User:A.schwan/life-culting

A guide to ethical Life-Culting: a meta-game document
By Dr. Albert Schwan

Definition

Life-culting is a term used for a zombie who operates in such a way as to aid the survivor objective. Life-culting is the opposite of death-culting whereby a zombie in human form acts in such a way as to aid the zombie effort. Commonly, life-culting is considered to be the act whereby a zombie, who is survivor-natured, attacks a zombie who is zombie natured. While this is a form of life-culting, it is only a small part of what it means to fall into this category. Whether that character observes and reports zombie movements, attacks other zombies, helps to clear buildings, or merely proceeds to the nearest revive point to make it easier for others to revive him, all strictly survivor natured characters in zombie form are life cultists in one way or another. In just this way, zombies who engage in the act of parachuting, PKing, spying, or simply feed themselves to the nearest horde after receiving a revive are death cultists. The only people who are neither life cultists nor death cultists, are dual nature. Despite this, life-culting is often maligned as the worst or least valuable of the six possible playing styles (Life-culting, Death-culting, pro-zombie, pro-survivor, Dual Nature and PKer). The reasons provided for this assertion are that Life-culting is bad or lazy role-playing and that it is less strategically useful than the other forms. The goal of this guide is to provide characters with a way be a life-cultist that demonstrates good role-playing, is strategically useful, and that enriches the UD experience.

Life-culting for a better Malton

The idea that life-culting is bad role-playing is predicated on the erroneous assumption that the zombie struggle is always a struggle between dumb shambling masses of hungry zombies and humans focused on their own survival. A quick review of zombie lore will prove that this is only the case with truly boring human/zombie interaction. In good role-playing, both sides are complicated. In any provocative plotline, there are humans who hinder the survival effort. Death cultists know this and act accordingly. These humans can be sociopaths, motivated by self interest and not hindered by conventions of morality; psychopaths, motivated by violent impulses; fatalists, motivated by the hopelessness of the situation and seeking a speedy end; or merely the pragmatists who have learned to carve out a proper niche for themselves respective to the temporary state of life and un-life within the confines of the quarantine zone.

In this respect, death-cultists have shown us the way but still provide a one sided picture of things. If humans can be complicated and conflicted but zombies must remain as always zombies, the story is about humans. Lets face it, if we wanted the story to be all about humans, we would be playing a squad-based combat MMORG; we are here for the zombies. Zombies must be complicated.

There must be the hungry masses. These characters are the rank and file of zombie life and provide the necessary ground substance for the conflict. Playing such a character requires discipline and can be monotonous. For this reason, dual nature characters often fill this void, splitting their time between being the survivors who fight the scourge and the scourge itself. Others who are new to the game will also help fill this void; some will stay and evolve and others will fade away to be replaced by others of a steady inflow of new characters. Some few zombies grow enamored with the violence and continue in this role indefinitely becoming the larger and more capable members of a horde.

There must be intelligent zombies. The highlight of a good zombie film is always the exception to the rule: that zombie who can think, talk, or strategize becomes the adversary of players and adds a goal and a dynamic element to any struggle. These are the zombie lords who can be found at the head of any established zombie organization. They lead other zombies and provide a satiric look at the corruption inherent within the human creature. Without these zombies, human/zombie struggles are all “us vs. them.” Smart zombies make us confront the fact that “we are them”. This last statement can be taken solely in its negative sense pointing to the beastiality and hunger within us all, but there is more than one way to look at the human creature; therefore, there must be more than one type of intelligent zombie.

We have all seen the plot in which there is what can be described as “a friend within the horde.” On many occasions, this friend eats your brain; on some, they do not. Such an act is never without reason. The restraint demonstrated in this action is testament to the power of humanity over instinct; these zombies are life-cultists. The game itself provides the basis for the life-culting experience through “the memories of life” skill. Whether from an excess of love, conviction, pride, training, experience, or because of some biological abnormality, life-cultists are an integral and compelling part of zombie mythology and therefore needed in Malton.

