Necromancy

**Necromancy** is the branch of magical studies dedicated to the study of death, the preservation of life after death and the reanimation of dead flesh. Necromancy is one of the most dangerous and controversial fields of magic, and as such, necromancers are generally barred from most societies, as the general population reviles and fears them. Necromancy is one of the oldest fields of study in the world, but as it practitioners need to be hidden from the common people, its study and development is much more secretive than any other branch of magic.

The history of necromancy can be traced to the ancient Khenomeric Empire. The School of Black Necromancy was first thought as a school of healing, as magic was at the time the most effective method of healing bar none. This field needed a great knowledge of the human body and its inner workings, and the school quickly set up to hire for them some of the most renowned medics and healers in the entire empire, with the most famous example of this being Vandervax. Their studies set in stone some of the earliest methods for wizards to expand their lifespans beyond one would assume possible, though most of the original knowledge of that time was lost. However, the eventual discovery of resurrection of dead bodies and its control over them completely changed the focus of the field. Soon the School of Black Necromancy became split through ethical lines between those who wanted to expand and preserve life while others wanted to defy and control death. The eventual victory of the latter faction, especially after the takeover of the Magoclergy, saw the split in the necromantic community complete, with necromancy turning into its modern iteration.

The banning of magic in the empire and the closing of the schools of magic represented a harsh blow to all magical fields, with necromancy being especially reviled, as the authorities made sure to burn each and every item they could find in the School of Black Necromancy. However, the loss of knowledge was not as complete as they thought, as by this point many necromancers had learned how to keep themselves alive after death, with Vandervax the Vile considered to be the first lich to ever exist, and the only “true lich” in the world. Unlike other kinds of magic, which were looked with mistrust but tolerated and eventually accepted in some way, necromancy was never recognized as anything but dark and evil wizardry. Thus, most of the developments after the exile from the Khenomeric Empire had been done in secrecy, outside of the eyes of the authorities. The occult nature of necromancy has also caused many necromantic cults to appear, often pursued by the local powers. This has not stopped certain necromantic nations to appear, such as the Necrocracy of Okhost or the City-State of Mossovoy, and even the Gnoll Empire is highly necromantic, as the higher echelons of the nation are ruled by the undead.

The inner workings of necromancy are steeped in mystery. However, we know that modern necromancy has three essential goals, from which the rest of the field branches out. The first goal is the preservation of one’s life after death. The necromancer wants to keep their soul attached to their body and in full control of it. This differs from just extending one’s life, as the necromancer’s body will eventually stop most of its bodily functions, entering a state of unchanging stasis, and by all means the body is considered dead. In theory, the necromancer can keep this state for as long as they want, though depending on the limitations on their own magical abilities it will eventually begin to wither. The second goal is the resurrection of a dead body, which is one of the darkest and most complex magical arts in existence. This is rarely successful, as the individual being resurrected cannot be dead for long before being brought back, as the amount of energy and concentration to bring them back grows exponentially the longer it stays dead. The third, and by far the most feared goal, is the resurrection of dead flesh as a puppet to command by the necromancer. This skill has become feared all throughout the step, as the hordes of undead have been used by renegade necromancers to attack and overwhelm their enemies in bodies, such as the case of Mossovoy. Plus, many cultures have beliefs that demand their dead rest in peace, and bring them back as marionettes is considered by many as sacrilege.

The ways a necromancer develops their magical arts vary, but in general, all necromancy needs at least a minimum of life magic to work. While necromancers are as able to use other sources of magical energy as other wizards, to accomplish any of the three basic goals of necromancy they require at the very least a portion of their spell to come from life magic. This dependence on life magic increases the more ambitious the spell is, and no matter how good the necromancer in question is when accessing other energies, if the minimum of life magic is not met, the spell will not work. This source of life magic must also come from a being different that the one receiving the spell. For example, if a necromancer wants to increase their own life through necromantic powers, they cannot use life energy from themselves to power the spell up; they need to obtain it from other living beings. The need for life energy is generally quite high, and many necromantic spells end up requiring a certain level of sacrifices, especially when bringing someone back from death.

