Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-12: Too Doe Nakotae

To life immortal. Necromancy need not only be relegated to the raising of zombies for the continuation of a body. Often enough this dark school of magic is used in the efforts of seeking immortality. The results of necromantic longevity rituals tend to break into two different categories. The first results in a form of vampirism. The second results in a type of revenant. Where horror magic is concerned vampires are not always created from one descendant, or by some kind of virus, unless of course the virus was created by magic. Necromantic vampires also do not necessarily need to feed on blood or on flesh. Some feed on the spirit or essence of their victims. Some feed on emotions, usually with fear being the best tasting if not actually most nutritious emotional food.

When a Necromancer extends his life as a revenant--whether corporeal or not--he does not require exotic ‘foods’ and may not require any sustenance. Such living dead magicians continue to exist by will alone or driven by hatred and other strong emotions, though love may keep him going, which isn’t very horrific unless his undying form is rotted or rotting. A Lich is created when the Necromancer gains his immortality at the cost of continuing to exist in a dried husk of a body or a skeleton. The ritual to turn the Necromancer into a Lich requires storing his spirit in some kind of object that is kept safe from harm, for should the spirit be released the Necromancer can then die. This shares some semblance of the Voodoo ritual where an enslaved person’s intellect is kept in a special jar.

Necromancy is not the only path to immortality. The ultimate goal of alchemy is to discover the secret to ever lasting life. This immortality often includes remaining young and vital for the entirety of their extended life. The act of extending ones life by bathing in or feeding on blood can be either necromantic or alchemical depending upon how things are done. Certainly if a magician is extracting bodily fluids--blood, adrenal secretions, etc--and changing them somehow, concentrating them, then this is alchemical magic. The item or material known as the Philosopher’s Stone is needed for these alchemists to achieve their true immortality. This pinnacle of alchemy transmutes the body so that death never comes and is indeed not necessary.

Music: Black Rose Immortal by Opeth and Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen.

Buy these at Amazon.ca Click Images to Buy

Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-11: *Dun-dun* Zombie Love

The last article merely touched upon the zombies of horror’s voodoo lore. As stated those zombies tend more toward the living that are ensorcelled, or conversely, those held just away from the fringe of death. That said, there is nothing stopping any particular zombie from being in rough shape, with unhealed wounds, if not actual rotting flesh. Certainly if they are disconnected from select senses and awareness of being, then they may be grievously wounded and still carry on as long as their limbs remain intact enough. The biggest problem with these kinds of zombies as slaves though is that eventually they will collapse. They are still subject to most of the rules of physiology such as the need for rest and for food. That is why necromancers like to make real zombies, living dead zombies.

The living dead have no need to rest. They have no need to eat. This means that they can work ceaselessly. They do not feel pain. A lot of the time they do not retain any kind of survival instinct; though as with Romeroan ghouls, in some instances they do inexplicable retain a fear of fire. At the other end of the scale, the living dead and their kin, such as walking skeletons, may not need even flesh on their bones, and may not need their sensory organs (eyes and ears) to still be able to sense the world around them and operate within it. This means that the intelligence of the necromancer’s dead creations can have varying levels of intelligence despite their physical makeup. This leads to the two different routes that the necromancer can take in making and using zombies.

Necromancers can animate the dead with simple spells and control them like puppets to do their bidding. These zombies have no intelligence whatsoever, fear nothing, and do not need anything more the limbs necessary to do their tasks--and could even be just zombie limbs. In the alternative, necromancers can raise the dead to a semblance of life via rituals. These are the zombies that can be actually almost smart, depending upon the freshness of corpse involved in the creation of the zombie, or the strength of the ritual. That is of course unless the necromancer is binding spirits, life echoes, or incorporeal supernatural creatures to his corpses for the purposes of making a kind of greater zombie. This of course involves the other aspect for which necromancers are known.

Mood: harried.
Music: The Scorpion Sleeps by Rob Zombie and Zombie by The Cranberries.

