[✗] [Hub] Necromancy

[The King Of The Moon 7016]

Preface:

Spoiler

 

This lore will be edited down, rebalanced, and otherwise worked on in the weeks after posting. The finished product will be honed in on through feedback and critique. If you have thoughts on necromancy, the CAs, or any part of this project, please help us by pitching in with a comment! We are eager to refine the player content to be as competent as possible. Not competitive.

 

Addressing the concerns of some commenters, we feel it important to highlight that this lore is spread across 4 posts; this Hub, Reaving & Occultism, Vivification & Exorcism and Greater Undead. These submissions have a combined total wordcount of 52,865 at the time of posting, which in the coming weeks we intend to revise and trim down significantly before it enters mag.

 

Rh'thorean Necromancy Hub/Chronicle of Rh'thorean Necromancy/The Craft of Heith-Hedran/Maledictions/Corpsecrafting/Pestilence/Thaumaturgy/Black Alchemy/Pale Curses/Darkstalkers & Draugars/Simulacra total at 40,005. Mysticism/Vivification/Paleknights and Pale Lords combined are 31,291 words. This lore means to condense and replace all of the listed Necromancy and Mysticism adjacent lore pieces, which total at 71,296 words.

 

With that in mind: yes, this is a big piece, though at the time of posting it is already 25% smaller than the current lore it intends to supplant, and after edits will only become even more succinct.

 

Necromancy

Origin

 

Soul and Bone

As foretold by the Night Augury, Mordring bore four great relics of necromancy borne from the transposed bodies of the Old Lords and in his eminence conjoined with Mthyul Tlan, the Waking Synod, upon its defeat. This blackest feat bound the titanic apparition of the First Synod to the undead dragonkin, ascending him to a lich-wight state. In this mantling of the highest powers of necromancy and mysticism he proclaimed himself the King Beneath. Master of most sacred dark arts.

 

Wielding the powers of Soul and Bone, Mordring took stoned nephilim and rendered them into mortar to cement together the Black Nexus’ shards and in a sacrificial rite restored the once-lexicon, a reversal of his tutor Malkaathe’s prerogative following the act of Sorrows and Sacrilege. With this restoral he began anointing new wraiths and expanding his undead legions. In this rise he too was gifted the Book of Phantoms, a fated meeting between the Waking Synod some six centuries after their tandem creation, and was subsequently cast into Ebrietaes by the tome's keeper. There he beheld the traumatized Wastes and from her immaculate perch in the Golden City was he beheld by Aeriel. Where the King Beneath retreated to admonish the keeper, Aeriel recoiled in horror at the union of Darkened powers which intermingled her own Soul Warding with Iblees’ Ruinous craft. 

 

Finally in alignment, Mordring was prepared. His tools, his ritual reagents, his fonts, his designs. In the deepest fathoms of the Abyss he performed a paramount ritual to coalesce the flow of lifeforce and ectoplasm, their manipulating arts becoming a dialectical synthesis. Both dark, both native, now one. Yet Aeriel, ever vigilant, interceded to mitigate this mortal heresy and with consecration she balanced a third. Incapable of reversing Darkening,  she could only ordain it, neutralizing its craft to become unaligned and malleable through the energy of souls filling the Soul Stream, anima. By seizing this thread she gave her patron Sokar the charge to bestow this sterilized necromancy upon her remnant servants and the innocent mediums of Vivification, equipping them against the rising tide of darkness with the means to correct the course of the Soul Stream and judge those who have deviated from the Soul Warder’s designs.

 

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The School of Necromancy

Necromancy is an umbrella term, referring to the manipulation of the powers of life and death. Recorded amidst the ancient wraiths who first stole their powers from the Betrayer and the cognats of Rivel that conceived mysticism in their arcane survey of the Soul Stream, as well as its unjust manifestation in children cursed with true sight and its vengeful harnessing by holymen hellbent on the destruction of the undead, so too is Necromancy a spectrum of magics, pertaining to mortal arts deployed in dark as well as miscellaneous manners.

 

Magics

The school of necromancy is broken into three subtypes: Reaving, Occultism, and Exorcism; accordingly reavers, occultists, and exorcists. Additional to these vocational arts is the involuntary curse of ‘true sight’, a rare affliction found in newborns who have been marked by the grave, sometimes called Vivification.

 

Reaving is a [2] slot dark magic [MA].

Reavers conjoin with a second soul taken into their body, rendering them bloated with lifeforce and ectoplasm beyond the natural limits, this abundance fuels in-hand necromancy, wracking their psyche. The presence of the second consciousness denies Reavers the clarity needed to practice Voidal arts. Reavers’ dark manipulation of undeath grants them access to the necromantic rituals. 

 

They are black paladins like the Abyss Knights and Mystic Blades of yore; dark soldiers.

 

Occultism is a [2] slot dark magic [MA].

Occultists wield talismans, objects conjoined with a soul caged by necromancy. This external font of energy keeps them sane yet strains their body and enfeebles them as their otherwise natural supply of lifeforce is warped into ectoplasm or stretched thin through their spells. Occultists’ dark manipulation of undeath grants them access to the necromantic rituals. 

 

They are profane sorcerers like the Weavers, Weirhents, and Mystic Conjurors of yore; dark sorcerers.

 

Necromancers who are both reavers as well as occultists have their physiques restored and cannot use Voidal magic. They do not always require their talisman to cast, though it is still very beneficial to carry.

 

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/245480-magic-lore-reaving-occultism/

 

Vivification is a miscellaneous [Feat].

