A "better word" than necromancy

[GoblinGilmartin]

I wasn't sure where to put this topic. I was thinking about the school of spells commonly called Necromancy.

It's a misnomer, isn't it? These days, when we say necromancy, we generally refer to raising the dead and creating zombies and such to do the caster's bidding. Thing is, any word ending in "-mancy" is divination, isn't it? cleromancy, arithmancy, cartomancy, and pyromancy are all different methods of figuring stuff out. Necromancy specifically is communication with the dead to gain insight.

Is there a "better" word for raising the dead or other general "death magics" (besides, I suppose "death magics")? It just seems like a flawed way of going about it.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Great point, that. It's the original meaning of the term, after all. That said, "-mancer" has itself been co-opted to mean "manipulator of". (See: "pyromancy". Also, Erfworld.)

So, it's in part word evolution. "Necromancy" morphed in meaning, and the "-mancy" suffix changed in meaning to fit it.

But I'd love to see a treatment of necromancy that hewed more closely to the original roots. It's a far more unsettling concept, presented as thus.

[hymer]

Who are you, the Académie française? :smallwink:
Nobody I know is in doubt what 'necromancy' is meant to mean these days, so I see no reason to go making up words or finding old ones. If that doesn't satisfy you, how about 'the Black Arts'?

[Nerd-o-rama]

Postmortem Communications.

Oh wait, you want one for what Necromancy actually does. Death Magic?

[Eldan]

Look for a similar concept in a language other than Greek, maybe? I don't know any mythology with a strong concept of zombies all that well. Maybe look into the African religions that went on to form part of Voodoo and look if they have a good term for zombie-making?

[erikun]

Please note: I do not speak/know Greek.

However, a brief search seems to indicate that magikos is roughly the Greek word for "magic" and magos a practicioner of magikos. As such, you'd likely have the study of necromagikos performed by the necromagos. Or, just simply, nercomagic performed by necromagi.

Probably less exciting that you had hoped. I guess that's probably why fantasy authors insist on sticking with "necromancer"; it sounds more "fantastic".

[Ceiling_Squid]

I'm running into the same exact problem in my homebrew setting.

If you're talking about the manipulation or working of something, the proper suffix should be "-urgy", or so I'm told. The clearest term that comes to mind is "metallurgy".

"Thaumaturgy" is a generic term for magic, after all, which should be most familiar to readers.

The problem is, my table is so damn used to saying "pyromancy" and "necromancy" (and all the other stereotypical "-mancy" magic thanks to fantasy fiction) that attaching "-urgy" to the end of things sounds...ungainly? I hate the way it rolls off the tongue.

"Necrourgy" just doesn't have the right punch. Nor does "pryourgy" or "hydrourgy", etc.

Bleah. It might be the right suffix, but I hate putting two vowels next to each other in this context. It does not sound right said out loud. Am I missing something in how these should be constructed?

[Eldan]

Please note: I do not speak/know Greek.

However, a brief search seems to indicate that magikos is roughly the Greek word for "magic" and magos a practicioner of magikos. As such, you'd likely have the study of necromagikos performed by the necromagos. Or, just simply, nercomagic performed by necromagi.

Probably less exciting that you had hoped. I guess that's probably why fantasy authors insist on sticking with "necromancer"; it sounds more "fantastic".

That's another approach that might work.

Let's see Latin, for the same. Necros is a corpse. In Latin: cadaver, mors, corpus, mortuus.
Magic: magus, praecantatio.

Other useful words from google translate:

excieo: summon, call forth, awake, awaken, Rouse, stir
concalo: summon
evoco: call forth, summon, Recall, evoke, impel, awake
invoco: call, invoke, name, style, pray for, summon

Summoner: vocantor
Magician: magus, incantator, praecantator

No google translate for ancient Greek, sadly.

[Telonius]

Necromagus or Thanamagus would have been my picks. Maybe Thanomancy? Thanaturgy?

EDIT: That's if you stay with Greek. Maranamaya would probably be something close to a Sanskrit derivation. (Marana - death, maya - illusion or magic) "Totenbeschwoerer" (literally, conjurer/summoner of [beschwoerer] the dead[Toten]) is the German word for it. That would also have the advantage of sounding really evil. :smallbiggrin:

[Geostationary]

"Necrourgy" just doesn't have the right punch. Nor does "pryourgy" or "hydrourgy", etc.

