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How To Kill An "Unkillable" Race

ShadeZ

Maester
Heyo,

So I have a species I am working on called the demidur. They have all the usual stuff supernatural speed, reflexes ect in addition to that they are allegedly an 'invincible' or 'unkillable' race. At one point a male demidur mentions he could stab himself in the heart and it would do nothing. He also mentions that an enemy could slit his neck and he would bleed out but it would by no means be lethal or even harmful to him as he is an enchanted race (the opposite though 'created' similarly would be a 'cursed race' like a vampire) so blood and functioning organs aren't needed just recommended where a blood race (humans, elves, dwarves, giants) can't survive without them. However, this race can be killed but it would be under a very extreme or unconventional means similar to how you can cut a vampire's head off and it will regenerate but if you stab it with say a common wooden pencil in the heart it dies. Any ideas?
 
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CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
Burning. Change their flesh to ash.
And make any "invulnerability" energy consuming. So yes, they can survive hideous wounds but to recover takes a lot of energy and leaves them exhausted. Then when they are asleep.... Set them on fire! :sneaky:
[ I though beheading killed Vampires... or is that just in BtVS... :unsure: ]
 
  • Drowning.
  • Drowning in salt water.
  • Covered in volcanic sulfuric ash.
  • Struck by lightning.
  • Buried in cow dung for a period not less than five days.
  • 100 bee stings.
  • Forced to watch 100 hours of Jake Paul, without break, until head explodes.

Ok, maybe not the last one....

Basically, what could counter the enchantment? What is anathema to that race, or entirely counter to it? Something thematic could work.
 
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Cutting off the head works against almost all things. Though with Hydra's (and other multiheaded monsters) you need to sear the scar shut before the head can regenerate.

Other common options are:
- special weapon specifically designed to counter these things
- specific vulnerable spot
- weakness against certain substances
- they actually are immortal but they can be captured / locked away in some manner, effectively taking them out of the action (and conveniently making them available for the sequel again ;) )

For all of these there's examples in mythologies. Balder was slain by a spear made from mistletoe, Achilles had his heel, Superman has kryptonite, lots of things get beheaded everywhere, and locking gods away seems to happen all over the place.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
Yes, I like the idea that their weakness has to do with their enchantment but I even more like the idea it has nothing at all to do with them, something as innocent to us as wood for example is lethal to vampires. Beheading seems way too common.
 

MrNybble

Sage
Who supposed to take advantage of this vulnerability? Other Demidur? Other mortal races like humans? There are demons in folklore that can't be killed by mortal hands, yet you say its true name backwards three times and it's defeated. Given the tech level of the world Demidur are in the weakness can be easy to use but hard to find or vice versa.

Killing isn't the only way to defeat somebody. Imprisoning an unkillable person is just as effective. The still age and die, just puts weights on them and find some deep water.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
Demidur are a race incapable of evil simalar to a light faerie, if they go too long doing something evil and malicious the enchantment that keeps them alive kills them. They are most famous as Dragon Slayers but they will fight anything evil in nature such as bandits and raiders, hostile raiding dragons, or the army of Azear an evil cult of sorts devoted to encasing the entire world in night and creating a world where the strongest ones rule over the weakest ones. As such the primary group that would be trying to kill them are their enemies, primarily Azears army as they already staged it to look like demidur are violent blood thirsty killers to other races. They do so by planting spies and dirty soldiers that only demidur can detect, so when demidur kill them it looks as if they suddenly just snapped and killed a random civilian or guard.

Demidur are immortals they only die if killed and their physical power is on par or greater than that of a dragon of equal age. They could be imprisoned but the older they get the harder it would become to keep them imprisoned.
 

MrNybble

Sage
Now that's something to work with. What is the source of this unkillable enchantment? Can it be tainted or interrupted? Can Demidur be tricked into doing deeds that seem good that are actually evil? Mechanics of the magic system could have anti-magic. Setup an area like a room where no magic can work. Lure Demidur into it and they are killable while there.

If the enchantment is the only thing making Demidur unkillable than that's an avenue for attack by others. Like any tactics if you can't take the overwhelming force head on then you go after softer supporting targets. Unless the enchantment has its own enchantment to protect it?
 
if they go too long doing something evil and malicious the enchantment that keeps them alive kills them
This raises the question who determines what counts as evil. Is there an absolute judge? Is it defined by society? Is it the intent of the creator of the enchantment?