Those cursed with true sight - sometimes called mediums - have no inherent necromantic abilities or magical limitations, though are afflicted with a higher awareness: haunted from birth by pillaging geists and strays in the Elysian Wastes. Mediums lack the ability to manipulate lifeforce or ectoplasm and thus cannot participate in necromantic rituals. 

 

They are undefined and unblemished by the dark, free to delve deeper into the domains of death or seek out their own paths beyond it.

 

Exorcism is a [2] slot miscellaneous magic [MA], though this is reduced to [1] slot for characters that also practice Reaving or Occultism.

Exorcists may practice Voidal magic though their spells are stained by the Soul Stream, and they cannot connect to most deities due to their severe exposure to the Elysian Wastes. They do not mere witnesses like mediums, but also hold communion with it and its anima-rich denizens to fuel spells pertaining to the soul; often in opposition of reavers, occultists, and the undead. Exorcists on their own lack the ability to manipulate lifeforce or ectoplasm and thus cannot participate in necromantic rituals.

 

They are custodians of the soul like the Ascended and Shorewalkers of yore; inquisitors and priests of varied paths and alignments.

 

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/245478-feat-magic-lore-vivification-exorcism/

 

Ascension to the Wight [CA] - the paramount of necromancy, necessary to bestow the curse of true sight on premature mediums, conjoin reavers or bind the talismans of occultists - prerequisites mastery of all [MA] subtypes (all [5] magic slots committed to Reaving, Occultism, and Exorcism).

 

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Resources 

Necromancers and the undead utilize lifeforce, anima, and ectoplasm in their spellwork and profane conditions. Lifeforce is found in small amounts in plant matter and medium amounts in non-sentient beasts as well as sentient creatures. Anima is exclusive to souls or soul-bearing creatures. Ectoplasm is found solely in phantoms and objects or spells imbued with it by necromancy. 

 

These resources vary across different creatures, found in their highest forms amongst sentient creatures, which are categorised in the table below.

• This table is referenced throughout necromancy to detail vulnerabilities and immunities to certain abilities or spell effects. Special effects, vulnerabilities and immunities written in necromancy spells will always supersede this table when specified.

	Lifeforce	Anima	Ectoplasm
Mortals	⛤	⛤
Dragonkin	⛤	⛤
Inferi	⛤	⛤
Corporeal Undead	⛤	⛤
Phantom Undead	⛤	⛤	⛤
Alchemic Aberrations	⛤
Aspectist Creatures	⛤	⛤
Constructs
Transcendent Constructs		⛤
Voidal Aberrations
Deific Aberrations		⛤
Disembodied Souls		⛤

(This table is a breakdown of the text below for quick reference)

 

• Lifeforce, anima and ectoplasm varies between potent creatures though by and large all non-player characters which function as pets have the same level of lifeforce as non-sentient beasts, whilst player characters and CAs possess the same amount when relating to necromancy spells, rituals or emote counts. Event and lore creatures may possess significantly more or less than standard as determined by ST.
  • Mortals include but are not limited to humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, halflings, kharajyr, hou-zi, wonks, musin, inhabited klones, and ologs.
  • Dragonkin include but are not limited to azdrazi/nephilim, wyrms, dragons, drakes, dragaars, and drakaars.
  • Inferi include but are not limited to gatrov, striiths, zevn, zar’ei/zezimar, zar’akal, zar’kiel/zentherak, and the zar’rokul. 
  • Corporeal Undead include but are not limited to zombies, ghouls, pale knights/pale lords, siliti, strigae, moroi or tangible/husked wights.
  • Phantom Undead, include but not limited to wisps, phantom beasts, ghosts, gravens, apparitions, intangible wights, and apparitions.
  • Alchemic Aberrations include but are not limited to chimeras, tawkin mutants, homunculi, and dormant klones.
  • Aspectist Creatures (born, blessed and cursed) include but are not limited to fae and transcendant beings such as sprites, cervitaurs, centaurs, lycans, epiphytes, tree lords, treants, ents, and mani.
  • Constructs include but are not limited to living dolls, atronachs, or automatons.
  • Transcendent Constructs include but are not limited to sorvians, golems of any variant, dreadknights or machine spirits.
  • Voidal Aberrations include but are not limited to life evocation conjurations, celestials, terrors, abominations, horrors, and behemoths.
  • Deific Aberrations include but are not limited to aengudaemon or patron avatars or muyakelgs.
  • Disembodied Souls include but are not limited to geists and strays as well as dead souls in the Soul Stream or the various realms of deities.
• Creatures without anima or lifeforce are totally immune to any necromancy spell or ritual relating to lifeforce or anima (e.g. Leech or Siphon). Ectoplasm is an impermanent creation of necromancy and is imbued into spells or objects and interacts with all entities regardless of their makeup (e.g. Spiriting or Walling).

 

Lifeforce is the raw, seeping energy that animates the organic world. It is found in diminutive quantities in plant matter, and to a marginally greater extent in beasts. The most potent fonts of lifeforce however are living descendants and other soul-bearing creatures of flesh, as well as undead creatures which hoard stagnant lifeforce, keeping their shambling or artificial bodies animated beyond the scope of natural processes. When magically ripped from its source, lifeforce always appears as a black smog, and is unusually attracted to aurum which inherently floods itself with any magically suspended or dormant lifeforce it comes into contact with; it is for this reason aurum weaponry has served as a bane to undead since time immemorial. 

 

Ectoplasm is far less common in the natural world, conjured in wild anomalies of necromancy wrought by slaughter and mortal will to birth phantoms. More often however, ectoplasm is created artificially by necromancers who have enchanted raw lifeforce with equal amounts of mana to host it in a magical simulacra of flesh. An inherently magical substance, ectoplasm typically reflects the aura colour of its creator and assumes a wet, slimy and sometimes gelatinous texture. Though it rarely occurs in nature, ectoplasm can be found in the false bodies of apparitions and phantoms. Due to its composition, of equal parts lifeforce and mana, ectoplasm is also vulnerable to aurum containment or destruction as well as to mana-altering substances such as auric oil or Voidal spells.

