Hi, my first post ever on 4chan

Pic related, one of my illustrations (for a BEAST, not an undead)

Im writing an online book, asynchronous bits of storytelling, something you need to connect yourself as you go through
Im building a whole world as I go (by that I mean all of fauna and flora, fantasy metals, paper, fabric, animals, herbs)

Anyways I need some inspiration with the undead of my world

It is medieval, dark, low power and no magic, high fantasy world

Low power, humans are human, no 1v10 superheroes

strictly no magic exists, noone can conjure stuff out of thin air, i rly hope i won't get ton of hate for that here lol

High fantasy, nothing is like real world, but everything has to be realistic, stemming from meaningful origin, not magic, but can be very paranormal, horrific, aberrant, undead, whatever

Now I am in need of inspiration for my undead

I'm maily after two things

1 Any sort of origin of undead in my world, that is not magic, but can be alchemy, biological (fungal, bacteria), anything reasonable
I can already hint at there being no holy, god, or other powers warding against undead, but there is a herb that absorbs lunar light waves and wards against the undead, if this sparks any ideas

2 Any cool undead archetypes, units, besides the boring skeleton, zombie, etc

3 if you are interested, I have a type of aberrant entities too, if here are the truly paranormal entities of this world, so any ideas are again welcome

Thanks anyone for reading thus far
And for any possible tips or ideas

Id rather not share the web yet, as it is far from finished, its something I like to do in my spare time, but I will gladly share it once it is more full

>>40529940 (OP)

Okay, that actually could be cool ...

>intelligent undead plague (bacterial, extradimensional, psychic ... depends what fits you best)
>can attempt to enter a recently deceased body (consider if any restrictive conditions to this might apply, how farspread or locally restricted the plague is, etc)
>revived body does maintain "fresh" appearance but does not heal wounds, plague is as mentioned intelligent and prefers bodies that can look convincingly "alive" (prefer body with chest wound that can be hidden under a shirt over one with a crushed head)
>result is neither zombie nor vampire, does not need to "eat" anything ... instead will try to murder people stealthily to provide more host bodies for itself
>strong aversion to moonlight as it damages the parasitic plague, at first by disrupting its ability to keep the body fresh (in undead older than a few weeks this will trigger rapid decomposition) and finally driving it out of the host body
>elaborate funeral rituals have developed around this (perhaps in some cases ill understood if the plague is relatively rare), either exposure of the body to full moon light or the afforementioned herb being used in funerary rites (herb might be not available everywhere, rare or prohibitively expensive in some regions ... resulting in embalming and/or mummification becoming widespread for people dying closer to a new moon)
>plague got some hivemind like abilities, the more undead are together the stronger their grip over dead bodies grows ... think up to animating a whole graveyard into some Dead Space like monstrosities etc., established infections might be a true horror to deal with

Only question now is why not just routinely burn the dead or destroy bodies completely. Might work around that if the plague can still do nasty things with the ashes unless the whole moonlight thing is applied ... dunno, perhaps a (even if shortlived) Poltergeist like ash cloud phenomenon ...

>>40530038

Thank you for your mind snippet!

Pic is one of my map drafts, blue zone is undead related, blue border is explained below

My world for now, has this area that encapsulates the undead.
In the past, humanity waged war against the undead (plague? Or whatever origin)
Altho they did not "win", they made an enclosure with cultivated flowers that makes it impossible for the undead to spread past it.
There are lineages of guardians that keep these beds cultivated and well, and yearly all of humanity gathers to celebrate this and plant new flowers.

So there is something dark and paranormal at the "heart" of this location, that is the origin of all this, but noone knows what

People still do venture past this border, to hunt for special resources from the undead and survey and scavenge the area.

That's what I have in mind for now.

Here is a shortened entry on the flower from my book. I removed names. Pic of flower.

> Description: ##flower## is a rare, bulbous flowering plant found natively along the shores of local lake. It produces three to five long petals and slender, arching stamens and stands out due to its bioluminescent nature. Under daylight, ##flower## appears delicate and pale; once night falls, its petals glow with an ethereal blue radiance, the intensity waxing and waning with the lunar phase.

