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Check out War of Nytefall: Rivalry! It doesn’t have the answer to this question, but you will learn more about Dawn Fangs. So, the question is fairly straightforward. Are they alive, dead, or undead? That’s actually not as easy to answer as I thought, but it might just be semantics. Let me touch on each of the three categories:
Dead?
No. They are still walking around. Not even sure why people ask this, but I guess they mean undead. Some Dawn Fangs are dead though. Mostly because Clyde killed them rather brutally.
Alive
We’ll jump to the other side of the fence here. Dawn Fangs do possess many qualities of being alive. They eat, have pulses, and can produce sexually. It’s mostly the first two that are important in defining them as alive. Yet, they can still survive without breathing and holy magic hurts them. They can go without much sleep too. While I am starting to turn away from this idea, I do know that they are very close. One could say they are immortals like Dariana in Legends of Windemere. She is still considered alive regardless of how hard it is to kill her. Unfortunately, there is another factor that can put them into the third category.
Undead
For those that don’t know the term, undead is a category of monsters where they have died and been reanimated. Zombies, skeletons, ghosts, vampires, ghouls, and every other rotting corpse creature falls into this group. Dawn Fangs are decaying beasts and they have pulses, but they do have something in common with these examples. They have died and been reanimated. Even those who were born start out as a corpse and need blood to come back to life. This short part of a Dawn Fang’s creation does make them a walking corpse, which means they shouldn’t be considered ‘Alive’. At least not by fantasy standards since one would then have to wonder about real people who died for any length of time. Let’s stick with fiction here.
My Personal Take
I know people might categorize my creations differently, so I can only say what I tend to see them as. Dawn Fangs, to me, are a bridge between the Living and the Undead. They possess traits of both categories such as pulses and being reanimated. They can eat food and blood. They can create new members through sex or biting. So, I think they can be in the middle, which works for Clyde’s goals. He wants to prove that Dawn Fangs can live among mortals, which means he wants these undead-like beings to prove that they are similar to the true living. Again, we’re probably looking at semantics and personal opinions here. Definitely not an easy question for me to answer.
Legends of Windemere 
Thanks for clearing up the differences.
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Glad you enjoyed it.
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I think I used to work with some people like that.
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Management?
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You know it.
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This is a really good explanation, Charles. I wondered this myself, so I’m glad you posted this. A fresh take on vampires.
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Thanks. Happy to hear people enjoy it.
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What is the old scientific definition of life? Respiration, ingestion, and reproduction. If they don’t need to breathe, they aren’t alive. I’ve had Lisa struggle with some of this, because the facts are counter to her programming. Doesn’t need respiration, ingestion, and can’t reproduce unless she’s manufacturing someone like herself. I’ve argued that recharging is a form of ingestion, but she doesn’t buy it. Cool topic that could bounce around for hours if you get enough traffic. I tweeted it out to see if more will show up.
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Respiration is the tough one here. Dawn Fangs do it, but can go without if need be. I don’t know if they can eventually suffocate, but that would be strange. I’ve considered that they get oxygen from the blood they ingest. Not sure if that counts.
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Don’t think that counts. You’re the author, so you get to decide. Some lifeforms respire at a slower rate too. Trees might survive something that would kill birds.
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Fantasy has the undead category. Science doesn’t get the final say here. 😁
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I agree. I’m toying with some of this myself for a new character, but I’m dealing with feelings and emotions vs the undead description.
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Tough one. Some undead can feel emotions. Ghosts are sometimes fueled by it.
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Are ghosts considered undead or all dead? I’m planning an argument between an old soul who is a hat, and a twenty-something who has more sentimental values. We shouldn’t kill them just because they’re vampires kind of thing, as long as they don’t kill people.
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Undead. All dead are corpses. Undead is anything that’s been reanimated or used to be alive and still moves around. Guy makes a good point.
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I have at least a year to think about it. Fine details will come to me over time. Just for the sake of conversation a ghost has an all-dead corpse somewhere. How does that add in?
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Depends on the lore. Some have it be the anchor. Others have it be the weakness. It’s really not part of the active entity.
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Intriguing thoughts. I like the weakness idea.
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The living undead? 🙂
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I think Rob Zombie did a song about that.
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