Fleshless

One day a comet impacted the surface of Abexilas. With the comet came a strange magic, one that gives life. This magic seeped into the ground of Abexilas. Spreading to every corner and crevice. Imbuing many things with this strange magic. One of these being the long dead corpse of people. Fleshless are the corpses which have been given life again.

Despite common misconceptions, the Fleshless are not maliciously summoned undead. It is valid to consider them undead, but they retain their personality, soul, mind. They are proper individuals who think for themselves.

Anatomy
Fleshless are comprised of their Core, the bones from their past life's skeleton, and the body they may possible construct for themselves.

Core
A strange magic forms their core, or some refer to it as their heart. It is a condensed sphere of this strange magic. It is believed to be the "essence" of the Fleshless. Housing the mind, soul, and possibly more. The core is located inside the ribcage, and is completely unprotected. This prompts Fleshless to somehow protect it.

Skeleton
Most Fleshless awaken with most of their flesh unusable, rotted, or missing. As such, they strip away everything unnecessary, leaving only bare bone. Some were well persevered after their passing, meaning it's possible some Fleshless to retain some of their flesh. Vice versa, some were left to the elements, leaving some of there bones damaged or destroyed.

Body
With no flesh or muscle, this leaves them weak. To fix this, Fleshless will incorporate materials from their surroundings for their body. Due to magic that is still not understood, the material is able to enhance the physical abilities of the Fleshless. For example, one Fleshless might use weeds, vines and other plants to form their body and support their skeleton. Flora is elegant and flexible, but may lack in strength and durability. Another Fleshless may use mud, clay and dirts to mold their body. This can be more precise, like molding a sculpture. But it may also be more brittle and susceptible to rain.

There is currently no known limiting factor to what can be used for a Fleshless's body. All materials seem to be compatible.

Age/Experience
The more experience a Fleshless has at controlling and adding to their body. The more refined those materials become. A beginner Fleshless may simply use vines and plants that twist and tie together bones. An expert Fleshless will weave these vines and plants to imitate that of muscle fibers. This can be a way to determine the experience or age of a Fleshless.

Fleshless do not die from aging.

* ''Note: ANY corpse can become Fleshless. Any humanoid or animalistic creature. Their skeleton shape and size can reflect this.''

Food
Over time Fleshless drain "energy" from their core so they can move and manipulate their bones and body. This can result in a feeling that can be described as hunger from within their core. They can "feed" their core nutrients to regain energy. So Fleshless are capable of eating food, it is not known if they can taste.

Starvation
If a Fleshless goes too long with feeding their core, it will begin to consume their body for energy. It will first start with any materials they use for their body, such as plants, rocks, or anything else. If a Fleshless is malnourished while only their bones remain, then their core will slowly begin to consume and degrade their whole skeleton. This will lead to their death, leaving nothing behind. Other than malnutrition, the only way to kill a Fleshless is to destroy their core.

Culture
As of writing this, Fleshless are very new and are only just appearing in Abexilas. This will be updated with different groups, factions and more as they appear.

Etchings
As the Fleshless no longer have skin they can decorate, they have come up with a solution. Etchings, similar to tattoos, are carvings on the bones of Fleshless. As the bones do not change over the lifetime of a Fleshless, these etchings are permanent unless tampered with.

Taboos
Fleshless have an innate understanding of other creatures and themselves. With this most come to a common understanding of what is crossing the line when it comes to building their bodies.

Don
Don is a term referred to Fleshless who don stolen flesh. Fleshless understand that other living creatures prize their flesh more than their bones. It is disrespectful to take their flesh and use it as your own.

Grafted
Those who are Grafted are considered abominations. They take the bones of other creatures and use them for themselves. Adding more fingers, arms, legs, rarely skulls. These attachments bind to the core itself, permanently becoming part of the Fleshless. This is akin to stealing someone's arm and stitching it to your body for your own use.

Grafting comes at a cost. The bones that are attached need to use some of the core itself to bind to the Fleshless. We know the core holds the mind. So it comes to no surprise that the more a Fleshless is grafted, the more of their mind they lose so they use to graft those bones.