Book of Bone and Ebony

CHAPTER FIVE
NECROMANCY
Just as with sorcery, only a select few in or out of
Creation can manipulate the Essence necessary to use
necromancy. The Celestial Exalted, the Deathlords, select
hekatonkhire and God-Blooded (Ghost-Blooded and
Abyssal Half-Caste) make up the short list of beings able
to control the Essence of the Underworld on such a scale,
and only the Abyssal Exalted and the Deathlords can
achieve mastery over the Void Circle.
Powerful death-tainted artifacts may allow limited
necromantic power, whether by simulating a spell’s effects
or granting access to much of the Shadowlands
Circle. Such items are phenomenally rare and seldom
have any power in Creation, leaving these dark wonders
among the hoards of the Deathlords and a few of the
mightiest nephwracks in the Labyrinth. Such artifacts
are dangerous for any but the favored of the Malfeans to
use: The player of any mortal attempting to channel such
power must roll her Essence with each attempt. A failure
tears away her life and automatically raises her spirit as a
mortwight. The player of a ghost who dares to abuse the
power of the Abyss must roll each time as though the
ghost has been touched by the Whisper of Oblivion (see
Exalted: The Abyssals, p. 284).
The Malfeans may also be capable of granting their
most devoted servants such power by direct investiture,
though such extraordinary gifts invariably corrode sanity
and soul.
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CHAPTER FIVE • NECROMANCY
NECROMANTIC INITIATION
Learning to cast necromancy is, as with sorcery,
a mind-opening experience. Potential necromancers
begin to perceive the world in an entirely new light,
shadowed by the truths of the Underworld. For those
who have already become initiates of sorcery, the
sister process for necromancy is eerily familiar, yet a
world apart. Those who are unfamiliar with sorcery
find the process as difficult as that for sorcery.
Although the power of necromancy comes from
a negative source, the use thereof is not a negative
thing. Learning to use necromancy includes a set of five
tasks much more similar to those of sorcery than the
average mortal ghost-hunter or exorcist might expect.
It is also worth noting that people cannot simply
“discover” necromancy and initiate themselves
through accident and the beneficence of nature.
While necromancy was, in the beginning, discovered
and not taught, this was done by powerful and brilliant
Twilight Caste Solars who already had centuries
of experience with sorcery of all stripes. It was their
exploration of and experimentation with the Essence
of the Underworld, the Labyrinth and the Void that
led them to discover this dark mirror of sorcery. No
mighty Salinan sorcery (see Savant and Sorcerer, pp.
17-18) remains in place to teach a would-be necromancer
through fortuitous happenstance.