Diary of a Necromancer

[InflatableFriend]

Nekrós-Manteia : lit. Dead body-prophecy/divination

Necromancy – A form of arcane magic in which case the practitioner seeks to raise the spirit of a deceased person, either corporally or incorporally, for the purpose of divination.

Word creep has been somewhat unkind to the practitioners of my art, a once valid (although pretty useless, the dead normally failed to see far enough into their own futures to avoid becoming dead, why should we expect them to be any better once they've shuffled off our mortal plane?) method of divining the future has become one of the most despised and misunderstood schools of arcane magic.

Even the old staples, once a core part of any necromancers remit, have fled from the title. The curing of wounds, regeneration and even the act of raising the dead back to life have rather handily been welcomed into the Conjuration school.

One assumes that this took place to save the blushes of our dear sweet friends in the rich temples, no doubt the fact that they frequently used necromantic magic irked them. Now that it's safely considered Conjuration they can use it without stigma or fear, despite it being exactly the same thing.

I hope that this tome, should I ever decide to publish, will go some way toward allowing necromancers such as myself to step out from the shadows and reclaim our besmirched title from the selection of freaks and rejects who prefer the company of zombie armies to a nice social chat.

[InflatableFriend]

What type of person becomes a necromancer?


A fair question. Broadly speaking there are three main camps of necromancer.

1. The Raving Lunatic – The modern vision of the necromancer. This type of individual is either born with, or comes to develop, severe issues with relating to other people. Rather than confront this issue head on they retreat away from society and into the company of things that have a tendency not to judge and can easily be controlled. At this point they have two options; become a druid, or a necromancer (or in extreme cases, both). Those that choose necromancy end up lurking in crypts doing unpleasant things to themselves and the dead, often raising armies of shambling corpses. The Type 1 necromancer can frequently be heard muttering phrases such as “I'll show them” or “No-one understands me.”
   
   
   The most disturbing Type 1 Necromancers take their terrible fetishes for the undead to ludicrous levels, sometimes going as far as removing their preferred 'happy hand' and replacing it with one from a corpse. This is their version of sitting on your hand until it goes numb.
   
2. The Power Hungry – This group are strong on the Necro, less so on the Mancy. To be an effective necromancer it is important to have a strong grasp on the functions of the organs of the body and any humours that affect them. For those who seek dramatic power, this knowledge is a god-send as it allows the precision application of force. Expect people of this sort to be able to stop hearts, explode brains or weaken bodies, frequently using phrases such as “You are nothing before my powers”.
   
   Many Type 2s are obsessed with death, and the impact their own inevitable demise is going to have on their own power base. As such the Type 2 is often keen on lichdom. In all honesty I can't say which I find the more pathetic, the Type 1 or Type 2. Both seem to equate undeath with power, without realising power is pretty useless when you have to spend most of your time hidden away from the world. Cackling malevolently over the power you possess seems to be the kind of thing that will get boring quickly.
   
   
3. The Normal Man – This type of necromancer receives little attention or recognition when compared to the previous two types. This is due in part to the rather less public role they play, preferring study and intellectual pursuits over those that involve armies of people's dead relatives or attempting to enslave scantily clad damsels while perfecting the art of moustache twirling.
   
   Instead, he understands the importance of death and its pivotal role in our lives and society. It is the experiments and studies undertaken by this class of man that can lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of the inner and outer worlds.
   
   This class of necromancer can be considered something of the artist, toiling away in some lonely garret, working with an array of parts and pigments and in a manner that may shock some of the more puritanical elements of society. But when this toil and work is done, society can look proudly upon the creation and the magnificence of the necromantic art.

[InflatableFriend]

Where can you find a Necromacer?

As with any profession a good necromancer requires a place to work. Ideally this should be a private place with an atmosphere conducive to the work they are undertaking with easy access to a library, storage space and a place to eat and sleep. The exact form of this workspace will vary from necromancer to necromancer but can be easily divided into several categories.

1. The Overcompensator.
   A common trend amongst many users of arcane magic who secretly desire a second career lighthouses operators. Type II necromancers are most likely to inhabit this kind of property, seeing their upstanding phallus as a place to survey the surrounding lands and as a statement of their virility and power. This type of property is statement first, practicality last. After a few weeks of hauling alchemical apparatus or raw components up and down many flights of spiral stairs even the most ardent tower dweller will be acutely aware of the shortcomings.
   
   Would be tower dwellers should be aware that such properties attract a great number of right minded folk who seem keen to educate owners on the dangers of residing high up in flammable properties or demonstrating quite how easy it is to hit a large target with even the most simple siege weapon.
   
   
2. The Cave Dweller.
   Necromancy can be a poor paying career, often without a spouse or loved one to share the bills and living costs with. As a result there are more than a few necromancers who've been found themselves living the life of the proverbial hermit, taking up residence in cave systems, sewers or abandoned properties. occasionally this type of necromancer will set themselves up as a mystical seer or wise hermit, but more often than not they're simply deranged lunatics who blame society for their situation rather than their own terrible book keeping.
   
   Sadly, these individuals often come to reflect the rats, bats and other vermin than tend to populate their environments, becoming twitchy individuals with a habit of hoarding anything they think they may be able to use in the future, including passing strangers, scrap and their own bodily excretions. These are people to be avoided, pitied or burned.
   
