Murde is the dread presence that follows the Dead Men at a distance, a gaunt and withered figure hidden beneath ragged robes and crowned in cold baleflame. He entered Aldus’ life after the fall of the Band of the Grail and returned the fallen companions to motion through necromantic art. Since then he has remained with them, seldom speaking, never explaining, and never leaving.

For all his restraint, Murde is no passive shadow. The dead answer him with unsettling obedience, drawn by a force deeper than simple compulsion. His power makes the boundary between life and death frighteningly thin, and his quiet mastery lends the Dead Men much of their grim menace.

Above him circles his familiar, once a raptor and now a bleached skeletal creature alight with the same cold flame. Patient and unblinking, it serves as watcher, messenger, and omen. In the still hours of night Murde whispers to it in a tongue not meant for the living, sending it out into the darkness on errands he does not share.

Rumour links Murde to the Sepulchrite, an ancient necromancer of terrible reputation, though whether he still serves that distant master is unknown.