Necromancy

### History

Necromancy is the magical art of raising the dead. Founded by a Tenemir (Dark Elf) by the name of Magas. Magas was the First and Last Emporer, Grand Witch King and Arch Lictor of Nechatan. An empire now lost to time, its many secrets died with it and so to did the art of necromancy. Until an Oushivian Magistar, smitten by the ruins of Nechatan delved deep to find its treasures and find them he did.

Amongst the fine clothing and trinkets of the lost civilisation, this Magister uncovered vast Necropoli, huge buildings containing embalmed corpses. Unlike other recently unearthed dead, those found entombed in the Necropoli were still fresh. If not for the fact they weren’t just unearthed they could have died yesterday. Amongst the well preserved dead the secrets of necromancy were rediscovered.

Necromancy is a taboo practice in the world of Aether that many know of, but few understand. This is because the history of the now fallen Dark Elf Empire turned into myths and legends as the years passed. With each retelling, the stories became further skewed from the truth. So the concept of raising the dead is commonplace among the people of Aether, but someone with the knowledge to do so is few and far between.

Necromancy is a closely guarded secret among a group of families known as the Macabre Host. This organisation has guided and policed the study of Necromancy since its founder established the order centuries ago. The aim was to study Necronmany in a controlled manner each member policing the others in case one goes too far. Based on the old houses of Nechatan at the height of Dark Elf Empires power the houses are known as

II –House of the Black Shield.

III –House of the Shining Dead.

IV –House of the Sword.

V – House of the Watchers.

VI – House of the Wardens.

VII – House of the Rose Unblown.

VIII – House of the Keepers.

IV – House of the Sewn Tongue.

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## How To Raise the Dead and Alienate People

The practice of raising the dead involves two key steps. First is the ritualistic preparation of the body. Secondly is the magical infusion required to mimic life force in the dead.

### Preparation

For the undead to fulfil the actions required by their Necromancer firstly the body must be fit for purpose. A corpse can come in all shapes and sizes as well as different stages of death. As a result, Necromancers must make special preparations to the body they are wanting to raise. Like how a mortician prepares bodies for burial a necromancer prepares bodies for ‘life’.

***Note: Corpses can only be raised if the corpse has not been tampered with to the point that it no longer resembles itself before death both internally and externally.***

Because with life comes movement, strength and agility. These are things an untreated corpse is not prepared for. No matter how skilled a necromancer is, a body can never be made to be better than it was in life. It would take a very skilled necromancer to prepare a body that could match its own abilities before death.

Bodies go through several stages post-mortem different preparations must be made to counteract each stage. Stages below, please note for any corpse, regardless of how fresh they are, each stage must be completed to ensure they do not start degrading before they are due.

The whole process takes a prepared Necromancer an hour to complete, the difficulty is in the monitoring and ensuring of several key areas for a perfect raising.

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#### Pallor Mortis & Livor Mortis

Pallor Mortis is the pailing of the skin as a result of the heart ceasing to beat. This will cause the blood to pool in certain spots and eventual due to gravity moving the lowest parts of the body, Livor Mortis. An undead afflicted with Pallor Mortis or Livor Mortis will have easily defined weak spots denoted by the lighter patches of skin on their bodies.

To counteract these effects and prevent them the heart of a corpse must be artificially pumped, either manually by massage or magically.

#### Algor Mortis

Algor Mortis is the change in body temperature, this is due to several factors. A corpse will either heat up or cool down to the ambient temperature. An undead afflicted with Algor Mortis will either be brittle (too cold) or mushy and malformed (too hot). To combat this a Necromancer must keep either the body or the surrounding area at a consistent 37C (98.6F) internal body temperature.

#### Rigor Mortis

Rigor Mortis is the tightening of muscles, this is due to the lack of certain cells in the muscles. An undead afflicted with Rigor Mortis will be stiff and slow. To remove these effects an elixir containing: beef tallow, sunstone and moss must be injected into the muscles regularly to prevent Rigor Mortis.

#### Putrification

The decomposition of a corpse cannot be undone, the Necromancer's goal is to slow or stop this process whilst they work on the other areas of concern. This is achieved by removing as much moisture from the corpse as well as the surrounding area as possible. This often involves the bodies being lined with rock salt to absorb excess moisture.

#### Skeletonization

Once a corpse has completely decomposed they become a skeleton. Just like putrification, this cannot be undone. A skeleton can still be raised, with much less preparation. However, it is far weaker than a fresher body and does not last as long.

## Magical Infusion

Once a body is prepared the Necromancer can set about the magical rite that will force life onto the lifeless. A soul is a bridge between our world Aether and the plane of Vessix and Sillia. Therefore,  it is impossible to create one. Any attempt to artificially create a soul has failed as it has no counterpart on the other plane. As a result, when raising the dead, a soul cannot be created for them. Instead, the Necromancer splinters their own soul sharing a part of themselves with the corpse to allow it temporary life. This has implications both for the risen dead and the Necromancer.

#### Necromancer

The Necromancer having temporarily shared a part of their soul, their life force, with their new undead servant will start to experience necrosis across their body. Necrosis is the death of body tissue, and this is because now the Necromancer is not whole in body and soul. This along with a weakened constitution will affect the Necromancer until the undead either collapse naturally or is undone.

Because of these side effects raising an undead is a dangerous task for the Necromancer to undertake. Raise to many and they risk becoming too weak and their body rotting away before them. Therefore practising Necromancers are only able to raise three undead or risk death.

#### Risen Dead

The newly risen dead having been gifted temporary life have a limited time in this world. The splinter of soul they have been gifted bringing them to life is also their downfall. The soul knows the body it now inhabits is not its own and without a more dominant soul to balance it out the body begins to decay.

At most a risen undead will last a couple of months doing simple tasks before collapsing. An undead used for combat purposes can last at most 3 days due to how much more movement is required.