Niktapede

Niktapede is a long and storied word with a complex history. In most usages it refers to a person who is hostile to or prejudiced against necromancer people. Being a word based on Endu and used within Necromancer Literature, it has suffered very little change in spelling or pronunciation over a long period of time. The term began in the mid-to-late Ages#The Sixth Age when the only remaining population of necromancers lived within an single temple, behind a barbed wire fence in Arindell on Aren. They were effectively in prison, though afforded many freedoms. At the time, many necromancers submitted to voluntary sterilization in order to help control the population - as new new areas would be expanded if too many necromancers were born. About thirty-thousand of them were living in the temple at the time. Outside, in the city of Arindell, a growing political movement held that the remaining necromancers should all be forcibly sterilized and thus allow their population to die out naturally. In Endu, the word "nikta" means "to fornicate". This was combined with "impede" to form the term "niktapede", or to impede necromancers from having sex. Originally it was adopted by the political group as "The Niktapede Movement"; however it very quickly became a pejorative (usually spelled 'niktopede' during this time) as tolerance of necromancers were encouraged among the Cardinal Clerics of the city who felt the treatment of necromancers was unfair. Though The Niktapede Movement still gained considerable political traction, it was soon revealed that only the Pendragon of Slayer Dragons had the authority to make decisions about the fate of the necromancers.

The Pendragon at the time, Hunter Jusenkyou, responded to calls to sterilize the necromancers by instead ordering them to be freed from their prison and granted full rights as citizens of Arindell. Hunter responded to the political backlash by drawing his sword in front of a group of pro-sterilizers and shouting "You're all a bunch of fucking niktopedes!" at them, and then intentionally cutting his own arm with the sword before sheathing it. Throughout the rest of the Sixth Age, niktopede remained a very common and thoroughly cruel way to refer to anyone who spoke ill against the necromancers. While pro-necromancer sentiments were few and far between, anti-necromancer sentiments were seen as going against the will of the Pendragon as well as the Doseu, two of the most powerful men in Arindell. As such, being seen as a niktopede was political and social suicide.

During the Long Night, the word's meaning took on a much more grim function. Samuel Fate saw necromancy as a threat, and made great efforts to wipe out all the necromancers he could find. This didn't begin until around the Twilight era, by which time there were small necromancer temples all over Aren. The name "Niktapede" (then spelled "Nicktopede") was adopted by the death squads equipped and sent to root out necromancers. By True Night, Fate believed he had eliminated all of them. In point of fact, only a very few necromancers were killed this way, the rest just got really, really good at hiding.

In the New Day era, the word gained a softer meaning as well as its original spelling: niktapede. By this time, necromancers were mostly accepted among the various peoples of Aren, and began to spread off-world unimpeded. The word "niktapede", which had been preserved in necromancer literature, was adopted to describe anyone who was hostile or prejudiced against necromancers. As these prejudices were seldom severe, the word lacked much venom of its usage in earlier eras. By the end of the 4th century N.D., niktapede fell into favor as the polite way to tell someone they were being prejudiced against necromancers. Since any form of racism was generally regarded as very negative, calling someone a racist to their face was insulting. In the case of necromancers, telling someone they are "a niktapede" was a bit like offering them a mint instead of saying they had bad breath. Polite, well-meaning, but still communicating the point.