Ak'chazar

Ak'chazars were a breed of deadly rakshasa necromancers. They possessed the typical rakshasa desire to dominate and extended their reach to mastery over the dead.

Description
Ak'chazars were and weighed, appearing as visibly gaunt humanoids with the heads of white tigers and a ghost-white coat of light fur. Their nails were as sharp as a cat's claws and like all rakshasas their hands were backwards.

Personality
Ak'chazars were pragmatic manipulators, valued and respected by their common kin for their fearsome intellects and clever ways, if only begrudgingly. They were as silver-tongued as their ordinary counterparts and more skilled in matters of diplomacy and invoking fear, but weren't as skilled in the art of disguise.

Abilities
Ak'chazars lacked the typical beguiling abilities of their common counterparts, being less skilled although just as capable with their shapeshifting. They compensated for their lack of such skills with their more powerful spellcasting, and while they needed to use spell components to cast, their specialization in enchantment and necromancy allowing them to control the dead as easily as the living.

In addition to their sorcerous powers they had natural spell-like abilities that aided them in raising and commanding the dead, as well as capturing souls. Their ability to turn and command undead was on par with the greatest of clerics and they could flood the nearby area with an aura of negative energy, inflicting painful wounds and striking fear in those caught by it.

Combat
Ak'chazars preemptively learned as much about their potential opponents as possible before going into battle against them and used their spells to take advantage of their weakness and compensate to deal with their strengths. Before battle they casted spells like mage armor and mirror image, but were cautious creatures that always saved enough power to cast teleport if they needed to escape. Knowing that their spells were by far a greater asset than their melee abilities they avoided direct combat in favor of casting from a place of hiding, often retreating to a new spot if found.

They targeted those with weak wills with domination and soul trapping spells to permanently disable them or turn them against their allies and tried to disintegrated other spellcasters. Ak'chazars were rarely alone and so while the rakshasa dealt with ranged enemies, often refraining from using overly destructive spells in order to keep the bodies intact for later, their undead servants fought in close combat and were kept under control using their rebuke ability. They might use magic jar, ordering their servants to destroy the gem the soul is trapped in upon success or use enervation and prepare magic missiles in order to stop enemy casters.

Society
Like ordinary rakshasas, ak'chazars were insidious schemers that pulled strings from the shadows in order to pursue their plans for domination. Although they were more likely to use criminal syndicates through spies and intermediary agents they would also manipulate legitimate, if corrupt or ambitious politicians. Whether through giving useful advice, tempting them with power or bribing them with treasures, ak'chazars kept their pawns sated, slowly gleaning bits of their personality to use for later. Once a rakshasa had exhausted other uses for such beings they normally possessed them using magic jar in order to further tighten their iron grip on the region. Even other rakshasas, whether out of fear or respect and even unknowingly, could find themselves subject to the whims of an ak'chazar, helping them to accomplish their schemes even while focusing on their own plans.

Where ak'chzars differed from their kin was in their use of the dead, as they traveled the planes not only to conquer regions through political wars but to acquire new undead servitors. Whether corporeal, spectral or outsiders, their undead retinue traveled with them and worked to help carry out their master's wishes. When creating undead with some level of autonomy they did not simply force them into service but struck deals with them, exchanging their compliance with offers of power or assistance in meeting their own wicked wants and needs. Places of war, famine or pestilence, whether past or present, and massive graveyards were the typical sites for an ak'chazar's lair, giving them access to a great variety of corpses to experiment upon.

Ecology
Ak'chazars preferred colder temperatures than the typical breed, often dwelling in temperate mountain regions.

History
A pair of ak'chazar rakshasas were thought to have operated in Unthalass during that city's occupation by Mulhorand. Ak'chazar also had operatives working in Cimbar, Luthcheq, and Soorenar in Chessenta.