Outrage

Outrage

In the same way that Thieves have confidence, Paladins have soul state, and so on, Necromancers will have "necro-meters." The tentative title for this is Outrage.

Outrage will be used to determine a Necromancer's relative position to Perversion. It's intended to be as fuzzy as possible, but as you accumulate more Outrage you accrue more of the supernatural and social qualities of being one of the Perverse, such as the ability of Clerics to easily sniff you out.

Divine Outrage

Divine Outrage would be a measure of how upset you've made the gods, and is specific to the Necromancer's relationship with the Thirteen Immortals. If someone wants to say that a never seen, pagan god of a distant continent thinks necromancy is the bee's knees, that's swell. But the actual, verifiable gods that grant your character favor and claim authority over the Starry Road will take exception.

In general, the gods are a pretty mellow bunch. They're usually content to ignore casual blasphemy, probably because they figure the person that yells "Screw Kertigen!" on the gweths is a moron that can't actually do anything to injure them or disrupt their religion.

For whatever reason, necromancy is different. There is some quality to necromancy that causes the gods to react and react hard. And when you put it in perspective, it's just a little weird. The Immortals are perfectly fine with Warrior Mages creating pyroclastic clouds of death; Moon Mages get a pass even when they're bringing extraplanar monstrosities into reality through a field of broken spatial planes; Barbarians never have a problem, even if they raze entire villages and slaughter nations of innocent life. Yet if you raise one little corpse as an undead minion, you're public enemy #1.

At this point, the Immortals have not gone to great length to explain themselves.

Before the guild is released, we will hear:

1) Why the Necromancers think the gods hate them.

2) Why the Clerics and Paladins think the gods hate Necromancers.

We will not hear:

3) Which one, if either, is the vast cosmological truth as spoken by the prophets in the holy texts of the Necromancer Guild design documents.

• Divine Outrage is not necessarily bad, depending on how you wish to play your character. He acquires a certain set of supernatural weaknesses as he falls, but at the same time his ability to employ some of his spells and Scarification is amplified. If you think you can mitigate the negative sides of Divine Outrage, it is entirely possibly that flipping the bird to the gods is the right thing to do. If you prefer your play experience to be a little more predictable and unburdened, it is in your interest to keep your character's blasphemy to a low simmer.

• The Corruption and Blood Magic spellbooks do not directly cause Divine Outrage.

• There will be nothing in the Redeemed state that prevents outrage. It's simply that if you ever accrue any Divine Outrage after the fact, you cease to be Redeemed and can never return to the state.

• It is possible that a Necromancer who has fallen from redemption could earn more Divine Outrage per action than someone who was never in that state. It is not planned at this time, though it "isn't a bad idea."

• The Perverse and Redeemed take it for granted that the gods are jerks/infinitely wise, but the Philosophers in particular are interested in a treacherous question, "Why us?" We'll explore this a little more in the future.

Social Outrage

Social Outrage would be a measure of how upset you've made society (and how badly society as a whole wants you dead right now).

• Social Outrage is, indeed, entirely a negative experience. It never benefits the Necromancer to be caught in the act, unless he enjoys being persecuted.

Justice

The justice system was written to allow anyone to accuse others of necromancy. Pretty hefty penalty for being wrong. (And you can be 'wrong', even if somebody is a necromancer, there will have to be some kind of proof the system can notice, to among other things discourage well monied people from just accusing anyone because they can.)