Good evening all,

My name is BrightWard. Necromancy was once mentioned in a Q&A section. I figured I’d dig into some real-life lore and literature to postulate the possibilities of what that could mean if brought to the game. I don't think Necromancy in the game should include all of these choices; the goal of this post is to entertain and give some grounded options. I’m sort’ve new and this is my first post, so greetings all! Feel free to add and correct.

Also, I wasn’t entirely sure which section to post this in because it cross-references out-of-game references. I settled for Souls, Talents & Reincarnation because Necromancy and its applications would be a Talent under magic. I hope you enjoy!

(TL;DR Necromancy could mean individuals Talented with it may be able to remotely collect information, find lost lore, predict possible events, and maybe uncover your true identity. Plus raising or put down the living dead. Not necessarily all of these things but perhaps just one of these things. A nerd makes the defense.)

So let’s get to it.

Game Reference -- Mentioned, to my knowledge, only once by developers, when Caspian, asked by Jakar, in a Q&A stated “Necromancy is only spoken of in legend. Nobody knows whether it exists or not, what its capabilities are, etc.… If such a type of magic existed, it would certainly, serve to explain the fear people feel toward magic in general. Beyond that, you'll have to wait for the story to evolve to learn more.”

(Source: Q&A post by Jakar)

So if developed as a Talent, Necromancy would fall under magic, which is sort’ve a given, but worth noting. But what are its capabilities? Caspian doesn’t say, but as I said we can look into modern and ancient stories to try to figure this out.

Divination -- From an etymological perspective, necromancy has two roots, necro-, meaning dead, and -mancy which references divination from the Greek word, manteía, according to the Dictionary website. So it’s not so much raising the dead to fight as it is using Casper the Friendly Ghost as a magic eightball. Examples in historical lore include actions by the Witch of Endor from the First Book of Samuel, Odysseus in the Odyssey, and the Witches in Macbeth. They’re also played out in more modern times in the forms of seances, ouija boards, and who knows how many horror films. The dead are communicated with in order to garner information and may have a habit of speaking in riddles.

In-game application: Spectral Informants -- Every player character is born with a soul and if ghosts are the souls of the dead then the applications for a person talented in Necromancy could be pretty knowledge-driven based on the divination spectrum of lore.

First, information. Chronicles’ lore states “It’s believed that when someone dies their soul returns to a great library called the Akashic Records. The library is filled with books and scrolls containing all of the deeds of every life a soul has lived. It’s in these chambers that a soul can read over their past lives and learn from their mistakes in preparation for their next life.”

(Source: DJ #1)

So we know there’s a realm for the dead and we know that at least one of the game’s philosophies or religions believe it be a phantasmic library. So let’s postulate NPCs go there too so that the aforementioned lore is canon for all in-game people. If a necromancer could conjure or communicate with one of the library’s patrons could they learn of lore from a past age, such as the past names of a nearby mountain? Or even, by chance, move your cursor on a new, regional map, to mark where mountains and lakes are (to the spectors’ knowledge).

You could also learned who killed them which may make investigations a lot easier, provided the Necromancer is truthful.

Or maybe you could even have the soul checkout the wrong book in the ghost library and have a soul history of that new (living) VIP in local castle. Though the description mentions a “chamber” so that might be more like a sealed off room with just their book in it. Tough luck for book nabbing in that case.

As for checking in on current events that may be harder, the question is do NPCs pass directly onto the Archives or do they hang in limbo before moving on? Perhaps they haunt the realm of the living for a length of time. If they do, perhaps you could beseech them to spy on others for you or make that new map a lot more up-to-date.

You may also receive training from them. Not directly from them, but through their Archive book. There is a precedent for book learning in a development blog. It wouldn’t be much, but it’s something.

(Source: DJ #8)

So divination could be useful. As for seeing future events? Well maybe they can tap into the soul-engine and give you a “Yes, maybe, more than likely,” eight-ball response to the chances of something special happening nearby or currently occurring. Just watch out for anything referencing the arrival of trees from the Birnam Wood.

Raising the Dead -- Pick a fantasy game with a necromancer in it and you’ll likely have the undead roaming around them in the flesh. Whether it’s video games or tabletop games, there’s a plethora of undead armies courtesy of Necromancers, such as in Diablo II, Guild Wars, Elder Scrolls, and Dungeons & Dragons. In modern fiction, you see it in the Abhorsen series by Garth Nix, the Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter series by Laurell K. Hamilton, or Pet Sematary by Stephen King.

(Author’s note: I’m not going to dive into voudon because the concept of accurately articulating complex and diverse religious concepts of what we call zombies in horror films would be out of my experience level, so let’s just skip the possible pufferfish postulations. It’s also why I’m not using the term zombie beyond this aside.)

In-game application: Short-term second lives and additional NPCs to command -- Applications for raising the dead are pretty easy. You could resurrect a player, which would result in skill atrophy to the extreme since I’ve never heard of people coming back from this and fully being their former selves (Lazarus falls under divine theurgy, people). The raised undead could also be used for armies, guards, and labor. Depends what it takes to keep them going and/or how long they last.

Fighting Fire with Fire -- The final application of necromancy is to combat necromancy. In the aforementioned Abhorsen series, the Abhorsens are necromancers who put down the risen undead. In the Anita Blake series, the titular character can use her necromantic abilities to even turn vampires.

In-game application: Vampire Hunters and Anti-Necromancers -- Provided Vampires are considered undead, dido the lich while I’m at it, and that Necromancers can control the undead corporeal form, then the final application is a necromancer who specializes in countering these threats. If Talented are rare, Magic also rare, and Necromancy rare among magic users though, then I think the chances of someone born with this Talent who decides not to go dark side is pretty rare, unless you’re willing to make it worth their time.

In Conclusion -- Necromancy could be an interesting concept if applied to the game. Beyond minion mastering hordes of the dead, if could instead take the route of divination, making Necromancers scary because of what they may simply know.