 

Apart from these necrotic energies is anima; the natural substance and energy inherent to the soul. Anima is found exclusively in souls and soul-bearing creatures and is treasured for its potential in bolstering or feeding the malleable souls of the undead. Having no place in the realm of the physical beyond streaks of brilliant white light, anima is a fleeting substance which requires physical or ectoplasmic hosts to contain. It is for this purpose anima is typically stored in menhir; stone which has been saturated with ectoplasm through dark enchantment.

 

Reavers and occultists - as those who have conscripted a geist alongside their own living souls - are capable of utilising the dark energies of lifeforce and ectoplasm in their spellwork, as well as what miscellaneous fragments of anima they are able to steal to fuel their necromantic rituals. 

 

Exorcists lack a conjoined geist and are thus entirely dependent on their mana and the miscellaneous anima found in abundance in the Elysian Wastes, to which their casting relics are the key.

 

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Gravesight

Practical awakening to the forces of undeath, Gravesight is bestowed upon reavers, occultists and exorcists, as well as gravens, zombies, phantoms, ghouls, pale knights/pale lords and wights. Gravesight is inherent to the undead as well as those who have shackled a dead soul to themselves.

 

Those blessed with Gravesight are able to see clearly through the mirages of ectoplasm and the basest obfuscation of the Elysian Wastes, allowing them to see through the obfuscations of the Shroud and Deadbreath spells as well as invisible phantoms and Entombed land.

 

• Gravesight is an inherent, passive ability afforded to characters with any of the following:
  Reaving [MA], Occultism [MA], Exorcism [MA], Ghost [CA], Ghoul [CA], Pale Knight [CA], Wight [CA].
• Those with Gravesight are able to see clearly through phantom invisibility as well as the Shroud and Deadbreath spells as well as in Entombed land. They cannot see disembodied geists or strays in the Elysian Wastes, nor reavers using the Fade spell. 
• Gravesight offers no advantage identifying curses, objects, spells or revealing otherwise disguised necromancers or undead.

 

Soulsight

The curse of true sight, forcing innocent eyes to witness the forbidden spectacle of the Elysian Wastes; Soulsight is no boon, but a bane condemned upon those born afflicted with Vivification as well as those who partake in Exorcism. 

 

Those doomed to Soulsight are able to see the damned souls of mortalkind both stagnant in the Elysian Wastes and active upon the Material Plane, forever haunted by the strays which linger unseen to even the undead, reavers and occultists. This also allows them to see reavers using the Fade spell clearly.

 

• Soulsight is an inherent, passive curse afforded to characters with the Vivification [Feat] or an activated ability when invoking deliverance with the Exorcism [MA].
• Those with only Soulsight are able to see clearly through phantom invisibility and the Fade spell, but not Shroud and Deadbreath spells or in Entombed land. They witness the disembodied geists and strays as well as Faded reavers of the Elysian Wastes though are not inherently privy to the worldly applications of necromancy.
• Soulsight offers no advantage identifying curses, objects, spells or revealing otherwise disguised necromancers or undead.

 

Al’tarhn-Durngo, the Ebritean Language

Magically attuned to the Soul Stream either by their meddling with the forces of death, consorting with the strays of the Elysian Wastes or indeed their resurrection from the planes beyond, necromancers and undead creatures of all varieties have an innate understanding of both written and spoken Al’tarhn-Durngo and - unlike ordinary descendants - are unphased by its vulgar utterances or crude script. 

 

This black tongue can be found here:

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/199893-%E2%9C%93-world-lore-altarhn-durngo-the-ebritean-language/ 

 

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Undeath

Undeath pertains to the state of suspended mortal existence beyond the grave. Always borne of some manner of necromancy (whether independent or with the intercession of a necromancer), the undead are those too willful to succumb to the Soul Stream or those unfortunate enough to be plucked from it against their will. There are three rungs of undeath, each more immersed in the dark and further form the natural processes of afterlife than the last. 

 

Primitive Undead

The Damned

 

Though the vast majority of those who die have their souls carried by the Soul Stream for judgement and their final fate in the Immortal Planes - only reachable thereafter by the seances of exorcists - there are some who linger outside of the divine apparatus.

The lowest rung is that of disembodied souls, borne of the inherent dark and ‘wild’ necromancy: they are strays, geists and at their peak apparitions.

 

Strays [NPCs] are the most numerous and natural amongst the damned. These are the souls too willful in their unfinished business or fearful of judgement to properly pass on, lingering in the unseen veil of the Material Plane known as the Elysian Wastes. Too meagre to husk into a ghoulish shell or construct a magical presence as ghosts, they are doomed to stagnate as simple witnesses of the world, interaction with the living filtered entirely through the more sensitive mediums and exorcists whom they haunt and bargain with.

 

Geists [NPCs/ST signed objects] are spiteful souls and shadows of their former selves, naturally whittled down to their basest malevolence produced by the corrosive purgatory of Ebrietaes - the realm of Aeriel’s damnation - or magically made malevolent by the work of necromancers. Those liberated from Ebrietaes tend to be caged in hexed objects, through which they share their misery with the living. In addition, the imprisoned souls of occultists and reavers are doomed to degenerate into geists if unshackled from their masters, marked by their unhallowed union with mortal magi that seek to tamper in death.

