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Description
An idea that started out as a doodle and a bunch of scribbled ideas. To summarize, there are several different strains of undead like there are of diseases, and these are the more notably distinct ones. Some of them ruled shadow empires during ancient and medieval times, while others always operated as maliciously cunning predators. How they originated and how they relate to each other is not known in the present, because during both World Wars and the following Cold War, infighting and human technological advancements pretty much all but drove them to extinction. Any folklore remembered by the living is either distorted or incomplete from the passage of time, while any secrets they had about themselves died in the purges.

For the most part, the younger generations of undead just refer to themselves as kinds of vampire (those that are still sapient, anyway). This is more to do with the attitudes that result from being raised in exposure to modern fictional depictions of vampires than anything learned from older vampires.

Clockwise from top-left:
Upyr (Upir, Vampir, Vampyre)–classic vampire, allegedly native to eastern and central Europe. Sickly pale skin, sharp teeth, and red or yellow eyes, and primarily a drinker of blood. Stakes to the heart will neutralize them, but decapitation is much more efficient for killing them. Those who have risen only a week at most may still have actively functioning internal organs (including reproductive) before the taint converts them into lifeforce fueled automatons. Not as good at mind arts as the Ghilan, but can perform them well enough to make themselves seem normal or look like animals in low light.

Ghilan (Gallu, Ghoul)–plural of "Ghùl", native to central Asia and the Middle East. They are good at illusions and hypnotic arts. Their true face tends to by gaunt and pale with skin splitting along various joints. Contrary to popular belief, they don't need to consume a person's flesh in order to take on their appearance, they just like to eat the person first. Criminals of the old Ghilan shadow kingdom often got incased in large urns that were sunk in the ocean.

Lilitu (Lilin, Alp, Incubi, Succubi)–technically living psychosexual vampires, the Lilitu are practically extinct, and even when they were around not much was known of them. They could and would reproduce with mundane humans, and their hybrid descendants may occasionally develop some of their abilities. Often preyed on people during the night, and were (perhaps mistakenly) blamed for stuff like night terrors, sleep paralysis, and erectile dysfunction. Some celebrities and world leaders may contain a small fraction of the Lilitu strain.

Jiang Shi (Gangshi, Kyonshi, Hopping-Ghost)–walking corpses from Asia that are believed to feed directly on a living person's chi in order to maintain their existence. Do to rigor-mortis, their joints don't often bend very well, so they often move about in a stiff hopping manner. Unknown if they also consume flesh or if such reports are the result of other undead strains hunting in Jiang Shi territory.

Wendigo (Witiko, Windigo)–the evil cannibal spirit of the Algonquin tribes. Fully converted Wendigos are totally detached from their human pasts and live deep in the wilderness, away from human civilization. As a result, they were largely unaffected by the great Vampire Purges. May or may not be connected to the Navajo skin-walkers, but definitely unconnected with bigfoot sightings (although it might be possible for a Sasquatch to become a Wendigo).

Zombie (Zombi, Revenant)–a walking corpse that usually functions as someone else's slave or cannon fodder. How intelligent or dangerous a zombie is largely depends on the method of how they were created. Quite a few of the less threatening ones are botched attempts at creating proper vampires. Not totally unrelated to human zombies, which are otherwise normal humans under another's thrall. For the record, being bitten by a zombie won't turn you into one, it will just make you sick.

Lemure (Wight? Ghost? Djinn?)–the undead shadow societies have their own urban legends and conspiracy theories, one of which is the existence of a strain similar to the Ghilan and the Lilitu that is responsible for the various legends of ghosts and spirits and fair folk. The Lemures (or whatever they called themselves) may or may not have inspired various legends of elfs, trolls, kami, yaksha, pagan diety, before going extinct. Some suggest that they are the progenitor race and that the proper collective name for the undead strains should therefore by "Lemurians" or something like that.

Progenitor–the prehistoric mutant/hybrid/demon/who-knows-what from which all the modern vampire clans can claim as their ancestor in some form or another. They predate both the written language and possibly Homo sapiens itself, and what few remains they left suggest that they tended to have horns, fangs, claws, and gnarly protrusions growing all over the place. How they became the basis for viral mutations spread through resurrection rituals is anyone's guess.

