I like these well enough, at least their style. I suppose some run-of-the-mill, basic stuff is what we'd want anyway :-).
: * Life- Being alive
Agreed.
: * Dead- Not being alive, after once being in that state.
Or,
–not being alive.
–the end of life characterized by no longer being in that state (life is a prerequisite).
: * Undead- The state of being alive after death. Usually
: through Necromancy.
Can't quite agree. For one thing, undeath is always achieved through Necromancy, unless you can give me a counterexample.
For another, "undeath" is definitely not "life."
•Undead
–absense of death dead and animated artificially/supernaturally through Necromancy.
: * Unlife- Undead
I disagree.
•Unlife
–the state/essense of not living (more exactly, the existence of an undead being, as opposed to "life" for a living being.
I thought of a term that would work to describe all undead/unlife…those zombie and/or vampire things:
mortanimate
from the Latin "animate dead" (though its exact definition differs)
–supernaturally animated beings (and are "dead" if not supernaturally sustained).
"Thrall are mortanimate."
mortanimate (adj.) mor- ' tâ- ni- m&t , mort- ' â- ni- m&t
"The mortanimate Soulless hovered over the steep cliff."
mortanimate (v.) mor- ' tâ- ni- mAt
"Necromancers mortanimate dead bodies to make them zombies, to create walking dead."
mortanimated (v./prep.) mor- ' tâ- ni- mA- ted
"The Watcher mortanimated Thrall."
"Thrall are mortanimated dead."
mortanimant (n.) mor- ' tâ- ni- mânt
"A mortanimant is no longer living, but is also no longer dead."
"Mortanimants are often rotting corpses."
mortanimation (n.) mor- tâ- ni- ' mA- sh&n
"Mortanimation is a part of Necromancy."
"The Ghast has mortanimation."
mortanimater (n.) mor- ' tâ- ni- mA- ter
"The mortanimater of the Myrmidons was Balor."
I believe we can all agree to use these simple terms to help define undeath. For instance, unlife is the "life", or existence, of a mortanimant, a mortanimate creature. Will Mazzarin, Avatara of the Wind Age, be seen as a mortanimate Shade in Myth III? I sure hope so :-). I guess, then, he would have been mortanimated by The Watcher, one of the most well-known necromantic mortanimaters.
