Necromancer

Necromancer Guild
Image copyright of Simutronics Corporation
Primary Skillset:	Survival
Secondary Skillsets:	Lore, Magic
Tertiary Skillsets:	Armor, Weapon
Special Abilities:	Risen
Mana Type:	Arcane
Barbarian - Bard - Cleric - Commoner - Empath - Moon Mage Necromancer - Paladin - Ranger - Thief - Trader - Warrior Mage

The basic outline of ideologies and the overview of the Necromancy spellbooks were posted by Armifer in The Necromancer official forums on 01/02/2008.

All other information, unless otherwise noted, was taken from GM posts in the same forums.

Joining/Playability

The Necromancer Guild is intended, by design, to be an advanced option. It is intended to be there for players who are already familiar with the game and want to try a profession that includes some novel and difficult permutations on the normal play experience.

This is not the same thing as an ultra-exclusive treehouse that only the most dedicated 1% of scripters can enter. The Necromancer Guild may be difficult to enter and advance in, but it will not be exceptionally so. If a player wishes to create a Necromancer PC after the guild is released, he will be able to do so with only a minor time investment. The sadism inherent in the design of this guild is meant to be playful, not an actual hindrance to your enjoyment of the game.

Spellbook Overview

Magical theorists recognize two forms of necromancy: Perversion Necromancy and Corruption Necromancy. In a mechanistic approach to the discipline, this works well. Necromancy is the result of two distinct mixtures of mana, Life plus either Elemental or Lunar, which this separation embodies.

Necromancers are not mechanistic and they usually are not magical theorists either.

The tri-spellbook separation -- the ABCs of Necromancy -- was the standard among most cults, though variations existed. The Dragon Priests are notoriously bookish, classifying no less than thirty different Necromancy spellbooks across obscure cultural and magical lines. In sharp contrast, the doctrine of the Bone Elves states that any sort of classification system is the product of childish (non-Elven) minds attempting to comprehend the one, true path of power that encompasses mastery over all facets of death sculpting.

In recent years, the rogue Necromancers known as the Philosophers of the Knife codified the fourth spellbook, Transcendental Necromancy. This was not the discovery of some new source of power, but simply an organizational change reflecting their own priorities and values.

Animation

Animation is a thematic spellbook, borrowing spells that would otherwise fit into Blood Magic or Corruption if it involves meddling with the undead. Animation is used to create undead minions, manipulate the undead in various ways, and strike at the animating force behind other Necromancers' creations.

It is important to note that the undead creations of the Animation spellbook are always temporary, and often vanishingly so. Necromancers must invest the time and effort of creating a Risen -- a far more hands-on project than merely casting a spell -- if he wishes to have a long-term minion.

Blood Magic

In short, Blood Magic deals with the manipulation of blood, acid, and raw "life force" (vitality).

Blood Magic is one of the "pure" spellbooks, analogous to the Perversion Necromancy book. It deals exclusively with the results of mixing Life and Elemental mana, and is an omnibus for such spells that do not otherwise fit in the Animation or Transcendental Necromancy books.

The spellbook gets its name from the tone of its spells and the medium through which it usually works. The Life + Elemental mixture creates spells that are wild, visceral, and brutish. Blood Magic includes most of the Necromancer's arsenal of Targeted Magic spells and direct, lethal combat magic.

Appropriately enough, Blood Magic has a strong relationship to blood. Some of them work better if the Necromancer (or his victim) is bleeding freely, while others may require it to function at all.

Conjured acid falls under the domain of Blood Magic. Some Necromancers consider acid to be a physical manifestation of necromantic magic, in the same way that other disciplines have holy fire or living shadows.

Corruption

In short, Corruption deals with the conjuration of poison, disease, and more refined forms of illness.

Corruption is the second "pure" spellbook, analogous to the Corruption Necromancy book. It deals exclusively with the results of mixing Life and Lunar mana.

This mana mixture works through decay of various forms, from flesh-eating bacteria to diseases of the mind. Corruption includes many of the Necromancers' most subtle spells, some of which are "legal" by dint of the fact that no one around the Necromancer can detect anything wrong has happened.

Conjured poison and disease falls under this category, as well as obscure forces that corrupt the emotional balance and mental faculties of the target. Some of the effects of Corruption could be poetically said to cause a "soul sickness," but these spells cannot actually impact the health of the victim's spirit.

Transcendental Necromancy

In short, Transcendental Necromancy deals with spells that make the Necromancer more (or less) than Human.

Transcendental Necromancy is a thematic spellbook, devised in the same way that Animation is. While the tradition of organizing Transcendental Necromancy as its own spellbook is less than a century old, many of the spells that populate the book are as old as necromancy itself.

