Part 28: Delecti the Necromancer

I've been waiting for one of the Upland Marsh events to post this lore...

Delecti the Necromancer:
Back in the second age, there was a sorcerer named Delecti who lived in the Godlearner's realm and was fascinated by the secrets of life and death. After a while, his experiments led him to be exiled.

I'll just stop and underline this point: Delecti got exiled by the Godlearners for doing horrible magical experimentation.

Needing a lot of mystical support for his work, Delecti moved into the Empire of the Wyrm's Friends, where he researched pretty much unimpeded until the Golden Horde invaded and triggered the Dragonkill. Delecti used his magics to create the Upland Marsh to hold off the Horde, while using a second magic (perhaps the result of a heroquest) to suspend himself between life and death, meaning that the dragons no longer recognized him. From this point Delecti was able to transfer his consciousness from body to body, so that as one died he could claim another.

In the time since, Delecti has continued his researches in the Upland Marsh. Most of his undead are skeletons and zombies, which are most effective in the marshland. Unlike most undead of this sort, which are mindless and best as guards or fodder, Delecti's undead can come under his direct control so long as he can establish a chain between them.

One way to conceive of this power: Delecti can temporarily transfer his consciousness into a mindless undead in his line of sight, and by so doing, can spread his consciousness throughout a horde so long as each undead can see another.

If not for Delecti's focus on research and for the heroic efforts of the Ducks and Humakti (and Humakti Ducks), his undead might well outgrow the swamps and overrun the world.