Spell Effect. By using bones of living beings, a necromancer can create a skeleton aide to do his bidding. The created skeleton can have any shape and form, and consists of as many bones as the caster wants (providing they are there for disposal). However, the more bones one uses, and the larger they are, the harder it is to create the skeleton – the caster must know exactly how he wants each bone connected with the other ones, and the more bones, the more cár’áll must be added to make the skeleton able to move.

Image description.  The product of the Rise Skeleton spell. Picture by Eratinalinfalah.

The created skeleton can stay in place for up to several hours or even a day, depending on how decomposed the bones were, and the level of the caster. As the skeleton is animated trough the addition of small parts of the caster’s own cár’áll to the one of the bones themselves, there are limits on how large the skeleton can be so that the caster can maintain its existence. In general, at the initiate level, the skeleton can be as big as a typical human.

Another thing to be noted is that this being the caster creates does not have any intelligence on its own, gathering the necessary information to do the caster’s bidding through a weak telepathical link. Mages highly proficient in necromancy can actually make the skeleton do advanced tasks, such as following a somewhat intricate route. Less proficient mages can only use it for simple tasks such as attacking their foes, etc. As the skeleton can be quite complex, it might very well be able to hold a sword, for use in battle. Less complex skeletons are created with sharp bones instead of hands, etc.

Casting Procedure. The mage must have all the bones he needs in front of him (often, using the spell “Bonecalling” in advance to gather them can be a good idea), then speak the formula, triggering the initial effect of this spell. Then, the caster must imagine the bones connecting, one by one, until all of them are in place.

Image description:  A raised skeleton attacking. Pic by Faugar.

Magical Formula. Al mód (Styrásh: al mód, lit. "Moving earth")

Target.  Bones of any kind.

Reagents. Bones of any kind.

Magical School. Elemental Magic, Earth School.

Spell Class. Necromancy.

Range. The target bones must be directly in front of the caster.

Casting Time. Varies greatly, depending on how many bones are to be used. In general, a human-size and shaped skeleton takes about thirty minutes to create.

Duration. The created skeleton will last for several hours, sometimes even up to a full day. After that, the cár’áll given to the skeleton begins to rapidly dissipate, and soon the skeleton falls back to earth again.

Counter Measures/Enhancing Measures. The animated skeleton can be destroyed by pure physical force, or by ecuá magic, severing the connections between the bones and dispelling the extra cár’áll given to the skeleton.

To enhance the created skeleton, one can prolong its duration by sprinkling another xeuátic reagent like blood on the bones before casting this spell. The duration is then doubled.

One can also add more bones to the skeleton, by casting this spell on it, but adding the prefix “áll” to the formula. Then, one must connect the new bones to the skeleton as one would cast the normal spell.