Rites and Rituals

Rite of the Ashen Name

This ritual is performed upon joining the Order. The novice writes their former name on a thin wooden tablet. The tablet is then burned, and its ashes are mixed with the earth at the entrance to the crypt. From that moment on, the former bearer of the name is considered dead, and the new servant belongs to Decay.

Night Without Flame

A trial of silence. The servant is left alone in a deep cave, with nothing but themselves and a wandering undead or reanimated corpse for company. There is no fire, no lamp, and no weapon in the cave. They must spend the night listening to their own fear and praying to Decay.

Those who flee are not always expelled, but access to the inner secrets of the Order is usually closed to them forever.

Song of the Last Bell

A funeral and post-battle ritual. Bone choristers walk among the bodies and sing in low, drawn-out voices. This song does not bring the dead back to life, but according to the Order's beliefs, it helps Decay “claim” what has already separated from the world of the living.

Rite of Return

The most terrifying and famous ritual of the Servants of Decay. It can be performed not only by Knights of Decay, but also by the Order's high priests and necromancers of Decay.

High priests perform the Rite of Return in sanctuaries, crypts, underground halls, and during the Order's great rituals. Their Return is slow and solemn, accompanied by chants, seals, the recitation of psalms, and lengthy preparation.

Necromancers of Decay use the Rite of Return for specific purposes: raising individual undead, creating Bone Guards, reinforcing dead bodies, commanding entire ranks, and preserving the fallen for further service. They understand the workings of dead flesh and the decaying body better than anyone else.

Knights of Decay perform the Rite of Return differently. To them, it is not only a ritual, but also a weapon of the battlefield. They can raise the fallen almost immediately after death, turning still-warm bodies into silent ranks.

During the Rite of Return, black iron stakes are driven into the ground, chains bearing bone plates are stretched between them, and ashes, fragments of weapons, names of the fallen, or pieces of armor are placed upon the earth. The servant, priest, necromancer, or knight then gives a command addressed not to the souls, but to the bodies. And the dead rise.

The Servants claim that this is not true resurrection. The soul does not return. The personality does not awaken. The body becomes an instrument of its final duty. But those who have seen the undead up close whisper otherwise: sometimes the dead turn their heads toward familiar voices, stop before the homes where they once lived, or reach toward those they once loved. This is what makes them more terrifying than ordinary undead.

Undead of Decay

The undead raised through the power of the Rite of Return are not all the same. Within the Order, they are distinguished by their role and how they are used.

The Fallen

Ordinary reanimated dead. Slow and heavy, they feel no pain and are suited for frontal assaults, sieges, intimidation, and wearing down the enemy.

Bone Guards

Bodies reinforced with iron braces, plates, spikes, and ritual chains. They are used to guard gates, underground passages, crypts, necromancers' workshops, and remote outposts.

Voiceless Standard-Bearers

Special undead that carry the standards of Decay. As long as the banner remains standing, the surrounding ranks of the dead maintain formation and do not decay too quickly.

Ashen Riders

A rare and particularly terrifying type of undead — raised together with dead mounts, charred armored creatures, or the remains of old war machines. Their appearance is considered a sign of a great war.

The power of those who command the undead is not limitless. The farther the dead are from their master, the weaker the control over them becomes. The more bodies are raised, the more deeply Decay eats away at the body and spirit of the one channeling it. This is why knights, necromancers, and even high priests who work with the Rite of Return for too long look as though they already have one paw in the grave.