Zombies

General Overview

The legend of the zombie began in Haiti by the African slaves and mirrored the inhumanity that existed there from 1600 to around 1800. The Haitian slaves believed that dying would release them back to lan guinée, literally Guinea or Africa in general, a kind of afterlife where they would be free. Though suicide was common among the slaves, those who took their own lives wouldn’t be allowed to return to lan guinée. Instead, they’d be condemned to skulk the Hispaniola plantations for eternity, an undead slave at once denied their own bodies and yet trapped inside them—a soulless zombie.

After the Haitian Revolution of 1804 and the end of French colonialism, the fear of slavery hung over the populace. The myth of the zombie evolved and folded into the Voodoo religion with the country, believing that the zombies were reanimated corpses brought back by shamans and Voodoo priests. Sorcerers, known as Bokor, used their bewitched undead for free labor and to carry out their nefarious deeds.

Zombies in New Orleans

Voodoo priests, Warlocks, and Necromancers of New Orleans have been known to tap into the Source and make zombies a reality. Any Sourcer, a person that can use the magick of the Source, would be able to create a zombie. Most just would not do so. The zombies do not sleep, eat, speak, or think for themselves. Stripped of all free will and left in a horrifying state between life and death only capable of fulfilling the task set before them by the one who owns their souls. The zombie will be relentless in carrying out the task it is set upon and becomes an almost unstoppable force.

Abilities

The zombie has no true supernatural abilities on their own, but they are often imbued with abilities by their owners and those are usually powers to assist them in completing their tasks.

Weaknesses

There are only a few known ways to destroy the zombie. Fire, decapitation, and killing the magick user that holds their souls, will release the zombie to their natural state of death. The zombie can be released by their owners, but that rarely happens.