Lifeleecher Brawler

Lifeleechers are mortic orcs with gray flesh, sharp claws, and protruding tusks. Resilient and strong, they devour the vital essence of their enemies, which heals their wounds and shackles those souls to the lifeleecher.

Many orcs believe lifeleechers are possessed by the spirits of fallen orc warriors too stubborn to die. Feared and revered, lifeleechers often rise to positions of power in their holds and battle on the front lines against the undead armies of the Whispering Tyrant.

Mortics are humanoids overwhelmed by void energy who still cling to life, surviving as twisted amalgams of living and undead. Though they feel unnatural cravings and resemble corpses, mortics live, breathe, eat, sleep, and procreate. However, a mortic can suspend their living functions simply by holding their breath, becoming more like a true undead.

Mortics are largely new to Golarion, with most created in droves when the Whispering Tyrant destroyed entire cities with his Radiant Fire, a magical explosion fueled by the collision of void and vitality energy. From among the corpses of these tragedies rose mortics, living survivors mistaken for corpses and left behind as a result. They found themselves in a twilight state-neither fully alive or undead. The necrotic pollutants of the Gravelands and the Isle of Terror continue to create mortics, seeping into neighboring lands through the air, earth, and water to infect the populace. Though most of the living in these lands fear becoming transformed, some believe becoming a mortic is their best chance of survival in the face of the encroaching hordes of the dead.

A mortic's powers differ by ancestry, though they do have a few commonalities. Reading or hearing scripture induces headaches, and they experience great discomfort when treading upon sacred ground. For those who were religious in life, these new changes can be devastating.