Kindly Necromancers

[Railstar]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

How would you portray a kindly necromancer? Let us set aside the stereotypes implicit in Magic and avoid stuff like necromancers committing necrophilia and raising zombies. Would they be individuals skilled in the abilities of the Death power or the abilities of the Spirit Control power? Would they individual skilled in the Path of Spirits who specialized in the dead? How would you represent them?

While kindly might be a strong word for Abydos in Banestorm, it is a city of necromancy where the necromancers are not any more evil than the rest of the world. Their theology focuses on Lazarus, who was returned from the dead.

Usually I go for the pragmatic necromancer:

-Why risk the life of a living person when you can send a zombie into danger instead?

-Why practise slavery when the dead can do much of the same labours?

-Why allow the wisdom of ancestors to be lost when you can summon their spirits?

The preservation of knowledge is one of my favourites, because it can be a good cause. Discovery or revival of old sciences. Imagine how much of Roman technology could be recovered in the Roman period if you could actually consult the Romans? I know there's logistical problems there, but such an idealistic scholar would be a candidate for kindly necromancer.

Back in That Other Game (Pathfinder), I had a shaman who wasn't exactly a necromancer, but used necromancy... she was an honest businesswoman, a very loyal friend, a committed healer, and also fully in favour of using undead backup when the opportunity arose. In this case, it was just have the necromancer be a person, capable of kindness.

For my main villainous necromancer, while she doesn't have a conscience (for supernatural reasons), she was raised in a very loving family and genuinely believes that kindness is the healthiest way to interact with people. In essence, unless and until ruthlessness served her, she was good to them. Part of her psychology is she realised all the bad things she'd done for power didn't mean all that much if she wasn't free to do a favour for someone she liked.

Someone who realises when you sacrifice everything else for power, then what you have isn't really power anymore... and necromancers are often in a position to have made those mistakes, and smart enough to learn from them.