Buy these at Amazon.ca Click Images to Buy

Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-5: The Luckless Dead

A number of cliches fall by the wayside with the introduction of the most horrific school of magic going, Necromancy. Dead men tell no tales. They do to the Necromancer. The lucky ones are the ones who died. They don't feel that way when the Necromancer gets their hands on them. There are only two things in this world that are inevitable, death and taxes. The Necromancer can't help with your taxes, though the taxman attacked by one might wish otherwise. The Necromancer can make sure that the finality of death is anything but a certainty. Even the epitaph "Rest in Peace" holds no sway. There isn't even necessarily any respite for the cremated either. Not flesh, bone, blood, ashes, or the essence of a person is safe from this monster of a magician.

This leads to the first question asked for a setting where Necromancy will be introduced. If some other aspect hasn't already asked it for, now it must be decided, do people have souls, spirits, or similar, that live on after the death of the body? If the answer is yes then they fall under the power of this school of magic. The full repertoire of the Necromancer is available. If the answer is no, then some avenues of horror need to be set aside, but not all of them. A victim's consciousness may be used in place of a soul in many an evil binding. It just requires tighter control over the timeline. A consciousness is more fragile and decidedly fleeting in comparison to a spirit. Then, beyond the living consciousness, are their echoes, which may stand in as ghosts.

Perhaps an atypical use of Necromancy is the use of bodily materials in modifying, or enhancing the Necromancer. This begins with the comparatively innocuous imbibing of blood to gain strength, or bathing in it to maintain youth. From there the Necromancy might make personal use of an additional limb, or organ, including sensory organs. A different approach could be the creation of living dead monstrosities that will make people wish for the halcyon days of only having to deal with zombies. Then there are the undead, the vampires. Will Necromancers have any power over the children of the night? They are biologically dead, for the most part, depending on the setting. Either way, the vampires can be friend or foe, beyond just being more parts to put to use.

Music: Good To Be Bad by Whitesnake and The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll by Def Leppard.

Buy these at Amazon.ca Click Images to Buy

Anatomy of a Horror Setting #2-2: No Porcine Blemishes Here

There are a number of choices when dealing with schools of magic in a horror setting. The options start with the author of the setting and move from there to the recipients of the magical skills, the characters, whether they be novel or movie character's or the characters played in a role-playing game. As previously mentioned there are some sticking points or ways in which there is some fundamental semantic confusion about where the ways in which magic is cast ends and the so-called schools of magic begin. Setting those aside, some solid examples of the kind of magic suitable for a horrific setting include Invocation, Conjuration, Summoning, Necromancy, and Alchemy or Alteration. Even among these there is some overlap and defining necessary.

For instance, Invocation is a loaded term with more than one avenue covered by its use as a name for a kind of magic. What the person is invoking can essentially be one of two things. The first is some tangible or discrete-unto-itself kind of entity or being whether it is a god or a devil, a spirit being, or the caster's ancestors. The second is to invoke just power, or the essence of magic itself, to perform the magical act. The division could be made that calling upon some being is Invocation, while calling upon energies is Evocation.

Likewise there is a connection between Conjuration and Summoning. Both involve making things appear. Conjuring something could lend itself to a physical result, or in only an intangible manifestation such a spirit depending on how those are defined. Summoning typically involves the bringing of a living creature, or some kind of being from some other level of existence, to the spell caster. Using that as an anchor, and casting aside the conjuring of spirits to the realm of the Necromancer, Conjuring should be the creation of materials and inanimate objects through the use of magic.

Necromancy--aside from conjuring, summoning, and forcing the appearance of spirits--covers such magical areas as the raising of zombies, binding spirits and entities, and gathering power from death. It is the darkest school of magic and prone to the worst atrocities committed in its pursuit. Desecration of the dead is a must, and eternal torment is their forte. In contrast to the creation of Conjuring, Alchemy is about altering existing things. The prime example of Alchemy is transmutation--turning one element into another, such as lead to gold. Alchemy basically is the chemistry of magic. It should cover magic powders, potions, ointments and anything of a direct physical nature. It would also cover the mystical arts of healing via draughts on through to converting emotional and spiritual energies.

Music: Thin Line Between Love and Hate by Iron Maiden and Ten Thousand Strong by Iced Earth.

Buy these at Amazon.ca Click Images to Buy