Necromancy (Hedge Magic)

Hedge Magic

Some things should stay buried. Chief among them: the dead. But those who follow the Path of Necromancy see things a bit differently. Like Hellfire, Necromancy has a reputation for being foul, practiced only by the worst of the worst. Unlike Hellfire, this reputation is at least somewhat deserved. Even the simplest of Necromancy spells involve forcibly bending the dead to the magician’s will, and the most powerful of them can manipulate the powers of the Shadowlands to affect the living as well.

Though methods vary wildly with practice, Necromancy always requires that the magician’s first instruments include the preserved piece of the corpse of someone they cared for, almost always a family member. This creates the link between the magician and the underworld, allowing them to become a conduit for the energies of death itself. While for mystical magicians, crafting such an instrument often feels natural, technomagicians tend to find themselves with unique, grisly objects, like keyboards with keys made of bone or computer chips with brain neurons embedded in the circuitry.

Using this Path is difficult. Not in the sense of technique — it is no more complex to use than any other Path. Rather, it takes an emotional toll on the magician. The living are not meant to channel the energies of death so directly. They feel the grief of their ancestors, back for centuries, perhaps millennia. This overwhelming despair at the loss of countless generations leads to complications, particularly for magicians who are low on Willpower. Finally, those energies cause harm to the user, and each spell or ritual causes the caster to take one level of bashing damage per level of the power being invoked, unless otherwise mentioned in the description.

System Aspects: Duration along with Ghost Binding:

Ghost Binding

• The caster can see, hear, and speak to ghosts in their vicinity, whichever side of the Shroud they are on.

•• The magician can now terrify the restless dead. Filling themself with the necrotic energy of the Shadowlands, the dead can see them as alive but infused with the power of death. This results in a –2 difficulty on all Intimidation and Subterfuge rolls against the dead.

••• The caster forces a ghost to take on a corporeal form, whether they could do so on their own or not. For the duration, the ghost is for all intents and purposes a living person again, including the usual seven Health levels. If killed, however, they don’t simply return to being a ghost. Instead, the experience transforms the ghost into a spectre, a ghost consumed by and subservient to the powers of Oblivion. And this spectre has a grudge against the caster.

•••• Any ghost can be summoned to the caster at this level. All the magician needs is the ghost’s True Name and to win a contested Willpower roll. If the necromancer is successful, the ghost must then immediately arrive. Keep in mind that most dead people do not become ghosts, and most ghosts do not appreciate being summoned.

••••• Masters of Necromancy can compel obedience from the dead. In addition to the Path roll, they must win a contested Willpower roll. If they do so, they can demand the ghost perform one simple task or answer one simple question to the best of their ability. For tasks, the Duration Aspect covers how long the ghost must attempt to accomplish it.

Price of Failure: Failure for most Paths simply results in nothing happening. For Necromancy, the despair of generations overwhelms them, resulting in a derangement, usually severe depression, for an hour. If they have less than three temporary Willpower points, then the derangement instead lasts a week. Botches are truly dangerous, with not only the derangements lasting longer (a full month) and the near certainty of very angry ghosts, but the magician runs the risk of being pulled out of his body, leaving it apparently comatose while their mind spends the month “living” as one of the restless dead.

Sample Rituals

Deathsight (•)

Normally, a necromancer can only see the ghosts around them. They can’t see the environment the ghosts call home. This ritual changes that. With it, a magician not only sees the Restless Dead, but can actually peer into the Shadowlands. This effect lasts for one minute per success on the ritual. While under the influence of this ritual, the necromancer cannot perceive the normal world; only the Shadowlands are visible to them.

Wrapped in a Shroud (•••)

The Shroud separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. It can be difficult to cross this barrier, a fact which protects the living and the dead both from each other. Usually, either a necromancer must reach across from the land of the living to the world of the dead, or a ghost must have crossed to accomplish something among the living, in order for them to interact. For one minute per success on this ritual, the necromancer manages to actually stand between worlds, able to interact directly with both without further magic. Both human beings and ghosts can interact freely with the magician, for better or for worse.

Forced Medium (••••)

Some people are naturally easier for ghosts to possess. These mediums may view this as a gift or a curse, but it marks them apart. These are the people who deal with the spirit worlds, and who ghosts will come to in order to either ask them to solve a problem or else take over their body to compel them do so. This ritual gives the target the merit Medium (BoS p. 69) for a week, along with a –2 difficulty on attempts by ghosts to possess them.

Steal Life (•••••)

One of the darkest arts of Necromancy, masters of the Path can steal the life energy from another living person. The caster first fills themself with death energy but doesn’t shape it directly into a spell. Instead, before it can absorb their own life force, they push it into their victim. This transfer takes with it the most recent five health levels of damage the caster currently suffers from. The caster heals those injuries. Most versions of this ritual involve carving sigils into the victim (or piercing them with electrical wires, or any number of other techniques) causing additional harm. Needless to say, very few survive this process, and those who do often hunt the necromancer until the end of their days.

