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Undead Madness

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Nickeris86:
Since zombies and vampires have been such huge hits in the media as of late I thought I would ask everyone what kind of undead critters they are putting in their stories if any. The more unique the better.

I'll start things off. My undead are separated into three categories, those created by a Necromancer or mage (zombies, skeletons, mummies and a few other creatures that are more bizarre. Then there are the "natural" undead which are primarily the many flavors of ghosts and spirits. created undead for the most part are soulless husks with no will of their own so there is no real moral issue in creating them though many think its evil. Natural undead are fragments of a dead persons soul and thus have some will, evil necromancers will enslave them for their nefarious purposes while good ones will make a bond with them. Evil necromancers tend to have more slaves but they are also weaker, good necromancers have fewer undead to command but they are stronger.  The last group are the divinely created, these are made only when a god steps in and turns a mortal into an undead minion these are Lichs or Deathknights depending on which god creates them (only two gods have created such beings). These beings are not true undead but living beings who exists simultaneously in the mortal and spirit world making them very very very powerful.

all undead can be modified by a strong enough mage, usually a necromancer, enhancing them with spells and other nasty surprises depending on what task they were created for.

Quantus:
Sounds cool.  Ill chime in when I have more time with different undead types Ive thought about.  But for now I have two questions:  Do Angels exist in your frame and are they the "good" version of a Lich/Deathnight?  Are all Mages undead and/or spirit based, or is that just one field/school/specialization?

Nickeris86:
In my setting there aren't angels in the traditional scenes, three goddesses rule over the pantheon and each has their own servants by a different name. Deathnights could be considered "good" they protect the natural order of life and death, and have near god like power. Lichs have forsaken their humanity and serve oblivion and are also near godlike in their power scale, though I am thinking of calling them something else. As for magic, there are several schools of magic and any magi can learn them depending on their own aptitude (not everyone is good at everything). then their are the Mavin who are the archmages they are proficient at all magic to some degree. My main character is a Necromancer training to become a Mavin.

Quantus:
So there are necromancers, but also evokers, illusionists, thaumaturgists etc (or some variation of the standard magic schools)?


As far as some different types of undead, here's a few:



Vampires (Got most of this during a spin of research lookign for the Jade Court)
- They typically fall into one of a few broad categories, that the courts mostly fit.  There are the monster creatures that only looks like a human being, and usually has the various levels of shapeshifting ability.  There are the Undead type.  There are also a lot of SE Asia myths of green skinned beings that could split/segment their bodies, send their heads off flying, and other such stuff, but sometimes that seems like the shapeshifting bits, while otehrtimes the green is rot and they are more animated dead style.  And there are the Psychic/spiritual Vampires.  Any of the Shapeshifting and/or Undead stuff sounds good for your Necro-Dead, while the Psychic Vampire sounds like a great Natural type; it could be a spirit drain, a possession thing, or an outright walking dead that found a way to steal life to keep ticking. 


Other Undead include Patchwork types, with can be anything from franestien's monster to chimera creatures built from various animal and/or people parts. 


You could have all sorts of fun with different types of based on the portion of soul preserved or the method/circumstances of their death, and moreso depending on how firm you are on the intangibility of the Natural types.  So like a person that died with extreme lonliness might become a siren type that tries to drag the living down with them. Wereas the victim of a push-in robery/murder might be a poltergeist that violently tries to drive them off.  And those are just intangible types;  if you are willing to have physical types that are Natural instead of created, you can go even further with the twisted, monster stuff.  A psychic vampire as a natural type would make sense for example.   Or various forms of rage-monster, gluttany/devourer, etc.  The Big 7 sins are always good fodder for that sort of thing.


If you can give me more on the flavor of the 3 goddesses, I can give you more for the divine type

arianne:
I was discussing this with a pal the other day...undead beings.

Okay, we were discussing ONE undead being, aka the main guy of a certain paranormal romance that has been made into four movies starring...*ahem* some people girls scream and die over. (You know who it is ;D)

I was kind of skeptic over the whole vampire thing, and I went like, how is it possible for a dead guy to walk around, drink blood (where does the blood GO? He doesn't have a heart to pump it anywhere!! he doesn't have a working stomach to digest the stuff!! WHAT???), and--this is the big haha moment--have kids???? With another human!!!!

Keep in mind that a vampire is DEAD. Not breathing. Eating (apart from blood).

Just a mini-vent. Sorry.  :) The whole vampire sensation sweeping the nation kind of bugs me. I don't see the beauty of loving someone who's dead.

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