> Harvested at the full moon, cut blossoms retain their blue glow indefinitely—an effect directly tied to their mystical property of warding the undead. In daylight or new‐moon darkness, their warding power lies dormant.

> Properties: Undead Warding: This effect repels and weakens undead creatures within a small radius. The strength of the influence is enhanced by the moon's fullness; blooms harvested during a full moon maintain their maximum potency night after night.

> Bioluminescence: The blue glow is a subset of the warding effect; luminous pigments can be extracted into inks or dyes that shimmer faintly under starlight, used in this illustration.

>>40529940 (OP)
Well I do some work on Archetypes and the Great Northern King. Someone posted Adventure Time on here which has the Ice King. There is Jon Snow, King of the North (associated with undead), Aragorn, the Ranger from the North (associated with undead Kings), Arthas (summons undead as Lich King), and Siegfried/Nightmare. You can do something with this Archetype, either a King who commands undead or undead who essentially belong to a Northern/Ice King. This way it coheres with a sacred tradition

>>40530152

Sry, pic here --

>>40530163
Thanks for suggestion!
That is not half-bad, could be some sort of master of a hivemind type of a thing
Or simply a commander, but how they would be "made", these undead, that's what I'm after now, how (if) would this spread

>>40529940 (OP)
>>40530116
>>40530178
lmao at the AI art

>>40530178
I don't know, I just wanted to prophetically scope it for you

>>40530185
Yes, the map draft is made by AI,
The visualization helps me with writing, and it is just a draft...
Thanks for your contribution

>>40530190
I appreciate it, was more of a rethorical question to the open forum
But im thankful for any inspiration!

>>40530116

Glad to be of service! Your containment zone there and its guardians might just work well with the clever plague idea. The undead are not dumb and attempt to breach every now and then in creative ways ... while bolstering their ranks in between these attempts by claiming adventurers going after riches. Depending on the story the scenario would equally work with dumb undead but then for example a clever undead bodysnatcher stalking and slowly replacing a group of adventurers sure could make for some decent suspense! Might turn out a bit like The Thing in the end but whatevs ... ^^

>>40529940 (OP)
Magic always exists. There is always magic, look at LotR and Game of thrones for low magic. There must be magic. You can use psionics, or rare stuff, or magic items, but there must be magic.

>>40530163
>>40530190
:) Aten knows
https://youtu.be/VdERVxiobGk

https://youtu.be/lBO1gH1NVfQ

>>40530390
I like that, in general, my book is mostly a codex, a bestiary of sorts, mainly, so I would like at least a few different types of undeads in general, so an idea of smart AND dumb undead plays well here, definitly there would be these smarter undeads trying to and eevn succeeding at times to breach the barrier, and potentionally attack or try to manipulate the guardians, sounds good!
I especially like the part where the smarter, or simply higher ranked undead can spread the plague while bolstering their rank, maybe unleashing som eminor dangers into the open world from time to time. Maybe they can even affect beasts and other animals, or maybe even plants.
Thank you very much sir!

>>40530429
I disagree, and there are plenty real examples online, 2nd google hit: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/123449.Fantasy_Without_Magic


>>40530441
I know and love Adventure Time :)

>>40529940 (OP)
respect that you are writing a book, but kinda lame you have to ask an anonymous paranormal schizo board for help.

try this instead. sigil magick to become a better writer or inspo for ideas. Look it up yourself on how to do.

meditate, clear your mind, etc and ask to become a better writer/better ideas.

these two things work. its manifestation and thank me later.

Also, dont do this online, itll just be fed into the AI and no longer yours. write a compelling short story. Nobody cares about your "world" you need a good solid story before anyone will read anything.

post more cool monsters bro

>first post ever on 4chan
>already knows how to tripfag

>>40531656
he studied for years before posting, okay?

