[HoE] Bodies from the Big One

[Matthew Steflik <grifflik@stny.rr.com>]

Rowan Dodds wrote:

> I was wondering what you thought the bodies from the last war would be like.
> Obviously, those exposed to the elements for 13 years, especially those in the
> deserts, would be nothing but bleached bones. But what about bodies in
> buildings, in subway systems and even in underground bunkers? Would there be any
> stinky, rotting stuff left? It'd obviously be more creepy than fighting
> countless skeletal walking dead.
> Anyway, I was wondering what you thought.
>
All right!  A zombie question!
After thirteen years?  Depends on if you want to look at this from a
biological or supernatural standpoint.  Biologically speaking there
really wouldn't be a lot of "stinky, rotting stuff" left in the bodies
from the war.  Even inside of sealed buildings, redoubts and subways,
the bodies would be desiccated, dried out and starting to mummify.
There would still be an odor, of course, but not a lot of mushiness.
Your nice pulpy ones would have to be more recent deaders. However, you
could also make the argument that the Manitou animating the body is
keeping it "fresher" than normal (like they tend to do for harrowed),
keeping away the bugs, inhibiting the normal rate of decay and keeping
everything at nice high gloss sheen.  Hope that helps.

Matt Steflik
"Characters are just zombies waiting to happen."