Does every undead being in the world need to be an evil villain? What if a few of them got together to try to rehabilitate their image?

The Sun Seekers are on a quest to do just that. No matter who gets in their way.

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The Sun Seekers

Members of the Sun Seekers desire that the undead be afforded the same rights and considerations as the living. The founders of the organization knew that convincing living creatures that they were benign was an uphill battle, so the Sun Seekers set small achievable goals, seeking to prove to individuals and small groups of mortals that undeath is a natural state of being, it is neither more or less than living and breathing.

To fund their group, members of the Sun Seekers can often be found delving dungeons and ruins, hoping to find artifacts they can convert into coin. Wealthier members act as patrons for troupes of adventurers and mercenaries, though they often keep their identities secret until a trust has been established between themselves and the people who work for them.

Joining the Sun Seekers

To become a Sun Seeker, one must first and foremost be undead. The second criterion a prospective member must meet is that they must destroy a magical item that provides its user or wielder with a tangible benefit when they use it against undead, such as a sun blade or a mace of disruption. The difficulty of accomplishing that second criterion ensures that the Sun Seekers remain a small, exclusive organization whose members are very active in their fight for undead equality.

What is Expected of a Member?

Sun Seekers are expected to advance the cause of equality between the living and undead. Much of the work individual Seekers perform involves destroying mindless undead and the creatures that summon or create them. If a Sun Seeker must bring harm to a living Humanoid, they must be able to prove their action was required to preserve the lives of other living creatures.

From time to time, a Sun Seeker falls away from the light. When this happens, the destruction of that former colleague becomes the highest priority of the organization. There is no tolerance for any activity that paints members in a negative light.

Axioms of the Sun Seekers

The core beliefs of the Sun Seekers are as follows:

• Undeath is not a curse or a punishment. It is a second chance for a member to realize their goals.

• Undead that perform violent acts against the living weaken our claims for equality.

• The living will not trust us so long as we allow mindless undead to roam.

• The sun rises anew every day and with it comes a new chance to prove our worth.

Important Texts or Dogma

The ethos of the Sun Seekers has been recorded in the Liber Verum Solis. Each member of the organization is expected to procure a copy of this book for themselves.

Allies and Enemies

Despite the good they do, the Sun Seekers have precious few allies. The organization has enemies in abundance however, most of which are powerful undead creatures. The organization has also run afoul of several churches whose domains include life, healing, the dead, undeath, and resurrection.

Benefits of Membership

Being a Sun Seeker has several benefits:

• When a member casts animate dead using a 3rd-level spell slot, they can animate two skeletons or zombies rather than one. Once they have used this benefit, they can’t do so again until they finish a long rest.

• When a Sun Seeker makes an unarmed strike against a living creature, they can choose to deal necrotic damage instead of bludgeoning damage. Creatures that deal more than 1 point of damage with an unarmed strike can’t gain this benefit.

• A Sun Seeker can request that the chair teleport them to any location of the Seeker’s choice. Once this benefit has been used, it can’t be used again until a full calendar year has passed.

In Midgard: The Troupe of the Diamond Sky

Type of Organization: Undead Alliance
Symbol: A humanoid figure silhouetted against a rising sun.
Disciplines Taught: Abjuration, conjuration, logic, necromancy
Affiliated Weapon: Sickle and quarterstaff

Important NPCs: Arcturus Kalim (mummy lord), Margit Alimnoor (virtuoso lich (see Monster Vault)), Nowlan Kelvis (wight), Zalabal Krimnt (vampire)

Primary Sanctuaries: The tower of Beshoor the Illuminated in the city of Nuria Natal

Major Sanctuary: Prismus House, a manor belonging to the family of the same name in Triolo

Organizational Hook

The Sun Seekers can be found anywhere, but consider the following ways you can introduce them to your campaign:

• The characters are tasked with the destruction of a zombie lord and its court. When they go to claim their reward, their patron reveals that it is a Sun Seeker and it needs the characters’ help to investigate the increase in the number of mindless undead in the area.

• While attending to an unrelated quest, the PCs might notice the unusual number of undead they encounter. The master of those undead reveals its presence soon after, explaining that it is in the area for the same reason as the characters, and proposes a team up.

• A distrustful noble commissions the characters to break into the lair of a known Sun Seeker and find evidence of the creature’s monstrosity.

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