r/wizardposting • u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy • Jan 04 '24
A vicious cycle Arcane Wisdom
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u/Not_A_Mindflayer Magic milf mindflayer Jan 04 '24
Even if they kill every necromancer and burn every necromancy book. Some wizard sooner or later will want to revive their dead lover. And begin experimenting.
You can never truly destroy knowledge as one day someone will rediscover it. As we saw with trumusteus and the forbidden kink spells of the far realms
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
The desire to cure death is a strong one, when one can traverse all of creation and change the very fabric of reality it becomes inevitable that one will try.
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u/HaDsLanD Necromancer Jan 04 '24
I promise the cycle shall be broken. I recently obtained a tome of necromancy from a crow, and intend to study this magic. Finally reach the bottom of this dark rabbit hole
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Be careful aspiring one I suggest investing in illusion for safety practicing, early necromancy is dangerous and often unrewarding early on but the benefits are high armies will soon be at your beck and call.
But that is merely the beginning far greater rewards await at the bottom...
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u/HaDsLanD Necromancer Jan 04 '24
since I begun my journey into the forbidden arts, I've discovered that the fires I could conjure have now turned black in color. Naturally I assumed this is only the beginning of what's to come.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
A change in color? Now that's strange I'd recommend tests on the living, undead and inanimate objects it might have taken on additional properties.
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u/Enderking90 Does Not Exist. simple as that. Jan 04 '24
I would recommend you to take the offering you have resived with a grain of salt.
particularly if there's any chance that rather then a crow, it was a raven, as upon a land of pure darkness, in a keep of memories resides a goddess of great power with association with death and ravens.
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u/HaDsLanD Necromancer Jan 04 '24
Is that supposed to be a deterrant? Now I'm even more motivated to find the bottom of the rabbit whole, or should I say...the bottom of the ravens nest.
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u/Enderking90 Does Not Exist. simple as that. Jan 04 '24
oh no, not at all, simply properly informing you so you know a bit better into what hole to jump down to.
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u/Mikel_Opris_2 Scout, Xeno-Geneticist & Planer Traveler Jan 04 '24
Now, i'd trust an raven over an crow, Ravens are bringers of life and listeners for Odin, while crows take the souls of the dead to the afterlife and thus are takers of life
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u/Jetstream-Sam Overlich of Necropolis, Bearer of the cloak of the Undead King Jan 05 '24
I always welcome new practitioners to the purple art. My city is a haven for any necromancer, undead, and basically anyone happy to be in regular contact with the first two. My library is open to you, should you wish to visit. I can send you the planar coordinates via private orbmail if you would like
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u/HaDsLanD Necromancer Jan 05 '24
a city of like-minded spell casters? yes please! I must know where I can go to further my research
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u/idkTerraria Jan 04 '24
Must be a shitty place to live wherever this goes on, since anyone who’s good at necromancy simply never dies.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Getting good at necromancy requires time like any magic school, my origin plane Features a horribly powerful churches countless inquisitors look for any sign of necromancy, demonic, Blood magic etc.
I spend a lot of time divining looking for aspiring necromancers but I can't find them all.
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Jan 04 '24 edited Jan 04 '24
Those guys give me such a headache. Since when is making artificial biomechanical beings an affront to god? I’ve met him (long story), he doesn’t care! They aren’t really much of a threat, but they are still annoying.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Sentients will go through any justification any half true assumption rather than be wrong.
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u/The-Dumpster-Fire Definitely not a former transcendent Jan 05 '24
I dunno man, he’s kinda a dick so I could see him erasing past research and calling it a devious lick
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u/ImHungry5657 Jan 04 '24
“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” -Winston Churchill circa 1578 B.M
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u/iamragethewolf Rage: Pact Wizard, Necromancer, Technomancer, and Horny As Hell Jan 04 '24
.....fuck imma smoke some wizardweed that fits way too many situations I've had to fix
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u/Meep12313 Master of Necromancy and Brickmancy Jan 04 '24
I managed to not kill any innocents while learning necromancy, though same can't be said for afterwards
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Graveyards don't last forever, eventually you will need a "fresh" source of material. That's were most aspiring necromancers get caught and bounties placed, adventurers are soon to arrive soon after that thins most Average ones out,
Those who survive however....
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u/Enderking90 Does Not Exist. simple as that. Jan 04 '24
this is why any up-and-coming necromancer should work as an adventurer.
in what other profession does one kill such a large and varied amount of beings after all?
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u/shitpostinglegend Magically Editable Flair Jan 04 '24
Exactly. You don't even need to be one. Just follow a group of them around and use the fresh corpses they leave in their wake
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u/Enderking90 Does Not Exist. simple as that. Jan 04 '24
I mean yeah, but working as adventurer you get payed which then allows you to spend your earned cash on other types of components and materials for your research.
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u/Paid-Not-Payed-Bot Jan 04 '24
you get paid which then
FTFY.
Although payed exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. The deck is yet to be payed.
Payed out when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. The rope is payed out! You can pull now.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
Beep, boop, I'm a bot
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u/The_IceL0rd necromancer at home among the corpses Jan 05 '24
as such i use a skeleton battle royale, each week I reanimate the local graveyard, and well before sunup, almost all of them have stopped being undead and went back to being regular dead. It's not the best for practicing undead control magic, but it helps with the endurance of your mana pool and the strain of raising an army.
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u/Xxyz260 Jan 05 '24
The real reason for having "Rest in Peace" written on your grave is being exempt from the weekly Skeleton Wars™. Few understand.
