Looking for Necromancy Ideas

[Bruce Coulson]

Dr. Death

High Concept - Necromantic Healer
Trouble - Don't Talk to Me!

A great many medical treatments involve actually killing living tissue.  Al-chemo therapy would be a boon to many cancer patients.  Making the dead tissue move out of the body on its own would be a bonus.  And necromancy would be ideal for autopsies.  Dr. Death has a problem in social situations; they'd prefer if their patients were all as quiet as the grave... 

[Sanctaphrax]

You know, I think that there would be a decent market for zombie pets.

Also, a corrupt mortician/cemetary owner that provides bodies is a must.

On another note, necromancers have an enormous capacity to threaten people. Mobsters are scary, but the worst they can do is kill you. Even a lousy necromancer would be a great ally for someone who needs to be frightening.

And zombies make great labourers. Strong, obedient, and totally expendable. It could be a union issue: a certain group of manual labourers has been highly paid for years because their job, although easy, is very dangerous. But now they're being fired and replaced with zombies.

Finally, I don't think that death has to be an all-or-nothing deal. I could cut off the blood flow in my left arm until it turns black and dies, then zombify it. That's probably good for Inhuman Strength. And it doesn't need an artificial heartbeat, since it has my real one.

How do these ideas sound?

[Bruce Coulson]

Oh great; now I have a vision of plucky adventurers attending AFL-CIO meetings listening to rants about zombies taking work from hard-working living folks...

[Sanctaphrax]

Success!

[Wolfwood2]

And zombies make great labourers. Strong, obedient, and totally expendable. It could be a union issue: a certain group of manual labourers has been highly paid for years because their job, although easy, is very dangerous. But now they're being fired and replaced with zombies.

That is awesome!  Thanks.

[UmbraLux]

There's also no reason zombies have to be just one body.  Or shaped like a normal being.  Consider your taxidermist necromancer, imagine the unique pets he could make by combining an owl and a cat!  Larger animals or a greater number of mixes make it even more interesting...

There's also assassination by insects...or tapeworms.  Sure it breaks the Law, but it's so easy to hide!

Even your laborer zombies don't have to be human or humanoid.  Consider just taking a heart...animate it and you have a pump which works as long as it has a drumbeat.  Ligaments, muscles, etc...you can build entire machines of undead.

For more philanthropic uses, consider the amputee market - can you build an animated limb?  Better yet, can you enhance it...give it superhuman strength.  And what would the criminal element sacrifice for a super-strength arm that doesn't feel pain, can't be linked to you by DNA, and can be dumped if absolutely necessary?  Ok, may not be entirely philanthropic...

[Sanctaphrax]

I like where this thread is going. Anyway, I've got three more ideas:

1. Keeping hospital rooms clear of infection is a big deal. Wouldn't it be convenient if you could just sterilize everything with a little death magic?

2. If necromancers are a known element of society for long enough, then the opinions of the general populations will get interesting. Do they resent the necromancers? Do they admire them? Do kids want to be necromancers when they grow up, and if they do then what do their parents think about it?

3. If necromancy remains established in the city for long enough, then it seems inevitable that some sort of subculture will form. So, do necromancers have bars? Do they have a common system of training new necromancers? Are they united socially against the Council?

[Bruce Coulson]

Are the necromancers protecting the city against supernatural threats?  They could be seen as unpleasant but necessary specialists by the mundane authorities, and the PCs as 'outside agitators' threatening the peace and stability of the city.  Better the devil you know, after all...

[Wolfwood2]

2. If necromancers are a known element of society for long enough, then the opinions of the general populations will get interesting. Do they resent the necromancers? Do they admire them? Do kids want to be necromancers when they grow up, and if they do then what do their parents think about it?

Well it's still the basic Dresdenverse setting where magic is a secret, so I wouldn't exactly call them a known element of society.

3. If necromancy remains established in the city for long enough, then it seems inevitable that some sort of subculture will form. So, do necromancers have bars? Do they have a common system of training new necromancers? Are they united socially against the Council?

I don't think they're going to end up too sympathetic here, since when my players did their background stories two of them essentially went, "And there were these bad guy necromancers hurting people, so we kicked their butt".  And to be fair, it is somewhat of a soul-twisting form of magic.  The section on necromancy in YS isn't that extensive, but it specifically lists human sacrifice as falling under necromancy.

That caveat aside, there's definitely going to be a subculture.  I am liking the idea that there are a few 'big bad' necromancers around who have studied the lore of Kemmler, but there are also guys like the taxidermist who just do it on the weekends and such.  They might not have bars, but they do have lodge meetings and apprenticeships, and some sort of exchange of knowledge.

