Zero's "Making Undead"

[Zero Angel]

Hi everyone!

In addition to my ridiculous backlog of projects, I've also started a semi-regular series in my blog called, "Making Undead" where I make a bunch of undead on the spot going off just a couple of ideas (for instance, physical corruption and a race of creatures).

The first four are below with previews of the post and I'm planning on two more in the next week or so.

Oh! and this should be a permanent link to all "Making Undead" posts, both past, present and future (as they're published): Making Undead Permanent Link.

Making Undead #1: Physical Corruption of Dwarves
In WotA, dwarves are not as fleshy as they may be in other verses. Their bones and bodies quickly decompose to cold iron (distinct from natural iron as having strong antimagickal properties), and their skin and hair is similarly laced with metallic deposits.

I immediately start thinking of poisoned metal. Somewhere in my past consumption of media and science I've heard of ruining metal when it is in liquid form. Googling to see if this idea can be verified turns up little, but I immediately come across heavy metal poisoning, which starts the gears turning a different direction. I also file away the idea of rust, another way metal is ruined.

It makes sense that dwarves would be mostly immune to heavy metal poisoning the way humes think of it and that poisoning in general would be thought of as underhanded or lacking merit. Still, some corrupt individuals might seek to increase the levels of these unnatural elements if they go out in the world to hunt and kill non-dwarves. Or even to increase the poisonous materials in their own bodies to the point that contact or close proximity would injure or harm even other dwarves!

So we have a living basis for the undead to come. A dwarf that unnaturally seeks to increase the levels of toxic metals in his or her own body to be used as a weapon against others. With the idea of their antimagickal bones projecting an aura, it makes sense that they would be able to weaponize that same aura and convert the antimagickal field into an antimagickal toxic field. Similarly, this would provide a defense. Anyone that can overcome the field of the dwarf would not be poisoned, although it also is insidious in that even those that might have magickal protection to poison might fall prey to the dual antimagick/poison.

I draw a quick sketch and label it poison dwarf (undead) for future elaboration.
...read more at Making Undead #1

Making Undead #2: Physical Corruption of Centaurs
Centaurs are pretty interesting physical specimens in WotA. They have binary circulatory and respiratory systems, two hearts and two sets of lungs. Although this enables them to survive longer from a mortal wound, it also increases more vulnerabilities.

Immediately, centaurs that continue living after the loss of a heart jump to the forefront of my imagination. These one-hearted centaurs might live quite a while before falling to the inevitable, all the while building up misery and despair and hatred towards those with two hearts.

Mono-hearts hate living centaurs and go out of their way to destroy them through pinpoint attacks to the heart. Their psionic ability has granted them a heart-lance attack that they use on crippled centaurs, usually doing the crippling themselves with hamstringing psionic attacks. They take the greatest pleasure in the living centaur knowing the inevitable is coming. After the attack, they may release the prey, but just as likely they will maintain its life for weeks, months or years using its psionics until the creature finally dies and rises as another mono-heart.

Some mono-hearts attempt to create new hearts from the hearts of others, and implement the new hearts in a variety of ways. A more ravenous, mindless mono-heart may consume them, while one possessing higher functioning may attempt surgical procedures using their psionics as scalpel and suture. Finally, some may attempt to cultivate the Culling from the hearts of tauren creatures (the Culling is a type of demonic parasite that features strongly in WotA, beginning right off the bat with Book 1 - The Throne of Ao).

These three subtypes of mono-hearts are undead creatures in their own rights, rabid-hearts, ultra-hearts, and demon-hearts. Centaurs are pretty interesting physical specimens in WotA. They have binary circulatory and respiratory systems, two hearts and two sets of lungs. Although this enables them to survive longer from a mortal wound, it also increases more vulnerabilities.

Immediately, centaurs that continue living after the loss of a heart jump to the forefront of my imagination. These one-hearted centaurs might live quite a while before falling to the inevitable, all the while building up misery and despair and hatred towards those with two hearts.

Mono-hearts hate living centaurs and go out of their way to destroy them through pinpoint attacks to the heart. Their psionic ability has granted them a heart-lance attack that they use on crippled centaurs, usually doing the crippling themselves with hamstringing psionic attacks. They take the greatest pleasure in the living centaur knowing the inevitable is coming. After the attack, they may release the prey, but just as likely they will maintain its life for weeks, months or years using its psionics until the creature finally dies and rises as another mono-heart.

Some mono-hearts attempt to create new hearts from the hearts of others, and implement the new hearts in a variety of ways. A more ravenous, mindless mono-heart may consume them, while one possessing higher functioning may attempt surgical procedures using their psionics as scalpel and suture. Finally, some may attempt to cultivate the Culling from the hearts of tauren creatures (the Culling is a type of demonic parasite that features strongly in WotA, beginning right off the bat with Book 1 - The Throne of Ao).

These three subtypes of mono-hearts are undead creatures in their own rights, rabid-hearts, ultra-hearts, and demon-hearts.
...read more at Making Undead #2

Will post #3 and #4 in another comment. Thanks for reading! Hope it's been helpful and entertaining

 

[Zero Angel]

Here's #3 and #4:

Making Undead #3: Physical Corruption of Minotaurs
One of my favorite subspecies of minotaurs are the mazetouched. The mazetouched possess enormous horns that sprout out in multiple locations on their heads. Male mazetouched develop antlers bordering on the absurd (think Exodus from FFTA, only maybe not that absurd as these are just the regular average male of the species...Wow, can't believe how expensive FFTA is. Glad I got it when it was in print!).

Anyway, a common misconception about the dead is that nail and teeth continue to grow (when in reality the skin shrinks away from it). While this is a misconception about the dead in our world, in WotA, this can easily be verified with the undead. For a mazetouched to have their horns continue to grow and be razor-sharp, they would quickly impale themselves. The impaled is born.

An impaled is an undead mazetouched minotaur whose horns curl back on themselves and through the body of the minotaur. This can interfere with mobility, but the horns continue to grow, so it really does not prevent using the horns as they were meant to be originally. Additionally, the horns can split to form multiple spirals and penetrations. Whereas normal minotaurs have no problem goring, impaled generally use body slams to share their many horn tips with their enemies. Some impaled eventually become rooted to the ground from the uncontrolled growth of their horns. These impaled bushes are dangerous obstacles that can extend the horn thorns to kill unwary creatures close by. The bodies are drawn backwards along the horns to the impaled at the center to further feed it, although the horns absorb nutrients and act as veins to bring sustenance back as well.
...read more at Making Undead #3

Making Undead #4: Physical Corruption of Aviadins
Aviadins are a unique race to WotA, but similar to other fantasy birdmen races in form such as the aarakocra of D&D and Arakkoa of WoW. Where they differ is how they fit into the world of WotA (and also the fact that they can't do much more than a controlled slowfall, whereas most birdmen are able to fly to some extent).

After the Seal of the Archmagi was broken, the ancient saurian citadels returned to the Realm of Ao. The long dormant magicks seized upon the closest relatives to the saurians still alive, a variety of species of birds, and attempted to imbue them with the forgotten power of their proud race.The aviadins were the result.

So the aviadins have a few different physical characteristics to play around with and pervert for the purposes of making undead creatures. The unholy fusion of saurian (which were a collection of intelligent species of dinosaurs at their most basic) and bird alone could leave me with a blog filling up the rest of the night.
...read more at Making Undead #4

(@Mods: If this belongs more in world-building, that's fine, but I figured I was showcasing my articles on my blog, so it should go here.)