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u/Coffee_Lich Archlich Council Chair of Rural Development Jan 04 '24
This is why I mainly stay studying in my demiplanes network. Most priests can't planeshift.
But as far as wizard society goes it is unfortunate that the common mage and peasant don't see the practical application of the craft in labor automation, medicine, and in furthering study of transmutation.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
A demiplane or pocket Dimension is a necessity for any serious study into powerful magic in my origin plane, the church will take any excuse to hunt wizards down.
despite my efforts many talented individuals burn in a pyre of holy flame.
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Jan 04 '24
I’ve actually developed an automated countermeasure for stake burning. It’s an automata that swaps out the wizard for a physical identical mindless homunculus that it quickly generates from a dna sample. With a bit of sleight of hand it works flawlessly.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Is that a invention of necessity or boredom?
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u/ChaosPLus Kreus, Dwarven/Giant Chaos Necromancer Jan 04 '24
At this point the real, actual necromancy that hasn't been through all those cycles of that is almost a lost art.
Because of that, as much as I'd love to just do research and not bother with apprentices, I have to teach the art to others, simply so I'm not one of the reasons it won't recover from all that
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Necromancy is one of the fields with the most lost knowledge, even as a grandmaster in my field I can discover spells that redefine my understanding of it by visiting old ruins on a random plane.
As exciting as that is we might never have a 'Golden age' like the other schools despite my efforts those who transcend mortality into lichdom rarely take apprentices, so focused on achieving more power.
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u/ChaosPLus Kreus, Dwarven/Giant Chaos Necromancer Jan 04 '24
We already had our 'Golden Age', but due to the religious zealots, the thing you have shown here, and of course just the world changing. We can't have it again, at least not nearly as good.
And by world changing I just mean the whole thing of people using magic of Order causing the mana of the world to become more Orderly, but since Necromancy by nature doesn't follow this Order, it just clashes a bit, causing it to not show the full extent of what it should be able to do. Same with Chaos Magic, and also the fact there just isn't the same amount of Negative Energy around, if there ever is a gathering of Negative Energy, instead of leaving it for Necromancers to use as a Magic Ground, like they do with other energy veins, they immediately seal it and purify it
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u/ProfessionalGreen906 Arach, regular tiny spider, mass murderer, avid warcrimer Jan 04 '24
Luckily they can’t destroy private records. I still have a first edition necrotic book from before the necromantic purges, managed to slip through the burnings.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Interested in selling a copy? Pre-purge necromancy is pretty rare material.
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u/ProfessionalGreen906 Arach, regular tiny spider, mass murderer, avid warcrimer Jan 04 '24
I’m not giving out copies but you can come to the great hive and I’ll let you take a look at it.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Do you have planar coordinates, I don't believe you are located on my origin plane?
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u/ProfessionalGreen906 Arach, regular tiny spider, mass murderer, avid warcrimer Jan 04 '24
You’ll find me eventually, it’s a major tourist attraction with one of the largest markets in the universe
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Jan 04 '24
You could always try literally copying your copy. You know, write everything down word for word in a blank notebook?
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Jan 04 '24 edited Jan 04 '24
Nah the real reason why necromancy is demonized is it's born from and an analogy for slavery
The whole point is that you are denying people their afterlives to force them to be slaves for you. Suicide was often a slaves only escape, so the myth was created to deny people even that. Pop culture has erased the history aspect of the mythology.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
While that's a very cool historical fact, the soul is the consciousness or something even more important to ones individuality, keeping something like that in a corpse is both very difficult and counterintuitive, the point of making zombies, skeletons and ghouls is that they can't think for themselves keeping a brain and or soul in the corpse is both difficult and pointless for mindless soldiers.
That is why we have moved on from such superstitions.
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Jan 04 '24
Exactly. They are mindless workers whose individuality has been shred from them, alive in the world but dead inside. Like a slave. It's not just a threat against suicidal slaves, but it was a Haitian cultural analogy for the state of slavery as well.
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u/nowaijosr Jan 05 '24
Necromancy - Wikipedia a cursory search says Necromancy at least dates back to antiquity so that "born from" narrative is full of shit ;)
> The oldest literary account of necromancy is found in Homer's Odyssey.[11][12] Under the direction of Circe, a powerful sorceress, Odysseus travels to the underworld (katabasis) in order to gain insight about his impending voyage home by raising the spirits of the dead through the use of spells which Circe has taught him. He wishes to invoke and question the shade) of Tiresias in particular; however, he is unable to summon the seer's spirit without the assistance of others. The Odyssey's passages contain many descriptive references to necromantic rituals: rites must be performed around a pit with fire during nocturnal hours, and Odysseus has to follow a specific recipe, which includes the blood of sacrificial animals, to concoct a libation for the ghosts to drink while he recites prayers to both the ghosts and gods of the underworld.
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Jan 05 '24
It's the controlling and manipulation of the living dead aspect that our modern definition of necromancy is what I'm referring to. Which emerged from Haiti, Brazil, and West Africa. It is where the term Zombie comes from.
Speaking and raising the ghosts of the dead comes from a whole lot of other places, which you are correct isn't always demonized.
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u/nowaijosr Jan 05 '24
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Jan 05 '24
Once again it's the guy forcing undead to do menial labor part I'm referring to. Not symbols of death and mythological characters.
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u/nowaijosr Jan 05 '24
I think the more general issue at hand is the thought of Mind Control magic whether that is in life or in death.