Role-playing tips

As with any good role-playing, the key is to begin with a character concept that governs who the character is and why they do the things they do. This may include their history or just a description of their general demeanor and guiding principles. This information is usually posted on a Wiki page, on the characters profile, or provided in game to those with whom the character interacts (this last option is harder to accomplish in the case of life cultists as they are zombified). If a character is going to engage in the practice of life-culting, this history or character concept should be such as will reasonably explain their ability to transcend their zombie instincts. What follows are a few archetypes from which players may draw to create such a concept:

The Loyal

These life-cultists are committed so strongly to a person, a group, or a cause that their loyalty reaches through the barrier between life and death. This attachment can be one of love, purpose, or duty but it will in all cases allow the life-cultist to maintain at least some elements of their humanity. At the most mild level of application, such zombies will refrain from attacking their living friends, seeking instead strangers or enemies to feed on instead. Higher levels of loyalty may cause such zombies to remember and feel bound to follow simple suggestions (such as fallback plans or revivification instructions) or to protect their friends or allies from other zombies through force.

Characters like this will usually not strategize beyond basic responses to their immediate needs or the needs of their friends. They should further be able to specify exactly where their loyalty lies and act accordingly. Most zombies can be loyal; what makes this character a life-cultist is that the group or person to whom they are loyal is a survivor group or an individual survivor

The Vengeful

The opposite of the loyal, these life cultists are driven by enmity towards a person, a group, or zombies in general. When alive, this person will be excessively violent towards this group and that hatred will carry over into death causing them to seek out and kill their enemy. On one end of the spectrum, these characters may just begin attacking humans based on who they like least (criteria for this decision need not be based on history but may be as frivolous as disliking a type of name or a personality trait). On the other end, these characters may forego all other survivors in an effort to hunt down their enemy.

Characters like this must display this same enmity when alive though they may be more violent when a zombie as the bloodlust and biological imperative to hunt will augment the vengeful drive. What makes such a character a life-cultist is that the group or person towards who they direct this vengeance must be in opposition to the survivor effort. (PKers, Zombies, etc.) If the enemy is a zombie group or zombies in general, this character may also be defined as a “ZKer” (a zombie version of a PKer)

The Violent

While this archetypal character may be very similar to the previous, there are those for whom violence is an end in and of itself. These individuals will fight for the sake of fighting. While often these characters will indiscriminately attack the nearest target, what can make such a character a life-cultist is if their tendency to attack is tempered by a preference for attacking zombies. This can happen out of vengeance, duty, or simply because they find zombies the more physically challenging opponents. In this latter case, they will forgo attacking a survivor in favor of a “better fight” thereby aiding the survivor effort. As always, a good role-player will have a reason why their character is so drawn to violence that is based on the character concept.

The Willful

The violent and vengeful life-cultists direct their zombie tendencies towards a pro-survivor end; this type, like the loyal, fight against it. The difference is that, while the loyal fight against it for the sake of others, the willful fight it for their own sake. The willful are those zombies who cannot accept the surrender to instinct that accompanies zombification, drawing instead on an ethical code or a strong sense of self to fight the impulse to hunt and feed. These characters are rigid and prideful in life and simply cannot accept life as a zombie. Such characters will act, speak, and dress with great resolve so as to preserve the qualities they wish to preserve. To accomplish this feat, generally it is necessary that the qualities they wish to preserve be in opposition to the standard qualities of a zombie; therefore, these people will usually be pacifists, bureaucrats, vegetarians, intellectuals, or those who rigidly observe formalities. These characters will attempt as best they are able to maintain these qualities while a zombie. Their refusal to act as a zombie should makes them a life-cultist, but they are more firmly set in this category if they advocate, encourage, or expect the same behavior in other zombies working towards pro-survivor ends to achieve this goal.

The Detached

Like the willful, this type of character is able to subjugate their instinct to their will while in zombie form, but for a detached character this is the result of a separation between their physical and their mental being. Examples of this type of character would be a Zen master, a dedicated artist, or an overly-analytical or absent minded scientist or inventor. For these characters, the body and the impulses are little more than a manifestation of the soul, a hindrance, or a mislaid set of keys. Such caharacters may see being a zombie as an inconvenience, an experiment, or may not even realize that they are one, working instead towards whatever aim their mental self has set. This character is a life-cultist if this aim is anything that can be considered pro-survivor.

