Zombies (2 page)

Like all forms of magic, necromancy is an art, not a science. It has few hard and fast rules, and it is often the variation and individual flair that gives it strength. Even if I were so inclined, it would not be possible to give the basics of even a single spell to reanimate the dead in the space I have available. The famous grimoires, the great treasures of necromancy, are all vast tomes running for thousands of pages, often only covering a few spells. But even these should be seen as only rough guides and not zombie cookbooks. Their danger lies in their power of suggestion, their hints of greater and greater power. Most necromantic knowledge is passed directly from wizard to wizard or garnered through individual research.

With all of that in mind, it is possible to present some of the more common elements of magical zombie creation in order that the process can be better understood and countered. Long ago, there may have been necromancers who could raise the dead with no more than a few words and a wave of the hand, but if so, those days are long gone. Even for today's most powerful sorcerers, reanimation is a slow, messy process requiring a van-load of materials. First and foremost, the process requires a
“cauldron.” Anything that can hold liquid can serve as a cauldron, but the nature of the vessel will have subtle influences on the zombies created, and metal is still the preferred cauldron material. Also, it is best if the cauldron is big enough to hold a hum an body. Many bargain-basement necromancers have taken to using oil drums, which seems to produce a slightly more bad-tempered zombie.

Into the cauldron goes a classic witch's brew. The list of possible ingredients is never-ending, and each can have subtle effects on the zombie produced. However, one component that is central to all undead concoctions is fresh blood, the fresher the better. It might be possible to use animal blood, but considering the other main component is a corpse, human blood is the norm. All of the ingredients are added in a precise order over a number of days, usually accompanied by incantations and/or ritualized dancing. The entire process can take anywhere from three days to three months, and more often than not, it fails.

It is perhaps this high rate of failure that has saved us all from becoming the slaves (or ingredients) of the necromancers. Professor Katherine de Rowe of Oxford University, in her ground-breaking paper
The Spread of Death Magic
,
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stated that “One highly skilled necromancer is more dangerous than one hundred novices…,” and this is mainly due to their success rate in creating the undead. She also goes on to point out that nearly 80 percent of novice necromancers are killed in their first year of dabbling in the dark arts, although this statistic is highly debated.

In the instances where the sorcery succeeds and a viable brew is concocted, the necromancer proceeds to either dunk a corpse into the cauldron or pour the contents onto the ground where a corpse is buried. This is generally accompanied by more incantations. Several necromantic texts state that dunking is preferable to pouring, but no official studies have ever been conducted. It takes a newly created zombie only minutes to wake up, although if it has to claw its way out of a casket or up out of the ground, it may take a while before it appears.

Although there is no exact liquid-to-zombie ratio, the bigger the cauldron the more zombies it can produce. It is also possible to store the liquid in sealed containers for later use. With stored brew, a necromancer can quickly create zombies; however, zombies created in this fashion are generally weaker than those created from fresh stock.

Even at a great distance, the undead nature of a necromantic zombie is pretty obvious, although distinguishing it from other types of horde zombie might prove difficult.
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Like their atomic cousins, necromantic zombies are slow, shambling creatures. Their gait appears unnatural and unbalanced, often made worse by missing or broken limbs. An overwhelming stench of death and decay accompanies these zombies. In the case of
large hordes, this smell has been known to hit living beings with an almost physical force that can cause nausea, vomiting, and even fainting. Unlike other zombie types, necromantic zombies never speak, moan, or produce any other sound with their throats. Long-time zombie hunters who have faced multiple types of undead often claim that this silence is actually more terrifying than the horrific moans of atomic zombies.

In appearance, there is one significant difference between zombies raised by magic and those created by other means. Chemical and viral zombification only affects the recently deceased, whereas magic can reanimate a corpse hundreds, even thousands of years old. For most of its short history, the science of animate necrology classified walking skeletons as a unique family of undead; however, current thought places them as a subtype of the necromantic zombie. In fact, the only major difference between skeletons and other zombies is that the skeletons are a bit more fragile but also slightly quicker. (Apparently all that flesh was just slowing them down.) In a couple of instances, necromancers have also used zombification to reanimate an ancient mummy, but these too are just a peculiar brand of zombie and not a true living mummy.

Because of their potential age, necromantic zombies often spawn in an advanced state of decomposition, and it is not uncommon for a shambler to leave a trail of rotting flesh and small body parts. More often than not, these zombies have empty eye sockets, exposed bones, dangling or trailing innards, and missing jawbones. They are almost always accompanied by black clouds of carrion crows or other flesh-eating fowl.

Should a zombie hunter overcome the stench and terror of a horde of magically fueled corpses, another nasty surprise awaits. Necromantic zombies carry guns. Or, to be more accurate, necromantic zombies are capable of using weapons. In most cases these will be simple bludgeoning or cutting weapons, the rusty knife being the most ubiquitous. However, zombies animated from professional soldiers or hunters accustomed to carrying firearms during life will continue to do so in death. True, their aim tends to be wild, but even zombies occasionally get in a lucky shot. Thankfully, these zombies are incapable of most other feats of manual dexterity, including reloading. It is up to the necromancer or his living servants to arm his zombies before he sends them on campaign.

