There are two primary forms of Necromancy described as True and Profane Necromancy. All magical experiments, spells, and acts that can be considered Necromantic fall under one of these two categories.
True Necromancy
True Necromancy is the actual summoning of the deceased. This can take many forms, the binding of a ghost to a new Ogen, reviving a recently dead corpse, returning the sentient being it once was to life. True Necromancy always requires a Contract of some sort with one Tether to the original Soul of the deceased party. Those who are granted Inspired Working are capable of forming this Tether on the fly when confronted with death via the Tether of their deity. In divine forms this Contract almost always requires the consent of the Soul being summoned. However other, more diabolical methods exist in which Souls are tricked into making Tethers and brought back to be questioned, trapped, or coerced.
Auto-Necromancy
Within True Necromancy lies one special sub-category labeled Auto-Necromancy. Involving the manipulation and experimentation on ones own Soul. It is extremely dangerous, but the potential power and longevity often get the better of many a wizard.
Letzzir-Necromancy
Letzzir-Necromancy relates to any method by which one retrieves a sentient being’s Soul from its place in the afterlife. Once an Unworked, Letzzir-Necromancy has multiple reliably recorded and successful attempts in the current era with some strong speculation that some of the Ancients were likely capable of doing so by different methods. To actually pull off a successful Letzzir-Necromancy Working several restrictive requirements must be mutually met.
- You must have access to a Soul, or False Soul that is actively Tethered to the Target Soul
- You must have something, or be something that relates directly and strongly to the Target Soul’s Soul Memory
- You must know what deity the Target Soul worshiped, or the lack of worship/belief.
There is currently no known way to successfully bring a Soul back in the case that any of these are unknown or unobtained.
Uses
Letzzir-Necromancy’s difficulty and occasional impossibility makes it one of the rarest Necromantic Workings. Its uses however are broad and useful.
In conjunction with Profane Necromancy’s ability to control humanoid figures with Minor Stones, unkillable, sentient soldiers capable of dynamic behavior patterns can be created (commonly referred to as Revenants).
Questions can be asked of long dead Souls that may elucidate forgotten knowledge, the truth about hidden events or comfort a loved one’s harbored suspicions.
Mentor’s can continue guiding their pupils long after bodily death. This is the most well known active use case of Letzzir-Necromancy in the modern age thanks to its regular practice by the Quill Masters.
Profane Necromancy
Profane Necromancy, or pseudo-necromancy as many Wizards have begun calling it has more general uses. The majority of spells and Contracts deemed necromantic are really pseudo-necromancy, involving the dead, but no Souls. Simple animated dead of most kinds fall under pseudo-necromancies large umbrella. Usually powered by Monster Stones or Minor Stones of some kind, a Contract provides them with a series of instructions to follow blindly. Every adventurer knows that if you smash the skull open on an animated skeleton you will find a Chip suspended in a gooey black membrane.