The Augmented

An augmented life-cultist is one whose reason for being able to resist their zombie impulses lies in some form of genetic manipulation. Whether this character is a super-soldier, a hybrid, an accident, or the product of scientific procedures designed to counteract the rot virus, these characters have a biological reason for what they do. One example of a role-playing aid designed to assist such a character is Rotalin, a Ritalin-like drug designed with the aid of Necrotech science to help increase focus and self control while zombified. Other examples include cybernetics, radiation/mutation, partial revivification, or hereditary limited immunity to the virus. In a city like Malton, with a strong military and scientific presence, it is to be expected that there will be several such life-cultists.

The Repentant

The repentant life-cultist is a reformed zombie. Through re-sensitization, spiritual/moral epiphany, traumatic experience, or the discovery of a calling, this type of life-cultist resists zombie behavior while in zombie form, as an ex-smoker resists cigarettes, often choosing to work for or with survivor groups to maintain their resolve. Organizations like Rotter's Relief include many such reformed zombies in their ranks. A dedicated life-cultist of this type will often have Brain Rot and/or Flesh Rot making it difficult to revive them and making the appeal of an organization that routinely provides rot revives understandable. Role-playing aids to assist this type of life-cultist include zombie support groups and Human-free brain products

Suggested skills

The strategic skills needed to be a good life cultist will be discussed in the strategy section but any good role-playing of a life cultist will require the following skills:

Memories of Life

This skill is needed to open doors and is the prerequisite of several other key life cultist skills. From a role-playing perspective, the remembrance of a previous state implied by the function and name of this skill is the only thing that makes life cultists possible.

Death Rattle

This skill is a meta-skill as well. Most good life cultists are interested in participating in the human world. Speech and communication is part of this. Death rattle is the difference between a lazy “mrh? cow” and a sophisticated life cultist. That said, death rattle is demanding of its user. Rather than just buying the skill, a good death cultist should learn how to use it. There are several other ways to do this ( Zombish, Zombese, and Zomban), but the chief recognizable and most articulate form is Zamgrh (or KiZombie) for which there is a dictionary on this wiki. Proficiency with Zamgrh only comes with experience but a life cultist fluent in it can talk to humans (Gzhaah harmanz), ask for a revive (Mrh-man raabab mah zambah braz?), or state his intentions (Mah zambah nah ganna harm zah harmanz!). Roleplaying aids to assit with this skill include the aforementioned dictionary, a phonological chart on the main page (also linked earlier), a lexicon, and a meta-game board game.

Feeding Groan

The primary use of this skill is to allow zombies to alert other zombies of a food source. For a life cultist, this skill can take on additional qualities. As the end result is a moan, life cultists can use this skill to articulate remorse or frustration more appropriately than they could with words. Such use must be tempered, however, as this skill will have the added effect of attracting zombies.

Flailing Gesture

For the sake of completeness, Life cultists should include this skill so as to be able to give directions, emote, or express frustration with survivors or zombies who do not understand Zamgrh. Some zombies use this skill as a way to perform various rituals in game and some life cultists may wish to se it to do similarly.

Lurching Gait

As life cultists are generally to be known for their fondness for, or attachment to, life, it only stands to reason that a good life cultist should learn to move like the living. This skill will be discussed strategically later, but from a role-playing standpoint, this skill may be interpreted as the ability of a zombie to walk more purposefully and naturally.

Ankle Grab

This skill, like the previous, has great strategic value and will therefore be discussed later. As a tool for role-playing, it reflects the zombie’s drive, determination, and tenacity of spirit in the face of the inevitable. These qualities define a life cultist.

Other skills

Other skills may be required to flesh out a life cultist (pardon the pun) but vary depending on the individual concept. Scientists will need scientific and medical skills as will research subjects. Super-soldiers will need combat skills in human and in zombie form. Dedicated life cultists may wish to purchase brain and flesh rot. A player should decide what skills to prioritize based on how they wish to explain their character.

A final note on role-playing

Just as with death cultists, life cultist may be a temporary condition until one can receive a revive (also called a trans-mortal tactic) or it can be a full time strategy. It should, however, be remembered that, in most cases, a life cultist is resisting powerful urges. A dedicated role-player may therefore at times wish to “fall off the horse” and indulge his zombie nature. He should of course feel suitably bad about it afterward. A life cultist must also be sure not to engage in lazy role-playing as this strategy already has a bad name. For every action a life cultist must have a reason; without that, they are being a terrible roleplayer.

