Theories of Spirit Necromancy

Theories of Spirit Necromancy By Ronan Ceril

Origins of the word Necromancy The origins of the word Necromancy come from the words , Necros, for corpse and mancy, literally divination. (Mith Greyhelm, School of Necromancy)

In modern times, the meaning includes the creation of and control of undead and the use of negative energy. Indeed, the very school of Necromancy is now known for negative energy spells. One can presume given the origins of the word that the original 'Necromancers' were known not for these practices, but rather for the gathering of information from the dead.

What is a spirit? Defining the nature of a spirit becomes difficult since the term is used interchangeably for nature spirits, spiritkin, the spirit-kin mortals who have ancient blood in Tyedu, ghosts, and apparitions with are not necessarily souled.

For the purposes of necromancy, the soul is the 'spirit' mentioned. This includes most beings classified as ghosts, as well as those souls who have lost enough of who they are as to be more raw energy than personality, such as the so-called battlewisp.

Spirit summoning The practice of spirit summoning involves the calling of a soul to a place of the necromancer's choosing. Ideal places have a strong connection to negative energy already present, such as a graveyard or cursed land.

To call a spirit, the necromancer must use negative energy to create a link between the spirit and the point of calling. The methods of this are exceedingly varied from necromancer to necromancer since the art is not well known or shared. Some methods include:

- Creating a circle of ash charged with negative energy over the point of summoning and invoking the spirit, - Using a protective circle of runes about a circle to bind an area and an inner circle of necromantic runes of calling, - Using an invocation directly over the tomb of the deceased.

If they wish to speak to an individual spirit, a necromancer will need some sort of connection to the soul in order to call the appropriate one. Since the body holds an innate connection to the soul that once inhabited it - a Resurrection blessing, for example, never calls the wrong soul to the body - the most reliable connection is the corpse, the ashes of the corpse, or a piece of the corpse itself.

It may also be possible to summon a spirit through possessions they once had an emotional bond to or at the spot of their death - these are unpracticed theories that bear further experimentation.

Like summoning spells of the conjuration school, most spirit summonings are temporary. They briefly bind the spirit to the place of summoning, and when the duration of the ritual expires or when the caster dismisses the spirit, they return their original place. A powerful necromancer may have methods of a more permanent binding. Such methods run the risk that a permanently bound soul, being of independent mind, may eventually be able to break the bindings the necromancer has established to keep them restrained.

<c¡ >Difficulty with Arcane spells and Summoning</c> There is an innate difficulty with the usage of arcane spells for the purposes of calling upon the dead spirits. This barrier would also appear to affect divine spells. The standard spells and blessings for undeath create undead rather than summoning the dead. Fortunately a mage infused with negative energy - such as those pursuant to the Pale Arts - can use their innate connection to summon. It is this link which I have manipulated in order to allow for manifested spirit who can, at the time in which work is done, be properly dismissed and, as conjuration summoning spells do, return them to the plane of origin they were summoned from.

Communicating with the Spirit "The knowledge that can be gained from the dead is immense as they tend to hold most if not all of the knowledge they possessed while living, up (to) the moment and often even after they have died. If they have returned as a spirit, they will often continue to learn and gather information..." (Mith Greyhelm, School of Necromancy)

In my own experience, some spirits seem to lose their sense of self and memories more quickly than others - in individual cases those memories may begin to decay over the course of minutes after the individual's death, while others may retain their sense of self and memories over centuries. I theorize that a soul who has lost their memories and sense of self is likely at the point where they are ready to pass on to rebirth.

Spirit Summoning and the Cycle The question then becomes in what circumstances a soul can be called to a necromancer. If the soul is currently residing within a living form - either the individual still lives, or has been fully reborn - the calling will certainly fail. Similarly, if the soul is bound in such a way that it cannot leave its place, such as trapped in a soul gem or lich's phylactery, the calling will fail unless the binding is exceptionally weak and the caster exceptionally powerful.

This means that the soul can only be called when it is either- Physically present, such as bound to a grave the necromancer is standing on or near, Trapped outside of the cycle and a wandering ghost in the ethereal plane, Or any case where the individual has died, but the soul remains in the afterlife or has not yet passed on to the place of rebirth.

Reviving the Art of Spirit Necromancy If we presume that the art of spirit necromancy is ancient, as the origin of the word necromancy implies, we can also presume that many methods and uses will be found in ancient and possibly forgotten knowledge. I have been studying an old language of runes which was uncovered and which are specifically attuned to the art of spirit necromancy, and I believe their translation and use will prove to unlock some old secrets of the field.