Thread:Emptylord/@comment-1888392-20140718161143/@comment-1888392-20140731012050

"Before the Shadow Isles became a land of death, the islands teemed with natural life and beauty. This was never truer than in the isles' sacred forest: a paradise of thriving trees and countless species, both animal and spirit alike."

- 's Background

I took it as the Shadow Isles having always had "undead", but only in the form of spirits. It seemed like a place where death wasn't feared, but neither it did permeate in the air. Look here: "The work of gravediggers is essential amongst the living, but invaluable in the Shadow Isles. There are many shades of death there, and each is embraced rather than feared or reviled. One can only ascend from one state to the next with the magical aid of a skilled professional. At the end of the first Rune War, Yorick Mori made his living as a gravedigger. His family owned and maintained the Final Rest Memorial, one of the oldest cemeteries in Valoran. The shovel he employed for his work had been passed down for generations. Each gravedigger taught his son that this shovel was imbued with the spirit of every forefather, and that those spirits would protect him during the long lonely nights amongst the tombstones."

- 's Background

The way I see it, the Shadow Isles has always been populated by the undead, but it was different then. It was both place of life and death, but the barrier between them wasn't yet broken.

I want to make it so that Nex was to the souls as was to his grove. She presided over them and was revered but for some reason I haven't yet conceived, she persuaded the Ruined King to pierce the veil, creating the Shadow Isles as we know them.

Now, Nex is amassing souls... for yet another reason I don't know yet... Did she seek the affection of the Ruined King? Is the King (or Nex in memory of him) rebuilding his kingdom ( as his vanguard, as his head jailer,  as his court mage). Tell me what you think.