Lorica/Disciplines/Necromancy
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This article is about magic in Lorica.
[edit] Necromancy (genera, reviva)
From Death, Comes Life
Rathma arrived at the watchtower finding the guards dead and the artifact stolen. "They seek to silence the truth," he muttered. Focusing reams of stars from the Tessa, he then by pure will brought the guards back to life. "Speak of the bandits, and we shall avenge your death," Rathma intoned. The bandits' fates were sealed.
Necromancy is concerned with the dead and the living, not just the dead or the living, but the link between the two. It is currently the epitome of complex magic, and the few necromancers in Lorica are the ones that can use this ability to bring the dead back to life, as close as possible to what they were like before. This discipline requires the mastery of nearly all other disciplines that it builds upon.
[edit] Limits
Until now, there were some limits to attempts at ressurection. For example:
- People that had their head cut could not be reanimated. (Currently, severed heads can be reconnected using advanced neuromancy and other medicamancy.)
- If the person suffered severe brain damage, it was possible to reanimate him or her, but all neural pathways that were destroyed would come back as a clean slate and the person would need to relearn or, in some cases, become permanently mentally deficients in some areas, like language and memory. (Currently, advanced necromancy allows for restoration of the neural pathways, at least partially.)
- There were some exceptions, but they invariably died again some time thereafter due to imperfections in technique. (Currently, necromancy has developed to the point that the ressurected were as good as normal.)
There remain weaknesses to necromancy:
- Those dead for more than two weeks are too decomposed to be properly reanimated. The longer the period of time dead, the harder it is to ressurect.
- The necromancer must know what the person was like before dying--either through analysis of the corpse's body and mind, or though what relatives tell him/her about the dead one--in order to recreate the person similar to before.
- The body needs to be regenerated through advanced medicamancy very quickly, or it is certain that the resurrected will die again, because of the blood loss/damage to tissues.
[edit] Stereotypes
All spellcasters that have reached the necromancy level of training alive, have already become experts at nearly every discipline of magic. Thus, it is not uncommon to see seemingly 17-year-olds practicing it--they're actually 100+ years old (with more and more exceptions), and have then rejuvenated themselves...
Necromancers are almost never exhausted by their work. Magical exertion, unlike physical exertion, places no stress on the body, as all the work is conducted by stars. Necromancers, being experts at magic, thus can easily work their art.
