"My father says wraiths are left behind when someone dies badly. My mother says they probably just left the kettle on." - Brightcarver's Bestiary
Wraiths are malevolent specters, and their call brings nothing but suffering and death. Even the bravest heroes have been known to cower when wraiths approach. Wraiths spread fear and despair wherever they move, freezing body and soul with their ghostly touch.
Despite the fearsome nature of Waiqar's forces, none of them are as dreaded as wraiths. Whether they existed before the Undying One claimed the Mistlands, or are beings he created with his own arcane powers, is a matter of much debate with both peasants and wizards alike. Perhaps the only ones who know with certainty are those who serve the Thirteenth Baron.
Several Greyhaven scholars who dare study such matters believe wraiths are the manifestations of tragic or violent deaths involving dark emotions, ones so powerful that death itself could not still the intense hate, passion, or jealousy involved. And so, they say, such spirits rise after the corpse falls, ghastly flowing forms far more destructive than mere shades. They especially turn their ire towards any who would disturb them as they haunt decaying deathbeds, ancient battlefields, crumbing treasure vaults, and other places that perhaps had special meaning to their lives (or deaths).
These horrific spectral creatures conjure fear in even the most stouthearted of Daqan knights as they eerily glide over marshes and through bulwarks, bringing the icy cold touch of the grave to whomever they encounter. Often just the sight of a single wraith is enough to send disciplined units screaming in retreat, and many an adventuring band has been reduced to a single gibbering survivor who barely returns to tell their tale.
At the sight of a wraith emerging from its crypt, even the bravest turn and flee. If it’s not the spirit’s looks that cause such dread, it’s fear of their call. To hear the summon of the wraith is to invite death and submit your fate to its malevolent will. The aura of doom that permeates a house that hosts a family of wraiths is more than sufficient to deter all but the most foolish of adventurers.
References
- Realms of Terrinoth
- Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition): Manor of Ravens
- Heroes of Terrinoth
- Battlelore (Second Edition)