Bleah. It might be the right suffix, but I hate putting two vowels next to each other in this context. It does not sound right said out loud. Am I missing something in how these should be constructed?

Necroturgy, pyroturgy, etc. are nicer constructions, and use the -turgy suffix. It tends to flow nicer, though I'm unsure of its accuracy- but since when has that been important so long as the word sounds nice?

The practitioner of such arts would be either a necroturge or a necroturgist, derived from thaumaturge/thaumaturgist. For reference, thaumaturgy means to work miracles.

[BWR]

Thanaturgy?

This sounds pretty darn good.

[Grim Portent]

When it comes to pyromancy I prefer -kinesis, wouldn't work for necromancy though except in those instances where a necromantic spell takes the form of a bolt of dark magic or a draining of energy.

[Eldan]

"Totenbeschwoerer" (literally, conjurer/summoner of [beschwoerer] the dead[Toten]) is the German word for it. That would also have the advantage of sounding really evil. :smallbiggrin:

Eh, not really. Words with umlauts rarely sound all that strong or evil.

Necrokinesis is not a bad idea. "Kinesis" is "movement". Necrokinesis would mean moving the dead, or movement of the dead. Since zombies are the walking dead, it fits nicely.

[Ceiling_Squid]

Eh, not really. Words with umlauts rarely sound all that strong or evil.

Necrokinesis is not a bad idea. "Kinesis" is "movement". Necrokinesis would mean moving the dead, or movement of the dead. Since zombies are the walking dead, it fits nicely.

I like that idea.

-kinesis tends to have pop-culture associations with psionics, though.

If you're in a setting with both magic and psionics, it may not be the best bet. But it's perfectly serviceable if your setting only has one or the other.

[Eldan]

By the way, there only seems to be one "proper" Necromany spell in D&D, Speak with Dead. That's actual divination using dead bodies.

[OldTrees1]

Interesting take on Death Magic:
http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-06-27
In general, the sterotypical Necromancer is like an Evoker that only uses red fire.

Based on that take, Necro(death) -ology(study of)[already taken]/-sophy(knowledge) seems fitting.

So the Necromancer (death-manipulator) studies the Necrosophic (death-knowledge) lore.

[Ceiling_Squid]

Interesting take on Death Magic:
http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-06-27
In general, the sterotypical Necromancer is like an Evoker that only uses red fire.

Based on that take, Necro(death) -ology(study of)[already taken]/-sophy(knowledge) seems fitting.

So the Necromancer (death-manipulator) studies the Necrosophic (death-knowledge) lore.

Well, death-seer, that is, with "-mancy" being the suffix for divination.

Though good find on -sophic. I like the sound of that suffix.

[Blightedmarsh]

What was the name for the mortuary priests who used to do the funerary rites and embalming in ancient Egypt. Whatever it was that would be a good name or root name for a necromancer.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

My vote's on Thanaturgy/Thanaturge, personally. That's very clever.

[The Oni]

I like Necrokinesis, especially if your setting is technomagically inclined. "Moving the dead" doesn't sound quite so threatening as "controlling" or "raising" so it seems like the sort of thing an scientist might say - especially if he was trying to sound less frightening in hopes of acquiring grant money.

[CombatOwl]

I wasn't sure where to put this topic. I was thinking about the school of spells commonly called Necromancy.

It's a misnomer, isn't it? These days, when we say necromancy, we generally refer to raising the dead and creating zombies and such to do the caster's bidding. Thing is, any word ending in "-mancy" is divination, isn't it? cleromancy, arithmancy, cartomancy, and pyromancy are all different methods of figuring stuff out. Necromancy specifically is communication with the dead to gain insight.

Is there a "better" word for raising the dead or other general "death magics" (besides, I suppose "death magics")? It just seems like a flawed way of going about it.

Meh, you can't have necromancy without a bit of romance.

