The different kinds of immortality and Caverns and Dryads

This is one of my worldbuilding articles that help me develop my ideas while sharing them with you. Today it’s time to talk about immortality.

"The Flowers"

When we talk about immortal beings, we usually refer to one of these things:

- NON-LIVING: Beings that were never alive and can last forever. For example: a robot that does not deteriorate, or a virus.

- UNDEAD: Beings that have already died but do not cease to exist and otherwise appear alive because they have autonomy. Example: a classic vampire or Anne Rice’s vampires, or a zombie.

- LONG-LIVED: Beings whose existence is so long that they seem immortal. Example: the classical dryads of ancient Greece.

- ETERNALLY YOUNG: Beings who can die but only through violence, because they no longer age (although they once did, or grew to adulthood before becoming static). For example: Tolkien’s elves. Others: the “living vampires” of many vampire romance series.

- REBORN: They may be reborn in a new body and their mind transferred to that new body. Or they may be reborn or physically regenerate again.

- INVULNERABLE/UNTOUCHABLE: Beings who appear simply with their final form and age, and do not undergo changes. They exist on a higher plane, although they may manifest here as visions or presences. They do not die and cannot be killed. Many classical gods are like this.

As for gods in fantasy stories, many authors choose that they exist because people believe in them. That means they are projections of their minds. Therefore they are immaterial and, in a sense, without their own existence. Or they are physical creatures that would fit into one of the previous categories (eternally young, reborn, long-lived...).

WHY I DON’T LIKE ELVES

As I said in another article, I don’t like elves. That’s it. 

One of the reasons is their immortality. Or rather, the way it is usually handled.

I think the necessary empathy exercise to explore the mentality of different types of immortals has not been done.

In the case of an immortal elf in Tolkien’s style, they are usually just someone who lives forever. Always young, wonderful, and never dying. But they feel human.

They worry about the same things as everyone else. They seek the same things and live like humans in almost everything. They go to wars, forge jewels, and build palaces. Never, in thousands of years, do they get bored of polishing their silver helmet or shining their marble floor.

HOW DIFFERENT IMMORTALS SHOULD THINK

The NON-LIVING is normally rigid. Whether a virus, a robot, or a mountain that feels, it always does the same things. It is not born, does not reproduce, does not die. It repeats the same things it was created for. It has no real desires, does not suffer, and does not aspire. It never lived, so it does not miss anything. It has no goals except doing what it does.

The UNDEAD. Anne Rice captured this perfectly. Upon dying, they stop being connected to life. Now they belong to death. So they do not change. They are frozen forever in how they were when they died. Rice reflects this in the horror of some characters when they perceive themselves as statues or cannot cut their hair at a different length. These trivial facts reflect the permanence of the halted state. Their character remains the same. Since they are not alive, they no longer change. They do not adapt. Before dying, they could. Now they don't.

LONG-LIVED BEINGS would live and feel similarly to us. But they would perceive humans the way we perceive animals: beings that live briefly and die quickly. They could change both in character and appearance many times throughout their lives.

Those with ETERNAL YOUTH… here I think “eternal youth” should mean exactly that: you are and feel young always, both mentally and physically. Your passion and sensitivity are heightened, you are a bit reckless. Sometimes too optimistic or too pessimistic. You would enjoy things as something new. You would NOT be a bland elf. You would be like a faun.

Those who REBORN or TRANSMIGRATE would have an attitude similar to a player in an arcade: “I have X lives.” Or rather: “I have infinite lives in this game.” They wouldn’t mind being reckless except for pain or wasted time. Or they would only care if they risk things other than their own life. They might be focused on enjoyment, knowledge, or the happiness of others, depending on their character.

The INVULNERABLE or UNTOUCHABLE who do not exist in our physical world would be like Homer’s gods: only concerned with their own affairs, and mortals are a game. They are apart from everything. Nothing touches them. 

THE DRYADS OF CAVERNS AND DRYADS

I have conceived another type of immortality. Let’s call it ETERNITY. It is not like any of the above. There are points in common. However, I want to explain what it means to me.

The dryads of my world are Eternal. They are not immortal. Let’s develop this:

- They are as they were created. They have no childhood or old age. They appear as you see them. They germinate underground and form as they will be for their entire life, until they emerge into the sun, without intermediate phases.

- They do not change. They are not subject to age, evolution, change, or alteration. They are outside time.

- They are eternally young, although this, combined with the above, creates a character different from someone who reached eternal youth after being mortal. 

- They do not die. They can only become unreachable.

This last point is key.

A dryad has a physical body in the world of Caverns and Dryads, Drozz. On Earth she would not. She would have existence, but not physical nor imaginary... it's something in between.

Their nature is imaginal. While we are matter and spirit, they are matter and archetype. Their existence does not disappear because their body does.

They are emanations of the world of pure forms. Although they possess their own individual character, all are connected to the Great Mother. And the Great Mother cannot die.

Therefore, when they appear, they incarnate. When they die physically in Drozz, they return to the Great Mother. There they remain and may dissolve into the Mother Sap. They might never return (most likely), return exactly the same (if something brings them back in the same way), or incarnate as a completely different dryad.

IN THEIR MIND

The dryad does not fear death. She fears dissolution into the Great Mother. At the same time, she knows it will be something welcoming and loving. What she truly fears is losing her autonomy, her individuality.

It is like certain religions where, upon dying, we think we will unite with God, and yet that comforts us and also frightens us, because we might cease to be ourselves.

Everything seems to happen too fast in their eyes. They see animals die and landscapes change too quickly. When they live among humans, it is worse, because humans change all the time: their societies, their homes, their bodies. Everything happens at great speed from their point of view.

Decisions are made too quickly and for reasons that are not worth it. A dryad is only quick to decide when protecting something. Because in those moments the terrible part of the Great Mother manifests in her. In calm, the Great Mother manifests with tenderness, care, and shelter. In storm, the Great Mother is a merciless natural disaster that devours everything.

Possessions, merits, achievements, and riches… time takes everything. They are not interested. They can enjoy present moments, but they do not accumulate or preserve, because they know it is impossible. Even for those who live among humans, like Tamzyn, such things only have value for their momentary usefulness.

All humans seem young to them. Then they perceive them as quickly decaying. Old age horrifies them. They do not see it as a stage of life. They see it as the rapid decomposition of a loved person. For them, it is as if someone you love turned into a zombie in a few days.

Permanent youth gives them vitality and enjoyment of simple, material things. Eternity and their plant-like nature give them patience. Both things converge into passionate, vital, sometimes hedonistic personalities, though interested in what endures, what remains.

I have spoken of perceptions and basic nature. There are behavioral differences between Tamzyn, Aubeline, Lyselia, and others. These differences come from their temperament.

Tamzyn is more patient and stable. She enjoys silent places, intimacy, and calm. She was raised by her mother Dendratlia, so connected to the Great Mother. Her perception of how quickly the human world changes and decays is very strong.

Lyselia and most of the others are typical, somewhere in the middle. They live apart, as far as they can from the whirlwind of the world. They do not feel humans are something to worry about. The world changes, but they remain.

Aubeline comes from a wild and primitive world. There, nothing had limits. Everything she sees changing around her is a pastime. Her fiery temperament makes her try to get the most fun out of things before they disappear. She is horrified by how everything ends. Before that happens, she jumps to something else. She might seem selfish or frivolous, but she only wants to remain the same in a universe that never stops.

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And well, another day I’ll analyze other things that fascinate me. I’ll tell you! Thanks for reading!

If you want, comment on which type of immortality fascinates you the most, and why. And whether you like elves.