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Necromancy in human society.


Amaranthe.3578

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That's a good question.

I have not played LS1 myself, but I don't think Marjory was having trouble because of her necromancy ever, was she? Necromancers and other priests of Grenth always had important roles in human society, often around tending to the dead, of course. In the Orr story arc we get to know Orrian burial rites, which involved not resurrecting people.It might depend on the individual necro and on the people they are surrounded with. I don't think there's heavy discrimination against any profession in human society, but necroes might seem a bit excentric or shady in some cases.

OTOH you find real discrimination in Charr society, but that includes all mages, not just necromancers.

Edit: Of course, scourges in Elona are a different story. I assume you are asking about Krytan humans?

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@"Dawdler.8521" said:"Are necros pariahs in human society?"

Tons of necros running around as commanders, while every human happily greets them as friends

That doesn't mean its consistent with the lore. Watlocks run around WoW all willy nilly yet they are really hated in the lore.

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In general, necromancy is treated as a good but weird and/or disturbing magical profession due to its affiliation with death and undeath. I wouldn't say they're shunned and they're certainly not pariah's in human society, but at the same time they're not something to parade around.

"Accepted but causes unease" would probably be best shorthand description.

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i dont think they were frowned upon, their role back in the days probably was acted as a medium to communicate with the dead, as we saw in human's personal story, calling upon the soul of the dead pirate

but to create undead, was treated as a forbidden art

It wasn't long before Eve's curiosity (and her ability to both manipulate and avoid Matron Irma) led her to a secret library in the bowels of the Academy. There, forbidden texts opened up an entirely new world to young Eve. By the time she was 15, she had raised her first bone minion.

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@crepuscular.9047 said:i dont think they were frowned upon, their role back in the days probably was acted as a medium to communicate with the dead, as we saw in human's personal story, calling upon the soul of the dead pirate

but to create undead, was treated as a forbidden art

It wasn't long before Eve's curiosity (and her ability to both manipulate and avoid Matron Irma) led her to a secret library in the bowels of the Academy. There, forbidden texts opened up an entirely new world to young Eve. By the time she was 15, she had raised her first bone minion.

But in the personal story one side is shocked that the priory would disturb the dead,like its a terrible thing.

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@Amaranthe.3578 said:

@"crepuscular.9047" said:i dont think they were frowned upon, their role back in the days probably was acted as a medium to communicate with the dead, as we saw in human's personal story, calling upon the soul of the dead pirate

but to create undead, was treated as a forbidden art

It wasn't long before Eve's curiosity (and her ability to both manipulate and avoid Matron Irma) led her to a secret library in the bowels of the Academy. There, forbidden texts opened up an entirely new world to young Eve. By the time she was 15, she had raised her first bone minion.

But in the personal story one side is shocked that the priory would disturb the dead,like its a terrible thing.

not surprised, he does look pretty shady to me

Scholar_Josir.jpg

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@crepuscular.9047 said:

@crepuscular.9047 said:i dont think they were frowned upon, their role back in the days probably was acted as a medium to communicate with the dead, as we saw in human's personal story, calling upon the soul of the dead pirate

but to create undead, was treated as a forbidden art

It wasn't long before Eve's curiosity (and her ability to both manipulate and avoid Matron Irma) led her to a secret library in the bowels of the Academy. There, forbidden texts opened up an entirely new world to young Eve. By the time she was 15, she had raised her first bone minion.

But in the personal story one side is shocked that the priory would disturb the dead,like its a terrible thing.

not surprised, he does look pretty shady to me

Scholar_Josir.jpg

The way he (the other side) reacted to "disturbing" the dead made it sound like its something terrible.

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To quote the dialogue being referenced:

Scholar Josir: I have a better suggestion. Even if Alastia Crow is dead, she can still be helpful. I know an accomplished Priestess of Grenth who could summon the pirate's spirit.Agent Ihan: The Durmand Priory's "better suggestion" is to disturb the dead? You scholars really will turn over every rock to get your answers—even tombstones.

I do not see Ihan's reaction as treating it a terrible act, rather I always interpreted his reaction as scoffing at and not trusting the method, maybe him viewing it as disrespectful (which is a very common viewpoint even for non-magical means of disturbing corpses). This is furthered by Ihan's dialogue if you choose to assist the Priory:

Agent Ihan: We put you in a tough spot, but I trust you're comfortable with your choice?PC: I'm sure. I want to help the Priory summon Alastia's sprit.Agent Ihan: Well, that's your decision, but I'll admit-the idea gives me the creeps. I'll be here, praying for you.

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@crepuscular.9047 said:i dont think they were frowned upon, their role back in the days probably was acted as a medium to communicate with the dead, as we saw in human's personal story, calling upon the soul of the dead pirate

but to create undead, was treated as a forbidden art

It wasn't long before Eve's curiosity (and her ability to both manipulate and avoid Matron Irma) led her to a secret library in the bowels of the Academy. There, forbidden texts opened up an entirely new world to young Eve. By the time she was 15, she had raised her first bone minion.

That's more the extreme end of the spectrum, though. Eve was raised in a religious school, and it was well-established in GW1 that monks (at least in Ascalon) could be... judgmental about necromancers. It makes sense that they wouldn't want orphans exposed to practices that they held led people away from the light, but in broader society, as long as the necros continued to self-police and prevent their own from experimenting on townsfolk or leading the dead out to conquer, there didn't seem to be anyone forbidding them from raising minions or summoning demons.

Profession identity is so much vaguer in GW2, but if anything, Kryta seems more accepting than ever. (It may help that current necromancy doesn't seem to twist the body the way the old stuff did.) Offhand, besides from the quotes that've already been brought up, all I can think of is some ambient gossip making fun of the prospects of dating a necromancer (or a musician). The stigma's still there, but it reads as relatively mild.

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I think another thing that applies to necromancers in human society (or has in the past, anyway) is the perceived similarity between mortal necromancy and Zhaitan's powers, which I believe was also mentioned in GoA. It's not really a fair comparison, but from a layman's perspective, it might be hard to distinguish between necrominions and Risen.

Broadly speaking, though, it is definitely more a case of being disturbed by it rather than having a 'burn the witch!' response. Necromancers are, after all, sanctioned by Grenth, which limits how much prejudice can be directed at them: persecuting or heavily discriminating against necromancers might even be regarded as blasphemous. Other spellcaster types do appear to be more popular than necromancers, but as long as the necromancers behave they're accepted, albeit possibly grudgingly.

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It's an awkward relationship.

Humans seem to consider necromancers kind of creepy and tend to stay away from them, likely because of their relation with death, but if it wasn't for necromancers we'd likely see undead rising from every cemetery anytime some magic accumulates a bit in one, so no human in their right mind would want a cemetery with no necromancer taking care of it.

It's like how Grenth is often seen as neutral figure like a judge. You don't want to have to see him because that generally means bad news, but you respect him.

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