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Anyone With Scientific Knowledge and an Imagination?


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I've tried asking this question everywhere and cannot seem to get an answer. I am currently writing a fantasy story. Imagine, if you will, a scenario in which a woman's deceased corpse is kept perfectly preserved by arcane magics for 25,000 years. What condition would such a body be in, even without the slightest hint of decay? Would the clothes have disappeared completely? What state might the hair be found in, and what would it look like (provided it, too, was kept from decay by the same spell)?

 

I haven't decided yet if she will be buried underground without a coffin or found lying in a simple stone sarcophagus, but what might each of those scenarios present? If she had been buried in dirt for so many millennia, would she be able to remove it via a simple bath in a nearby waterfall? If she were in a sarcophagus (which is not airtight but keeps most things out), what might she be covered in? Cobwebs? dust? Dirt? Something else?

 

The woman is not sleeping for 25,000 years, mind you, but is truly dead albeit with all of her tissues magically preserved, so no bedsores or anything like that. When we take decomposition out of the equation, what else does twenty-five millennia do to a body, either buried in dirt or lying in a stone sarcophagus?

 

It is an odd question, I know, but one that is hard to research since things like this obviously don't happen in the real world. I look forward to your answers.

Thank you.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

If its magic, then it can be literally anything you want. You could say shes frozen in an instant of time clothes and all. Science and magic dont cross paths, thats the point of magic.

Worth saying that some sci fi elements can be magic-like, in that technology acts as a stand in for magic, and how said tech works is left to the imagination.

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Guest Robin

Youre writing the story, so the only rules of reality you have to worry about are the ones you say exist in your story. If I recall right Leonardo da Vinci wrote in one of his manuscripts that when starting a new piece it is best not to study too much about your subject. Thats paraphrased, of course, but it means when you overthink a detail you can kill your desire to produce the piece.

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FYI, your white text didn't show up on on my phone at first glance. I replied based on the conversation that came after the original post. After I posted I figured out that if I hit 'select all' I could see the text.

 

As to the original question, there is an question/answer I always give my son when he asks this type of question; If a unicorn sticks it's horn in your ass, does it impregnate you?

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When I'm telling the story the unicorns have a parasitic reproductive process. They inject their offspring into a host with their horns. After the gestation is complete the infant unicorn uses it's horn , which is the last thing to grow, to cut it's way free from the host.

 

All depends on who is telling the story. Are there any peculiarities about how magic works in your world that would give a hint of what effects, or side effects, could be expected? I could see the body having a translucent quality, as if some portion of what made it up was missing, or waiting somewhere for a signal to return.

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