 

Apparitions [ST characters] are beings of immeasurable torment, borne of the cannibalism, coagulation, or artificial congealing of tens of geists and strays into a singular phantom entity. Capable of breaching the mortal realm with ectoplasmic forms, the potential size and potency of apparitions is unknown, however the most famous historic apparition - Mthyul Tlan - was said to have been godlike in stature, borne of the ritual mass suicide of the First Synod from which span the bygone art of mysticism. They are rare creatures naturally cradled by sites of excess death such as battlefields and cities struck by calamity, though the intervention of necromancy can also create the conditions necessary to birth lesser apparitions for their own occult purposes.

 

Lesser Undead

The Forsaken

Thereafter comes the semi-autonomous rung of those who through sheer will or necrotic empowerment have managed to carve a lasting place for themselves once more in the land of the living. They are categorised as gravens, zombies, ghosts and ghouls.

 

Gravens [NPCs] are geists that have been bestowed a fleeting, corporeal form of ectoplasm through which they grapple with the land of the living.

 

Zombies [NPCs/Temporary PCs] are soulless, mindless corpses which have been temporarily reanimated as puppets of necromancy.

 

Phantoms [CA] are ghostly remnants whose souls are housed no longer in flesh but a magical mimicry of it, made from ectoplasm. 

 

Ghouls [CA] are zombified cadavers whose festering corpses have been made to house a soul not meant for this plane. 

 

Though they can strive for independence, theirs is a hindered existence, plateauing without the aid of necromancy. Through necromantic rituals, the forsaken can ascend to the next rung:

 

Greater Undead

The Pale and their Lords

 

As with the lesser forsaken, so too exists two variants of the greater undead. The first is that of true death and resurrection, known as the pale, knights and lords who have been risen either upon their death or stolen from their rest. The second is that of the artificial and calculated reincarnation of master necromancers, known as wights, who have immersed themselves fully in their arts.

 

Pale Knights [CA] are soldiers of the Abyss and the backbone of most Pale Legions, pale knights are the collective dead who possess a simulacra of mortal existence in lasting forms sustained by phylacteries which host their damned souls. They are subdivided into sorcerous draugars, marshal darkstalkers, and brutish eidola, each capable of inborn feats and spells of meagre necromancy though none are capable of the full breadth of reaving, occultism, or exorcism.

 

These greater undead have the inherent potential to evolve by conjoining the souls of others into their phylacteries. By feasting on an apparition, a knight has the potential to become a pale lord, subdivided as liches, deathknights, and titans respectively. 

The lords among the pale are named so for their heighted prowess in the dark, which enables them to raise new pale knights independent of any mortal necromancer and thus making them a force to be reckoned with for those who seek to rule the undead.

 

Wights [CA] are undead of a breed apart from the forsaken and the pale. These are the penultimate necromancers who have immersed themself fully in their arts, mastering reaving, occultism, and exorcism before consuming an apparition to attain their own form of lordship. Having unified their once living souls with countless geists, wights forgo their mortal coils for a phylactery calcified from their once living bodies and an avatar of pure anima, lifeforce and ectoplasm. 

 

Retaining the full breadth of the school of necromancy and capable of shifting between phantom and skeletal forms as well as possessing temporal husks, they serve as an intermediary between the living and the undead; essential in binding geists to new reavers and occultists. 

 

Like the Archliches and Barrowlords of yore, these bishops of necromancy are the spiritual heirs of the Old Lords and the Waking Synod, charged with their dark arts’ succession.

 

[Playable CA Lore] Greater Undead - Lore Criteria + Submissions - The Lord Of The Craft

 

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Purpose and Proposed Implementation

Purpose;

A Long Time Coming

Spoiler

Marrying together magics and creatures - especially those that are still in use - will to some be a controversial decision, but it is the opinion of the writers behind this project as well as some in the larger Mysticism, Necromancy and undead creature communities that this overhaul and intertwining is long overdue. 

 

To begin, many new players are often surprised to learn that Necromancy and Mysticism - dark magics which pertain to the creation and manipulation of undead creatures - were ever separate to begin with. The answer as to why is complex, though I shall attempt to summarise: 

 

Necromancy as we understand it today is the brainchild of Geoboy66 and other oldheads who, after the Undead antag eventlines of Aegis and later Asulon, felt that the defeat of Iblees and his minions had left the server with a niche in need of filling: dark magic. Though the exact dates and timeline is arbitrary, it is worth noting that the LotC of this time was very, very different. Player antagonists were few and far between, and for a time gated behind ‘Villain Applications’ which required staff to authorise evil acts. The idea that player characters - not event-led pseudo staff actors as the Undead had been - could use magic to achieve their own immoral ends was fairly novel and it is to these players we owe much in how magic and the wider server has been shaped in their wake. 

 

Player necromancy (retroactively ‘second generation’ necromancy) was, as with most of the written magics on the pre-loregames server, very freeform and in many ways limitless with its monopoly on dark magic. Many abilities were often conceived by in-character experimentation, much of the time self-affirmed by players with the right staff connections. It wasn’t until the coming of other dark magics - Shades, Dark Shamanism, Contract Magic, Soul Puppetry, Frost Witches and ‘second generation’ Blood Magic - that limits became more clearly defined and the lines between ‘necromancy’ and other dark magics became vivid. Expansions and additions were therefore formally written to the original necromancy piece, giving way to the likes of blight, curses, wraiths, darkstalkers, liches, ghouls and (controversially) morghuuls and shaping many concepts still prevalent in world lore today such as Entombing.

 

Ghosts had been independently written as an open CA around this time, though - as with today - no clear ties were ever established between that ‘type’ of undead and the bygone Ibleesian Undead or the undead which necromancers interacted with. 

