Santharian Development

Twilight's Edifice: Level X, Fire Necromancy

Overview: The epitome of fire Necromancy, this spell awards the foremost desire of those who practice this art. A heinous but efficient gift in the prolonging of life for the caster. A binding of their own consciousness to their physical form by committing suicide. Though this may seem odd to many, it has been said in legend that users of this incantation do so to swindle death one last time. All should know that this spell is unheard of or seen in many centuries, if not simply the fancy of storytellers. Only the compilation of all ancient texts has brought what is known of it to the compendium.

Spell Effect:
After the initial ingestion of scorpions’ venom the mage begins to gradually approach their demise. As the metaphorical 'fires of life' begin their departure the Necromancer uses Sphere III to grasp at these astray fire ounia and reinserts them into their personal car’all. Since this pending doom involves ounia of other elemental aspects as well, there is only so much the mage can achieve. With a looming end slowly forthcoming it is all the fire mage can do, to grasp these fleeting fires of their being. Their will must be constantly focused upon this task, for any interruption could spell failure.

Within a few hours of the initiation of this incantation the mage is racked by delusions and a raging fever. Yet, the Necromancer must keep their mind focused on pulling the escaping 'fires of life' back into their corporeal form. Confession to these physical ailments can only spell doom to the mage during the long hours of torment yet to come. As these sure signs of pending death flourish, the mages’ car’all begins to slip away more rapidly. Queprur waits ….

Over the course of the next half-day the delusions and fever give way to vomiting and paralysis. At no time during this suffering should the mage be interrupted, as the fire they covet is slipping away at a quickened pace. Their will fully upon the scattered fire ounia they desire so immeasurably. The mage is now freely using their will as an open channel to regain these 'fires of life'. One might think that the mage would be begging for their demise at this point, yet the longer they hold on the more successful the spell shall be.

At last when bitter darkness takes the mage they must strengthen the 'fires of life' with the diminutive will they have left. If their eyes should ever peer upon the lands of Caelereth again, they will know their endeavor was successful. Yet how successful can only be witnessed by those that knew the Necromancer in life. Since the mage could not possibly gather all that was lost during their death, insanity and paranoia are often outwardly expressed affects of this incantation.

Even if these ailments are not readily apparent the fire mage has altered their mind and car’all so immensely that ascension to Arch-Magi studies is no longer possible. They are forever more creatures driven by flame and obsessed only to obtain higher standing in that regard. With the abundant expression of fire ounia in their car’all the undead mage’s corporeal form starts to be consumed by them. With diligence the Necromancer could hope to sustain themselves for upwards of two centuries, although many never see this length of time.

Casting Procedure:
In speculation, undoubtedly the mage would go through an immense preparation time for such a potent incantation. Weeks without exerting their will to organize themselves for the tremendous strain they will endure. Possibly indulging in elaborate meals to ensure their car’all is nearest to its neutral state. Long evenings spent in comfortable rest with no rush to awaken before garnering full benefits from such endeavors. Once these preemptive measures are coddled, the Necromancer can move on to the final stages of the spell.

A mage generally seeks a place secure and far from any prying eye, their screams will be tumultuous. Once seated or resting in a prone position the fire mage immediately drinks down the concoction of two and one half drops of Red Scorpion venom with three sips of 'Canelbrew'. With death coming full bore, the Necromancer keeps their will focused upon the incantation for the torturous day ahead.

Magical Formula: As yet to be defined.

Focus/Target: Only the caster can be the target of this spell, since it requires an intricate understanding of the 'fires of life' being bound.

Reagents: Two and one half drops of Red Scorpion venom, drawn from the stinger of one no shorter than two nailsbreadths long. Boiled into three sips of 'Canelbrew' to relieve the excruciating pains of the scorpion venom for a time.

Spell Class: Sphere III, Enflamement: Spiritual

Range: The range is completely confined to the caster, anything outside of the casters Car’all is unaffected.

Casting Time: It is considered the longer this spell takes to cast the better. Although to successfully perform this incantation, requires no less than a day and preferably nigh a day and a half.

Duration: The spells effects are forever but it can only be maintained through diligent use of Dark Stability. It is required the mage uses this measure to maintain their undead state or their consciousness will move on, just as any other dead being does.

