COOL STUFF: "Imagining The Undead" (30 November 2007)

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TOP: The undead hordes cover the land in darkness...

Hi All,

All gamers have quirks, and among the gaming masses, two groups have particularly fertile, perhaps over-fertile, imaginations: RPG gamers & miniatures wargamers. We get caught up on a theme and just go bonkers with it. My buddy Nils does. My Junkworld buddy Mark does. Cacique Caribe from TMP does. And I certainly do! I've been stuck on the undead for some time now...

TOP: "Liber Necris: The Book Of Death In the Old World"

And I finally got ahold of a copy of the Black Library Publication "Liber Necris: The Book Of Death In the Old World," which has been a fun read. Essentially the Liber Necris, is a compilation of all the wonderful background on the undead from the Warhammer Fantasy Battles setting. And the story after almost two decades of short stories and fiction is a rich one... from the rise of the first Necromancer Nagash to the the depredations of the Von Carstein Vampire lineage... However, what really got my imagination going was a discussion of the components of the undead as discussed from a quasi-alchemical, wizardly perspective:

The Seven Prime
Physio-aethyric Components of the Undead:

Kha
The physical or mortal shell. The body. Corpse.

Ka
Ego, reason, and abstract thought.

Ba
The subconscious self and emotion.

Ab
The conscious or ethical awareness.
Also thought to be the freedom of choice.

Sekhem
Life force itself; soul-fire or aethyric energy.

Ren
One’s true name.
The notion or idea of a particular individual.

Khaibit
The shadow. Proof of mortality.

And that prompted me to create a table of the undead components, which I haven't figured out how to port over to Blogger yet.

And that got me to start thinking of all the types of undead I could recall... from fairy tales, legends, miniatures games, board games, novels, short stories, RPGs, etc. ...which led me to the below list:

CHARACTERS:
- Demiliche (wizard)
- Dracoliche (dragon + wizard)
- Liche (wizard)
- Liche Master (wizard)
- Master Necromancer (wizard)
- Mummy Lord (warrior + wizard)
- Necromancer (wizard)
- Vampire: Blood Dragon (Traditional Eastern European Drakul Warrior Type)
- Vampire: Eastern Cathay (Mastermind / Sorcerer / Scholar Type)
- Vampire: Lahmian (Seductress Type)
- Vampire: Necrarch (Necromancer Type)
- Vampire: Southern (Earth Beast Vampire Type)
- Vampire: Strigoi (Wild Beast Vampire Type)
- Vampire: Von Carstein (Traditional Gothic Horror Dracula Type)
- Vampire Count (warrior)
- Vampire Lord (warrior)
- Vampire Thrall (warrior)
- Werewolf (beast + warrior)
- Wight Lord (warrior)
- Wraith Lord (warrior)

CORE-UNDEAD:
- Baneguard
- Carrion Flyer
- Corpseguard
- Deadites
- Direguard
- Grave Guard
- Leiberian Skeleton
- Skeletal or Zombie Beasts
- Skeletal or Zombie Wolves
- Skeletons
- Wights
- Zombies

CORE-MUNDANE:
- Bats (beast)
- Ghast (beast + man)
- Ghoul (beast + man)
- Gypsies (man)
- Peasants (man)
- Rats (beast)
- Villagers (man)
- Vultures (beast)
- Wolves (beast)

SPECIAL-CORPOREAL:
- Black Knights
- Chupacabra
- Corpse Gatherer (Animated Graveyard)
- Death knights
- Frankenstein
- Golem
- Grim Reaper
- Horseman Of the Apocalypse
- Mummies
- Nephilim
- Nightshade
- Revenant
- Skeletal Centaurs
- Skeletal Ogre, Troll, etc.
- Undead Chariot
- Undead Elite
- Zombie Ogre, Troll, etc.

SPECIAL-INCORPOREAL:
- Banshee
- Barrow Wight
- Ghost
- Nightmare
- Phantom
- Poltergeist
- Ringwraith
- Shade
- Shadow
- Spectre
- Spirit Host
- Will O' the Wisp
- Wraith

RARE:
- The Black Coach
- Bog or Fen Beast
- Skeletal Dragon or Wyrme
- Zombie Dragon or Wyrme

Hope you enjoyed my convoluted thought patterns!

Have a great Friday!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

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