Olenican Undead are the spiritual form, possibly the souls, of people with magic who have died, but were not given burial rights. Legend and science in Olencia have different conclusions as to how they are formed and why, but the fact remains that if one ventures into the Dragonlands, where Slayer Apprentices too often die, then one had better be prepared to face an Undead.

Legend has it that Valleran rejects the strongest Slayers from his realm, fearing they would ban together and usurp his power. Instead, he sends them back to Olencia in their spiritual form, described as being “ghost blue” and “transparent”. At this point, however, he and the Earth Goddess disagree; she feels no threat from dead Slayers, and accepts their bodies into the Earth. Hence, Olencian Undead have no bodies, but are insubstantial, if exact, images of the bodies that used to be. Undead have limited magical powers, but as they are no longer of the living, they cannot draw from live things. Hence, one of the easiest ways to avoid being hurt by the Undead is to take a path that has no large sources of simple kinetic energy, such as through plains in the dry season, where there are no rivers and no storms from which the Undead can draw magical energy. Undead can travel through such areas, but without magic, they are harmless, and cannot hurt the living. If one must travel through regions with sources of energy for Undead, one had better come prepared with one or more of the following: Water blessed by a priest of Valleran, salt water, an infusion of hazel, catnip, or peppermint in water or oil, garlic, cucumber, or a rowan staff magically spelled for defeating the Undead. The liquids must be thrown onto the Undead to be effective, which can be quite tricky, as Undead can disappear and reappear at will. Garlic or cucumber are mainly used as a paste or in a dried, powdered form which can be sprinkled around a campsite or house to repel the Undead, though one of the aforementioned liquids will suffice, also. Small amounts of garlic or cucumber can repel or deter the Undead, but cannot defeat them unless used in large quantities impractical to keep around for all those but garlic and cucumber farmers. Rowan staffs are used mainly by Slayers themselves, and the use of one is not known to the public. To prevent a dead Slayer from becoming Undead, one can simply perform simple burial rights, which for good reason include anointing a body with one of the previously mentioned substances, traditionally on the forehead between a corpse’s eyebrows, though any place will do. However, as few villagers have magic, this step is often neglected in rural areas, leading to an Undead appearing. The very poor may also lack the means to have burial rights performed, and a person who dies alone or is murdered and hastily buried without rights obviously cannot bless themselves, also leading to appearances of the Undead.

Of course, this explanation of the Undead has a few weaknesses: It is not only the strong Slayers that become undead, but weak ones and those magic wielders cast out or undiscovered by the Slayers, and very, very occasionally, an entirely magicless person will be an Undead, and once Undead, can use magic. A Slayer may also just die and not rise again, regardless of burial rights, or lack thereof. Newly Undead may walk around with their bodies (or whatever is left of them) intact, and very old Undead may not disappear unless confronted by a Slayer, suggesting it is not entirely one’s magic, but perhaps one’s willpower, that keep one in various states of life or Undead. Furthermore, the items that can be used to defeat the Undead have no effect on the magic of the living, leaving the reason as to why they work a mystery. Finally, certain Undead simply die of their own accord, when their deaths are avenged, or will die when asked by a loved one to leave, though such instances are an exception to the rule.

Science does not often accept the idea of Undead, claiming they are hallucinations or perhaps a manifestation of a person’s need to see a loved one who has passed on. They suggest either a psychiatrist or a special potion to help people stop seeing the Undead and get on with life, though oddly enough, the potion contains equal parts garlic, peppermint, and hazel (it is also predictably foul-tasting). This view is supported by the Undead whose deaths are avenged or who die when asked to die by a family member, signifying the family member either feels things have been set to rights or has grieved sufficiently to let their self-delusions go, but as previously stated, these instances are not typical.

It is not known what Slayers think of the Undead, and while they must have their own theories and opinions on the matter as they and their kind occasionally end up Undead, they have not made them public. Slayers are also one of the few groups of people to have extensive contact with the Undead because they alone can put stubborn Undead to rest, and every so often they will persuade a substantial number of the Undead Apprentices in the Dragonlands to die, particularly when they begin appearing at or on the other side of the Barrier. Slayers alone could answer questions concerning the intactness of an undead person’s intellect or soul. However, as Slayers are few and rarely disposed to sit down and discuss such a fearsome topic with a mere Encyclopedia author, their stance on the issue is unknown, but certainly an item of curiosity.