>>40531393

>an idea of smart AND dumb undead plays well here

Perhaps we could take the idea of "brain rot" literally here. Even the undead decay ... just veeery slowly unless exposed to moonlight. But the typical "tough relentless corpse" trope the rot in fact acts more realistically and negatively affects the undead. With the brain perhaps going bad first before other tissue and muscle ... so as the undead "ages" it turns more and more into a "dumb" shambler. The parasite can still control it in a directed manner but its behavioural options get pretty restricted. An advanced shambler can still be "directed" to attack someone, yet its senses are already glitchy (could be outsmarted or evaded easily), it could never hope to perform a simple task like operating a door handle ... btw think undead animals could round it up well, just perhaps more rare than the human variant. Something something their more natural nature got a protective effect against the parasite.

>>40531445
Im asking for inspiration, not necessarily help.
Thanks I will look into what magick I can conjure to write better, maybe even into some necromancy, what better inspiration for undead there could be haha
As for online, I also learned a ton making it, in zoneless standalone angular 20, its a single-web page, with image carousel, it was all cool, now that the web is finished I got more time for creating and pouring content

>>40531656
I just read FAQ
I like to read, and I like to follow rules
It was explained very plain and simple there

>>40531721
Damn, gen-z internet ruined me, I read brain rot and retarded kids was all that I imagined

>>40531561
I will share my book eventually for sure, currently it is much heavier on materials than creatures, as I'm building base of my world, like food and metals and such (fantasy ink and paper, since the book itself is written by a character of this world) and a lot more, thinking about the concept in fantasy is one thing, putting it into words in meaningful capturing way another, takes time
But thank you for saying its cool! Means a lot, I'm sharing one more
This is a partner of the first monster I shared, they hunt in tandem, the prior scouting and luring, this one assaulting and executing, they are never to be fought alone and are part of advanced beasts of the world that live underground

>>40532246

Ugh, I know too well what you mean there with those damn screenagers ... ;)

>>40529940 (OP)
>>40530116
Anon, you say you're writing a book, but books are about
>people
>events
>themes
What you're describing in your posts is more akin to the setting for a DnD campaign. Who is the story about? What themes are you exploring? What happens to your protagonists? Are there even any protagonists?

This >>40530152 sounds like an item description from a video game. That's fine if it's encountered in that context but no one is going to want to read something that's pure lore dump. Books that have been successful despite being mostly lore dumps (say, the Silmarillion) are successful because people have been given prior reason to have an interest in the fine details of a setting though the characters and stories they've read about that setting.

You could spend the next 10 years making your world as detailed and complex as you can but no one except you is going to care unless there are interesting stories about people that take place in it. Nobody wants
>Dark Souls item descriptions: the novel
It seems like you have more than enough lore backdrop worked out. Stop worrying about "worldbuilding" and start worrying about who and what your story is about.

>>40529940 (OP)

Why no magic?

>>40529940 (OP)
I can try to make any list of traits scientific. Give me a wish list

>>40532453
Mostly I focus on alchemy and planning for combat, outside of it craftsmanship, I don't like how op magic is, and how easy it is to fill plotholes, also I love low magic, its some if the best fantasy out there, I may eventually include history of why there is none, or include some little magic along the way

>>40534451
I appreciate that! I will need to think about it, and definitly will share soon!

Any undead source/plague/biological thihg would be great, even better if it fits medieval world, and how it spreads

Also I was thinking about some substance that would ignite or explode in contact with air, so it would be kept in like waxed vial, but how would it safely get there?

>>40532373
I already hinted at most
> protagonist writes the story, in somewhat form of a bestiary
> part of that is detailed description (even more than what I shared, that was halved)
> intertwined all these entries are protagonists stories and more lore/story of the book
> goal is it being more natural storytelling, instead of book its like reading someone's diary, if that makes sense
> I never played dark souls, but I heard similar stories, of items being flavorful and builsing story if you investigate, I love you hinted at that, saying noone wants that, how could you know ? :)

Its somethihg different I simply want to try, not necessarily complex, altho it may feel that way.

Also, if noone reads it, thats fine with me, I still want to write it for myself.

