Outrage

In the same way that Thieves have confidence, Paladins have soul state, and so on, Necromancers will have "necro-meters." The 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.

Outrage will decay gradually as you are logged in, but you can only get a total of 2.5hrs worth of drain per day.

States of Being

Since there's some confusion on this point, I want to clarify how the god-murder works.

Beyond Divine and Social Outrage, there's a third element to the "necro-meters" that is far more stable: your state of being. Divine Outrage comes and goes, but your Necromancer's state of being changes rarely and dramatically. You do not change your state of being without it being extremely obvious. The states of being the Philosophers are aware of in-game are Unsullied, Forsaken, Redeemed, Lichdom and Transcendence (Redemption encompasses both an ideology and a state of being, Transcendence may or may not actually exist).

The godly murder you experience when you first start using Call From Beyond or Spiteful Rebirth has nothing directly to do with your Divine Outrage: instead, it's the events that herald your growth (decay?) to another state of being. These spells represent the pinnacle of what the Immortals hate about Necromancers and can immediately place you on their black list, no matter how "good" you are. Being smote can also happen due to extreme Divine Outrage, but that's not the cause in these cases.

As of now, the only state change currently supported is the most fundamental one: from the first state ("Unsullied") to the second ("Forsaken"). Changing your state beyond being a forsaken Necromancer will require your explicit intention and some time with the Old Man.

-Armifer

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.

• There will be signs as you are nearing the top end of Divine Outrage. If you hit endzone on Divine Outrage, casting any further spell causing Outrage will have a >5% chance of being slain on the spot in entirely undramatic fashion.
  • Liches or people who have achieved some measure of true Transcendence (though not necessarily full) are above being struck down by the gods' whimsy.
  • The struck dead penalty is an expression of the gods' contempt. You are being struck down with as much concern and effort as you would swat a bug on your computer desk. The living, mortal Necromancer is within the Immortals' control.
  • When a Necromancer has taken the Descent, and especially if a Necromancer ever managed to complete the Great Work, the Necromancer is not so much anymore. They're Something Else and the gods cannot simply wish them away anymore. The gods have to approach them as legitimate threats, demonic pawns...or, the Philosophers would argue, equals.

Divine Outrage for spellcasting

First off, there's three ways a spell can give you Divine Outrage.

• 1: Being in the Animation spellbook.
• 2: Being in the Transcendental Necromancy spellbook.
• 3: Being an especially nasty spell.

When speaking of this mechanic in the fiction, we refer to a spell that triggers any of these conditions as "evil spells."

For conditions #1 and #2, after you cast your first spell from that spellbook, you do not gain any more Outrage for doing so in the next five minutes. Cast Butcher's Eye and you can cast any other Transcendental spell for the next five minutes without pissing the gods off further. Animation and Transcendental Necromancy are tracked seperately for this (casting Quicken the Earth and Butcher's Eye back to back is two hits, casting Butcher's Eye and Kura-Silma back to back is one).

3 can vary on a spell by spell basis, but will usually give you a hit every single time its cast, in addition to any Outrage gained from the first two categories. Also note that spells outside those two spellbooks can be flagged as evil, but usually aren't.

Also bear in mind that spells that require the Transference link will also get nailed by Outrage for doing Thanatology, in addition to the spell based Outrage. Thanatology Outrage accrues per ritual performed.

They'll be monitoring Outrage numbers pretty closely after release and likely tweaking them extensively. This has been the hardest part of all to balance and will benefit from having a number of people playing with the system.

Favors

Unsullied (newbie, pre-damnation) and Redeemed necromancers gain favors and can depart like every other player in the game. An unsullied necromancer might have enough Divine Outrage to prohibit Clerics from successfully using their corpse-assisting spells on the Necromancer, but even then they retain full use of DEPART and favors. Redeemed never have any problems here.

Forsaken Necromancers lose all their favors upon their damnation and... never get any more. The secret of the necro favor is that there is no such thing as a necro favor. Instead, they can have access to up to three options.

• 1: They may do a favorless depart like everybody else. This lands them in the exact same spot and with the exact same penalties as anyone else that departed there with 0 favors.

• 2: They may DEPART GUILD. This is almost exactly like the favorless depart, except that the destination is the Necromancer guildhall. Useful if you can't be seen at a nearby shrine, just bear in mind the complications you're setting up for yourself if your grave happens to be on Mer'kresh.

In #1 and #2, the messaging is different for forsaken Necromancers, reflecting the intervention of a "patron" which protects their soul from judgment long enough to reincarnate.

• 3: With knowledge of the 4th tier, transcendental metaspell "Spiteful Rebirth," they may DEPART DEATH to resuscitate themselves. This temporarily cripples the Necromancer with a potent version of Death's Sting and brings him back at the very brink of life, but it allows him to remain in full control of his possessions and location.

There are limits to how often a living necromancer can DEPART DEATH: there's a hard limit per 24 hour period based on his spirit health and Stamina, and a short-term limit that he cannot use it again while still laboring under the Death's Sting from a previous death.

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.
• Social Outrage is what allows people to squeal on you to the justice system. It is essentially guaranteed to work if you are within the justice area with your Risen or Transcendence buffs active. Beyond that Charisma will be a factor in seeing whether or not the posse is sent after you (and in sentencing if you get caught). The posse will not be the automatic one you get for in-town murder, so escaping will help somewhat. False (or unsuccessful) accusations will end up with the accuser being charged with forbidden practices, so you don't get perma-outed as a necro for having that on your rap sheet. Social Outrage is not province-specific.

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.)

• The Analogous Patterns Spellbook are legal, and not considered to be the use of sorcery or necromancy.