Any army without guidance and leadership is doomed to fail, and this holds true even for the army of the undead. A necromancer capable of summoning swarms of rotting corpses from the ground is still at a disadvantage if another spellcaster capable of outhinking their plan comes along. But the undead are not well known for their ability to think and strategize, and so must come up with alternative solutions to the problem. For some, the zombie master is their solution.

Cruel and Unusual. Rather than being created from remnant corpses like most undead, the creation of a zombie master requires a living humanoid. Through a series of dark rituals, the victim of this process is slowly transformed from a once living and breathing creature into an undead terror, caught somewhere between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Such a terrifying process is also incredibly painful, and the resulting damage to the mind of the transformed creature often leaves them filled with a venomous hate for all things living, and for the spellcaster responsible for their fate. But despite this intense hatred, the process of creating a zombie master also ensures that they are left with no way of acting against the wishes of their creator, entirely unable to even consider harming them.

Terrifying Punishment. Because creating a zombie master requires a living creature, many necromancers choose to use rival spellcasters as the source of these creations, with the pain it causes being an additional benefit. The process of creating a zombie master also dulls and subdues the mind of the victim, keeping them more intelligent than most zombies and other creatures, but preventing them from performing any spellcasting they might have known in their previous lives.