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Dead of the Orient - Immortal Empires

The Spirit Dragon is restless. The river of the underworld lashes out otherworldly howls. Transient shapes dance with the fog rolling over from the eastern mountains.

As of late, more and more of Cathay's ancestors, thought to be long at peace, enact disturbing visitations upon the mortal coil. Elsewhere near the Great Bastion, entire battlefields have awakened; foe and friend alike claw out of their earthen graves en masse.

Several generations of the dead have suddenly returned to Grand Cathay.
An omen of doom, or perhaps an unseeming aid against Cathay's enemies?

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Dead of the Orient adds three new undead-themed units for Grand Cathay. This mod is still a Work in Progress so things may change or get added along the way.


Unearthed Laborers



These shambling cadavers are the poor peasants who perished constructing and repairing the Great Bastion. Although weak in a melee, they can hurl chunks of the very stones used to build the eponymous structure, dealing great damage from afar.

The Returned



Nameless, forgotten soldiers whose families either forgot or simply refused to collect their bodies, thereby denied proper burial and funeral rites. They know only the painful final moments of their lives, and as such when on the brink of destruction, they can burst into a rampage. They also excel in close quarters combat against enemy infantry, especially poorly armored units.

Nü Gui



Either hapless courtesans, witches, or simply ladies who went on the wrong side of politics, these scornful women linger upon the realm of men as vengeful, soul sucking ghosts and act as a harbinger of ill omen upon any one unfortunate to cross their haunts, especially at night. Nü Gui are best used as assassins but can also grant debilitating debuffs on enemy armies.

Starved Marquis



In the constant power struggles of Cathayan court intrigue, there are none more daring and more cutthroat than those at the bottom who, like rats, brutally contest amongst themselves just for a taste of power, and power that they do greedily brandish with mad abandon. It is no surprise therefore, that in death, these corrupt souls are even more horrifying in form. Cursed with an unslakable hunger, these ravenous ghosts tear through the battlefields in search of prey lest they eat themselves from within.


Incorruptible Sage



The legendary Celestial Dragon Monks are a reclusive brotherhood said to reside within sacred monasteries dotting the Mountains of Heaven. The wisest and most persevering would become great masters of the way; people who completed the path to enlightenment and transcended above all mortal and spiritual imperfections. Upon leaving this world for a higher plane of existence, their "husks" are interred within the inner most sanctums of their monasteries to be preserved, although sometimes they are brought out to the public for ceremonial purposes. Their very venerable presence it seems bestow many with an almost divine aura.

The Incorruptible Sage is a sacred relict that although is no longer alive in the strictest sense, still harbors immense power stored within its body. It can act as a short ranged artillery that blasts foes with magic but also provide morale boost to nearby units. However, its most unique trait is being able to enable either yin or yang harmony to cathayan units.

The Forbidden Legion

There are tales spread throughout Grand Cathay and beyond of an ancient host of warriors, hand picked by the Dragon Emperor himself, that had been buried beneath the capital city of Wei-Jin since the founding of the celestial empire. These warriors were the very soldiers who aided the emperor's conquest and eventual unification of the land now known as Cathay. Said to number over eight thousand strong, the so-called Forbidden Legion of the Dragon Emperor were meant to forever guard their liege's palace and awaken into undeath to once more destroy the enemies of the Dragon.

The Forbidden Legion, although worn down by time and the elements, are a formidable force on the battlefield. Stoic and expertly drilled, the Emperor's first chosen compete with their more contemporary Celestial Dragon Guard peers as the finest of Cathayan soldiery. The very presence of these venerated undead warriors is said to boost the fighting spirit of any Cathayan as they are endowed with the spirit of conquest that once burned within the Dragon Emperor as he forged his empire two thousand years past.

Jiangshi

Nothing is as perhaps as iconic and as feared in cathayan folklore as the Jiangshi; these vampiric dead are known for their peculiar, stiff gait, but more so troubling is that their presence also heralds a far more sinister kin in undeath; the jade-blooded vampires.

Jiangshi bring with them a freezing mantle of unlife, as they themselves search for the warmth of the living. Their clawed hands bear surprisingly monstrous strength despite their shriveled countenance and can knock men into the air with frightening ease. But what one aught to know about encountering them is that they are also potent vampires as well despite being reanimated thralls of other jade-bloods; capable of sucking souls from whatever victim they can latch on to.


As of now, what I did is split the new undead units between Cathay and Vampire Counts. Both factions have access to the ff. units, along with their respective recruitment building chains.

Cathay

• Returned
  
• Unearthed Laborers
  
• Forbidden Legion
  
• Incorruptible Sage

Cathay can access these units from the same funeral buildings as before, except the unearthed laborers which can be recruited from any of the Great Bastion main buildings.

Vampire Counts

• Unearthed Laborers
  
• Returned
  
• Starved Marquis
  
• Nu Gui
  
• Jiangshi

Vampire Counts can recruit these units from the unique Shiyama's Rest landmark building in Cathay, which are initially controlled by the Jiangshi Rebels faction.


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Let me know if you have any suggestions or complaints down at the comment section.


Many thanks to Not So Skelly Bones for the screenshots.
Vandy for teaching me how to mod custom buildings.
olekristianhomelien for developing the asset editor tool.