Counter Measures/Enhancing Measures: Since the mage must remain completely focused upon this ritual/incantation the spell must go completely uninterrupted. A wind mage or fire mage could inspire emotional or mental distractions thus ruining the spell, resulting in death of the Necromancer from the scorpions' venom. Though the mage would live on until the venom finally brought about their demise, there is no survival after ingesting the draught. It is indeed an all or nothing endeavor.

The only possible enhancement measure, within the element of fire, would be the assistance of another fire Necromancer. The mage could help bind the 'fires of life' to the caster. Though it would be rare for a magician to trust anyone to watch over them during this life altering incantation.

In other regards, many scholars speculate that magi from various elements could assist the fire mage in this rather complex incantation. A wind mage, for example, could strengthen the Property of  Reason/Rationality within the Necromancer’s car’all, garnering more of their sentience and sanity upon the completion of this spell.

Where-as an earthen mage may strengthen the Property of  Permanence in a spiritual aspect, disallowing ‘the fires of life’ from utterly escaping the corporal body of the caster. A mage of this element could also use this same Property in a physical aspect, forcing the physical form of the Necromancer to not be consumed as quickly.

While this incantation generally ceases the Necromancer’s ability to progress in fire magic, a water mage could influence this immensely. A mage of this element may strengthen the Property of Intuition, permitting the fire mage to intuitively garner further information and insight into their practiced craft.

Pre-emptive 'yum'.

:)

Nice one Twen! I think this would be fitting to replace Extend Life spell dont you think?
no offense Dasson
I am anxious to await for the procedure :)

Not at all, for two reasons.

1) "All should know that this spell is unheard of or seen in many centuries, if not simply the fancy of storytellers."
Extended Life is a guaranteed, tested and practiced spell.

2) Extended Life is not Necromancy. At least not officially. Thus is not banned. It does not deal with the dead, instead it simply slows down the aging process by permanently removing much of one's fire ounia (thus making their body use much less energy and thus operate at a much slower rate. The dangerous part being that if one takes away too much fire ounia, then they will die).


Extended Life is in dire need of a revision, though, as it was made long before the Ximaxian system revision. I plan on redoing it soon. It will be much easier to cast and possibly be a lower level.

Oh okay.. :)

Finished and ready for comments.

Could the negative side effects be lessened by enlisting the aid of a non-fire necromancer instead?

And of course that begets the question; if a full quartet of elemental necromancers were to form a pact to perform this ceremony for each of them in turn, would they become true immortals?

Nice questions Mira! :heart:

All of them discussed by Fox and I in IRC some time ago.

1) The enlistment of other high level magi of various elements could extend, diminish or assist in many aspects of this spell. Arch-Magi of Earth could use the property of solidity/permanence to lengthen the prescribed life span. Or use Sphere III to literally replace consumed physical aspects. Wind could assist in the mental aspects retained during the incantation and possibly help with mental ailments garnered during casting. Water could be used to strengthen the property of cold to slow the deterioration of the corporeal form.

2) The unification of Magi from all four elements could garner extremely long 'lived' undead. An aspect I wish to talk with Smith regarding his Daedhir, although outside the realm of Ximaxian magic. Yet it does add some cohesion to why the rulers of those lands are numerous and working a bit in cohorts.

Oh, i can have a little shot at the Daedhir; they don't use elemental magic in that context at all. As far as i've been able to glean from Decipher, they use scavenged Inami magics, which relates to Ximaxian magic as a modern computer relates to an abacus.

Talk to the Marmaran if you need to know more, i'm sure he discussed this with Smith at some point in the past.

Well as I was invited by Arti to write Necromancy, any insight into the Daedhir aspects would be great. Since Smith threatened me with strangulation if I used Ximaxian magic to explain it.  :D

Edit: Hence why most Ximaxian Necromantic aspects are flawed ... if only slightly.

Well, Smith is responsive to emails at the very least, so you could try and drag him back in to explain a bit about their methods (maybe i'll understand how my dwarven rune-magic works then.. currently my understanding is just; draw rune, concentrate on effect, done. Functional, but not very elaborate :P)

So...

The mage is keeping his "soul" from escaping in order to keep him alive? Are the fires of life the same as a soul, or spirit, that eventually dwells in an afterlife? I guess I see the distinction between the fires of life and an afterlife spirit as two different things.

