Post by Fadril Adren on Jul 29, 2015 6:37:15 GMT -5
LORE:
Resurrectionists. The name is a cruel joke, amusing only to the twisted minds of murderers and graverobbers who claim it as their own. Resurrectionists reanimate the dead, but their magic results not in a body that has been restored to life, but rather one that has been brought back as an undead puppet. Their practices are particularly appalling to the people of Malifaux, who consider the Resurrectionists to be one of Malifaux's greatest threats. That some of the most terrible monsters this world knows were once their former friends and family is a grim realization.
Humanity has a long tradition of honoring their dead. In Malifaux, the fact that Soulstones recharge in the presence of death presents difficult existential and religious questions, but the Resurrectionists are blatant in their desecration of human life. The reanimated dead serve only the selfish, unconscionable goals of these foul necromancers.
The Governor General's crusade against the necromancy of the Resurrectionists has overwhelming public support. His own personal staff suffered a grisly attack days after he won his position. In later weeks, the missing members of his cabinet were identified in a series of robberies, kidnappings, and murders. It was only after an extensive investigation that the Guild realized that the bodies of the Governor General's staff had been brought back by an unidentified Resurrectionist. With that discovery, a special taskforce, the Death Marshals, were organized to combat the Resurrectionist threat. Their methods lack subtlety, but they have developed a sophisticated profile they use to identify and apprehend their targets.
A Resurrectionist is often a single individual working alone or with one or two loyal assistants. Due to the gruesome nature of the work, these necromancers are forced to ply their trade in secret. Each one comes upon their craft through individual study, whether through science, magic, or some otherworldly pact. The practice of necromancy fosters creative resourcefulness as fresh corpses and strict privacy are continuously in short supply.
The Governor's witch-hunt has forced many Resurrectionists into the abandoned Quarantine Zones of Malifaux City. There, these grim necromancers fortify the city's abandoned districts and populate them with shambling undead militias to fight off rival Resurrectionists and the occasional Neverborn attacker.
The Death Marshals have attempted to raid these outposts with moderate success and chilling discoveries. Despite the obvious individualism inherent in these criminals and their methods, curiously similar sigils, devices, and journal entries suggest at least some amount of shared knowledge. The Governor has also discovered that by pushing Resurrectionists into the Quarantine Zone, they have unwittingly encouraged the looting of these areas. Necromancer strongholds are often filled with artifacts collected from the haunted streets of Malifaux.
Of particular note are the large libraries maintained by these graverobbers, many of which are filled with books salvaged from ruins of Malifaux's past. While only a few of these libraries have been seized intact, the texts suggest a dark patron, a spirit tutoring others in the necromantic arts, communicating subtly through the mysteries of science and magic. These texts and artifacts seem to be the source of the shared techniques common amongst these criminals.
While many of those aware of these texts believe this patron to be simple metaphor, the Death Marshals have begun to suspect that this grave spirit is real. When one considers the armies of the undead marshaled in vaulted hideaways of their masters and roaming the twisting passages of the sewers, it's difficult to shake the feeling that these Resurrectionists might be the unwitting lieutenants of a some unknown spiritual entity.
TACTICS:
The Resurrectionists are a sturdy faction that relies on recursion and durability to carry it through a fight. There is almost no ranged combat among their undead ranks, so they often have to close to melee range to kill things. On the plus side, they tend to make good use of the corpse markers dropped by Living or Undead models, and some Resurrectionists can transform these corpses into useful effects or even new Undead. The Resurrectionists also have access to a number of incorporeal Spirits, allowing them to send models right through walls to get where they need to be, and a Poison theme, with many, many models that can hand out the Poison Condition on a successful attack.
The Resurrectionists primarily deal in Undead models, though a number of their zombies have been augmented enough that they also count as Constructs. Their minions tend to deal the bulk of the damage that Resurrectionists put out, with most of their Masters and Henchmen falling into more of a support role.
MASTERS:
SEAMUS -
It is unknown just how many people Seamus has killed. One reason is that most of his victims are raised up as part of his harem, and follow him from the scene of the crime. Another is that they are so numerous that an accurate count is nearly impossible. Seamus is listed as one of the most dangerous people in all of Malifaux, trading places with powerful Neverborn on the Guild's most-wanted lists.
