On 6/4/06, A.S. Zanoni <chica at dreamcafe.com> wrote: > dragaera-request at dragaera.info wrote: > > > > Date: Sat, 03 Jun 2006 18:22:47 -0600 > > From: Howard Brazee <howard at brazee.net> > > Subject: Re: Yuck > > > > Peter H. Granzeau wrote: > > > >> At 09:31 PM 6/2/2006, Howard Brazee wrote: > >> > >>> On 5:36 PM Peter H. Granzeau wrote: > >>> > >>>>> So what does "dead" mean? > >>>> She's not exactly dead, she is just not alive. > >>>> > >>> We've been told she's dead, but she's obviously also alive. > >>> > >> The correct word seems to be undead. > >> > > Yep. But when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - she's alive. > > > > ------------------------------ > > Despite ducks, Loraan and other comments... I suspect you are mistaking > your terms, specifically "alive" where a better word would be animate. > It's trickier to mistake "dead" for the merely inanimate and no longer > alive. > > Undead is a placeholder. It assumes that someone has been animated, or > is able to function like a living being, or possesses features of same. > > That's why you have the handy category known as undead. > Well, yes. This is certainly how I think of it. I believe that the original poster was thinking that if someone is walking around, breathing, and so on - by definition, "metabolizing" - then that individual is also by definition, alive. In our universe, that would probably be true, but in the Dragaeraverse, things are obviously different. I think we can even classify some of these different states, which is probably a good start towards thinking of it as being a matter of engineering. No doubt the Necromancer would be able to point out problems with these definitions, based on better understanding of the underlying mechanics. Alive: Having a viable, metabolizing body, and a soul which was bound to that body at the moment of its conception (or at some specific point during fetal development, such as after the development of the brain, or the neocortex). The life-state of most animate persons and animals. Dead: That point where the body is not in fact viable and metabolizing, but the soul is still bound to it. If the body is returned to a viable state, the person is said to be alive again, or revivified. Permanently Dead: That point where the body is not viable and metabolizing, and the soul is no longer bound to it. Destroyed: When a soul is given to a Morganti weapon, via a body that it is bound to, it is destroyed. For all practical purposes, that person no longer exists at all. Disembodied: That situation where the body is not viable or metabolizing, or even present, but the soul, while unbound from a body, is still coherent, and is able at times to manifest. Undead: That situation where the soul was unbound from the body, and then re-bound. Because the binding is not the same type of binding that occurs when a soul is bound during fetal development, it is a weaker binding, and [NECROMANTIC TECH GOES HERE] Undead Vampiric: An undead where the binding of soul to body is sufficiently strained that it affects the metabolism of the body. Thus, [NECROMANTIC TECH GOES HERE] Waiting: That location/state where an unbound soul goes (usualy souls of Easterners, and Dragaerans who do not go to Deathgate). When it pleases the gods, they permit souls in this state to be re-bound to developing fetuses, to re-enter the "Alive" state as reincarnated persons. Pathed: Those souls which have been given to Deathgate, and are making their way through the Paths of the Dead. Judged: Those souls which have successfully navigated the Paths of the Dead and arrived at the Halls of Judgement. These souls may appear to visitors to be alive; they certainly can have many (most?) of the powers and skills that they have when alive. Those souls which are judged unworthy for whatever reason are given a purple robe, and are enslaved to the gods' whims. Souls in this state may also be permitted to be re-bound to developing fetuses, to re-enter the "Alive" state as reincarnated persons. Bound to inanimate: Like it sounds. A soul in this state may be considered frozen, although it may, after time, enter the waiting state, or decay to the point where it becomes destroyed. Insufficient data, and [NECROMANTIC TECH GOES HERE]. The gods have the ability to force the soul into the alive state again, by arcane means that only they know. Bound to partially animate: If an inanimate object is magically modified such that it can in fact support a soul indefinitely, and allow said soul to think coherently, perceive the outside world, and react to it in a limited manner (in a way that a soul that is bound to an ordinary inanimate object can not), then [NECROMANTIC TECH GOES HERE]