== Introduction ==
	
	Necrolytes are conscious, non-zombielike non-living creatures. They cannot be defined as undead, because they are not merely re-animated corpses, but a real race of beings of undeath, with their unique physiology and history.
	
	They are ancient, timeless race of powerful spellcasters and skillful artisans, obsessed with perfectionism, always thriving to overdo the former generations. Their society is rigorous and highly disciplined, and this is the main reason for their disgust of living creatures. Necrolytes cannot simply stand the chaotic nature of those soft, squishy sacks of flesh, or their emotion-distorted, reckless existence.
	
	Even while Yorkaturr loves the Necrolytes, and holds them in high esteem, they owe no allegiance to anyone, for no god has created them.
	
	== Appearance == 
	
	A Necrolyte basically looks like a human skeleton, whose skull is stretched into a long, beak-like cone, which has no mouth or teeth, but has large, avian eyeholes. They are tall and gaunt, due their delicate bones which are more elongated than other races'. Their bones, however, are not fragile because their marrow is replaced with "focus": precious and rare minerals (gold, platinum, orichalcum...), which bind Necrolyte's spirit with his physical shell. Surprisingly, a Necrolyte's skeletal body is not hollow, but its chest cavity is filled with layers of gear-like bones of various size. There is one additional joint in their fingers, which offsets their natural clumsiness, and allows them to do precise work.
	
	A Necrolyte lacks all natural senses. They use their magical awareness to perceive their surroundings. Thus darkness does not limit the things they can "see". Bright sunlight, however, disrupts their magical field and renders them half-blind (and deft and incapable of smelling anything). Necrolytes do have a language which they use to communicate with each other. It is formed of series of clicking sounds produced inside their chests.
	
	It is intriguing to watch a Necrolyte move. Because they have no muscles their movements are naturally jerky, inaccurate, like ones of a macabre clockwork toy. Somehow, however, they manage to perform all their actions with a particular grace, like they were giant puppets whose strings are pulled by a very skilled master.
	
	Besides armor, Necrolytes have no need to wear clothing. Occasionally they dress themselves in black, tattered robes and cloaks, partly because they are handy for carrying tools and equipment, partly because Necrolytes know that they look incredibly cool while standing in a raging storm and letting their vestments billow around themselves like black, leathery wings of a giant raven.
	
	Necrolytes have no metabolism whatsoever. Thus, they do not need water or food to sustain themselves. Also, killing something that does not live is, by definition, quite impossible. A wounded Necrolyte neither bleeds nor falls in a state of shock, for it has no internal organs. Puncturing weapons are ineffective against them, and their metal-filled bones are firm and resilient .
	
	However, Necrolytes are not impervious to damage. When their finely-crafted skeletal structure takes punishment a Necrolyte feels it directly in its soul. Blows that splinter their bones and cause their precious fillings to spill to the ground weaken Necrolyte's link with this world. When damaged heavily enough (i.e. someone has hacked it into several pieces and jumped up and down over them) a Necrolyte will be left without a physical shell: it has become a disembodied spirit, doomed to wander forever outside our world, for Yorkaturr refuses to take their souls in his kingdom.
	
	(In reality, a destroyed Necrolyte's fate is not always that gloomy. While it is true that it has suffered an enormous humiliation when some pulpy flesh-being has ruined its body, a Necrolyte's spirit i.e. its personality and memories are still intact. This homeless spirit then begins its long, hard journey to the highest mountains, where Necrolytes' greatest city lies. There, before the highest council of ancestors, it can plead for a new body. If the spirit has been original and creative enough, and it has promoted the Evolution, a body will be smithed. Otherwise, if the spirit has been dull and unimaginative, or has committed the Sin of Repetition, it will be bound, as penance, in some useful tool (a sword, for instance) for few thousand years).
	
	And being a non-living creature does have additional drawbacks. Firstly, lacking digestion and circulatory system, the majority of magical potions and herbs has no effect on a hapless Necrolyte. Secondly, their bodies do not heal naturally: if a Necrolyte gets damaged it has to get itself repaired at the nearest Bonesmith. Lastly, most of the normal healing spells cannot help a Necrolyte.
	
	Most of things written above apply only to a newborn Necrolyte. Majority of older Necrolytes, who vary greatly in form and appearance, are constantly re-building themselves, adding new, improved bits and removing older, less functional parts. This is their custom, their obsession, which is followed with almost fanatical zeal: The Evolution.
	
	-- malekith