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Original:Falerin, at AQ GGD

I suspect that what you may have encountered is a problem in definitions. Largely where does one define the boundaries of life, death, and mineral/construct. Anything outside of those very specific boundaries is undead.

Do bear in mind that as a day job I am an educator and my Bachelors Degree is in Biology and Chemistry, I aso have considerable philosophy and theology background. I view life very specifically as a biologist does. It requires 7 characteristics. Viruses are not alive as they are missing many of these. They are not dead either. By my extant defitnition of undeath, active viruses ARE in fact undead.

But you will find the Hadeni challenge this far more then a self replicating RNA molecule does. They are macrocellular. They are clearly organisms. But they do not follow biotic conventions of life. They look, appear, act, and function as "typical" undead do... their sustenance and cellular processes are those of typical undead. Their lifespans like typical undead near immortality barring accident, but they have proven unfortunately prone. They also are subject to many of the same weaknesses. Namely that even though such is their natural state a necromancer can control that state and thus take control of them, and enslave them... Unlike most undead, but not all, the hadeni retain one capacity for life few other have. That of reprodution. But reproduction is not itself sufficient to define life. They DO reproduce and they reproduce via some genetic method. Reproduction is not life either.

Many abiotic things reproduce.

The Hadeni were never biotic therefore by standards of life as they exist in most known unvierses they are not alive. You are fairly wrong if you think only living and organic things evolve. Everything does. Standards evolve, mythoi evolve, worlds evolve, technology evolves. Many computer viruses on Terra now practice inorganic evolution and it is anticipated that robots and nanites will do so in the future to great effect. They cannot be undead yet they are corpse like skeletal constantly decay and feed off psychic vampirism and more physical varieties in addition to many other abiotic processes.
I fear we come to a disagreement of terms.

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their sustenance and cellular processes are those of typical undead