I lovvveee undead characters.
I love little things like if they don’t breath then they also don’t produce atp so their muscles get stiff like rigimortis when unused. I love undead characters who now suffer symptoms of chronic illness and chronic pain.
I love the idea that they can feel the way their body is being held together by stitches of unholy magic, it buzzes under their skin and tugs gently when they overextend. I love imagining the way they can sense life force and there’s an unquenchable urge to take.
Maybe the magic only compensates for decay, it doesn’t stop it, so eventually they’re more magic than person.
Or maybe it’s trapped them forever in a protective laminate cocoon. Moving through the living world is as difficult as moving through sap
They can’t feel the cold or the gentle brush of a loved one’s fingers anymore, but the heat makes them nauseous. Nerves that have to readjust to the world after coming back, so if everything isn’t completely dulled, then it’s too much
There’s a permanent severing of some essential brain functions from the pure shock of being brought back from the dead. After all that is not supposed to be possible. All regulatory systems are gone. Strength is unmatched. Sense of one’s own mortality is confused. You can’t forget/repress memories anymore except perhaps the memory of the death itself because your brain unlocked everything at the time of your death by trying to find some way to prevent it.
I love the psychological effects of being brought back from the dead. What is the point anymore if life in no longer finite? Is it finite? Do they remember what The End is like? How long does it take for their mind to start to fray and unravel from being worked beyond its end?