What I am currently trying to struggle with is ghosts versus souls.  Okay, so ghosts are echoes and not people.  But are there cases where the actual souls of people hang around?  Are there cases where necromancers call up actual souls/dead people from Beyond (and not just their ghostly echoes)?  The whole 'guide to the dead' bit the Son of Hermes PC is interested in is predicated on him actually helping dead people reach their rest, not just echoes of dead people.  How do I handle that?  Are there echo-ghosts and then true spirit ghosts?

I am also trying to figure what necromancy does other than zombies.  Let's do away with zombies or anything zombie-related for the moment.  No reanimated flesh.  What other things fit under the thematic reach of necromancy?

[Wolfwood2]

Are the necromancers protecting the city against supernatural threats?  They could be seen as unpleasant but necessary specialists by the mundane authorities, and the PCs as 'outside agitators' threatening the peace and stability of the city.  Better the devil you know, after all...

No, necromancy is pretty bad for your soul.  It can't make you be evil... but it sure makes evil attractive!

[Sanctaphrax]

The ghost/spirit thing is a little unclear. Harry says that they're just echoes, but the fact that the next book stars him as a ghost casts doubt on that.

Well, it's your game and you don't have to follow the fiction at all. If your player wants to guide real souls, then ghosts can be real souls.

Death effects probably count as necromancy. As in, killing a forest with a wave of your hand. Necromancy might also overlap with the Outsiders' domain.

Also, things that aren't properly alive can "die". Even ignoring faeries, demons, etc, there's a lot of explorable material concerning the "death" of inanimate objects.

[Blaze]

I just finished running a pugmancer in a campaign.  Yes, that beloved dog* of yours can be brought back to life, for a small fee...  Why, here is my pugmancer now!
 

*Sometimes when they sneeze, their eyes pop out, but it is an easy fix

[Richard_Chilton]

Now I'm thinking about a security firm that has Zombie Pit Bulls, german shepherds, and dobermans.  Never get tired.  Never need to walkies.  Never eats the meat with the drugs in it...

There's potential there.

Richard

[Bruce Coulson]

Necromancers could easily be seen by clued-in mortals as a boon...even though they're bad.

Consider what sort of supernatural predators exist in the world.  And that necromancers, if they got a place of their own, would defend that turf vigorously against all comers.  Yeah, a guy who talks to the dead and does unpleasant things to animals is pretty bad; but he's not drinking all your blood, sucking away your emotions and soul, or just plain killing you and dipping his hat in your blood, am I right?

Necromancy would seem to include anything involved with death; killing things, re-animating bodies, communion with ghosts and the souls of the deceased.  (And draining them for power if necessary...)  It could also involve the 'death' of buildings and other objects, or even the death of ideas and concepts.  Or the resurrection of those concepts.

Also, what people are the necromancers hurting?  There are a lot of nasty (or uncaring) people with mundane power in the world; if their interests are being met by the necromancers, then a few 'minor excesses' could be overlooked...  Imagine an alternate world where Kumori ends up working with Marcone.  As long as what she's doing doesn't interfere with his operations, I don't think Marcone would be overly concerned about what Kumori does to some random victims...

[UmbraLux]

No reanimated flesh.  What other things fit under the thematic reach of necromancy?

A few more options... 
The Good:

• Prevent someone from dying by holding their soul in their damaged body.
• Loosen the ties between your spirit and body.  Scout secure installations.  Go spying on others as a spirit.  Give messages or talk to enemies without fear. 
• Create protections against the Bad and Ugly options.

The Bad:

• Transfer a soul from one body to another.  Or simply eject souls and take over for a form of eternal life.
• Permanently cut a soul loose from its body leaving an unexplained vegetable behind.
• Damage a soul.  (Perhaps one way to inflict mental or social consequences in combat.)
• Trap a soul. 

The Ugly:

• Holding a soul in a corpse may be an ultimate method of torture / revenge.
• Graft something to a soul or spirit.  Barbed wire has been done, how about something subtler like a summoned or bound spy?  For bonus points, have your bound spy treat the soul like Pavlov's dog...  What about a simple leash?  Could you hold someone at a location with chains no one can see?
• Destroy a soul.  How many shifts of power would this add to a spell, 23+ or more?  What would a necromancer gain from eating a soul?  Power?  Knowledge?  A few more years of life?  Perhaps a destructively hunger tracked version of Soulfire...
• How were vampires created anyway?  Can you create your own courts by experimenting with the souls of your victims?  What other abominations might you create?