Kind of a gruesome question, but how could the Atypical boys be killed? From what I understand, they are conditionally immortal, but uh, what are those conditions ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)?
A lot of the stuff that’s based on the lore that “[insert monster here] is evil and that’s why they can’t bear [insert weakness here]” has been thrown out. Pup has no problem with silver, Edge can see himself in a mirror, religious icons don’t hurt anyone, etc. No one is “evil”–not even Cash–so no one can be harmed by something meant to fend off “evil”.
Ways the boys can actually die below:
All of them can be killed by extreme physical damage or damage to their souls, so I’m not necessarily going to list that out every time. But, yeah, decapitation or destroying their souls are pretty solid ways to kill any of these guys. None of these guys can regenerate or regrow limbs that have been lost, though I would never bring that into the story. (Forest Pap is the exception to this. This boy is as close to truly immortal as we’ll get in my lore.)
Edge can starve to death. It’s an extremely slow process, and he’d eventually calcify in place before dusting completely. He can’t drown, though, and he can’t die of exposure–temperature extremes, by and large, don’t affect him, unless we get down to something approaching absolute 0 or temperatures hot enough for cremation. It’s possible for him to “bleed out”, but very difficult–a fast infusion of mana would be enough to revive him. Poisons aren’t really something he needs to worry about.
Pup is more vulnerable. Wolfsbane is definitely a danger for him, as is any other kind of toxic plant. (He’s no more sensitive to them than any mortal, but his wolf will sometimes eat things it shouldn’t.) He needs to breathe, so anything that prevents him from doing so–being underwater, being in a vacuum, etc–could kill him. Bleeding out is a real danger for him. He can starve as well, but it won’t take as long as it would for Edge–a month without food, or a week without water, and his prospects are pretty grim. He’s not especially resistant to temperature extremes, though; exposure is a risk for him.
Twist has really deep mana wells, so bleeding out would be very, very unlikely, though still possible. Extreme cold would eventually kill him, but it would take a while. His “inner fire” would fade with increased exposure, and he’d die. He cannot die by fire, though. This boy is fire-proof. His dam was a poison-breath, so he’s pretty well immune to poisons. (A good thing, too, considering he was brought up by a forest spirit in a forest. Forest spirits don’t really know the difference between “poisonous” and “edible” plants. It’s all good to them.) He can drown, and deep water is somewhat frightening for him. Starvation or dehydration are ways to kill him as well.
Rus cannot starve or die of dehydration, but the former will weaken him severely. He can drown. He can be weakened or harmed by poison, but not killed–some sex or mana and he’s fine again. He’s pretty resilient, actually. He’s about the same as Edge when it comes to temperature extremes–he can be cremated and he can freeze to death, but only at extreme temperatures. He can heal from almost anything without leaving a scar behind as long as he gets an infusion of mana before he bleeds out.
Cash can die of starvation, but he’ll only die of dehydration if he’s out of the water for long periods of time (meaning he has to drink water if he’s not living in it; if he’s in the water, then he’s fine). He’s extremely sensitive to high heat, though. He’s a cold water boy, and hot temperatures are a fast way to knock him on his ass. Especially hot water–this boy takes cold baths/showers exclusively. Summer heat is not his friend. He can’t survive for long periods in fresh water. He can maybe spend a bit of time there, but he can’t live in it. Chlorinated water will fuck him up really good, as would polluted water. Poisons are a danger for him, but he obviously can’t drown.
Forest Pap cannot starve or drown or die if you destroy his physical manifestation. The only way to kill Pap is to destroy his tree or to deprive him of worship. In the latter case, though, he’ll just…fade. He won’t really die, he just won’t be able to manifest physically. He’ll still be there, in the forest itself, but you won’t see him or hear him or be able to interact with him. If his tree is destroyed, he might be able to hold on for a time, and if he has enough strength left, he’ll be able to create a seed for the next spirit to arise from. It won’t be him, though. It will be a piece of him that grows into an entirely new spirit, with limited access to his memories and knowledge. (This is how forest spirits typically propagate after a forest fire; their tree is destroyed, and they create a seed so a new spirit can grow up as the forest recovers from the fire.)
