Siabrae

A siabrae is a determined and merciless foe, bound by a twisted sense of duty to nature so strong that it drove them to commit unspeakable acts and arise as an undead menace.

A siabrae is an abomination. A skeletal druid or wild witch, with bones the texture of stone and antlers of rock rising from their rough skulls, they're people who have willingly paid the ultimate price to protect the natural world. It rarely goes well for them.

Druids and wild witches protect Golarion's environment from a host of threats—demonic invasions and undead horrors, otherworldly corruptions, and mundane greed and cupidity. Sometimes, they're tested beyond what they can bear, faced with forces they're incapable of defeating. Such a druid, seeing everything they have protected fall to destruction, might try the unthinkable. They might perform the ritual known as Welcome the Blighted Soul.

With desperate prayer and a gory blood sacrifice, the druid becomes a siabrae, taking the corruption of the land into themself and binding both together, so they might survive and fight monsters in nature's service. A small few are able to use their newfound power to save their lands, and so the ritual's legend grows. Much more often, the druid becomes a twisted guardian of something past saving, the land they protect a macabre parody of healthy nature. Most siabraes are proud and bitter, obsessed with duty and branding their living brethren as cowards and traitors.