undeath as anti life

Light is the left hand of darkness

Undeath is the left hand of life

Death is not the opposite of life. It is the return to crude matter, becoming food again, husk of calories. It is the absence of a thing, not its opposite.

Undeath is the Other. Thing Three to Life's thing One and Death's Thing Two. The three stages of being:

Existence, non-existence, anti-existence.

Death has a reflection as Crude Matter. Vitamins, mineral supplements, unliving sugar and food. Inanimate Existence.

Life has a reflection as Undeath, spawned from Crude Matter, Animated Existence.

Why do they contrast, why do they fight?

They fight because they don't want to die.

Undead are delicious, once you get past the cannibalistic taboo. Think a fine wine or a well-aged cheese. Crossed with jerky. Mummies are a necessity in a well-stocked kitchen.

Zombies think much the same as us.

When Matter and Anti-matter collide, they destroy each other. Just so. With Animated things, well, they need a bit of encouragement.

"Fear the zombie, lest it make you like it!"

"Fear the living! They'll use you as fertilizer!"

When Life is strong, so is Undeath.

When Life wanes, so does Undeath

Undead "birth"

A swarm of many, spreading across all corpses. The mother sacrifices herself for her children.

Living "birth"

For us, it is almost always one. Maybe two, every thousand, three or four all the rarer. A single birth is just as rare, for the undead.

Undead souls

As much as we have claim to a Soul, the Undead have claim to an anti-soul. Like us, it gets dirty with age. Or maybe washed off, a quicker path to our own rebirth.

Pain as pleasure and anti-sensation as sensation.

The Living and the Undead are immune to each other's tricks. Through selection, they must develop weaponry against the Other.

The Undead cannot be Charmed or Suggested, they must be Turned and Destroyed.

The Living cannot be Commanded* or Dominated*, they must be Drained or otherwise reduced.

Truly, the arts of enchanting cannot cross the mirror. They are anathema to each other!

An Undead's Sensation is the Living's Anti-Sensation. Their Pleasure is our Pain, and it is only where the two meet, that the opposites share a border. Domination! Both human kinds and Undead Lords practice the art, but where living legions must be broken and practiced to accept the bit, the undead jump to attention when the first order is given.

(This is why lich lords are always so frustrated. They're used to beating the living into submission, and many don't adapt well to the loyal, masochistic slobbering of zombies.)