Why would someone begin necromancy?

Grandesdar

I want to write a backstory to my necro character, but I can't think of any original reason for him to learn necromancy in the first place. Yes, evil without a reason is a trope, but I dont want to go down that route as I want to make him switch to the good side, well, at least his intentions.
If you played Dragon Age 3, you'd know necromancy there seemed okay with people, even when you claimed to be the one sent by the Andraste(their prophet). They defended it saying you are only using lurking souls of already long gone bodies, doing no harm to anyone.

Got any ideas how I can fit something like this to ESO lore?

Edit: He'll be an Orc. My main is a breton healer. I'm also thinking of having them cross paths, rivalry, friendship etc.

bantad87

You lost your lover/sibling/parent/friend and you failed to bring them back - so you've committed to mastering necromancy and death so that you can regain that person.

mague

There is only one reason. Craving for power. Power to defeat your enemies, to become famous, to save your dead spouse, etc. etc. Thats how it was , is and always will be.

Grandesdar

bantad87 wrote: »

You lost your lover/sibling/parent/friend and you failed to bring them back - so you've committed to mastering necromancy and death so that you can regain that person.

I thought of this but it felt too much like Fullmetal Alchemist. I might still go in that route, like someone deceived him necromancy would revive his mother. He fell for that, killed so many innocent lives to the point of no return and now he cant turn back and he is in big denial.

mague wrote: »

There is only one reason. Craving for power. Power to defeat your enemies, to become famous, to save your dead spouse, etc. etc. Thats how it was , is and always will be.

How about this, you know there was a some sort of history between orcs and bretons with a quest, it includes some kind of necromancy if i remember right. So he wants to acquire power to avenge his ancestors or something?

Mixith

All i ever wanted was some friends, to fit in and belong. The other kids always looked at me weirdly, calling me a beast and stepping on my tail every chance they got. It is true that i was not quite like them, i was a khajiit while they were mer and men.

Their acts against me got progressivly worse each day and no one did anything to stop it until one day i snapped, its quite the blur but i remember them holding my head under water. I was slicing out in all directions with my claws to get them to stop, i could feel my claws digging into something and suddenly my head was released. Coughing up the water i looked back and saw that most of them had ran away, except one and he was staring at me wide eyed with his hands shielding his wounded throat. I could see the life fade away in his eyes as he slowly died.

This was not how it was supposed to be, now they would never accept me. I sat down by the lifeless corpse and cried, while crying i could feel strong waves of magicka leave my body but i didnt understand why until the corpse rose up once again and brushed away my tears. I guess that in the end i had a friend after all.

- The Khajiiti Necromancer



You could also have been a soldier on the losing side of a war and taken up necromancy as a last resort to try and win for your people. You would be a hero and a villain at the same time.

adriant1978

Maybe it's just what they are good at. You don't necessarily choose an aptitude for drawing, music, math, or whatever and why should magic be any different?

Depending on your character and their motivations it could be something they embrace and try to make the best of, or a dirty and shameful secret.

VaranisArano

In TES IV, I roleplayed a mage who'd been using necromancy to do medical research. He figured that Mannimarco's bunch were going too far, but he was really annoyed that Hannibal Traven was throwing the baby out with the bathwater in banning necromancy.

If I do an ex-Psijic Mage, I might recycle that with a mage being expelled from the order for treading too close to the line with questionable research for Ritemaster Iachesis' tastes.

Personally, I tend to look at my character's race and use that as a starting point, looking at how their culture views necromancy and how someone of that culture might become a necromancer.

Asardes

You failed your entrance exams at the Mages Guild, so you begrudgingly embraced the dark side of magic ...

Grandesdar

Those are some great ideas, especially that twist with the khajiit necromancer. It started out pretty predictable, but ending was sweet.

Speaking of magic and mages, he'll be a stam orc. Now when you think about it, he'll be casting spells with a great sword and heavy armor.

Also added some details as edit to the OP that I've left out before.

DeadlyRecluse

Cracking open a cold one with the boys!

RaddlemanNumber7

adriant1978 wrote: »

Maybe it's just what they are good at. You don't necessarily choose an aptitude for drawing, music, math, or whatever and why should magic be any different?

Depending on your character and their motivations it could be something they embrace and try to make the best of, or a dirty and shameful secret.

