#ectoenergy

Repurposed an old drawing for some data about Owen's arms whenever he's in his Necromancer form. The original version was a heavily edited screencap of Valerie's hand after Vlad gave her the Ring of Rage, so I decided not to watermark it this time either.

Now that I’ve reached the big reveal in the latest chapter of “Nevermore” about the true power of Necromancers and where it came from I thought I’d simplify the idea to share the lore of it here with you guys! But before we get into it, spoiler warning if you haven’t read this story or the original/old fanfics about Owen, aka “The Grimoire” and “Ravenheart.”

Nevermore: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14102184/1/Nevermore

The Grimoire: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12409238/1/The-Grimoire

Ravenheart: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12742285/1/Ravenheart

For those of you who’ve been reading my fanfic “Ghost in The Machine” which is about my Danny Program AU, I’m finally starting to get into the first stages of Vlad building Daniel a temporary android body to incorporate his original program and protect it along with his developing ghost core. In the most recent chapter, Vlad repurposed the remaining nanobots from the episode “Secret Weapons” to help Daniel use his energy more effectively so it won’t tire him out nearly as much when he has to focus on turning tangible for any length of time.

“...at any rate, while the nanobots new functions are a bit more complex, the main goal was to make it easier to monitor his vitals and brain waves so I would be alerted to any future abnormalities. Secondly, I added a sort of anti-virus to help protect him against damage to his core data from unstable or incompatible ecto-energy. And finally, since we learned that Daniel can self-generate electricity as a power source in place of a natural ecto-energy one, the last one would act as a booster and a stimulant to help him get used to drawing in both types of ambient energy from now on.”

Basically what this means is since Daniel was originally a hologram, aka a computer simulation he self-generates his own electric energy to substitute a natural source of ectoplasmic energy like other ghosts. That’s why it’s so hard for him to use even the most basic ghost powers that require a lot more energy, such as constantly maintaining a physical form...

So to get Daniel used to absorbing and using both types of energy in even amounts, the new nanobots have a similar function to the ecto-converter which will use the ectoenergy boosters Vlad’s going to start giving him regularly to jump start his ghost core.  That way, the nanobots will help reduce the effort it takes for Daniel to use his ghost powers so that he can start strengthening and developing them, and his ability to generate his own electricity will replace the rod here.

Now all Vlad needs is a vessel for him, aka a body for Daniel to control directly.

Story: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13995769/1/Ghost-In-The-Machine

Ecto-Skeleton: https://dannyphantom.fandom.com/wiki/Ecto-Skeleton

I think I’ve mentioned this concept a lot, but never really went into detail about it so let’s change that shall we? It’ll be important to understand in the future when I start working on Owen’s new fanfiction “Nevermore” too. Oh and fun fact, this is an edit of Valerie’s hand from the episode “Reign Storm” when Vlad gave her the Ring of Rage to hide from Pariah Dark.

To start things off, here’s a bit of backstory.

As a lot of you have probably already guessed, Owen’s skeletal arms in his necromancer form are a nod to Frostbite’s design which I absolutely love. So back when I first came up with Owen’s character I had this idea of doing something similar but with limbs that are basically crystalized energy instead of ice. It’s also inspired by the idea of what it might look like if his arms looked kinda like glowing X-Rays in real life.

I’ll share a link to the original post where I talked about this if you’re curious: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/thesoulspulse/167160425238?source=share

Now, moving on the premise of what necroenergy (a phrase coined by Vlad in the original story since Owen is a necromancer) is, it’s the purest form of ectoenergy there is more or less. In the show, ectoenergy is treated as a radioactive and unstable supernatural substance which has to be filtered and converted in order to be used in things such as anti-ghost weapons, tracking devices, ghost portals, and more...

All ghosts are made of ectoplasm itself which can also bring inanimate objects to life or transform other living creatures into ghosts temporarily by possessing them. It’s also the reason Vlad and Danny are half-ghost in the first place after they were blasted by a powerful surge of ectoplasmic energy was fused into their DNA. Vlad was the first obviously but unfortunately he was transformed by a surge of raw ectoplasm which is one reason I believe his form is a lot more monstrous, that, plus his negative emotions played a huge role in that too since I believe ghost powers are deeply tied to the emotions of their owner. Danny on the other hand, got off a lot easier thankfully since he was transformed by a more stable ghost portal with an ecto-filtrater already in place that was fully functional and worked as intended to purify that raw ectoenergy into a power source for the portal.

