceted polished gems, with each of the tiny faces intricately engraved with minute enchanting sigils. Such depth of detail permits the most powerful enchantments to be imbued into these Harrow Stones. Each single Drauger Harrow Stone requires many weeks of work across several different professions.

Soldiers are exempt from Servility, taking their slumber within the burial chambers below the Sepulchre, awaiting the call of their city.

A great number of drauger were lost in the war with the Lysantine Sultanate; their numbers unlikely to be replenished for centuries to come.