I was thinking of something similar to reconcile the inherent badness of the Necromancer class with all the altruistic quests our characters have to do in order to complete the storylines. The necro is a Vestige and it's just the way Molag Bal made them. They have no other skills they can use to fulfil the doom that has be laid upon them.

Theryl

There usually seems to be a bit of obsession with necromancers - whether for knowledge, power, bringing back a loved one, or whatever - that blinds them to ethical concerns and convinces them (or lets them convince themselves) that what they're doing is for some greater good. That obsession leads to more and more questionable decisions until they find themselves living in an old ruin surrounded by undead servants.

Alkapton

Good, bad - light, dark. One cannot exist without the other. There must be dark so there is somewhere to light. The light is contained in the dark just as 'good' is contained within 'evil'.

The true sorcerer will know that ligfht and dark, good and evil do not truely exist as distinct preoperties. Rather they form the funderment within which the sorcerer works.

To truely understand Magik one must study it in all its aspects not just a limited subset of what should be a true understanding of Magoik forces as the cretins in Nirn;s Magika Guilds teach.

The Necromancer is not Evil at all, Necromancy is not evil - but neither is it good for good/bad are just moral relitivism terms.

The Necromancer is first and foremost a student of Masgik. But not the weak perverted Magik the Guilds teach. It is Magik in all its Glory. Only through Necromany can one become adept in the Magik arts.

So to answer the op's original question - the reason for becoming a Necromancer is simply the desire to learn Magik in ALL its forms.

This is the wisdom of Darth Mologolom - embrase the dark side. The dark side contains all that is light - and infinitely more besides.

SilentFox22

This might help generate some ideas. I noticed it is taught as a discipline by the Undaunted if you are seeking a non evil path.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Necromancyhttps://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Necromancy

Korah_Eaglecry

I give characters I intend to be evil or do evil things really traumatic backstories so theres some logical lead up to their behavior becoming more and more immoral or harmful.

My first Necromancers backstory has an overbearing father and signs of sociopathy with exposure to necromancy during the formative years leading her to imitate it and seek it out.

Ghanima_Atreides

I have a "grey" or at least non-evil necromancer. She was raised by a cult who practiced it openly and considered it just another form of magic, a way of tapping into the old energies of the world and reusing what was essentially dead matter. Tethering that last spark of life to the body was a way for that person (or animal) to "live" again for a little while and be useful. (This group did engage in darker practices than that despite their claims, but she was kept mostly ignorant of them). So she doesn't consider it either good or evil, it just "is", and is a bit taken aback by the visceral hatred with which people outside her community react to it.

mnemoniclights

To destroy the Arkayic concept, to show that life and death are the same thing and we shouldn't fear the idea of dying. By mastering the forces of death and using them to do stuff like connecting people with their ancestors or solving crimes by bringing back a victim temporarily.

There is valid use for the school of necromancy, for instance some people use necromancy to extend their natural lifespan, others use it to better understand the body and diseases.

worrallj

Take que from star wars when Anakin is seduced to the dark side by the tale of Darth Palagius.

Your guy could start as a healer under the tutelage of your Breton. Someone he cares deeply for dies, and he learns that necromancy promises a way to bring him/her back. So he starts down the dark path and becomes a dark necromantic sorcerer who's motivation is to protect and save the ones he loves. But his methods are so costly - torturing the dead to do his bidding, that his former master cannot abide what he has become. They meet in the city of Ash with lava all around them. It seems the necromancer's dark power will be too much, but then the Breton "gets the high ground" and cuts off your necromancer's legs when he tries to do a fancy trick. Full of pain and regret, the victorious Breton disarms the defeated orc and leaves him to burn slowly to death as he sinks into the lava. But little did he know manimarco rescued your orc at the last possible moment. The orc survived, but his wounds were so severe he now depends upon his necromantic magic to survive. And he devotes the rest of his life to scouring Tamriel for the teacher that failed him.

KillsAllElves

Cuz you want too.

ChunkyCat

Because it gets lonely at night.

>,>

HappyLittleTree

hmm

Grandesdar

worrallj wrote: »

Take que from star wars when Anakin is seduced to the dark side by the tale of Darth Palagius.