 

By the time of late Athera/ early Vailor necromancy had become bloated and undoubtedly powerful. It was a marker of status and even within those who had an accepted app was a rigid hierarchy of players who had access to closely guarded rituals and spells. It was in this climate that mysticism was written by Zarsies, a seasoned member of the necromancer ‘in group’ not only with the desire to break away from the structures of necromancy but also to neatly fit into the new-ish ‘dark magic’ category as a standalone magic. 

 

Where necromancy was written to be destructive, wicked and cruel, mysticism was written to be defensive, whimsical and passive. Ghosts were given unique interactions to parallel necromancy’s ghouls, paleknights were written to replace the bygone dreadknights (also an event antag of yesteryear) as well as parallel darkstalkers, and wights were created as the ‘endgame’ parallel to liches and wraiths. With mysticism came massive world lore expansion on the nature of death and the Soul Stream, Ebrietaes, Aeriel, ectoplasm, apparitions, and souls. 

 

At a glance it is easy to claim mysticism was ‘derived’ from necromancy, though the reality is that it was written to both compliment and mirror it with a vision for dark magic at large as a wider ‘school’ of magic, similar to Voidal or Holy. Though this was 2014, and times have since changed. 

 

Some time after this Third Generation Necromancy was written to bring it up to speed with better standards and clarification on abilities in light of Mysticism, though this was short lived.

 

More dark magics and creatures came about in the years to follow; Naztherak and (playable) Inferi, Thallosos, Anti Magic, Unsound Magic, Ish’urkal and then third generation Dark Shamanism, an endgame Shade CA, an endgame Frost Witch CA, Sorvians, Strength of the Abyss, Revenants and so on and so forth until accumulative magics overlapped in countless niches and grew gaudy in their potency. Holy magic, Druidism, Shamanism and Voidal magic had continued in a similar trajectory, and it was in this haze that Loregames called for a soft reboot of our server’s magics and creatures.

 

It is at this point that many older players will be familiar with a proposal not too dissimilar to this rewrite, once attempted before, seven long years ago: [✗] Fourth Generation Necromancy - Denied Lore - The Lord Of The Craft

 

Fourth Generation Necromancy was a failed attempt at merging and reclassifying necromancy, mysticism and soul puppetry as one ‘school’. The long and short explanation behind the piece’s failure is that OOC in-fighting between player leaders who had different opinions on the attempted removal of ‘clotting’ (the disconnection ability) led the loreteam to a “Call to Arms” vote. Though the submission as it stood was initially accepted by lore team vote, no compromise could be found between the different player factions within the necromancy community and thus the piece was self-denied by Zarsies. Competing loregames rewrites of necromancy also flopped, and for roughly two years necromancy ceased to exist on the server.

 

In this gap, Rh’thorean Necromancy came about from newer players from the Strength of the Abyss and Third Generation Necromancy communities that sought to avoid many of the mistakes of past communities and concepts. This write drew upon the failed Fourth Generation Necromancy submission as well as Strength of the Abyss, doubling down on the magic’s distinction from past generations whilst also indirectly drawing on abilities prior established (through the Fourth Generation failed merge pipeline) as part of Mysticism. Though there have been innumerable edits to Rh’thorean Necromancy around the changing lore landscape in the time since, and inconsistencies have caused problems to surface: black Alchemy existing independent of the Alchemy overhaul, phylactery dust and dragon bones being an essential yet unobtainable ritual component, Archliches being ‘arch’ despite historic liches no longer existing and clunky required-metagaming revival mechanics to name a few.

 

As this was happening, a Fourth Generation writer chose to recycle the concept of Vivification from the denied piece as its own 0 slot magic - or ‘feat’, a new type of application at the time - which, with the exception of a reformat since, remains largely unchanged to this day. This was written and accepted before modern Mysticism, which led to a number of early conflicts and overlapping concepts between the two pieces.

 

Then came the rewrite of mysticism. Burdened with the near impossible task of restoring their magic in the wake of a new necromancy MA with which it would inevitably share concepts and abilities and vastly different interpretations of worldlore, the mysticism writers were forced to come up with concepts and priorities beyond the mandate of past iterations. Mystic Blades made for a unique, ‘dark paladin’ archetype that had been absent since the Strength of the Abyss rewrite though this left the alternative - Mystic Conjurors - comparatively lacklustre and in need of a later overhaul. Spell priorities were shifted from merely ‘defensive necromancy’ as original mysticism had been to be more focused on rituals and massive reliance on phantom CAs. The end result was mysticism as it exists today: a confused mix between ghost-hunting and ghost-making pseudo holy pseudo dark mages with vastly different priorities. 

 

The direction of these communities has been often at odds for reasons that have boiled down to player control over a different MA, made worse by the post-loregames insistence that wielding both magics (being a “true” necromancer) ought to be made impossible by anti-minmaxing slot requirements which hold little to no mechanical weight when compared with the likes of Voidal MA slots/benefits. The result has been a series of pieces and concepts, creatures and indeed player behaviours which have been needlessly (dare I say tribalistically?) fragmented along MA lines.

 

Never has this been more apparent than in recent eventlines, where lore characters like Mordring and Mthyul Tlan (essentially the progenitors of Necromancy and Mysticism respectively) have crescendoed into a singular being, left narratively at odds with arbitrary player mechanics that do not reflect the nature of undeath in our collective world lore. 

 

This piece, though it has no designs to force character groups together, means to target this player factionalism and nip it in the bud, for the explicit purpose of building a richer, more consistent and logical universe narrative and equipping players in the undead niche with the tools necessary to tell the types of stories their MAs and CAs were always meant to tell. 