In hand-to-hand combat, necromantic zombies are the weakest variety of zombie. While strength varies considerably based on the skill of the necromancer, few of these zombies could match the strength of a full-grown man, and some are considerably weaker. One-on-one, most people should be able to defeat, or at least escape from, a necromantic zombie. Unfortunately, they are rarely encountered individually.

The goal of most necromancers is to build a vast army of zombie warriors for the purpose of conquest, but without a necromancer to guide them, magically created zombies have no will or intelligence of their own. Without specific instructions they will stand stock-still, unresponsive to any movement or threat. That does not mean a necromancer must be physically present to guide them. Zombies can be commanded to guard specific items or locations, with orders to kill intruders or would-be thieves. They can also be sent out to attack specific places or people or even to recover objects. They cannot, however, perform any action requiring a particular skill set. In fact, doorknob usage appears to be beyond their comprehension, although breaking down a door through weight of numbers does not.

Ask any professional zombie killer which variety of zombie he least wants to face, and the answer will invariably be necromantic. This is not because they are particularly tough or dangerous, but because their elimination is incredibly messy. Unlike revenants or other horde zombies, necromantic zombies possess no single weakness. Since many lack any kind of brain, and some even lack heads, hunters cannot rely on the classic head shot or decapitation. Instead, the only way to kill a necromantic zombie is to bash it to pieces.
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There really is no scientific way to state this. These zombies are bound together by magic, and it is only through mangling and dismembering the corpse that the spell can be physically broken. Exactly how much damage a zombie can take depends on the skill of the necromancer who created it in the first place. If a zombie does possess a head, shattering the skull will normally do the trick. Otherwise, it is probably best to go for the spinal column. More often than not, breaking the zombie in two will also break the spell that animates it. If not, it will at least severely slow it down.

While machetes,
katanas
, and aluminum baseball bats are probably the ideal necromantic zombie killers and one should certainly be carried as backup, it is always best to take zombies out at a distance. The key for eliminating necromantic zombies with gunfire is caliber. While a .22 might be used effectively for sniping the brains out of other horde zombies, its lack of punch makes it mostly useless against magically powered corpses. If you want to kill these zombies, you need something that can blow off big chunks. At a minimum, hunters will want .45s, which is why so many modern hunters carry a Colt 1911 as their sidearm. However, the king of zombie killers remains the shotgun. Armed with either slugs or shot, at close range, a shotgun blast to the chest or head will generally take a zombie down.

The best solution to a necromantic zombie incursion or threat, and one that is unique to this variety, is killing the necromancer. Although not an easy task, finding and eliminating the necromancer that created the zombies will break the spell, and the corpses will immediately deanimate, crumpling into a pile of flesh and bones.

There are some people out there, even a few within the animate necrology community, who argue the value of “white magic.” There is certainly compelling evidence that some forms of magic can be used to effectively combat the undead. However – and I want to state this as clearly as possible – “white magic” and “death magic” are vague and nearly meaningless terms. At best, they are two sides of the same coin. At worst, “white magic” is just a slightly cleaner form of necromancy. Both are at odds with the natural world. While the temptation to fight fire with fire remains great, it is always better to trust your 12-gauge than some ancient incantation.

LICHES

Put simply, a liche is an undead necromancer, and thankfully, they are incredibly rare. To become a liche, a death wizard commits a form of magical suicide in which the body is killed, but the soul is bound to the reanimated corpse. Whether a liche is a zombie remains a topic of academic debate, but at a minimum they should be considered an extremely dangerous form of magical zombie master. In appearance they resemble their zombie servants, with frail bodies withered by their own magic; however, that is where the similarities end. Liches possess all of the knowledge, skills, and abilities they possessed in life, including their magical abilities. They think, reason, and speak. They also seem to maintain whatever dexterity they had in life.

Since liches remain so rare, there is little that can be said about them with certainty. Liches have no known weakness. Massive amounts of physical damage may be able to destroy the magical bonds that hold them together, but this has never been put to the test. Incineration is probably the best bet. If there are currently any liches in the world, they have remained hidden. Then again, when you are already dead, time is on your side.

Of course, where necromantic zombies are concerned, the best solution is prevention, as it is easy to put the deceased beyond the clutches of even the most powerful death wizard. A corpse cannot be reanimated if it has been buried or interred with the proper rites and rituals of a monotheistic religion. Some people have argued that this is proof of the power of white magic, but more likely it is a flaw or weakness in the spells of necromancy. Since necromancy developed in societies where monotheism was rare, or nonexistent, it seems the early wizards never factored the idea into their magic. Either way, it works. Christian, Jewish, or Muslim makes no difference; the rites of each will stop necromancers cold. This also helps explain why necromancers are most prevalent during great wars, when thousands of corpses are left strewn across the earth, having never received their final rites.