Bringing someone back from the dead is the most complex of acts a necromancer can do. Generally, the process is very risky, and it is not guaranteed to work even if the necromancer in question has centuries of experience. The process has the best chances of success during the first 24 hours after death, and after that, the need for energy becomes so high and the rate of failure of the ritual so dangerous very few necromancers would be willing or able to pull it off. There are also problems with bringing one’s mind and soul back, as when they are resurrected, they are not guaranteed to be the person they once were, with many becoming completely different individuals, or realizing that they will never be fully whole again, ask for the mercy of death again. The success of this is so low that many necromancers recommend that, if one decides to become an undead with full control of their faculties, then they should turn their bodies into undead while they are still alive, something possible and much less risky, though something that still needs quite a lot of life energy.

Becoming undead while still alive is a much easier task, and one necromancers often do to themselves. While this situation often needs a regular fueling of life energy, it does not need to come from sentient beings, as certain species of animals are good enough. Many renegade necromancers, however, prefer the use of captured sentient beings, as it is much easier and the effects last longer. Those turned undead, either by coming back from the dead and those turned undead while still living, are uncanny to the general population. People and animals immediately notice something is wrong with them, even if they do not look like they are rotting or decaying in any way. As undead, they lack many of the impulses and needs from the living: they do not need to breathe or eat, they can stay completely still for hours if they so choose, and their bodies do not generate any kind of heat. If their bodies do not receive frequent life energy to fuel the spell, they will begin to rot, as the body becomes free of its apparent stasis, until they finally rot away completely and die. The only way to stop this process completely is to turn into a lich.

Liches are necromancers who have died, come back, and whose bodies have suffered a transformation that makes them immune to time, not needing to feed from life energies any more to stay in the realm of the living. The process of lichdom is highly dangerous, as it needs a great deal of sacrifices over a long period of time to achieve, and even then the limitations on the necromancers’ own powers can make them fail regardless. And even then, most liches are only what is considered an “unperfect lich”. These unperfect liches need to create “phylacteries”, items that anchor their soul to the mortal realm and feed upon the natural energies of the world. Its needs for energy are very low, and if properly created, they do not need any further sacrifices. However, if the phylactery is destroyed, the lich’s souls are separated from their bodies immediately, signaling the immediate death of the lich. “Perfect liches” are beyond rare, and it is believed that the only “true lich” is Vandervax the Vile. Vandervax’s body was altered irreversibly by the Battle of Empires, twisted into a mockery of life and death, but with his powers increased immensely. It is believed that the process of lichdom was developed by necromancers to try to imitate what Vandervax himself experienced that day that transformed him. “Perfect liches” are close to being “true liches”, not needing a phylactery to exist to keep their soul in the mortal realm, but without the same degree of changes that Vandervax suffered. One of the few known “perfect liches” is the Nameless, the current Gnoll Emperor.

As for the art of resurrecting death flesh without its original soul, it is one of the most feared arts of necromancy. Necromancers can imbue some mockery of life to decayed flesh, and even full on skeletons, making them animated once again. However, they lack any kind of ego; they have no conscience or personality, and they only respond according to a series of orders and commands established by the necromancer in question. These undead can only do what their summoner commands them to do, and since their need for energy is relatively low, they can be brought forth in great numbers, especially if there is no real interest in keeping the body from rotting or deteriorating. As the bodies brought back are not alive in any sense, the necromancers are also capable of fusing dead bodies together to create powerful undead constructs, much more powerful, but needing more energy to power and to control. However, there are many limitations to the use of these beings. First, the undead has no conscience beyond a set of instructions and basic senses, and thus it will be unable to do anything on its own unless the necromancer in question takes direct control of it, something impossible when commanding a horde of undead. Second, the actual skill and strength of the undead is laughable, as an individual undead is easily bested due to the condition of its body, and while immune to pain, it is not immune to being broken. Third, if they are cut off from their source of energy, they will crumble down immediately. And fourth, wounding or killing the necromancer will make the undead enter a hibernating phase, where they will stand completely motionless until someone else commands them, or until they ran out of magical energy.