Oh, that wasn't the problem you were talking about? :smallbiggrin:

[Mastikator]

I personally prefer "black magic", the "see also" section of wikipedia has some options as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_magic

You could use black magic as an umbrella term for various different but related schools of magic:
Demonology
Maleficium (sorcery)
Necromancy
Seiðr
Ya sang
Death magic
Evil magic
Dark arts

[Shadowknight12]

I'm running into the same exact problem in my homebrew setting.

If you're talking about the manipulation or working of something, the proper suffix should be "-urgy", or so I'm told. The clearest term that comes to mind is "metallurgy".

"Thaumaturgy" is a generic term for magic, after all, which should be most familiar to readers.

The problem is, my table is so damn used to saying "pyromancy" and "necromancy" (and all the other stereotypical "-mancy" magic thanks to fantasy fiction) that attaching "-urgy" to the end of things sounds...ungainly? I hate the way it rolls off the tongue.

"Necrourgy" just doesn't have the right punch. Nor does "pryourgy" or "hydrourgy", etc.

Bleah. It might be the right suffix, but I hate putting two vowels next to each other in this context. It does not sound right said out loud. Am I missing something in how these should be constructed?

You can add consonants to make the word flow better. Thaumaturgy has a "t" despite the root word being "thaumos".

Necroturgy, Hydroturgy, Pyroturgy.

[AMFV]

You should definitely have two words, one used by it's practitioners one used by it's detractors, at least to my mind. Nobody would probably want to use magic called "The Dark Arts" so it'd be wise to call it something else if you yourself were using it.

[Shadowknight12]

By the way, there only seems to be one "proper" Necromany spell in D&D, Speak with Dead. That's actual divination using dead bodies.

Not really. The entire shtick of ancient necromancy wasn't getting a lifeless body to rasp out answers to questions. It was to summon the spirits of the deceased and gain their knowledge.

Therefore, using Animate Dead, Create Undead, Create Greater Undead, or Enervation/Energy Drain (to create wights) and gaining whatever knowledge they possess is perfectly in line with ancient necromancy. In fact, Command Undead and Control Undead are also useful necromantic spells in this regard, as they can be used to compel undead to speak truthfully.

[CombatOwl]

You should definitely have two words, one used by it's practitioners one used by it's detractors, at least to my mind. Nobody would probably want to use magic called "The Dark Arts" so it'd be wise to call it something else if you yourself were using it.

Necromancer: "I has mastered the Dark Arts!"
PC: "... How Delightfully Evil of you? Planning to take lessons in bad French next?"

[Amaril]

My vote would be for "-thurgy" as a prefix. Not exactly accurate to real Latin, but it's fantasy, you can play with word stems if it gets you the sound you want. That would make "necrothurgy" and "necrothurge", "pyrothurgy" and "pyrothurge", and so on. Might actually use these myself.

[AMFV]

My vote would be for "-thurgy" as a prefix. Not exactly accurate to real Latin, but it's fantasy, you can play with word stems if it gets you the sound you want. That would make "necrothurgy" and "necrothurge", "pyrothurgy" and "pyrothurge", and so on. Might actually use these myself.

But wouldn't "Necromancy" be completely cool under that line of reasoning?

[Amaril]

But wouldn't "Necromancy" be completely cool under that line of reasoning?

Yeah, I guess. If you want to really be faithful to Latin and Greek meanings, my point doesn't stand. But if all you want is to use something other than "necromancy", the word that pretty much all fantasy uses for death magic, you can use any word you want, real or made-up--it's a fantasy world, what words mean in the languages of your setting is up to you.

[AMFV]

Yeah, I guess. If you want to really be faithful to Latin and Greek meanings, my point doesn't stand. But if all you want is to use something other than "necromancy", the word that pretty much all fantasy uses for death magic, you can use any word you want, real or made-up--it's a fantasy world, what words mean in the languages of your setting is up to you.

I think I would personally use Necromancy unless I was wanting something that was patently different from what that has come to mean. The different name would be indicative of this fact.

[GoblinGilmartin]

Wow. I'm glad this topic actually ushered in a good discussion!

So far, I'm really liking the sound of Necrothurgy, but Necroturgy is also good.

Necromagus sounds like a cool name for a practitioner of said corpse magics. Thanaturgy, I think it sounds really cool, but it seems....setting specific? I mean, this whole conversation has been about a greek word, so this is just nitpicking, but wouldn't you have to have a "thanatos" for that to work?