This is why most ghosts do everything they can to gain more power and expand their territory, because they need ectoenergy not only to exist, but to literally do everything else. Because unlike the living, eating food and resting doesn’t really cut it since they don’t have to do either to survive. That’s probably why a lot of ghosts get their energy by somehow taking it from the living, because people grow and change over time while ghosts are stagnant, frozen in time with a base level of energy that only increases by using external means. As hybrids, Danny and Vlad are an exception since they self-generate ectoenergy from their cores and absorb the ambient energy in the atmosphere around them. Ghosts can only recharge the energy they lost back to their original level which doesn’t change on it’s own which means they have to improvise to get any stronger.

So, you might ask, what makes necroenergy different if its basically another form of ectoenergy? Well for one thing, unlike standard ectoenergy, necroenergy is already purified from the very beginning. It’s the most refined form of ectoenergy there is which makes necromancers both very dangerous and extremely beneficial to ghosts. Necromancers in this world are essentially humans who are born with their powers who can also self-generate this special type of energy which is a direct manifestation of their souls similar to how ghosts do from their cores which IS their soul. However, ghosts have to expend a lot more energy to retain a physical form at all whether they were once a human, animal, or a spirit that was never part of the real world on top of using their ectoenergy for things such as combat and other powers unique to them.

Necromancers on the other hand are either helpful or annoying to ghosts for several reasons:

One, their blood has the same power as Blood Blossoms which hurts and repels ghosts. This makes them immune to being overshadowed. That power extends to Owen’s necromancer form where his blood changes into a variant of necroenergy that still repels ghosts, but it doesn’t harm them unless he wants it to to defend himself. (Note: Owen is the only necromancer who can do this that we know of because he’s been reincarnated many times and has therefore technically been a ghost before at least temporarily before being reborn.)

Two, since their power is already refined and fully manifests when they come of age at 16, necromancers can directly manipulate and sense raw ectoenergy. Using their powers, they can also either convert it into necroenergy, boost a ghost’s powers, or even heal them directly by speeding up their natural regeneration.

Three, necromancers can see ghosts regardless of what form they take. For example, if they’re overshadowing someone they can see a ghostly aura around the person, animal, plant, or object in question. They can see ghosts or at the very least a trail of their energy regardless of whether they are invisible or have traveled to another location by turning intangible.

This last part is really cool because I used the idea that technically ALL living things can sense ghosts as part of their survival instincts, like when a room feels unnaturally hot or cold which is the result of the barrier between the Ghost Zone and the Earth being thin in most cases at least. However, necromancers and hybrids both have an enhanced form of this instinct which physically manifests either in the form of a cold mist or a puff of hot air kind of like steam passing through their lungs. Animals and plants are especially sensitive to the supernatural and even if the prior can’t see them in most cases, they can sense something otherworldly in the area.

I’ll go ahead and stop here for now but I hope this gives you a better idea of the world building I’ve done for Owen’s story. I wanted to subvert the stereotypical necromancer that raises the dead to people who are meant to protect the living and help ghosts either move onto their paradise or stop them from hurting anyone. Sadly though, most necromancer clans went extinct a long time ago after the Salem Witch hunts or their bloodlines became so thin they lost their powers, some even chose to give them up when they came of age to live out normal lives when it seemed like they weren’t needed anymore.

Owen, unfortunately, doesn’t have a choice because he has an important role to play in a destiny that will ultimately decide the fate of the Earth and the Ghost Zone.

It’s been a long time since I first created Owen but his character is still near and dear to my heart which is why he’s the main mascot of my tumblr and discord server. I’ve talked about him a few times now, but for those of you who haven’t been following me for as long I’d like to share a bit of the lore of his backstory with you. Keep in mind that I’m in the process of making an outline to revamp his actual fanfiction story from scratch with an updated plot-line...

Basically, I created Owen to be a subversion to the whole necromancer trope we’re used to of evil wizards raising skeleton armies. I wanted to create someone born with their powers that Vlad ends up adopting when he realizes he’s in a unique position to actually help this poor troubled teen who has nobody else to rely on. And Owen certainly does need all the help he can get!

I’m probably going to change some details of the when and how of it, but sadly Owen lost both his parents at a young age when they became possessed by wraiths/demons who were after him for unknown reasons (well, unknown to him at the time anyway.) After that, he ends up in Mistveil Orphanage when he’s transferred there to get away from the trauma of his past only to catch the eye of a certain Vlad Master years later who hears the story of a boy who claims his parents were murdered by ghosts.

Vlad later learns, much to his surprise, that Owen wasn’t lying when he said that and somehow could sense that Vlad was half-ghost from the start. Owen even managed to force him to transform partially through some strange power Vlad has never seen before. What’s even more shocking is that when Vlad attempts to overshadow Owen to cover his tracks when their interaction causes a scene with the owner of said orphanage, he finds out the hard way that he can’t and here’s why-

Warning, spoilers ahead for the old story so be mindful of that!