   
3. The Cryptophile.
   A sub-type of the Cave Dweller, but worthy of it's own entry. This is firmly the territory of the Type I Necromancer a reclusive breed likely to be found taking their work to bed with them.
   
   The crypt dweller is often a sad individual, shunning the company of the living in favour of the festering remains of the dead. They soon come to resemble those with whom they share a living space, becoming pale, socially awkward and particularly foul smelling. Very rarely a crypt dweller may be a charismatic individual, often in league with a group of local artists or angsty teenagers who've somehow become convinced that it is particularly fashionable to languish around in musty crypts bemoaning the terribleness of their middle class lives.
   
   With all types of crypt dwelling necromancer it is often prudent to simply dispose of them on first meeting. Graveyards are a great place for the budding necromancer to gather raw materials, having an incumbent necromancer doing who knows what to the goods, or having to suffer though verse upon verse of terrible poetry from faux velvet clad Brunhildes is good for no ones peace of mind.
   
   
4. The Urbanite
   This is the path I would encourage in anyone wishing to follow the path of the intelligent necromancer.
   
   A detached property with gardens on the edge of town is best, preferably with one or more basement areas that could be dug out further or even extended to connect to any underground sewerage system. Be social and involved in your community, particularly with the local universities and museums, this will make it much easier for you to obtain any relics, books or materials they should stumble upon. Fostering a little reputation for eccentricity is never a bad thing, but keep in mind that living in crypts isn't eccentric, it's disturbed.

[InflatableFriend]

Lux.

It means light. It's a simple word, it has no power or special meaning beyond that. You can say it with a strange accent, you can stress the first letter, the last or even the middle one if you fancy. Nothing will happen.

Not unless you know what goes with it, if you know that then Lux can do all sorts of things. It can make a light, put with companion words it can put one out, or suck all the light from an area, turn the good of men against themselves, or cause things to violently explode.

Magic is more than words. More than waving your arms about. More than dressing like you haven't been breeched yet. More than carrying an annoying sack full of small components, focuses and a big book. Yet, it's all of those. Minus the dresses.

I admit things are different for each mage, it all comes down to who taught you and how. For me it was the ITFLAC method. Intention, Thought, Focus, Language, Action, Consequence.

Intention.
A spell is cast long before it's seen to take effect in the field. This is the preparation stage where a mage must study his spell book and link together the elements of the spells he wishes to cast. This period focus and quiet, mistakes made here can be devastating later on, causing spells to go wildly awry or to fizzle out uselessly. Without the time to arrange all the critical elements within the mind a mage is useless. For me the process is simple, an hours study and focus, three hours sleep, a half hour of physical exercise to clear the mind, another half an hour of focus and three more of sleep. Then I'm ready to set the world on fire.

Thought.
In the act of casting thought is normally the first stage, depending on the spell type this can mean a long period of intense concentration and shaping of the world with the mind such as in a summoning spell or the mental equivalent of drawing a firing a bow.

Focus.
A focus is a simple physical component that is used to channel the immaterial properties of the Thought into the physical world. The nature of these foci may vary and in some schools this can result in students looking like homeless kleptomaniacs studded with various feathers, bones, talismans, trinkets, beads, gewgaws, gee gees and assorted items of ju-ju. Many of these components are destroyed during the channelling process, in these cases simply ensure that you are always stocked with enough to last a few days. Some people set items that are reusable into jewellery or have them sown onto clothes. I shall discuss clothing and personal hygiene at some point in the future, but for now it's enough to say I've always found that rather unbecoming. We are magi, not swamp dwelling tribal shamans.

Language.
Most spells have a spoken element, the exact wording varies from mage to mage but does tend to follow certain norms. Most arcane masters will drum the relationship of the word and the spell into the budding apprentice. Early in the career of the mage it is important that the spell and words are one, it is only with sufficient experience and strength of mind that this relationship can be re-evaluated and language eliminated from casting. As an apprentice I was taught that it is this stage that draws the power of a spell from the weave through the focus and allows use to direct it with Action. A few simple experiments will show you that this is not the case in even a fraction of the spells, but it does serve as a good mental pin for students.

Action.
The gestures used during a spell vary greatly from person to person, even within the same school. Some, normally those who've spent to much time at the theatre hall and not enough time paying attention, prefer outlandish and extravagant waving of the arms and wiggling of the fingers. Those of a less dramatic bent prefer subtle physical cues and gestures. In simple terms this aspect of casting can be thought of as the targeting of the arcane energies brought forth by the previous stages. As with the spoken word action can be eliminated by a suitably skilled and mentally focused mage.

Consequence.
The end result of the spell, be it illumination, strength, fire or transferring items between places or planes.

In the case of our first spell, Light, the sequence I would follow would go thusly.

Intention. Mentally preparing the spell in my mind, linking the actions I will take to the result I desire.
Thought. Bringing the spell to mind, picturing the ball of light I wish to create.
Focus. A tiny speck of glowing moss, linking the idea of light to our physical world.
Language. Lux. Charging the bridge created between thought and physical, bringing forth the desired energy.
Action. Bringing together the tips of the four fingers and thumb on my right hand, then opening them like the petals of a flower, shaping the summoned energy into the desired form and releasing it.
Consequence. A floating ball of cool white light.

All of which is nice to know, but not that useful to me right now, trapped as I am in the bowels of the Necropolis surrounded by the dead with what remains of my left arm crushed under a large block of masonry.