Calling on Fantasy Worldbuilders!
I'd love some feedback on a magic system I'm trying to refine! Specifically, Necromancy. Obviously, Necromantic content warnings apply.
It's quite long (1,400~ words), and pasting from Google Docs? Tumblr's bulleted list format seems to only use numbers, which can make it a little confusing to read.
Not looking for anything in particular, just curious for overall feedback and if there's any huge glaring errors that def need to be noticed now and not when I need them in the story.
Minor spoiler warnings for The Crownwardens.
Magic is illegal. The Lycea (Like the Stellan Lyceum) are allowed to study certain types of magic exclusively for bettering Leseron, but they’re the ONLY sanctioned sorcerers. Illegal magic gets you jail time. Depending on the severity, it could be a life sentence.
The only “magic” that is entirely legal is whatever power you are blessed with should you become Crownwarden (this world's version of a "superhero," each power is unique to the Crownwarden that wields it and, as of the start of the story, there are only four).
Necromany, however, is expressly forbidden. Illegal Necromancy gets you executed. If someone kills a suspected Necromancer without proof, there will be a trial. If there is sufficient immediate proof of Necromancy that can be presented to a court without the presence of the Necromancer, anyone is legally protected against the act of immediately killing that Necromancer and then bringing proof to a court. Not only will they be deemed innocent, they will also be handsomely rewarded.
This has been set in place because so little is known after the afterlife, and it is a great risk to tamper with such things. Additionally, in the Age of Myth (before King Wendell became the first Crownwarden) feral undead roamed the land. King Wendell single-handedly wiped them out using his Crownwarden powers, bringing undead into extinction and ushering in the Age of Wendell’s Watch. He then forbade the practice of Necromancy to keep such a thing from ever happening again.
The King had some Lycea scholars study Necromancy in secret so that the knowledge would be there should they ever have to defend the kingdom from rogue Necromancers, but all official records deny that this ever happened.
The following are the things learned and theorized by the Lycea Scholars about Necromancy when pondering the largest five questions of death and the afterlife.
What exactly survives when someone dies?
The Essence survives. It is a combination of three fundamental pieces: The Soul, The Memory, and The Anchor.
The Soul is the continuation of what a person is. It acts of its own free will in accordance to what it wishes. New experiences can alter who it fundamentally is.
The Memory is the continuation of what the person was. It acts only in accordance to the most important memories constructed during life, and new memories it makes cannot alter its personality. It can learn new rules, but it cannot become a different person. It cannot experience triumph so complete that its personality changes, or grief so thorough that it loses part of who it was.
The Anchor is why the person is and was. The Anchor is either a thing or place or person or action that drove the person toward life. If they died fulfilled or having ultimately given up on everything, there is no Anchor and the Soul (but not the memory) may resist being brought back.
Therefore, Necromancy is placing one or more parts of an Essence into a corpse. None of them can be placed in a living being. However, a whole Essence can be placed inside of a living being. This is called Possession.
At least one fundamental piece of an Essence is required for Necromancy. Without any of these, the vessel is just an empty body and cannot be animated. In any known way.
Incomplete Necromancies create the following:
The Soul
A Phantom. This is a being that is the essence of the person being resurrected, but they have no memories of who they are and no reason to return.
The Memory
An Echo. This is a being of pure memory with no essence of the person being resurrected and no reason for them to return.
The Anchor
A Revenant. This is a being with no memories, no personality, and no essence. It is only a goal that must be completed being channeled through a corpse.
The Soul + The Memory
A Vestige. This is a being with the essence of who the person was and the memory of how they became who they are, but no reason for them to return.
The Soul + The Anchor
A Hollow. This is a being with the essence of a person and their reason for being, but without memory or recollection of who they are.
The Memory + The Anchor
A Shade. This is a being with the memories and reason for being of the person resurrected, but without the essence of who they are and thus no ability to meaningfully change. It can learn new rules, but it cannot become a different person. It cannot experience triumph so complete that its personality changes, or grief so thorough that it loses part of who it was.
The Soul + The Memory + The Anchor
There is no word for this as it has never been done and is assumed to be impossible. This is a true resurrection.
Ghostcasting is the act of manipulating one or more parts of an Essence, but without the presence of a corpse.
Despite its oxymoronic ideation (since Necromancy is “Manipulating a Corpse with one or more parts of an Essence”) Ghostcasting is often considered by scholars to be “performing Necromancy without a corpse.”
It is only theorized to exist due to the known quantities of Necromancy, but there has been no meaningful proof that it exists.
What happens immediately after death?
Death is the act of the body ceasing and its Essence being separated from the corpse.
Severance is the act of the Essence moving to a temporary kind of afterlife called The Veil.
The Veil is where the Essence resides until it decomposes, like a corpse, into the three fundamental pieces, The Soul, The Memory, and The Anchor. Then these three pieces decompose, often at random and wildly different rates. When all three fundamental parts have fully decomposed, an Essence and its parts are beyond the touch of Necromancy.
It is theorized that “beyond the touch of Necromancy” is another location, often just called The Beyond.
This is considered the one true afterlife by those that treat the theory as fact.
Does a person retain any autonomy after death?
An Essence has full autonomy in the Veil. As long as it has freshly died and has not yet decomposed into its 3 fundamental pieces.
When an Essence decomposes, The Memory and The Anchor have no autonomy. The Soul can still resist if the Anchor has fully decayed, but it cannot outright deny.
What does Necromany cost?
Necromancy costs parts of the caster’s Essence.
Manipulating a complete Essence is theorized to require all three of its fundamental parts from the caster, which is why true resurrection hasn’t been done. It’s assumed that, when completed, the caster dies (as the caster’s full Essence is gone). The theory has never been tested through sanctioned research because no scholar has volunteered to die for it. Additionally, no credible record of a successful attempt exists.
The Necromancer sacrifices a part of his Soul, Memory, and/or Anchor to manipulate the corresponding fundamental piece of an Essence.
Manipulating the Soul can erode who the person is. If they do it too much, they lose their Soul and turn into a Shade.
Manipulating the Memory can erode the caster’s memory. When it is fully erased, they become a Hollow.
Manipulating the Anchor can erode the reason someone has for existing. When it is fully eroded, they become a Vestige.
This is quite rare, as erosion of the Anchor often ends in suicide before the Anchor has fully eroded.
This is the true dangerous cost of Necromancy: what happens to an eroded Essence?
Do those pieces move to The Veil?
If a fundamental piece of an Essence, or the Essence as a whole, was sacrificed, where does it go?
Does a Necromancer swap theirs for the one they are manipulating, or is their being erased?
Does a Necromancer go to The Beyond if they die from Necromancy? Or do they just cease to exist and get no participation in any form of Afterlife? Is there even a difference?
How does becoming Crownwarden affect an Essence?
It is not known what happens to a Crownwarden when they are killed, because it has never been done.
The current theory is that becoming Crownwarden permanently fortifies a person’s Essence so that it cannot erode.
Upon Death, it is theorized that the Essence skips Severance and The Veil entirely, and goes immediately into The Beyond.
It is also theorized that their Crownwarden power is returned to its source, wherever that may be.
