Dullahan_Knight

Once, Lilika Amlaruil was an elven knight of tremendous repute. She traveled the land saving fair maidens and occasionally making men feel inadequate. She was a tremendously skilled swordswoman, and a skilled Abjurist, Abjuration being a school of magic devoted largely to protection giving her the means to withstand her enemies and get up close and personal! However, no one's career lasts forever, and it was only a matter of time before Lilika's triumphant career came to the brutal end that was an inevitability in such a vicious landscape of dragons, necromancers, orcs and more. Such an end came when dealing with a terrifying necromancer. Lilika marched into the lair to face her, and while the battle was fierce and brutal, the elf was laid low, slain, the life and soul sucked out of her body, but it was not to the afterlife that her soul was sent!

No, the necromancer kept body and soul, and the woman began working on altering Lilika's body and soul, to turn her into a forced, undead servant, one that was suited to such an impressive champion and bring her under her sway. Ultimately, the design she decided upon was that of a Dullahan, separating head from body, altering physiology and soul and creating the new undead. However, the process took time, and while the preparations were met and the body was steeped in a glowing solution, the necromancer was not left alone, for Lilika was not the only hero of this kingdom or neighboring ones. So it was, that when Lilika at last awoke from her magic induced slumber, when she emerged out of the pool that had warped body and soul, the lair was abandoned, the woman's works shattered and the bitch herself dead, and not a soul in sight. A rather anti-climactic result, for Lilika had not even had the chance to try and resist and defy her, but...she was alive! Headless, but alive.

Alas, the lands she had once so valiantly safeguarded had a little trouble swallowing that one of their beloved knights was now a Dullahan, an undead monster famous for marking people for death among other, long lists of infamous feats. Her leaders could not publicly accept an undead into the ranks, and the agreed upon solution by the religious was that she should turn herself over for death and purification to be interred as a matyred hero. However, Lilika simply couldn't accept this. She still had a chance to protect people and do good work, and so she refused! She ran from the city and began anew her work of wandering the land and protecting the weak and poor, of smiting evil wherever she saw it, and now? Now she had the power to really put evil in its place, demons, necromancers, bandits, all would feel the might of her sword, and their souls would receive judgement at her hands!

Honestly it's pretty fun. Being dead isn't so bad as it turns out. Of course, it probably helps that she's not actually dead, at least if one knows what Dullahan actually are. Too bad that necromancer didn't get the memo.


A treatise on Dullahan Physiology
With most 'undead' there is very little change to the body other than 'no longer alive and thus very tough.' However, Dullahan aren't actually undead, although many lands have falsely associated them with it thanks to the whole headless aspect, spinal cord whips, and basins of blood. Dullahan are fairies, fae, associated with the Unseelie that are ruled by Queen Titania. Thanks to the Dark Fae's association with death, night and other aspects, it's quite possible to turn a soul into certain types of Unseelie through necromantic rituals, a popular example is the Banshee, although she's far more spiritual than a Dullahan.

Thanks to the fact that a Dullahan is an actual fairy, they are far more close to a different species than just a raised corpse, and there are certain key differences in physiology. One of the most prominent being their headless stature and how it affects food. While a dullahan can always eat through more...unconventional methods, and even sustain themselves off of spiritual energy alone, anything that passes through a Dullahan's lips and is 'swallowed' will just be sent straight to the stomach. One can shove quite a long thing down those lips and it will never pop out the neck, and instead just push into the body, the throat essentially serves as a portal, although the Dullahan can activate this at will.

In addition to this, Dullahan are elastic, flexible and very tough, meaning their bodies naturally stretch easily, letting them do as they please. They also do not breed normally, and are infertile in almost all cases, only able to be impregnated during a New Moon or an eclipse. Although certain rituals can allow one to get past this limitation. They do not bleed when cut, and are remarkably difficult to kill, the weakness naturally being the head, damage to their actual body being almost completely inconsequential.