Book of Bone and Ebony

week. As the week of unlife nears its end, the zombie
begins to slow and stumble, indicating to its master that
the time has come to reinvest it with life. Reinvestment is
the same ritual as the original animation and takes the
same amount of time. The only limit to the number of
times an individual body may be reanimated is the amount
of bone that may be ground to chalk without reducing the
subject beyond all usefulness.
There is another ritual called Obstinate Crumbs
(Ritual •••). It centers around the once-favorite foods of
the corpse’s hun. The animated servant is constantly
leaving crumbs of these foods where it walks, though they
can provide no nourishment. Zombies created with this
ritual last for 20 days before they must be re-imbued, but
lose a dot in all Attributes each time they’re imbued, to a
minimum of •.
Any Charm or spell that influences the command of an
animated corpse preempts the thaumaturge’s meager power.
SHADOWLANDS CIRCLE
The magic of this, the weakest circle of necromancy,
pulls at the threads and timbre of the Underworld to move
it in accordance with a necromancer’s whim. The necromancer
is a figure of mysterious power in the sunless lands.
Ghosts simultaneously respect and fear him, desire what
he can give and tremble at the retribution he can affect. He
is something of a contradiction to the dead spirits, for he
can be the door to their freedom or their imprisonment.
BANISH GHOST
Cost: 12+ motes
Target: One ghost
This spell is yet another example of the total power an
experienced necromancer can wield over the inhabitants of
the Underworld. Like its sorcerous counterpart and the
various countermagics, Banish Ghost is a quick spell that
goes into effect immediately once the necromancy Charm
is activated and the Willpower and Essence are spent. The
necromancer and his target enter a contested Essence +
Willpower challenge, their players rolling each turn until
one of them manages to accumulate a number of successes
equal to the other’s character’s Essence. If the ghost is
triumphant, she remains where she is and the necromancer
may not attempt to banish her again until the Calendar of
Setesh has marked the passage of three days. If the necromancer
is triumphant, he may do one of the following:
• Banish the ghost from Creation to the analogous point
in the Underworld. The ghost is physically unable to
return to Creation until the Calendar of Setesh has marked
the passage of three days.
• Banish the ghost into her tomb, body or place of death
for a similar period of time. She is physically unable to
leave the confines of her tomb (be it plot or mausoleum)
or body or to stray farther than five yards from the place of
her death.
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CHAPTER FIVE • NECROMANCY
• Banish the ghost from his presence for a similar period of
time. If the ghost is seen by the necromancer before the
banishment expires, she suffers one bashing health level
per turn until she escapes his gaze.
The necromancer may spend extra motes at the
casting in increments of 3 motes, reducing the ghost’s dice
pool by one die per 3 motes spent.
Particularly cruel necromantic masters will banish a
loyal servant from their sight through the use of this spell
while still expecting flawless service.
BLACK CANDLE VISAGE
Cost: 18 motes
Target: One ghost
Fixing a nearby ghost with his deadly gaze, the necromancer
takes total command of a ghost’s body. Pulling at
his target’s ghost flesh from a distance as a puppeteer pulls
at strings, the necromancer can make superficial or completely
reconfiguring changes as desired. Alterations require
a Dexterity + Craft (Moliation) roll and can achieve the
same effects as the Arcanoi Nine Terrors Visage and
Ghost-Devil Form. Such effects require similar preparation
as detailed in Exalted: The Abyssals (pp. 235-237).
Should he so choose, the necromancer can forego such
sophistry and simply cripple his target, distorting the
ghost’s limbs and body beyond all use. This can reduce the
ghost’s Dexterity or Strength by one dot per success on an
immediate Dexterity + Craft (Moliation) roll.
Furthermore, the necromancer can lock the ghost
into the form he shapes. Roll the necromancer’s Conviction
+ Willpower against the ghost’s Conviction. Every
success that the necromancer achieves over the ghost’s
total successes indicates one week that the ghost is locked
into the form. Ghosts whose players botch their Conviction
roll may be bound to the new form as long as the
necromancer desires. Ghosts may choose not to resist the
transformation. However, this choice is a dangerous one
because it gives the necromancer full control over the
duration of the change.
A ghost successfully bound into her altered form takes
on a black, burnt-wax color while she is under its effects.
Ghosts familiar with Black Candle Visage will recognize
the telltale sign of necromancy.
There is a Labyrinth Circle version of this spell
entitled Willful Flesh Commands. With this spell, a necromancer
may reshape the form of a willing target into
anything he desires over the course of a six-hour, hands-on
manipulation of the ghost’s corpus. This process is inevitably
very painful for the subject. During this process, the
necromancer may alter the target’s Attributes, decreasing
one Attribute to raise another on a one-dot-for-one-dot
basis or adding dots at an additional mote cost of 5 per dot,
to a maximum of (the ghost’s Essence + 5) for an individual
Attribute. The necromancer may also create such effects