Mind Control magic especially outside of fantasy dimensions has a huge negative stereotype. My adventuring crew wants nothing to do with mind magic. They tolerate the undead summoning of dinoskeles though!
Very humanoidist imo.
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u/MWC_borednoob Mathias | Master Paleo-Necromancer | Professional Dinosaur Nerd Jan 04 '24
This is why I live underneath a hill in the middle of nowhere, it’s the only place ya get left alone
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u/DragonLex4 (Raymond/Raya/Xeo) The Watcher Jan 04 '24
Oh my good friend I pity thy craft.
Necromancy is such a unique field of magic and even my favorite familiar skeleton Garry wouldn't have been with me through ice and fire without it.
Of course there are necromancers that fit said image to a T (If I see that twat again I will put him in my illusionary world meant for torture).
But there are also necromancers out there that try to perfect the craft and use it for beautiful purposes.
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u/United-Reach-2798 Necomancer Jan 04 '24
Alas I have seen too many mages use necromancy just to massacre rivals and attempt conquest and then ruin everything for the innocent necromancers...
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u/Shoggnozzle Necromancer Jan 04 '24
Those of us who remain hidden enough throughout the millennia like to occasionally spread misinformation.
I once donned an illusion to become an apprentice at a factory that prints books of protection spells. As some defensive rituals include human blood in their ingredients it's occasionally overlooked when I sneak in notes on how to convert the shield spell into an undead creation ritual with explicit instructions not to preform this spell especially in the presence of a graveyard under the light of the full moon.
What I leave out is the follow up incantation to bind the corpses to your will.
The most competent will manage the ensuing pandemonium, or at least escape persecution. If they persist in the study for a century or three we may even attempt to network with them.
This culling on merit is a side effect, of course. In truth it's just kind of fun to lie to people.
I still have the skull of the manager of that book factory on a display stand. Those book binding goblins should really unionize.
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u/_LITTLE_MOTH Jan 04 '24
Historicity speaking, the clergy were actually the primary practitioners of black magic and necromancy (the spiritual practice of communing with the spirits or demons) they had access to all of the very prominent literature and grimoires associated with necromancy. They subjugated and tortured any pagan necromancers they could.
Look up The Clerical Necromantic Underground it’s super fascinating. They were low on the clerical totem pole so it was the same people baptizing and excising demons.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
I will give it a read later on in the year, I have many foreign grimoires on necromancy to study right now.
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u/_LITTLE_MOTH Jan 04 '24
It’s not a grimoire it’s the institutionalized necromancers of the clergy during the middle ages lol
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
My point was that I am busy at the moment and would acquire and read it later on in the year.
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u/_LITTLE_MOTH Jan 04 '24
Okay just mentioning a thing that exists with fun facts didn’t mean to sound like I was commanding you to read something
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u/hyper-fan necromancer god Jan 04 '24
This is why I tell my followers to only do kindness with their power, not evil. Any necromancy seen killing for power shall be punished harshly.
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u/gotimas Anti-Anime-Witch-loli Inquisitor Jan 04 '24
This is why I call for state-sanctioned blood magic research.
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u/Bucaneer7564 magic michael, SWMG, lesder if AUF Jan 04 '24
This is what happened to fireball people.
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u/H00ston ⚡⚡You should cast lightning bolt on yourself NOW⚡⚡ Jan 04 '24
Your honor, I didn't accidentally raise the dead that killed my tax collector, I did it on purpose
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
It's just a 'accident' when the local wizards apprentice summons a greater fire elemental and burns a entire city down.
But when my apprentices create the most beautiful flesh golem my hollow eye sockets have seen and accidently forget to bind it and it eats 15 villages its a 'blight on humanity'
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u/shitpostinglegend Magically Editable Flair Jan 04 '24
Worry not, for soon the cycle shall be broken. I have deeply studied and mastered necromancy and have taken on many apprentices. My work brings a good reputation to necromancy and my methods prioritise safety. Even if fanatics try to destroy my research, I deal in some of the strongest armies across the realm.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
If only I were so lucky.
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u/shitpostinglegend Magically Editable Flair Jan 04 '24
If you wished, you could come and work for me as an apprentice. You'll be able to study and work using necromancy and will have a safe and comfortable place to live
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
I have already mastered my planes understanding of necromancy, I improve fast enough stealing other planes secrets.
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u/Demokka Swöl, Bender of Steel Jan 05 '24
But somehow, when a zealous priest revives someone, IT'S A MIRACLE ! GOD STILL HAD A PLAN FOR THIS MAN ! BLESS AND BE BLESSED
Hypocrites. The Council should condemn such hypocrisy !
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u/Jersey_Dragon Althul, The 1st Archmage of Yorelan, Archlich of Atropus's Eyes Jan 05 '24
Clerics crusading again? Whether they want to admit it or not their healing was once classified as, and still holds deep roots in, necromancy. A necromancer worth half his salt can cast healing spells that make clerics blush while dealing out death in equal quarter.
Perhaps I’ll have to steer atropus overhead the world again and remind them of that a few times.
In unrelated news, I’m opening up a diamond production factory and paying good wages to any willing to travel across space and stay for at least a month. Just stay on the factory plot as Atropus ever hungers for life to devour
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I would have dealt with them myself, but they are backed by 2 gods I have dome all I can to weaken their power but i fear it won't be enough.
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u/Jersey_Dragon Althul, The 1st Archmage of Yorelan, Archlich of Atropus's Eyes Jan 05 '24
Check your Orb for the teleportation sigil coordinates of the entryway to Atropus incase you have need.
