The purpose of this thread is to analyze Necromancy from it’s origins, goals and applications and obtain a better understanding of how it works. This is largely a serious thread attempting to understand the core nature of Necromancy for RP and fiction purposes.
Necromancy was created in Maldraxxus to protect the Shadowlands from external threats. That’s the first clue to understand how it works. The Maldraxxi had to be able to fight outside the Shadowlands, otherwise they would only ever be able to play defense. They had to be able to use resources available outside the Shadowlands.
So Necromancy was shaped as a form of Death Magic that uses death as it exists outside the Shadowlands. Corpses and souls that have yet to find their way to the afterlife. As such, the manipulation of lifeless flesh and soul is the very first, most basic idea of Necromancy.
- Why are the Necrolords Undead in the afterlife?
At face value, it doesn’t make sense. But the need to work outside the Shadowlands makes it so that the Undying Army has to shape itself as Death on the outside. They create bodies of dead flesh to the souls that arrive and bind those souls to their bodies with Necromancy.
By doing that, they can use the very magic they created to fight their enemies to improve themselves. The benefits of Necromancy increase and it becomes an efficient core to sustain the Shadowlands’ fighting force.
- Where does all the Maldraxxus flesh come from?
There’s a LOT of flesh and bone in Maldraxxus. Even entire rooms made of it. But where does it come from?
There are three good explanations for that.
The first is that the Necromancers of Maldraxxus create flesh with Magic. That explanation is sustained by the Covenant Ability Fleshcraft, in which you create a shield of flesh and bone to protect you, even if there are no corpses nearby.
The second explanation is that they take the flesh from other realms when their battles in said realms are completed. This explanation is sustained by the Maldraxxus questing experience, where the House of Constructs collects Kyrian corpses to use them as materials to craft new constructs.
The Third explanation is that Maldraxxus itself was created to provide flesh by itself. Just like the Swolekins of Bastion are naturally created by the Magic of Bastion, there are creatures of Maldraxxus as well. They all seem to be made of lifeless flesh and bone.
The most likely explanation is that all these things happen. The Necromancers magically create flesh using the Anima from souls that arrive, they take flesh from their battlefields as well, and the land provides the rest.
- How was Necromancy originally intended to be used?
Maldraxxus was structured by the Primus into five houses, each with their own purpose. By analyzing them, we can figure out the purposes of Necromancy.
House of the Chosen
The House of the Chosen is the backbone of the Undying Army. Their use of Necromancy consists mainly of improving their flesh, multiplying their strengths and getting rid of their weakness. That’s why they end up looking like this:
House of Constructs
The purpose of the House of Constructs it to find the best parts and combine them into single bodies. The theory is that if you put all the best parts you can find on any being into the same being, the end result would be a super being capable of massive feats of strength and combat. As such, the House of Constructs cannot have massive numbers, because each warrior they make take several corpses, but they make up for it with the individual strength of each warrior.
House of Plagues
By now you must have realized a strange weakness of the basic form of Necromancy as a tool of War. It relies on the existence of dead flesh and souls nearby. If all that they have to work with are ancient buried bones without any meat, their efficacy in war would be less than ideal.
So a third idea is born, beyond the manipulation of lifeless flesh and soul: Biochemical weapons that spread and cause large amounts of death to enemy forces. The purpose of the Plague is twofold: To diminish the armies of the enemy and to give the other houses the raw material they require to work their magic.
House of Rituals
The House of Rituals concentrates the bulk of Maldraxxus Magic. Their Liches, Sorcerers and Necromancers represent the tip of the spear of Necromantic theoretical and applied research in the Shadowlands. They even teach the other Houses the Necromancy they need to know.
(A bit condescending towards my WWE bros but ok)
In actual combat against external threats, most of the actual spellcasting would be done by the House of Rituals. Their Necromancers would weaponize the fallen enemy’s flesh and soul.
- House of Eyes
The House of Eyes was the house of spies. Their purpose wasn’t so much in combat itself, but to obtain information and intelligence on the enemies. When they are going to attack, what their weaknesses are, what their flesh is like, etc. By obtaining information, they could allow the other houses to employ the best soldiers, constructs, plagues and rituals available to destroy each enemy.
- Is Necromancy evil?
No. Necromancy isn’t good or evil. Necromancy is a tool. It allows the user to manipulate lifeless flesh and soul, and unleash plagues. These things are certainly very useful for evil beings trying their hand at world domination, but they aren’t evil by themselves.
Necromancy exists as a weapon of war for the Afterlife’s defense. It’s not intended for kindness purposes. It’s intended to destroy with great efficiency any who would do the Shadowlands harm. The Undying Army’s purpose is to crush the Shadowlands enemies until they can’t do any more harm. There’s not much room in that purpose for mercy. Saving souls is with the Kyrian department lol
So it’s easy to see why Necromancy could be seen as evil by an external observer. But by the end of the day, Necromancy is just a tool. Tools cannot be evil, only people can be evil. The purpose of the Undying Army, the defense of the afterlife, is a benign use for this tool. The Scourge was an evil use for this tool.