This spellbook focuses strictly on enhancing the magician who casts the spell: all Transcendental Necromancy spells are self-cast only. The spells are always beneficial, bolstering the Necromancer's own latent abilities or granting him entirely new ones, though sometimes Pyrrhic in nature. These spells are often monstrous to behold, making the Necromancer obviously inhuman under their duration.

Ideologies

Ideology Overview

Why?

By more than any other quality, Necromancers define themselves on that question. While there is no such thing as a necromantic federation or "guild," cults and lone Necromancers have been known to align themselves along ideological lines. When even the gods themselves are against you, it's nice to have someone who can offer something even deeper than lore, wealth, or power: a broad understanding of you and your discipline.

With the end of the era of cults coming upon them, a number of the subtle shades of meaning and nuance that defined necromantic ideologies have been washed away. In modern times, the surviving Necromancers broadly recognize three different camps

The Perverse

Why? Why not?

When you ask a random Elanthian to picture what a Necromancer is, he envisions a member of the vast ideological camp known as the Perverse. The Perverse encompasses the "old school" of necromancy and the stereotypical image of the marauding Necromancer who rises a vast army of undead to defile all that is good and pure.

Of course, things are rarely so simple. The Perverse encompasses incredibly diverse groups and individuals, including most of the major names in necromancy. A Dragon Priest and a Bone Elf are both Perverse, yet they practice the discipline for wholly different reasons. The ideological tie that binds is rejection of any overarching moral dimension to necromancy. The Perverse are universally so broken and so distant from social norms that they cannot internalize any value difference between bringing the dead to unholy life as a mindless killer and learning to wield a sword.

While the Perverse suffer the most at the hands of society and the gods, they also retain the most temporal power. All of the major necromantic organizations, as well as every known lich, are Perverse. With the end of the cults at hand, the Perverse are gearing up to take as many Elanthians with them on the way down as they can.

The Perverse have no other binding characteristics, and rarely even consider themselves part of any ideological camp. The idea of branding all these diverse cults together due to their moral failing comes from the other two camps, it is not a product of the Perverse's own self-identity. The Perverse rarely refer to themselves as such, and only then in bitter irony.

The Perverse regard the other ideological camps as childish; weak and non-committal Necromancers playing at elaborate games because they cannot accept the brutal realities of life. The other camps, and most Elanthians in general, regard the Perverse as monsters in Human skin

The Redeemed

Necromancers do a lot of bad things. It is simply a reality that in the course of practicing the discipline, a Necromancer goes against all societal norms and even the express wishes of the gods themselves. It is impossible for anyone except the most misanthropic to do these things without some lingering regret.

All Necromancers eventually confront the bitter truth of their discipline, and in turn most Necromancers fall. They tell themselves lies, they steel their hearts, and they refine whatever drove them over the brink into a burning mania. A rare few Necromancers face the darkness in their soul and come out of it with a moral and spiritual awakening. Realizing the horrible mistakes they have made in their lives, they kneel in supplication to the gods once more. In the glory and mercy of the Immortals (some of them, anyway), they are granted redemption.

The Redeemed style themselves as "good guy Necromancers," but the reality of their existence is far from romantic. While the Redeemed have often faced the character flaws that drove them to necromancy and became better people for it, temptation and taint will follow them to their graves.

Redemption has its price. The gods expect the Redeemed to forever give up the profane arts: they may not use Animation or Transcendental Necromancy magic, nor may they ever again create a Risen. However, the gods do not do anything to prevent the Redeemed from doing these things. The gods judge the Redeemed silently, ready to strike them down once more if they slip even once. The Redeemed fear this fate more than death itself. By becoming Redeemed, a Necromancer burns all his bridges among the cults. The twice-damned has twice as far to fall, and no friends in the pit he would land in.

Further, while the gods have forgiven the Redeemed, society has not. The governments of the Provinces do not care about a Necromancer's fanciful tales of revelation and redemption, seeing it little more as a disgusting ploy for leniency. The Redeemed are hunted just as surely as any other Necromancer by the followers of the gods that have forgiven them.

The Redeemed regard the other ideological camps as monsters who have fallen to moral and spiritual decay. The other camps regard the Redeemed as sycophants who cling desperately to the tyrannical gods that disowned them to begin with.

The Philosophers of the Knife

The third ideological camp is young, the result of some obscure movement in the drama of the necromantic subculture. They do not often talk about the origins of their philosophy, and in turn few outside their peers know the story. What is known is that there is an approach to necromancy called the Philosophy of the Knife, whose adherents face off in equal measure against both monsters and gods.

The Philosophers refer to their approach to necromancy as the Great Work, and if you were speaking to one you could hear the capital letters. They pursue necromancy not for temporal power, but because they believe that through necromancy they will find the road to transcendence. While it is certainly a fact that powerful Necromancers can become immortal liches, the Philosophers seem to want something more and their passion for this state drives them to accept atrocity in its name.