Oldtrees1? I really liked that link.

[Mutazoia]

Bio-recycling?

http://logo.cafepress.com/4/1221917.6258104.jpg

Bio-recyclist...Bio-recycling engineer?

[Dimers]

When I make an animator-of-corpses, I make it quite clear IC that I'm manipulating life energies, not death energies. So ... viviturgist.

[Angel Bob]

Wow, thanaturgy is pretty cool. You could probably give magic an exciting new flair just by finding new words for the different disciplines. Perhaps a pyromancer could be an ignithurge? I might use that...

[AMFV]

When I make an animator-of-corpses, I make it quite clear IC that I'm manipulating life energies, not death energies. So ... viviturgist.

Why would you need life energy to animate corpses? I mean you could just use any old energy, and it's not like the people still need their bodies...

[Chronos]

Quoth Nerd-o-Rama:

Postmortem Communications.
Plus, you get to wear a skull ring. Skull. Ring.

As for actual necromancy spells in D&D, you could also arguably use Contact Other Plane for that. You're talking to a powerful outer planar denizen, which could just as well be the spirit of a dead mortal.

[Jay R]

The word "necromancy" communicates exactly what you want communicated. You would have to explain any other word every time you used it.

Besides, etymology is not definition, or "digital computing" would mean counting on your fingers.

[TuggyNE]

The word "necromancy" communicates exactly what you want communicated. You would have to explain any other word every time you used it.

Thanaturgy is distinct enough that it would not be at all difficult to learn. In fact, a moderate proportion of the target audience would probably be able to intuit its approximate meaning from its roots.


Besides, etymology is not definition, or "digital computing" would mean counting on your fingers.

That's not a terrible example, but neither is it a good one; "digital computing" means "counting in a way that is quantized like fingers", not, say, "burning all feet", "hitting people with the sides of your fingers", or something weirdly opposite like that.

More concisely, necromancy's etymology is twisted in decidedly unintuitive ways, but digital computing has no such problems: it is a relatively straightforward figurative term.

[Joe the Rat]

I'm enjoying the sound of Thanaturgy.

Also, Necrosophist.

[Gavran]

I'm alright with the exploration of new language, but I really can't agree that necromancy is in anyway problematic. Language evolves, and I think necromancer sounds better than anything proposed here. That's just my opinion, of course.

I do have to ask though, does anyone really read pyromancy and think divination by fire?

[GoblinGilmartin]

When I make an animator-of-corpses, I make it quite clear IC that I'm manipulating life energies, not death energies. So ... viviturgist.

D&D undead are specifically said to be animated by negative energy. In Eberron, the Undying court are special elf undead animated by positive energy.

[NichG]

The technical term for deities that transport souls to the afterlife is a 'psychopomp' - a 'guide of souls'. Can we mess with that, to make a term for someone who transports souls from the afterlife to do their bidding instead? Maybe change the language around a bit too...

[Teucros]

As an actual Greek, this detail has been bugging me for some time :smallbiggrin:. For that matter, don't get me started on divination being a prohibited school to necromancers (shudders).

Anyway, Thanaturgy and Necrurgy seem quite apt actually, especially the latter(but the former sounds better to me). I wouldn't actually add the t and so wouldn't be 100% fine with something like necroturgy ("thaumaturgy" notwithstanding-it's not that a "t" is added but more that the plural form is used). Necromagus and Necromageia seem fine too. Nekrokinesis...for a primary undead animator caster i can see it working, but not for anything else. Necropomp...well, why not.

Um...just my two cents. Which, considering the subject, sound appropriate.

[Mastikator]

Thanaturgy is distinct enough that it would not be at all difficult to learn. In fact, a moderate proportion of the target audience would probably be able to intuit its approximate meaning from its roots.

You'd have to learn two new words and learn of the etymology of necro and mancy.
All for the sake of preserving etymology consistency, and you'd be giving up spooky sounding yet easily pronounceable word (necromancy) for a word that is a tongue twister.

To be honest, even if everyone I knew would understand (without me needing to explain ANYTHING) thanaturgy, I'd still prefer to use necromancy.

