Necromancers

Overview: Necromancers do not have a formal organization or guild. They are individuals with magical talent who, for one reason or another, have begun studying the most forbidden of arts. They are fascinated with the forces of life and death, as well as what makes living (or unliving) bodies function. This kind of magic is highly forbidden, and necromancers must practice their art in places where they will not be discovered. Plague districts and hidden crypts are common places for them to congregate.

Info: 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.

Real necromancers 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 is not uncommon to hear of necromancers living to two or three hundred years of age.

Relationship with Other Factions: Necromancy is, of course, highly against Church teaching, so no one practices it out in the open. Even other Mages are publically against it, though some do dabble in secret. Necromancy is a major sin according to the Builders, punishable by torture and death.