Embalming Stone

An odd curio to have been produced by the enterprising necromancers of Corpore Mortis, an Embalming Stone is an item created using the heart of a deceased person, which when placed back into the chest cavity of the cadaver, stops their body from decaying for as long as it remains there. 
Opinion varies amongst necromancers with regards to Embalming Stone's, with some viewing them as a mere frivolity that is nothing but a waste of resources, to those who deem that the stones make their trade more palatable for the general public. 
If nothing else, Embalming Stones prove to be a valuable source of income for many necromancers, as there is a surprising number of people who would wish to purchase such an item: from those who wish their loved ones to remain unsullied during long funerary feasts, to those who may even wish to utilise undead thralls instead of servants in their stately homes, and who don't wish their residences to be stained by the smell or sight of decay. 

Access & Availability

Embalming Stones are not commonly accessible items, principally because they require the services of a necromancer to produce, along with a corpse that still has its heart - both things that might raise uncomfortable questions amongst the wrong audience.
However, one can normally find a necromancer in most large urban centres, and it is both depressing and amazing quite how many intact corpses one can acquire when asking with the right amount of coin in one's purse.
In many places, such as the capital of the Empire of Turelion, Meltaro, corpses can be acquired perfectly legitimately, as desposing of the dead without leading to outbreaks of disease is a perennial problem for the poorest of the metropolis' citizens who live in the Catacombs. Indeed, a fad has emerged amongst the nobility of Meltaro to staff their houses entirely with undead, kept fresh and in good working order through the use of Embalming Stones, as the cost efficencies created by having to not feed, water and provide lodgings for living servants can be quite attractive depending on the size of the staff needed for a residence.

Manufacturing

As one might expect with an item that requires the necromantic arts to create, the process of marking an Embalming Stone is not particularly pleasant. 
First of all, the heart of a cadavar must be carefully and ritually removed from the body and placed into a mixture of molten pine sap and lead, which has also had various herbs, crystals and other arcane materials stirred into it (the exact recipe is only known to those necromancers who have been taught the process, and they are naturally very protective of their secrets). 
The heart is left in this mixture until it has completely solidified, at which point the solid block of material is removed and the heart is carefully extracted from the surrounding miscellania using a hammer and chisel. 
The heart is then placed back into the chest of the cadavar from whence it came, and is carefully sewn back into the network of veins and arteries, as if it were to work once again as a living organ.
One the corpse has been reclosed an the activating word has been spoken, the cadavar will come to life as an undead, undecaying servant.

Inventor(s)

Whilst it is not known exactly which of them created it, Embalming Stones are thought to have been invented by one, or through a collaboration of necromancers, beloning to the organisation known as Corpore Mortis.

Modifications

  As well as the technology itself, Corpore Mortis necromancers have also worked out how to modify Embalming Stones so that they also embue their corpses with other desirable features. As well as providing the core functions of the object, such modifications can include:

• Making an undead servant animated in this way emit a pleasing odour - often tailored to the favourite scent or perfume of their new master;
• Make them stonger, generally to make them more effective at manual labour, apparantly through the addition of Giant's blood to the arcane mixture;
• Allow them to retain enough of their former intelligence to perform administrative based tasks such as taking dictated letters or notes - this requires performing a similar procedure to the brain of the cadavar, which naturally makes this much more expensive;
• Retain combat abilities that they once had in life, making them highly effective, ever watchful bodyguards.