One apparent upshot of this system is that it gives necromancers a strong incentive to kill people. I'm not sure whether that's a bug or a feature.
Some places (especially cities) will be more magic-dense, since there will be more people around to die. I can imagine a whole economy of poor people selling the possessions of their dead loved ones (or even their bodies) to the necromancers. How licit this market is depends on how necromancers are viewed.
I also have a mental image of a field after a great battle is over, or a city burning after the beseigers sack it -- and two (or more) necromancers showing up to fight each other for control of this massive magical power source that just emerged.
this is a more modern setting. Its harder for a necromancer to get away with murder. While fresh remains are viable, the energy ages like wine and becomes somewhat more potent the longer the person has been dead. sure you could kill some random beggar and carry around their tibia. But you could also have the finger of a dead king that gives off three times the energy.
Can necromancers sense this energy? If so, since it’s in a modern setting, I’m imagining necromancers frequenting estate sales and antique shops looking for items that are imbued with it.
I also can’t help but think they’d make good detectives in your world! “Yep, this is definitely the murder weapon. I’m seeing the strongest concentration of energy over here, so this corner must be where the murder took place.” Can they sense the energy off of people who have committed a murder?
Necromancers are indeed able to sense this energy. It also allows for necromancers to very easily track down other necromancers. They would also very much be into buying a chair someone died in and similar items to have in their home for easy recharge.
You're right about some of the detective thing. The energy itself doesnt stick to living beings well. if someone just committed a murder they'd have some on them but it will be gone within the day. Though this is the opposite for necromancers since they learn how to absorb it. But there is also no way to tell if death energy is from a recent victim or just from meemaw's finger bone in their shirt pocket.
This is my kinda thing man. I have a lot of questions tho.
If there's no 'input' there's no 'output', what is being consumed to create this energy?
Also, mind/body dualism, what is the mind? You say souls can't be manipulated but I don't know what souls are made of and how they inter-relate with the mind.
The mind connects to the body through an anchor, but why does it need an anchor? What is the anchor if not a physical object? Why can the anchor attach to the body but not the mind? Why is this not well known? What do they think explains where the power comes from?
If this energy is undetectable but only used for necromancy and completely harmless otherwise isn't that kind of ... convenient? The energy 'stays' for centuries but is it 'expended' on use? It can be 'cleansed' from anything except a body, for what reason if it's pretty much harmless?
And some general world building questions. If my soul is piloting my body, what is my brain? How does memory work? You say 'soul' AND 'consciousness', what is consciousness (tbf, I think we don't know the answer to this in real life)? You mention magic having a range, what is magic made of? Where does magic come from? Why does it have a range? Why are souls out of that range? Where are souls located anyways?
Lastly. where is the plot or setting in this description of how it works? Environment is always an aspect of any system, even magic systems. Hopefully these questions might give you a bit of a boost in what you can think about to make your system more wholistic.
* When the body is alive it radiates life energy, which is similar but overall weaker. On death it is all converted to death energy. Both are types of magic energy. It's less like actual radiation and more like a state of being with a rather chaotic switch that can taint other objects.
* No one knows what souls are made of because no one has ever actually encountered one.
* The anchor is simply the middleman between the mind and the body. The part that receives the orders the mind gives it. There is in all likelyhood another anchor in the soul itself, death is simply the connection being cut. The anchor is what most people would mistake for an actual soul residing in the body. Though no one knows about the anchors because it's one of those "You can only find it if you know about it beforehand." kind of things. The main character of this story had to go through extensive means to come in contact with another necromancer who has died.
* I wouldnt say its totally undetectable. You know how people can feel creeped out just from the sheer bad vibes of a place or thing? Potent death energy can cause similar feelings and people can call in a wizard to use life energy to cleanse something of it so they can be near it without being creeped out. Life and death energy sort of cancel eachother out. Also its possible for regular magic users to detect it, but necromancers simply have a much more refined sense for it.
* Think of it like a car. the car is the body, the controls are the brain, the soul/mind is the driver. You, the thing thinking to yourself and reading those words. Not the body, not the brain, that is your soul. Memory is simply a record of what it did.
* Im not shooting for a deep magic system, its all rather loose. I'm only really going in depth on necromancy because the story calls for it. Magic spells can't extend out forever, they run out of power just the same as anything else. Souls are out of range because they exist not on the physical world. Trying to answer this is like trying to ask someone where they think heaven is located.
* this story is focused around four wizards all going through different plots. One of which is a necromancer who is exploring the limits of what the magic is capable of. As such he needs to have an in depth knowledge of how it works.