Earthside, Seamus was well-respected within his community. When the Breach opened, he planned to take his hatting skills to Malifaux, which looked to be ripe for a change in fashion. What he found instead was a book that whispered its dark secrets to him. What began as a curiosity turned into an obsession. That obsession drove him deeper and deeper into the quarantined area of the city, unearthing more vile secrets with each step.
His most audacious crime came at the height of his madness, when he attempted to summon the Grave Spirit itself. It was only through the good aim of Samael Hopkins that the summoning was broken.
Seamus was left for dead, but Molly, his most successful resurrection, used the Gorgon's Tear to heal him by sealing it inside of his head. The Gorgon's Tear now calls to him, forever binding him to the madness that drives him to stalk the moonlight streets of Malifaux.
TACTICA:
Seamus is a sinister menace, lurking in the shadows of Malifaux. He belongs to the Resurrectionist Faction, and he delights in bringing Rotten Belles back to life. Because Seamus can summone Rotten Belles, you will want some in your collection while playing Seamus, but any models which can manipulate Willpower or Terrifying will be good choices for his Crew.
With a combination of above average Wounds, Terrifying, Impossible to Wound, and the Ability to heal when enemy models fail Willpower duels, Seamus is one of the most difficult Masters to take down in the game. He also packs a fifty caliber flintlock, which can take out many models in a single shot (and a single shot is all it gets per Activation). Finally, Seamus has Back Alley, which allows him to be teleport around the board so long as nobody can see him. When you combine this, you have an unkillable madman who can pop out from behind any corner and blow somebody’s head off. What’s not to love?
When it comes to Upgrades, Seamus must choose between his Bag O’ Tools and his Sinister Reputation, which are both Limited Upgrades. The Bag O’ Tools gives Seamus a great Melee Attack with a host of useful Triggers, and the Sinister Reputation lowers the Willpower of nearby enemies and gives Seamus another ranged Attack. This choice leads to two vastly different experiences. Of course, Seamus has other tricks such as Mad Haberdashery, which allows Seamus to avoid damage as the hat is literally blown off of his head. If you think you would like a solid Master who is capable of chilling your opponents to the bone, Seamus is the man for you.
MOLLY -
Miss Squidpiddge was an up and coming journalist when the Breach reopened. Her intelligence and gift for ferreting out the truth made her a household name in Malifaux, particularly on the day that Seamus brutally murdered her. She made headlines again mere days later, when he crashed her funeral to publicly resurrect, and then steal, her body. From then on, she followed him obediently as one of his girls.
Seamus was not aware of the deeper truth to Molly’s resurrection though. She has been killed on at least one future occasion, but reanimated by his continued use of the cursed Gorgon’s Tear. Her long term connection to the Gorgon restored her mind and some of her will, allowing her old personality to surface more. She has even been able to publish investigative articles in the Malifaux Times, despite the reluctance the editors have to publish material from the dead.
Her returning intelligence has also brought independence to Molly, and in recent times she has bucked Seamus’s commands and set out on her own. Even Seamus’ belles, normally unswervingly loyal to him, can be convinced to obey her. So far, she has used this freedom to build as much of a “life” for herself as she can. She is even able to enjoy the company of the living occasionally, if she is sufficiently careful.
Molly has become a symbol to those undead who have some semblance of will. Feared by humanity and rejected by their creators, they flock to her side.
In the shadows, the Gorgon watches and waits. Molly’s unusual resurrection was no accident.
TACTICA:
Molly is the only Undead Resurrectionist Master; she and her ensemble of forgotten creations seek to take back the night which is rightfully theirs. She is a tricky Master who is hard to kill and can even use summoning offensively. Belles always work well in her lists, but depending on which Upgrade she takes she will likely want either Horrors or Spirits as well.
Molly has a good variety of tricks up her sleeve: she can give enemy models penalties with the Whispered Secret Action, cause damage using Revelation, buff her Crew, and summon. Her summoning spell, The Ones Left Behind, is interesting because she brings her models into play by sucking the life force out of the enemies around them. This means that she can use her summon aggressively, damaging enemies while dropping one of her Undead in their midst. On the other hand, if there are no enemy models around, the model she summons will not survive. Her tendency to stay near the enemy coupled with her great defenses makes her a Master you want to keep near the Action.
