A resin-thrall is the lowliest of the Pine Kindred. Produced  by Thanes or their Jarl leader, these animated humanoid cadavers range from fresh zombie-like corpses to decrepit skeletons held together by roots and leaf mold depending on their age but always stink of rotting flesh and decomposing vegetation. Resin-thralls have pine needles, sap and rootlike tendrils breaking out from their flesh and bones as well as bodies stained with dried resin streaks. They have no use for clothing, but well-preserved resin-thralls may wear the ragged remains of whatever they wore when alive.

Dimwitted Minions. Only barely more intelligent than an undead skeleton or zombie, resin-thralls are only capable of completing the simplest of tasks without direct supervision. They usually work under the direction of a FirCarl on labor intensive tasks such as digging ditches, pumping a forge bellows, and the like. While thralls can fight, fircarls make far more effective warriors. A resin-thrall militia may be armed with greatclubs and rocks, but most only attack with their moldy fists.

Buried Among the Pines. Resin-thralls are sustained by the soil and needles of the pine forest. They rest by burying themselves in such materials, and need the same amount of this "sleep" to replenish their energy as a living humanoid. A resin-thrall is usually stored in the earth when its pine kindred masters have no use for it; they can survive for many decades if covered with pine needles and moist humus. A few pine kindred tribes have entire armies of resin-thralls buried around their Grove of Death, ready to rise en masse in response to the Jarl's call to arms.

As Dead as Decaying Tree Stumps. A resin-thrall cannot regrow missing body parts like more potent pine kindred, even if infused with necrotic sap. They have a limited ability to recover from injury but it is no better than a living creature.

Evolution of the Lost. If all the true pine kindred and fircarls in a tribe are destroyed, any resin-thralls that remain will either witlessly continue any tasks they were assigned to or sleep under the ground. Most will eventually fall apart from their labors, rot away to the elements, or be destroyed by some accident or enemy. As the remains of the pine kindred decompose, the necrotic energies in their bodies leeches into the soil, poisoning nearby plants. This pollution pools in unhallowed places such as an Unholy Grove, mixing with any other necromantic residues in the area. If nothing directs these malign forces, such as another pine kindred tribe or a hag coven performing rituals nearby, it may begin to slowly seeping into the buried bodies of the surviving resin-thralls. Normally this just preserves the resin-thralls, staving off decay for many years or even decades before they perish, but in particularly favorable circumstances a resin-thrall can metabolize these energies into Gift of Nidhogg. After years of enough exposure the thrall may accumulate enough Gift to evolve into a fircarl, rising from the soil as a fully sapient pine kindred. The newborn fircarl instinctively starts on the long path of seeking more Gift of Nidhogg to become a full-blooded pine kindred and studying the Dark Druidic Mysteries, with the ultimate aim of becoming a Jarl and founding a new tribe.
 While it seems extraordinarily unlikely for a resin-thrall to achieve this deed, it explains accounts of cursed forests where the pine kindred were completely exterminated only to reappear a century or so later.
 In theory, this suggests a spell or ritual could turn a resin-thrall into a fircarl or higher ranking pine kindred, but such magic would be of so little utility necromancers and pine kindred spellcasters haven't bothered researching it.

(Inspired by the Pine Kindred by Julian Lawrence; appeared in White Dwarf Magazine #21 (Oct/Nov 1980) as part of the Fiend Factory mini-module "One-Eye Canyon", edited by Albie Fiore.)