Love a good discussion.
That is very cool that you played a special module "Overdue". I would love to learn more about when that took place in game time. I've never heard of it before.
I agree there are unique situations of people turning into the undead, but they follow the rules as we are aware of them.
We all agree the standard method of being undead, is a caster of Arcane or Diving magic casts a spell on a recently deceased body (before the soul goes to the Cauldron), and the target's souls is consumed as fuel for the transformation to undeath. This process can be copied into items, like staves, wands, and 1 time use items, like what happened to Elandre val'Assante's father, and by Val Bloodlines.
I postulate that at the time of death the soul of a Legionnaire, sworn to the Standard of the Black Sun, is destroyed and their body is converted to undeath by the Standard itself. Also this did not happen to all souls, only those that died during and after it was converted to it's dark twisted form. Any legionnaire that died while the standard was white and pure, I would guess did not rise from the grave.
Therefore the creation of the undead legion is not divine intervention, and souls are not taken years after death from the Cauldron, but follows the rules of undeath we are aware of, and the Standard acts as the spell trigger item.
The Standard of the Black Sun also came into play during the BI Fire, Blood & Death during the 3.5 days. That is where my information came from.
According to The Theocracy of Canceri page 16.
Quote:
In recognition of this act of faith, Patriarch-Emperor Calcestus even sent a gift north to the Autocrat; the Standard of the Legion of the Black Sun. But the gift never arrived, as the Inquisition force escorting the Standard was ambushed by Dark Triumvirate forces just inside the city walls. The Standard was claimed and taken to Palic and Eremis.
At Sunset both sides were surprised when the Legion of the Black Sun itself arrived. the undead army marched its way up to the Corpse Gate of Nishanpur and Palic ordered the gate open. As he bore their standard, he expected the eternal forces to join the battle on his side. This was not the case. When the gate was opened, the legion marched against those that held their standard. Their only goal was to reclaim what was rightly theirs, The standard was hastily disassembled, and the legion fought back from the gates, barely.
I have to admit I misremembered the quote and got the wrong idea. I thought the Legion arose because the Standard was assembled and being used, and then they returned to rest after it was disassembled. I had no idea a Legion of undead wander the country side. It does show unless they have spies in the Grand Coryan, they have a magical connection to the Standard itself. As they were aware it moved from Coryan to Canceri, and took the opportunity to retrieve it for themselves.
I'd be hesitate to mention the Kickstarter cert Chosen of Neroth because the easy answer is it works because someone paid money and PCI said it works.
But there is another unique example in-game. I recall the tale where a dragon was converted to a dracolich after swallowing the Mercy of Neroth (who was wielding Neroth's own Scythe in battle). Does the dragon still have it's soul? Was the Valinor/divine item consumed as the fuel in place of the dragon's own soul? Could you cut open the dragon remove the Scythe/Valinor and the dragon would revert back, or die? I mean he would have a big hole in chest at the point.
This a clear example of something special going on. But at the same time it could also follow the rules we are aware of. Maybe the dragon's soul was still consumed as fuel for the transformation, and the Valinor/divine item was used as the spell trigger.