Thursday 24 July 2014

Undead are Pockets of Stopped Time

Organic bodies are bullets of flesh shot out across the two dimensional plane of the past, present and future. Flesh, meat and blood is specifically designed to best deal with the harsh realities of linear time. Organic beings are consciousness's on a one way track with a clear beginning and end. Their fleshy masses are the best vehicles of this existence - constant reminders of time's rotting entropy.

How is it ever possible for something be alive and dead at the same time? It could only happen if the thing stopped being affected by the passing of time. If this was to happen then that thing becomes Undead, neither alive nor dead. It is detached and disconnected from time's one way track. The thing would become an abomination to those still victimized by time's passing, but their outrage would truly come from a deep,dark jealousy.

If organic beings are given respite from the drag net of time, their flesh happily melts away, no longer necessary. Only the lithe, mineral form of the skeleton remains. The organic components of the being are still subject to time's clutches and their deterioration will be noted by those still living in time's domain. The Undead being will pay no heed to their useless rotting flesh. Those Undead of a seemingly impossible vain streak will adorn their forms with gold and diamonds, symbolic of their timelessness.

The Undead have no need for verbal communication because when time has stopped everything has already been said. All Undead implicitly understand all other Undead, they have infinity to discuss an infinity of matters. The machinations, plans and purposes of the Undead are completely incomprehensible to organic time-experiencing beings. Organic beings are unable to escape their preoccupation with efficient resource allocation brought on by their ever-looming annihilation. The Undead alternatively have an eternity of freedom and unlimited resources - though this fact gives some the appearance of wanton lethargicness to time challenged observers.

Time is a force that heaves like the ocean - tides and waves of it crash over conscious observers. Though it doesn't seem possible for those drowning in time's ocean, there exists dry land. Great tracts of timelessness stand in defiance of time's fury, serene and calm bastions of stillness in the otherwise chaotic multiverse. Time's violent bashing and trashing on these place's shores cause bubbles and chunks of stopped, ceased time to hurtle back through time's ocean. The Undead climb aboard this flotsam and jetsam of stopped time and are able to look out over the horizon of time's ocean with a startling clear view of existence's horizons. The Undead are imbued with the infinite wisdom of the timeless lands.

Conflict erupts between organic beings still enthralled by time's greedy clutches and the Undead due to an nigh insurmountable difference of perspective. Some Undead seek to bless the multiverse with the total eradication of time, which ceases to exist without conscious beings to experience it. Other Undead wish only to save organic beings from the crushing embrace of time, to make them like themselves. Time itself views organic beings as its property and instills within them an overwhelming disgust for the Undead. This is an unconscious defense mechanism which only organic beings capable of the deepest form of self reflection are able to overcome. With the realization that time's inescapability is an illusion comes the appreciation of the beauty and serenity of the Undead form, followed by overwhelming desire to escape time themselves.



d10 Abilities for the Undead, Escapees of Time:

1) Any one attacking the Undead must roll To Hit twice, if either roll misses the attack is a failure. The Undead has the advantage of already being aware of the incoming attacks before the attacker even decided to attempt them.
2) The Undead can never be surprised or snuck up upon and are immune to sneak attacks. The Undead are well aware of their enemy's intentions an eternity before they occur.
3) The Undead can recite a person's entire life, well past the point of the present day. This is audible to the person as a calm, even whispering within their mind. A Save Vs Spells or Insanity is required to avoid clambering as far away from the source of the whisper as possible. If the Save is made the whisper is still highly distracting and all actions are taken at a -4 penalty.
4) The Undead know, for a fact, the weather forecast for the rest of eternity. This can always be used to their advantage.
5) The Undead will reveal, through a calm, even whispering within the mind, the secrets of every person in their presence which is heard in unison by everybody.
6) On destroying an Undead's physical form, Save Vs Spells. If failed the destroyer is cursed with never-ending deja vu. While novelty at first, in d6 days the cursed must make begin each day with a Save Vs Insanity to not commit suicide.
7) The Undead rots all food/supplies and dissipates all drinking water of its attackers.
8) The Undead emits a 10' field of anti-consumption. Oil and torches cease to burn, food, drink and potions cannot be drunk, Scrolls can not be read, etc.
9) On destroying an Undead's physical form, Save Vs Spells. If failed the destroyer is cursed with d6 days worth of visions. The visions appear whenever the cursed person closes their eyes, and what is seen is their own death, over and over again. The cursed will be unable to sleep due to this. Save Vs Insanity or the final day of the curse to avoid permanent mental disfigurement.  
10) The Undead simply can't be hurt. It is aware of all possible actions an enemy can take against, it knows its physical form can not be endangered. It is also completely passive but will attack in self defense (ceasing it's retaliation after one round of not being attacked).


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