Zombies
This article is regarding specifically the zombies made from L’huine when they traveled into the Spirit World with Božena on a mission to break The Cycle.
Zombies are a surprisingly sentient species of Undead that can be found within the Spirit World, particularly in Pluarsh ec Relovut. Some of the zombies that can be found in The Spirit World more closely resemble the mindless undead found on Taranel, but a select few are the remnants of a ritual long since forgotten or perhaps even erased from history.
They were first seen in Pluarsh Ec Relovut by the Spiritual Travelers on Nurend 16, 308 while they were fighting a group of Death Blossoms.
Basic Information
Anatomy
These particular zombies are all humanoid, on the shorter side at about 5ft tall, and with very slightly pointed ears that are a little bit more rounded than a half-elf's.
They tend to be mostly rotted with loose, damaged, often hole-filled skin draped over rancid and discolored meat. Their eyes are frequently without sockets and instead just orbs resting delicately in lidless pits, occasionally missing one or both eyes entirely. Their ancient nature has caused their lips to stretch back tight against their faces making the lower portions of their heads seem almost skeletal. Missing limbs are also common, though they have long since stopped dripping blood.
This external appearance is, obviously, quite frightening and can lead to their destruction despite them often not being innately hostile creatures.
On Daulok 21-22, 308, the Spiritual Travelers encountered more L'huine, particularly Zombies, within Me'kiah'brem'or. They were taller than expected at ten feet for a bookstore clerk and slightly taller still for certain guests at his shop. They had ears that looked like they were starting to form points but were mostly human shaped. Their limbs were long, and the flesh that they still had seemed soft and hairless. It is unclear if all L'huine are like this or just the zombies of the City of Rot, but if they are all around ten feet tall, then a question could be asked about Her'aen. She was supposedly there when The Necromancer first started casting her spell yet she is closer to Hysteria's height than these L'huine. She could be a child, or at least not as developed as the other folks in this city, perhaps L'huine take an incredibly long time to grow and she was young when she became a zombie. It is unknown how old she was when she followed The Necromancer into this realm, but Kaswink had another theory: That these zombies were merely descendents of the L'huine and had been changed by this realm of rot. Much like how elves long ago had changed when they fled the Spirit World, these zombies could be distant descendents of some group of L'huine from long ago, or just modified by the spiritual energy of the realm. One important detail regarding this is that Me'kiah'brem'or appeared to have architecture designed around people on the taller side. Doors, door handles, shelves, everything seemed initially designed for a taller person to use.
On Daulok 21-22, 308, the Spiritual Travelers encountered more L'huine, particularly Zombies, within Me'kiah'brem'or. They were taller than expected at ten feet for a bookstore clerk and slightly taller still for certain guests at his shop. They had ears that looked like they were starting to form points but were mostly human shaped. Their limbs were long, and the flesh that they still had seemed soft and hairless. It is unclear if all L'huine are like this or just the zombies of the City of Rot, but if they are all around ten feet tall, then a question could be asked about Her'aen. She was supposedly there when The Necromancer first started casting her spell yet she is closer to Hysteria's height than these L'huine. She could be a child, or at least not as developed as the other folks in this city, perhaps L'huine take an incredibly long time to grow and she was young when she became a zombie. It is unknown how old she was when she followed The Necromancer into this realm, but Kaswink had another theory: That these zombies were merely descendents of the L'huine and had been changed by this realm of rot. Much like how elves long ago had changed when they fled the Spirit World, these zombies could be distant descendents of some group of L'huine from long ago, or just modified by the spiritual energy of the realm. One important detail regarding this is that Me'kiah'brem'or appeared to have architecture designed around people on the taller side. Doors, door handles, shelves, everything seemed initially designed for a taller person to use.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Despite being zombies and slowly rotting, the L'huine seen in the City of Rot were social and still had a society, economy and even law enforcement to some degree. Businesses were being operated, folks would whisper to each other near the Spiritual Travelers, and what was presumed to be an officer of the law approached DAN as they were keeping watch during a much-needed rest. This person seemed to have some compassion and merely wanted to see if the group was okay as their behavior was apparent strange to the L'huine. They were napping in a bookstore, after all.
Civilization and Culture
History
All known history about these zombies was provided by the last surviving zombie after the Spiritual Traveler's encounter with a Death Blossom. Rather than moan, scream or beg for release from their suffering like the other zombies that were encountered, this zombie showed far more intelligence and requested a moment of the traveler's time before they depart or kill her.
The story told by this zombie has some information which suggests the "L'huine" mentioned might be ancestors of the modern day Elves. There are stories in the elven literature picked up by the Spiritual Travelers which reference the terms "King-and-Queen" and "Božena" in particular.
