Zombriety

The Living are often confused about what makes a Zombie “tick.” The answer is deceptively simple: Willpower.

Zombie bodies are in fact dead, and their conscious mind is responsible for all activity within. The autonomic functions are all shut down, and the individual must concentrate to make things happen. Where exactly is the spleen? What does it do? How do I make it work? Did I remember to breathe? How about this heart thing, how do I contract those muscles in the proper sequence? Marrow anyone?

These are the kinds of things that the Living take for granted, and that Zombies must work out for themselves. Some are better able to manage all these tasks than others, and are thus able to manage a more “life-like” appearance, while others struggle with basic coordination.

Recently, there have been improvements in cosmetic surgery and prosthetics that allow modern Zombies to be a bit more relaxed, and concentrate on other things.

In the past Zombies faced with the ignorance of their own era’s scientific or medical understanding, didn’t even know they had a lymphatic system to master, and thus their appearance rapidly deteriorated as their bodies fell prey to the natural processes of decay. This led to a system of “replacement” in which fresh graves were harvested for parts from what Zombies consider “lazy good for nothings” (Zombies feel that anyone who can’t be bothered to do anything other than lay in a hole all their deaths don’t deserve much sympathy). The parts are then grafted, shoved, or in some cases nailed in place.

This practice still happens in areas where a Zombie may not have received any more than a rudimentary education, and it is one of the goals of the Zombie Mission to find “Harvesters” and teach them how to better maintain their existing parts.

Even so, modern Zombies still do need to participate in harvesting from time to time, but nowadays parts can be collected from duly licensed morgues, scientific donation programs, or websites, and rarely are Zombies forced to seek elsewhere.

Currently, there is a hope that as more and more of the Living are educated about the Vitalist Hate Machine, and the lies that they have been told, that Zombies of the future will be allowed to relax a bit on the whole “lifelike” appearance effort, and be accepted as they are.