Lifeless
Animated corpses bound by Command in Hallandren, mentioned in the same breath as the kingdom's Returned gods and its BioChromatic research. One of the things that makes the lowland capital a place foreigners dread. STD:WB:Prologue
Known facts
- look-like-living-menLifeless in Hallandren service are not the skeletal horrors travellers' tales describe; they look like living men in colourful uniform, the only difference a uniform grey wash to skin, eyes, and hair, and a stillness too absolute for breathing. Hallandren fields forty thousand of them at the present.STD:WB:Ch 4
- take-commands-after-creationUnlike ordinary Awakened objects, which can only be Commanded once at the moment of Awakening, Lifeless retain enough of their humanity to take long lists of orders afterward and to obey them without misunderstanding. Any speaker who knows the creature's security phrase can imprint a new Command on it — so makers protect their Lifeless by giving out the phrase only to trusted hands.STD:WB:Ch 22
- four-returned-hold-commandsThe Hallandren Lifeless armies are split among four Returned of the Court of Gods who each hold the access Commands for their share — Mercystar is one. Blushweaver argues that this is exactly why someone preparing for war would first try to find, record, or kill them.STD:WB:Ch 23
- no-stronger-than-men-but-tirelessHoid explains the Lifeless advantage plainly: they are no stronger and no more skilled than the living, but they do not eat, do not feel pain, and do not feel fear. That trio — not raw power — is what made them decisive in the Manywar.STD:WB:Ch 32
- repair-procedure-ichor-and-stitchesA wounded Lifeless is repaired by sewing the organs and skin closed with heavy thread, screwing severed muscles back to the bone, and pumping fresh ichor-alcohol through a valve at the base of the neck. The body never heals perfectly; enough rounds of damage eventually require spending another Breath on a fresh corpse. Quality varies — a Lifeless is no better than the soldier whose body was used, which is why a skillful one is worth the cost of repair.STD:WB:Ch 33
- overriding-security-phrases-takes-weeksTaking control of a Lifeless for which one does not already hold the security phrases takes weeks of work — a procedure involving Breath and something the priests call torture — and the stronger and more skilled the original Awakener was, the longer the override takes. Losing one Awakener's Commands would render thousands of soldiers useless for years.STD:WB:Ch 38
- animal-lifeless-follow-complex-commandsLightsong's Lifeless squirrel obeys a multi-clause Command — find the Returned within the palace, run in circles screeching, evade pursuit, destroy furniture — that his own high priest predicted a squirrel's brain could not follow. Animal Lifeless can be pushed past their natural cognition by the Breath that animates them.STD:WB:Ch 42
- slum-massacre-used-planted-broken-lifelessVasher tells the Idrian elders that the Lifeless who killed in the Idrian slum a few weeks back were not sent by the Hallandren government but were broken Lifeless slipped into the patrol with orders to kill so that the streets would turn ugly — the spark the war-faction needs to push the assembly vote through.STD:WB:Ch 43
Events
- STD:WB:Ch 4 Forty thousand stand in motionless ranks in blue and gold along the highway outside T'Telir as Siri's carriage rolls between them — one of her guards is the first to whisper the word.
Backreferences
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 2
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 3
- factLightsong
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 4
- factLifeless
- factVasher
- factHallandren
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 15
- factSusebron
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 16
- factLightsong
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 18
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 19
- factVivenna
- factJewels
- factClod
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 21
- factAwakening
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 22
- factLifeless
- factTruthcall
- factFob
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 23
- factLightsong
- factMercystar
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 25
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 26
- factThe Manywar
- factBattle of Twilight Falls
- factAllmother
- factAllmother
- factNightblood
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 30
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- factHopefinder the Just
- factHopefinder the Just
- factHopefinder the Just
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 31
- factVivenna
- factClod
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 32
- factLifeless
- factThe Five Scholars
- factThe Five Scholars
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 33
- factLifeless
- factIchor-alcohol
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 34
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- factAllmother
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 36
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 38
- factLifeless
- factMercystar's Palace
- factAllmother
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 42
- factLifeless
- factLightsong
- factAllmother
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 43
- factLifeless
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 45
- factType Two BioChromatic Entity
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 46
- factThe God King
- factLightsong
- factThe Lifeless Enclave
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 48
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 49
- factSisirinah
- factLightsong
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 50
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 51
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- factCourt of Gods Tunnels
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 52
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 53
- factLightsong
- factLightsong
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- factBlushweaver the Beautiful
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 54
- factTreledees
- factBluefingers
- factBluefingers
- factBluefingers
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 55
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 56
- factNightblood
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 57
- factSusebron
- summarySTD:WB:Ch 58
- factVasher
- factVasher
- factAwakening
- factKalad's Phantoms
- factD'Denir Celabrin
- factD'Denir Celabrin
- summarySTD:WB:Epilogue
- factKalad's Phantoms