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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Malcolm" data-source="post: 817214" data-attributes="member: 11180">!!! Good stuff folks!I run a campaign world in which there are 2 very different and very distinctive cities/socieites run by the Undead.  Both are unique in their presentation and how they function, but have similar advans and disadvans.My theory to base the soul/mind/body argument for Undead is a mix of the 3 ColonelHardisson summed up.  Simply put: The mind, body, and soul are tied together in all living things in a mesh that blends them together; they are inseperable to some degrees and what affects one affects the others.When living creatures are transformed into an Undead state (voluntarily or not) part of their soul is transfered to the Negative Plane (replaced by Neg energy), part of their mind is corrupted with the influence of outsiders (demons attempting easy access to a body with only parts of a soul to now defend itself), and part of the soul lingers to give energy to make the body work now that it cannot continue to do so. The more powerful the magic/miracle used to Animate the Dead the greater this exchange of energy to the Negative Plane becomes and the more intelligent the Undead.  Various Undead:1.) Un-intelligent Undead = Energy is used to simply hold the body together and function.  The soul is in minor torment and put to rest when the body is destroyed.  Otherwise with vast armies of Necromancers and Adventurers churning through Skeletons all the time, no souls could get to their final resting place without tons of True Ress and Miracles.  The Negative Energy Plane would be full of souls...2.) Intelligent Undead = Greater exchange of soul (Postive) energy with energy from the Negative Plane.  More functions of the previous living creature are displayed; memories come back and in some cases the ability to wield magic.  Ghosts themselves are "locked memories" that are keyed to one type of thought pattern, and pursue it until a set condition is satisfied. They and Spectres are the break-through point of Intelligent Undead from Ghoul to Vampire, Survivor to Changer.  The lesser Intelligent Undead cannot learn (typically) but Vampires and Liche-types can gain skills, learn new feats, etc. 3.) NightShades (theory)= The Undead form of an Outsider, usually Abyssal but can be Infernal or even Celestial in origin.  These beings swap power from the various Outer realms to the basic Negative, and the results are paid back heavily!  This would lead to indicate that the Postive and Negative have a greater role than simply being Inner Planes..As to the cities:a.) One is a city where each section is ruled by an Undead Lord(s) who hold ultimate power over their specific Undead type.  I.e. A Zombie Lord rules over a large collection of zombie-type creatures; the Vampires stick together, etc.  There is no inter-mingling except by a few of the incorporeal Undead.  The city is layered, being composed of 5 cities that were built over each other.  The top is full of Zombies (mostly human), the next layer is an ancient Egyptian style genre of Mummies (drow), the 3rd is Vampires (mix) in an Eternal Garden, and the 4th is a domain of Liches (Dragons, Ogres, and some mix) who mainly just tinker.  The 5th level is secret, sorry but I have players who read this and would love to find out!b.) The other city is not segregated, but rather mixed heavily except ruled by castes.  The Vampires make up one caste structure, and the Lich Lords the other.  While the two sides must work together vs. outside forces, they are at odds with each other for power.  This city has more of a Vampire-LARP flavor to it.  Once again, the party hasn't ventured there so I'm loath to discuss much other than it is a very rich, very cultured city, which has a few mortal visitors (not all evil) who profit greatly from dealings with it.</blockquote>

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