[Passer-by]

Necroturgy, pyroturgy, etc. are nicer constructions, and use the -turgy suffix. It tends to flow nicer, though I'm unsure of its accuracy- but since when has that been important so long as the word sounds nice?

The practitioner of such arts would be either a necroturge or a necroturgist, derived from thaumaturge/thaumaturgist. For reference, thaumaturgy means to work miracles.

Sorry, guys, but Thaumaturgy is a composite word whose parts correspond to the greek verb for "admire", ("Thaumazo" in latin characters) and a very recurring etymon, "ϝerg-/ϝorg-", which means "work". In fact, it's the same word, except Greek loses initial wau sounds, and English did not.

So, no, it's not accurate. The radical is -org-. Otherwise, I'm really enjoying this discussion!

I will suggest other words later, but I don't want this little show of pedantry to be ninja'd!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I do have to ask though, does anyone really read pyromancy and think divination by fire?
That would be far, far more interesting than fireslinging, IMO.

[Grim Portent]

That would be far, far more interesting than fireslinging, IMO.

Some games do technically have it by inference, though it's not really a proper mechanical thing. The vagueness of things like 40k RPGs with Trade (Soothsayer) is glorious, I had one character who 'predicted' stuff by throwing dice, could just as easily be done with real divinations while using a flame as a focal point of some kind, or entrails or bones.

[Eldan]

[QUOTE=Mastergilgamesh;16701046]
Necromagus sounds like a cool name for a practitioner of said corpse magics. Thanaturgy, I think it sounds really cool, but it seems....setting specific? I mean, this whole conversation has been about a greek word, so this is just nitpicking, but wouldn't you have to have a "thanatos" for that to work?/QUOTE]

Not really. (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_words_prefixed_with_thanato-)
Thanatos just means "death". (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thanato-#English)

A lot of nice words, there, too. Thanatomania: the belief that one is cursed to die soon. Thanatomimesis, playing dead. Thanatocoenose: a community of dead things found together, that have died at the same time, as part of the same ecosystem. Thanatocracy: when official titles are held by a dead person, or: a culture in which rituals involving the dead are important, or: an official ruling that leads to a lot of death.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

The mental image I have for "thanatocracy" is amazing.

[Angel Bob]

I do have to ask though, does anyone really read pyromancy and think divination by fire?

So, what, like Turaga Vakama's sacred fire (http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Sacred_Fire) in BIONICLE?

Sounds pretty flavourful to me. :smallbiggrin:

[GoblinGilmartin]

As an actual Greek, this detail has been bugging me for some time :smallbiggrin:. For that matter, don't get me started on divination being a prohibited school to necromancers (shudders).


Oh my god. I never realized!

Also, after seeing Eldan's link, I'm liking Thanato- words more. I guess I've just read too much Piers Anthony.

[Elderand]

As an actual Greek, this detail has been bugging me for some time :smallbiggrin:. For that matter, don't get me started on divination being a prohibited school to necromancers (shudders).

That only apply to nwn2.
In actual dnd divination is never allowed to be banned.

And besde, it make some amount fo sense. If they had access to normal divination necromancers wouldn't need to ask the deads for info.

[AMFV]

That only apply to nwn2.
In actual dnd divination is never allowed to be banned.

And besde, it make some amount fo sense. If they had access to normal divination necromancers wouldn't need to ask the deads for info.

I believe in AD&D it could be, you had specific opposed schools. Although I'm not sure if that's AD&D or a different earlier edition, but it was definitely a thing at some time I believe.

[Elderand]

I believe in AD&D it could be, you had specific opposed schools. Although I'm not sure if that's AD&D or a different earlier edition, but it was definitely a thing at some time I believe.

It's not adnd 2nd, I just looked at my books and in it there was indeed specific schools that were in opposition.

Necromancy was opposed by......illusion and enchantment.

It's not adnd 1st edition, the only existing specialsit in it was the illusionist.
There is a necromancer class in the old unearted arcana book but that was a separate class with it's own spell list.

It's not the from the becmi or rule cyclopedia edition either, neither had specialisation of any kind.

No I'm afraid the only time necromancy has been directly opposed by divination was from the neverwinter night games.

