Necromancers

Necromancers are individuals with magical talent who, for one reason or another, have begun studying the most forbidden of arts, raising the Undead.

Necromancers are the least organised of the Factions, because of the forbidden, dangerous and taboo nature of their work. They are fascinated with the forces of life and death, as well as what makes living (or unliving) bodies function. When they do meet, plague districts and hidden crypts are common places for them to congregate.

Not every spoiled noble with a macabre interest in pulling wings off of birds becomes a necromancer. They just dip their toe in the well so to speak, there are others out there that take it a bit farther and jump in headfirst to see what they'll find at the bottom.

True necromancers have studied life and death for years, ritualistically slaughtering and dissecting all manner of life to learn how it works. Necromancers can learn from books just as Mages can, but they learn more from active experimentation than isolated study. For this reason necromancers are always interested in obtaining the bodies of the recently dead or dying.

A skill eventually learned by necromancers is how to reanimate the bodies of the dead. When necromancers animate a corpse, they do so by infusing the corpse with a small amount of their life force. Usually, this just weakens the necromancer for a time, requiring them to rest. If a necromancer makes a mistake, however, or if they are just unlucky, the loss is permanent. This results in necromancers slowly loosing the use of various limbs and organs. The longer you use necromancy, the more likely you are to have paralyzed limbs, blind eyes, or rotted tongues. Sloppy necromancy takes a high toll. This means that long-time necromancers will be shrivelled and rotted, and often mute. But those who just dabble occasionally can probably get away with it for a while, meaning you can't just pick out a necromancer by their appearance.

The discovery of electricity has allowed Necromancers to animate corpses for a brief time without sacrificing their own life force. It is believed that Morden Adringhton, the first president of the Inventor's Guild, was dabbling with electricity when he discovered its use in animating 'living machines'. However, real necromancers do things by the unholy book and eventually sacrifice everything to perfect their art. Their health, their happiness, their dignity, their humanity, all is tossed to the side in the pursuit of that which seperates life from death. They're emaciated, weathered and aged, festering with diseases earned from playing with rotting organs and bodies, which in turn their magics feed upon to extend their lives to untold lengths. Considering their area of expertise, it's not uncommon to hear of necromancers living for two or three hundred years of age.

Necromancers can control anything dead in the surrounding area. Dead birds, dogs, snakes, people, and so on, can be manipulated to get rid of any unwanted intruded or assassinate an interloper. An average necromancer's hovel will have dead things lying all throughout the building, with corpses of dead peasants spead out down a hallway or dead birds flying about with the necromancer sees through it's eyes. Necromancers often put animal heads on pikes in their territory. Using their magic they can see through the eyes, making the heads like macabre sentries.

Necromancy is officially forbidden by the Mages, who seek to distance themselves from the old Pagan craft. It is despised as a sin by the Builders, and bemoaned by The City's Guild of Undertakers.

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