 

It also intends to retain the good that has come from the division between the two thus far. As referenced above, whilst the ‘evil’ aspects of Mysticism were certainly present from the beginning, so too were elements which - especially in the most recent iteration - paved the way for characters with more altruistic intent toward both the living and the dead. Though there are those who internally and externally frown upon this niche, it is nonetheless a valid approach to the world we have constructed with over a decade of storytelling both in roleplay (IC) philosophies and world lore (OOC) liberty. 

 

The Exorcism [MA] and Vivification [Feat] as autonomous, miscellaneous magics independent of the teaching mechanics and implied hierarchies of the darker Reaving [MA], Occultism [MA], and undead CAs are twofold in purpose. Not only do they preserve the Ascended-borne spells and rituals of past iterations of mysticism and necromancy, but so too do they look back to the original purpose of these abilities as a foil to (dark aligned) necromancers and the undead. That is to say though Exorcism exists within the ‘school’ of necromancy for its interactions with souls and the undead (usually in combating the latter), it is by no means a dark magic in its purpose, methods, mechanics, or origins. It is intentionally distinct as a miscellaneous pseudo-holy (see Sokar and Aeriel references in the Origins section) counter meant for monster hunters, priests, and necromancers to assign their own morality to.

 

Along with the aforementioned the piece intends to deflate the bloat of CAs which practically achieve the same thing. Archliches and Wights are now one and the same, scaled down to more reasonable ability limitations and PK mechanics. Looking to the Naztherak-adjacent Zar’ei for mechanical inspiration, we also feel the unification of most construct undead to a single undead CA - Pale Knights - with shared sweeping stakes mechanics and magic interactions is not only possible with archetypal comments but also necessary to the survival of each individual creature’s activity and lore interactions.

 

It is also this overhaul’s desire to grant the undead more broadly a greater autonomy from often chaotic magic and teacher circles. As a concept in our server for over a decade, we feel the undead staple (though always inherently linked to necromantic MAs) deserves the chance to stand on its own two feet by being allowed to spread and wreak havoc as they please. These creatures are, after all, defined by their existence as undead in a way not nearly comparable to characters who merely have necromancy and therefore deserve the freedom to tell their own stories without such in-built narrative dependency as mere minions thus leading to our design of Pale Lords. 

 

Above all else these new replacement magics and creatures seek to address the inconsistencies, power scaling, and to be frank bloat existent in both the Necromancy and Mysticism MAs and their affiliated CAs. Being just shy of six and five years old respectively, these pieces have aged poorly with innumerable edits, additions and amendments that have left them out of step with the post-loregames world.

 

All of this is to say, our project has been a long time coming and - we firmly believe - is an essential move to repair and enhance the existing quality of and potential for storytelling with these magics and creatures. 

 

Implementation Proposal;

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

 

Though, as with all rewrites, this is negotiable with the wider ST and community desires, we, the writers behind this project, would like to share our proposal for how it may be implemented in a manner that is sensitive to the various communities this overhaul will impact. 

 

First and foremost, we would prefer to avoid any unnecessary magic stripping from players. There is a broad spectrum of opinion in the Mysticism, Necromancy, Vivification, Draugar, Darkstalker and Eidola player bases which we think it is important to preserve in a manner that causes as little disruption as possible to existing communities and narratives. 

 

There are characters with these MAs and CAs who follow Xionism, Shorewalking, Mivtahza, Rh’thor, Mordring, Iblees, or their own independent ambitions, all of which are perfectly valid interpretations of the lore that has come before and that will exist after these rewrites and marriage pieces. We do not wish for any group to feel they have been stripped of their autonomy or artificially bundled with another in a way that is not narratively consistent. There are doubtless users of the aforementioned whose characters oppose ours, and it would be a great injustice for these dissenters to feel their story has been squashed or railroaded to our own ends by this rewrite.

 

With that in mind, we should clarify that this rewrite is meant to outdate the current Mysticism [MA] and Necromancy [MA] (including Black Alchemy), as well as to minorly rewrite the Vivification [Feat]. It also intends to remove the current Pale Knight [CA], Pale Lord [CA], Wight [CA], Draugar [CA], Darkstalker [CA], and Archlich [CA] in their current forms.

The Phantom [CA] and Ghoul [CA] should remain, though minor tweaks may be required for both where referencing outdated magic interactions.

 

So, who will be grandfathered?

 

Everyone, we hope.

 

Upon implementation, we would ask for the ST to announce a one month grace period in which the following occurs for a limited time before outdated apps are wiped:

 

The Good

 

All current Vivification [Feat]s as well as [TA]s should stay accepted and valid. This is because of all magics/ creatures impacted by this overhaul, the curse of true sight is staying largely the same with two important exceptions: the Seance ability and the ability to see invisible phantoms are to be decoupled from the feat, requiring an Exorcism [MA]. 

 

The logic behind this is that as an undroppable feat which is designed to be almost universally compatible with any and all magics and creatures, which must be predetermined before a character is created (similarly to the devil feat), the effects of the curse of true sight should be completely passive, serving to promote flavour in character behaviour and mentality rather than utility alone. Though we don’t feel this is the case at present, there is a valid concern that the feat could ‘min-max’ a character, arbitrarily allowing the likes of Azdrazi or Templars (with which we desperately want this feat to remain compatible) an edge amongst their peers when dealing with undead characters.

 

In addition, we would therefore wish for the Exorcism [MA] grandfather to be offered to Vivification [TA] holders at the time of this piece’s submission, that they might not only retain these additional abilities but also greatly expand upon them if the exorcist role is one they feel essential to their characters. As a magic that largely works against the interests of established undead/ mystic/ necromancer communities, we feel it is important that the Exorcism [MA] is sprinkled away from the safe-keeping of these groups in its grandfathers. It is for this reason we would like to, in accordance with the Sokar narrative under the Origins section, offer a grandfather during the grace period to any who had an accepted Ascended [MA] at the time of historic writes’ removal. 