Your guy could start as a healer under the tutelage of your Breton. Someone he cares deeply for dies, and he learns that necromancy promises a way to bring him/her back. So he starts down the dark path and becomes a dark necromantic sorcerer who's motivation is to protect and save the ones he loves. But his methods are so costly - torturing the dead to do his bidding, that his former master cannot abide what he has become. They meet in the city of Ash with lava all around them. It seems the necromancer's dark power will be too much, but then the Breton "gets the high ground" and cuts off your necromancer's legs when he tries to do a fancy trick. Full of pain and regret, the victorious Breton disarms the defeated orc and leaves him to burn slowly to death as he sinks into the lava. But little did he know manimarco rescued your orc at the last possible moment. The orc survived, but his wounds were so severe he now depends upon his necromantic magic to survive. And he devotes the rest of his life to scouring Tamriel for the teacher that failed him.

I love this scenario, tho the ending was too much for my little heart!

worrallj

Grandesdar wrote: »

worrallj wrote: »

Take que from star wars when Anakin is seduced to the dark side by the tale of Darth Palagius.

Your guy could start as a healer under the tutelage of your Breton. Someone he cares deeply for dies, and he learns that necromancy promises a way to bring him/her back. So he starts down the dark path and becomes a dark necromantic sorcerer who's motivation is to protect and save the ones he loves. But his methods are so costly - torturing the dead to do his bidding, that his former master cannot abide what he has become. They meet in the city of Ash with lava all around them. It seems the necromancer's dark power will be too much, but then the Breton "gets the high ground" and cuts off your necromancer's legs when he tries to do a fancy trick. Full of pain and regret, the victorious Breton disarms the defeated orc and leaves him to burn slowly to death as he sinks into the lava. But little did he know manimarco rescued your orc at the last possible moment. The orc survived, but his wounds were so severe he now depends upon his necromantic magic to survive. And he devotes the rest of his life to scouring Tamriel for the teacher that failed him.

I love this scenario, tho the ending was too much for my little heart!

Thank George Lucas!

SantieClaws

Seeking answers questions only the long ago dead can provide?

Such as:

Why was Grandma always drunk in photos?

Where did Great Uncle Shiny Claws bury all his money?

Where did Great Auntie Forgetful Claws hide the spade?

Where did this one put her camel keys last night?

Yours with paws
Santie Claws

NordSwordnBoard

Why did that friend come back from summer camp a goth? Similar reasons...?

igotsmeakabob11

Dead beloved pet. Great reason for a kid to look into necromancy.

Ogou

You could have been raised as one, trained from a young age by a more classically evil necromancer (or even the worm cult itself) for some nefarious purpose.

Radiance

I'm not usually into RP but I like the idea that maybe you're a Half-Demon, born from some Human-Daedra "Relations" or just some Undead, Vampire, Zombie Thing etc. that was born with or has been cursed or brought back from the dead so Necromancy comes naturally bc you are a creature of Darkness. You can see and speak to the dead, like that freaky kid from The 6th Sense and being Undead yourself, you know the thing the dead crave most is Life.

Strychnos

I've got two necromancer characters that I've had for a while, neither of which I'd consider outright evil.

One is an Imperial that made a pact with Peryite to save his parents from the Knahaten flu. Peryite agreed in exchange for his soul. When his parents ended up dying anyway (they didn't have the Knahaten flu, just a normal flu), he decided that he would never die so that Peryite could not exact payment. To this end, the Imperial studies necromancy in order to extend his life (hopefully indefinitely). While he definitely takes evil actions, the end goal isn't simply power.

My other necromancer character, which I think I'll play the Elsweyr story with, is a Khajiit private investigator that often works with the Khajiiti government. He definitely raises the dead, but mostly does so in order to ask them questions so that he can solve mysteries.

FakeFox

I guess one of the most classical "evil with good intent" reason for necromancy is to bring back people that character loved so much he can't live without them. Or your character was once evil, kind of a equivalent to Mannimarco, however turned to the good side and now uses his dark powers to fight things even more evil then himself.

Korah_Eaglecry

I dont know enough about your Breton Healer but maybe he could be an unintentional bad guy for your Necromancer, maybe he does something that from his perspective was a good thing but it somehow negatively impacted your Necromaner. So now theyre adversaries. And the actions of your Healer drove your Orc to Necromancy to gain power and smite the big bad of his life your Breton Healer. And in his journey for revenge your Orc has become a bad guy.