Hope that clears my stance

>>40529940 (OP)
How about an undead hivemind that's powered by a giant bioelectric subterranian supercomputer (like a giant brain?) from an ancient civilization. The undead don't even have to be human, you can get very aesthetically creative with that concept.

>tl;dr: AI Hivemind that targets soulless (sometimes living) vessels with brains (neurons are required).

>>40535339
Cool idea, I will pin it to my board, thank you, I love the pic too!

>>40529940 (OP)
you asked the schizos, not the fantasy worldbuilders.
Try this board instead.
>>>/tg/

>>40536081

I'm after schizo sick mind theories, give me your wildest ideas on how undead would function in our world, afterall without getting too political, it may be our near future haha

Im after cool paranormal entities in general, any resources are appreciated, less known are better

I'm after inspiration, I don't want to copy-paste anything, I want to hear your guys toughts, any, on paranormal, that I can then ponder for few days and set into *my* world :) doesn't have to be just undead either, it's just what I'm currently working on but my board is huge and any pinned ideas are welcome!

>>40529940 (OP)
Here's one I've been mentally tinkering with for years, but you can have it. I don't know if the concept already exists yet.
So, your zombie problem is actually an insect infestation! You know how the bag worm moth larvae like to build little houses for themselves out of random shit like sticks and rocks? Well, these little fellas in your world do it with flesh.

Except:

>they are big, like, the size of a rat or a cat.
>when their casing is completed, they can pass a small electrical current through the meat to "animate" and control it.
>they can control the flesh once they are fused with it.

This can lead to some really cool and grotesque combinations based on what "meat" is available. Real body horror stuff. Plus, when you have a protagonist fighting one, they have to shave off enough tissue to actually get to the creature within which could prove quite challenging if you find it somewhere like, say, a battlefield or a butcher's shop.

For the sake of world-building, if your people know these things are a problem then they should change their local customs; storing meat by hanging and salting only, and burning, hanging or consuming any dead flesh they find. Anything left on the floor is fair game to these critters, so beware!

>>40536748
The possibilities are pretty vast, too! Do you have one Cadaver Bug that prefers bones and claws and has itself decked out like some kind of charnel echidna?
What about one that chooses to go for mass, like some kind of squelchy, amorphous late-stage Katamari ball?
I heard one snuck into the pet cemetery and... well, it's wearing Nibbles upside-down as a hat. You'll smell that one long before you see it...

>>40536793
They're pretty benign at first. They don't eat much and their needs are met as opportunistic scavengers. The real issue comes once they find enough tissue to coat themselves with and animate. You see, it takes energy to maintain that constant electrical charge and the more meat they get, the more energy they need. The more... food.

Now, the creature must adapt, it must shape itself to find sustenance and maintain itself, changing its form to something more predatory. Scavenging won't maintain it at this size.

Now it must hunt.

Of course, if locked away without a source of energy for long enough, the bug will eventually stop supplying power to its new extremities and the flesh will drop off, and whatever is not consumed will eventually rot away. The bug will go dormant to save energy until more sources of flesh become apparent.

Without its protective layer, the insect is merely a somewhat sluggish, ground-dwelling thing, mostly harmless and lacking the drive to chase after living prey.

I still wouldn't fall asleep around one though, just in case it started to harvest. Those pincers are still pretty strong and sharp. Maybe invest in a tent.

up

>>40536748
Thank you very much for sharing !
I like that idea, it reminds me of pickle Rick haha, goes onto my inspiration board.

I love how you described it as making nest, it could make some nasty "creatures" this way, even merge some bodies or such, sounds sick

>>40536908
I like a lot how much this works without magic, it sounds very "nature", and also works in fantasy as many could consider these very supernatural, but lets say some were to do autopsy to find out truth, others would believe literally mass of undying meat is after them

Thanks again, gives me something to brainstorm on :)

>>40529940 (OP)
If you wanted to build a chair for this guy what would it look like?

I suggest you have him able to jump real far, like a jumping spider.

Your flower looks somewhere between a lily and a jasmine. Since it's related to moonlight you could add some mystical stuff. There is another thread here about Zelda:Majora's Mask discussing the game's esoteric inspirations and I think you might be able to get some inspiration there.

