I think I am okay on posting this here.

One of the things that I will be having in my story is something that is supposed to be like zombies. (They aren't zombies, though.) After many people died from the disease that infected the world, many of the bodies were taken over by something spiritual. More demonic, really; they serve the villain who is the Satan figure in my book. These are extremely evil and are not to be messed around with.

I will leave room for questions or comments. I was talking with Inesdar about these before when I was brainstorming and the thought was put out that it should be more scientific instead of the original zombie idea that was suggested.

I had planned on just making my story a Sci-fi/Fantasy novel, but these ended up making it Horror, in a way.

What you are describing sounds a lot like the original concept of a vampire. Before Stephanie Meyer (and her predecessors), folklore said that vampires were demons that possessed corpses. Some vampire tales don't even stick to the popular idea of "blood-drinkers", but instead had the monsters just gorging on human flesh (and probably some blood, too, unless they were smarter than Shylock), or, if it was a woman who died in childbirth, stealing/eating infants and small children.

Your creatures sound similar to this, but the fact that they directly serve your "Satan" villain makes me think that they are slightly different. I agree that having the demonic element takes away from the Sci-Fi aspect (maybe making it more of a Fantasy/Horror?). Starting near the beginning, was the disease that killed so many a natural, scientifically-explainable disease, or was there something supernatural to it that might lead in to the after-death effects?

As for the question that seemed to be asked, Scientific or Supernatural? I would ask you what is your purpose for writing this book? Do you have a particular message that you want to convey to readers? And then, which way (scientific/supernatural) will best aid you in your endeavor?

I had thought before that the villain had cursed the books with this disease so that he could summon a certain book that could make a new race that he could bend and make his own. There was a certain requirement to get the book: to kill a lot of people. It ended up killing most of the world. I still need to think of the message.

What you said about vampires is really interesting. I never really knew what they were like before in legend. (I never read "Twilight" or the other vampire books.)

Moved to the Bestiary.

Perhaps the curse (if I am following this correctly) is that your Satan-type figure killed these people with a plague found native in his own blood. His blood was poisonous and also possessed the capacity to animate those it killed. Perhaps those animated aren't even separate entities but simple drones or extentions of this villain, that he can use to see and act through like a hive-mind. That way the "zombies" are carriers of this disease, but perhaps the antidote would lie in extracting a blood sample from the villain to create an antibody. This idea still keeps the concept still fairly entrenched in fantasy, however.

So are the bodies decaying as they are used or do they remain in the state during which they died?

This sounds very interesting.

The average corpse isn't equipped with anything.

Anyways, these sound interesting.

^_^ Sadly, I could not write on my trip. I will write more soon.

Going in - things you only hear on HW!

Well, if you are going at this from a scientific perspective, then I would say that the zombie-like drone effects could be a symptom of the virus itself. They could be incubating in the ground or wherever for as long as you want. They could still be alive, sort of, but controlled by the virus, if you see what I'm saying. If you are doing this magically, I don't see a problem. I love the idea and have something similar in my world. Magic is its one explanation, as if it needed one.

-Aeleknight

I wonder if I should name them or just keep them nameless.

I think nameless is good; it increases terror!

^_^ ok

Yeah, like; run away!!!! It's the......er....

I agree with Griffin. I personally would be much more afraid if I was being chased by Them rather than Edlothans or something of that nature.

-Aeleknight

I know someone not on HW who would have said the same thing.

I know some people that would say a lot of things...

@Sui: Joel, definitely Joel

eru

Of course.

I will work more on the story soon. My sister's roommate borrowed it to read...