Zombie

A zombie is a re-animated corpse of a human or other creature. They are usually the result of a necromancy ritual or excess necrotic energies around a body. There are many different traditions of necromancy and ways to re-anmiate zombies around the world, but most cultures have found some way to do this. In many parts of the world the practice of creating zombies is forbidden and often carries heavy penalties when caught doing so.
Nevertheless, zombies are present in much of the world usually for cheap labour or as guards. This practice has even been commercialized in some places where you can buy zombie animals or even zombie dinosaurs for various purposes. Though the creation of human zombies is outlawed in most of the world.

Creation

Zombies are created with necromantic rituals and the use of necrotic energy. There are many different variants of this ritual from many different cultures.
In rare cases, a zombie can be created when a lot of corpses are in one place and a lot of necrotic energy is around. These zombies can then feast on the other corpses and hunt the living.

Cognitive Function

Zombies have four different levels of cognitive functions. This distinction into four different levels was first proposed in the late seventheenth century by the necromancy scholar Azelio Benetti. Since then only minor refinments have been made.

• No Function (Level 0) - A zombie with no cognitive function at all. These zombies only act on the instict to consume life force and cannot understand any commands. They are usually only created by necrotic energies or en mass as a trap or similar.
• Basic Function (Level 1) - A zombie with some basic cognitive function. They usually can comprehend basic commands from their creators. Usually the rituals creating such a zombie that the control of such a zombie is bound to one specific person.
• Complex Function (Level 2) - A zombie with complex function can act independently to some extend. They have original thoughts and can fullfill complex commands that require many steps. These zombies also have the ability to learn new skills. On creation the skills and knowledge the zombie has depends heavily on the corpse that the zombie was created from.
• Full Function (Level 3) - A zombie with full cognitive function inherits the personality, intelligence and kownledge of the corpse they were created from. They can fully act on their own and do not differ from an ordinary human. It is not possible to create this type of zombie from an animal as they lack this level of cognitive function while living.

Preservation and Detoriation

The quality of a zombie depends on the freshness of the corpse and and the amount of necrotic energies infused into it when creating it. Once created the zombie starts to detoriate as they use up necrotic energy for any actions and the corpse continues to rot. Any damage to the body is permanent and does not get healed naturally.
The rotting can be offset with necrotic regeneration, which requires a lot of necrotic energy and any damage can be reversed with necrotic healing. However, zombies do not generally have the ability to do this on their own and depend on their creator or owner to sustain them. In most cases, this is not wort the effort as it is faster and cheaper to just create a new zombie with a fresh corpse than maintaining an older one. In some cases level 3 and level 2 zombies with specific useful skillsets or knowledge that are not commonly available are preserved for extended periods of time as loyal servants.
Alternatively, most zombies have the ability to create necrotic energy by consuming life force. Any living creature has some amount of life force, which can be consumed via their flesh. This is why zombies are compelled to eat living creature to extend their own existence.

Appearance & Personal Hygiene

A zombie at best looks like the sickly variant of the corpse they are made of. The skin of a zombie is usually very pale and dried out. Though necrotic energy can counteract the drieness to some extend ensuring that damage to the skin when moving is minimized. Zombies often suffer from quick hair loss and may get insects starting to eat their insides. This of course gets worse the longer they exist. When low on necrotic energy the zombie starts to rot and eventually fall apart.
To maintain a acceptable appearance zombies have to make sure that they keep moving regularly, have a healthy amount of necrotic energy saved up and clean off dirt regularly. Often zombies of level 4 use make up to make themselves appear less dead and apply lipbalm religiously to hide the dry lips.

Perception & Sensory Abilities

A zombie's senses depend on the corpse they were made of. The state of the organ that the sense influences the strength of the sense as well. A zombie without eyes is blind and cannot use that sense at all. A zombie created from a dog has a much better sense of smell than a zombie made from a human corpse. The exception to this is that no zombie can feel pain and the sense of touch is dulled for all of them.
Most zombies have an additional innate sense that allows them to sense life force in the vicinity. Level 0 zombies follow this sense by instinct, while higher level zombies can usually resist its temptation. The hunger for life force increases as they starve of necrotic energy.
Zombies use necrotic energy to keep their senses active. Higher level zombies can disable a sense at will to avoid spending their necrotic energy and to avoid potential negative side effects.

Zombie Rights

As the creation of zombies is outlawed in many juristictions zombies are usually destroyed when they are discovered by law enforcement. However, there is an advocacy group that argues that the zombies are at no fault for their creation you should not be punished for it. They argue that their cognitive abilites give them a right to continue existing for their (un)natural live span. As most zombies are level 0 or 1 this has not much success as it is often difficult to determine what level a specific zombie is at exactly.
Furthermore most zombies can only exist for short periods of time without a source of necrotic energy and lack a free will. Even level 3 zombies are usually fully enslaved and are uncapable of going directly against the wishes of their master.

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired

Rarity

Rare

Affected Species

Any

Alternate Names

Jhangi
Walker