Description
An idea that started out as a doodle and a bunch of scribbled ideas. To summarize, there are several different strains of undead like there are of diseases, and these are the more notably distinct ones. Some of them ruled shadow empires during ancient and medieval times, while others always operated as maliciously cunning predators. How they originated and how they relate to each other is not known in the present, because during both World Wars and the following Cold War, infighting and human technological advancements pretty much all but drove them to extinction. Any folklore remembered by the living is either distorted or incomplete from the passage of time, while any secrets they had about themselves died in the purges.

For the most part, the younger generations of undead just refer to themselves as kinds of vampire (those that are still sapient, anyway). This is more to do with the attitudes that result from being raised in exposure to modern fictional depictions of vampires than anything learned from older vampires.

Clockwise from top-left:
Upyr (Upir, Vampir, Vampyre)–classic vampire, allegedly native to eastern and central Europe. Sickly pale skin, sharp teeth, and red or yellow eyes, and primarily a drinker of blood. Stakes to the heart will neutralize them, but decapitation is much more efficient for killing them. Those who have risen only a week at most may still have actively functioning internal organs (including reproductive) before the taint converts them into lifeforce fueled automatons. Not as good at mind arts as the Ghilan, but can perform them well enough to make themselves seem normal or look like animals in low light.

Ghilan (Gallu, Ghoul)–plural of "Ghùl", native to central Asia and the Middle East. They are good at illusions and hypnotic arts. Their true face tends to by gaunt and pale with skin splitting along various joints. Contrary to popular belief, they don't need to consume a person's flesh in order to take on their appearance, they just like to eat the person first. Criminals of the old Ghilan shadow kingdom often got incased in large urns that were sunk in the ocean.

Lilitu (Lilin, Alp, Incubi, Succubi)–technically living psychosexual vampires, the Lilitu are practically extinct, and even when they were around not much was known of them. They could and would reproduce with mundane humans, and their hybrid descendants may occasionally develop some of their abilities. Often preyed on people during the night, and were (perhaps mistakenly) blamed for stuff like night terrors, sleep paralysis, and erectile dysfunction. Some celebrities and world leaders may contain a small fraction of the Lilitu strain.

Jiang Shi (Gangshi, Kyonshi, Hopping-Ghost)–walking corpses from Asia that are believed to feed directly on a living person's chi in order to maintain their existence. Do to rigor-mortis, their joints don't often bend very well, so they often move about in a stiff hopping manner. Unknown if they also consume flesh or if such reports are the result of other undead strains hunting in Jiang Shi territory.

Wendigo (Witiko, Windigo)–the evil cannibal spirit of the Algonquin tribes. Fully converted Wendigos are totally detached from their human pasts and live deep in the wilderness, away from human civilization. As a result, they were largely unaffected by the great Vampire Purges. May or may not be connected to the Navajo skin-walkers, but definitely unconnected with bigfoot sightings (although it might be possible for a Sasquatch to become a Wendigo).

Zombie (Zombi, Revenant)–a walking corpse that usually functions as someone else's slave or cannon fodder. How intelligent or dangerous a zombie is largely depends on the method of how they were created. Quite a few of the less threatening ones are botched attempts at creating proper vampires. Not totally unrelated to human zombies, which are otherwise normal humans under another's thrall. For the record, being bitten by a zombie won't turn you into one, it will just make you sick.

Lemure (Wight? Ghost? Djinn?)–the undead shadow societies have their own urban legends and conspiracy theories, one of which is the existence of a strain similar to the Ghilan and the Lilitu that is responsible for the various legends of ghosts and spirits and fair folk. The Lemures (or whatever they called themselves) may or may not have inspired various legends of elfs, trolls, kami, yaksha, pagan diety, before going extinct. Some suggest that they are the progenitor race and that the proper collective name for the undead strains should therefore by "Lemurians" or something like that.

Progenitor–the prehistoric mutant/hybrid/demon/who-knows-what from which all the modern vampire clans can claim as their ancestor in some form or another. They predate both the written language and possibly Homo sapiens itself, and what few remains they left suggest that they tended to have horns, fangs, claws, and gnarly protrusions growing all over the place. How they became the basis for viral mutations spread through resurrection rituals is anyone's guess.