The realm of endings, of finality and memory. Shyish is where all those souls untouched by chaos go when their mortal life comes to an end. Different cultures from across the realms have many different and disparate notions of an afterlife and shyish makes them all true. The beliefs of the living shape the realm of the dead causing pockets of realities to form distinct territories known as Underworlds. In most underworlds the earth is brittle and gives no harvest, the wildlife is skeletal or spiritual, violet clouds of mist hover amongst a sky set under the gaze of a burning purple sun. Unlike most other realms shyish does not expand outwards but flows inwards to a pit called the Nadir, the final tomb of all creation.
Nagash The Undying King, Supreme Lord of Death and Undeath, The Great Necromancer, Ur-Death, Old Bones, Skelepope. Nagash is all, Nagash is inevitable, Nagash is the end of all things. There is a saying in shyish the Lord of Death should be invited to ever feast, and every feast should have a long table. Nagash is the resident god of death and the dead as such he claims ownership of all souls upon their death. Nagash was born mortal and was the first to truly unlock the secrets of necromancy. Lifetimes of ploys plots and schemes saw him ascent to true godhood when the world that was died. In the mortal realms Sigmar found Nagash pinned beneath a mountain in the deepest underworld. Sigmar and Nagash have clashed for centuries in the world that was and as such Sigmar had no trust for old bones, but better the devil you know in an unknown world. Nagash joined the Panethon and used legions of skeletons to construct the cities of man, elf and duardin. Tending fields, mines and acting as an unending labor force. During this time Nagash ate the dreamed gods of death that populated shyish coming to rule it. When chaos invaded Nagash was the last to abandon Sigmar but was certainly the greatest lost to the army of order. Now Nagash is on the warpath to bring all under his Necrotopia.
Often referred to as the spirit wind and lore of death Shyish is the manifestation of the fear of death, it’s the cold crawling up your spine and the fear of the inevitable, the knowledge that the last few grains are falling through the hour glass. Mages of the Amythyst wind are often called Necromancers and while this does not always mean they raise the dead rare is the necromancer who wouldn’t. Graveyards abandoned structures, rot and imminent destruction are the largest sources of ambient death energy. Shyish is the transfer of life to death and back again, time and age take their toll and leave behind remnants that mages make use of. Some uses include communing with the dead or raising them to your service. In rarer cases it allows you to conjure images of the past and call forth unboned spirits to do your bidding or whisper truths into your ears. The realmstone of Shyish is Grave Sand, a powder of obsidian grains where even a single touch means instant death. Yet when refined and crafted into glass or bricks grave sand becomes a lock box of magic and a conduit for souls specters and ghosts.
The lands of the dead do not want the living here yet still they come, seeking to find a place stable enough to support not a rich life but an interesting one. Some villages live alongside centuries old relatives while more still venerate the dead above all else. In shyish you respect death and the dead or death takes you. Ghosts, ghouls, vampires and all the things you think go bump in the night are very real here
who lives in these parts
Ossiarch- Walking mass graves of bone designed to be Nagash's elite
Nighthaunts- Ghosts and spirits suffering ironic punishment for their sins in life
Soulblight- Vampire clans warring for dominance over life and death
Mordants- Flesh eaters,ghouls who were once man and now prey on their former kind
Humans- humans of shyish are sallow, superstisioous and often sickly looking, but survival in the lands of the dead mean a special kind of resilliance or desperation
Ogres-Large humanoids with a prodigious gut and a cultural focus on food