Strategy tips

Survivor dependence

Just as a Death Cultist depends on zombies to accomplish their aims, Life-Cultists must necessarily depend on survivors. If a Death Cultist takes matters fully into his or her hands, they become a PKer; if a Life-Cultist does the same, they become basically useless. Many of the tactics discussed herein require survivor assistance to accomplish. It is therefore useful to establish strong survivor ties in order to make the most of Life-Culting. The timing on some of the more advanced of these processes needs to be so exact that they are very difficult (not impossible) to accomplish without IRC or Skype interaction. The more basic tactics, while they do still require survivor action to be useful, make use of typical survivor and zombie behavior and can be accomplished without direct communication with area survivors.

Red Suburbs

Any good Death-Cultist knows that trans-mortal tactics work best in situations of extreme adversity: if a suburb is red, why bother Death-Culting when you can just be a zombie? The same holds true of Life-Cultists. These strategies are most effective when used in a red suburb to aid the survivor minority. Many of the tactics can even be disrupted or rendered useless by outside survivor interference. Used in a green suburb, any but the most basic strategies will constitute a profound waste of time and energy.

Life-culting in hand to hand combat

Spend any amount of time in Malton and the edge that zombies have over survivors will become apparent. While survivors can use firearms, guns and ammunition must be found and carried. It is then quickly exhausted in the next combat encounter. Zombies do not do as much damage with their claws as the living do with their guns, but AP for AP, they are much more effective. A zombie does not have to stock up on weapons: their most powerful weapons are carried in their mouths and on the end of their hands. This natural arsenal has the added benefit of going right through protective measures like a Flak jacket or flesh rot. Also, thanks to the Tangling Grasp skill, claws quickly become the highest probability attack in the game. This same skill can be used to deliver a bite for more damage at an equally high probability as long as the victim is held (infection will be discussed later).

Defensively, a zombie does not fear death and can stand relatively easily after having been killed. Compared to a survivor who must be revived, heal, restock, and deal with extra complications like infection, a zombie’s recovery time is next to non-existent even should they be on the receiving end of a headshot. It is this more or less combat immunity that a Life-Cultist in direct combat with other zombies must take into account.

Softening (Smart ZKing for life-cultists)

Life-Cultists can work rather effectively with survivors in real-time combat. Their combat edge gives them a greater chance to hit and kill other zombies. Unfortunately, delivering the death strike to another zombie is largely ineffective.

Within a building, a Life-cultist cannot remove a zombie meaning that a survivor must be on hand to dump the body or else the Life-cultist may only wait and watch as the zombie he killed rises with freshly replenished health. A coordinated effort with a survivor can negate this allowing the Life-cultist to kill the offending zombie and have a survivor dump the body before it rises. This tactic, while effective, does not utilize the advantages of zombie/survivor cooperation to their fullest.

As previously discussed, death means very little to an experienced zombie; they can stand and continue an assault with only minimal effort. Survivors have a means to complicate this process through use of the “Headshot” skill requiring a zombie to spend an additional 5AP to stand. Zombies cannot deliver a headshot in this manner even if they kill using human weapons like baseball bats. The role of a good life cultist should then be to weaken or soften a zombie opponent to make the job of removing him easier for a survivor to accomplish. A Life cultist is then most effective when they use their combat edge to bring an enemy zombie down to 3 or fewer HP. This places the zombie one shot away from death with most weapons. Zombies have to die or feed to regenerate HP; if they have to do it on their own terms, both of these actions require AP and/or movement. Many zombies are unlikely to do either preferring to make survivors remove them; therefore, many will remain in this condition once placed there until removed. If a zombie is left in this condition with an inhabited building, it is likely he will be removed and dumped very swiftly. Likewise, leaving a zombie in such a condition within a ruined building makes it very easy for local survivors to remove him and repair it while still giving the building the appearance of being guarded thereby discouraging other zombies from remaining inside. In the case of ruined buildings, it is often more useful to leave the zombie with 4 to 6 HP to avoid having another Life-Cultist accidentally kill him.

