Guide on Novels and Games - FANTASY - MONSTERS - UNDEAD

APPEARANCE:

Undead being are living beings that are dead and have their bodies, and maybe their mind and soul too, animated using a specific method.

BIOLOGY:

The biology of this monsters is the same of their living version but "dead" so there isn't really something to add on this aspect.

LIFESPAN:

Given that they are already dead then the concept of lifespan is not applied to them aside in the case they are animated using some kind of energy based method, in that case we can say that their lifespan is basically the time the energy still... for use a stupid example, think that a zombie use a battery for move, then the duration of the battery is the lifespan.

REPRODUCTION:

There are various type of undead but the common trait is that they are unable to reproduce since "reproduction" is something that only a living being can do.

New undead monsters can be created via magic or technological way but nothing more than this for the reason said before.

Some example I can make are:

* injuried by an undead, die and become an undead.
* Cursed, die and become an undead (zombie, lich or a ghost)
* Get a parasite, die and the parasite start to control the body creating an undead.
* Virus that transform into an undead monster
* Put a necromancy spell on a living being and wait until the target die for "resurrect" as undead, in some stories some necromancer use this for become Lich

VARIATION:

This type of monster have a long list of variations so first I need to differ them between 2 categories that are:

* Science, the classical monster that is born thanks to a virus or some kind of parasite that first kill the host and then reanimate it with a brain that work with only the more basic instinct
* Supernatural, when magic or some kind of spirit is involved making the undead monster

After this first classification we need to divide the undead monster into 3 other categories that are:

* Ethereal, this type don't possess a physical form and collect all the monster that are made by energy. A side note I have to do is say that normally this type of monster are considered too as spirit monsters so their classification is both undead and spirit.
* Bone, this group include all the undead that are made only by bones.
* Flesh, this group is composed by all the monsters that have flesh that compose their body.

Given this 2 different classification I can start listing the normal undead we can see in works

* Ghost, a supernatural and ethereal type of undead
* Skeleton, an undead made only by bones that can be found using equipments like armors, weapons and shields but this term is not applied only to human like monster but to beast like (mean like the skeleton of an animal that move like the skeleton of a human), dragon (the skeleton of a dragon or various bones bonded together forming a dragon) and chimeric like (different type of bones that compose a unique skeleton... just like a chimera that are various parts of animal that are sew together making a unique creature)
* Zombie, the classical monster, usually a human, that basically is a corps that move. Despite the classical monster is human, this don't mean that other living beings can't become one infact animal too can become zombies plus a famous example of this are the dragon zombies.
* Talking Corps, is a zombie's variation and in some works they are human that don't pass and walk in the world of the living until they degenerate into classical zombies or fullfill their desire and then finally rest. Despite how I described them now, they can be zombies more smart than normal that are able to speak and that attack humans following their nature as monsters.
* Ghoul, different from the classical zombie, they are basically undead that hunt living beings for eat them while the classical zombie are stupid beings that move and act in response of something like leftover instinct. In arabian stories of this type of monster, a female ghoul called ghulah, that is not different from a human, attract men inside her house for kill them and then eat them, this mean that ghouls can be smart monsters.
* Mummy, a type of monster born from the egyptians legends, this type of monster is normally connected to curse and this mean that can curse or is born from them.
* Lich, is a powerfull type of undead that can use magic or maybe is even right say that it's a type of undead that is specialized in magic, they are dangerous thanks to this.
* Wight, in the past this word were used for indicate humans but the fantasy genre changed it into a type of undead can be an alternative to the Lich or an evolution of a Lich.
* Flesh Golem, this is tricky as monster because normally golems are a different type of monster but in this case is the combination of flesh of different beings, resulting in something similar to a chimera but dead, some people consider them only golems and not undead but I think that there is a problem with this, if a flesh golem is moved not by a magical core but from a spirit/soul than it's an undead while if it's moved by a core like normal golems than is part of the golem family.

NOTE: depending on the environment is possible found only certain type of undead for example mummies can be found in dry places and not in a swamp.

A little advice about zombies... if you plan to make an horror with them then avoid use zombies born from science for the simple reason that in the time they decompose and so a zombie apocalypse have a short life, plus between the fact that they are stupid (they damage themself in any way and since they don't feel pain they don't realize their damages), the climate (if cold they froze and if hot they decompose at a more high speed) and all the predators that eat them (animals, insects, bacteria, etc.) they don't have all that time to exist.

Contrary to the one born from science, and I want to remember that in some works they use fake zombies and that mean that they seems normal zombies but are not, the one born from magic don't decompose in the time or at least the process is very slow so if a science zombie can "live" for a week then a magic zombie can "live" for months, years or even for an undeterminated amount of time