Returning from beyond the grave, The Accursed are a collection of Strifeshadow-tainted entities that walk the face of the world, ceaselessly plotting their revenge against the living, and spreading their life-subverting taint.

When Strifeshadow overcomes a living creature, the Aether comprising its life-force is subverted. While Aether normally escapes a dying creature, returning to nature, Strifeshadow prevents this process, trapping the life-force within. As a result, The Accursed are the living dead and consequently a huge threat to the cycle of life and death. When a tainted creature is damaged to the point where it is physically impossible for it to move, it has effectively become living debris, taking Aether from nature permanently. The existence of The Accursed is slowly taking its toll on the world, trapping Aether, the source of all life, into an undying, but hardly living, existence.

The life of The Accursed is a painful, tormented, hollow existence; the taint of Strifeshadow removes most creature's ability to grow both intellectually and physically. As a result, many of The Accursed spend most of their time pondering their living past with anguish, and regard the living with jealousy. Most of The Accused blame the living for their afflicted state. The Elves are hated more than others but in the eyes of the Accursed all living creatures share responsibility for the apocalypse of Strifeshadow.

Some of The Accursed have risen above the detriments of the taint, and instead only reap the benefits; not feeling pain, and no longer having the weight of mortality has its advantages. These lost souls, who comprise the leadership of The Accursed, do not hate the living, but foster contempt for them. Many even see it as their sacred duty to Strifeshadow to subvert the living into their "perfect" State of being.

No one is entirely sure who exerts the ultimate authority over The Accursed, though it is clear that Shade Tyrants and their Necromancer henchmen play a large part. Some believe that one faction of Shade Tyrants dominates the rest, while others speculate that some greater being delegates his orders down through them. Others offer the notion that the reclusive ancient Fell Dragons are ultimately in control of things. But regardless of who The Accursed call king, they share a common purpose, and an antipathy towards the living to be respected and feared.