There are two Limited Upgrades available to Molly: Forgotten Path and Forgotten Life. Forgotten Path allows her to summon Spirits and grant Black Blood to friendly Spirits and Belles near her (the Black Blood Ability creates an acidic spray, damaging nearby models when the model with Black Blood is damaged). Forgotten Life does the same thing for Horrors. This allows her to summon models into the middle of the enemy, sap their life force in the process, and then force them to deal with the acid-spewing monster that is left next to them. All in all, Molly is an adaptable and resilient force to be reckoned with.
NICODEM -
Nicodem is a gentleman by action rather than resources. Though his roots are peasant in nature, he has overcome them with a natural skill for interpersonal politics.
His job is to find places to bury the numerous dead that pass though the city. Both martial and civilian deaths must pass through him before they can be interred. Where many would find themselves falling into a depression over such a morbid task, Nicodem bears it with a grace that sets him above the other Resurrectionists.
As he oversaw bodies being buried, he began to hear their stories. Soon, he learned their secrets. In the darkness of the night he practiced raising the dead, and soon it became second nature. Though the zombies he raises are often mindless, they benefit from being raised en masse.
Nicodem can sense a dead body even when he isn't thinking about it, and can raise the body with only a moment’s thought. As the person who decides where the dead are to be buried, he has overseen new cemeteries near the heart of the city. Once they are filled with enough bodies, he will be able to strike, taking the Governor-General out of office and allowing him to rise to his appropriate station on the backs of the undead hordes.
TACTICA:
Nicodem is the ultimate summoner in the Resurrectionist Faction. He doesn’t dirty his hands by killing his enemies himself or waste his time toying with his prey; Nicodem is here to do one thing and one thing only: put as many Undead on the board as he can. Many of his Actions and Abilities can benefit Undead, so they will be a solid choice for any Nicodem Crew; however any model that can generate Corpse Markers is a good selection as well.
The Re-animator Action allows Nicodem to summon any Resurrectionist Undead Minion, so long as he can find a Corpse Marker from which to create it. The rest of his Actions and Abilities are geared towards benefiting Undead in various ways; he can give them bonuses to Melee and Defense, heal them, give them Fast, and make them Immune to Slow (which is really handy, because otherwise summoned models always come in Slow). You want Nicodem right behind the front lines, close enough to buff his Crew and summon models where they are needed, but not so close that he is in the middle of the Action.
Nicodem’s Upgrades allow him even more ways to boost his Undead Minions from bonuses to Casting and damage flips, to the capability to grant them cover from ranged Attacks. He can also gain the Ability to redirect Attacks from himself onto his Undead hordes. If you think the world just needs a few more zombies, Nicodem is your man.
KIRAI -
Kirai’s ability to control the spirit world was unlocked when her fiancé was killed protecting her from an assassination attempt ordered by his father. His final gift to her, a serpent ring with emerald scales, was all she had left of her old life. Though neither of them knew it, this ring was connected to the ancient entity known as the Gorgon. Through this, her grief and sense of hopelessness was able to break through the barrier to the afterlife and call on the spirits that dwelt there. She was even able to hurl part of her own soul, twisted by her desire for revenge and fueled by the Gorgon’s influence, into the physical world to take her revenge.
While she was initially unaware of her abilities, Nicodem realized the truth after seeing the brutalized remains of her victims. He took great care to ensure she accepted his tutelage, hoping to use her to summon sentient spirits back into his own creations. His plans were interrupted when The Plagued arrived to claim the Gorgon’s ring and release the Red Cage.
Since then, Kirai has begun to understand her own powers much more. She now no longer feels the pain of her loss so deeply, and with her immediate need for revenge sated, she has turned her mind to other plans. She has been unwelcome and cast aside since birth, her given name a permanent reminder of her family’s rejection, but she now feels she has the power to reshape her destiny.
Malifaux makes for strange allies, and Kirai has since found more acceptance and friendship from the dead than she ever got from the living...
