Throughout Lord British’s texts scattered throughout the realm one can see the significance of the numbers eight and three. Lord British wrote in his masterpiece ‘Virtue’ that in order for a society to prosper people must grant one another a common base of consideration. He called this base Virtue. The significance of the three lies with the principle virtues which are a guide to enlightenment. Truth, Love and Courage make up the principle virtues from which the eight virtues of Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality and Humility stem. Thus the eight stem from the three to create a code for life. In addition to this Lord British states that virtue is infinite. Something that is infinite has no beginning or end, it moves on forever and thus can not be comprehended by mortal beings who see only what their lifespan allows them to. Infinity can not be grasped by the finite. Only those with eternal life, the undead can be close to Virtue as only they have the longevity to learn Virtue.
Where the infinity of the Virtue concept adds to Order the classification and ever changing definitions of Virtue add to Chaos. Thus in our mortal attempts to reason what infinity and the virtues present we spawn multiple conclusions effectively adding to a Chaos that unmakes us. Lord British knew that Order was derived from the virtues and Chaos was derived from individual reasoning. Sosaria, the land on which we live is held together by Order and fuelled by the Virtues. Each time the Virtues are dissected and turned into something else Sosaria is weakened and new facets or land collides with our world. ‘Heralds’ and ‘Sages’ of virtue that place finite definitions upon the infinite add to catastrophe (Did not Trammel appear when the Heralds of the Awakening were at their strongest?). The more we change our reality the closer the outsider realms get to us. From Trammel and the savage lands of the lizard men to Ilshanar and Malas the world is weakening and thus allowing other realities to fuze with it because of the growth of Chaos.
As each man begins to think he understands virtue the infinite becomes finite and Sosaria weakens. Thus as the infinity of virtue is broken the three principal virtues start to fit the astrological calendar of Months, days and years to become a doomsday code. Where once Virtue was life it becomes the death toll. Eight virtues dependent on the three become the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year since the awakening of Atlantic. It is then that the virtues will be made finite by those that worship the light and it is then that they will die. This grand destruction will forever bring the shards together as virtue is made finite, a fusion which the undead alone will survive. In the new age the immortals will make their kingdoms and with the death of finite beings the infinity that Lord British strived for in his Virtues will be attained in the flesh.
The undead are foul and soulless. Turning undead takes away from ones’ humanity.