Stygian Undead
Undeath is a word used to describe the state of a body animated by a soul while that body is clinically dead.
Many scholars consider undeath to be a condition that does not occur in nature but the creation of undead by way of necromantic magick is a mostly-accepted pursuit within Styx.
Most undead beings are characterised by the lack of anything that makes up "life" within their respective species, in the case of most humanoids that is heartbeat and the need to breathe, eat and sleep and sometimes brain activity.
Some forms of undeath are caused by diseases or parasitic life forms, others are the result of directly applied Necromancy and within the city of Styx there are also claims of undead rising spontaneously upon death with no visible cause.
The assumed default of undead beings is non-sapient or pseudo-sapient, meaning that such individuals react to stimuli like an animal would using base instinct but having no capacity for reason.
Because of this undead are sometimes raised to supplement the workforce of the Republic of Styx.
Despite the usual lack of sapience some undead either retain sapience from their life before death or gain sapience spontanously, there are stories of a recently deceased corpse rising from death as an undead being with slivers of their memory intact and full ability to reason as well as of undead used as effectively beasts of burden gaining sapience and demanding their freedom.
Within Styx, since the Great Revolution, sapient undead have equal rights and are counted among the census as citizens, the constitution of Styx explicitly defines protections for all sapient beings regardless of biological status and origin making both thinking undead and sapient constructs equal to living sapients that are born and made up of living matter.
One of the most common types of undead within Styx are Kosheyt, animated corpses that retain fragments of their memories from life and can only subsist on a diet of meat.
Kosheyt are resilient and notoriously hard to kill but heal very very slowly when injured.
Many scholars consider undeath to be a condition that does not occur in nature but the creation of undead by way of necromantic magick is a mostly-accepted pursuit within Styx.
Most undead beings are characterised by the lack of anything that makes up "life" within their respective species, in the case of most humanoids that is heartbeat and the need to breathe, eat and sleep and sometimes brain activity.
Some forms of undeath are caused by diseases or parasitic life forms, others are the result of directly applied Necromancy and within the city of Styx there are also claims of undead rising spontaneously upon death with no visible cause.
The assumed default of undead beings is non-sapient or pseudo-sapient, meaning that such individuals react to stimuli like an animal would using base instinct but having no capacity for reason.
Because of this undead are sometimes raised to supplement the workforce of the Republic of Styx.
Despite the usual lack of sapience some undead either retain sapience from their life before death or gain sapience spontanously, there are stories of a recently deceased corpse rising from death as an undead being with slivers of their memory intact and full ability to reason as well as of undead used as effectively beasts of burden gaining sapience and demanding their freedom.
Within Styx, since the Great Revolution, sapient undead have equal rights and are counted among the census as citizens, the constitution of Styx explicitly defines protections for all sapient beings regardless of biological status and origin making both thinking undead and sapient constructs equal to living sapients that are born and made up of living matter.
One of the most common types of undead within Styx are Kosheyt, animated corpses that retain fragments of their memories from life and can only subsist on a diet of meat.
Kosheyt are resilient and notoriously hard to kill but heal very very slowly when injured.
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