The Inanimate, also known as the Lifeless, are not living beings in the traditional sense. Those that can move, are typically made to move (or "animated") by some external impulse; this could be magic, or an otherwise-limited spirit, or some other subtle puppeteer.

There are a few broad categories of Inanimate:

• Rocks and furniture are inanimate, of course. Trees and bushes are not inanimate, despite their Immobility.
• Many specimens of Undead are inanimate. These are typically the kind "Reanimated" by Enchantments:
  • A Longdead (a skeleton) is inanimate. A Soulless (zombie) is inanimate, too.
  • A Ghost is not inanimate, presumably because of its spiritual body.
  • A Ghoul is not inanimate, nor is a Vampire. Their bodies haven't fully died on them yet.
  • A Revenant is inanimate, and so is a Lich, but a Wight is not.
• The various Constructs are all inanimate.
  • This includes the vine-propelled Manikins, including those of Asphodel.
  • The various Animated Statues (such as Gargoyles) are inanimate as well, including those in Agartha.
• A bunch of Pretender God forms are inanimate; virtually all of the inanimate ones are giant, hard-to-destroy Idols.
  • Most of these are Immobile and incapable of attacking, but they can all cast spells.
  • Two nations, Nazca and Na'Ba, have non-divine imitations of these sorts:
    • Nazca has the Mallquis, bone piles carried around on palanquins.
    • Na'Ba has the Jinn Blocks, heavy stones inhabited by half-asleep genies.
• Last-but-not-least, some Magic Beings are simple or raw enough to be inanimate, a bit like the Constructs:
  • Generic Elementals are inanimate, though special ones like the Flame Spirit are not.
  • Illusions are also inanimate.

Being inanimate gives you a wide array of immunities to certain traits and Afflictions, both positive and negative:

• Luck (since you don't have a life it can save)
• Profuse Bleeding (since you don't need blood)
• Regeneration
• Desiccation (since you don't need water)
• Sleep (since you don't need sleep)
• Disease
• Rage

The inanimate are also immune to a bunch of combat magic:

• A bunch of Blood spells
  • The notable exceptions are the buffing spells and the Banishers, including Banish Demon.
  • Crosspaths are a mixed bag; Blood Boil (11) won't work, but Hellfire (12) will.
• All combat healing magic (except for healing from Drain damage)
• All Fatigue-removing magic (except for Jomon's Meditation Sign, for some reason)
• All spells that deal Drain damage
• All spells that result in a change of form, except for Life after Death (which is temporary)
• Haste (Nature)
• Touch of Madness (Nature)
• Steal Breath (Air)
• Sailors' Death (Water)
• Frozen Heart (Water)
• Drain Life (Death)
• Claim Life (Holy, from a Blood faith)
• Word of Bewilderment (Holy, from a Glamour faith)

Shatter Damage (such as from the Shatter spell, an 3 Alteration) only affects the Inanimate, however.