In the Land of the Bone People...

The Kingdom of Skulls (#23/30; #174/365)

This is a series of large caverns, choked with piles of bones and the encampments of Skeleton Men and Women*, tending to blazing fires in the darkness of the Down Below. These communities practice some trading, some mining, some fungi-tending, and a lot of raiding, and are loosely ruled by Queen Ulna of Ostos (tall, clever), from the Palace of the Skull, in the largest and most central cavern of their domain. Although not Undead themselves, the Skeleton People have no qualms about using Necromancy on the bones of their victims and others (with Ulna being the foremost Necromancer among them), and thus the Palace of the Skull is guarded by a variety of sentinels including Bonebeasts, Monster Skeletons, Bone Golems, and worse.

Skeleton People themselves are a famously fractious and divisive bunch; happy to work with anyone but prone to angry feuds and dramatic exits. Thus, many Skeleton People quit this subterranean satrapy and head up-world, working for such diverse overlords as Leesha of Vatos and the Autarch of Dust Town. Here, their martial skills and intimidating appearances are much-valued, for which aspiring evil warlord does not want troops that look like Skeletons but are substantially smarter, and who can be easily bought with a few barrels of Orc Ale at the end of a long day of fighting (Skeleton People are known to lack taste buds and a sense of smell; explaining both their weird taste in food and their poor personal hygiene).

* The story of the Skeleton People is an obscure one. Looking like very thin skeletal humanoids with drawn, skull-like faces, from which sockets dark eyes glitter, they are not animated bones like the Undead, nor sentient constructs such as Replicanths or Golems. Instead, the Skeleton People claim to have been human once, until cursed by a vile sorcerer, who condemned them to their new horrific forms for some imagined transgression. Wise priests of Glantanka tell the story somewhat differently; Death the Dark Lord, after seeing Titan and the other gods create people with Magical Clay, stole some clay for himself and made people 'that looked like him!' Unfortunately, such was their appearance the Skeleton People were driven out from the lands of Humans, Elves, Dwarves and others, and fled underground, and Death, ashamed of the cowardice of his creations, unleashed the Long Dark Night upon the world of Titan instead.