Necromancy (my version...warning: not for the squeamish)

[sp!ke]

>>effect: this spell will cause the target to feel loss, sorrow and
>>helplessnes. these feelings are intense emotions that are dredged from the
>>victim's subconscious (the death of a loved one, a bad break-up or any other
>>upsetting memories). depending on the target's personality, these feelings
>>may manifest as anything from grim silence (aries, leo) to sobbing hysteria
>>(cancer, pisces). either way, the target will be at a -10% shift to all die
>>rolls (including initiative) for each failed stress mark.
>
>I'd make that every failed mark in one particular gauge - otherwise someone
>who's got two in each is going to be utterly hosed for only two charges.  

well, if you have 2 failed marks in more than one stressor (?), you're
hosed anyway.  i forgot to add that this effect is temporary, lasting the
length of a combat round.  it's a psychic assault of emotion and memory.

>Grisly, interesting - I'm not sure what the central paradox is.  How is
>their view of death fundamentally different, coherent yet contradictory?

like i said, it was even worse before i changed a few things (anyone who
has read "great and secret show" might gain some insight into my
preliminary ideas for spells).  originally the spells mostly dealt with the
corpus and its excretions (blood, urine, etc).  i also wanted to introduce
some kind of connection with blood ties (possessing the bones of an enemy's
ancestor would give the mage power over the enemy) but i couldn't wrap my
brain around those concepts, especially within the confines of a magickal
school.  what remained after axing those ideas is what i have written up
for necromancy.

as for their views of death, i avoided any kind of philosophical musings
(it's not my thing and i don't feel that one Way of thinking would apply to
necromancers from different cultural or religious backgrounds).  the
central theme is that the physical body is a door to to the spirit (where
many mystics seem to think that the spiritual supercedes the physical
shell, necromancy is more concerned with the shell...since the body died,
it must possess some kind of first-hand "knowledge" of what lies
beyond...finding that knowledge requires familiarity with death and some
kind of physical link -- work, food, sex, or death itself).  eating the
dead is one way to internalize this knowledge/power/strength.  i would
suppose that the contradiction stems from the necromancer's drawing energy
(knowledge, memory, passion, life-force) by fetishizing things which long
ago gave up that energy.  does this make sense?  like any sane person would
ever want to walk down this road...

- sp!Key, singing "cold ethel?"
Jared A. Sorensen
http://www.memento-mori.com