TACTICA:
Kirai is the living embodiment of revenge, and the Resurrectionist Spirit Master. Her vengeful Spirits seek out the enemy wherever they are and tear them to ribbons. Her Crews will be mainly comprised of Spirits, but adding a few Living or Undead models is generally a good idea.
Kirai is primarily a support and summoning Master who relies on buffing, manipulating, and summoning friendly Spirits to achieve victory. To summon a new Spirit, she must target a friendly model which will suffer an amount of damage depending on the summoned Spirit’s Wounds. Because of this, models with high Wounds, such as Flesh Constructs, may be decent additions to a Kirai Crew. Also, whenever a Living or Undead model near Kirai suffers damage due to an enemy Attack, she can summon Ikiryo (a fearsome Spirit of vengeance) in base contact with the enemy that did the damage. Offending Kirai can be a dangerous proposition.
There are a number of ways in which Kirai uses her Spirits. She can easily summon small Spirits, called Seishin, which she uses in a number of ways: she can sacrifice them to boost her Casting, redirect Attacks to them, use them to swap places with other Spirits, or sacrifice them to draw cards. Kirai’s Upgrades give her even more fun options for making use of her Spirits. Kirai is a solid support Master with some fun tricks which will surprise your opponent; and if you’ve ever wanted to summon the enraged spirit of revenge behind that annoying sniper on the ridge, now you can!
McMOURNING -
Some Resurrectionists are content to raise the dead and take pride in how well the zombies resemble their living counterparts. McMourning is different. Working as the Guild's coroner provides him with plenty of bodies which will not be missed. Given his position within the Guild, he is able to study many of the creations of others, and even some of the monstrosities predating humanity's arrival to Malifaux.
His work began as pure research, funded by the Guild to see if they could use the information to their advantage. Initially, the tests showed little success. Without magic they were little more than a conglomeration of parts. The project was closed, but McMourning wasn't finished.
With the cloying scent of embalming fluids and slowly decomposing bodies, the morgue itself was located far enough away from the main Guild Headquarters that it was a simple matter to create a secret tunnel further into the sewers, where he established a proper lab. Within this sanctuary he was free to practice the skills he had learned and expand them to include his own creations. Each time a body comes to him, he picks the best parts before having the rest buried.
Over time his lab has grown, and he has surrounded himself with depraved sycophants. With his "nurses" to aid with each operation, and Sebastian to help him cover his tracks, he has managed to stay one step ahead of the Death Marshals... more or less.
TACTICA:
McMourning is the Master of Poison and unnecessary surgery and he can be fielded in either the Guild or Resurrectionist Factions. He is a highly mobile combat piece who heals as he does damage, and he greatly benefits by afflicting models with Poison. Because of this, any models which can hand out or benefit from Poison are great options for his Crew.
In many ways, McMourning is a scalpel. He can target problem enemy models and quickly remove them using his Surgical Implements Attack. The more he Attacks a model, the more Poison it acquires, before he finally uses Expunge on it, purging it of its Poison while dealing a potentially massive amount of damage. With Impossible to Wound and the Ability to heal with every Attack that connects, the good doctor is not afraid to get up in the thick of things. Because he ignores Armor and Hard to Wound (two of the most common defensive Abilities) he’s great for taking out the enemy heavy hitters while his Minions deal with the rest.
McMourning has two Limited Upgrades, and which one he can choose is determined by which Faction he is currently working for. Moonlighting can only be taken when he is siding with the Resurrectionists, and it allows him to summon his Undead abominations. On The Clock can only be taken if he is working for the Guild, and it allows him to buff his Minions and push them around. Of course, he has lots of other fun options such as Evidence Tampering and Plastic Surgery, both of which enhance his highly mobile combat playstyle. If you can relate to a man who conducts twisted experiments that create obscene mockeries of life by night and still holds down a day job, McMourning may be the Master for you.
TARA -
Orphaned at a young age, Tara had to learn to survive on her own. She never knew exactly what it was that killed her parents, but she learned to survive. Eventually, she found that the skills she had learned could be useful: first as a guide making small money, then as a gun for hire. Killing came to her as easily as breathing. It was a small step to take her skills to Malifaux, where the dangerous country promised only profits for the young woman.
After briefly considering the Freikorps, Tara decided to strike out on her own, gaining a reputation for her uncanny ability to sense when Neverborn were around – and then being able to dispose of them quickly. Then she met Obliteration.