Unlike the Perverse, the Philosophers are keenly aware of how perilous their journey into the darkness is. The Philosophy of the Knife is a system of moral principles and assumptions whose best known axiom is, "Between a Necromancer and a monster is the width of a knife."

In their grim pursuit of fleshly alchemy and transcendence, the Philosophers reject both the excesses of the Perverse and the moral authority of the gods. This has given them the fairly unique position of being hated by everybody. Despite this, the Philosophy of the Knife continues to grow and spread through the necromantic cults, often spurring individual Necromancers to abandon their fellows in exchange for solitary advancement of the Great Work.

The Philosophers regard the other ideological camps as naive; the Perverse are child-like and the Redeemed are moral and intellectual midgets. The other camps regard the Philosophers as dangerous mavericks that follow an absurd and contrived philosophy.

A Way Out

A lot of talk goes into the Necromancers vs. the Gods. But, you see, the gods aren't the immediate problem. They are the mad architects of man's misery, but they are not the instrument by which humanity suffers. Humanity is locked in a struggle against its environment which begins with the pain of birth and inevitably ends with the bleak hell to which all souls are consigned when they die a final time.

This word bears repeating: inevitably. No matter how good you are, no matter how perfect you lived your life, no matter what the balance of your sins and virtues are, you die. You might die very quickly, or you might go on for a thousand years on a wing, a prayer, and a little necromantic magic, but your final reward for enduring the sick game the gods have laid out before you is death. Every natural mechanism, no matter how benevolent seeming, exists for the express purpose of leading man down a set path to his obliteration. It doesn't matter if you are a saint or a sinner, the end game is exactly the same.

Nature is the enemy of the Philosophers, because they see it for what it is: the charnel house of the gods.

With far more desperation than zeal, the Philosophers want a way out. They want to end their participation in the gods' soul-crushing machine; they want an end to pain, disease, hunger, and death. They desperately hope that somewhere in the most terrible corners of the human experience, hidden in the dark, they will find the endless dawn that is the birth-right of every man who stares at his world and sees how truly wrong it is.

After all, it's not like they have much to lose. What are the gods going to do, damn them? Kill them? As if that wasn't in the cards already.

Changing Ideologies

The Redeemed have a mechanical definition. Your character needs to actively seek out the state, and then be mindful that they do not let it slip (ever; a Necromancer can only enter the state of redemption once).

The Perverse is a bit more fuzzy. You never officially "join the club" or anything, but if your Outrage meters pass a certain point, various NPCs will consider you one of the Perverse for better or worse -- usually worse.

The Philosophers are a little different, and we'll discuss them in more detail as we get closer to the release of the guild.

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 gods.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

Perversion

Divine Outrage and the state of being Perverse are not binary, but instead a gradual descent. The further you slide, the more qualities of the Perverse you pick up. It depends on how far the Necromancer has fallen.

If the Necromancer keeps his soul vaguely intact, Holy spells will treat him as a normal Human(-equivalent). Blasting Necromancers with Harm Evil is not going to be possible unless the Necromancer is doing a lot of things wrong.

The Perverse are a dead giveaway, while the Redeemed cannot be detected at all in this manner. The Philosophers are iffy, based largely on how close to being Perverse they happen to be at the moment.

Important to remember at this point that Holy magic does not usually invoke the direct attention or intervention of the gods. It is the science of using Holy mana to achieve spell effects. Holy mana is an unintelligent, inanimate force. It does not care about Necromancers. It's the magicians and gods that manipulate it that usually do. Unless the gods are so outraged that they specifically mark the Necromancer so, there's no reason Holy spells will treat them any differently.

The Decline

• At low levels of perversion (or while in the state of Redemption), a Necromancer cannot be specifically outed through supernatural means. Assuming they can control the corruption on their soul and hide their identity there is no reason why another PC (or their spells) would ever know the difference.

• At a certain point of perversion, Clerics and Moon Mages may be able to detect them via the PERCEIVE ability.

• At another, different point of perversion, you will no longer be able to render aid to their corpse.

• At the far edge of perversion, you will be able to blast them with Harm Evil (and get the standard holy mana bonus). The Necromancer has essentially become a cursed being and all disadvantages of that type apply.

GM-NPCs

• Evil/Necromatic GM-NPCs will have same mechanics. The plan would allow you to use Plague of Scavengers on Xerasyth, for example.

Redemption

>>Does this mean that a Necro of any circle--after having achieved sufficient status as Redeemed--will be the exception to the "can't switch guilds after circle 1" rule?

Absolutely not.

