Necrotic Energy

Necrotic Energy is the polar opposite of Vital Energy, and represents the metaphysical force that drives The Cycle. It is the momentum of life passing into death, before being renewed. Necrotic Energy is inimical to life, and exists naturally only in a conduit that leads down from the other three kingdoms into the Underworld.

Properties

• Necrotic Energy attracts and consumes Vital Energy. This can be used to manipulate Vital Energy, as long as you prevent the two from actually interacting.
• Because Necrotic Energy drains Vital Energy, when the two interact it causes physical damage in the form of necrosis. In healthy amounts, the two energies are balanced, allowing ambient life (fungus, microbes, etc) to move in and process the remaining matter. In excess, however, the affected flesh and/or matter is negatively charged and hostile to all life. This causes the death of living tissue but without the normal decomposition.
• Under normal circumstances, this reaction results in the Vital energy siphoning down into the Underworld for renewal. In unnatural applications, the Vital Energy is drawn away by the Necrotic Energy and prevented from returning to the cycle. This causes the Vital Energy to change into additional Necrotic Energy, and disrupts the life cycle, usually through the creation of the Undead.

Methods & Practices

• Necromancy is a suite of techniques heavilly focused on the manipulation of Necrotic Energy -- sometimes on its own, in destructive forms, and other times as a means of manipulating or altering Psychic Energy, for speaking with or binding the Dead/Undead.

Sources

• Necrotic Energy is the cause of death and is generated by death. It is present in ambient levels wherever there is life (or death). In areas saturated with death, additional necrotic energy builds up, which when combined with the psychic energy of severe trauma, can lead to the spontaneous animation of undead.
• The strongest "naturally occuring" source of Necrotic Energy is the Underworld, and the downward pull it exerts on all life. Practitioners can tap into this Death Impulse to wield its power, but this naturally occuring energy has a lot of Ontological Inertia. It's difficult to use this Natural Necrotic Energy for unnatural purposes, such as creating or binding the undead.
• Just like the undead, it's possible to convert Vital Energy into Necrotic Energy through unholy rituals and sacrifices. Powerful Undead are themselves sources of Necrotic Energy. The most powerful among them can lend this power to their followers, granting them Pact Magic.