After the zombie told her story, Namina offered either immediate death or to wait and suffer while the task is dealt with at which point she would return to end the rest of their suffering. The Zombie woman accepted immediate death.
"Please, save me. Not just me, but all that are like me. The pain of life is too much to bear. The pain of existence, the weight of eons, there is one that must be stopped before my brethren and I can rest or, hopefully, be reborn someday. I wouldn’t expect you to go right away, I’m sure you’re busy and wouldn’t want to impose, but I just wanted you to hear my story. Long ago, during the reign of Ki’ur, The First King-and-Queen, then known simply as King Uilan, we were given explicit instructions by The Psychic to build an impressive city. She said she had heard the cry of a distant god desperate for company, and as the construction continued and talk of the new realm we would visit spread… well, other ideals began to rise as well. The Necromancer began preaching the woes of each passing cycle. She would proclaim to all who walked in the streets that they are missing memories, that each life is more pointless than the last, that we should remember all of our lives or what’s the point in living them? She had many persuasive thoughts and promises, and one of the most tantalizing to the majority of us was the promise of immortality. That death would never again claim us, that we would carry with us the weight of all L’huine knowledge for all time … it was too much to resist. I had curiosity and a crippling fear of what might lay beyond this life, if I were reincarnated without my memory well then, what’s the point of even living in the first place? We finished the city and when we passed through to this Spirit World for the first time we all traveled here, to this swamp, and with the help of Božena we opened a gate to the land of rot using special mushrooms of her own creation, and as we chatted amongst each other a gate formed which we walked through to find our destiny. Božena’s promises were supposed to be realized in this new Rotting Gate, and I still do not doubt her desire to break the Circle, but her desire for power was something that couldn’t be ignored. She channeled the energies of that gate to corrupt us, to spread horrific blights and plagues, and the immortality that was promised did not prevent our bodies from rotting as time passed. Our existence is pain, each moment is suffering, and she is still in that gate channeling the magics for millennia ever on the edge of greatness."
"Please, save me. Not just me, but all that are like me. The pain of life is too much to bear. The pain of existence, the weight of eons, there is one that must be stopped before my brethren and I can rest or, hopefully, be reborn someday. I wouldn’t expect you to go right away, I’m sure you’re busy and wouldn’t want to impose, but I just wanted you to hear my story. Long ago, during the reign of Ki’ur, The First King-and-Queen, then known simply as King Uilan, we were given explicit instructions by The Psychic to build an impressive city. She said she had heard the cry of a distant god desperate for company, and as the construction continued and talk of the new realm we would visit spread… well, other ideals began to rise as well. The Necromancer began preaching the woes of each passing cycle. She would proclaim to all who walked in the streets that they are missing memories, that each life is more pointless than the last, that we should remember all of our lives or what’s the point in living them? She had many persuasive thoughts and promises, and one of the most tantalizing to the majority of us was the promise of immortality. That death would never again claim us, that we would carry with us the weight of all L’huine knowledge for all time … it was too much to resist. I had curiosity and a crippling fear of what might lay beyond this life, if I were reincarnated without my memory well then, what’s the point of even living in the first place? We finished the city and when we passed through to this Spirit World for the first time we all traveled here, to this swamp, and with the help of Božena we opened a gate to the land of rot using special mushrooms of her own creation, and as we chatted amongst each other a gate formed which we walked through to find our destiny. Božena’s promises were supposed to be realized in this new Rotting Gate, and I still do not doubt her desire to break the Circle, but her desire for power was something that couldn’t be ignored. She channeled the energies of that gate to corrupt us, to spread horrific blights and plagues, and the immortality that was promised did not prevent our bodies from rotting as time passed. Our existence is pain, each moment is suffering, and she is still in that gate channeling the magics for millennia ever on the edge of greatness."
Common Myths and Legends
All Zombies of this variety appear to still worship the Rot to some degree, at least the one that was spoken to by the Spiritual Travelers anyways. While they seem to regret their decisions to accept immortality and the "weight of eons" in the form of the knowledge of past lives, they still refer to Božena with some degree of reverence while calling her work "greatness".
Amongst their "higher powers" they hold the greatest of admiration for the -now elven, then L'huine- spirit "Skorumpovaný". More about Skorumpovaný can be read on Harandil Pantheon, but they are basically a spirit of rot that takes the form of a bloated elf-like figure. Their goals involve the consumption of all living matter and their existence is in direct opposition to the Smrtohnya of the Dead, Mŕtvy. While they seem to be a bit of a "bad sheep" compared to some of the other Smrtohnya, their existence as a force of nature is not inherently good or bad. That being said, there are of course those that would abuse such ideologies in a quest for power.
Genetic Ancestor(s)
Lifespan
endless, infinite in both directions
Geographic Distribution
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