Necromancy Ban of 3E 431 The Necromancy Ban of 3E 431 was enacted by the Mages Guild per the new Arch - Mage , Hannibal Traven . The Ban was to immediately remove all traces of Necromancy from the Mages Guild , though Necromancy itself remained legal in Cyrodiil . It was effective , for the most part , but dealt a serious blow to the Guild that would come back to haunt it . History . In 3E 431 , Hannibal Traven was named Arch - Mage of the Mages Guild . His first decree as Arch - Mage was to enact an all - consuming ban on the black art of Necromancy in the Guild . All manners of Necromancy were to be purged from the Guild , including those devoted to its practice . Prior to the ban , Necromancy had been accepted , but frowned upon within the Guild . In provinces such as Morrowind , where Necromancy was illegal , Guild mages practicing it were forced to operate out of sight and mind of the Morrowind government , as well as the Mages Guild . It is unknown if the Ban extended to the other provinces , or whether it was specific to Cyrodiil . What is known is that , in Cyrodiil , once the ban was posted , the Guild lost scores of mages . Half of the Council of Mages resigned in protest . Though the Guild continued to function without difficulty , it was severely weakened . Reasons . Arch - Mage Traven wrote a book , " The Black Arts On Trial " , which gave insight into his beliefs on Necromancy and his reasons for enacting the ban . In the book , Traven drew heavily on the old doctrines of both the Psijic Order and Vanus Galerion . Also , the book presented two Magisters of the Guild debating the issue , providing good reasons for and against Necromancy . The Magister for Necromancy , Ulliceta gra - Kogg , was later discovered to be a Necromancer herself . Traven still used her arguments in the book , and in the end drew the conclusion that " the risks of studying Necromancy outweigh its usefulness . " On the basis that the Black Arts were corrupting and wicked in their nature , and that their use would pollute the Guild beyond recall , Traven banned the practice of Necromancy . Effects . While at first the Ban seemed to have done little harm to the Guild , save decreasing its number , it would backfire on the Guild eventually . That backlash came in the form of the Order of the Black Worm , led by Mannimarco , King of Worms and Tamriel ' s most powerful Necromancer . Traveling to Cyrodiil , Mannimarco gathered to him the Mages that had been cast off by the Guild for their practice of Necromancy . He proceeded to launch an all out attack on the Mages Guild , with the intent of destroying the institution once and for all . Though the Attack was foiled by Arch - Mage Traven and his protege , the Champion of the Mages Guild , the Guild was left in a severely weakened state . Traven himself perished in the struggle . Following his death , the Champion became the new Arch - Mage of the Mages Guild . The Champion did not , however , lift the Ban , possibly due to the horrors witnessed during the attack , and the fact that there were still vengeful Necromancers left from the Order of the Black Worm ' s collapse . Suffice to say , during and after the Attack , opinions on Necromancy were shifted to a more negative outlook .