Wendigo Magic
"They came out of the mists, slow and methodical. You think them alive in some way, but we know their tricks. What we didn't suspect is for them to wave their staff at one of my warriors, and for him to suddenly freeze to death in front of our eyes, covered head to toe in fur. Then he was raised again as one of their blasted puppets. That, my lord, is why we returned. We need more beasts, or what is going to happen to the long ears is going to happen to us." -Wolffolk captain, explaining a Gray Lich

The humans who were brought with the ice elves to the frozen wastes were very quick to throw off their shackles and spread, becoming various small tribes which settled along the coast and spread like a wildfire. Adopting to a new land and building a society, their tribes survived in the arctic where they prospered as vassals and subjects to Ice Elves who showed them little interest. Yet, like all of those in the arctic realm, they were destroyed by the Wendigo March, who brutalized their people the most and brought their small tribal confederations to an end. Their children were made into the Yul'Wendigos, and their bodies raised into undeath to be the first Ghouls. Yet, the dark and horrible power of the Wendigo power over death did more than just turned them into frosted zombies, but it also brought back their shamans and the magic they once held.

Normally, magically gifted cannot retain their power in undeath, since their soul is not being truly used to puppet an autonomous body. Skeletal mages should not be possible, but like many things in the Marches, the realm of reality falters to whatever the Shadow wishes. Becoming known as Gray Liches for the ice storms which make their figures upon the horizons look like gray blobs, the Gray Liches are skeletal shamans with powerful magical abilities. Gray Liches initially seem mindless, often approaching slowly and using their magic too obliterate a foe with a slow reaction to their spells. However, there is more to them then that, as they often accompany Wendigo hosts as anti-magicians in which they quickly dispel magic and are afflicted with a snow storm's aura similar to the Wendigo one.

The Marches view the Gray Liches differently, not as mindless undead mages, but as silent wise men whom both Heralds and powerful leaders seek out for their aid and wisdom. In a silent language only the Yul'Wendigos can seemingly understand, the Gray Liches motion them to abandoned lodges and ruins where they grant them wisdom on political and spiritual affairs. Gray Liches often do not start out in the war camps of the Wendigo, but instead wander the tundra wastes endlessly, growing small armies of the dead which follow them as guardians for their miniature realms. Gray Liches are brutally hostile to the living, being known to suddenly stop what they are doing and hunting living foes who try to land in the ream of the Wendigos. The Gray Liches were used to terrifying effect in the 1st March against the Beastfolk after the destruction of the Ice Elves, and their devastation is so well known, that Wolffolk are often said to immediately retreat back to their holds as soon as one is rumored to appear.