Necromancy

*"Rise. Rise! RIIIISEE!"*

**Necromancy** is the School of Magic that deals with the manipulation of the Soul and the creation of Undead.

## Alignment

While in and of itself Necromancy is only a tool (and as such, it is neither good nor bad) the use of practice by the Dark Gods and their servants has made it a School of Magic practiced almost exclusively by people working with the Dark.

## The Art of Necromancy

### Life-Force Manipulation

Most of the skills accessible to Necromancers are based on their ability to destroy, create and transfer Life Energy.

In this regards they are not much different from healers of The Light, the only difference being that Necromancers can also create negative life force (entropic energies) and drain specific areas of life energies beyond their natural limit (usually killing whatever they are draining). Skilled necromancer can also create temporary pseudo-souls they can infuse into objects and command or permanently warp Life Energies and bind them with inorganic materials - creating enchanted and cursed items.

### Ghoul Transformation

Certain Necromancers make a choice to pursue the fast way to gain power - at the expense of their own rationality.

These individuals, desperate or foolish, chose to stunt their own growth in the magic arts in exchange for the ability to transform into a Ghoul - a specialized combat form vile in appearance and great in power.

### Necromancy

This is the true domain of Necromancy where no other school of magic can rival it unless it is directly supported by a God, is the manipulation of the Soul. Through highly involved rituals Necromancers can create permanent Zombies, Ghosts, Vampire Wraith, and even fabled Liches. The most skilled Necromancer are even rumored to be able to summon and bind specific souls, creating the closest facsimile to True Resurrection the mortal races are capable off.

#### The Left-Handed Path

The traditional, and by far the most spread, kind of Necromancy relies on the patronage of the Dark God Crowned Death.

Necromancers include a prayer to Crowned Death in their traditional, and typically vile, rituals to raise Undead. This prayer establishes the connection that allows the Dark God to provide the creature with a fraction of his own power - thus animating it. In many cases, the prayer is intentionally included, but often enough traditionally taught Necromancers say it unaware due to it being well hidden within ancient incantations or the setup of the ritual site. This tradition of Necromancy makes raising the Undead easier, but it also makes the Necromancer depended on the help of a Dark God, even if he isn't aware of it.

#### True Necromancy

Since not many are aware of the Crowned Death's subtle manipulations only the most attentive or the most stubborn Wizards or Sorcerer Necromancers discover this the path they like to call **True Necromancy**.

This is the purest and rare tradition of Necromancy and in many aspects, it isn’t fully developed yet. Many of its spells and rituals long since forgotten or erased by those who wish to keeper the influence of Crowned Death in Necromancy a secret. A Necromancer following the True Path doesn’t rely on any outside help when creating the True and High Undead. As such the process is more difficult and time-consuming but rewards the practitioner with true mastery of oneself and the Undead.

Rumors say, that only this tradition is capable of producing Liches since anyone trying to become one following the Left-Handed Path will be consumed and forced into servitude toward Crowned Death as a Death Priest.

## Mechanics

You must have an aspect that reflects your affiliation with this school of magic. Without a reasonable justification in the story (involving the change of at least one other aspect) you cannot change Magic Schools.

You gain the Skill Necromancy with sub-skills: Creation, Change, Learn, and Destruction. In this order.

### Stunts

Stunts available to Necromancers:

*“Surrounded by Necrotic Energies”*

If there is an active spell or Necromantic Conduit Structure of the Necromancers creation present, he can use Entropic Energies to summon a Necromancy shield which can block attacks aimed at him. This allows him to roll Necromancy/Create as a Defence Roll.

*"The Deadly Art of Necromancy"*

As you use more and more necromantic energy, you become able to attack your opponents with it directly. Once you cast at least three successful spells of necromantic nature in a scene, you become able to use your Necromancy skill to attack directly in place of a Shoot roll.

## Example spells/rituals

#### Necromantic Conduit Structure:

Which are quickly summoned zombies of a short-lived nature.

If they are created as creature these zombies have a skill cap of +2 for up to 4 skills related to the task they were summoned to fulfill. They can’t last longer than one scene and fulfill only one task they were given upon their creation.

If the Necromancer wants to change their task, them giving new orders is counted as their action in the given turn. If the Necromancer wishes to summon more zombies than one, in one turn he pays a stress cost (+1 stress for every extra Zombie summoned).

If the Necromancer wishes to raise the skill cap or numbers of skill, this adds to the complexity of the spell, raising the number of shifts required for the spell to work as consulted with the GM

If they are created as a maneuver to gain an advantage, the player can narratively summon more then on Undead. The aspect created this way cannot last longer than one scene.

There must be an aspect present (on a person, location, scene) that justifies the presence of dead bodies (human, animal, or otherwise).

#### Necromantic Rituals:

The complexity of rituals and permanent enchantment are discussed and set with the GM before casting. If a player attempts one of those spell he or she may attempt other roles (or entire scenes) before starting the ritual to create temporary aspects, representing the preparations and time invested in the ritual.