Rajput ambari

Rajput ambari

(Creature)

Type

Undead

CR

7

Environment

Warm forests

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

✝

Source: Curse of the Crimson Throne, pg(s). 187

Rajput ambaris, or rajambari, are the remains of huge Vudran elephants that are reanimated to serve as fell mounts and tireless beasts of burden for any necromancer powerful enough to create them.

Appearance

Rajput ambaris are the shambling, reanimated skeleton of an elephant and make no effort to hide their undead nature. Their ancient bones are normally worn from age, although some still have grey desiccated shreds of flesh hanging from the skeleton. Their actually height depends on the variety of elephant used to create the rajput ambari. Usually, these are Vudran elephants which typically stand about 16 feet high while those rare few created from Mwangi elephants stand nearer to 20 feet. Many rajput ambaris from Vudra still have their now-tattered finery hanging from their backs as a rotting reminder of the high place elephants hold in Vudran society.

Habitat and ecology

As mindless undead, the rajput ambaris are found wherever their masters need them. As unnatural beasts they have no natural habitat, with one exception. It seems that rajput ambaris are left with a fragment of their memory intact and, when left masterless, there are reports that they wander back to where they were first captured and attempt a shambolic imitation of their former lives much to the horror of any nearby living elephants. As a mindless undead composed only of aging bones, there is little really that can be said of their ecology. Their size is determined by the type of elephant used to create them but, recently, there have been reports of rajput ambaris created from other creatures, like mammoths and mastodons in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. Interestingly, unlike most undead, the origin of the rajput ambari is well known and relatively recent. The first rajput ambaris were created in 4465 AR by a Vudran necromancer priest called Rajput Shivji Shashibhushan. A vile sorcerer, Shashibhushan wanted labour that did not need to eat or sleep. He set his sights upon the elephant graveyard of Ajitesh Valley and soon had raised a vast workforce of undead elephants to help him build his Palace of Ivory and Bone. Shashibhushan, knowing that he would not be able to command all of his creations, made rajput ambaris very easy to control so his followers could command them. The mighty war stomp of a rajput ambari can knock its foes prone with its sheer power.