McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Necromancy and those that practice it
daranthered:
While the stereotype is there, I think there's room in necromancy for variations on the the theme. Necromancy can ease spirits into the next world or raise hordes of raving zombies. One of my favorite things about necromancy is its scope. I've used a field of dead wheat, and reanimated chicken bones to get my character out of trouble.
I don't really think that the practice itself has to carry with it some negative connotation. I would be more concerned with the underlying reason the magic is employed. A horde of raving zombies that saves a village from evil invaders isn't just a good deed, it's also awesome.
Apocrypha:
You guys are guys are great!
I was totally unaware of these examples but am glad that I wasn't the only one who was intending to use Necromancy as something other than evil.
Who says that army of zombies has to be bad. Perhpas they're just misunderstood! ;D
belial.1980:
--- Quote from: daranthered on July 22, 2010, 06:06:17 AM ---
I don't really think that the practice itself has to carry with it some negative connotation. I would be more concerned with the underlying reason the magic is employed. A horde of raving zombies that saves a village from evil invaders isn't just a good deed, it's also awesome.
--- End quote ---
Even Aragorn led an army of the dead when the need came up. :)
Nickeris86:
i think a lot of the negative comes from the fact that in a lot of settings Necromancers enslave the souls of the dead to fuel their spell craft, and that most mortals have a great deal of fear of death (something i personally have never really understood).
being a christian i don't like the idea of my necromancers meddling with someones soul, so i made my necromancers power come the darker energies of life. every action produces energy in my world, dark energy (where necromancy comes from) is created by death, sorrow, anger, pain, sickness, decay, aging, and a whole hose of other things. these things are part of life and force people to change, whether its for good or ill. a True Necromancer uses these natural energies to preserve the natural order of life and death.
Thrythlind:
--- Quote from: Apocrypha on July 22, 2010, 12:08:58 PM ---You guys are guys are great!
I was totally unaware of these examples but am glad that I wasn't the only one who was intending to use Necromancy as something other than evil.
Who says that army of zombies has to be bad. Perhpas they're just misunderstood! ;D
--- End quote ---
Heck, there's a lot of what you could consider to be technically necromancy involved in the Catholic faith...and no, I'm NOT talking about Jesus Christ...but think about the Saints...know how someone gets to be a Saint?
Live an exemplary life, or have an exemplary moment of redemption or revelation
Die - usually in the pursuit of holy ideals, or as a martyr at the hands of unbelievers
Perform three miracles...yes...after death
basically, if it can be documented that people have prayed to an individual on at least three different occasions and that something miraculous has occurred afterwards, then that person can be put for to be canonized as a Saint.
We basically appeal to ancestors in the hopes that they'll be more willing to intercede on our behalf than God, who would rather guide us and let us solve our own problems.
And then, once someone is a Saint, different cultures raised in the Catholic faith have their own bizarre list of rituals appealing to said dead people in an attempt to achieve some end...such as burying the statue of a particular saint in the yard, head downward and facing the street in order to have good luck in selling a house...
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