Undeath

Undeath is a collective name for any state of living past death, whether be it by zombification, rising as a ghost, vampirization, or using forbidden dark magic to become a lich. Undeath can refer both to states where the body is used to harbor a new soul, or being otherwise controlled to move, and states where the soul of the dead takes a new form allowing it to affect realms where the dead are not usually allowed. When bodies and/or souls from the fallen are reconstructed from scratch in the likeness of a once dead being, however, this should not be considered undeath. Neither do all forms of revival lead to certain undeath.

Causes

The cause of undeath varies widely.

Symptoms

The symptoms of undeath vary widely, though a weaker link to the restrictions of the physical body is common, allowing the undead to take damage and endure pain on a level unprecedented for its living kind, exist in a state of permanent decay, or persist without normally vital body functions. That is, if the undead has a body to begin with.

Treatment

Most undeath can't be treated, though some undead may have the collection between body and soul severed, thus destroying the undead. The Fountain of Youth could also revert many kinds of undeath.