Of course, you might not want to go there in your story, but it could be an interesting direction to explore. All of them have possible implications where the definition of good and evil could be different from what they think it is.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
This raises the question who determines what counts as evil. Is there an absolute judge? Is it defined by society? Is it the intent of the creator of the enchantment?

Of course, you might not want to go there in your story, but it could be an interesting direction to explore. All of them have possible implications where the definition of good and evil could be different from what they think it is.
Intent of the entity that created the enchantment. I don't go too deep into it.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
Now that's something to work with. What is the source of this unkillable enchantment? Can it be tainted or interrupted? Can Demidur be tricked into doing deeds that seem good that are actually evil? Unless the enchantment has its own enchantment to protect it?

Demidur are antimagical in nature. It's tricky to explain but their "enchantment" is of an antimagical nature. Only another older demidur can remove the antimagical shields of a demidur. They get a severe burning feeling in their chest (think really bad heartburn) when they are about to commit evil so they can't be tricked into it. It can't be tainted or interrupted as the process by which a demidur becomes such melds the enchantment to their body as such each enchantment is a bit different based off the individual.

Demidur are created when a blood race(human, elf, fae, or even an animal) kills a dragon and infuses their own blood with dragon blood. Their body creates antibodies of a sort to counter act the violent and magical nature of dragons blood and creates an antimagical being with a strong tendency to protect and help innocents and hunt and kill evil. Hence their violent reputation, dragons are usually seen as intelligent and gentle creatures making demidur seen as monsters as all demidur were killers or warriors before becoming demidur and usually are after as well.
 

Vaporo

Inkling
They get a severe burning feeling in their chest (think really bad heartburn) when they are about to commit evil so they can't be tricked into it.
Perhaps force them into a situation where any action they take is evil. For example, lock them in a room with three innocent people. They can only escape by killing one of the three and if they do nothing, then all three will die. Something to that extent.
 
Vaparo goes straight to the Saw set up. And, while heartburn really sucks, certainly a suppressant or being a super warrior isn't going to let something like that stop them. But on to the actual killing of supposedly unkillables.

Acids that burn through them.
Magma drop or drool from a monster that drools magma.
Rock Monster arial insertion in a HALO drop.
Stuck in a 10'x10' foot room with a gelatinous cube.
Wood chipper.
Drop a mountain on them.
Drop two mountains on them.
Crush them beneath the merciless, relentless and unending futile march of time in the face of their immortality.
Show them the true despair of their tireless campaign against evil and how no matter what they do they do not seem to enact any true change and watch as the slowly go mad and take themselves out.
Ingest a berry that actually rots them from the inside out and starts with their nervous system.
Puffer fish poison.
Strangled by a red string.
Dropped into Hell's Arena to fight demons for all eternity.
Death by peppermint candy after a lovely meal.
Killed by cartoon physics.
Killed by Death.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
You could just introduce them to social media--they'll find reasons to kill each other soon enough.

If they are magic, thne perhaps killing the body and burring the right magic symbol into their corpse.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
Perhaps force them into a situation where any action they take is evil. For example, lock them in a room with three innocent people. They can only escape by killing one of the three and if they do nothing, then all three will die. Something to that extent.

They would do nothing except violently attack the walls and door till something gives way or they couldn't move. They would attempt to save the three no matter what and would never think of even harming any of the three. The saw method doesn't really work on them since evil is expected to do that.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
I like the red string idea, orc. That is sorta what I mean by seemingly common thing used right could kill them.
 
All of this is giving me ideas about a fun story. Some kind of monster hunter tale in a wacky land where the solution to so many troublesome creatures is always outlandish, absurd, convoluted, or something else.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
All of this is giving me ideas about a fun story. Some kind of monster hunter tale in a wacky land where the solution to so many troublesome creatures is always outlandish, absurd, convoluted, or something else.

Yup how to kill a dragon... raindance in the desert anyone?
 

Vaporo

Inkling
They would do nothing except violently attack the walls and door till something gives way or they couldn't move. They would attempt to save the three no matter what and would never think of even harming any of the three. The saw method doesn't really work on them since evil is expected to do that.
And what if attacking the walls also killed them? i.e. any action except killing one results in all 3 instantly dying.
 
Yup how to kill a dragon... raindance in the desert anyone?

Not sure how you kill a dragon with desert sunshine, but it may just be something I'm not familiar with. And I'm always a fan of dragon death by punching. Nothing quite like the old fisticuffs' to truly take down the primal essence of whatever the scaly beasties happen to represent.
 
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