Undead Dragon

Undead Dragons, also known as Zombies, are a special breed of dragon only obtainable by users killing (or purposefully allowing to die) their adults and/or hatchlings, and then attempting to revive them on the 31st of October (Halloween). They cannot be obtained on any other day of the year. Due to the death of dragons involved in creating them, the breed has been the focus of some controversy.

There were once rumours that it is possible to make an Undead during any time of the year, with a 1 in 100 chance of success. The only known Undead dragons not created on 31st October are owned by TJ09: Qemrao Thuwed and 0eidw Qemrao Thuwed. Since the admin can create any dragon he desires these are not considered proof. The rumour of being able to create undeads at other dates was proved false in the IRC on the 22nd of December, 2012.

However there is one undead hatchling created in July 2007, on a hidden scroll, with an inappropriate code (entering the F-word all in capital letters brings it up) so it used to be possible once. There are also a couple of others on user scrolls which have been shown to the users in this thread on the DC forums.

The chance of creating a successful Undead on 31st October is somewhere between a 1 in 2 to a 1 in 6 chance. It's not necessary for a Dragon to die on the 31st October in order to become an Undead: they can die or be killed within 14 days before but the revive action can only be used on the 31st for it to have a chance to be successful. There are three potential outcomes from using the revive action; reviving as a normal dragon, reviving as an Undead dragon, or permanently dying.

Undead Dragons are only visible on scroll between 12AM and 6AM DC time (EST). (Newly created Undeads will be visible as tombstones, even during the day, until 2 weeks from their death. Until their tombstone disappears, they will sort as the dragon they used to be.) However, in months with 31 days, Undeads' tombstones are visible during the day of the 31st. (Zombies are always visible now.) Undeads cannot breed and will not appear on an Incubator. Curiously, they are the only Dragons that "roam" in the scroll, changing position among the other Dragons. Even if repositioned, they keep on wandering. (Since the new tombstones were added, Zombies no longer roam the scroll.) This is because during the eighteen hours from 6AM to 12AM, they do not appear on the sort pages, so sorting during the day does not affect them. (They are visible now on the sorting pages and on the scroll.) They remember their numerical position (their number in line), not their relative position (which dragon they are supposed to follow). Because their neighbors change, they appear to roam the scroll.

All Dragon breeds can be zombified, even DC drakes, Vampires, pygmies and two-headed dragons (the last two have a regular zombie sprite, even if their size/aspect isn't like other dragons). Unbreedables such as Papers and Cheeses have been confirmed to be able to become Undead Dragons, albeit ungendered. Dinos can't be zombified since they have no revive option. It has not yet been discovered if Holiday Dragons, Guardians of Nature and Neglecteds can be zombified. However, if a Limited Breed Dragon was zombified, the player cannot take another one for replacement as the Undead will still be counted as its original breed.

Undead dragons, at one point, could not be removed from the scroll. Now with the Soulpeace Dragon and its Expunge BSA, that has changed. Undead hatchlings do not grow: they are auto-frozen upon being killed. In the Dragon Cave community, Dragons raised solely for the purpose of being killed in attempts to create Undeads on Halloween are called "zombie fodder." Common dragons and inbred dragons are generally used for this because they are easy to replace.

Undeads used to permanently take up the kill slot used to create them. However, this was an unintended occurrence, and since the beginning of October 2011, zombie-held kill slots have been released. Currently, any kill slot used to create an Undead will return after 2 weeks, exactly the same as a kill slot used for any other purpose.

These dragons are often confused with Neglected Dragons and Vampire Dragons.

Undead dragons are considered very rare and currently have no breed specific action.

Egg
none

Hatchling
"It's an undead baby dragon, produced by a failed magical spell. It probably would be cute if it weren't partially decayed."

Mature Hatchling
"It's an undead baby dragon, produced by a failed magical spell. It probably would be cute if it weren't partially decayed. And look! It somehow managed to grow wings despite being dead."

Adult
"Failed attempts to experiment with magic often result in transforming dragons into these hellish creatures. They are extremely dangerous, and will mindlessly kill any living creature without regard to friend or foe."

Sprite Artist(s)

 * Shikaru (All)
 * TJ09 (Tombstones)
 * TheCompleteAnimorph (Tombstones)

Tombstone
As of November 18, 2014, caveborn Zombies received a special tombstone specific to their biome. Bred Zombies and Zombies from the time where only one cave existed also received a new special tombstone.

Trivia

 * The original undead adult sprite uses the Necromancer boss from Breath of Fire II.