The reanimation of lesser undead involves a number of spells and abilities. This page lists these spells and abilities, as well as the special undead that can be summoned by certain nations.

Lesser undead are units that lack the magic capabilities of their greater kin (e.g. Wraith Lords, Liches and Vampire Lords). Rather than serving as thugs or combat casters like greater undead, lesser undead usually act as chaff and overwhelm opponents with sheer mass.

Lesser undead come in two types: Longdead and Soulless. Longdead are skeletons; they have much higher Attack, Defense and Magic Resistance, are faster and tend to come with better gear, but have very low hitpoints. Soulless are zombies; they have much worse skills but usually have higher strength and much more hitpoints.

There are several abilities that allow a commander to reanimate undead or impact the amount/type of undead they can summon.

Reanimation Bonus: The commander is extra efficient at summoning undead. The value of this ability is split between two aspects: divine (reanimator priest) reanimation and reanimation using death magic. The Amulet of the Dead item provides a reanimation bonus of 2/2 (+2 to both priestly and magic reanimation).

Reanimator: Units killed by this unit will transform into another unit under the control of the killer. In almost all circumstances, this yields Soulless.

Reanimator Priest: A commander with this ability can spend a turn to reanimate undead. Some nations or specific units will be able to summon special kinds of undead.

complete list, add more detail

• Reanimate Longdead Horsemen: MA Sceleria and MA Ermor
  Reanimating priests with 3 or higher can summon Longdead Horseman.
• Reanimate Lictors: MA Ermor
  Reanimating priests with 4 or higher can summon undead Lictors.
• LA C’tis Tomb Priests: LA C'tis (undead priests)
  Reanimating priests can summon Soulless/Longdead of C’tis, 2 or higher can summon Tomb Wyrms and 3 or higher can summon Tomb Chariots.
• Reanimate Manikin: MA Asphodel
  Reanimating priest can summon the various types of Manikin.
• Reanimate Supayas: MA Nazca
  Reanimating priest of this nation will summon Supayas.
• Reanimate Greek Ghosts: EA Therodos
  Reanimating priest of this nation will summon Greek ghosts.
• Reanimate Ghosts: LA Lemuria
  Reanimating priest of this nation will summon ghosts.

The following spells create undead. Most are in the Enchantment school of magic and all involve the death path.

Combat

• Evocation 4 2: Bolt of Unlife
  Single target damage that creates Soulless upon kill.
• Evocation 6 3: Blast of Unlife
  AOE 1 damage that creates Soulless upon kill.

• Enchantment 1 1: Animate Dead
  Creates 1×Longdead per cast.
• Enchantment 3 2: Raise Skeletons
  Creates 3×Longdead per cast.
• Enchantment 5 2: Horde of Skeletons
  Creates (5+[1/2 lvl])×Longdead per cast.
• Enchantment 7 4 for 4: Life after Death
  Causes all friendly, living units to gain a buff that reanimates them as Soulless upon death. They are permanent and will remain after the battle is over. Mages keep their paths but become mindless and more durable, making this spell particularly valuable for avoiding some mind-targeting spells/effects such as Soul Slay or horror marks.

Ritual

• Enchantment 1 1 for 3: Reanimation
  Creates 10×Longdead per cast.
• Enchantment 5 3 for 10: Pale Riders
  Creates (20+[2/lvl])xLongdead Horsemen per cast. Confirmed to benefit from Reanimation Bonus.
• Enchantment 7 3 for 10: Carrion Reanimation
  Transforms up to 100 corpses in the target province into Soulless.
• Enchantment 9 5 for 10: Army of the Dead
  Summons (40+[5/lvl])×Longdead and reanimates up to 20 corpses in the target province as Soulless.

Lesser undead share the following abilities: Resist Cold (15), Resist Poison (25), Poor Amphibian, Undead, Inanimate, Need not Eat, Mindless and Never Heals

In addition, Longdead have Pierce Resistant and Spirit Sight, while Soulless have Undisciplined.

Nations that have no special lesser undead summon the following types of undead:

• Longdead: Longdead, Longdead, Longdead, Longdead, Longdead, Longdead
• Soulless:

The following nations will summon special types of undead when reanimating the appropriate type:

EA Ulm
EA Ulm's longdead have higher-damage weapons than most undead.

• Longdead: Longdead, Longdead, Longdead
• Soulless: N/A

The Monkey Nations (EA Lanka, EA Kailasa, MA Bandar Log, LA Patala)
The undead Bandar are notable for having unusually high hitpoints and strength.

• Longdead: Longdead Markata, Longdead Vanara, Longdead Vanara Warrior, Longdead Vanara Warrior, Longdead Bandar, Longdead Bandar Warrior, Longdead Bandar Warrior
• Soulless:

EA Hinnom and MA Ashdod
Hinnom and Ashdod reanimate giant longdead with very high damage and moderate hitpoints, making each summoning of longdead much more valuable than it would be for other nations.

• Longdead: Longdead Rephaite, Longdead Rephaite, Longdead Rephaite
• Soulless: N/A

• Loggy's Longdead and Soulless reverse engineering notes