Necromancy and those that practice it

[Aakaakaak]

The main character of the HBO show Carnivale. He took life from one and gave it to another. He killed a whole crop to bring someone back who'd just died. He'd usually take life from vegetation to give it to someone.

[daranthered]

The Wikipedia entry for necromancy presents some interesting options.  Great thing about creative writing; Wikipedia is full of information that's true...enough

[lt_murgen]

Of course, you have shows like Medium and the Ghost Whisperer.  They give you the alternative of a person who communes with the dead to help them resolve issues from life.

You could make it a supernatural private investigator who raises the spirits to help him solve cases.

[Nickeris86]

nec·ro·man·cy  (nkr-mns)
n.
1. The practice of supposedly communicating with the spirits of the dead in order to predict the future.
2. Black magic; sorcery.
3. Magic qualities.

[Alteration of Middle English nigromancie, from Old French nigremancie, from Medieval Latin nigromantia, alteration (influenced by Latin niger, black) of Late Latin necromantia, from Greek nekromanteia : nekros, corpse; see nek-1 in Indo-European roots + manteia, divination; see -mancy.]

dictionary definition of necromancy

[daranthered]

While the definition of the word is a good start, I think its important to remember there is a wider anthropological scope to the idea of necromancy. 

In cognitive emergence, the realization that death is something that awaits us all is a pivotal concept in the path to sentience.  Which means its possible, even probable, that most ancient and small-scale societies will have some form of necromancy as a reaction to that realization, so that some form of control, real or imaginary, may be exerted over death.

Navajo religion has a great deal that deals with the cleansing of spirits from homes, using the Ghost Way. 

Greek myth has several stories where a hero journeys to Hades to bring someone back.

Chinese ancestor worship provide links between the living and the dead

Voodoo and Santeria both have heavy necromantic elements to them


If you look at any supernatural religion, you'll find some element of necromancy.  I would encourage anyone to look beyond the traditional Western concept, to say nothing of the D&D

[Nickeris86]

While the definition of the word is a good start, I think its important to remember there is a wider anthropological scope to the idea of necromancy. 

In cognitive emergence, the realization that death is something that awaits us all is a pivotal concept in the path to sentience.  Which means its possible, even probable, that most ancient and small-scale societies will have some form of necromancy as a reaction to that realization, so that some form of control, real or imaginary, may be exerted over death.

Navajo religion has a great deal that deals with the cleansing of spirits from homes, using the Ghost Way. 

Greek myth has several stories where a hero journeys to Hades to bring someone back.

Chinese ancestor worship provide links between the living and the dead

Voodoo and Sanataria both have heavy necromantic elements to them


If you look at any supernatural religion, you'll find some element of necromancy.  I would encourage anyone to look beyond the traditional Western concept, to say nothing of the D&D

very true. the reason that i use primarily western thinking for my necromancer is because he is western which will influence what he believes. like in DF belief in what magic will due is the reason it works, spells and all that stuff are just ways to focus ones belief, which is why most magus are very different from each other.

by this logic if my character were to meet a voodoo practitioner they would have vastly different abilities than my character.

[MoSeS]

voodoo practitioner?

I think you mean hoodoo practitioner.

Voodoo is a religion, Hoodoo is the practice of magic.

There are also different schools of Voodoo, similar to the way Christianity has denominations.

[Nickeris86]

i always mix up the two.

[daranthered]

Vodou is a Hatian religion.  Voodoo is an offshoot of Vodou and Catholicism practiced in the Deep South of the United States.  Hoodoo refers to the specific ritualism aspect.

That's just what my Magic, Witchcraft and Religion notes say.  To be honest I don't know much about the area.

For my necromancy; I blended the Cult of Mithras with some Ancient Egyptian Funerary rites and set the whole thing in rural Russia

[Nickeris86]

"i have held the bitter chill of death in the palm of my hand but its f#@%ing cold here"

couldn't resist. 

something i have my necromancer say when he is in the realm of the winter court.

[Nickeris86]

i don't want this thread to die so i am bumping it.

so for those who do have necromancers (good or bad) what kind of abilities do you give them.

[daranthered]

In my world magical abilities are inborn.

To access that ability, mental techniques are required to receive a certain result.  Sometimes this involves rituals, sometimes just a cleansing breath. 

A persons affinity with a particular kind of magic (in my world white, black, elemental, or necromantic) depends on which supernatural element they access first.  In my necromancers case, he brings his father back from death after a heart attack in a field of wheat.  As a result of bringing the father back, the wheat (and all the living things around them, are sucked of their life force.  Since he used his magical ability to deny death, he forever after has one foot in the world of the dead.

He has the power to animate anything that had been alive.  He can communicate spirits that haven't yet, or have no desire to, move on.  More importantly he can feed power to spirits and animated skeletons and they like, but always at a cost to something living.  The self aware the living creature he's trying to take power from, the harder it is.

There's a lot more, but this is the basics of necromancy in my story. 

[Mickey Finn]

Necroscope series: http://www.amazon.com/Necroscope-Brian-Lumley/dp/0812521374

While the series has actual Necromancers that are different from Necroscopes in the methods used, from a high level categorization it's the same thing.

[Nickeris86]

Necroscope series: http://www.amazon.com/Necroscope-Brian-Lumley/dp/0812521374

While the series has actual Necromancers that are different from Necroscopes in the methods used, from a high level categorization it's the same thing.

wow that sounds awesome, will have to add it to the growing pile of books i need to read after i finish Changes.

[Apocrypha]

I am currently in the middle of "world building" and was thinking of putting a spin on things by having the necromancers (and their zombies) actually be the good guys for the change.

Thanks all again for the information as you've certainly helped.