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[Jeremy]

To avoid crossing various streams...

-- from Dev Log

It is indeed wise to avoid crossing streams when dealing with ghosts (and other undead creatures).

[EmeraldWind]

I wouldn't mind seeing the ability for ghosts to possess their original corpse, creating some kind of super-zombie-undead. Sort of, having the strength and physical presence of a zombie, but requiring whatever special steps ghosts need to deal with it. If, for example, spectral undead can be fought only with silver, then you'll need a silver weapon to deal with this "zomghost" (or banish/calm the ghost portion via proper burial rites). Dismembering the zombie may still remove the physical part, but the spectral part will still exist and may still allow for physical activity.

Perhaps this could also allow for things like floating heads/skulls, headless corpses?

The separation between body and soul could cause the creature's superego to split into it's parts. Thus the ghost would be the ego and the zombie be the id. Though I don't really think that kind of thing would be important, but it does create a rather interesting dynamic for the process. Thus if a ghost possess its own body, it would bring the superego back and maybe the zombie might be less dangerous... or more dangerous.

For example, a zombie might not actively seek out relatives, but still freak out relatives if they happen to meet. If possessed by their ghost, they might gain the ghost's ability to seek out and haunt relatives. Which even if the zombie doesn't do anything to the relative (due to being controlled by a benign ghost) might freak out the relatives even more. It's one thing having an old friend come after you in his hunger for brains, but this one might want to chat about old times.  A more violent ghost could target the friends and family to first get them to feel real depressed and then kill them, specifically so that their friends and family come back as violent ghosts.

Seems like plenty of ways to torture and maim those poor little dwarves.

[KillerClowns]

You do realize this means I shall have to go to an evil area and build a Zombie Mosh Pit to throw goblins in, right?

[LoSboccacc]

You do realize this means I shall have to go to an evil area and build a Zombie Mosh Pit to throw goblins in, right?

I wonder how many time a zombie may rise from death. and what injuries does it keep. bleeding would obviously not be an issue, but broken bones are sort of broken right now, as they only makes target feel pain.

[PTTG??]

I had a vision of a fortress made up of the seven original dwarves chopped into bits, each bit now an individual unit.

[darkflagrance]

I had a vision of a fortress made up of the seven original dwarves chopped into bits, each bit now an individual unit.

I once read a story where a demigod once cut up and recombined his three followers into ten lesser beings. If you did this with every migrant, you could have a fort of efficient, emotionless, non-tantrumming dwarves, who don't spawn useless children to boot!

[monk12]

To avoid crossing various streams...

-- from Dev Log

It is indeed wise to avoid crossing streams when dealing with ghosts (and other undead creatures).

And whatever you do, if somebody asks whether you are a god, YOU SAY YES!

[magmaholic]

And whatever you do, if somebody asks whether you are a god, YOU SAY YES!

:v
me wanna.

[monk12]

I now eagerly await the day that "Are you a god?" is a legitimate question you may run across in DF, with appropriate repercussions.

[Interus]

For example, a zombie might not actively seek out relatives, but still freak out relatives if they happen to meet. If possessed by their ghost, they might gain the ghost's ability to seek out and haunt relatives. Which even if the zombie doesn't do anything to the relative (due to being controlled by a benign ghost) might freak out the relatives even more. It's one thing having an old friend come after you in his hunger for brains, but this one might want to chat about old times.  A more violent ghost could target the friends and family to first get them to feel real depressed and then kill them, specifically so that their friends and family come back as violent ghosts.

Seems like plenty of ways to torture and maim those poor little dwarves.

Ever read Handling The Undead?  It's a book by Jon Swedishname that details what is essentially a zombie uprising where every zombie is possessed by the spirit that used to inhabit the body.  I'm not actually sure people were horrified by seeing their dead relatives since they weren't as aggressive as you might expect a zombie to be.  Mostly it was the random acts of aggression and decayed bodies that caused problems.  Also, the Fisher.

These frequent updates on the state of curses make me so happy.

[Mercanthyr]

There are various kinds of moods, and one of them is the possessed mood. I hope Toady has time to bring this on this release, but as the name of the mood indicates, this was already planned.

right, I asked the question in a very general way because I wanted to know what his plans are for integrating those moods specifically with souls, I know about the different dwarf moods very well.

[NW_Kohaku]

Here is the scenario: long ago a powerful king discovered the secrets of life and death. Whether it was from an evil god or his own nefarious research, none can say. All the people knew is that while he reigned, the dead walked the earth. Legions of undead zombies risen from ancient battlefields built him a mighty tower from which his ghastly armies stalked the land. Will the dwarf fortress be next? Happy Mother's Day!

... exactly what I think of when I think of mother's day... 

(Don't let my mother see that.)

This implies something different about the way that the game's "story" works, however.  Right now, there really isn't a consistent story between game worlds, besides dwarves and goblins and elves, and with modding, even that isn't consistent. 

If we have this as a "backstory" for every randomly generated world it means that every game world had the same king of the undead (or perhaps different kings who behaved in so identical a fashion that they are individually fungible) or whatever he is called.

This is as opposed to simply having some sort of "undead energy" that just innately causes dead to rise, which could potentially work the same between worlds. 

[Cruxador]

Will kobolds live in the undercity?

Here is the scenario: long ago a powerful king discovered the secrets of life and death. Whether it was from an evil god or his own nefarious research, none can say. All the people knew is that while he reigned, the dead walked the earth. Legions of undead zombies risen from ancient battlefields built him a mighty tower from which his ghastly armies stalked the land. Will the dwarf fortress be next? Happy Mother's Day!

... exactly what I think of when I think of mother's day... 

(Don't let my mother see that.)

This implies something different about the way that the game's "story" works, however.  Right now, there really isn't a consistent story between game worlds, besides dwarves and goblins and elves, and with modding, even that isn't consistent. 

If we have this as a "backstory" for every randomly generated world it means that every game world had the same king of the undead (or perhaps different kings who behaved in so identical a fashion that they are individually fungible) or whatever he is called.

This is as opposed to simply having some sort of "undead energy" that just innately causes dead to rise, which could potentially work the same between worlds.

That's not where the game is going, Toady has said plenty of times that it's going towards more procedural generation, and things that aren't procedurally generated tend to be placeholders. Presumably this was but one possible scenario that could occur during worldgen or (eventually) during play.

[NW_Kohaku]

That's not where the game is going, Toady has said plenty of times that it's going towards more procedural generation, and things that aren't procedurally generated tend to be placeholders. Presumably this was but one possible scenario that could occur during worldgen or (eventually) during play.

That's why I bring it up: It's incongruous with what I remember of Toady's statements.

I remember one Toady quote floating around in a signature saying something to the effect of "I don't want to create crappy fiction, I want to create a crappy fiction generator".

I would rather like the notion that we have a way to roll up different scenarios, especially if worldgen were to somehow become interactive, so that you can have some "buy in" with the way that worldgen turns out, but having the same scenario every time seems like something very odd for what DF is supposed to be.

[Cruxador]

That's not where the game is going, Toady has said plenty of times that it's going towards more procedural generation, and things that aren't procedurally generated tend to be placeholders. Presumably this was but one possible scenario that could occur during worldgen or (eventually) during play.

That's why I bring it up: It's incongruous with what I remember of Toady's statements.

You did notice that it's actually one of ThreeToe's statements, right? ThreeToe generally posts things phrased to be entertaining rather than to most precisely represent the state of things. And his little stories never represent something that happens in all worlds ever.