The Ashen Dead

The Tale of Ash and Flame
In a time long lost there was once a powerful Magi named  Avalan Namoon, he was known throughout the land as an eccentric mage who traveled throughout the land studying all forms of magic. One fateful day the Namoon came across a book made of stone. The Mage curious opened the book and was surprised to find knowledge beyond his comprehension. For weeks the Mage studied the book alone in his home. He was bewitched by its secrets and one in particular....to raise the dead but not in the way of necromancy but in a different way from Ash. The Mage became obsessed with this topic and studied it for weeks and weeks mastering the technique. He started small with animals and he smiled as these small creatures rose into creatures made of ash that were tougher then steel. After animals he moved onto people and the results were even greater then before and so he built an army and waged war against the world crushing all in his way. Until a brilliant group of mages from the Kirin Tor were able to trick Namoon and seal him away within an urn. The urn was then hidden away from the eyes of the world so that it would not cause anymore suffering and pain like it did during its time.

What are the Ashen Dead?
The Ashen Dead are a sudo form of necromancy. Unlike true necromancy which involves Dead tissue the method used to create an Ashen Dead destroys the host body. The caster of the spell essentially burns away the host body into ash. The ash is then like clay for the caster, the caster can essentially create anything with the ash only limited to his or her imagination, the amount of ash, and a soul.The reason why the caster requires somebody's soul to form an Ashen Dead is that the soul is essentially glue for it. The soul keeps the thing together and useable.Now this spell may seem amazing for a dark lord, the idea of creating an army that can essentially change its form and is hard as steel may be fantastic but there's a catch. Whoever try's to do this will be forever damned, the casters body will begin to become Ash. This painful process of a living being becoming Ash does not kill the caster instead they are to forever remain on this world. Their new body however is forever in pain, this usually leads to the caster going mad and rampant.

Characteristics
General

All Ashen Dead are as the name implies are made of ash. The ash which is colored black can form into various shapes and sizes. Generally however these forms are dictated by the amount of Ash, and where they stand on the Hierarchy of the Forgotten.

Whatever form an Ashen Dead does take it is colored completely black and is covered in bright embers. The embers glow depends also on where an Ashen Dead stand one the hierarchy of the Forgotten. The higher one stands on the hierarchy the brighter the embers glow. Continuing on the bodies formed are extremely tough and durable. Like the story says they can be as hard as steel which makes them incredibly hard to deal with. These already hard to deal with Ashen also have the ability to create their own weaponry, limbs that an Ashen can make can simply reform itself into a blade or blunt object.