3. Swallowing Night

And now the good drek, so to speak. Got parts of this off a gent with, as they say, "No further use for the documents", and went from there. Now, we all know the Cap and the Editorial Staff here on Shadowland don't tend to go in for political or religious diatribe. Good policy, but unfortunately, Necromancers tend to be a secretive, clannish bunch, and for SOME odd reason, I couldn't find any willing to do an exposé... So what I have for openers is the preface for a book used by a formerly local Circle as a primer for just-initiated Necromancers. It was a traditional sort of Circle of the type the Star was talking about in their Necromancer Profile up above. Date of writing is unknown, but from some of the references it'd have to have been after UGE settled down... anyway, the book was titled "The New Book Of The Dead", without any author attribution. Given the layers-within-layers-within-layers of secrecy and deception these guys go in for, who knows how widespread or authoritative the thing is, but it seemed like a good start. -- Silence

"Consider a Candle. As it burns, it holds back the Darkness. A lovely metaphor of Life, used by idealists since candles were invented to dignify their strivings. And used by the next generation to dignify their own quests to overthrow the so-lofty ideals and institutions the first "candles" illuminated. But consider more deeply. Discern more keenly. As the Candle burns, for all the light it casts, the Darkness is unwounded, it grows no less in places the candle's meager light fails to reach, and waits with cold, implacable patience for the Light to Fail. Meanwhile, as it destroys all ability to see through the Darkness, ruining night vision and deepening shadows and making outlines of solid objects dance in eye-tricking ways, the Candle heats, softens, throws its very substance into its battle with the darkness, until a melted, twisted puddle gasps its last, and a lone spiral of smoke greets the inrushing Night.

Thus the Idealists are right, but are blinded by their own metaphor -- Life IS a Candle: Brief, feeble, deceptive and deluded. We, however, choose the Darkness. We choose to SEE the world existing within Night, unblinded by temporary illusion. Uweakened by the heat, and well aware of the price to be paid for Vision. YOU have chosen. With Oaths Bound into your very soul, you have given yourself to the Night, in return for Vision. In return for Power... in return for joining your Fate to the Truth. They call us Necromancers, and so we are... The term, "Necromancer" is Roman in origin, and specifically denoted those who called upon the Dead as Oracles. But the Lore, the Wisdom... the SPIRIT that drives you is older than Rome. Older than the Children of Egypt who turned their whole society, all of Life to the service of, and preparation for the flickering out of that brief Candle. During the long drought of the Fifth World, many cultures sought to extinguish US... but the Darkness never fades. All the lights of all the Candles of all the Ages could do nothing but push back the darkness for a time... But we, like the Night itself, are patient... And as the Power of Light has grown in this Awakening, so too has the Power of Darkness, but more... for Light is Finite. Darkness extends beyond the farthest reaches of Lights grasp, and never ends.

You will learn, herein, of the Road you must walk. You will learn of the Spirits of the Dead, who have long outweighed the numbers of the Living. You will learn the Ways to protect yourself. To cloak yourself in the Darkness, that Light may not overcome the Night. You will learn of the Rites and Passages as you attune your Soul to the Night, that you may prepare yourself for the Shadow Of Death, and fear it not, but greet it as your Spirits True Home, that you may continue to grow in Power long after the waxy castings of flesh fall from your powerful spirit..."

A couple other "types" of Necromancer groups also bear mentioning... in my experience, they aren't as common as the mixed-Tradition modern Circles, but they're common enough, and powerful enough, that the info should be of some use if you find yourself running up against the Dead. If you skimmed the Post on Magic a bit ago {Awakenings}, you read a bit about the differences between Petro and Rada Rite Vodoun... what many folks DON'T know is that a third Vodoun Rite exists, contacting what they call the Congo Loa. And the Congo Loa make the Petro versions of the Loa look like cherubs. I've gotten the low-down from a Mambo «««a woman Houngan, for those that don't sling the lingo -- GP»»» I know fairly well, and prevailed on her to cover this bit. -- Silence

Bonjeu', Shadowland... some'f you Wiz types may know me already, as I do a bit of Talismongin' now'n again. Voodoo Sam here. Silence and Glass Paladin have asked me to give you the Vodoun Religion's Word on the issue of how Necromantic Magic touches our Belief and Magics, an' they were SO cute when they asked me, I couldn't refuse... :-) It's not an easy subject for a Voudois, I am afraid -- you Blanc's, with your "Pure" and "Toxic" spirits, you have a hard 'nuff time comprehendin' the in-betweenness of the Petro, i' hard for us t'admit that some of what you fear Vodoun for is trut'. I'd like t'explain a bit 'bout de Loa -- Th' Loa are what y'bring to 'em. You bring Trut', you bring honor, and a will t'grow, so will they meet ya' -- you bring caginess an' a desire to bargain wit' your Fate and de Fate of others, so, too, will they meet ya'. You bring death and violence and a corruption of de soul... so, TOO will dey meet ya'.

