The Final organized form of Necromancy in the Sixth World is kind of an oddity, and seems (in my experience) to be QUITE rare, but worth noting as an "opposing viewpoint", so to speak. Mention has been made several times in this post that the debate on whether Ghosts are the LITERAL "spirits of the Dead", or are astral signatures, perhaps a class of Nature Spirits Of Man, that take the illusory imprint of a dead metahuman at the time of death, but don't share in any way the "soul" or consciousness of the mortal being they resemble. Despite revealing a vast amount of new information the discoveries at the Zenshöan Center don't seem to resolve the issue, either, merely putting the question back a stage (ie, does a living soul convert to ectoplasm at death, or does a dying soul imprint a pattern onto ectoplasm it produces?). While the VAST majority of those involved with and combatting necromancy clearly believe that the Spirits called and bound by Necromancy are, indeed, the Spirits of the Dead, you should be aware that not ALL of them think that way. Hidden in the depths of Corp Magic Projects and Academic Institutions are a scattering of "Scientific" Mages (virtually always Hermetic) who manipulate ectoplasmic entities with a cold dispassion and clinical detachment, rather than a hunger for the secrets of life and death. Despite the fact that many of these Researchers are anything but evil, it's a real danger for Runners in several ways, so I thought I'd do a little digging and share my findings.
The starting place, of course, is the Zenshöan Center itself, and the NUMEROUS attendees of its symposia. This being the sort of thing that lends itself to 'Trix attack, I started profiling all the attendees, and the departments they came from, cooking down papers and patent applications and corporate budgets and advances... fortunately, the multiple terapulses of data gave me something to work on while Sam and Silence put together the Wiz parts of the upload, neh? :-) Anyway, the final profiles cooked down fairly readily, and Sam and Si both added comments to my mundanes-eye-view of the sitch.
"The Scientific Necromancer", so to speak, first off doesn't CONSIDER himself a Necromancer -- he considers himself a Thaumaturgic Researcher. There is, of course, the regrettable tendency to suffer ectoplasm-contamination, but after all, Physicists have dealt with Radiation complications for over a century now, Magical techniques can be developed to minimize the dangers...
«««Note that this "ectoplasm-contamination" is pretty much identical to the so called "Chill Of The Grave" that permeates a Necromancers aura. Scientific Thaumaturgists who mess with Necromancy DO, in fact, tend to be affected somewhat less by this effect than more traditional Necro's, but that could easily be the careful, methodical way they approach necromancy -- their normal initiation procedures tend to counteract the degradation as fast as it builds up. -- Silence»»»
Despite the incredible potential Mega-Corps see in Necromantic Mastery, none of them at THIS point seem to be leaping into anything, instead feeling out the field with basic research. And since Mega-Corps tend to keep a FIRM eye on the bottom line, even the most actively involved in necromantic research don't have full-fledged departments devoted to it, rather one or two actual specialists, with a couple trained assistants, so while a Corp Necro setup may be well funded and supplied with security, materials, and facilities for their use, you AREN'T likely to find Necromantic Initiatory groups... this, of course, could change overnight if one of these teams discovers an immediately profitable application of necromancy beyond the simple fact of the inherently inexpensive nature of Zombie labor.
«««And on THAT subject... It happens. It's not partic'larly common in CAS an' UCAS, an' pretty much unheard'a in the NAN, but get out to places where the Corp's ahn't just extraterritorial but ARE the guv'ment -- places like Africa, the Philippines, parts of Europe... There, Zombie's are evah so much cheapa' t'keep from runnin' away, and they frequently get used by Mega's wi' large-scale magical resources. Mind you, don' expect security t'be run by Zombies -- de Corp's know how easy dey ah' to run circles around, Ahm 'fraid... but Mining, basic assembly, janitorial or otheh work like dat gets done... an' while the walkin' dead ain' quick or smart, they ain' bribable eithah, and they can take some extensive killin'... so keep an eye on th'astral, neh? -- Voodoo Sam»»»
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