The Undead Horde 2023

The Undead Horde of 2023 was an absolute monarchy, ruled by the Night Monarch with an iron fist. Defeated Night Monarchs maintained some popular influence within the Horde, however, and counciled the Nite Qween on strategy and affairs of state.

When a new Undead is welcomed into the fold, they are, by tradition, given a name by the reigning Night Monarch to represent their new status. This is often wordplay on their living name. The Undead also refuse to be bound by "living-supremacist spelling conventions."   2023's Undead reveled in being villains. They existed to defeat the living, and if anything, they wrote harder than they did as living Tome Knights However, their villainy did not extend to each other. Their thralldom to the Night Monarch assured that unlike in the living Houses, there was never any betrayal.   Some Undead, however, missed their living House of origin and longed to return to them. They still acted upon their sinister impulses — to eat the brains and blood of living Tome Knights, and devour their word-magic — but therein lay the tragedy. Famously, James Woodwright, upon rising as Undead, continually apologized to the Mother of Bunnies, Flubb, and other members of House Lapin, even as he was attacking them.

The Undead sought to destroy the living through their Literomancy and take The Iron Tome for themselves.

The Undead Horde first made its appearance in the First Word War of 2020. Their first leader was the Nite Qing Erin Righ. They were ultimately defeated by the living, but not without a brutal fight. Upon their defeat, the Undead were all restored to life.   In The Second Word War, AuthorGoddess, who had been chosen by The Nite Qing as a successor, began by distracting and confusing the Houses and pitting them against each other. However, they eventually figured this out, and made a Grand Alliance, which defeated the Horde. Once more, the dead were Resurrected.   In The Third Word War, AuthorGoddess chose ECC Books as her successor, offering him power to help defeat Prinx Tempest in a Filk Off competition, but when it came time to acquire the Iron Tome on Halloween of 2022, Prince Galakrond beat him to the punch. Both became Night Monarchs when the Tome was contested by both of them at the turn of midnight in the timezone they were in. The Horde that had been Turned by each of them had different traits, and resurrecting Prince Galakrond threw his Horde into disarray at the Battle of Mount Mitchell, rather than their control defaulting to "ICC DeadPeople".   By 2023, the living had begun to learn about the nature of the undead. Distracted by The Great Migration, and suffering from grief at the loss of Prinx Tempest and Magic Drain for much of the year, Queen Sable Aradia missed the early signs. But by September, she was aware that House Lapin Librarian AttorraRu had begun showing signs of the same odd behaviours that ECC Books and Prince Galakrond had displayed in the year leading up to their corruption as Night Monarchs, especially following the Battle vs the Nite Qing.   She attempted to discreetly warn all of the House Leaders, but her warning did not reach King RPGDinosaurBob or Raptor Captain Dazzlinkat in time, while the Tome was thought to be safely ensconced under House Sauropoda's The Stone Throne . AttorraRu was able to get her hands on the Iron Tome, and therefore, it was in her possession when she fell to darkness on Halloween of 2023, and rose as the Nite Qween.   The Nite Qween's Horde were tinged with a distinctive purplish shade, like the colour of an old bruise, rather than the usual rotting green, though they were no more resistant to necrosis than any previous Horde. While her forces included the usual mindless swarm raised from non-literomancers, her Tome Zombies showed exceptional self-awareness and significant magical proficiency. However, lacking knowledge of necromancy, she was not able to imbue her other undead with any of their previous life skills.   This was fortunate for the living because she displayed a keenly tactical mind. She made the death of the Bunny Queen, with her unique healing powers, a priority. However, due to the heroism of the Owsla and some significant magical defenses, Queen Sable survived her assault, although most of the Owsla did not.  

Bodyguards taste the best.

— Nite Qween AttorraRu

  Having acquired Satrium, the Wizard of GoT, early in The Fourth Word War, she was able to make use of his significant technomantic skills. His hacking brought down the Warren's formidable electronic defenses, and allowed her Tome Zombies access to military equipment, including the B-52 bomber that was in the possession of House Ailurus, which allowed them to drop a 100 ton bomb on Zafforza City.   Her manipulation of Seneschal ShyRedFox with corrupted Glitter allowed the Nite Qween to steal Literomantic Power from the The 50K Team Up assault at the beginning of the war, disrupted the Meles portal system, and along with a once-again fallen Lord GalaWight, gave her the knowledge she needed to disrupt the wards on the Warren's main entrance.   Corrupted glitter was once again utilized prior to The Battle of Crystal Song, which used a hack into secret surveillance drones that Raptor Captain Dazzlikat had dispersed among the other Houses to target Queen Sable in an attempt to incapacitate "the party cleric" and disrupt battle planning. It would have succeeded, were it not for the quick actions and determination of the Tome Knights, particularly Senna Nightshade, Queen TaraFaeBelle of House Chiroptera, and Anassa JaySeaBoom of House Mollusca, and the literomantic inventiveness of Cheetya Ironfist.   The living forces fought the Undead Horde to a standstill, and the Nite Qween dueled Queen Tara. Underestimated by everyone, including herself, the Bat Queen defeated the Nite Qween, and through her love and friendship, Queen Tara was able to convince AttorraRu to turn over the Iron Tome. Queen Tara wrote in the Tome to raise the dead once again.   While Glitter Storms became a new weather phenomenon, and Power Writers began to notice diminishing returns on the highest levels of their literomantic prowess, no other ill effects seemed forthcoming.

December 2, 2023