Borai

Borais are an unusual form of corporeal undead. Instead of being a dead body animated by negative energy, a borai has a mostly dead body that retains the smallest sliver of its soul. The two are inexorably bound, as the body draws vitality from the soul while the soul uses the body to remain on the Material Plane. Some borais are the results of partially botched resurrection attempts, either magical or technological, while others were people who were simply too stubborn to fully die when their time came.

Borais appear much as they did in life, but their skin becomes pale and fragile, and dark veins of negative energy blossom across their bodies, a visual sign of the undead connection between their flesh and spirits. Borais still need to eat, breathe, and sleep, just like any living creature, but they age at radically slowed rates, allowing them to live for a few additional centuries. After that length of time, a borai’s physical body deteriorates to such a degree that the soul can no longer sustain it; the borai then both dies (as living creatures do) and is destroyed (as undead creatures are). Scholars are divided as to whether these souls move on to their appointed afterlives or simply dissipate into nothingness; mystical attempts to contact these souls have unfortunately failed, leaving researchers frustrated in their pursuit of answers.

Though they can be created almost anywhere, the highest “birth rate” of borais is on the planet Eox, as many of the undead who live on that planet experiment with necromancy and undead-strengthening science. Those who come into existence elsewhere tend to migrate to Eox, as they are often viewed with fear and mistrust on other worlds. However, they soon find that similar prejudices await them on the dead planet, as they still require the same comforts as living creatures. A few borais from disparate former races have banded into a small coalition to petition the Pact Council for the official rights to an asteroid or small moon to create a home planet.

Some borais embrace their disconcerting aspects, finding employment as terrifying enforcers or imposing bodyguards, while others seek to overcome and erase the stigma of their undead nature by holding diplomatic positions or taking jobs where they interact with the public. A few borais attempt to hide their pale appearances with cosmetics and full-body clothing. These borais attempt to blend in with members of their original races, though this often results in heartbreak and feelings of betrayal from their friends.