The Necromancer who manages to seize redemption might, after the initial euphoria drains away, notice that something is a little...wrong. They may be redeemed in the eyes of the gods, but the damage they inflicted on their souls is still there.

A Redeemed still sees the sickening whorls of Arcane mana out of the corner of his eye, stalking him like a beast. The supernatural forces of Elanthia will still reject him: his Inner Fire has smoldered, his Empathy is shattered. Nature abhors him, the Plane of Probability is closed to him, and the aether spirits will not heed his call. Even if he is Redeemed, he is a Necromancer. No matter how long or how hard he runs, he can never fully escape his past.

Opinions among the Redeemed on this issue are split. Some simply fade away into lives of obscurity. They take up the plowshare and accept that whatever will be, they have at least won free from the madness and spiritual decay of their discipline. The wounds in their soul remain, but they do not fester.

Others see this as, in a bizarre way, part of a divine quest. They look for any sign by the gods that may suggest that they can prove their sincerity and win not just redemption, but rebirth and purification. Some of these crusaders attempt to do some measure of good to others, even though the powers they possess are greedy and destructive. Some of them turn inward, reckoning that they alone have the knowledge and means to beat the Necromancers at their own game.

The later ones inspire fear out of proportion with the chance of encountering one, but a homicidal Redeemed is one of the worst things any other Necromancer (including other Redeemed) could meet. There are tales of lone Redeemed murdering entire cults, conjuring acid and poison with one hand and wielding torch-fire in the other.

No matter what road a Redeemed Necromancer takes, however, purification is a long ways away.

Skills

Skillset

Since there may be some confusion here:

• Survival Primary
  
• Magic and Lore secondary
  
• Armor and Weapons tertiary
  

Scarification

Scarification is a guild-specific Magic skill, which they will learn at a secondary rate. It will not be a primary rate skill for Necromancers.

Why?
Part of it is consistency. Even though Astrology is important to the identity of a Moon Mage, they are magicians first and foremost. The bread and butter of the Moon Mage lifestyle is being a magic user, everything else takes a back seat to that.

Scarification is important to the identity of Necromancers, but in modern times their first and foremost concern is to survive. The Great Work / your own private undead army / redemption isn't going to matter much if they strip your soul naked and hang you first.

Part of it is lore-based. Astrology and Scarification both represent manipulation of forces that even their practitioners do not fully understand. If there is such thing as a Astrology Prime Moon Mage, he is a seer without modern peer, perhaps like Jares Braun and Master G'nar Peth of old. If there is a Scarification Prime Necromancer, the dread lich is well and truly buried in history.

Magic

Planned Spells

• It is unlikely that necromancy spells will released prior to the guild. There is a chance that a few might be released on scrolls first, but plan on seeing most (if not all) released concurrently with the guild instead.

• The old descriptions of Evocation and Domination Sorcery as Necromancer spellbooks have been thrown out. The Sorcery spellbooks still exist, they are just not a part of the Necromancer selection of spells.

• The necromancy spells listed on the play.net website are NOT accurate. Some have been changed significantly from their teaser descriptions, while others have been tossed out the window completely.

While Redeemed

Two of the four spellbooks are prohibited when you're Redeemed: Animation and Transcendental Necromancy.

Should you choose to use either spellbook you will have the capability to do so. However, you will no longer be considered Redeemed. The gods will not stop you from using them, but they'll judge and punish you if you do.

Corruption and Blood Magic spells can be used as normal.

Sorcery

• Necromancy is a subset of Sorcery. Sorcery is dangerous and unstable magic that society abhors and that may or may not have some intrinsic evilness about it. Blackfire is an example of this. Necromancers are as free to dabble in Sorcery as any other guild, but they will not have any special access to the non-Necromatic parts of it.

• Necromancy is created by mixing Life mana with either Elemental or Lunar mana. Life mana is always used in the mix, by definition. Holy mana does NOT mix with Life mana.

Mixing Life + Holy

What would happen if someone theoretically tried to force Life and Holy mana together?

Nothing exceptionally interesting, outside the normal necromantic backlash.

The inability to mix Holy and Life has the very noticeable side effect of not allowing a "holy necromancy" to exist, yet it doesn't seem directly related to this end. The gods do not show up and smack you for doing it, it just...doesn't work. It appears that a divine edict has found an accomplice in natural law.

Perhaps the gods have meddled with the laws of the universe to prohibit it. Perhaps this proof there is some innate, cosmic evilness about necromantic mixtures, to the point where the very mechanism is repelled by the emanations of the gods. Or perhaps this is just one very interesting coincidence.

Combat

Necromancers will not have any particularly noteworthy combat abilities. They may get spells that are exceptionally potent versus corporeal undead, but nothing special against the non-corporeal. No reason they wouldn't be able to use a blessed weapon if a Cleric wants to give them one handle-first.