De first, the Houngan call de Rada Loa: dey Rada, they are parents to us, de children. They seek to help us grow, an' would not burden us wit' bargains. So de Rada, they do very little by way'f ACTION -- dey lead, dey advise, dey bind up hurts an' tend ta little t'ings, so that what we achieve by our-selves wi' help us grow in our OWN strength. De second ah' de Petro. De Petro Loa, dey figger dat we all mus' look out f'ahselvs, Man and Loa both... so they wi' do this an' that, be i' protect ya from a Mange Moun, or d'puttin' Mange Moun on an enemy. But de Petro alway' deal in engagement -- they will do for you, but YOU mus' also do for DEM... offeratories, gifts, servics for de Loa or de Loa's chosen. Dey are not TOXIC spirits, not as de shamans mean it... dey are more like Suits... dey don' do nothin' fo' free, and y'do much biz w'dem, they'll end up ownin' you, jus' like a Corp. But they aren't the same's Insect Spirits or Toxic Things... De third... de third type of Loa, we don' much talk 'bout. The People, they don' say much 'cause to name a thing is ta call it to ya... the Houngan's do the same: we can turn aside the attention's of the Dark if need be, but why invite trouble, neh? So I won' tell y' much 'bout 'em either, though I agree wi' GP an' Silence dat you should know. Leastways enough t'know when t'run like hell, neh? :-)

De Congo Loa will gen'lly seem to be ver' much like de Petro, most cases, but dey willin' ta do "favors" for dey Bokor... bu' each favor dey do, gives 'em dat much more hold on dey Bokor. Soon enough, dey eat him up, body'n soul, and leave... somethin' else, in his place. Silence, he been to Bug City, an' so we talk'd about th'Insect Spirits... de Congo Bokor, seems i' many ways t'resemble the Bugs, though th'process of etin' the souls of the Bokor an' his Hounfort goes mo' slowly, s'long's the Bokor keeps de food for de Congo Loa comin', neh? More den either other Rite, de Congo Loa feed on blood an' Death, an' up in de Hills of Haiti, you can hear de Drums, an' not a soul wi' stir out of doors, for fea' o' bein' caught up by de Congo Hounfort as dey run wildly t'rou' de night. Normal lesser Loa don' come to the call o' Congo Bokor, neither Loa Travail nor Loa Achete will risk itself among a Congo Bokor's tainted Govi's, so instead, the Bokor breaks ALL sane laws, and makes bargains wi' the Baka.

I can' tell y'much 'bout th'Baka, 'm afraid -- not 'cause a' no oath a' secrecy, but because a sane Houngan don' do anythin' w' Baka 'cept to banish 'em, quick as quick. Call 'em Toxic Insect Loa if y'like, it's as good's a description's any: Not that they're necessarily insectlike... though they sometimes are. Sometimes like sharks, sometimes like rotting corpses... they shift and change, but they ah' Corruption in all it's forms, hungry for souls and death. So in many ways, they'll ACT like insect spirits. You see anythin' toxic down Carrib-way, or toxic an' vodoun ANYwhere, you run, heah? Zombification is a thing any Houngan CAN do, but be supicious of de'ones dat DO it. It's not respectiful to da Loa nor de Dead, and th'MAY be Petro Houngans, or dey MAY be Congo. An' wit' de Congo come de Baka, an' wit' de Baka comes Death an' Misery. Congo Bokor are almos' always what Silence call Necromancers -- dey don' ask de spirits, dey don' respect 'em, they bind and order and devour 'em. So Congo, Baka, an' dis Necromancy go hand in hand in Vodoun, an' dey all t'ree BAAAAAD News. You were warned, neh? -- Voodoo Sam

There are plenty of strictly-shamanic necromancy groups as well, unfortunately. Despite, or maybe because of, the Shamanic Traditions emphasis on the cycles and ordering of Nature, there are those who rebel, and turn to the Magics of endless Night and Winter. Some of these drift away from the cultural-religious aspects of Shamanism almost entirely, drifting as lone hermits or joining one of the Dark Circle Shamanic Orders... others, however, turn the tribal structures to their own advantage, forming small groups into an organization much like a typical cult. Hyena, Jackal, Shark, Gator, Vulture, Buzzard, or Wendigo are particularly adept at such cult-formation, as are Willow, Cyprus, Fungus or corrupt Peyote Shamans. Typically, a toxic necromancer/shaman will collect two or three apprentices, and then corrupt a small gang of Believers to corrupt and eventually destroy. In most ways, this is the same modus operendi used by Wendigo (HMHVV-positive Orks), and, in fact, many of these groups are led by necromancy-skilled "undead"... in the case of Wendigo in particular, some necromantic magic seems to slow, counteract, or defer the mental decay into animalism so often noted among Wendigo. Whether or not an Essence Drainer leads or is involved in the cult, virtually all such groups practice one form or another of ritual cannibalism, and tend (for obvious reasons) to associate with ghouls and organleggers to one extent or another. UNlike the Dark Circle Orders, Jackal Cults tend to cooperate neither with each other nor the Dark Circles themselves, so each tends to develop totally different bodies of necromantic skills as they form, grow, and "reproduce" as individual corrupt necromancer-shamans flee the groups inevitable destruction to found new cults of their own. Also unlike the Dark Circles, which focus almost exclusively on Necromantic Lore within the Order (looking at Normal Sorcery and conjuring as a totally separate body of skill, generally of use primarily as a cover for their necromantic activity), Jackal Cults freely merge their Shamanic and Necromantic magics, focusing on them both as different aspects of their Totem's Gifts.

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