Necromancy
Though seen as taboo the art of necromancy is legal if restricted in Styx.
The Academia Ars Magicka et Mundana teaches necromancy as one of its Schools of Magick and necromancers can receive certification in the form of a Charta Permitto like any other mage, merely certain spells and necromantic rituals are legally restricted.
For some a formal request of permission to the High Council of Mages must be made, others are only allowed with the legal consent of the deceased as given before their death.
The Church of Serkatha views death in a pragmatic way: the souls of those who die leave their bodies and move on to the afterlife, therefore if distasteful it isn't morally evil to animate a body that has no soul with necromantic energy.
Raised-Dead make up a decent portion of the workforce of Styx, performing menial labor with a constitution most living sapients cannot reach while being impervious to the effects of illness, hunger, aging and many environmental dangers like toxic gas. Furthermore the mindless dead don't question orders and work without breaks.
The main reason why the undead don't make up a larger group within the working masses of Styx is that those animated with necromantic energy have the tendency to fly into murderous rages at random if not controlled directly by a necromancer which obviously defies the idea of increased efficiency by using the undead as workers.
Curiously some of those raised from the grave with necromantic Magick attain sapience, either at the moment of being animated or after a period of being mindlessly undead, such individuals used to be treated the same as their mindless equivalents in the Empire of Styx but have been granted equal rights following the Great Revolution.
Though treated with prejudice by many the undead make up a sizable minority within Styx, many however consider them to be mere drones and are afraid they could turn feral and attack at any moment leading to the undead being ostracised in many cases.
Sapient undead within Styx are usually called Kosheyt , a term literally meaning "the Deathless".
The Osthalt Necropolis is a community within the City of Styx that is made up primarily of undead citizens of all stripes, many of them are animated corpses that attained sapience by random chance but other types of undead are also found here.
With necromancy being legal some citizens also use the option of raising a deceased loved one, instead of binding necromantic energy their soul can be bound to their body before it passes on to the Afterlife causing their corpse to become animated with their own soul.
Beings animated in this manner retain most of their memories and personality though the risk for loss of sanity, memory and personhood is certainly present. Such raised individuals can also go feral and are often viewed with pity or fear.
Scholars of the Necromantic Field of Study of the Academia Ars Magicka theorize that when a mortal beng dies typically its soul leaves its body and is pulled by a necrotic metaphysical gravitational force towards the City of Judgement where each individual soul is judged and claimed by an afterlife or planar ruler, be they divine, a Demon Lord or something else entirely.
Scholars further theorize that the closer one gets metaphysically to the source of that gravitational pull the easier it gets to negate it or counteract it. Following this line of argument some have suggested that Styx is, somehow, unexplainably, metaphysically close to the City of Judgement which could explain why necromantic Magick is easier to perform in its vicinity.
No concrete proof of these rambling theories has ever been produced and excavations below Styx have dug deep and found nothing remotely resembling a trace of another plane, just sediment and then miles of solid rock.
The Forestfolk say that the Leshivoi Forests roots dig so deep that they pierce the veil of worlds and penetrate into a different plane entirely, they claim that this is the source of the power and lifeblood of the forest and who could deny that the forest is otherworldly in nature in all its terror.
Regardless the people of Styx lead by their Temple Parliament and the teachings of the Church of Serkatha place no stock in such ancient ramblings, they know only that the forest is dangerous and that the city depends on its resources despite this.
The Academia Ars Magicka et Mundana teaches necromancy as one of its Schools of Magick and necromancers can receive certification in the form of a Charta Permitto like any other mage, merely certain spells and necromantic rituals are legally restricted.
For some a formal request of permission to the High Council of Mages must be made, others are only allowed with the legal consent of the deceased as given before their death.
The Church of Serkatha views death in a pragmatic way: the souls of those who die leave their bodies and move on to the afterlife, therefore if distasteful it isn't morally evil to animate a body that has no soul with necromantic energy.
Raised-Dead make up a decent portion of the workforce of Styx, performing menial labor with a constitution most living sapients cannot reach while being impervious to the effects of illness, hunger, aging and many environmental dangers like toxic gas. Furthermore the mindless dead don't question orders and work without breaks.
The main reason why the undead don't make up a larger group within the working masses of Styx is that those animated with necromantic energy have the tendency to fly into murderous rages at random if not controlled directly by a necromancer which obviously defies the idea of increased efficiency by using the undead as workers.
Curiously some of those raised from the grave with necromantic Magick attain sapience, either at the moment of being animated or after a period of being mindlessly undead, such individuals used to be treated the same as their mindless equivalents in the Empire of Styx but have been granted equal rights following the Great Revolution.
Though treated with prejudice by many the undead make up a sizable minority within Styx, many however consider them to be mere drones and are afraid they could turn feral and attack at any moment leading to the undead being ostracised in many cases.
Sapient undead within Styx are usually called Kosheyt , a term literally meaning "the Deathless".
The Osthalt Necropolis is a community within the City of Styx that is made up primarily of undead citizens of all stripes, many of them are animated corpses that attained sapience by random chance but other types of undead are also found here.
With necromancy being legal some citizens also use the option of raising a deceased loved one, instead of binding necromantic energy their soul can be bound to their body before it passes on to the Afterlife causing their corpse to become animated with their own soul.
Beings animated in this manner retain most of their memories and personality though the risk for loss of sanity, memory and personhood is certainly present. Such raised individuals can also go feral and are often viewed with pity or fear.
Scholars of the Necromantic Field of Study of the Academia Ars Magicka theorize that when a mortal beng dies typically its soul leaves its body and is pulled by a necrotic metaphysical gravitational force towards the City of Judgement where each individual soul is judged and claimed by an afterlife or planar ruler, be they divine, a Demon Lord or something else entirely.
Scholars further theorize that the closer one gets metaphysically to the source of that gravitational pull the easier it gets to negate it or counteract it. Following this line of argument some have suggested that Styx is, somehow, unexplainably, metaphysically close to the City of Judgement which could explain why necromantic Magick is easier to perform in its vicinity.
No concrete proof of these rambling theories has ever been produced and excavations below Styx have dug deep and found nothing remotely resembling a trace of another plane, just sediment and then miles of solid rock.
The Forestfolk say that the Leshivoi Forests roots dig so deep that they pierce the veil of worlds and penetrate into a different plane entirely, they claim that this is the source of the power and lifeblood of the forest and who could deny that the forest is otherworldly in nature in all its terror.
Regardless the people of Styx lead by their Temple Parliament and the teachings of the Church of Serkatha place no stock in such ancient ramblings, they know only that the forest is dangerous and that the city depends on its resources despite this.
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