Excerpts from the Teklirian Manuscript:

Introduction

What draws a potential practitioner to the necromantic arts can be any number of things, but for each it is undeniably personal. For some it’s vengeance at a raw childhood. For others, mere curiosity coupled with an unexpected knack. And still others are drawn to it out of fear or a need for power over that which chills them. There are more reasons than there are necromancers, but one unifying theme is clear: the capacity and tenacity for arduous study.

Although schools of necromancy do exist, not everyone is able to afford the tuition. Others take the route of studying with an expert, but the price asked may be more than the aspiring adept is willing to pay. Which leaves the route of self-study, the most difficult path of all and at the potential for the greatest cost. I daresay that many more have aspired to become necromancers than have lived to tell the tale.

Whichever course is followed, the necromantic hopeful will explore the vast and cosmological forces of life, animation, decay, death, and undeath. Focusing on and channeling these near universal threads makes up the necromantic arts and allows its practitioners to manipulate these elements – for good or for ill. Those who are truly adept are able to sap the life from the living and transform that energy to rouse the dead. But be warned that it is not a passage for the faint of heart or stomach, and that you may lose more than you gain.

Deities of the Necromancers

Necromancers are not beholden followers of one particular deity. There are many deities of death which an aspirant may attach themselves to, or none at all if they’d prefer to go it alone. However, attaching oneself to a deity may offer the practitioner additional guidance and power if their petition is well received. Furthermore, necromantic hopefuls may notice that

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thus, necromancers are often feared by the general public. Even an aspiring practitioner should take precautions when in cities or crossing paths with others, lest their intentions and studies become known and used as a source of discord against them.

Necromancers may wear whatever suits them, but quite often practitioners wear robes trending towards red or black, which makes them easily targeted by the craven. Additionally, their skin may be adorned with whatever sigils they believe to aid in their arts, there are no requirements, though some signs are obviously more popular than others and believed to lend greater power.

Once upon a time, marigolds in brightly colored hues symbolizing death and resurrection were worn on a necromancer’s lapel. Their bright colors and scents were believed to assist the wizard with luring the cosmic energy of life back from the land of the dead and aid in reanimation. However, these symbols are now too well known among the general populace and only serve to make necromancers more of a target than they might already be. Still, many a necromancer will use marigolds or representations of them in their art, as I will discuss later.

Necromancers are often known as skilled magical artificers and may be warily sought as trading partners if their inclinations are known. Often necromantic wizards are able to command high prices for their skills and goods, given the desperation of demand and the lack of ready supply.

The basics of skeletons and corpses

For the strength of their bones orcs, ogres, trolls, and giants are some of the most sought-after skeletons for the necromantic arts. In addition, elves, for their lithesomeness and wide range of skillful applications may be preferred as corpses, as are halflings for their general hardiness. However, almost any humanoid-variant skeletons or corpses will do.

Note that geographical features, weather patterns, the presence of monsters or wildlife, and political circumstances may make corpses and skeletons easier or more difficult to come by. For instance, few necromancers practice in swamps, or in entirely peaceful realms.

The circumstances for the best preservation of corpses and skeletons are often deserts as the dry air essentially dehydrates and preserves them intact without the mess and damage of decay found in more humid climes. Furthermore, the harsh landscape and baked ground make burials difficult, so often the dead are simply piled upon with rocks and their locations easily identified. With a bit of manual labor, these nearly pristine materials should be easily uncovered and serve nicely.

That being said, the difficulties of finding a serviceable corpse may lead practitioners of the necromantic arts to create their own materials, as it were. Most wizards prefer to work with those who have died a natural death, as the bodies are more intact and pose less risk to the necromancer themselves, but a more expedient approach is sometimes needed to further the study of the art. This is often frowned upon by local law enforcement and necromancers should weigh the risks and potential rewards accordingly for their own situation.

The necromantic arts can be practiced on animals, but rarely do efforts produce interesting or useful results. The intelligence and communication abilities of the raised servant are related to their intelligence and understanding of languages while they were alive. Therefore, practicing the necromantic arts on animals usually leads to nothing more than a simple guardian or beast of burden.

Additionally, the necromantic arts may be practiced on

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Preparation of skeletons

The most important aspect to preparing a skeleton is ensuring that it is as near complete as possible. The spells needed to raise a skeleton will form the bones into the correct working order, but missing bones will weaken the overall structure, or make it completely unserviceable, depending on what the precise issue is. For instance, a missing finger or two will likely not cause you much trouble, but missing feet, arms, or a badly damaged pelvis will. Needless to say, attempting to raise a skeleton without first ensuring that it is nearly complete will be a waste of your time, energy, magical powers, and other resources.

Technically speaking, the same set of bones may be raised repeatedly. However, given that most servants are badly damaged before ceasing to function, in a practical sense this is not often the case. This is one more caution to be taken for guarding one’s resources carefully and ensuring complete and undamaged skeletons before paying the necessary price of raising them.

On the rare occasion, damaged or missing bones may be substituted among skeletal sets. However, not only does this take advanced magic to attune the substitute piece to a new skeletal set, but the practitioner will want to pay heed to more mundane concerns such as size, shape, and general configuration. That is to say that a giant’s leg bones will not work with a halfling's hip joints, and a dog’s breastbone, no matter how noble, will not suffice to replace that of an elf. Still, some few necromancers have been known to experiment with diverse combinations to varying degrees of success.

Unlike corpses, which must be tattooed as noted above, necromancers may etch the likeness of the marigold into the bones when raising a skeleton, if they so desire. This is not required here, of course, any more than it is required for raising a servile corpse. However, as I mentioned previously, doing so may aid the necromancer in calling the cosmic energy of life back to the skeletal set to aid in the reanimation process. My recommendation for etching locations are the base of the skull, or inside the left wing of ilium of the pelvis, however, any location on the bones may be sufficient.

Alternatively, practitioners may wish to fasten actual whole marigolds or a few petals to the skeletal set prior to raising. In this case, the preferred locations are within the ribcage or just between the sacrum and the meeting of the pubic tubercles. It is not necessary to both etch and attach actual marigolds to skeletal sets prior to raising them, nor have practitioners found there to be any added power in doing so. One or the other seems to suffice for this purpose.

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