 

As Exorcism is incompatible with Voidal magic as well as Shamanism, Druidism, and Templarism, those choosing this grandfather would need to drop their affiliated MA(s).

 

The Bad

 

Upon implementation we would like to offer all existing characters with an accepted Mysticism or Necromancy app (regardless of variation, slot dedication, or tier) grandfathers into the new school of necromancy. During this time they would be free to choose to either drop their defunct magic without consequence or inherit a Reaving (two slot),  Occultism (two slot) or Exorcism (one slot) [MA]. Alternatively, applicable players may choose to forgo any of the aforementioned [MA]s to instead be grandfathered into any variant of the Pale Knight [CA]. Each [MA] has its own respective [TA]; there is no blanket ‘necromancy’ TA that allows for the teaching of multiple.

 

As these magics marry and revise concepts from both Mysticism and Necromancy, there is no one for one translation in these MAs and thus we would like to give players the freedom to choose which MA(s) best fits the abilities and priorities of their existing characters. 

 

As these are still ‘new’ magics with different quirks and mechanics to Mysticism and Necromancy, we would ask for a wipe in all TAs. The revised Wight [CA] is necessary for the conjoinment of new students (commenting on MAs), however the ability to teach students once conjoined is not exclusive to wights nor gatekept behind any particular ritual.

 

Players will be free to choose any combination of the aforementioned and will be grandfathered in at whichever tier they left off their previous magics. We would however request that Tier 5 characters are required to wait three months (as if progressing from Tier 3) before they are able to submit a TA in their chosen MAs as well as access the Consumption ritual for the Wight [CA] necessary for creating new students.

 

Players with an existing Wight [CA] or Archlich [CA] will likewise be offered the ability to grandfather in the grace period, though will be required to drop any and all MAs they previously held and be grandfathered into Reaving, Occultism and Exorcism. This is because the new Wight [CA] necessitates total mastery of all of the available Necromancy MAs, which would take up all 5 of the character’s slots. Unlike past CAs of this type, wights are offered no additional magic slots.

 

We would ask the ST to, on implementation, choose amongst themselves a small number of grandfathered wights drawn from the historic (mysticism) wights and (necromancy) archliches to be given immediate TAs in order to preserve independent communities. All wights beyond this would have to wait three months before submitting a TA in their chosen MA(s).

 

The Ugly

 

The new Pale Knight [CA] is split into three subtypes, meant to be represented by a comment specifying their variant (draugar, darkstalker or eidola). Pale Lords likewise are not a distinct CA but an ‘evolved version’ of the base variant, also represented with a comment on the Pale Knight [CA].

 

During the grace period, all characters with a currently accepted Darkstalker [CA], Draugar [CA] or Eidola/ Pale Knight [CA] would be offered a grandfather into the new Pale Knight [CA]. Likewise, all with an accepted Pale Lord [CA] as well as those with a Paramount comment on their Darkstalker [CA] will be grandfathered into their ‘evolved’ status with a pale lord comment on their new Pale Knight [CA]. This comment permits the character in question to create new Pale Knights, spreading the CA to other players without need of a necromancer.

 

All existing Eidolon augments are to be removed, as they are either granted as spells inherent to the new Pale Knight [CA] or lack an equivalent ability in the new lore. 

---

 

[Pallodium 3775]

[Salium 178]

mashallah, good job

[Security_ 2287]

[lemonke 6014]

Rip arch-liches and rip necromancers. All will become mystics...

 

Will wait for the other two magic to drop and then I shall give it a full-review again.

[ScreamingDingo 20568]

damn all these youths and their xionist merging of lore and trendy multi pathed CAs. 

[Eurielle 1189]

Took ya long enough 

[Security_ 2287]

37 minutes ago, lemonke said:

Rip arch-liches and rip necromancers. All will become mystics...

 

Will wait for the other two magic to drop and then I shall give it a full-review again.

 

As an arch-lich player, i can still play a boneman. This makes sense lorewise considering Mordring consumed Mythul Tahn, and is likewise the reason wraiths and necromancers at large have been able to exist this far. I also wouldn't call it 'necromancers becoming mystics', as mystics will now also be becoming necromancers. It's a general merge between the magics that makes sense in the narrative, and also doesn't favor either magic over another, besides maybe in naming conventions.

 

That being said, names only exist IRP, lore names shmore names.

[PrimnyaQuorum 3999]

1 hour ago, The King Of The Moon said:

Voidal Aberrations include but are not limited to life evocation conjurations, celestials, terrors, abominations, horrors, and behemoths.

I think its not a good idea to put a Mortal Tier'd Voidal Summon anywhere near the same scale as ET-Only Voidal Creatures. I would argue a Voidstalker more belongs on that list then a Life Evocationist's Summons, since a Voidstalker is more "voidal" then any other Voidal Thing. Equally, CA Atronachs are missing from that list.

 

It's obvious a giant amount of thought was put into this - Even with the absolutely massive scale of overhaul this demands, it feels like it isn't omitting anything. I will always advocate for curbing Void MA/FA minmaxing across Dark CAs and this does it pretty well, being that Void compatibility seems to be only be regained once this new magical system has 3 slots of a personas's 5 - firmly prohibiting Voidal Featstacks.

 

I do have a concern about other magics: Its likely everything that follows this will make comments and references, but what about existing lore that will refer to [if this is accepted] then-defunct/non-existent MAs and CAs? Is there a plan to adjust other lore as needed or kinda just wing it and hop for the best?