This process is most effective indoors and in real time but need not exclusively be so. The same tactics may be used to weaken the zombies siegeing a building during an active siege, to allow survivors to easily remove them should they break in, or to weaken a zombie with brainrot who is at the top of a revive point queue preventing local survivors form reviving the other waiting zombies. Many survivors waiting for a revive, use their excess action to accomplish such things, preparing nearby ruined buildings for easy reclamation once a revive is received.

A life cultist who is inexperienced with area zombies will be limited to softening the top zombie on a stack owing to zombie anonymity. A life cultist who has experience in an area or has access to a database (as described in the section entitled “know you targets”) can soften all of the known zombies inside a building, reducing their HP over time and allowing several of them to be removed by a single survivor.

A note on Piñatas

For those unfamiliar with the term, a piñata is a building that is both ruined and barricaded. This occurs most often as the result of parachuting, but happens whenever a zombie finds themselves within a repaired and barricaded building and ransacks it. A piñataed building with a barricade level of greater then VSB cannot be entered from the street and survivors cannot freerun into them as they are ruined. For these reasons, many zombie groups enjoy using this tactic as it makes buildings unusable to survivors and forces them to batter down barricades to reenter the building ( a feat far more difficult for survivors than it is for zombies). To a group that employs the tactic of Life-Culting, taking down the barricades on a piñataed building is substantially easier. The negation of this obstacle makes maintaining and creating piñatas a valuable survivor-friendly maneuver, especially when many local zombies are only too happy to create them for you under proper conditions. One such condition is usually that the building is a building of interest to zombies and survivors. For reasons presented later, only safe-houses, resource buildings and forts should be piñataed. The strategic merit of a piñata will be discussed in the sections on taking buildings and maintaining buildings; this section provides information on their creation geared specificaly towards Life Cultists (more general information on the practice as it applies to zombies may be found here).

To create a piñata all that is required is a living presence and an undead presence within a building. In the case of a Death-Cultist or a Life-Cultist, this can be accomplished by one person with an infection who dies inside a building after barricading it. It can also be accomplished by a joint action of two survivors where one kills the other to enable them to ransack the building. The latter is a costly measure requiring a large expenditure of energy. This inconvenience is greatly lessened if the Life-Cultist is infected (as mentioned above) or gravely injured. Alternately, a Life cultist can arrive as a zombie, be killed inside the building, and remain on the ground until the building is barricaded and the time comes to rise and ransack the interior

Another method involves an un-barricaded building. A survivor enters an un-barricaded and repaired building or enters a ruined building and repairs it. A Life Cultist then enters the building and waits while the living character barricades it. Following this, the living character departs and the Life-Cultist ransacks the building. The problem with this method is the increased difficulty of barricading a building with a zombie in it.

Some of the aforementioned methods are less labor intensive than others but all require the expenditure of several AP. Ideally, a group should find a zombie who is willing to accomplish the task for them. If a zombie is observed to piñata buildings, a combat revive and a well placed taunt if needed can often get them to do so provided that the building is left empty. Should no such zombie be available, a Life-Cultist may remain behind in the building to be barricaded and hope that the combat revived zombie parachutes into the building killing him, allowing him to accomplish the act more efficiently. Attracting the attention of PKers may also aid in this, provided that they do not dump the Life-Cultist’s body from the building in question.

The standard piñata tactic discussed in this page will differ from the traditional zombie tactic in one main way: it will often make use of piñatas that are created and maintained at the level of very strongly barricaded rather than extremely heavily barricaded. There are valid Life-Culting uses for an EHB piñata but these will be specified as such when mentioned to differentiate them from VSB piñatas.

Taking buildings

NTs

The most effective way to take an NT is to use combat revives to CR every zombie inside as per the [[Fertilize the Land Policy ]]. The problem with this strategy is it creates death-cultists who often GK, PK, report survivor locations, or piñata nearby buildings. While the piñatas can actually be used to the benefit of survivors by an experienced life-cultist, the other issues remain a cost that must be weighed against the benefit of reclaiming the NT. Should this strategy be considered worth it. A life cultist may be of assistance in both the enacting of the combat revive strike and the preparation leading up to it.

As discussed in the Rocketeering section, a life cultist can move into a building, close the doors, be revived, and remain on the ground until needed without fear of being killed or infected. This player may then observe the situation and report it to the others participating in the strike. When the strike occurs, the life-cultist, if equipped with syringes, may rockteer and participate in the powering or combat reviving without having to move to the location. This gives them a maximum possible AP total of 49AP (50 AP -1 to stand up) to contribute to the action making them a valuable addition to the strike.