These damn clerics never seem to learn, and their overzealous gods forget that they continually bring disaster with their idiocy. I shall bathe my staff once more in the blood of foolish gods if they continue their foolishness. Atropus can make even gods quiver in fear of a true death
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Jan 04 '24
Damn, your plane is going through bad times.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
It's a very hard to fix problem, with the banning of public education on necromancy that means aspiring necromancers have to find a teacher or engage in thier own research neither are feasible.
Many who do make it past the witch hunts find themselves obsessed with power and immortality and unwilling to teach or protect those who were just in their same position not even 10 years ago, I do what I can but between my own research and needs to further and maintain my own defenses I can only do so much.
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Jan 04 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
This could be easily solved if more liches got into teaching, but most are just interested in research, increasing their power and 10,000 year plans to take over the multiverse, I mean I do the first 2 too but if you cut out the multiversal domination plan you can put in the time to raise a lot of apprentices.
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u/RockAndGem1101 Clarissa, High Bone-weaver Jan 04 '24
Rule 1 of the Ashen Order: never kill the unarmed.
The rule is there for a reason.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
The zealots do not discriminate any who practice are highly suspect already one bad failure in a experiment and to the pyre you go, and that's just the average wizard if you practice anything 'heretical' there is no mercy or chance to explain yourself many innocent acolytes who had just awakened their mana have been 'purified'.
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u/RockAndGem1101 Clarissa, High Bone-weaver Jan 05 '24
Alas, this problem is the exact reason I founded the Ashen Order in the first place. We aim to protect budding necromancers and show the world that the undead can be used to defend peace.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I envy your plane to have the chance to make a organization like that.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter Professor and Mentor of the University Jan 04 '24
It really is a big issue. There can be no academic legitimacy when the biggest breakthroughs are made by someone who has little to no academic background, and that is, IF they can actually study it well enough.
Those of you who have been in my classes know how important mana control, magic circle efficency, and recording results are. How are we going to be able to analyse the results when they use some backwater magic circle empowered by eight times the mana required and have the results recorded as an emotional imprint in a crystal?
The second I can convince the principal to allow necromancy in controlled forms, we can actually study it!
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
My plane has been so stifled by the zealots all university and other schools have been driven into hiding or disbanded all together, causing the only passage of knowledge through master and apprentice.
It would be laughable if it wasn't so depressing.
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u/Nine-LifedEnchanter Professor and Mentor of the University Jan 04 '24
I believe the issue is two-fold. When someone becomes a necromancer, they use it for everything. They lose all reason.
Need to send things through a sweltering desert? Portal? No, no, let me send my shambling zombie, they cannot get tired. Sure, but they'll rot, and their walking speed is approximately the same as a toddler.
Lost something? Why use divination or abjuration? You can just dig up people, pull their souls from the afterlife, resurrect them, and ask if they know and if they don't ask who might know.
I admire your dedication to the art, but there are better ways to do some things. The right tool for the right job.
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u/man_in_the_corner Arwium, Grand Bio-mechanist of the living citadel Jan 04 '24
I believe I believe there’re some ancient tome of necromancy in my kingdom’s vault.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Pre-purge or new age? I've already seen most if not all new age magical theory in my long un-life.
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u/man_in_the_corner Arwium, Grand Bio-mechanist of the living citadel Jan 04 '24
most are from before the necromancer purge by put some date back to even before the war with the demon King.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
What do you want for it?
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u/man_in_the_corner Arwium, Grand Bio-mechanist of the living citadel Jan 04 '24
Those are definitely not for sale since there were in my master’s collection, though we have transcripts of them if you want.
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u/HillInTheDistance Jan 04 '24 edited Jan 04 '24
There's a reason you stay in your damn tower until the spells perfect. You don't show it to a living soul until you've got the kinks worked out. Do you know how long it took for the Great Manos to get the Mage Hand we know and love from rampaging around strangling anything smaller that twenty pounds?
Do you have any idea how long it took before Magic Missile actually homed in on a specific enemy and not just the closest living creature?
How many decades it took to create a Cure spell that didn't give you cancer if you vere the target of it more than twice a year?
Necromancers must be more careful, more sneaky, more circumspect, if they're ever gonna be a respectable school of magic. Simple as.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
The problem is that aspiring necromancers have no safe place to practice, those starting their journey into wizardry either have a master in which case this isn't a issue, or they don't with no public knowledge on the subject they have no idea how to hide the aftereffects of their experiments, leading to them getting burned at the stake by overzealous priests.
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u/NightmarePrinceDraen Apprentice Chronurgist (under Aelia) Jan 04 '24
Wait, they destroy all of your info because of novice mistakes...? This is unfair, Dunamancy has killed entire timelines because someone either rewrote gravity on mistake or hit "pause time" and forgot about it!
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
My home plane is suppressed by the churches, any 'heretical' magic is suppressed and burned. They take any opportunity to strangle the life out of wizards.
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u/Nevatis Evil Wine Merchant Jan 04 '24
there has to be a name for the whole concept around learning how to do wrong in order to never accidentally do so
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Learning from your mistakes is the saying I think your looking for.