There was the possibility of giving up divination in 3rd edition (not 3.5) but that was only because a necromancer was required to give up one other school. Any one school.

[AMFV]

It's not adnd 2nd, I just looked at my books and in it there was indeed specific schools that were in opposition.

Necromancy was opposed by......illusion and enchantment.

It's not adnd 1st edition, the only existing specialsit in it was the illusionist.
There is a necromancer class in the old unearted arcana book but that was a separate class with it's own spell list.

It's not the from the becmi or rule cyclopedia edition either, neither had specialisation of any kind.

No I'm afraid the only time necromancy has been directly opposed by divination was from the neverwinter night games.

There was the possibility of giving up divination in 3rd edition (not 3.5) but that was only because a necromancer was required to give up one other school. Any one school.

Ah, well I stand corrected. My memory of those source books is limited at best. That is an odd choice though. Although to be honest in the NWN games divination is kind of a crap school by comparison to how good it is in 3.5.

[Elderand]

Ah, well I stand corrected. My memory of those source books is limited at best. That is an odd choice though. Although to be honest in the NWN games divination is kind of a crap school by comparison to how good it is in 3.5.

Magic in general in nwn is crap compared to 3.5.

[Teucros]

That only apply to nwn2.
In actual dnd divination is never allowed to be banned.

And besde, it make some amount fo sense. If they had access to normal divination necromancers wouldn't need to ask the deads for info.

Ah, my memory was playing tricks, then. Thanks for the clariication. Icam't agre on it making sense, but that's beside the point.

[AmberVael]

I do have to ask though, does anyone really read pyromancy and think divination by fire?
Yup. But I've looked into that stuff before, and fire-gazing does come up a fair bit in myth and myth inspired stories. More so than throwing fireballs, in fact.


Thanatocracy: when official titles are held by a dead person, or: a culture in which rituals involving the dead are important, or: an official ruling that leads to a lot of death.

The mental image I have for "thanatocracy" is amazing.

I've actually been working on a setting that fits this word really well. The basic premise is there a terrible divine entity that has waged war on the afterlife, and in order to escape his wrath people just go undead instead of passing on. The oldest of the undead are the Great Ancestors, ancient beings twisted by countless years of necromantic influence and power. Due to their near immortality, they basically rule over everything without ever getting replaced.

[Geostationary]

Sorry, guys, but Thaumaturgy is a composite word whose parts correspond to the greek verb for "admire", ("Thaumazo" in latin characters) and a very recurring etymon, "ϝerg-/ϝorg-", which means "work". In fact, it's the same word, except Greek loses initial wau sounds, and English did not.

So, no, it's not accurate. The radical is -org-. Otherwise, I'm really enjoying this discussion!

I will suggest other words later, but I don't want this little show of pedantry to be ninja'd!

As interesting as your pedantry is, I'm afraid I'm not entirely clear as to what it is that's wrong about the construction. I can't say I've seen other spellings of the word.

Also, thanatocracies need to be things.

[Elderand]

Given the nature of wizards.....use all of them !

A specialist in death magic would call himself a thanaturgist and subdivide his school into

Necromagikos : the animation of the dead
Necromancy : gaining knowledge from the dead
Thanaturgy : general death spell (enervate, death armor and so on and so forth)

[The_Snark]

I do have to ask though, does anyone really read pyromancy and think divination by fire?

It's not a source of confusion for me, but like Vael and CarpeGuitarrem I happen to think that pyromancy as originally defined is pretty neat. I've used that for a couple of characters.

[Beleriphon]

Also, thanatocracies need to be things.

Rule by the dead? I'm not sure that actually works since in practice wouldn't is usually end up being rule by those that speak with the dead, which is probably going to be a theocracy.

[TuggyNE]

Rule by the dead? I'm not sure that actually works since in practice wouldn't is usually end up being rule by those that speak with the dead, which is probably going to be a theocracy.

*coughLichdomcough*

[nedz]

Inversion is the normal trick for making euphemisms. Vivamancy (life magic) in this case would fit.

[Red Fel]

Interesting take on Death Magic:
http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-06-27
In general, the sterotypical Necromancer is like an Evoker that only uses red fire.

Based on that take, Necro(death) -ology(study of)[already taken]/-sophy(knowledge) seems fitting.

