Pyremaster



Orcs burn their dead. In a world filled with magic, magic insinuates itself in ritual. Founded in the mysteries of certain cults on Draenor, the pyremaster is the enactor of ritual. This funerary priest guides the dead through fire, through loss of flesh, so their naked spirits may conquer the elements; in order to protect his duties (and his person), he commands both bone and fire. Orc pyremasters are scattered across Azeroth. Places where fire and heat are dominant (particularly in the Burning Steppes and the Searing Gorge) are cult strongholds. Orcs are the only pyremasters, though it is conceivable that orcs could teach the class's secrets to others. They are independent or are members of the Horde.

A pyremaster conducts the funeral rites of the challenge of flame and flesh, which allegedly burns away impurity and weakness as the deceased spirit goes to the afterlife. This ritual takes an hour to perform and requires a pyre, along with sacred oils and musks. These rites have a practical benefit as well as a religious one: the ritual brings the pyremaster closer to the spirits and bestows special blessings.

The pyremaster can summon undead, and the creatures that he summons are aflame. He can set his weapons ablaze with magical fire at will. He can cause a section of ground to erupt in magical flames. A skilled pyremaster gains immunity to both natural and magical fire. The pyremaster may stare into the embers of cremated bones and receive a portent of the future. When a highly skilled pyremaster takes fire damage, he instead heals damage; if a pyremaster uses the Create Pyre ability on the ground he stands on, he heals himself as long as the fire is burning.

The skilled pyremaster may speak with the ashes of a dead creature. He may ask as many questions as he wishes. The ashes’ knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any). Answers are usually brief, cryptic or repetitive. The pyremaster cannot actually speak to the person (whose soul has departed). This ability instead draws on the imprinted knowledge stored in the ashes. The ashes retain the imprint of the soul that once inhabited them, and thus they can speak with all the knowledge that the creature had while alive. The ashes cannot learn new information, and will not remember being questioned.