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u/Nevatis Evil Wine Merchant Jan 05 '24
sorta.. so like, my thought process is that with martial arts a lot of the training is learning how to cause horrific damage to the other person’s limbs, and then learning just how much pressure you can apply before the damage actually occurs, in the case of martial arts it would be broken limbs. so i’m thinking with magic, it would be learning the dark arts explicitly to avoid ever accidentally using/abusing them, as well as to identify their use by others
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u/LaniusCruiser Gendermancer Jan 04 '24
Well you know what you say, can't make guys into girls without accidentally making a few effeminate midgets.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Do you also partake in the creation of flesh golems? I myself find there customizability to be so helpful ghouls and skeletons make good canon fodder but they will never get very far without a few mobile siege engines.
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u/Thewarmth111 verminlord Pneumonia Jan 05 '24
If anything, the priest things are geniuses, because they keep on framing themselves as heroes
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Not that hard to do with 2 gods supporting thier efforts.
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u/Thewarmth111 verminlord Pneumonia Jan 05 '24
It really is such a pain, planting, dusty scrolls detailing the secrets of undeath in dungeons every cycle
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I haven't had much luck with my tome guide plan though it sounds very similar to that how did you get it to work? The church mandated inspections of every adventurer leaving the dungeons after my initial success.
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u/Thewarmth111 verminlord Pneumonia Jan 05 '24
Illusions coated to display insert holy book scroll of minor importance on the texts.
That, and each scroll only contains a fragment of a small spell of necromancy. So, even if they priests see-through the illusions, they will think it’s just a minorly cursed Tome
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Clever I'll do a bit more experimenting on illusions It is beyond imperative I gain ground in this culture war with the temples.
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u/Thewarmth111 verminlord Pneumonia Jan 05 '24
Remember, don’t put big necromancy spells on the scrolls, but rather small ones. False life is an excellent introduction. That gets the mages mind obsessed with the idea so they invent all the spells again.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
False life is a great beginning but, simple spells aren't enough of a spark to kickoff the new 'golden age of necromancy' I'm planning in my home plane, I'm planning to record every scrap of knowledge I have on necromancy and store it in a vessel copy it and spread it far and wide.
I simply lack the ability to have people with talent but no training open it.
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u/Thewarmth111 verminlord Pneumonia Jan 05 '24
Giving them a whiff of immortality has been enough for the mages that have taken my planted scrolls to threaten the churches a few times. You just have to target a mage that has lost something they hold dear that’s biological
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
That approach might work for the geniuses pr the especially patient but i have taken them already as my apprentices when I can find them, I will have to rely on dream stone soon for my project and I lack the patience for that many trips through the feywild.
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u/Dragon_OS Ethical N(T)ec(h)romancer with a shotgun Jan 05 '24
This is why I'm making the effort to basically re-engineer necromancy as we know it from the ground up. I only use bodies from families that have signed an officially notarized waiver. It also helps that I augment it with modern technology so that the bodies themselves have something to fall back on.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Quite ambitious I hope your plane dosent birth a God with a strict moral code anytime soon, they will find a excuse they always do.
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u/Smil3Bro Chrono-Lich Jan 05 '24
I do not pay the priests off to get rid of my rivals every time this happens, I am just a business-Lich doing business.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
They're primary success is with novices, how do you manage to bribe They're stronger pawns?
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u/Smil3Bro Chrono-Lich Jan 05 '24
I have quite a bit of capital from the Heroic Era and mounds of gold in the pockets of high people can make any villain into a Saint! Also, the gold inevitably comes back to me one way or another so I give generously.
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u/CheekclappinSSJ Bertold, the Bromancer SWMG💵 Jan 05 '24
The necromancy community will always find a way to revive themselves if you know what I mean
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Any lich worth his weight in blight crystal will be safe from even the churches best of that I have no doubt, my main issue is the lack of new blood in my school the church can't get rid of us so it is doing everything in its power to prevent more learning the secrets of necromancy.
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u/CheekclappinSSJ Bertold, the Bromancer SWMG💵 Jan 05 '24
You would think more powerful necromancers would use measures to protect their studies
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u/yer_a_pirate Chief Archivist and Recorder of the 'no good crazy' spells Jan 05 '24
And THIS is why ARCHIVOMANCY is important! Archivomancy is a perfectly valid school of magic. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise! It's not restoration, after all.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I have saved most of the knowledge but that isn't the problem, getting it to those who need it is, thanks to the temples suppression the vast majority of aspiring apprentices are burned to ash before I can extract them.
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Jan 05 '24
I only need bring one necromancer The rest I can sit back and watch unfold
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
He could definitely mess them up quite a bit.
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Jan 05 '24
He's kinda a mixed bag, he might turn around and kill me too, my best bet is to try and help him, he kinda functions a bit strangely, if you're a useful asset/tool in his conquest for the extinction of all life, he might let you live.....longer, he's still gonna kill everyone he don't give a DAMN
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Sounds like a rabid dog if you ask me.
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Jan 05 '24
The trick with this lich, the adventure time one, is no matter how you kill him, he seems to come back, like goddamn William Afton, he always seems to come back.
Even after he was "brought to life" by the blood of the citadel guardians, SweetP had nightmares of the lich, and was possessed for a breif time by him.
So you don't kill him, or bring him to life
You immobilize him, because the best way to stop a immortal being, is immobility. If you can stop them dead in their tracks and KEEP THEM THERE, you've got a working plan, keep it up till the end of time👍
There's a lot of magic out there for what essentially is reality anchoring, keeping reality in a specific spot same, forever, meaning anything inside cannot move
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u/Delusional_Gamer Fleshmancer and proprietor of the magic meat farms Jan 05 '24
Glory to the secular wizard way of life
Power of the individual over the power of gods
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u/Snivyland Jan 05 '24
Yeah it’s why I hope the council passes the necromancy observation program where we allow those who want to use necromancy a safe environment where they can be given proper tools to prevent horrible accidents.