The barrier seems similar to the Ghostfence from Morrowind. Basically the dark elves usually cremate their dead, and send a portion of the ashes to the Ghostfence that keeps a plague limited to a volcano.

>>40536793
If you've got a bone eating critter, those exist in real life. Porcupines need calcium for their quills so they drag bones into their nests and chew them up. Their teeth grow throughout their lifespan, so they don't get worn down. Animal teeth are too hard for them though so they leave those behind. Various fossil species are known only from teeth found in prehistoric porcupine dens.

If you had a bone eating creature that was a bit creative, they could have all sorts of decorations made out of teeth. Maybe a tribe of people living a primitive lifestyle who decorate themselves with lots of teeth, or use them as weapons.

>>40529940 (OP)
>first ever post on 4chan
>is tripfagging
sage

Sry to break it to u but real magic which exists is only technology that you dont understand....with that in mind you can see your world contains magic as long us you understand or able to explain how it works.....this is a huge limit of yourself and your understanding....that ultimately limits your choices in your world building

>>40529940 (OP)
Nature is a pretty scary bitch. If you're not relying on tropes like magic or typical "rage virus", just look to nature. Fungus can take over the mind of an ant on the forest floor, compel it to climb the nearest tree and clamp onto it with its jaws until a bird eats it to complete the cycle.

Translate that to humans, rinse and repeat.

>fungal spores inhaled or ingested by unsuspecting human host.
>fungus erodes the mind and muscle mass of the host just enough that the human appears helpless to other humans. Expresses pain or need vocally.
>human host does not appear "sick" enough to repel or disgust other humans. Just appears as a fellow human in need.
>host "trips". Whomever gets close enough to help is coated in spores. Method of your choice: breath, coughing, sneezing, fungal blister popping in a cloud of dust, up to you.
>cycle continues.

Of course, this will only work in a densely populated, high-trust society. Once people realise what is happening, they'll stop helping the infirm members of their society, just to be safe. Then the fungus may have to tweak the hosts' behaviour to something less deceptive and more overtly predatory.
Alternatively:

>host is compelled to go somewhere in a populous location at night. Sits on a bench or lays down in/near a thoroughfare and dies. Fungus feeds on nutrients and replaces human form with fungal bloom, same shape and pose as host.
>releases spores when someone gets too close, and crumbles to fine powder.
>cycle continues.

>>40541625
That type of fungus would be perfectly compatible with the old zombie movie trope where someone gets infected and lies about it. Except maybe the fungus would be so in control they literally couldn't tell the truth anymore.

>>40530116
I have the answer for what you're looking for. It is a 130 ft sinkhole in Myakka, Florida, called the "Breathing Mouth". You can only get to it possessing a hunting permit. There are many gators around the area. However, there are details I've gathered to tell you about the deep RESONANCE the hole contains.

You will go around the area to see standing still fog that mirrors your perspective, as it disappears when you move forward. The creek echoes hallucinations and voices that are nowhere to be found as you look behind. Time and signals get jammed from phones, watches, radios, etc. into lost connection getting close to its vicinity.

There are accounts of people going to the hole to test its consciousness. DO NOT EVER MENTION YOUR IDENTITY, THE HOLE WILL FRACTURE YOUR EGO. A tuning fork was placed down by rope, as it metaphysically BENT went picked back up. A stone was carved to send a message on the edge of the Breathing Mouth. The next day, the message was WIPED away. When you leave the area, 5 minutes turns into 20 minutes.

Declare: "Hear me, as I hear you." before you grant your wish in its glory.

