Post by The Maker on Jan 12, 2012 20:15:39 GMT -5
Legend has it that when Andraste's Ashes were taken into hiding, some of her closest disciples gave themselves to the fire, that their restless souls might remain to guard her final resting place forever. Whether they are the spirits of Andraste's disciples or merely Fade spirits, the temple that houses the Sacred Urn is filled with wraiths. Created from a burnt corpse, an ash wraith is a powerful and amorphous opponent able to lash and smother while being immune to most physical attacks. Even if successfully dispersed, it can reform at a later time. Magic is the only real way to fight such a creature, wind and ice attacks being the most useful.
--From Codex entry: Ash Wraith
An ash wraith, sometimes referred as dust wraith, is a powerful version of a shade, a spirit that has entered the physical world but does not possess a physical body. The spirit has formed a quasi-material body for itself out of ashes (usually the ashes of burnt corpses but not necessarily). This allows it to interact with and affect the physical world, but the Ash Wraith is not dependent on the ashes to survive. If wounded, it can disperse at will and reform later. Such wraiths occasionally use other materials to form their physical bodies such as bones, mold, and even blood.
