Zombies (note the variant spelling) are an interesting example of what happens when you take a notion to its logical conclusion. The reasoning was as follows: it is possible to reanimate a human body after the soul departs from it. The result is a Zombi: a sort of biological construct animated and maintained by Sorcery. All in all, Zombis are useful, as they are immune to pain and fear - but they are also too short 'lived', thanks to both the fundamental limitations inherent in the human body and the Need to fuel the Sorcery that keeps them going. All in all, it would be better to use a higher grade of raw materials: finding some that were effectively 'unnatural' anyway would be a bonus.
In other words, Vessels: certainly, angels and
demons tend to go through them at a high enough rate...
First, scrounge up a celestial Vessel. This is harder than it looks: Superiors on
both sides are usually careful to craft Vessels that cannot be distinguished from
regular humans, and neither Heaven nor Hell are known to look favorably on
those that have a use for their discarded corporeal husks, to put it
mildly. Also, Remnants are not suitable
candidates for this type of zombification: something about the loss of their
Celestial Forces will invariably interfere with the process. Still, getting an appropriate corpse is not
necessarily impossible.
Once the Vessel is acquired, it has to be
prepped. What decay has taken place
must be reversed: luckily, Vessels usually have sophisticated repair systems
already in place on the cellular level.
Reactivating them can be done with a Necromancy -4 roll, 2 Essence and
an hour's work. Once reactivated, the
rejuvenated systems will function for about three days before renewal: many
prospective Zombies are buried during this time period, the better to avoid
suspicion.
The actual ritual may be attempted at any point
after the preparatory work has been completed: Create Zombie is
essentially a more elaborate version of Create Zombi. As it is easier to reawaken the unnatural to
a semblance of Unlife, the Sorcerer rolls at (Necromancy + Enchantment - [Total
Forces/2]): the ritual takes a straight eight hours to perform, with the new
Zombie rising at the end of it. Essence
cost remains equivalent to the total number of Forces of the target: this
ritual can be very loud.
No Zombie possesses Celestial Forces: however,
unlike Zombis those Forces may be transferred into either Corporeal or
Ethereal Forces (why a Zombie would need Ethereal Forces is addressed
below). Just where those Forces are
allocated is normally a GM call: however, for every -2 taken to the creation
roll the Sorcerer may dictate the allocation of one Force. Any Forces above the twelfth are lost.
Unlike their more mundane counterparts, Zombies
retain at least some of their abilities.
All Attunements and Celestial skills are lost, of course: divide
Corporeal and Ethereal skills by 3 (rounded down). Zombies also retain their highest-level Corporeal and
highest-level Ethereal Song (level divided by 2, rounded up). The Zombie, having no free will or
sentience, will exercise their remaining abilities upon command by anyone: many
Sorcerers make sure to set up some sort of system to make sure that their new
servant cannot hear any orders but their own.
The weakness of a Zombie is likewise quite different
from that of a Zombi, as the former does not suffer from a Need: the peculiar
nature of Vessels does not need constant Sorcerous reinforcement in order to
stay stable. However, this stability is
oddly fragile: a Zombie starts play with a 3 point Vulnerability (level equal
to its Corporeal Forces).
As noted above, neither Heaven nor Hell find this
sort of thing to be amusing - unfortunately, they can't always stamp out the
practice. The Loa in particular are
widely suspected of making sure that the Create Zombie ritual is available to
some of their worshippers: this has done nothing to help their relations with
the Host. On Hell's side... well, it's
not safe for a Sorcerer to even know that the Create Zombie ritual exists,
let alone know it. Hatiphas isn't known
for her sense of humor. Still, there's
no denying that Zombies can be useful - and, as long as Baal and Michael
have any say on how to run the War, that means that there's always a few of
them floating around somewhere.
There's
also the serendipitous effect that the existence of Zombies tends to encourage
celestials to avoid leaving discarded Vessels just lying around the place. Nobody likes having to explain to Dominic or
Asmodeus about just why their old bodies have been seen walking around...