Research Notes I

[Written in Draenei on the note pages in Drustai's spellbook]

(02/28/12)
"It has been several months since I discontinued my studies into becoming living again. Though we made some remarkable success despite several major setbacks, the project hit a dead end. I have begun a new avenue of research, though, which I pray will have more success. Further details will be provided, but first I shall summarize the facts of my existence now for the sake of recap and ease of reference.

· Type III Unliving Construct: Corporeal, preserved, vampiric.

· Contingent sapience. Sapience level is determined by frequency of consumption and conversion of life energy. I have modified standard Life Drain spells to be able to affect plants, and my garden provides most of my required sustenance. I am not capable of restoring this energy via digestive process at this point of time. Replacement of digestive tract with one built on the principles of ghoul cannibalism remains on my to-do list.

· Instinct-based modifications on the emotional center of the soul. Modifications encourage natural “fight or flight” response mechanisms. Adherence to the fight response resulting in consumption of life energy awards activation of otherwise limited pleasure centers. The infusion of life energy is routed through the pleasure center of the soul, briefly reviving these aspects before the energy is converted into necrotic fuel.

· Stage 1 decay. Weekly application of embalments and preservative spells have been capable of maintaining this level since my raising significantly. However, traits of stage 2 have begun manifesting with increasing regularity. More than once I have caught the beginnings of insect infestations and spongy tissue indicating cellular autolysis. Application of localized time reversal spells have been able to undo most of this process, though my limited knowledge on chronomancy renders such means to be of unsure sustainability.

· Soul remains linked with the body, but in an imperfect form that dulls many sensations. I dub this the ‘silver cord’, in homage to astral projection rituals, as it operates in much the same fashion. Unliving sapience is governed by the stability of the link. Many zombies possess only an extremely tenuous link with their original soul. Obviously, stable links are far more difficult to produce than unstable ones, and therefore it is much more difficult to create a sapient undead such as myself. Manipulating the silver cord is a very risky process and therefore one that I have done little of. As mentioned before, regular infusion of necrotic fuel through the consumption of life energy is required to maintain the stability of this link. Reduced intake of life energy will weaken the link, causing insanity and, if left long enough, a complete break down of the undead form. It is unclear if this starvation actually can kill an undead creature, or simply sends it into torpor. None of my test subjects have lasted long enough to determine this (no thanks to Sanara for destroying all of my previous experiments and forcing me to start over…)

· To continue the above, my soul remains anchored to a less finicky material object than the body. There was some worry when my runeblade was destroyed, but we were able to successfully locate and bind the soul to a spirit totem, constructed of deadwood, Terokkar vulture feathers, clefthoof bone, and other materials. I had intended and still would have preferred a proper phylactery due to its self-resurrective properties, but the requirement of demon blood for the construction triggered Sanara’s zealous refusal. I have since made do with a contingent resurrection spell, which I have placed upon my physical form and which can provide a single automatic resurrection shortly after death. Sadly this is one use, and happens on the spot—thus the possibility of being ended by the same threat immediately after remains. It functions much in the same way as a soulstone, but extensive research enabled me to develop a spell that does not require demon blood. As a replacement, I used a mixture of blood, arcane powder, powdered red dragon bone, and the dormant ashes of a phoenix. The consumption of a soul sadly remains a requirement, however—no other substance is capable of providing such concentrated spiritual fuel.

· Necrotic energy, provided it is kept fueled, provides immense physical strength and endurance. Though muscles are stiff due to stage 1 decay, the necrotic energy circumvents this easily. This is accomplished by the necrotic energy overcoming the standard definition of the soul. Though a normal soul would carry a configuration that prevents movement without the proper application of blood and the necessary tensing and loosening of a healthy, undamaged muscular structure, necrotic energy fills this gap and ‘tricks’ the soul into believing that these elements are present. The soul configuration is edited so that ‘necrotic energy’ stands in for ‘blood’ and ‘health’.

· Sadly, therein lies the issue. Reconstructing the soul blueprint in such a manner makes it cosmically unnatural, much in the same way that shaping arcane spells without runes makes them unnatural and causes arcane corruption. This makes the soul incapable of properly merging with the body, as stated before, preventing resurrection. Additionally, the modifications made have, as mentioned before, ‘damaged’ the emotional center. I say ‘damaged’, because while the emotional center still maintains a stable foundation, its pattern is noticeably different from the standard used in most sapient beings. Attempts to remap the emotional center based on ‘healthy’ souls, even from other Argus-born females, have so far been unsuccessful.

· Indeed, attempts to rework the soul into a proper living configuration have so far had limited progress. The infusion of shadow in the soul creates a very unstable pattern as a result—this is even more of an issue when it is necrotic energy rather than simple shadow. Considering the very strict and precise nature of a metaphysical construct as complex as the soul, even the smallest instability in the pattern quickly spreads and ruins the entire effort. It is like a cancer… once it has been imbedded into the organism, attempts to undo the damage become almost impossible, especially when it has spread to the lymph nodes. Cutting out a tumor often causes just as much damage to the body, and does not stop another tumor from growing elsewhere later on. Thus, it can be said that the soul of an unliving being is possessed of a spiritual cancer. Any attempt at resurrection requires completely cleansing the soul of any 'necrotic tumors', which has proven impossible so far."

Research Notes I

Research Notes I

Research Notes I :: Comments