Do you mean

is the Demi-Urge, or do you mean the Exorcist D'Vampire?

It's really not that hard to tell if someone is the Demi-Urge, at least if you run into him in person. He generally always looks the same.

Old white human male, with a seriously disproportionately large head (go figure), with even bigger "bushy" hair and beard that appear to be perpetually on fire.

In fact, on first sight, many people confuse him for a burning bush.

Well, according to Sam, it's more egg then chicken...

Worlds/Earths where he is really big are low on mana. This is because his priests spend all possible time converting people, conducting worship services and sucking up all the mana--and yet never return any--very stingy about healing and other support services.

Even crazier, he creates splinter religions that pretend to compete with each other, this competition spurs the priests to hoover up even more mana.

That's a very good question.

I am guessing rather sickly.

Vampires don't depolarize here, but they do generally feel quite sick.

Not sure what a d'Vampire would be like.

On the other hand, dhampires do fine down here. Well, other than falling of their D'Wargs way too often. But I think Rhede learned his lesson and won't fall off again.

That's a good question and it applies to avatars as well.

Remember avatars and demons, by default have what we call animus-body's, that look and act exactly like real bodies, but aren't. There are some definite nuances and a lot depends on the age of the avatar/demon as well.

We are pretty much agnostic to animus-antimus, it all looks the same to us, so when we go to a world, our polarization flips to align with it, and don't notice anything. Maybe a tingle, but since we aren't polarized in the Abyss, no matter what polarization world we go to, it's the same.

Now, that being said. We can also "incarnate" Antefalken did this once, he's mentioned it a couple places. It was reward he got from an archdemon for a good ballad. In his case, he incarnated as a human baby and lived an entire human life (a long one) as a mortal, but with his own memories, self etc. That's where all that stuff in Northern Norelon came from that's named after him. He was a famous human bard in Astlan (but after he first became a demon)

Similarly, in the book II, Beragamos has trouble getting through Lenamare's wards, so he has to incarnate--he incarnates a real material body that looks his own age. But it is a real body that eats/poops/sleeps. He astrally projects into it, and out of it. He has to secure it when he goes back to Tierhallon (it goes to sleep). It had been staying with Daniel in Freehold, but is now holed up in the Citadel of Light.

That's a real body, made from matter and animus of a (so called--because it's arbitrary) positive world. Hilda has a mana body (and was able to make it through the wards because she's a saint vs avatar--and this is one of those nuances I mentioned--avatars, saints, demons, demon princes, gods and a few others---not all immortals are identical in nature--but this probably won't be discussed until book V or so)

If that body went to a negative world, it would start to decay very quickly and he'd need to replenish it with flesh, not unlike a ghoul--actually very much like a ghoul--but there is another term for this and I forget it at the moment. It hasn't been mentioned as it doesn't come up that often and most people don't realize such a being is something different.

Anyway, that being said, in the case of Beragamos, he's more than powerful enough that in the new world, he could "cure" or reallign his material body and fix the issue. An average plane traveller would not be so lucky. Of course, if Beragamos returned to Astlan, he'd need to "cure" his body again the other way.

The Abyss is not polarized at all in terms of Animus/Antimus.

When a creature that is antimus based is bound to animatter, or vice versa animus bound to antimatter (not exact word) and go to the Abyss, the polarization is lost and all the wacky bindings they use don't work right because they depend on the opposing polarization between the animus-based matter and the antimus based spirit.

The polarization gets lost/surpressed in the Abyss and the creature's metabolism is thrown off balance, it returns when they return to their "original plane"

So what this means is that:

Ghouls get cured, they are just people infected with the other polarization.

Zombies are reanimated flesh of one polarization bound to a spirit with the wrong polarization (this happens because of the way necromantic spells work--even if the spirit was positive to begin with, the necromancy requires them to be reverse polarized in order to bind to their dead flesh--it's a way of cheating natural death--very long story in terms of details)

If they stay long enough, they are goners, otherwise they just get very sick.

Vampires are similar, but better integrated. They will get very sick and weak, but won't die.

Dhampires, being half normal mortal and half vampire are even better integrated. They don't seem to have any problem that I can see. At least my dhampire buddy hasn't complained. Or, at least, not about that.

Liches are more like zombies, but their core spirit is usually somewhere else, e.g. back on on their home plane in a phylactery, so their possessed body gets very sick, but their core spirit is OK.

Etc.

So...we are getting out of my paygrade...talking about the outer realms.

And we are getting into Book IV territory, in which we deal exactly (or sortofly) with this sort of thing.

The key point is that the Outer Realms are immaterial reflections of the prime material plane. Notice how people keep talking about Refleca glasses etc.?

