Carlisle often calls his existence a conundrum, and I'm inclined to agree. The inner workings of his physiology - and whatever arcane processes keep him ticking over - are a mystery even to him. But there are some things we know.
We know his body is, by all objective measures, dead. As a result, he can't digest food or drink. He still breathes, but mostly out of habit.
We know his reanimation is the result of magic. Specifically, by some perverse twist of fate, the same curse that torturously killed him is now what keeps him torturously "alive."
But magic or no, that energy has to come from somewhere. And we know the curse draws on his own eksth'alva reserves for its upkeep. We know he can replenish them by siphoning directly from sources in his environment. This usually kills the sources, so obviously he doesn't like doing it - but when he puts it off for too long, his Revenant side takes over and does it for him.
We don't know why that is. Carlisle maintains it's simply his "true nature" coming out under stress. I maintain that's a crock of nonsense. If it were his true nature, I doubt he'd still be fighting it so hard.
Granted, I don't think we can say the Revenant is entirely separate from him. It's a powerful source of instinct, clearly. Tells him to fight when he's threatened, "eat" when he's starving, etc. And it's unambiguously tied to his emotional state.
But where does the violence come from? He's a lifelong pacifist, despite his family's best efforts. He's dedicated himself to a religion that holds all life sacred - that demands extermination of the undead. There's nothing he abhors more than necromancy.
So how do you explain Scraps?
We weren't sure what would happen to it when Carlisle lost consciousness. He doesn't have much control over it at the best of times, so it seemed possible it might go on a rampage.
But we needn't have worried. The second he hit the ground, so did Scraps - in pieces. It didn't just go dormant, it fell apart at the seams. I'd assumed it had some degree of autonomy, but that's not the case. In reality, it's completely dependent on him.
Which makes it something of an anomaly. I've known Carlisle to accidentally raise the dead before, but he's never had much trouble un-raising them afterward. Scraps, on the other hand, has resisted all such attempts. He was half reverted when he first raised it - could that have something to do with it? But why should that make any difference?
... I suppose that's something to ask him when he wakes up. He's the expert.
2/4
Carlisle often calls his existence a conundrum, and I'm inclined to agree. The inner workings of his physiology - and whatever arcane processes keep him ticking over - are a mystery even to him. But there are some things we know.
We know his body is, by all objective measures, dead. As a result, he can't digest food or drink. He still breathes, but mostly out of habit.
We know his reanimation is the result of magic. Specifically, by some perverse twist of fate, the same curse that torturously killed him is now what keeps him torturously "alive."
But magic or no, that energy has to come from somewhere. And we know the curse draws on his own eksth'alva reserves for its upkeep. We know he can replenish them by siphoning directly from sources in his environment. This usually kills the sources, so obviously he doesn't like doing it - but when he puts it off for too long, his Revenant side takes over and does it for him.
We don't know why that is. Carlisle maintains it's simply his "true nature" coming out under stress. I maintain that's a crock of nonsense. If it were his true nature, I doubt he'd still be fighting it so hard.
Granted, I don't think we can say the Revenant is entirely separate from him. It's a powerful source of instinct, clearly. Tells him to fight when he's threatened, "eat" when he's starving, etc. And it's unambiguously tied to his emotional state.
But where does the violence come from? He's a lifelong pacifist, despite his family's best efforts. He's dedicated himself to a religion that holds all life sacred - that demands extermination of the undead. There's nothing he abhors more than necromancy.
So how do you explain Scraps?
We weren't sure what would happen to it when Carlisle lost consciousness. He doesn't have much control over it at the best of times, so it seemed possible it might go on a rampage.
But we needn't have worried. The second he hit the ground, so did Scraps - in pieces. It didn't just go dormant, it fell apart at the seams. I'd assumed it had some degree of autonomy, but that's not the case. In reality, it's completely dependent on him.
Which makes it something of an anomaly. I've known Carlisle to accidentally raise the dead before, but he's never had much trouble un-raising them afterward. Scraps, on the other hand, has resisted all such attempts. He was half reverted when he first raised it - could that have something to do with it? But why should that make any difference?
... I suppose that's something to ask him when he wakes up. He's the expert.