On Unlife

                 Unlife is like life, in that once you have it, you are stuck with it.
                 However, there are degrees of affect on you.

                 A lich has essentially converted their existance from life to unlife. It is
                 as sustained as normal life. The cost is a rather barbaric and evil ritual
                 to get there in the first place, a fundamental shift of their existance to
                 something that is not natural, and a permanent lack of the "spark" that
                 defines the humans. Clerical powers are lost, as is the appreciation for
                 the natural beauty of living things. Given all this and ignoring any
                 nastiness associated with the ritual, if a lich can cope with it all without
                 going insane, he may not be "evil" in the traditional sense.

                 A lich is the only (or most common) voluntary member of the unlife.

                 Vampires are an involunatary member of the unlife. A vampire kills his victim
                 in a particular way, which leaves him drained and vulnerable. His victim becomes
                 a wight enters him. At the time of the conversion, the victim makes a save vs.
                 death magic--wisdom mods but no other assistance. A successful saving throw
                 means that the victim may in time become a vampire, when his will reasserts
                 itself over the influence of the unlife.

                 If he fails, then his chi (or whatever) is lost forever, and he will always
                 be a wight.

                 Vampires and wights are not as connected to the unlife as liches, and must
                 feast on life to sustain their own unlife. Failure to do so renders them
                 weak and vulnerable--to the point of catatonia. However, unlife never leaves
                 them, and they may be catatonic but unlifed for eternity.

                 As they are no longer infused with life, they can not be killed. They can
                 be destroyed, physically, but not by wounding them in combat. Means differ,
                 and some of the unlife are invulerable to certain attacks, but fire and
                 magical dismemberment are favorites.

                 One final note, unlife only affects humans. It is actually a corruption of
                 their so-called spark. Elves, Dwarves and the dark folk are all immune to its
                 power. Question: is lycantropy a corruption of humans ability to adapt? Just
                 asking?