About Bonelords, ancient masters of Necromancy

"Bonelords are slimy monsters with several tentacles that live deep in the dungeons of Tibia. They attack at sight and use their magic powers to shoot missiles. Moreover, they summon skeletons which try to surround the victim. You should try to eliminate the Bonelord first, since all of its summons will also die when the Bonelord is killed. Magicians can use firebombs to hurt several opponents at once."

From the Tibia Library

Origins

In ancient times, long before mankind entered the Tibian realms, the world was troubled by a great war, named the Corpse War. The nature of this war, probably the greatest ever, explains why it has this strange name. It was the war between the races created by the Gods against the Undeath army, formed by Urgith, Zathroth's dicipel. Because of the endless piles of bodies that were lying on the earth, a result of countless terrible battles, it inherited the gruesome name "Corpse War"

Due to the unsurpassed vastness of Urgith's army of Undead, it was impossible for him to monitor it personally. He needed commanders, to which he could pass the leadership over the numerous legions. For this purpose, he created the Bonelords, and to symbolize their task as supervisors, he gave them 5 eyes along with great magical powers and knowledge of Necromancy. They would later become the dominant class of the Undeath race and one of most mysterieus creatures of the Tibian world.

During the Corpse War, the Bonelords proofed more than enough that they were born leaders, destined to supervise and lead. Under their command, the Undead army grew even further and turned Tibia into a state most similar to a grave.

However, as whole eras, the era of the Corpse War came to an end. The wise god Uman found a solution to the Undead threat. He discovered the existence of alternative dimensions, which were inhabited by numerous souls and entities. By making connections to this other dimensions, he was able to attract these souls to Tibia. When entering, they would be given the shape of humans, thus adding to the defensive force that stood against the Undead. After ages of battle and destruction, Urgith's hordes were finally fought back. And through time, this situation evolved in a period of restless but fundamentally stable peace.

However, it would be this peace that brought the once so dominant and glorious Bonelord race to demise. Urgith no longer needed the many supervisors. Some were killed, some could stay, others fled underground and started devoting their time to research and dark thoughts. The dominance of the Bonelords was no more. However, they are still considered as one of the most mysterieus creatures of Tibia, and they surely hold much potential, as they would soon proof.

Physical and biological characteristics

Bonelords are green, slimy, ball-shaped creature with four tentacles. On a each tentacle, and eyeball is attached. Also in the middle of their main body, one large eye is placed. These five allow them to optimally supervise the environment. For the largest part of their body, Bonelords are completely bold. Only on the downside of their body, it is possible for them to grow some hair at old age.

 It's also a common misbelief that Bonelords have no mouth. This however is entirely untrue. The reason why it seems they have no mouth, is because they actually rarely use it. We humans use our entire mouth, consisting of lips, tongue and teeth, mostly to communicate and to eat. Bonelords however only use it to eat, as they have developped their own communication system, consisting of a code which they blink with their central eye. Many Bonelords also use telepathy to communicate, but never their mouth. And since they prefer to eat in solitude, it is highly uncommon for a human to witness a Bonelord using its mouth.

The most intriguing characteristic of the Bonelord certainly is the way they reproduce. Although Urgith's design originally never allowed them to reproduce, some Elder Bonelords, older and more intelligent than ordinary Bonelords, found a way to create smaller versions of themselves. These smaller versions, called Gazers, are formed by magic and are designed to evolve into full-grown Bonelords.

Living places

As explained earlier, after the end of the Corpse War, many Bonelords had to flee underground to avoid getting extincted. For this reason, the underground is where they still dwell. They have formed small communities all around the globe, but the most prominent of them all is their settlement in Hellgate. Many Bonelords can be found there, as well as elder Bonelords, the leaders of their race.

 Here, they built a number of buildings, mostly laboratories and research centres, as well as a library, which consists only of books written in the Bonelord language. This however is a topic that will be addressed later.

Besides the settlement in Hellgate, several other communities were formed, such as under Thais' ancient temple, close to Mintwallin, under the Venore swamps, etc. Often, these "communities" only consist of one lone Bonelord. As many of them use telepathy to communicate, they do not necessarily have to live under the same roof.

Ways of war

Although originally designed for war, many Bonelords became sick of it and turned their backs from the chaos of a war. Hiding in darkness, they devote their lifetime to the research of the Necromantic arts. Bonelords are surely the race that is the most skilled in Necromancy of all. Even the necromancers, although very skilled, are no match for the knowledge the Bonelords possess. Perhaps only the Liches, inventors of the bonebeast, can truly match up to the Bonelords. But as they are fairly rare sights, they hold to treath for the supervisors.

However, some Bonelords serve as some kind of mercenaries. Being hired by any race, from minotaurs to even humans, they serve for many purposes, from assisting in research centres to supervising armies during battles.

Social structure

As all races, also the Bonelords have some kind of social structure. The Elders among them serve as charismatic leaders, using their superior intelligence and magical powers as tools to lead the lesser Bonelords. When they form gazers, they always appoint normal Bonelords to take care of them, as they are always too busy themselves. It are also the Elders that lead the main research in the Necromantic field.

Bonelords are very strict when it comes to their lifestyle. They resent some elements of the human world, such as verbal communication. So, when a small group of Elder Bonelords started researching extremely sinister fields, such as the line between life and death, something happened that had never accured before. This small group, eager to find the secret of immortality and unspeakable powers, they literally broke their minds, turning away from the normal concept of life and death. They did receive immortality and immense magical powers, but to keep themselves alive, they had to commit surgery upon themselves and had to seal their central eye to avoid distraction from their inner struggle with life and death. Due to this, using the normal Bonelord language as well as telepathy is impossible for them, and they have to rely on verbal communication. As this is the Bonelord equivalent of godlessness and utterly disgusting to their standards, this small group of Bonelords, which their former cousins sarcastically named "Braindeaths", were cast out of the community and banned for eternity.

Language

One of the greatest mysteries of the Tibian world is the Bonelord language. Also called "469", this most peculiar language consists of only sequences of numbers. Numerous scientists and scholars investigated 469 and tried to decypher it. Many theories came up, trying to explain how the Bonelord language worked. Most scholars believe it as something to do with the way Bonelords communicate. Perhaps the times they blink with their central eye refers to the numbers in the sequences. However, it is still very much a mystery how to decypher 469 to the human language. Maybe the sequences first have to be paraphrased, using a different code system, before they can be decyphered to our language. No one knows for sure.

Rumours and facts

1. It is rumoured that it were the Bonelords who created undead creatures like the vampire and skeleton. However, it is very unlikely a Bonelord would want to create an entity that relies on verbal language.
2. Braindeaths are sometimes considered as the Bonelords' equivalent of the Liches. This perhaps was the goal of the group of Elder Bonelords that later became the braindeaths, but it surely wasn't an act of the entire Bonelord race, since they banned the braindeaths from their community.
3. Bonelords take excellent care of their set of eyes. Therefore, you will often notice them carrying flasks of eyedrops. Mind you, the drops are only suitable for bonelord eyes!