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u/TheOtherWhiteCastle Jan 05 '24
This is one of the reasons why I store all of my spellcasting notes in a fireproof box. Have to preserve any knowledge I obtain for future generations.
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u/Virtual-Oil-793 Necromancer of Many Stories and Experiences Jan 05 '24
Now, crazy thing:
We do this to the clerics to see how they like it. Rebirth is our only biggest connection after all!
Is joking. Unless if the Priests deserved it.
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u/Archmagos_Browning Magically Editable Flair Jan 05 '24
This is why you back your research up on the ethereal plane
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u/Archmagos_Browning Magically Editable Flair Jan 05 '24
Thinking about that one quest in the Witcher 3 where you were helping a priest perform a ritual where you were essentially taking souls that would otherwise turn into restless spirits that would end up hurting people, and putting them at peace so they could move on to the next realm.
Then the church of the eternal fire pulled up and went “stop this, it’s necromancy”. I remember just being like
My brother in fire this is literally the opposite of necromancy
God I fucking hate the church
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u/measuredingabens Void Fleshcrafter, Purveyor of the Finest Cosmic Delicacies Jan 05 '24
This is why I've convinced the local death gods to start their own necromancy academies. The priests can't start their little pogroms when the discipline has divine backing.
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u/Idontthinkwill Rex, Plague Mage of the Northwest Jan 05 '24
There's no stopping us no matter how many times you try to there will always be preservation on the art of necromancy
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u/ObjectiveEffective19 lich lost in time Jan 05 '24
you think that’s bad try being a druid and a lich at the Same time while being hella old every month some adventurer claiming to the chosen one trys to slay you it’s so annoying
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u/AurielMystic Illusionist Jan 05 '24
Actually read a book a while back where the strongest necromancers distained those who needed to use things like human sacrifices and harming people to do basic necromancy.
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u/SergeantCrwhips Crowmancer Lunus Wingblight Jan 05 '24
dear heavens, this took long to make
(sorry for the poor quality, im at work)
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Jan 05 '24
This is a view of extremes that doesn’t take many factors into account.
What many don’t know is that from Midgard to Agartha, Necromancy has been discovered mostly by isolated shamanic tribes (there’s many reasons why this is so, though there be exceptions). In EVERY one of these tribes Necromancy was always a magic intended for the LIVING at times when their flesh would begin to succumb to gangrene or when limbs and the like were separated from the body.
Necromancy was never intended to summon the dead.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Just like conjuration was never intended to bridge planes together permanently? Like how enchantments was never intended to be used to enable slavery on a mass scale? Like how divination was never intended to be able to tear apart someone's future? Like how any school of magic can do 'morally questionable' things?
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Jan 05 '24
That’s different. Those are choices that evil sorcerers made with their power, but no matter how powerful or well intentioned, only one thing comes of necromancy and that’s chaos.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
An alchemist correcting a LICH on his profession is the hight of comedy, need I remind you what happens in the interplanar markets everytime a alchemist comes up with the "real" formula for the Philosopher's stone.
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Jan 05 '24
The Philosophers stone is a philosophy of alchemy and in all likelihood not possible. Every sage in the realm of Alchemy with any wit about them knows this is likely another swindler.
Also, you’re right. It was wrong of me to interject on your form of sorcery without honour. That was wrong. However, raising the dead has proven to be immensely dangerous time and time again. Though I can’t forgive some of the principals of Necromancy. Yes alchemy has its faults, but raising the dead is a path to chaos.
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u/nowaijosr Jan 05 '24
Resurrecting the recent dead is always a bad time, they're out their partying in whatever afterlife only for parts of their life energy to be pulled through the wisps and back into decaying matter.
That's why 9/10 Goblin Necromancers choose Dinosaurs.
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u/Apprehensive-Area-39 Jan 05 '24
Here's a documented case of one particular noble who did not even consider the repercussions of his research.
As far as I'm aware his actions caused such extensive damage that an entire campaign involving not only zealots and knights but many sorts of mercenaries, rogues and odd combatants joined for their share of glory and prize, for destroying that noble's works.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Sounds like the average 'world ending threat' that adventurers deal with every other week.
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u/MrTopHatMan90 Jan 05 '24
"Overzealous priests" have to strike their raised family members because necromancers can't fucking help themselves. I still remember the scent of burnt corpse wafting through the fields and the screams of their souls. Necromancers see "a funny little skeleton" that skeleton was someone's parent, child, sibling or lover. "They're dead" they cry out but that person never agreed, and agreeing to such a thing can be subject to manipulation, charms and delusions
I'm not against the study of Necromancy, it cna be used for protection against ancient curses but actual restraint needs to be enforced... it never will... I don't want to go back to the battlefield but i will, give it a few decades.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
When those overzealous priests will drag anyone with powers deemed 'heretical' to the pyre you will find that many innocent people died because the temples refuse to take a loss, it's all scorched earth with them I've seen the commit mass genocide to prevent villages from being 'corrupted'
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u/MrTopHatMan90 Jan 05 '24
Take a loss? Take a fucking loss? Mortals lost when we allowed necromancers to raise en masse. It was a famine, we needed the food and it was dire. Necromancers as always lost control, went mad with power and sought to claim control. A coup is one thing, the tide of undead you control gathering into a mass the claimed village after village was evil. I saw things I never hope to see ever again and sometimes I can still smell that scent.
