Necromancer Literature

Necromancer Literature describes literary works of all kinds that can be described as distinctly necromancer. It can be divided into four distinct categories: general, Endu Epics, Classical, and NeoClassical.

• General - refers to things that are written by necromancers and about the necromancer perspective, this is very broad, and can include anything from prose to philosophy to cookbooks. It is effectively a catch-all for anything written by necromancers that can be seen as distinctively necromancer, and not merely lumped in to tan'nesh(or outsider) literature. Note that the distinction does not lie with whether or not a necromancer penned the material, but the themes and values it extols. For this reason even some things written by non-necromancers have been adopted as part of necromancer literature. There is obviously a lot of grey area and room for debate.

• The Endu Epics - as the name implies, these were written explicitly in Endu. The period of authorship is during the earliest eras of Necromancy, near the Age of Darkness and definitely within the first few centuries of the first Chaotic Period of the Mage Wars. There are dozens, possibly hundreds of such epics, many of which form the basis for the holy scriptures of the necromancer religion. The term "Endu Epic" refers explicitly to texts written when Endu was the only written or spoken language of necromancers. A curious side-note means the authorship of the Endu Epics must predate the Golden Age of Necromancy. Note that some texts are still written in Endu, but this does not make them part of the Endu Epics.

• Classical Necromancer Literature - refers to texts written during the Golden Age of Necromancy. Though Endu was still a thriving language at the time, its limited nature made Common a much more popular choice. The wider word selection and conventions such as rhythming made it possible to communicate much more complex ideas and themes than could be rendered in Endu. Popular classical texts took a blended approach; since most readers at the time were fluent in both Endu and Common, authors would make use of both languages, taking the strongest parts of each. Classical necromancer literature was likely to be copied down through the ages, making for some of the oldest extant texts. This allowed modern scholars to deduce that the dialect of Common spoken by early necromancers was actually closer to Standard. A linguistic puzzle, as Standard was a long-dead language by the time the first necromancers lived. Further compounding the confusion is evidence that Necromancers used dialects of Common earlier in the history(during the time the Endu Epics were composed) which indicates a sudden and inexplicable shift during the classical period.

• NeoClassic Necromancer Literature was composed during the Golden Age. It imitates the Classical style but is typically written entirely in Common. Neoclassical is almost exclusively fiction, though some of it is semi-biographical. While the subject and themes are heavily varied, what distinguishes "NeoClassical Necromancer Literature" from simply "books written by necromancers" is that the subject always focuses on the world through a necromancer's perspective. During the NeoClassical period, necromancer literature first gained a wider audience. This in turn helped pave the way for the Green Temple. Within the temple construct, the arts flourished, while necromancers themselves had little concept of copyright laws or even credit. A large temple might have dozens of writers and poets who all worked together to produce the highest quality literature possible. When these books make it outside the temple, they would be copied and sold often quite cheaply as no royalties needed to be paid. This in turn made them widely available on the open market. The advent of the printing press and the general low price of these books made them popular. Non-necromancers first exposure to necromancy was often in the form of well-written, inexpensive novels that became very popular. Thus, when necromancers branched out and began to build new temples, they were often welcomed.

Though necromancer literature continued to be written all throughout the Ages of the Alliance, the three specific cycles of Endu Epics, Classic, and NeoClassic, are considered to be the heights of the artform.