Aurosrath

Greed can be a powerful force; the runelords of old even devised a school of magic based upon it. When an individual dies surrounded by masses of wealth, greed can even reanimate the dead—sufficient avarice can anchor the deceased's soul to their body. The result is an aurosrath, a being so consumed with greed that they're unwilling to donate their corpse to the natural cycle.

Popular lore surrounding the creation of an aurosrath often depicts a miser ironically crushed under the weight of their own gold. While such poetic origins can happen, the truth is often grimmer. Paranoia about potential thieves and freeloaders leads to isolation, both mental and physical. A wealthy merchant succumbs to common illness because they were unwilling to pay the fee for a doctor or priest. Another starves, unable to escape the web of traps and barriers they've set up to defend their treasure from robbers.

Heralded by the clinking of coins, an aurosrath appears as a bloated cadaver who's clad in faded finery, their bulk nearly bursting at the seams with tarnished coins. Their voices are typically a booming bass, their speech peppered with archaic upper-class turns of phrase. They are single-minded in their desire to accumulate wealth but can be reasoned with so long as they believe that goal will ultimately be satiated. An aurosrath can often be found haunting the estates they owned in life. As they brook no competition when it comes to accumulating wealth, they quickly turn to violence when encountering others of their kind. These monstrosities do, however, occasionally command the loyalty of lesser undead and even mercenary mortal servants.