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 permanent settlement is called a Temple; this refers both to the structure and to the necromancers therein.

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 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 its creation, Necromancy became hereditary in familial lines. Unlike other magicks which could be learned and practiced by any, Necromancy could only be performed by necromancers.

Culture

The necromancer's culture is very rich and deep.

Necromancer

Necromancy cannot be learned; only those born with it can practice it. The power is believed to occur within an artificially created gene, originally bestowed by Rubiceye.

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

Physical Description

Because all necromancers are descended from a particular people group, they all tend to have a similar physical description. They are on average shorter than the general population by around 6 inches. 'Tall' for a necromancer is 'average' for everyone else. They have olive-skin complexions, usually with dark hair and green or brown eyes. Hair is usually straight. They are known for smooth skin and very little body hair.

Clothing

Typical necromancer attire consists of long linen robes. These are often tied at the waist with a sash and may be embroidered with beads. Bracelets and necklaces are also popular, as well as rings and earings. Nearly all necromancers, both male and female, have pierced ears.

Females typically wear their hair tied back or braided, while males cut their hair short. A wide variety of hairstyles exist. Males and females also both typically wear heavy eye makeup. The cosmetics black out the entire area around the eye, stopping at the bridge of the nose but sometimes covering the eyebrows and down onto the cheeks. This is believed originally a ritualistic component evolved into every-day wear. There is no symbolic signficance to the eye makeup, and the exact shape and area covered is completely a matter of fashion.

In warmer climates, lighter, thinner robes are popular, as well as shorter ones. In especially warm areas, men might wear a half-robe that covers from the waist to the knees, while women would wear a backless and sleeveless robe.

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 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, used for sleeping, dressing, 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 deversity.

The baths are segregated by gender and age, to degree 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 separate facilities in both genders for youth, young adults, older adults, and even the elderly. Young children typically bathe with their parents, while older children (starting around 8) would go to the 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 is a requirement 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.

Marriage to an individual outside the cult is unheard of, and happens extremly rarely. In the nearly 7,000 years between the creation of Necromancy and the destruction of the last temple in the mid Third Age, only a few cases are documented. Of those, all took place in very small temples (populations of less than 100). Anyone marrying into the cult could never truly be a necromancer, and would be unable to participate in the ritualistic aspects of the necromancer lifestyle.

Some necromancers are known to have left the temple to wed an outsider. However, the archives do not give any indication of what happened to them.

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 of its 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 arranged for political reasons.

Economy

Internally, Necromancers do not use a monetary system. Because their organizational strucutre is communal, food, clothing, and housing are provided by group effort. The support systems for these areas are also carried out communaly, with individuals learning trades as needed. Basic personal items are provided to indivudals by crafters, who often emblish them with artistic decorations.

History

The first Necromancers made their home on the Arcol Steppe at the north-eastern corner of the Agras Plain.

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 formed around him. He was a powerful mage and had many other powerful mages following him, and with the Mage Wars already in full swing, 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 adapted 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 time that most nations that antedated the Mage Wars had collapsed, 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 controlled 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.