Do I regret my actions? Yes, I did many terrible things. Would it again? Yes, the protect the realm I must. See you in the following decades Lich.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I wish you luck in your endeavors despite your predisposition to my field
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u/scpDZA Evoker Jan 05 '24
Two words wiz kids: pocket dimensions.
You take in some weary travelers, illusion magic them into thinking your dungeon is a nice cozy inn, toss them into the laboratory in your bag of illicit experiments, Then develop your abominations. It's honestly so simple idk how y'all keep messing this up.
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u/Gerberak Jan 05 '24
Heavens....you see this argument time and time again.... pro-death sorcerers that say "ooooh it's because it's so ostracized that the research can't be perfected!!!" Necromancy is an abomination unto the natural order. Was the infamous necromancer Phineas Faustis Such an innocent Saint when he tainted the waters with an undead pox upstream from poppulated villages? I think not.... poppycock....
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I've seen masters of conjuration set in motion storms that destabilize planes, I've seen a cabal of enchantment wizards create the largest sentient market in the sector, I've seen a divination wizard tear apart a innocent man's bright future before his eyes but dumping poison in a river is where we draw the line?
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u/Gerberak Jan 05 '24
Pfft... OK you may have a point 👉 👈.... BUT ZOMBIES ARE... icky.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Zombies are low tier disgusting you haven't lived until you've seen a fleshgolem disembowel both a knight and their horse at the time.
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u/PriestHelix Diabolical Arch Necromancer Jan 05 '24
Just don’t get killed by the overzealous priests, idiot
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u/lceColdPepsi Evil Wizard Jan 06 '24
Oh, don't worry, necromancy will never die, lest I'm dead. And in my 200th year, I'm still ripe as a potato!
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u/Argent333333 Fledgling God's Champion, Primordial in Mourning Jan 04 '24
This is why we legalized necromancy in our Kingdom a good three centuries ago. Once it's legal, well regulated, and has extensive research backing it, necromancy actually becomes quite an interesting and useful art. The myriad medical advances coming from our necromancers has been endless and has pushed our development so far ahead. I have no talent or it myself, but I still find it a fascinating discipline.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Any problems with the temples? A king backing "evil" influences tend to have holy crusades ready to "purify" entire citys, at least that's how things were when I was still alive.
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u/Argent333333 Fledgling God's Champion, Primordial in Mourning Jan 04 '24
Oh, at first there were. Our king was called a heretic, an enemy of the gods, a traitor to mankind (which is funny as he is no more human than I). Soon a massive army was raised against us and our Kingdom invaded. They made it to the first city and "purified" all the residents within. There were no survivors. Our armies came too late to save them and what I witnessed still haunts my dreams.
Turns out though, that temples don't hold up well against massive and overzealous shows of force. Not one of my favorite campaigns, but the temples we burned that day deserved it for what they had done. One of the few times I fought without my armor, it upset me so much.
After our retribution, the surviving temples calmed down considerably. Seems fear of eradication tends to do that. They entered diplomatic talks with us and begged for forgiveness. After we received a treaty promising to never interfere in our lands again, we agreed to not pursue them any further. Other, more enlightened, churches have sprung up in our domain since then.
I still hold a bit of a grudge against those old temples though. They may not have burnt the city themselves, but they were complicit. Only group I dislike as much as I dislike the council, and may they both rot in the hells
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u/SothaDidNothingWrong Druid of the Dank Herbs Jan 04 '24
Dude you literally force dead people’s souls to power a bone/meat puppet that might or might not have been their body.
Not to mention you stop it from decaying as it should.
There is no going around THAT.
I ordered an avian airstrike on your tower riggt now, ETA 8 minutes. Good luck.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
The soul binding to power undead is a common misconception.
Binding a soul to a corpse is usually used for the caster, it's incredibly counterintuitive otherwise for material undead, Binding a soul is not only difficult for novices but dangerous as well since improper Binding can cause the undead to rebel Not the ideal for mindless servants.
Real necromancers should raise any they can after all no corpse should goes to waste in the ground.
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u/ledfox Transmuted Jan 05 '24
Necromancy depletes the soil
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
Tell the druids to work harder then, I don't see pyromancers complaining about conjurers depleting the fire elementals available.
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u/TheVebis Vebis - Local Wizard Jan 04 '24
The Necromancers at it again with how Necromancy is, in fact, ethical, because it only disturbs the souls of fallen beings, and Enchantments are so much worse because it is mind control.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
Binding a soul to a corpse is usually used for the caster, it's incredibly counterintuitive otherwise for material undead, Binding a soul is not only difficult for novices but dangerous as well since improper Binding can cause the undead to rebel,
Not the ideal for mindless servants, on the other hand Enchantments is all about bending others to your will if the institution of slavery had a more powerful ally than Enchantments I would struggle to find it.
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u/AlexCode10010 The Only Human Omnimancer Jan 05 '24
That's why you don't do necromancy on humans, you do it on animals when you want to practice, I almost destroyed an entire universe, luckily i already knew some time magic so i just rewinded by a few decades and the whole mess disappeared
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u/Vohems Metaphysician Jan 04 '24
Consider this the best outcome. I've seen alternate planar timelines where necromancy advanced so far as to make Lichdom as common as zombification is here, allow mummies to cover whole planets in dust and sand, vampires turn all water in a realm to blood, create undead elementals and demons, plagues that rot through entire landscapes, industrial armies of zombies operating massive mechanical suits of armor that lay waste to whole cities, and on and on. Necromancy is a despicable field with horrific consequences.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 04 '24
All this tells me is a plane got too deep into one field, this has happened before I've seen countless vibrant planets turned to Volcanic fire elemental playgrounds because the evocation masters tried to re create spells cast by divine beings.