So by keeping the fire ounia in his physical form, the mage does die, but the fires of life stay within him. The mage is essentially a sentient zombie? Does he have the will to keep himself animated?

The metaphorical 'fires of life' is an aspect of fire, defined by Arti initially as the factor used in creating sentient undead. Hence an aspect of fire not touched on in Ximax.

In essence the mage is binding these fires in abundance to the corporeal form. Granting sentience yet lacking true life. Hence the rigidity placed on the physical form after the spells completion. No changing of magical focus, since the will/understanding of the mage is a 'blueprint' and not actually a blank slate, like a living beings.

What keeps the corporeal form from rotting away? The fires of life remain in the body keeping it sentient (spiritual), but it still would decay would it not?

I don't understand who would want to extend their life by becoming a paranoid, crazy zombie? I guess only crazed necromancers would do such a thing...

So, technically, the mage is dead, but he kept his sentience using magic. Can they still talk? Feel pain or emotion? Is this like becoming a lich?

Its alot of questions, but I find this spell very odd... :huh:

It would rot similar to any corpse - flesh falling off, skeletal structure appearing until at last it would become dust. Hence the two century limitation of the spell. A Fire Necromancer could do nothing to stop the abundance of fire ounia in it's car'all from slowly incinerating itself.

Just to answer a question of yours above, that I missed Azhira. The mage still has a free-will and could influence fires' animation property (physical/spiritual) to keep themselves mobile, not unlike previous Fire Necromantic incantations. As mentioned in the entry the spell Dark Stability is also a constant necessity to keep the mages' undead state filled with these 'fires of life'.

Since this alteration of the mage's car'all is unnatural it would seek to return to neutrality, albeit slowly. Requiring the mage to keep it in the heightened abundance of fire ounia expressing the 'fires of life', bringing the necessity of Dark Stability.

It is very much like being a lich. If you take a normal human that has obtained level 10 in Fire magic ... their normal life is probably near its end...... why would they turn down 200 years of extended (un)life?

Edit: The insanity and such are all possibilities not absolutes and since this is from a researchers point of view from legends ..... not all is known of what the outcomes could be. Not like there would be more than a handful of possible stories about Necromancers of this power.

Please ask questions if you have them Azhira .... running a refresher course here myself.

Finally! Glad to see this finished. As per your usual, only a few minor grammatical errors I really don't want to correct right now. I'll swing through later to give the edits. Much applause from me to you for your hard work.

Hopefully Fox brings such tidings!  :grin:

I am not trying to give you a hard time, Emvay!  :kiss: I am just trying to understand the complexities of this fascinating spell. Thanks for the patience.  :thumbup:

No problem Azhira! :heart:

I was merely being honest when I said 'I was running a refresher course'. Lots of studying up on old notes and ideas, questions help a great deal. They make me think and recall stuff that might be a little dusty in my brain. So if you got any, please speak up. :)

Speaking about dust, Emváy/Twen... I wonder what had happened to that fullsized portrait Faugar was drawing for you, and I've never seen a reply to the last version he posted.

I had written him an e-mail Arti, but I had an extensive stay in the hospital shortly there after. I shall write him once again, thank you for the reminder! :heart:

Not too much I see that needs changing, Twen. Lovely spell. :)

First off, I think the Casting Procedure needs to be expanded a bit. You've got a lot of nice details in the Spell Effect, but the Procedure cuts short. You should describe the at least theorized methods of 'binding the fires of life' through Sphere III here.

Also, you mention that this is a Spiritual/Physical spell. I don't see any Physical aspects here, so I believe you can just make it Spiritual.

Last, as you say in another post, mages of other elements can help the mage retain more aspects of their 'self' than just the fire ones. This should be mentioned in the 'Enhancing/Counter Measures' section. In fact, the aid of a Wind mage might be necessary for the 'lichee' to retain any true form of sentience--though since all aspects of the spell aren't known, you may want to say only that it is theorized that it is highly likely a Wind mage's aid is necessary for retained sentience, but this is not known for sure.

bumping for ease of access

Dearest Fox, enhancement measures have been modified and the physical under 'Spell Class' has been removed. Thank you for the comments!  :heart:

This has gathered dust for far too long.  :rolleyes:

I shall be polishing up many of my lingering entries and then moving on to other projects that are my responsibility.  :goodidea:

Oh my. I'll have to give this a look over this weekend then. :)