Necromancy (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:
Contents
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.
Conversion of Oblivion
Feel the Pull (•)
Using this power allows the Necromancer to feel the energy of the dead and the Maelstrom around them. Using it he can't necessarily see the dead, but can locate them via the energy they pull in emotions.