So the Necromancer (death-manipulator) studies the Necrosophic (death-knowledge) lore.

Matter of fact, there was a Dominic Deegan page on exactly this point (http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2008-10-19) - what do you call the stuff?

I happen to like "Death-O-Magic" and "Ghost in the Spell" the best.

[Mewtarthio]

*coughLichdomcough*

That's rule by undead, which is cheating. :smalltongue:

I picture a massive tomb that houses the venerable dead. Every new moon, the Lord High Necromancer enters the tomb and communes with the dead, then carries their words to the living.

But what keeps this from simply being a "rule by Necromancer," you ask? Well, the Necromancer could choose to misrepresent the wishes of the dead. The trouble is, he's going right back into the tomb the next month, and he might not come back out if the dead are angry with him. And if he should avoid the tomb, perhaps taking what he can and fleeing before the month is up, he will find an even crueler fate awaits him. When his life is finally over, he will find that the dead reject him, and he is cursed to roam the earth as a tormented ghoul, his shame apparent for all who look on him.

[Eldan]

That's rule by undead, which is cheating. :smalltongue:

I picture a massive tomb that houses the venerable dead. Every new moon, the Lord High Necromancer enters the tomb and communes with the dead, then carries their words to the living.

But what keeps this from simply being a "rule by Necromancer," you ask? Well, the Necromancer could choose to misrepresent the wishes of the dead. The trouble is, he's going right back into the tomb the next month, and he might not come back out if the dead are angry with him. And if he should avoid the tomb, perhaps taking what he can and fleeing before the month is up, he will find an even crueler fate awaits him. When his life is finally over, he will find that the dead reject him, and he is cursed to roam the earth as a tormented ghoul, his shame apparent for all who look on him.

That actually sounds pretty neat. And if the dead are perhaps a bit cryptic (ba-dum-tish), the position of Speaker for the Dead becomes all the more important.

[Adoendithas]

Inversion is the normal trick for making euphemisms. Vivamancy (life magic) in this case would fit.
Slight nitpick: you're mixing Latin and Greek. Perhaps "biomancy"?

[Jay R]

Slight nitpick: you're mixing Latin and Greek. Perhaps "biomancy"?

Unless you also refuse to refer to a "telephone", that's not a problem.

[Eldan]

Unless you also refuse to refer to a "telephone", that's not a problem.

Telephone is entirely Greek. You mean Television. Also, automobile, homosexualty, polyamory, starvation, motel, escalator, electrocute and bureaucrat, as some google searchign tells me.

So, yes. Unless we start driving autokinetikons to work, we'll just have to live with it.

I don't know an ancient greek word for "seeing", so I can't translate television.

Google translate gives me... proculvision? Distanciavision may work. Close enough to a familiar term. Or just Longivision.

[GoblinGilmartin]

Telephone is entirely Greek. You mean Television. Also, automobile, homosexualty, polyamory, starvation, motel, escalator, electrocute and bureaucrat, as some google searchign tells me.

So, yes. Unless we start driving autokinetikons to work, we'll just have to live with it.

I don't know an ancient greek word for "seeing", so I can't translate television.

Google translate gives me... proculvision? Distanciavision may work. Close enough to a familiar term. Or just Longivision.

I would LOVE to drive something called an autokinetikon.

[Another_Poet]

I agree, I often find this annoying. Here are some possible terms I could see using instead.

In the 1800s, people who stole corpses to sell to doctors/med students were called "resurrectionists." Thus, in a fantasy setting reanimating corpses could be called Resurrectionism rather than Necromancy, although in D&D this creates confusion with the Resurrection spell.

Alternately, we could construct a new word. Consider the existing magical terms "theurgy" (magic ritual to contact the divine) and "thaumaturgy," (magic ritual to manipulate the physical world) and drop on that ol' Greek word for death, to get "thanaturgy." Magic ritual to manipulate death.

Someone who practices it would be a thanaturge.

edit: ninja'd like 18 times :smallamused:

[Waker]

Someone focusing on undead creation could be an Animist (Animus: Soul, Life). Animism posits that everything even non-living objects have a spirit of some time and in D&D an Animist could ensure that even the formerly living could get back up and move around.