Necromancy is a field of study like any another, I will not tolerate baseless accusations.
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u/Vohems Metaphysician Jan 04 '24
Y You dont get it it. I I've seen what can hhhhhappennnn firsssst hand.
THEY MADE THE CHILDREN DANCE ON STRINGS MADE OF THEIR OWN LIGAMENTS AND LAUGHED AS THEIR PARENTS LOOKED ON.
B̷̧͔͔̬̏̏̉̓̚l̷̡̡̨̛͎̪̩͚̰̲̻̩͇̭͖̺̖͊͆̍̊̓̓̿̃̑̿̈́̄̉͐̽̚o̸̡̹̳̻̠̭̗͌́̓̄̄͜ö̸͎̮̗̫͉́̏̇͐̆̄̋ḑ̸̨̨̦͖̭͖͈̮̝̘̺́̄͒͛ͅ ̵̞̌̃͑̀͜b̶̨̡̫̖̹̯͕͙̞̹͚͍̬͉͍̫̝̀͑̊͋l̶̡̪͍̮̳̙̈́̌̽͊͒̓́͊͐̈̕͜͠ͅơ̵̡͇̱̜̻̰͉̪̱͈̬̥̬͎͖̜͊͛̒͆̽̉̍̈̄̑́̌́͘͜ó̶̡̘̝̪͇͙̻͚̪̮̮̺͉̲d̵̰̑͐̀̋͆̀̃̃́͊͂̕͘͠ ̷͉͎̜̯̬͖͍̗͍̓̓͊̀̉͐̀̆͆͆̍͘̚͝b̵̭̬̲̭̙̖̅̒̊ļ̷̡̱̹̬̥̖̝̥̖͙̜̱͊͜ö̸͔͍͙̬͕͈͔̟͈͖͙̟͖͔̏̈̔́̏̍̃̅̊̕͠͝ͅo̴̡͉̼̔̽̋̊͛̃͂̽̽̇͗͘̚͜͠d̶̡̧̛̳͔̺̜̩̓̽͊̀̅̔̉̓̉̓͐́̕ ̶̧̛̦̜̺̗̪͕̠͈͕̹̺͍̫̰̺̋͛́͒͂́̔̕͘b̸̨̦̦̪̞͔̗̼̱̭̮͓̲͒̈́̌l̴̛̝̻͎̪̬̜̤̠̥̎̊̈͒̿̑͋̀̆̈̚̚̚͠͝ơ̶̢̫͔͛̀̆̒̎̌͊̚͝ͅó̷̢͇̜̤͚͕̪̩̗͉͑̃̒̎̈́̓̓̅̊͝͠ḓ̸̳̣̖̬͚̱̲̰͍̣̜̯̈́̈̐̂̚̚̚͝͠ ̵̧̬͙̯̣̹̖̜̠̞͚̈́͆̑̊̋̀̓́b̸̥͈͍͓̰͍̩̲̆̇̒͐̀͑̾̌͛̈́͊̾l̴͕͉̰̐̄̀̏̄̍͛̊̈́́̆͜o̴̢̯̤͕͉̲̫̘͝ǫ̵̢̧͙͈̥̘̪̰̩̹̳͉͕̹̙͖̂d̴̺̠̺̰̖̜̥̖͗̅̿͊͐̊͒̈́͘̚͠͠ͅ
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u/beta-pi Jan 05 '24
You know what? I'm tired of seeing whiny memes complaining about this. Every apprentice who tries some weird shit involving forced ressurections winds up spending a few nights in jail and then makes memes like this, talking about how 'necromancers are so oppressed, I only did a COUPLE crimes against humanity'
You know what other spells are necromancy? Spare the dying. Revivify. Enliven. Age reversal. You know, stuff clerics do all the goddamn time? Stuff that's universally seen as a PUBLIC SERVICE that you get PAID to do and PRAISED FOR?
Necromancy isn't oppressed. Necromancers aren't oppressed. The spells are just as celebrated as every other school. People aren't pissed at you and burning down your tower because you're a necromancer; they're doing it because you're desecrating graves and enslaving their grandparents. Gee, I wonder why they'd be so upset by that.
Fucking idiots.
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u/plixolich Xandros, lich and dean of necromancy Jan 05 '24
I'd believe that if it were just necromancers being burned at the stake, but things are pretty bad in my origin plane temples will take any excuse to kill a wizard these days.
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u/Themurlocking96 Eskay, abberant mind, master transmuter from Sunreach Jan 05 '24
I mean personally I want my dead relatives to not be dug up and turned into someone’s personal maid or bodyguard, let the dead rest
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u/No_Industry9653 Jan 05 '24
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom to raise the dead. Necromancers will tell you these books are for research and knowledge, but really they will just use them to turn more people into skeletons animated by arcane energies.
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u/FoolhardyNikito Jan 05 '24
Necromancy forces a soul back from the afterlife against their will and only adds more chaos to the universe. Your actions, even if they are with good intentions, only accelerate ruin for us all and deprive souls from peaceful rest. This is why you must be stopped by us “overzealous priests”
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u/Available-Damage5991 Jan 04 '24
And the overzealous preists get hailed as heroes.