[lemonke 6014]

40 minutes ago, Security_ said:

 

As an arch-lich player, i can still play a boneman. This makes sense lorewise considering Mordring consumed Mythul Tahn, and is likewise the reason wraiths and necromancers at large have been able to exist this far. I also wouldn't call it 'necromancers becoming mystics', as mystics will now also be becoming necromancers. It's a general merge between the magics that makes sense in the narrative, and also doesn't favor either magic over another, besides maybe in naming conventions.

 

That being said, names only exist IRP, lore names shmore names.

Nah, it’s not just some “bone man”—it’s more like an empowered version of wights since they still play as wights. My main feedback here is that this leans more into mysticism while borrowing a few elements from necromancy, but ultimately this is wholly a mystic-focused piece. There’s a noticeable bias toward Mordring, and the entire magic system feels overly bloated for the merge would not accommodate everything. So, a lot of sacrifices had to be made. Yes, Mystics will become "necromancers," but their main style is kept together and grounded. This is going to EMPOWER the mystic side and not the group that had solely necromancy.

 

This essentially became Mordring magic, yet our conflict with him is still unresolved, so now every necromancy stuff will come from him? Maybe I’m just not a fan of the merge because it eliminates a distinct playstyle and feels like it was designed for only one side. If this goes through, my group IC will now have to deal with 5+ wights who can force DC on everyone using this magic while also being able to PK my entire group. This is going to turn into another Siliti situation, which will ultimately kill the magic altogether. Generally, if this goes through...people will have to make a lot of ST builds out of nowhere.

 

That said, some of the CAs have been handled well—excluding the PK aspect, which I still think is a bad idea. The concept of fighting an apparition to ascend is okay, but it also feels too extreme, especially considering that there won’t be a wipe, meaning a lot of people will start with CAs right away. Moreso, it's extreme for normal CAs and not wights/arch-liches themselves. I wish the physcaltery for Wights was something like tree lord's trees, wherein it requires a small interaction to fight them. Furthermore, It would have been cool if there was an arch-lich path instead of this strange "corporeal and incorporeal" situation, where it would change some stuff of your magic depending on if you had chosen the wight or arch-lich path.

 

This is not to be rude, of course. It's my opinion and I'm not here to offend the writers

[xo31 3979]

while most things are clarified here and perhaps im missing it throughout the lorepieces, what will RPly happen to twice-conjoined mystics? if they pick up reaving will they only have the one conjoinment or will they rply have the third soul or what up with it ?

[Xergarok 811]

Reserved before the comments are filled with suggestions about lore

[King_Kunuk 3022]

It's beautiful. It's a master piece. It's what I truly desire.

[Werew0lf 24180]

Just going to drop my opinion here.

I have no problems with the merger.

 

I have no qualms with the Mordring focus, really, because that is up to the justification of the LT. 

 

My issues lay in:
- The formatting sucks but ig that ain't a lore issue. 

 

- I agree with the sentiment from LeMonke, you have sort of hidden the beauty of necromancy with more mystic-flavoured stuff. I can still see there are some necro spells, including in the CA sections, and cool, the lore hub is called necromancy, but it just feels more mystic aligned. 

 

- I spoke to Zarsies about this, but the lore is not very friendly to the eyes. You added small summaries on the ability and just placed the long fluff rambling in spoilers (something players still require to read to understand the spells). The abilities are so long, bro. One ability has ten paragraphs. If I was new to the server and wanted to look over some lore and their mechanics, and I came across this, it would be very intimidating. I don't believe magics should be expressly locked behind experience or groups. This should be something that can be read easily for all types of players, new or old. Look at it, bro. Read Reaving and Occultism. 

 

We also spoke about this, but it is clear this lore was posted in a rush so that you guys would make the next lore mags. FYI that isn't how lore mags works, you could have taken the time to gather some feedback and actually implement it before posting. I was told that the abilities would be hardboiled and shrunk since the language used was not friendly or accommodating to the general player-base and might even confuse some ST when making lore verdicts , this was not the case.

 

This is going to sound terrible, but players have become dumber (or simpler). This isn't 2016 or 2017 where people found this sort of long, mechanic heavy lore normal and appreciated. Players enjoy the simplicity of lore which is easy to understand, and it is also better for management / ST / mods who may have to go through lore to deal with lore discrepancies or lore reports. 

 

Good luck with your rewrite though, I thought I'd post an actual serious comment instead of just throwing you a bait bone and trolling. 
 

[Rhettthecoldone 252]

I really don’t know how to feel about this new “necromancy”. It no longer feels like the manipulation of corporeal dead, but just Mysticism with a few necromancy abilities slapped onto it. On the other hand, I really enjoy the aesthetics and new abilities, but it doesn’t feel like necromancy anymore. For a long, long time I feel, there has been a clear distinction between Necromancy and Mysticism…

 

Mysticism - the manipulation of Incorporeal Undead through Ectoplasm.

Necromancy - the manipulation of Corporeal Undead through Lifeforce

 

…and this magic just feels like a bloated, mashed together version of the two that heavily neglects the corporeal undead side of the two.

 

As for things affecting my very own character, a lot of changes have been made to the mental effects and urges of these new “necromancers”. It is extremely detrimental to my characters story when all of the sudden, he no longer has an urge of cannibalism and no longer is pained with shame and regret of what he’s become by the urges. I’ve roleplayed my character in such a way that those urges define a lot of his personality. When this magic is accepted (if it does), that will all just disappear? And for that reason specifically I really just don’t love it. It doesn’t incorporate necromancy enough and simply feels like a rewrite of Mysticism.

 

there are definitely quite a bit more things I would like to bitch about but ima just chill :D