How would you create a believable society where necromancy is commonly practiced? Not evil or anything, just one where they treat it as something normal. What affects culturally would this have on the society?
Necromancer society
Cameron Brown
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Adam Jones
There's Geb from Pathfinder, but that's more of an evil society. In it they use mindless undead as laborers, while intelligent undead have the same rights as free living folk. They also have living slaves too, who serve as food for some of the undead, as there are a large amount of vampires, ghouls and other types of undead there too.
Colton Turner
Well, thinking about the cultural impact, the people there would have a different view of death than most. It would depend on if liches or intelligent undead are a thing, but people would view the corps as just another tool.
Depending on how widespread the ability to be a necromancer is, there might not be a need for people to act as manual laborers, and warfare tactics will differ too, with the dead serving as the bulk, with the living acting as officers/minders or as a type of reserve/shock troops where they could use their intelligence to the best use.
Nicholas Young
The people will do thing to stay fit for the day they become undead. Corpse are family owned and can not be transfer over but can be loan out.
How does the dead treat them? Do they live a grand live and become story teller when they are dead?
Wyatt Williams
Instead of slavery/serfdom you have skellingtons and zombies do all the labor.
Your society doesn't believe in repose for the physical dead, and because of that when you die your body is essentially processed into a new flesh machine.
Nolan Bailey
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Caleb Jackson
>this thread again
Caleb Thomas
This. We've had this exact thread several times already, could you autists give it a rest? We get that you think SKELETINS = OMG ROBOTS is super clever and creative idea but it's not, it's old and stale meme by now. Just go outside or something for once okay?
Asher Jones
>Not letting people enjoy things because "it's been done already"
Carson Hall
Necromancy is basically all about respect for their ancestors. Like, MOST people are cremated, but all the greatest heroes, most beloved kings and queens, etc. are embalmed and put to rest in tombs and mausoleums. Basically, you have to EARN the right to be buried or whatnot.
Then during certain days of the year, like holidays or whatever, the living relatives raise the dead and ask them for wisdom, or ancient knowledge that's been lost through the years, or the locations of hidden treasures and stuff like that.
It can also have a very practical purpose. Such as if a person dies prematurely and which child of theirs inherits what isn't clear, then you can raise them from the dead/or ask their ghost what they would have wanted. Thus preventing infighting, especially among the nobility. Or if someone was murdered you can just straight up ask the murder victim what happened.
Hunter Baker
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Leo Brooks
>that part about the plague
I didn't ask for these feels. Especially when I'm listening to this. youtube.com
Jayden Collins
Just imagine that Facebook is the spell and iPhone users are the undead
Caleb Fisher
I'm pretty sure the Stygians in Conan practiced all kinds of foul shit, and that shit was generally accepted out of fear and dark devotion to Set, so there.
Connor Adams
A pretty chill stance towards death for certain. As for how much depends on what the Necros do.
Talking with the dead or enabling others to do so? Ressurecting dead bodies as robots? Ressurecting dead bodies with their intellect intact?
How is it rationalized? Is getting ressurected seen as good or bad?
Are they the merciless agents of their gods as the Stygian versions? Or are they keeping keeping the balance of life and death to the ease the work of their god as in Diablo 2?
In short OP, your question is open was fuck.
Anthony Bailey
The original 'necromancy' was straight up just consulting with the dead to find out shit you otherwise wouldn't be able to know. Which is fairly benign, so I could see that being used often.
John Morris
Yeah, but now that's more of a Cleric of Knowledge, since they're able to use Speak with Dead without creating undead automatons.
Angel Bell
Already done it. Goodmancers use necromancy to help people commune with the dead, guide lost souls, and are a beacon of hope for society
Adam Nguyen
Like a cyberpunk dystopia, but more gothic and fantasyish.
Aside from breeding stock, horses only exist to be raised to adulthood and then animated as skeletons or taxidermied zombies or something to pull carriages.
Some people are worth more dead than alive; poor people sell their bodies to guilds/corps to feed their surivving families. Society is ruled by a couple of rich assholes that have gone lich and are now immortal not-cyborgs.
Order is kept by a brutal police state that uses piloted mechs made out of troll skeletons with an armored guy inside the ribcage.
Ghosts and other unquiet spirits are used for spying and to relay messages.
Alexander Long
Planescape: Torment has this in Sigil.
Nathan Sanchez
Necropunk? I like.
Ayden Bell
>It should be "what effects" not "what affects"
When you do something you affect it, but the result of your action is an effect, not an "affect".
As for the question, it could work on different ways.
How common is necromancy? Is it commonly practived as in part of common education or is it as common as a higher education on airship engineering, common enough to be available in most cities but still retaining some exclusivity to it?
If it is too common everyone would be able to use it and it would be cheap, if not it would become a profession with high pay and high demand.
Are the undead just animated by the arcane or are they spirits encased into the undead body?
Does the body or spirit retain any memory?
Leaders could be eternal in a Necrocracy, by either turning undying or by corpse skipping.
Dead people could be brought back, death would become less of a problem since one could come back.
Are bodies and bloody bits necessary for the necromancy to work?
If yes, do they keep decomposing?
Decomposing walking corpses would be a problem. Maybe have them encased forever in diving suits or something, also would make it clear that someone was undead.
Or, if they are not necessary you could revive a clean skeleton, maybe dress them up to make them more useful and more friendly looking.
If just the soul is necessary the body could be entirely artificial. Wooden or Porcelain Zombies, anyone?
Society would probably be hit with cheap undead slaves to do the jobs noone wants, either bringing social problems and making life hard for the living or making everything too easy, risking a Fall of the Eldar kind of situation.
If the undead have minds of their own it would bring about the problem of having an undying, forever population. It would be hard to make it end well, and most likely things would go terribly wrong sooner or later.
Jason James
I have one of this in my setting, life goes on as normal except you can sell years of your death. If you owe a debt of that sort to someone, commonly the state, you get resurrected as an undead to serve them. Commonly this means you'll be farming for the state, some of your memories imprint on the undead, so a High-Level Fighter's years will be worth more than a level 2 commoner.