Sometimes sparks of creatures do not leave the mundane world when their bodies die, or bodies are reanimated after death. This leads to a condition called Undeath (the beings called the Undead), and there are several various forms.

Animated Dead: Where some magicians seek to create constructs and golems from wood, clay, or metal, the necromancer seeks to reanimate the very corpse of his foe. The corpse is no longer alive, nor is it inherently capable of individual thought or action; it is quite simply an automaton. It is animated by the Will and the Magic of the Necromancer, and will only act when the necromancer exerts his will. This power exerted by the necromancer cannot automatically be assumed to be drawn from the Unlife—there are also many necromancers using Essænce to animate their servants. Obviously, these automatons are not truly 'Undead' in the strictest sense of that word, and consequently they will not drain the life essence of those around them.

Bound Sparks: If a necromancer can be present at the moment of death, he can bind the spark of the dying person to a construct, or to a preserved body. Or by searching the otherworlds, such a being can be found to serve using the typical methods. Some necromancers have been known to even bind part of their own spirits within a construct formed from their blood and the necromantic arts. The process to create such a Homunculus or Soul Shadow is a long and complex one, but grants the successful necromancer a dedicated and highly intelligent familiar.

Restless Sparks: If any class of the Undead can be called 'natural,' then it is the restless sparks. These are the disembodied sparks of once-living beings, bound to a place or item through emotional ties. Often, such sparks are the victims of a violent or terrifying death which left such a mark on them that they were unable to break their emotional and mental ties to the physical world, and so remain bound within this plane of existence. Very often they will haunt the locations where they died, but they may feel bound to a person or item instead, either out of a desire for revenge or because they feel protective of that person or thing. Unfortunately for those who encounter them, these spirits almost universally drain life essence, because the ties that bind them to this world do not serve to succour or feed them.

The Transformed: The Transformed are those individuals who have made the ultimate sacrifice—life itself—in return for the power which they crave. By purging themselves of all traces of the Essænce and embracing the dark tendrils of the Unlife, they are guaranteed never to age or die, never to feel fear or pain, and to gain more power than they could ever have dreamed. Of course, they are now dead—or perhaps more correctly, Undead. The noncorporeal Transformed will almost certainly drain the life essence of those they meet, while the corporeal Transformed are less likely to do so.

The True Unlife: Many creatures and beings draw upon the Unlife for 'life'—possibly at least as many as draw upon the Essænce. Luckily, most of these creatures do not attempt to enter this plane of existence, because we are hard-pressed to cope with those that do. These beings are not really 'Undead' because they were never 'alive' when looked upon from our perspective—rather, they are merely another form of extraplanar being, and should be more properly studied as Demons, not Undead. True creatures or beings of the Unlife are highly unlikely to drain a person's life essence; our presence is as corrupting to them as their presence is to us.