Undead=Evil

[Kelb_Panthera]

I think that a local utopia can exist at least partially but only in opposition to another force. The blitz spirit is a shared fear of the other, of loosing what one has; a sense that if you don't pull together and get along you are going to get hammered.

That is why my necrothieists need the enmity of beings like the gods. Without the threat of an all pervading and eternal opponent it would eventually fall apart. If they did not have gods they would probably be forced to create them.

[Necrothieist recap]

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If one where to reject and renounce the gods, alignment, divinely revealed morality and all other outsiders then necromancy would be a vital tool in the arsenal.

It grants a society control of its moralities control over their own afterlife. Broken free from the tyranny of the alignment system men are free to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, free to decide their own destinies. The long term goal could be first the liberation of the mundane from outside influence and then the storming of the golden gates and the cleansing of the deepest pits; casting all outsiders to the shadows of the beyond.

I envisage a society where a part of the soul is bound to an artefacts (be it a building, monument, weapon, jewel or warforged golem armour). This binds the rest of the spirit to this world, forcing the person into a cycle of reincarnation centred on their artefact/phalactry. During each life the soul is rebound to the artefacts (or to another) making the object more powerful. Perhaps in the long run the object awakens and the (or an) individual is completely bound within. I imagine that for large objects like ships, fortresses or cities many people can be bound in and of them.

"This place ...this place is sacred. Everyone who loved it, everyone who lived it, who died for it, who shed blood sweat and tears for it has left a part of themselves here. It is our ancestors’ legacy to us, our legacy to the future. Tread carefully stranger, for you are treading on our souls."


Doesn't mater if its good or evil in this case. On the alignment system such a societal would fall off of the axis, sit in the middle or oscillate widely from one side to the other. Trying to be a Neizchien ubermenchen society does that. Why should they define or limit themselves to the cosmic accursed alignment system? This would make them a very tempting target for both the red and blue teams (as well as the purple, orange and maroon teams)

I rather think that the cosmic forces of good, evil and/or blancmange would go to great length to eradicate such a society whatever its alignment is or is not. Its just good business to stamp out threat.

On the question of vampires I can well imagine a vampiric aristocracy forming an officer class together with a "priesthood"/civil service formed of necromancers and liches.

Then comes the question if you want to extend economic and social franchise over the bulk of the population or do you want a good sized citizen class of landowners and craftsmen and a large non citizen class of registered aliens, tenet farmers and/or slaves. Non citizens would have to hand over their bodies after their done using them (relic tax) in lei of wealth or income based taxes.

I also would like to state that I think that necromancy does touch on the soul, though exactly how I wouldn't like to say. (Note that in the old text necromancy was a form of divination, similar to mediums). However I would like to ask "Is this necessarily a bad thing?"

Interesting though it is, that's not a utopia for anyone but the citizens. The serfs are completely screwed in that setup by being little more than parasites on the society since nearly all the work that serfs would do in other societies is done by mindless undead. They're basically just subsistence farmers that wouldn't be any better off if the ruling class were a normal feudal aristocracy headed by a monarch. They're not even really safer than the serfs of a normal society since virtually every other society out there wants the one they exist along side destroyed.

This setup makes the non-citizens little better than rats that the aristocracy don't mind keeping around, or intelligent livestock.

Edit: Necromancy unambiguously can touch the soul. Whether that's a problem or not depends on how it touches the soul. Most necromancy spells that affect the soul generally do so in a negative way, either by turning it into an intelligent (usually incorporeal) undead, trapping it, or consuming it.