>>40529940 (OP)
The brain is commonly known for using electrical impulses that run through synapses, allowing it to comput and function. However, recent findings suggest this is not entirely accurate. Instead, a better way to think of it is an interface, with quantum tunnels which actually do the computing. Ie. Electromagnetic waves and other such things. Regarding your story, it could be that when someone experiences a particularly strong emotion before death, the waveform of that emotion persists in that location after death. Mostly, this is of fear or sorrow. However, some small numbers are of rage, which is to say a revenant. These waveforms spread out like a signal, and when coming across the companion signal of the one the hatred was directed against, it causes interference, leaving the subject in a brain dead state. These revenant, not being bound to bodies as most are, can also pilot the bodies of the dead, using what remains as an interface. Of course, the problem stands, with the brain degrading as it does, none but the lowest level of functionality persists. Perhaps at the center lies the repeater of some unknown civilization, which boosts the signal from the revenant, leading to an increase in activity in the region. And moonlight is harmful , as it has an interference pattern with the waveform of the revenant. In any case, decaying bodies are not the only thing they can inhabite, and the twisted flesh that they possess is the less preferable of the two options for any traveler to come across.

Many amazing comments, skimmed fast, I will read them carefuly and reply soon, got still some work to do, give me a bit of time, but many thanks already!

>>40541625
>just look to nature
Don't corner my market bro

>>40541071
Yes, he jumps and crawls

I was going after Lallen look :)
I will check the Zelda inspirations

Never played Morrowind but that sounds very interesting!

>>40541110
I like an idea of an animal sitting on a throne of teeth, sounds badass, I will think about that

>>40541579
I don't follow
> magic is technology I don't understand
>your world contains magic if Iunderstand it
>this limits my understanding
Me confusion

>>40541625
Yeh like the zombie snails, I already mentioned fungus before, I like this idea in general, parasitic fungus eating from inside while baiting others to be the next pray. I will look up more about animal-zombies.

>>40541748
That is a lot of flavorful goodness, is it a real place? I will dig deeper into that later!

>>40541787
Loving that part with strong emotion, damn, made me think of the emotion-sucking keepers from HP prison, some creature that would be making death so cruel the emotions of fear and depsair would be so strong they would basicslly make the person braindead, but still functioning, with nothing good left inside, wandring around, hunting for good emotions, thus they would try to kill other people.

This is the sort of inspiration I was after thanks everyone !

>>40529940 (OP)
>1 Any sort of origin of undead in my world, that is not magic, but can be alchemy, biological (fungal, bacteria), anything reasonable
>I can already hint at there being no holy, god, or other powers warding against undead, but there is a herb that absorbs lunar light waves and wards against the undead, if this sparks any ideas
To add to the lunar light, maybe in your narrative, the undead are powered by direct sunlight and damaged by indirect light / reflected light.
The driving force behind the so-called 'undead' could be a spin on Panpsychism, the idea that consciousness/qualia exists in every particle, and again as a larger whole in every atom, and again in every molecule, all the way up to what we describe as organisms.
Something in your world, like direct sunlight, could re-activate the existing atoms-molecules-tissues-organs-organisms JUST ENOUGH to give them mobility, yet in a less intentional, more instinctual way.
Maybe there is a divide between sentient consciousness (atoms-molecules-tissues-organs contributing their collective conscious power to an ultimate whole, the brain/nervous system, organized into a unified experience)
and undead consciousness (the brain function being largely or totally disabled, the individual consciousness of each atom-molecule-etc battle each other for control over the organism, and are unable to unify to create traditional sentience)
Perhaps this undead consciousness is entirely instinctual, a lower level of being not recognized as sentience, whose only motivation is propagation via extinguishing traditional life to give rise to more of its own.

>>40529940 (OP)
Mix CWD, krokodil drug and emotional manipulation together and that would make a really cool undead

>>40545634
I'm pretty sure the setting tech level is too low for that.

>>40546430
Not using the actual drug but some alchemical herb mix with similar effects. Where it also infects people with a CWD
like pathogen to make them brain dead.
But having this hyper dependency on this alchemy mix makes literally do anything to get there fix.

After a certain amount of time they become undead, the random unpredictable kind and have them live underground in colonies.

>>40545282
Very cool idea, thank you!
Never heard of Panpsychism before


>>40546634
Hey, that is a cool twist too!
Some alchemical experiment gone wrong.
Thanks!

Apocalyptic upheaval of the board index