Path to Freedom
Though not the only one, the Path to Freedom is the most well known and feared arcane society involved in necromantic arts. What makes it different from most others is that it is not a death cult that worships a Nara of death or corruption. Instead, the Path to Freedom is a society of intellectually driven researchers dedicated to the study of the necromantic arts with the goal of achieving eternal life.
Members see themselves as serious scholars and they despise cults who grovel to gods or make pacts with other dark entities in the hopes of being tossed scraps of power and longevity. They seek to achieve eternal life ‘cleanly’ through their own efforts and under their own terms, achieving what they consider true freedom. The Path has attracted members from various traditions as well as skilled artificers and alchemists.
Members study the process of death to better understand how life force inhabits, enters and leaves physical bodies and how to stop it from leaving in addition to finding ways of collecting life force from the environment and other beings. Membership to the Path is by invitation only, after a period of circumspect observation and conversation with a potential member. When the time comes though, prospective candidates are approached by a spiritual entity under the control of a member. If the candidate accepts, they will be inducted, if they decline they will remain unmolested and never be contacted again.
Induction gives the new member access to the society’s shared body of research and tools, in addition to advice from senior members. All members are expected to share their research with each other to help develop the steps to eternal life. It is rumored that some of the more successful members crossed the ocean from Utanar during the Great Exodus more than two centuries earlier.
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