Necromancy is, at root, the Skill of manipulating Ectoplasm (cf), the astral "material" from which all Ghost and Ghost-related spirits draw their essential nature. Individual Concentrations are nominally in order of difficulty, but this generally only affects Web-based skill use... the Concentrations may be learned in any order, but unlearned concentrations increase their Tgt# by 2 per step removed from the General (Necromancy) skill, REGARDLESS of which concentration is known.

For example -- Drakkon, a wicked old Necromancer, has 5 levels in the Projection Necromancy Concentration, and wants to slice a bit of an attacking Shaman's soul off to use as a later Ritual Link... his target number for the action is at +10 (5 dots crossed from the General Necromancy skill), rather than the normally derived +2 (one dot from Projection concentration to Soulstealing concentration). Similarly, when Drakkon notes the wisp of a Phantasm formed by the Shaman's now-deceased Street Sam companion and decides the spirit would make JUST the perfect snack to help him recover, Drakkon's Tgt# to devour the Phantasm is at +6 (3 dots from the Necromancy to Soulfires) rather than +2 (One dot from Projection to Soulfires). All clear now? :-)

Necromancy (or concentration or specialization, of course) also serves as a twofold limitation on Necromantic magics -- in ADDITION to the normal limits to Spell Force that the Magic Attribute imposes, Necromantic-Category spells inflict Physical Drain if cast at a Force higher than their Necromancy skill. Also, Necromantic Conjuring, Necromachy, and Investiture can only be learned to a maximum of 2x the level to which Necromancy (etc.) is known.

Each skill is used in casting different Necromantic spells ("Necromachy"), has a simple "Non-Spell" usage ("Plasmics"), and can be used as a Complementary skill for different Basic Necromantic skills (successes on the Necromancy Skill test are used as extra dice for the Basic Skill usage) ("Application"). Specialization within each Concentration are for each of these three uses.

• Mediumship: The skill of attuning the Necromancers aura to ectoplasmic forces. This allows the Necromancer to Communicate with he Spirits of the Dead using Mediumship skill as a Linguistic skill for perceiving the motivation and "conscious" messages from Ghosts, as well as being able to communicate back TO the dead.

  The Mediumship Concentration is a Complementary Skill for Necromantic Conjuring, and it is modified by any ability (etc.) affecting Assensing).

• Soulfires: The skill of absorbing ectoplasmic energies into the Necromancers own aura. When a Necromancer has LoS to a Ghost, he may roll his Soulfires skill vs. the Ghosts Force. Each success Drains one point of Force (or Spirit Energy, if appropriate) from the Ghost and transfers it to the Necromancer. This energy may be used in two ways, but ALL Force drained by any single Soulfires Test must be applied to the same option. Each drained Force point may EITHER add all drained Force Points to his Ectoplasmic Energy Pool OR add one success per Force drained to an immediately following Drain Resistance Test. (The spell aided may be either Necromantic or Normal, but MUST be learned specifically to benefit from this, and may not be cast without it. A spell learned with this modifier also gains the +2 Effective Force modifier equivalent to the use of a Disposable Fetish.) Whenever a ghost is reduced to 0 Force by absorption into the Necromancers EEP, the Necromancer must check for Cacophony Effects (cf).

  The Soulfires Concentration is a Complementary Skill for Necromachy (Necromantic Sorcery).

• Projection: This is the skill of transforming the Necromancers own aura into ectoplasmic material. The user draws out his own Life Force and invests it into his Ectoplasmic Energy Pool. The number of EEP Dice that can be created through use of this skill at any one time is equal to the # of successes vs. a Tgt# equal to the Current total number of dice in the EEP PLUS the number of Permanent Dice (that is, permanent dice count twice).

  The Projection Concentration is a Complementary Skill for Investiture (Necromantic Enchanting).

• Soulstealing: This skill reflects the Necromancers ability to alter someone ELSE'S Living Aura to taint it with ectoplasmic energies and fracture off Phantasma (cf). The Necromancer must first succeed in inflicting Damage against the target in a Non-Firearms-using attack, he may then roll his Soulstealing skill PLUS Boxes of Damage inflicted PLUS allocated EEP Dice vs. a Tgt# equal to the targets Essence PLUS Willpower. The Necromancer may lower this Tgt# by 1 per EEP Die allocated specifically for that purpose. Astrally aware targets may use their Willpower vs. the Necromancers Soulstealing Rating to Oppose this. The Number of Successes equals the number of Force points of the Phantasm Cast by the Target. This Phantasm Casting follows all normal procedures for such, and the Necromancer has no immediate control over the Cast Phantasm, nor does this skill prevent the cast Phantasm from re-integrating normally.

  The Soulstealing Concentration is a Complementary Skill for Necromantic Theory.

This Sorcery Concentration represents the Necromancers ability to use ectoplasmic energies in powering spell-effects. Necromantic spells whose Force exceeds the Casters Necromancy Rating OR his Magic Rating inflict Physical Drain Damage, and all necromantic spell Drain is also applied to the Aura Damage tracks (Integrity for Stun Drain, Cohesion for Physical Drain). Non-necromantic additions to the Magic Pool and Magic Pool dice OVER the rating of Necromancy canNOT be used to assist Necromantic Magic under any circumstances. Necromantic spells are considered a separate Category of spells, and each has a listed "Necromantic Affinity" that separates them into further sub-categories (equivalent to the various sub-categories of Manipulation spells). The Necromantic Affinity has two further effects: If the Caster does NOT possess the required Skill, he must increase ALL Tgt#'s based on the Tgt# modifiers derived from the Skill Web; and a Necromancer who DOES possess the affinitive skill may take 1 extra action per Necromantic spell Force and roll the Affinitive skill vs. a Tgt# equal to the spells Force, and add 1 die per 2 successes as a temporary addition to their magic pool usable for that spell casting only. This skill use counts as a sustained spell for ANY other actions while engaged in the spell casting, and the Caster is astrally active for the entire time.

At the GM's option Necromantic-Category spells MAY be learnable by non-necromancers, but note that due to the above limitations and the fact that Necromancy Skill CANNOT be learned by non-necromancers, ALL drain WILL be physical, his Tgt#'s will be VERY high, and he will have virtually no defense against the ectoplasmic tainting likely to result.

Many Necromantic spells are combination effects -- this generally falls into two categories: a spell must be cast in order for a skill to be used, or a spell that can ONLY be cast within a Ritual format. Such spells will have the special Durations "Prep" and "Ritual".

"Ritual" duration spells that have a specific target must acquire that target as normal for Ritual Magic, and in ALL cases require a ritual area (Lodge, Circle, Houngan, etc.) of the appropriate rating, and 1 hour and 750¥ worth of Materials per Force of the spell to cast. Ritual DURATION spells (as opposed to other spells cast via ritual) will persist after the conclusion of the Ritual for one solar event (sunrise or sunset) per net success, OR one solar event per additional hour spent in the casting of the Ritual, whichever is SHORTER.

"Prep" duration spells count as sustained (i.e., +2 Tgt#'s due to concentration) UNTIL the effecting skill is used, when the penalty is done away with. Note that the effect will then ONLY last as long as the skill is CONTINUOUSLY in use after this point, fading away as soon as the caster ceases using the skill. Note also that the skill affected by a "prep" duration spell can ONLY be used at a level less than or equal to the Force of the spell CAST (i.e., if the caster voluntarily limits the Force while casting, the level of the used skill is limited similarly).

The Necromantic Concentration Theory is used in all cases exactly as normal Magic Theory is, but for Necromantic Skills, Spells, Conjuring, etc.

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