: As for the making of Undead, it is done through the Dream
: of Unlife.
Incorrect. GURPS goes into much detail about how Undead are made in Myth, and points out that it is not the same way as normal GURPS Undead, so it must be a Bungie thing. It is specifically mentioned that nobody has the Dream of Unlife; presumably that would allow one to create some really special kind of undead, or all sorts of nasty things, etc. Normal Undead spells are just normal magic,
: You take a corpse and do either the
: following:
:1) IF you want Thrall, you take a human
: corpse and re-animate it.
The Thrall spell is a variant on the standard Zombie undead-creation spell, one which works only on old, dried corpses. They retain none of their skills from life, but have no trouble learning to to a certain limited intelligence level, and since they have no need for sleep they can practice 24/7 at the one skill they need to be good at - killing - and get rather good at it.
: 2) if you want a Wight, you re-animate a human corpse in
: such a way that it grows full of polyps and other
: yummy wen like blobs.
Wights are a progressed state of Ghasts, which are created with another variant of Zombie cast on still-fresh corpses. Ghasts retain some bits of their former lives, and names and faces may make them pause a moment in combat, but for the most part they are just mindless zombies of your typical B-movie type. Unlike normal GURPS Zombies, however, they retain no skills from their former lives, and must be trained like Thrall. Wights are a progressed stage which have had their flesh magically stitched and sealed so that the gasses and puss building within come to reach explosive levels.
: 3) If you want a Shade, take an Avatara corpse and
: re-animate it so that it retains it's previous
: 'owner's' memories and abilities.
Shades we don't know. That's the topic of this thread. It seems the process is voluntary, and most likely requires a more powerfull Dark mage do the conversion upon the still-living mage who wishes to become a Shade.
: 4) Soulless on the other hand are a different kind of
: Undead. You remove the soul of the individual, and
: obviously this is done while they are still alive.
Soulless are created with yet another form of undead spell which requires a humanoid skeleton (some gristle and bits left on is OK) with the hips and legs removed. (Someone ought to design a walking-pair-of-legs undead to make use of those bits).
: 5) Dirigibles aren't official units as they were never
: included in the game (for obvious reasons, the sprites
: are too goofy)
Dirigibles are likely an even more advanced stage of Wight, treated so that their pus becomes boyant and they begin to act like a balloon.
: 6) Bonemen/skeletons as seen in Chimera seem to be thrall
: without any skin, muscle, sinew, etc. I assume you
: just do the same process as a thrall but leave out the
: flesh part.
But again, it requires a different type of spell. You can't just Thrall a skeleton and make a Boneman out of it; you need a Boneman spell. I'm betting it's more closely related to the Stygian Knight animation spell than a true undead spell like Thrall.
: If there is any undead I missed let me know, but I still
: think the Dark uses the same process but in a
: different way to make the Undead
The Myrmidons are a form of self-willed undead, likely created in a process similar to Shades. They become immortal but their bodies still decay. They retain their entire minds from life, though most have now gone mad. The spell was lost with Balor.
The bre'Unor are thought by some to border on undeath. The spell is likely something similar to the Shade or Myrmidon creation spell.
Ghosts are the spirits of the dead, still inhabiting this plane in their old form, stuck here for whatever reason. They can be temporarily dissipated by the same methods that would have killed them in life. You cannot voluntarily create a Ghost.
Mahir are extreme ghosts, completely obsessed with a singular cause or purpose, existing only to further that cause, usually involving draining the life from the living. Like Ghosts, Mahir are not voluntarily created.
Stygian Knights use a variant of the Golum spell used to animate inanimate objects, and as said above is likely related to the Boneman spell used in Chimera.
GURPS mentions that people don't cremate their corpses because even more vile types of undead can be created from the ashes. I've designed such a creature, if anyone would like to hear about it.
