Borai
Source Player Core pg. 84
A borai is simultaneously living and dead—a corpse reanimated by their own soul into something just barely alive. Despite being corporeal undead, a borai's body is a living shell that protects their tattered, undead soul, making them something altogether unique.
Borais are most often created by accident through a botched resurrection attempt (whether magical or technological) or necromantic experimentation. Some people transform after a near-death experience through sheer stubborn determination and refusal to accept death. Once a person becomes a borai, their living body and undead soul are inexorably bound to one another. A borai's body draws vitality from the soul, preventing rot and degradation, while the soul tenaciously clings to their body, eerily preserving it in unchanging perfection. Even if a borai is killed and resurrected or reincarnated, this bond isn't severed, and a borai always comes back as a borai.
Unlike many forms of undead, borais are the same person they were before their death—they retain their personality, memories, and feelings, and often seek to maintain the emotional connections and relationships they forged in life. Yet death leaves its mark on borais, and many living beings innately sense something is off about them, straining a borai's relationships and changing their social status. This slow souring of friendships and fracturing of support systems tends to push borais out of their comfort zone, driving them from their homes and past lives and toward the unknown—an experience that leaves many borais jaded, emotionally guarded, or overeager to embrace new experiences.
If you want to play a character who blurs the lines between living and dead, and who's struggling to find their place in a strange afterlife, you should play a borai.
Unlike many forms of undead, borais are the same person they were before their death—they retain their personality, memories, and feelings, and often seek to maintain the emotional connections and relationships they forged in life. Yet death leaves its mark on borais, and many living beings innately sense something is off about them, straining a borai's relationships and changing their social status. This slow souring of friendships and fracturing of support systems tends to push borais out of their comfort zone, driving them from their homes and past lives and toward the unknown—an experience that leaves many borais jaded, emotionally guarded, or overeager to embrace new experiences.
If you want to play a character who blurs the lines between living and dead, and who's struggling to find their place in a strange afterlife, you should play a borai.
You Might…
- Be determined to succeed and refuse to accept your own failure or defeat at any cost.
- Seek life-affirming experiences and relationships, perhaps even recklessly or to your own detriment.
- Fear what killed you or avoid the place you died, or feel mysteriously drawn back to it.
Others Probably…
- Confuse you with another type of undead and are surprised when you breathe, eat, or sleep.
- Find your presence unnerving, even if they can't pinpoint why.
- Seek your advice about grief, loss, death, and the afterlife.
Physical Description
Borais appear as they did in life, but their skin usually takes on a pallid, waxy hue, and their blood becomes infused with void energy, turning it into a thick, black ichor that's clearly visible through their flesh. As their body is alive, borais must breathe, eat, and sleep, and they can be healed, stabilized, and even resurrected like any other living creature. Borais age at radically slowed rates, allowing them to live up to a few additional centuries. After this 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 don't agree whether these souls move on to their appointed afterlives or deteriorate and immediately reenter the cycle of souls as raw quintessence in Creation's Forge.
Society
Borais are reanimated all throughout the galaxy, from the Pact Worlds to the Vast, making them a diverse people with a scattered population. Most borais are “born” on Eox or on other planets where necromancy, religious resurrections, and scientific research into immortality are commonplace. Many borais begin their second life trying to live as they did before their death, keeping the same routines and relationships—often while attempting to hide their transformation using cosmetics, illusions, or augmentations. While borais might live anywhere, many settle in places more accepting of undead, such as Eox. Since borais require the same comforts as living creatures, they might have trouble fitting in within undead societies.
Borais who have lived over a decade as undead tend to consider family a matter of friendship, loyalty, and love rather than that of genetics or lineage. Adopted families and sprawling friendship groups are common, and some instead find companionship in mercenary or military units, among members of the same social movements or religious groups, or within the cutthroat hierarchy of a corporation or consortium. Some borais embrace their ominous appearance and disconcerting aspects, finding employment as terrifying enforcers or imposing bodyguards, while others seek to overcome and erase the stigma of their undead nature by working as healers, politicians, or public servants.
Borais who have lived over a decade as undead tend to consider family a matter of friendship, loyalty, and love rather than that of genetics or lineage. Adopted families and sprawling friendship groups are common, and some instead find companionship in mercenary or military units, among members of the same social movements or religious groups, or within the cutthroat hierarchy of a corporation or consortium. Some borais embrace their ominous appearance and disconcerting aspects, finding employment as terrifying enforcers or imposing bodyguards, while others seek to overcome and erase the stigma of their undead nature by working as healers, politicians, or public servants.
Beliefs
Borais are influenced by the cultures and societies they were born into, and many continue to worship the same gods and follow the same philosophies. Some borais favor gods believed to be accepting of undead, such as Urgathoa, Weydan, or Zon-Shelyn. Borais who keep up with modern fads and trends might worship Lambatuin or develop atheistic beliefs that shun or blame the gods. Many borais take solace in a philosophy known as the Song of Silence, which teaches that undeath is the ultimate goal of life and that one’s mortal life is simply a trial run for undeath. Popular Edicts embrace being alive, learn from your past, refuse to accept death as the end Popular Anathema abandon those who accept you as you are, abstain from life’s pleasures
Sample Names
Agavana, Ajanu, Cailis, Enduri, Jiann, Kilarra, Orthei, Ruven, Taylehm, Thel-Sevai, Tis, Yevtori
Versatile Heritage
Borai
Source Player Core pg. 85
You've returned from the brink of death as a borai— at once both living and undead. You gain the borai and undead trait, in addition to the traits from your ancestry. Unlike other undead, you don't gain void healing. You're healed by vitality effects and damaged by void damage, as if you were a living creature. Likewise, you can be stabilized, healed, and brought back to life as if you were a living creature, save that you always return to life in your normal undead state (as a borai). You gain low-light vision, or you gain darkvision if your ancestry already has low-light vision. You can choose from borai feats and feats from your ancestry whenever you gain an ancestry feat.