Should the cost of combat Reviving the resident zombies outweigh the benefit, a life-cultist may help to retake the NT through the process discussed in the section on softening. However, since an NT is a tall building, advanced preparation may be difficult as a wounded zombie may jump from the windows, stand, and re-enter the building to regain HP. A life cultist should therefore soften the zombies inside only slightly in the days or hours leading up to the strike and save the majority of his efforts for immediately before the building is to be taken.

Forts

The Piñata Fort

A specific tactic used to secure a fort for future possession in a deserted or zombie infested suburb, the Piñata Fort tactic calls for the creation of piñatas within a fort set to a specific barricade plan. The premise being that it will remain invisible from adjacent blocks, confuse the local zombies, and make it very easy to reclaim once survivors return to the area. To do this, Life Cultists have to work in teams: 1 Zombie, 1 Living. Beyond that, they can work more or less independently (for explanation of the piñata creation process, please see the “brief note on piñatas” found earlier in this document). The goal is to attain a pinataed fort that roughly matches the following template which describes Fort Perryn (for Fort Creedy, rotate the template 90 degrees counter clockwise):

VSB++|NA---|---NA -HB+0 |-HB+0 |-HB+0 HB+0-|VSB++|HB+0-

Individual piñatas may be set in any order and can be claimed as opportunities present themselves. If the gatehouse is claimed and pinataed at VSB++, it will likely have to be rebuilt multiple times as zombies tend to remove VSB piñatas. However, while it lasts, it will serve as a one way valve, allowing zombies inside to leave but not allowing those outside to come in without removing the barricades. Some may walk out, unaware that they will not be able to get back in.

This takes a fair bit of work and several stages. The HB designation is to get zombies to consider it a true piñata and to discourage the haphazard repair of the buildings by local survivors while still making them easy to bring back into service by a life-cultist or a motivated repairer. In the event of an impending force like Big Bash or the MOB, life-cultists may elect, once the design is complete, to increase the barricades on the gatehouse to EHB++, pack any living allies into the vehicle depot (or whichever building is left VSB++, and distribute zombie life-cultists to external locations to give the fort the appearance of occupation. Consider this on par with sandbagging a house before a flood. Once the fort is ready to be reclaimed, a life-cultist needs must decrease the barricades by one level on each of the HB buildings to allow survivors to enter and repair them. It should be noted that this plan need not come to full fruition to be useful as any buildings within a fort that can be secured in such a manner will aid in the recovery of the fort as a whole.

Holding buildings

Forts

Though forts are most useful to survivors, life-cultists can still scout, defend the gatehouse, and help remove hostile zombies from a fort. Life-cultists can find and soften zombies in the gatehouse or elsewhere in the fort. The life-cultist must then return to the gatehouse and signal their location to the other survivors (through forums, through satphone, through an intermediary, through zamgrh [N (north), A (south), M (east), Z (west)], through flailing gesture [vehicle depot at fort Perryn would be “a zombie gestures towards the north, a zombie gestures towards the NorthWest], or using basic zombie vocabulary customized beforehand for the occasion [for instance Graagh=the SW Storehouse, Graaaagh!=the SE storhouse, Grrrh=the vehicle depot, mrh?=the infirmary (this may also get you revived), Brnhr=any of the outside only locations, Grh=inside(outside would be assumed otherwise)]). It should be noted that, owing to the nature of barricades in a fort, a zombie inside will always have access to the gatehouse regardless of its barricade level and may enter or exit unhindered. This makes a life-cultist able to enter and report without compromising the security of the fort.

When not aiding in the removal of hostile zombies, life cultists may wish to remain in the gatehouse to observe the situation and be party to any conversation but should be wary of the fact that the presence of more than one zombie in the gatehouse will complicate the barricading process. Fortunately, forts contain open-air locations within their walls (the exercise yard for instance) in which a life-cultist may remain indefinitely when not assisting in the gatehouse or checking the barricade levels on fort buildings.

For more information on holding a fort with life-cultists and for an example of this technique in action, please see the write-up of one such endeavor performed by the D.S. R&D entitled Project Bifrost