Category:Walking Dead

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

The term walking dead refers to a number of different breeds of corporeal undead (including but not limited to ghouls, skeletons, and zombies<ref) that do not fall into one of the other major categories of undead. That is, the walking dead umbrella does not include ghosts, liches, incorporeal undead mummies, or vampires. The Walking Dead represent the most frequently encountered form of undead but yet remain the most underestimated as independent threats to the living on their own terms^[1]. Often, especially for the Obedient Dead subcategory^[2], the Walking Dead are dismissed as simply the mindless tools of greater evils. Even famed monster hunter Dr. Rudolph van Richten deigned not to write a separate treatise on the Walking Dead. (Fortunately, the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins compiled their own treatise on the subject^[1] Despite the misunderstanding of the Walking Dead, they represent a diverse range of threats on their own terms. Far from being all the same, the Walking Dead can hold a number of different salient abilities, in particular, salient abilities specific to the Walking Dead category.

Physiology, Origins, and Comparisons with Other Undead

Like most other forms of undead, the walking dead are powered by negative energy and are thus immune to [[spell]s and effects that depend upon normal physiological life processes^[1]. Like the ancient dead, the Walking Dead may exist in varying states of decay, from the skeletal to the largely intact and mistakable for living. The Walking Dead may also come from humanoid, animal, or monster stock as well as horrific composite creations of the three.

Like several other categories of undead, the Walking Dead may arise through a number of different methods such as necromancy (e.g. the animate dead spell), curse]s, dark desire, sudden death, or being spawned by other undead. Very few individuals wish to become Walking Dead of their own accord, instead the Walking Dead usually originate from circumstances imposed upon them^[3].

The single most defining characteristic of the Walking Dead that separates them from other categories is the Craving, strong desires or drives that utterly dominate most of the Walking Dead's existences. Whereas other undead may have dependencies that sustain their existences (such as a vampires thirst for blood), the Craving represents for a Walking Dead a maddening compulsion that comes before other desires it may have. The further the synergy with the creature's own naturally held desires and the Craving imposed by its undeath, the stronger the Walking Dead will be. The specific details of the Craving can vary highly from individual to individual. However, the Walking Dead may the general nature of their Cravings.

The Craving and Categorization of the Walking Dead

The Craving serves as the basis for categorization of the Walking Dead into three general subgroups: the Obedient Dead, the Hungry Dead, and the Restless Dead. The Obedient Dead hold overwhelming desire to serve their masters, in particular towards violence. The Hungry Dead hold overwhelming desire to consume food, most often the flesh or other body parts of the once living. Finally, the Restless Dead hold overwhelming desires matching their goals while alive.

References