BackNext

Chapter One

Fall into Darkness
 
 
 

  From an old Necromantic scroll
(author unknown)
 

"For a period of nine days prior
to the operation you will eat
only unleavened bread and drink
only wine without spirit.
Your attire should be gray in
color and this time is to be spent
in solitude. "

(editors note : wine without spirit refers
to wine which has turned, the alcohol
content replaced with vinegar, which
thins the blood and pales the complexion.
Add to this, weight loss from improper diet.
The effect is one of creating an affinity with
the dead by taking on the appearance
of the dead.)

   Necromancy has been divided into two main classifications. Divination by ghosts
and divination by means of corpses. Divination by means of corpses may be stretched
to include the reading of entrails, liver etc. The disinterment of corpses for magical use
has reportedly led to the spread of disease and death in a certain South American 
country ( back in the late 1980's ). My own experience with human remains has been
limited to bones exported from India and Nepal ( for Medical Education, before the 
ban in the mid 80's ) and ashes of individuals that had be commercially cremated. 
The former had no magical value, ( except to freak people out ) and the later created more
questions than answers. Things were revealed relating to the deceased and even this
was fragmented. The question being, can the "corpse material" only pass on information
the individual possessed at the time of death? If so ( and I have found no evidence to
the contrary ) pursuing that avenue is pointless from the diviners point of view.
Still all physical human remains that have come into my possession for scrutiny have
done so unsolicited. One aspect of death is "change that occurs beyond ones consent
or command," and it has been my experience that things which we go out of our way
to obtain have little value compared to those things which fate delivers to our door.
So I've made it a rule to allow power to reveal itself to me in a manner and time of
it's choosing, rather than trying to buy my way in as so many do.
  This leaves Divination by way of ghosts, aka spirits of the deceased.