Obliteration invited her inside his prison and she claimed a piece of him, bringing him out into the world. At the crest of her power, when the world was standing before her, a sniper took aim and she was left for dead. It was only through the quick thinking of Karina, a woman she had also brought out of Obliteration's prison, that she was able to recover. It was not the recovery she was hoping for. Karina had raised Tara in death rather than healing her back to health. Either through Karina's skill or Tara's connection to Obliteration, she maintains complete autonomy from her master, able to act in death as she had in life.
TACTICA:
Tara is a member of the Outcast and the Resurrectionist Factions. She approaches the game very differently than most, using odd tactics and abilities to try to push the game in her favor. She can work well with virtually any Crew as her unique playstyle can benefit nearly everyone.
Time is Tara’s strength. With the ability to give out Fast, remove models temporarily from play (called burying), and gain Reactivate every turn, Tara has more control over AP than any other Master. Since she is capable of having 6 AP of her own, she can accomplish many tasks that other Masters might balk at. While her sword and her gun aren’t amazing attacks, they are solid enough that, coupled with her additional AP, she is able to put out the sort of damage that more combat focused Masters can.
Tara’s Upgrades begin taking her massive amount of AP and shaping it into a playstyle. Eternal Journey allows her to copy the action of a model she’s buried. Knowledge of Eternity gives her the ability to give out Fast and Slow or bury a friendly model. Obliteration Symbiote lets her unbury models and take control of them. Dead of Winter gives her more hiring options and debuffs enemies with fast. By selecting a few of these Upgrades and the pool of general Upgrades available to her as an Outcast or Resurrectionist, Tara is able to fit to the player’s style more precisely.
YAN LO -
Many years ago, Yan Lo committed a terrible sin and was cursed to walk the Paths between life and death for eternity. The endless torment left his mind fragmented and adrift, unable to truly die but incapable of finding his way back to the physical world. He has wandered the Paths like this for so long that the reason for his curse is lost to history.
It was Chiaki’s unique gifts that finally showed Yan Lo the way back to the physical world. As the pieces of his broken spirit drew close to the beacon Chiaki provided, Yan Lo’s mind was brought back together for the first time in decades. He could finally remember who he was and what he sought, and for short moments even return his form to the physical world. He could not gather the strength to return for long, but that brief encounter was a turning point for them both.
When Chiaki crossed into Malifaux, Yan Lo followed his little niece. There, he found the abundant aether flowing through that world enabled him to control his physical form easier. Not only could he return to the physical world more easily and often, but the aether also made the Paths clear to see at last. With some effort, Yan Lo was able to cross from one Path to the others, even managing to briefly stand upon two Paths at once before the aether rejected this affront. When he is not needed by his descendants, Yan Lo continually tests the boundaries of the Paths, seeking a combination that will twist his curse into a source of great power.
TACTICA:
Yan Lo belongs to both the Ten Thunders and the Resurrectionist Factions. He is a support Master that gets better as the game progresses allowing him to shoulder more of the Crew’s burdens. Yan Lo prefers working with Ancestor models as he can potentially heal them or bring them back to life.
Over the course of the game, Yan Lo will gain the Chi Condition. This Condition increases Yan Lo’s Casting abilities and is also used to fuel some of his actions. Its main uses are for Transcendence, which provides Armor to a friendly model, and Ascendance, which attached Upgrades to Yan Lo. These Ascendant Upgrades make Yan Lo stronger and stronger as the game progresses. As long as Yan Lo is gaining Chi, he becomes little worried about attrition. His action Instill Youth allows him to heal other models, adding to his support style. Perhaps his most game changing action is Lightning Dance, which allows him to teleport an enemy model to a friendly model and himself to the enemy model. This control of battlefield locations can easily swing a game in his favor.
Yan Lo has a long list of Upgrades. Many of them are Ascendant Upgrades that he can only gain during the course of the gain as his Chi Condition increases. That said, he has a few Upgrades that can alter his playstyle. Reliquary is the most popular, as it allows him to summon an Ancestor model that has been killed once during the game. Conversely, Brutal Khakkhara gives him a potent melee attack to try to take care of things himself.