Refleca is not real matter, it is "reflected matter" and so, you only need one physical item, and those who know how to do so (and have the mana) can generate as many "reflections" of that object as they wish. [So, in "heaven" everyone gets their Precious]

The key piece, and this is discussed both by me in the Abyss, with Rede, and by Sir Stainsberry to Talarius....physical matter cannot exist in the outer planes, it's a purely spiritual plane--except for things like refleca--anyway, above my paygrade and time to type....

Physical matter can only exist in the Outer Planes if it is wrapped in a "bubble" a pocket dimension, not unlike a Bag of Safekeeping--except--maybe--a lot more.

So, recall in Book III, when Tom retrieve's Excrathadorus Mortis from Tierhallon? He had to find it "inside one of these bubbles" which I believe was mentioned by a couple people.

This bubble can be positive or negative, depending on who makes it.

The point being, the Outer Planes are pure spirit, and it's neutral, since the polarization is a function of the material plane (which is why the Abyss, and Outer Planes are not polarized).

Why The Abyss screws over undead is because, unlike the Outer Planes, you can physically transport matter into the Abyss.

When a demon fades in and out, they are astrally traveling. But when Tom opens a portal or Exador an Abyssal Switch, physical matter is transported to the Abyss.

And it's the BINDINGS of matter and spirit that get screwed up by the de-polarization. Pure spirit would be fine, you could astrally travel to the Abyss from any positive or negative material plane and be fine, if you were, say, a "material girl" You just don't want to go there if you are mixed animus and animus-generated matter.

Does this make sense...

Edited by user Thursday, November 21, 2019 3:06:30 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Ah, I think I may see your confusion.

You are thinking about the original magical nature of EM and the inky blackness inside the giants as antimus, yes?

In hindsight, T-A-G was very sloppy to allow that confusion. Shame on him.

It gets complicated, and things are different for animana bodies or whatever you want to call what demons and avatars have and their corporal forms but...simplest answer is this.

The Abyss and Outer Planes are not affected by what Egary Gygax called the Positive and Negative Planes, or the polarizing forces of both animus and matter. Producing animus and antimus and matter and antimatter.

So, in those planes, polarization just doesn't exist and all animus is animus and matter is matter, except there is no matter in the Outer Planes and the Abyss is--difficult to reconcile.

However, when an immortal spirit in a mana body as we sort of call them--our true forms---travel to a material plane, our animus takes on the polarization of that plane, so anything that antimus on that plane is antimus to us as well because we don't come into the plane "the wrong way"

See, it's that "wrong way" that creates the problem. In theory, one should never ever see "antimus" in any plane (regardless of polarization) it doesn't show up there "naturally" by which I mean the normal order of physics for the majority of material planes.

However, certain individuals (loosely called necromancers or necromasters) can do things (usually cast spells) that brings it into the plane, and when it does, it has certain benefits, i.e. it is easier to bond the antimus version of someone's spirit to its dead body, or some other dead body than doing it the "right way" (Resurrection)

It's the act of necromancy (on a magical world) that twists what might otherwise be neutral or same polarization animus in such away as to reverse its polarization and thus they can bind it to the dead flesh.

The point is, someone or something is expending mana to turn animus into antimus in a given plane so that it keeps dead bodies alive.

I.e. I use necromancy to resurrect your grandfather's corpse. Say with his soul. He wasn't antimus in his real life, but in order to bring him back and bind him to his flesh, I have to "make him antimus"

It is not a natural state, it's a twisted or "skew" state of animus within that particular material plane.

As far as soul sucking swords and such? That is a higher level of necromancy, and it comes from the skewing---but what's happening there is that raw negative material energy and antimus are coming in direct contact with animus unshielded, and the animus and equivalent antimus are destroyed like matter and antimatter colliding.

Again, it's a very artifical magical thing and some "evil" types really like creating such nasty things.

What Tom was seeing inside the giants was basically a necromantic antimus field shielded by flesh, surrounding the animus core of the giants. They were basically prisoners inside their own "negatively animated" bodies. I.e. there was an antimus spirit controlling their bodies (like a corpse with someone else's soul) and they were trapped inside.

Does this make sense or just add to the confusion?

You know which one I am hoping for? Yes?

Tizzy

Edited by user Monday, November 25, 2019 2:52:28 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Yes, all true.

Think of "soul sucking" devices as animus, antimus reactors then. Of course, your next question will be, what is the product of that reaction? And where does it go?

And that's a good question, but one I am not yet willing to answer, because that might explain too much of what happened Orcus' death.

So the point is, still the same. You have to do something to bring antimatter into a matter universe, at least in any macroscopically measured quantity. Have you ever seen an antimatter chair?

Well, a zombie is a chair worth of antimus in comparison.

The little bits we get in particle collisions and such is just floating around for exceptionally brief periods of time that no normal human can detect.

Same for antimus leakage.

Would like to participate again in the beta if it's going on.