groundrules | player plot suggestions

A child of light and two necromancers ~~walk into a bar~~ try to restore the humanity of one of the thawing undead.

So El, like at least a few others, is taking a neutral stance on the whole undead conflict bc just no one should be ruled by undead but citizens be how they like. Taking extreme pity on one of the thawing undead, I can easily see his heart breaking to be asked to help put them down and instead contrives to try and help one of them. Which uh, probably involves capturing and keeping them restrained on the farm somewhere while he tries to talk to it, apply healing/life magic, inquires about mirrors, and consults Wei Wuxian and Archeval for help.

So this is here to ask: is it possible they could help to restore (even some of?) its humanity? Or are all efforts futile? I don't mind how it works out either way, just wondering!

Heya! There will be an opportunity to catch an undead soon, if you guys want to take that direction — if you check out the May calendar, there's an upcoming 17 May event where we can weave in an undead's capture.

Re: restoring their humanity — there are some ways to achieve that, though limited (I can only think of one that sort of manages that and is currently available to characters). It and other methods are going to be organically revealed over the plot's span — so, for now, I'll say that rather than me spoiling that: what were the methods you guys were considering? More importantly, since they're different kinds of undead, which do you want a captive of, Unhalad's undead or Anurr's?

I'd honestly wondered if there was something ICly already coming along that vein, but! Couldn't be sure. That's cool to know though, looking forward to it.

I was looking at the 22nd, for Unhalad's thawing undead that El takes a compassionate approach to if they're asking to be put down.

Re: methods, El's intention would be to try and heal and warm them- attempting to combat the cold and death. I'd hoped to have him ICly learn of Winnie's mirror when he inquires about the mirror the undead would mention. I don't know the extent of Wei Wuxian or Archeval's necromancy methods to say specifics on their end, though I could ask if the details are potentially important!

Otherwise, I'm happy to just have this be a thing he tries until the IC plot to do so unfolds? Assuming that's happening sometime around/soon after the 22nd.

So, classical attempts to warm them wouldn't really work — the cold is internal. The dead who despair and attempt anything to warm themselves, including enveloping themselves in newly-slain human bodies, tend to just treat a symptom rather than the sickness.

Wei Wuxian's and Archeval's necromancy wouldn't work to expel the condition. They can usurp control of the dead now and then, but they can't really substitute the cold. They 'take over' the dead and the cold within them.

Okay! I don't mind the effort being futile. Just thought to check if they'd have any actual effect in trying. May revisit if they ICly come up with other shenanigans before plot things, thanks!

Sure! Winnie's mirror is a better idea — not much has really been explored there. Give it a go!

So! To follow up on this, it looks like El isn't finding out about Winnie's mirror ICly (at least anytime soon), so based on the information Raven/Gilbert gave about the body in the lake emanating a similar aura, Eleven fully intends to bring a thawing undead to the lake. He doesn't plan to force the undead into the water or disturb the body in there, just see if anything happens/the undead's behavior or appearance changes at all in the vicinity of it.

He'll have brought Hendrik and Arche with him as back-up in case something terrible does happen.

In... teresting. So, to confirm, this would be one of Unhalad's undead going to the body in the lake?

Yes.

All right! I wasn't expecting this one. So, that body's consumed a mirror aimed against Anurr's branch of undead, meaning it shouldn't really affect Unhalad's people. But it could act on the communal thread of these dead, which is effective possession — and you're bringing an already weakened possessed body.

Let's call it your pick: if it's an incredibly "thawed" miner (as most of Unhalad's forces are miners), you can choose to have them die if they enter the lake and spend too long in it. Alternatively, you can choose to have them stay away from the lake and remain unaffected.

Either option works, up to you how much you want to traumatise your boys. Just let me know which way you want to go, please, so I can work that into future updates!

Fuck it, I'm spicy. Let's go with 'wanders into the lake and dies' for $400.

Thanks! Congratulations on your corpse. As its possession will disintegrate abruptly, rather than gradually (as in the event of a regular death), Arche, Hendrik and/or Eleven might notice the cadaver looks instantly significantly more emaciated and crumbled down.

Unlike the chieftain's body in the lake, this corpse can be safely recovered for burial or cremation. It will retain no sense of cold, undeath or the supernatural.

Excellent. This definitely wasn't a terrible idea and nothing will come of it ever.

Eleven: oh, so it just returns a body to its natural death state. mystery solved. why was everyone so worried.

OH BOY, EXCITING. So, Arche hasn't spent too much time around the thawing miners -- is there any point before the sudden death at which he'd be able to start sensing this guy in the Force? Or would they remain a blank the whole time?

Bear with me — what do you mean by sensing the guy in the Force?

No worries! Okay, so, way back when I apped I mentioned one of Arche's powers is he can sense the presence of people around him, like, if someone's walked into the room behind him or is hiding behind a tree or whatever he'll usually notice them without having to look. But this typically only works on living beings -- he can't sense corpses or droids or the like. You ruled at the time I apped that the Unhalad and Anurr undead forces were equivalent to Yuuzhan Vong from his canon, and those guys' whole deal is they're a blank to Force-users, they can be standing right in front of a Jedi but to the Jedi it feels like there's no one there. So basically I'm wondering if there would be any brief moment in this miner's "unthawing" where Arche might be able to perceive their presence, or will they remain a blank the whole time?

Yep, so it's as I thought — you mean, can he sense the miner as living.

Okay, so here's what happens, with regard to how Arche can feel it: the miner's life and the... REDACTED undisclosed possessive entity ~~which might be obvious to you guys already, based on what Sizhui and Eleven learned from the culled miners~~ are fused when the miners are possessed to become part of Unhalad's faction. The 'unthawing' is that fusion as it begins to gently unwind. The human miner cannot sustain life at any point without the fueling possession. The mirror will be severing that fusion much more abruptly, killing the miner because it's stripping away the possessive element. What Arche can further feel, if you want, is that there is now a secondary wannabe possessive element that was nipping at the heels of the established one, which is what triggered the original unthawing.

Unfortunately, the miner will never register as purely living, though, if you want — up to you if you'd like to have Arche register some elements of former life just as it disappears, when the fusion breaks. But it wouldn't be classical living, if that makes sense. It would still be very much a perverted sense of living, and it would be extinguished within seconds.

Interesting! Thank you very much!

You're welcome!

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