The Corpse Detective takes the podium and taps his finger on the mike. He is obviously uncomfortable with public speaking.

"So uh".my god is that really what I sound like" Er".Okay."

He flips through a stack of papers he has before him.

"My name is Nicholas Avery Cross. I am private investigator, part owner of the Fallen Cross Detective Agency. I am also undead. When I first came to Rhy'din I was very confused. I guess many of us that just show up one day are. It didn't take me long to learn to love this place, despite it's many dangers and differences. The major reason was that here I found acceptance. Acceptance doesn't mean everything is perfect. There is always room for improvement."

"During the election, when I asked a few basic questions involving improving the lives of my undead brethren I had no idea that I would be giving this speech today. If you had told me that this day would come I probably would have kept my big mouth shut. However, I did not so hear I am. It's like my father always said, if you're going to say something you'd better be prepared to back it up."

He moves his eyes over the crowd as he speaks.

"While the undead are relatively few in number, we are great in variety. We have numerous varying needs and I am pleased that our new Governor has taken an interest in seeing that those needs are met."

He pauses for a moment to look at his notes and gather his thoughts.

"I think the single most important step we can take as individuals is to learn to treat our undead brothers and sisters as equals, with dignity and respect. I am not claiming that all undead are able to integrate into society, but people must realize that most of us are not undead by choice. We are victims in our own right, and mindless or not we deserve to be treated in a dignified manner."

"Zombie, to me that's sort of a catchall term for a type of undead that do not fit in anywhere else. Oftentimes I refer to myself as a zombie, though I've had many people disagree with my use of the term. Zombies are one of the more common types of undead. Most often mindless they can come about their condition in a variety of ways, which I will not go over here. Instead we will go over ways we can help out our zombie brethren.

"Easy access to a cure for zombie bites. We will have less mindless flesh eating zombies if we simply prevent people from becoming zombies in the first place"

"Zombies often suffer from the problem of rotting flesh. This is where mortuary services can be beneficial. When I first came to Rhy'din, I had to see a mortician weekly, sometimes more in order to keep my body in basic working order. Magic is also an option, however this is too costly for many so other alternatives must be explored."

"It is true that many zombies are too dangerous or infectious to be able to exist within our society. We need to come together as a community to bring such individuals to rest with the same dignity and respect you give your own dying loved ones" "Zombies have varying degrees of function. However their outward appearance often hindered thought processes can make it difficult for a zombie to find a place in society. We need to come together and help these individual find work so that they might better benefit society as a whole"

He frowns a bit as he looks around at the crowd and flips through his notes some more.

"Ghouls, their grotesque appearance is often frightening and their dining habits can be quite alarming to many. Most of the points made involving zombies can also be applied to ghouls, with the exception of their dietary requirements."

"Sustenance is a basic right of every being living or unliving. We need to find a way to make available the dead flesh that ghouls require for their continued existence. I believe that you will find that once their basic needs are met there will be many ways for them to contribute to society."

"Ghosts. We should be seeking to help them move along to the other side if that is what they desire."

"Vampires. I'll admit I do not know much about them. From what I've seen Rhy'din already does a good job of making blood available. If any vampires can shed some light on the specific issues that they have to deal with on a day to day basis I would be grateful."

He flips through his notes again.

"I'm aware that there are many different types of undead and I have barely touched on the subject of how all their needs can be met. In light of this I suggest that we discuss forming a support group so that we undead can get together on a regular basis, discuss our problems and the best ways to overcome them. I know that I myself struggle with my own identity on a regular basis. I feel that there are many others out there that feel the same. So Let's get together and help eachother out!"

He looks around somewhat nervously for a few moments.

"That's all I have. Um...Thank you."

He steps away from the podium and returns to his seat.

When the Governor declared the meeting open to those on the floor. A jean clad redhead with long legs put up her hand. Having been given a nod, she moved to the podium and set a pad of paper on it. She adjusted her lab coat and hospital ID badge. "Hello, my name is Bridget Dillon. I am associated with Riverview Clinic as the head of their Forensics Department. My secondary specialty is Pathology. Some of Riverview's graduate students having been working on developing dermatological patches for burn victims, primarily to prevent infection and speed up the healing process. The experiments have been successful."

Behind her, some before and after pictures of burn patients were being shown. For their privacy, faces were blurred. Minor scarring remained on some of the patients.

"Some undead beings have amazing healing factors. As previously mentioned, some are subject to skin deterioration at a greatly increased rate from the human population. We are hopeful that we will be able to increase the size of these patches to cover a full limb at one time. The patches fuse to the natural skin to stimulate the growth of healthier and stronger cells."

"Mr. Carter mentioned his desire to have an easy access cure for zombie bites. I share his hope, however, the aftereffects from bites of zombies of the flesh eating variety are often like viruses. They continuously mutate into something stronger. Science can have difficulty keeping up. Vaccines can slow the process down and in some cases arrest it, but there can be side effects. If anyone here or someone you know, is willing to contribute serum and or skin samples to aid in this research, it would be helpful to both the undead and living in our community." Her business cards with contact information were passed around the conference room.

"I would also like to discuss a project that is in its fledgling stages. Some of Riverview's patients, as in other hospitals in Rhydin, are undead and supernatural beings. We want to help, but to borrow a bit from an advice columnist, we can't fix things if we don't know they are broken. When the concerns were brought to the attention of the gubernatorial candidates, I realized there was and is a greater need out there than some of us knew. The need for a blood and plasma supply seems to be on the rise. If any of you are familiar with PCR, Polymerase Chain Reaction, then you might already know where this is headed. PCR is the process used to amplify small samples of DNA for testing and study. We are developing a similar technique using blood products and plasma. This research is not a quick fix. We have to take care to work with blood and plasma cells that are free of diseases. To do otherwise would be a major contamination risk."

Bridget took up her notepad as she looked over the room. "If you have questions, I'll be here for a while or I can be contacted at my office. Thank you." She returned to her seat.