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Conversion of Oblivion

Viewing Isfet (•)

When the Sorcerer invokes this power, she causes herself to see the world as wraiths do, through coffin-colored glasses. This power doesn't allow the necromancer to see wraiths or the Underworld, rather it attunes her eyes to the force of entropy in whichever world she is currently residing. Buildings appear rotted and falling down, and people show their sickness as blackspots or worms crawling around them, trees and plants wilting and dying.

Hand of Time (••)

This power allows the Necromancer to summon the entropic forces to act on inanimate objects as if they had survived over a long period of time. Wood weathers, metals oxidize and weaken, plastic becomes brittle, glass warps. Unable to impact the living at this point, this power pushes the inanimate to it's breaking end point of existence.

System: The Necromancer marks the symbol of chaos on an item and begins chanting the names of chaos he or she knows. The caster rolls Manipulation + Occult difficulty 5. Each success exposes inanimate objects to an exponential amount of wear and tear.

1 Success = 1 year
2 Success = 10 years
3 Success = 100 years
4 Success = 1,000 years
5 Success = 10,000 years

Poisoning the Well (•••)

With this power the Necromancer can concentrate or dissipate the innate Oblivion in a victim. The Necromancer must first succeed in sensing Oblivion, and then through Manipulation + Occult either pull all the Oblivion on a victim to one spot (say a mortals heart) or dissipating it throughout their body and possessions (lifting a disease or illness, by spreading the Oblivion out.) If the Oblivion is concentrated in one spot, that organ or area will turn black and rot first and in a short amount of time. The area around the Necromancer will get very cold and other supernaturals that can sense it will be made uneasy if not alarmed. The Necromancers eyes will turn completely black for the rest of the scene after a successful use. A botch means that Oblivion and entropy coalesce in the Necromancers body causing 1-3 levels of damage, at the ST discretion.

System: The Caster must first invoke Seeing Through the Shroud, then make a Manipulation + Occult roll. Each success is a point of Oblivion that a Necromancer can move. Each point of concentrated Oblivion coalesced into the victim leads to 2 corresponding levels of bashing unsoakable damage.

Oblivions Spear (••••)

The Necromancy can direct destructive energies toward living, undead, and dead (wraith) opponents. The vampire causes them to suffer terrible pain and to begin decomposing. The nature of the effect varies from necromancer to necromancer according to taste. The Necromancer must be within ten feet of the victim and must reach his hand out towards the victim.

System: The necromancer casts a ritual for each attack. Each attack requires that the necromancer roll Dexterity + Occult at a difficulty six (6). Each success on then aforementioned roll does one aggravated health level of damage to the victim. Of course, only one attack of this type can be made per combat round. A botch on this role inflicts one level of aggravated damage per botch upon the wielder of this power. The range of this attack is line of sight. While this attack can be soaked, the difficulty to do so is six (6) and should the victim botch, the aggravated damage is doubled.

Dust to Dust (••••)

The Necromancer can strengthen the forces of entropy to the point where it can serve several functions. It can gnarl wood, rust metal, erode plastic, glass and dead organic material. The range of this power is line of sight. However the necromancer utilizing this power must be careful lest he or she be detected as the conduit for Oblivion. When this power is activated the necromancer's eyes seem to glow in an unwholesome and unearthly way. Of more concern is the social unease that infects beasts and mortals who encounter necromancer while this power is active. In fair warning, many types of supernatural being can sense the emanations of Oblivion: mages, shape-shifters and of course wraiths.

System: For the necromancer to wield entropy properly he must first spill blood (from themselves or a sacrifice) and then roll Manipulation + Occult versus a variable difficulty based on the substance to be decayed. A botch on this roll causes the forces of entropy to run wild about the necromancer’s person, ravaging his possessions and anything else that may be close to him for a time period equivalent to that found upon the succession chart in botches. Dead organic material would have a standard difficulty of three (4). While, stone or refined metal are likely to be ten (9). The number of successes determines how quickly the material decays.

   -- One Success = One Day
   -- Two Successes = Twelve Hours
   -- Three Successes = Six Hours
   -- Four Successes = One Hour
   -- Five Successes = Instantaneously

Summon The Maelstrom (•••••)

Through long esoteric training and hazardous practice the Necromancer can summon a soul-storm in the Underworld and should he will it so, manifest it in the living lands as well. Like the dervishes of the Middle East or the fakirs of India, the Necromancer must work himself into an ecstatic state in order to use his body as the conduit for the Maelstrom, bringing decay and destruction to everyone and everything in his immediate area.

System: Roll: Stamina + Occult, difficulty (8). The effects, which last for two turns per success, decay non-living material, and cause two levels of aggravated damage per success to any creatures in the area (20' radius) -- live, dead, or otherwise.

Conversion Rituals

Stygian Dust (••••• •)

At this level of expertise the Necromancer is able to summon and refine the Maelstrom into a fine grey powder that is caustic to the touch. This powder will suck the life force from any organic thing it touches. Wood, leather, and living flesh all dessicate at contact with this powder. Necromancer have been known to use this powder to reduce enemies and sacrifices to dried up mummies with small amounts of this powder.

System: The Necromancer rols Manipulation + Occult difficulty 8 to refine the forces of Oblivion. Each success creates 6 ounces of the powder. (