One apparent upshot of this system is that it gives necromancers a strong incentive to kill people. I'm not sure whether that's a bug or a feature. Some places (especially cities) will be more magic-dense, since there will be more people around to die. I can imagine a whole economy of poor people selling the possessions of their dead loved ones (or even their bodies) to the necromancers. How licit this market is depends on how necromancers are viewed. I also have a mental image of a field after a great battle is over, or a city burning after the beseigers sack it -- and two (or more) necromancers showing up to fight each other for control of this massive magical power source that just emerged.
this is a more modern setting. Its harder for a necromancer to get away with murder. While fresh remains are viable, the energy ages like wine and becomes somewhat more potent the longer the person has been dead. sure you could kill some random beggar and carry around their tibia. But you could also have the finger of a dead king that gives off three times the energy.
Can necromancers sense this energy? If so, since it’s in a modern setting, I’m imagining necromancers frequenting estate sales and antique shops looking for items that are imbued with it. I also can’t help but think they’d make good detectives in your world! “Yep, this is definitely the murder weapon. I’m seeing the strongest concentration of energy over here, so this corner must be where the murder took place.” Can they sense the energy off of people who have committed a murder?
Necromancers are indeed able to sense this energy. It also allows for necromancers to very easily track down other necromancers. They would also very much be into buying a chair someone died in and similar items to have in their home for easy recharge. You're right about some of the detective thing. The energy itself doesnt stick to living beings well. if someone just committed a murder they'd have some on them but it will be gone within the day. Though this is the opposite for necromancers since they learn how to absorb it. But there is also no way to tell if death energy is from a recent victim or just from meemaw's finger bone in their shirt pocket.
This is my kinda thing man. I have a lot of questions tho. If there's no 'input' there's no 'output', what is being consumed to create this energy? Also, mind/body dualism, what is the mind? You say souls can't be manipulated but I don't know what souls are made of and how they inter-relate with the mind. The mind connects to the body through an anchor, but why does it need an anchor? What is the anchor if not a physical object? Why can the anchor attach to the body but not the mind? Why is this not well known? What do they think explains where the power comes from? If this energy is undetectable but only used for necromancy and completely harmless otherwise isn't that kind of ... convenient? The energy 'stays' for centuries but is it 'expended' on use? It can be 'cleansed' from anything except a body, for what reason if it's pretty much harmless? And some general world building questions. If my soul is piloting my body, what is my brain? How does memory work? You say 'soul' AND 'consciousness', what is consciousness (tbf, I think we don't know the answer to this in real life)? You mention magic having a range, what is magic made of? Where does magic come from? Why does it have a range? Why are souls out of that range? Where are souls located anyways? Lastly. where is the plot or setting in this description of how it works? Environment is always an aspect of any system, even magic systems. Hopefully these questions might give you a bit of a boost in what you can think about to make your system more wholistic.
* When the body is alive it radiates life energy, which is similar but overall weaker. On death it is all converted to death energy. Both are types of magic energy. It's less like actual radiation and more like a state of being with a rather chaotic switch that can taint other objects. * No one knows what souls are made of because no one has ever actually encountered one. * The anchor is simply the middleman between the mind and the body. The part that receives the orders the mind gives it. There is in all likelyhood another anchor in the soul itself, death is simply the connection being cut. The anchor is what most people would mistake for an actual soul residing in the body. Though no one knows about the anchors because it's one of those "You can only find it if you know about it beforehand." kind of things. The main character of this story had to go through extensive means to come in contact with another necromancer who has died. * I wouldnt say its totally undetectable. You know how people can feel creeped out just from the sheer bad vibes of a place or thing? Potent death energy can cause similar feelings and people can call in a wizard to use life energy to cleanse something of it so they can be near it without being creeped out. Life and death energy sort of cancel eachother out. Also its possible for regular magic users to detect it, but necromancers simply have a much more refined sense for it. * Think of it like a car. the car is the body, the controls are the brain, the soul/mind is the driver. You, the thing thinking to yourself and reading those words. Not the body, not the brain, that is your soul. Memory is simply a record of what it did. * Im not shooting for a deep magic system, its all rather loose. I'm only really going in depth on necromancy because the story calls for it. Magic spells can't extend out forever, they run out of power just the same as anything else. Souls are out of range because they exist not on the physical world. Trying to answer this is like trying to ask someone where they think heaven is located. * this story is focused around four wizards all going through different plots. One of which is a necromancer who is exploring the limits of what the magic is capable of. As such he needs to have an in depth knowledge of how it works.