Necromancy

Necromancy is a form of magic practiced by Necromancers. Necro meaning dead, it specifically deals with re-animating dead things and returning dead souls from the Underworld.

Terminology and Belief System

Necromancy is practiced by mages called Necromancers, to whom it is both a religon and a form of magic. Their entire culture revolves around this practice.

The group noun for necromancers is cult, so a bunch of necromancers would be called a cult of necromancers. This term can be used to describe either a number of necromancers or a specific settlment. A permenant settlement is called a Temple, this refers both to the structure and to the necromancers inside of it as a group.

Necromancers worship death, understanding that it is not an end but a change, and one they can reverse to a degree. They value history and are known for extensive record-keeping. Much information about the Mage Wars written at the time was chronicled in Necromancer temples.

Ideologies in Necromancy

Grey Temple and Green Temple describe two differing ideologies of Necromancy, with all Grey Temple necromancers having been put to death by the end of the fifth century of the Third Age at the order of Pendragon Soratami. This followed the Necromanic Wars.

Invention

Necromancy was invented by Rubiceye in the early part of the Mage Wars, roughly 3500 B.G.A., though it is well known that the sorcerer began work on the magic long before. It is also well known that he made numerous failed attempts before perfecting the technique.

After it's creation, Necromancy became hereditary, existing in familial lines. Unlike other magics which could be learned and practiced by any, Necromancy could only be performed by necromancers.

Necromancer

Necromancy cannot be learned, only those born with it are able to weild the power. The power is believed to be contained within an artificially created gene, that was originally bestowed upon the first generation of necromancers by Rubiceye.

The necromancer, then, is both a people group and a type of mage.

Family Unit

Necromancers maintain a traditional family unit(mother, father, children) but live in a highly inter-conected society. Consanguinity is kept high in mind, that is to say knowing how various others are related to you and to what degree, but is only used to prevent inbreeding. Living as they do in such close-knit groups it is very important to keep the bloodline diverse.

Since necromancers typically live in communal buildings, a family unit might have a room or suite of rooms to themselves. These would be used for sleeping, changing, indoor recreation, and storing personal items. The family would be responsible for cleaning and maintaining these rooms.

Cooking and bathing are communal activities. Large kitchens produce meals for the entire temple, with dedicated staff who carry out all the requisite duties. A larger temple might have multiple kitchens. Cooking is usually done on a fairly large scale, and necromancer cuisine is not known for it's deversity.

The baths are segregated by gender and age, to what degree is determined by the size of the temple. A very small temple may have only one bath, and designate different times of the day for men and women. The larger temples will have seperate facilities in both genders for youth, young adults, older adults, and even the edlerly. Young children typically bathe with their parents, while older children(starting at around 8) would go to apropriate children's bath.

Marriage

Though it varies by temple, arranged marriages are not uncommon in necromancer society. There is no defined age of majority or age of consent, and the age of marriage also varies by temple. In larger temples, it is not uncommon for youth as young as 15 or 16 to marry, though this is a hold-over from the early days when life expectancies were much shorter. Nearly all necromancers marry, including the priesthood(it has in fact been a requirment in some temples). A necromancer who remains single into adulthood is highly uncommon, and given the arrangments of necromanic society they would have a very difficult time.

Amongts the necromancers, a great deal of love poetry has been produced and preserved throughout the ages. It is perhaps one of the youth's favorite subjects upon which to muse.

Arranged Marriage

Arranged marriages typically happen amongst slightly older couples(late teens, early 20s), and is usually encouraged by the parents when neither party has found a suitable mate on their own.

Love is a very highly valued thing within the necromancer culture. Many of what are recorded as arranged marriages do happen between loving couples who merely seek the approval of their elders to wed.

Still others employ the help of matchmakers to find a suitable partner. Only very rarely are marriages ever arranged for political reasons.

History

For a period of roughly five hundred years, from B.G.A. 3528 until 3021, everything was going swimingly. This era is often known as the Golden Age of Necromancy. Rubiceye was widely known to have many followers in the early days. Though not considered a politician, he was a good leader and an entire nation had formed around him. He was a powerful mage and had many other powerful mages following him, and with the Mage Wars already in fullswing, it was not hard to see why so many people flocked to him.

The original name of his people group is now lost to history, though it is believed to have been similar in pronunciation to the name of the magic Rubiceye was to create. The customs and practices of those people, while not initially magical, were later addapted into the rituals of Necromancy.

Because of the millitary and magical might of the Necromancers, they were able to defend their borders fairly well during the First Chaotic Period.

However, around the name most nations that had existed before the start of the Mage Wars had completely collapsed, the Necromancers began to schism. The Grey Temple ideology championed by Kozek forced a split, and fractured the nation.

It took many years of transition. The Necromancers began a mass exodus from the land they had controleld for over five centuries.

The Temple system had been perfected, but it was not until the B.G.A. 2950s that the Grey Temple emerged.